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/

Buster's Sea Cove

Visited: Late lunch on Saturday June 15, 2013

Company: Take-out with +Will Ives 

On the beautiful Saturday that just passed, +Will and I decided to go biking around the city with Bixi's. In trying to find the station where you pick up these bikes, we stumbled into St. Lawrence Market to take a look around. I spotted people eating lobster rolls outside and remembered that Buster's Sea Cove was here and that I wanted to try it out! So we noted to return after our ride for a mid-afternoon lunch. 

Upon entering St. Lawrence, Buster's line was pretty noticeable among the traffic of people. We were pretty surprised that there even was a line at 3PM, but it was a Saturday in Toronto where people are always about, especially in the nice weather. Luckily, there's server taking orders in line (with a huge east coast accent, mind you) which does speed up the process noticeably as you just go up to pay and wait on the side for your food. The debit machine has a charge of 25 cents though which they don't have signage anywhere about.

Buster's was the first seafood food truck in Toronto and is famous for their lobster rolls and seafood tacos. At this location in St. Lawrence, they have an extensive menu with various fishes and sandwiches but no tacos. Their 'Special of the Day' was the lobster roll so I assume that that's usually the case, since it's their signature food truck order. You have the option of fries and coleslaw or salad for the side. I, of course had to go with Lobster Roll with Fries and Coleslaw for my order which was $15. We got our orders and headed to Will's to enjoy the food outside on the balcony. With food like this, there's just a sense of 'you need to eat this outside' kind of feeling attached to it.

I had seen shows on the Food Network about lobster rolls before and I was always skeptical because they use this small hot dog bug and then they stuff a ridiculous portion of lobster in it... was it for real? I wouldn't say that that they overstuff the roll, but theres a good proportion of lobster to bun, and the meal definitely fills you. The lobster roll it's self was extremely delicious, the bun is toasted on both sides with butter and the filling is just a lovely chilled creation of lobster, celery, and who knows what else. I'm a huge lobster fan and I've never had it in a salad-like form before, it's nice to see lobster in a less-classy way. I'm usually not a fan of coleslaw but theirs was really good, nice and flavourful. The fries are small-cut and had no salt, but there's a station with salt, vinegar, etc for them. The pickle they included though, was the worst pickle I've ever eaten! It was so sour and had no crunch. I was surprised how even though they squished everything together on the plate, the different items didn't combine, the coleslaw didn't make the roll soggy and the fries didn't heat up the lobster to a gross temperature! Nicely executed.

Food: 3.5/5 - Lives up to the popularity.
Decor: 2/5 - Pretty nice nook in the market but definitely squishy
Service: 3/5 - Pretty quick, food-truck style for sure.
Likeliness to come back: 3/5 - If you don't mind the prices, there's a nice variety of seafood to try here! I don't think it's something you crave like sushi though.
Overall: 3/5
Website: http://bustersseacove.ca