Morning drinking during the World Cup?

There might be decisions to be made between lager and ale with your bagel and cream cheese this June if Deputy Mayor and mayoral candidate Joe Pantalone has his way.

Pantalone may earn a few extra votes in the fall election if he gets his wish and persuades the province to bend liquor laws during the FIFA World Cup in June. By law, bars are allowed to start serving booze at 11 a.m., but with the time difference (South Africa is six hours ahead), games will be starting at 7:30 a.m., 10 a.m., and 1:30 p.m. Toronto time. It would be good for bar business and for eager patrons' cheer to be able to have a morning brewskie when the midday games kick off.

Might be time to check out some German breakfast beer.

Some love for Toronto's coffee culture

From The Expeditioner:

This week the NY Times hailed London, England, as the next city for the coffee craze. Although the major corporations, like Starbucks, are pervasive in this international city, there seems to be a movement towards the smaller, independent shops that see coffee as an art.

The NYT listed 4 or 5 places where you can buy haute-espresso in London, but I would like to give some Toronto recommendations. I am going to stay away from where to buy beans as most of these espresso bars have the option of purchasing high-grade, ethically-sound, freshly-roasted buds of deliciousness. 

Click here for The Expeditioner's list of Toronto's best, indie coffee houses ("shop" doesn't feel right).

Not exactly Tupac vs. Biggie

East vs. West in the Big Smoke for ultimate downtown bragging rights? NOW Magazine says let's get ready to rumble.... Anyway, a decent read, and Toronto Life gets a chance to make fun of NOW for the feature. And, apparently, EYE is weighing in at the same time with a North vs. South cage match? [note:  East vs. West I get, but North vs. South in Toronto... not so much?].

Fall in TO - East Side

 

 

 

All photos taken with my Blackberry Curve 8900.

Toronto stuff from the web

A bunch of random Toronto stuff found on the web this week:

The Sorauren Park Pumpkin Parade was the biggest ever this year, with organizers counting an amazing 1,620 Jack-O-Lanterns. Read more and see the pictures here.

Tourism Toronto Getting its Butt Kicked by the Canadian Tourism Commission on YouTube. The Canadian Tourism Commission has done a great job putting together what I think are rather honest and compelling depictions of some of the finer aspects of life in Toronto. Two dozen high quality YouTube videos of decent production value and great content are a lot more than Tourism Toronto can say they've done in this realm (they have zero videos to share on their YouTube channel). [Note: The Canadian  Tourism Commission's You Tube channel is definitely worth checking out, and I love that they feature Mercury Espresso Bar in the Leslieville segment. Best coffee shop in town.]

The Samovar Room - a Russian-themed bar - takes over the beautiful space in the Winchester Hotel that was formerly the Laurentian Room. The place looks really cool. What is it with Russian-themed bars when you go east of Yonge?

Bored with wine tasting? Try coffee tasting at Te Aro.

See Toronto Fall colours captured in all their glory at blogTO.

New life on Dundas?

Perhaps Dundas isn't over just yet after all? Maybe it is just evolving differently than originally envisioned. And, let's face it, did we really need a hip bar/resto strip on Dundas when we've already got the College, Queen West, West Queen West and Ossington strips nearby? Dundas Street, across the entire city, has long been a street remarkably resistant to gentrification.

From the Globe and Mail:

Suddenly teeming with indie coffee shops, Little Portugal is also becoming a little Left Bank. Emily Thomas pays a visit and gets the down-low on the boho joe. Dundas spills the beans.

Springtime makes its long awaited arrival in the Big Smoke

I'm sure we'll pay for it, but hot and humid weather rolled in from out of nowhere on Saturday. People took to the streets en masse, the DVP was closed for a Spring tune-up and life was good. Click on photos for full-size.

Why pay more? Buildings marked down.

DVP closed for Spring maintenance

Happy birthday, Toronto

Okay, so I'm a few days late. Friday March 6, 2009 marked Toronto’s 175th Anniversary. 175 years young and lookin' better than ever. I celebrated TO's big b-day in somewhat appropriate fashion by drinking a few of the locally brewed beers from the Mill Street Brewery. I enjoyed the Stock Ale this time, but if you're ever at the actual Mill Street Pub, be sure to try the Cobblestone Stout, it is fantastic. Mmmm... beer.

The Star has come up with a list of 175 Things to Love About Toronto.

In honour of Toronto's 175th, here are some random Toronto photos.

No Big Box in Leslieville!

From the Financial Post... In a stunning and long-awaited ruling, the Ontario Municipal Board yesterday rejected a developer's plan to build big-box shopping plaza in Leslieville.

Another take on the decision from Spacing Toronto (worth clicking through just for the lead picture).

Lots of NIMBY voices on this issue, but it is nice that they won't be adding a Walmart to the area. Not so much because I don't want a Walmart over here, but it would be such an uninspired use of the land. Hopefully they do something useful with it. The IKEA comment in the COMMENTS section of the Spacing article is very interesting, and the Canadian Tire complex is always busy....

The real question for me, is what will everyone do with the ubiquitous NO BIG BOX IN LESLIVEVILLE signs?

Waitin' on a sunny day

Sunday brought a welcome respite to the overcast skies and biting cold weather we'd been subject to for what seemed like eons. Riverdale Park was toboggan central and the Danforth was shoulder-to-shoulder pedestrian traffic. It seemed like everyone was outside getting some fresh air and sweet, precious Vitamin D. The Vitamin G would have to wait till later.

Here are some pictures from the day. Pictures are from in and around Withrow Park (click on photo for full-size picture).

Time gentlemen, please

The Dundas Street West day in the sun seems to have passed, save for the area around Ossington (which is really more of an Ossington-thing than Dundas). From Martiniboys:

For a few seconds a couple of years ago, Dundas West had a would-be air. Bars like the Communist Daughter, the Chelsea Room, and Cocktail Molotov sprung up in quick succession, attracting tight t-shirters and vinyl enthusiasts. Well, it didn't quite work out. Cocktail Molotov is closed.

The atheists are coming!

Well, maybe. I wrote about atheist bus ads in London back in October and they might soon be coming to the Big Smoke. Jeff Gray wrote about it in Friday's Globe and Mail:

The atheist slogan, "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life," may soon be coming to subways and buses in Canada's largest city.

The Toronto-based Freethought Association of Canada, inspired by a campaign that has plastered British buses with the phrase, has contacted the private firm that handles ads on the Toronto Transit Commission to see if the message would violate any rules. Organizers plan to launch a fundraising page on the website atheistbus.ca in the next few days.
The British campaign, which has inspired similar moves in Washington, Barcelona and Madrid, has sparked complaints to the country's advertising authority and a backlash from the evangelical group Christian Voice, which has proclaimed that Britain is in "deep sin."
Click here to continue reading the article

Source: Globeandmail.com

Friday night thoughts and recollections

The Beijing Olympics are here. On behalf of my dinner companions at Cowbell on Friday night, let me offer my condolences to all the Mom & Pop Shop factories who were affected by Beijing's 200-mile crackdown on heavy industry during the Games.

Speaking of Cowbell, it was my first time there on Friday. I had the duck and it was delicious. From what I was able to glean, everyone enjoyed their meals and we pretty much covered all the appetizers and main courses. They also make a mean whisky sour; the bartender whips it with some egg whites which gives it a most excellent frothiness. I also really love that the menus are the chalkboards on the walls.

However, I must say the service, while friendly and willing, was not very good. For dessert I ordered a glass of dessert wine and twice I was brought a cafe au lait. Finally, I did manage to get my drink. From the time the first person received their dessert until the last person, 45 minutes had passed.

My group drank quite a bit of booze and wine, each of us had appetizers and desserts in addition to our main courses, and the final tally came to about $220 per couple which, while not inexpensive, represented pretty good value in my opinion. Cowbell is undoubtedly worth a try, but there's definitely room for improvement service-wise.

About Cowbell:

Inspired by turn of the century French bistros, Cowbell owners Mark Cutrara and Karin Culliton have created an atmosphere of comfort, originality and fun in their very own neighbourhood of Parkdale.

Chef Cutrara is dedicated to serving fresh, simple food. Cowbell's chalkboard menu changes daily to reflect the availability and freshness of our ingredients. Cutrara and his kitchen are working almost exclusively with naturally-raised, organic meat and produce, sourced from local farmers. Cutrara purchases whole animals, butchers, smokes and cures his meat on the premises. And he churns his own butter!


[Side note: Flesh for Lulu’s “I Go Crazy” is playing on the radio while I type this. Very nice.]

Everyone's favourite Toronto street

Well, it is probably in your Top 5. The Torontoist profiles Palmerston Boulevard.

The Crystal at the ROM - interesting photos

Well, whether you love it or hate it, the new Crystal at the ROM (is that what it is officially called?) certainly elicits strong opinions. A stumbled across these photos on the Torontoist Flickr Pool. The shot at the bottom of the post was the Torontoist Daily Photoist for January 14.

Here are two ROM photos from Sam Javanrouh:

1. Inside the ROM



2. Outside the ROM




Here's another cool photo of the ROM from the outside. This time by Insight Imaging John A Ryan Photography. (sorry, you need to click on the link, I couldn't upload it)