Beerbistro

Date Visited: Dinner on Tuesday Dec 30, 2014

Company: Reservation for 4 turned into a party for 2.

Amidst the holiday buzz, +Stanley tried to plan a get-together dinner, but after a few last-minute cancellations, I was the only one who was able to make it. Either way, we met up at Beerbistro downtown Toronto to grab a nice dinner with some drinks. Staying true to their name, Beerbistro does have a wide range of beers from various parts of the world. Many of them are limited to either bottles or draught but they have a good variety from what you would normally find. I opted for a Weihenstephan, a light and fruity German beer to start off an easy night. 

I had read on some blog that Beerbistro has one of the best 'cheap' steaks in Toronto so I had to try it since I was there. They also had a variety of mussel and pizza options that looked really good too but in the end I got a steak. +Stanley got some mussels and we ordered some fries to start (Stanley forgot I had fries with my steak already). Our waitress took a while to get to us because she wasn't sure if our 2 extra seats were going to be filled or not. After a while we just called her over to take our orders.


From what I recall, it didn't take very long for our appetizer to arrive. The Belgian Frites were described as blanched in beef and duck fat, served with house made mayo and smoked tomato ketchup. I was surprised at the portion size when it arrived, it was served in a large cone napkin with handy condiment holders on either side. The fries were amazing! They were lightly salted and were crisp on the outside but perfectly tender in the middle. The mayo and ketchup were good but hardly even needed as they tasted fine just alone, very addicting.

The New England Style Mussels had beer bacon, leeks, potatoes, smoked cheddar, parsley, shallots, la fin du monde, a touch of cream and came with sourdough bread. The bowl it came in was pretty large, we weren't sure what to expect but it was a hefty amount of food. We did notice that the mussels were pretty small but the overall flavour was good, especially with the bread to dip.

The Steak Fries was a grilled flat iron steak topped with caramelized onion jus and pommery stout aoli. We weren't even done our fries appetizer and I was getting more fries added to my plate! Even with the excess of fries, I could not stop myself from eating them. The steak was cooked a bit more well-done then I would have preferred for medium-well but there was a still a hint of pink there. The onions added some flavour to the otherwise plain steak. It was a good piece of meat but a bit tough and not much seasoning, slightly disappointed in it.

Food: 3.5/5 Could have been beer but still decent food I enjoyed.
Decor: 4/5 - Very classy and interesting layout, not too loud either.
Service: 3.5/5 - Pretty good until it took forever to get our bill.
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Great spot for a fancy dinner with good ambiance.
Overall: 4/5

Website: http://www.beerbistro.com/ 

Pure Spirits Oyster House & Grill

Date Visited: Summerlicious Lunch on Saturday Jul 6, 2013 
Company: Party of 9, SJ reUnion

Summertime is upon us which means for me, reunions over Summerlicious meals! I checked out many of the menu options online and we had decided on Pure Spirits because I wanted to go to a seafood restaurant and they had a nice variety of dishes to satisfy the different tastes in our group. Pure Spirits is also located in the nice Toronto neighbourhood of the Distillery District which I thought would be a nice hang-out location prior or post lunch.

It was an extremely hot Saturday afternoon so we decided to sit on the patio to enjoy the beautiful weather. We had made a reservation for 12 people that apparently they could only do two tables of 6, but our group on the day of was only 9 which they were nicely able to accomodate. Their patio area was huge and I was checking out other people's foods and drinks on the walk to our table. Their drinks all were very pretty and they had a nice selection of Sangrias, Mojitos, and Virgin Cocktails all which were around $10 and $5 for the non-alcoholic drinks. I ordered a Rose Sangria that was $11 and quite pricey IMO but I usually don't order girly drinks like that so that might be their average price. It was very delicious though with pieces of green apple and lemon floating in the drink, but it wasn't as sweet as I was expecting it to be.
For the foods, I decided to go for the seafood dishes to  get the full experience of the oyster bar. Many of the other customers seemed to be having the mussels and it looked like a good portion size. After we placed our full order, we had a nice basket of rolls to enjoy. I've actually had never had Mussels Provencal before and was very excited to try them as I've only had them prepared in Chinese dishes. What I enjoyed about them after having a taste is how flavourful they were and the unique flavour they had. Who would think that the combination of white wine, tomatoes, garlic, and herbs would be so delicious? The broth was quite salty but I assume that is to get the flavour in the mussels because they were fine. The rolls were perfect for dipping the extra broth in, but I couldn't have too much of that either because of the saltiness.

For my entree, I ordered the Haddock and Chips. It was quite the toss-up between that and the Jerk Chicken Sandwich but I think either choice would have been good  because everyone seemed to be satisfied with their food well into the meal. The fish was extremely hot as it probably came straight out of the deep fryer and it didn't help with the beaming sun either which really exposed the oiliness. The haddock was very tender and just a nice looking piece of fish on the plate. The homemade tartar sauce didn't impress me much because it didn't have too much flavour, it was mostly mayo. There wasn't many fries on the plate either but it was a very filling amount overall so I'm glad they didn't try to overload you with it. The dill coleslaw was very refreshing and light, I'm usually impartial to coleslaw but this was a much needed complement to the dish.

To finish, I had the Peanut Butter and Cream Pie which was pretty unique, I've never had anything like it. The pie crust was quite sturdy and you could just eat everything inside without breaking the hard crust at all. It was topped with a rich peanut butter and a custard-like base. There was also a raspberry sauce at the bottom that gave the dessert a nice sour berry flavour. I wasn't really a fan of the peanut butter, I found it too sweet and had to have extra of the other elements to balance it out. It was a cute little dessert and concept but I wasn't the biggest fan. The custard was very good (but I love custard), but everything else was just okay. I found the combination of flavours kind of random and didn't find they went well together.

Food: 3.5/5 - Very satisfying Summerlicious meal :)
Decor: 4/5 - Large patio and cool interior.
Service: 3.5/5 - Waitress was really good to us!
Willingness to come back: 3.5/5 - If i was in the area, I'd definitely try to drop by but it is quite pricey. 
Overall: 3.5/5
Website: http://purespirits.ca/