Last Friday, the Fiance and I had our first dance class in preparation for our First Dance. On our way out the door, we began to review options for dinner. Neither of us wanted to cook, the weekend ahead was full of Chinese food and I wasn’t craving anything after a big Japanese lunch. When he asked “What about steak?” I knew I was marrying the right man.

Atmosphere: For a standalone steakhouse in Scarborough, I expected Smith Bros to be more of homey, hole in the wall type restaurant. Instead, the restaurant was more Jack Astors, The Keg, located next to a Boston Pizza. The interior was dark with lots of wood and leather. A lounge, bar, waiting area was open for diners to grab a drink before while waiting for their table. We didn’t have a reservation and was seated within 10 minutes. Diners ranged from families celebrating birthdays to couples on dates, and the dress code varied as much. Originally, I was wearing leggings and a sweatshirt (ready for dance class), and I was glad I changed into a dress.

Service: From the host to our server, service at Smith Bros was friendly and efficient. Nothing remarkable happened during our meal but we felt welcomed and taken care of. The host walked around the dining area and personally checked in on all of the tables. I may have confused our server. Initially I ordered my steak medium, then changed it to medium rare and the steak arrived medium. The meat was still tender and delicious, so I had no issues.

Food: Starting with drinks, I choose the beer sampler, 4 mini glasses for $7. This was a great value and I had a different beer for each course. Between the two of us, The Fiance and I tried all 3 of the Premium Smith Bros Draughts. All three beers were crisp and refreshing with the red being our favourite.

The Fiance ordered a bowl of Mussels and the 14 oz Ribeye cooked to medium. I went with a 10 oz Striploin set meal, a “Complete”, that came with a choice of appetizer and dessert. For the appetizer, I went with the classic Caesar Salad and the Orange Chocolate Mousse for dessert. I was so tempted by the All You Can Eat Mussels and Fries for only $19, a deal I will come back for. I settled for sharing a single bowl of the PEI mussels, steamed with Smith Bros Lager, shallots and parsley. The mussels were fresh, flavourful and the broth simple but rich. Most of our bread was used to soak up the broth. My caesar salad arrived dressed with a smattering of cheese and croutons. I would’ve liked a few more croutons but the dressing was creamy and the the lettuce crisp.

Each steak order came with a choice of steak sauce and side. I chose the Peppercorn Cream sauce with a Baked Potato while The Fiance chose the Crumbled Bacon & Bourbon with Matchstick Fries. Between the two sauces, we both preferred the peppercorn, that was rich and had lots of peppery flavour. The crumbled bacon and bourbon was basically just gravy and it was hard to taste the bacon. For the sides, while I did enjoy my baked potato with chives and sour cream, the matchstick fries were perfect.

Now the steaks. All bells and whistles aside, Smith Bros plates a decent steak. While I expected my striploin to be lean, The Fiance’s ribeye was also lean with little marbling. This was a little disappointing but, the meat was very tender and juicy. The char on the outside was well-done and seared in the meaty flavour. Our bill came to just over $100 before tip and for the quality and quantity of food, it was a good value compared to similar steakhouses. My dessert of orange-chocolate mousse tasted exactly like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange, therefore perfect.

Opened late this summer, Dakgogi is another North York restaurant specializing in Korean Fried Chicken. The Fiance and I stopped by on a Thursday to indulge in some fried goodness and a pitcher of beer. We were the only diners until another couple walked in at the tail end of our meal, which was surprising because we thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

Service was friendly and we didn’t have any issues ordering in English. I liked the chickens painted on the wall and the cute hand drawn ones on the menu. Our order was simple, choosing to go with the Large Combo that comes with a whole fried chicken and pitcher of beer for $37.99. We decided to split our order with half plain and half with Korean sauce. Between the two, I liked the Korean sauce while The Fiance prefered the plain ones.

Before the chicken arrived, a complimentary cabbage salad was served. The raw cabbage was refreshing and cleared the palate but there was a lot of thousand island dressing. A combo platter could easily have fed 3-4 people with an appetizer. The chicken itself was crispy and the batter tasty. Dakgogi’s beer selection was simple but growing. Currently they offer 905 Lager and San Miguel in addition to domestic brands.

I’m not sure why the restaurant was so empty when there’s lines outside the Fry just a couple of blocks south. It may be the location in between condo buildings that there’s a dip in foot traffic, but if you’re craving KFC, Dakgogi deserves a visit. With 1/2 priced wings on Mondays and Tuesday, it’s a great time to check them out.

During university, going out for cheap wings with friends were a monthly, if not weekly meal. Now, it’s more of an indulgence and it’s harder to schedule with work and family commitments. I’m lucky to have a group of friends who all live in the North York area and enjoy eating. We met up at St. Louis on a Tuesday to take advantage of their half priced chicken wing special.

Atmosphere: The St. Louis location in North York is made up of two restaurants. There’s a normal St. Louis on the first floor, and the second floor is called The Lounge with more seating, a nice patio and louder music. The Lounge serves the same menu as downstairs and offers the same specials. There’s lot of TVs with sports and the tables are packed together. If you’re stopping by on a Tuesday, get there before 7pm. Our group was second in line and it was only a 10 minute wait for a table. As we were leaving at 9pm, the line snaked all the way down the stairs and out the door.

Service: Our service wasn’t terrible but it also wasn’t great. At first our group was split between two tables of 4 that were diagonal from each other. When a table cleared up next to one of them, we were able to move easily and the servers were helpful. It was a busy night and it was hard to flag someone down. I felt the service was a bit disorganized and not the most efficient.

Food: When the baskets of wings arrived, I took out my camera and all of my friends snickered. “Are you going to take the same picture of each basket of wings?” they asked. I had to oblige once the challenge was put forth (I’m only posting 6 though, the other two baskets were more fry than wing).

St. Louis runs specials every day of the week but the Tuesday offer is the best value for wings. With a drink order, 1lb and 2lb wings orders are half priced from 4pm to close, making the price/pound being $8 after tax and tip. I am also a big fan of St. Louis’ fries and their signature garlic dill sauce, going through a good package-2 per basket.

For wing flavours, we tried the plain, lemon pepper, cajun, medium dry, hot and honey, Caribbean jerk, chili lime and honey garlic. In general, I liked the dry spice wings better than the saucey ones. Of the dry flavours, my favourite was the lemon pepper. The acidity was crisp and the spice from the pepper was light. Between the three sweet flavours, I had a hard time telling them apart. All of them were fine and none stood out as amazing. I really liked the Cajun and the Caribbean jerk was my least favourite. Each chicken wing was small to medium sized and there was an even ratio of drumstick to wing. I was full after 6 or 7 wings while the boys at the table had a few more. Each basket came with ~8 wings.

At the end of the night, our bill came to $15/head which was a great deal.

During university, Baldwin St. was one of my favourite places in Toronto. After a year of living on adjoining Beverley St., I basically knew every restaurant menu by heart. Since then, the street has evolved with many exciting new restaurants calling it home such as Kinton Ramen and Noodle Face Co, next to familiar favourites like Konnichiwa. My friend and I had a tough time deciding where to eat with all the new options. We settled on Agave y Agucate with no reservations, walking in around 7pm.

I also forgot my camera, apologies for the terrible picture quality. I’ll just have to go back to take better ones.

Atmosphere: Agave has taken over both the ground and top floor of a house on Baldwin St. The majority of tables are located up a narrow staircase on the second floor along with the washrooms. The layout of the first floor includes the bar and a single long bench along the wall with circular tables at intervals. The upstairs dining room was fully booked so we tried to get comfortable on the bench. It was awkward, you have to either sit on the bench, with you back on the wall and crane your neck to talk to your date or have your body twisted at the waist. I ended up sitting half crossed legged, which for a long meal would not be preferred. I loved the 90’s music that played all night and the lighting was dark. The walls were painted rich colours that added to the intimate feel.

Service: The girl who took care of our table was very professional and friendly. She recommended items on the menu, made sure our waters were refilled and was quick to clear empty plates. This was appreciated as the table surface area was small. The tapas style dishes came out in pairs, which was great as it allowed us to sample the plates concurrently and switch back and forth.

Food: To start, I need to recommend the Stiegl Grapefruit beer. It’s amazing. My friend and I split three beers that night including two Stiegl’s and if it hadn’t been a weekday, I could’ve easily drunk my weight in the grapefruit beer. It has a strong citrus flavour but not overly sweet and so refreshing. This is now the drink I will look for on any menu.

As for food, we ordered 5 dishes to split. The first to arrive were the Ceviche Verde and Chile Poblano Relleno, a blistered pepper stuffed with guacamole and pineapple, topped with pickled vegetables with a tomato sauce. The ceviche that night was cod and served with avocado and tortilla chips. The texture of the fish was firm and the colour was opaque. I thought the balance between the sourness and sweetness was perfect in tandem with the chips and avocado. The pepper had a nice spicy kick but was mellowed by the avocado and pineapple. Again, each bite had components of sweetness, spiciness and sourness from the tomatoes and pineapple, that was perfect.

Next up was the Chileajo, mixed vegetables and lentils tossed in a guajillo pepper sauce, and the Tostada de Tinga, pulled poached chicken in a chorizo, tomato, piquin and chipotle pepper sauce served on a tostada with black beans, avocado cream and pickled red onions (phew). Between these two, I prefered the Tostada de Tinga more. I liked the different textures of crunchy and creamy and the layers of flavour. The lentils in the Chileajo had a nice crunch but the dish was on the saltier side. We ended the night with Albondigas Estilo Guanajuats, meatballs poached in a chipotle sauce and served over black beans. The meatballs were loosely packed, juicy and a great final dish. Five dishes between two people turned out to be more than enough and we both left with our belts feeling a bit tighter.

Looking back, I should’ve planned the night better. Barhop on a Friday night is packed even at 8pm. I thought we would hit the sweet spot between after dinner rush and pre bar hoppers, this was not the case. Every table was packed, along with all the bar seats and basically every square feet had a person. I wanted to try their drink menu though so we put a name down on the chalkboard and made ourselves as comfortable as we could with half a ledge and two stools between the five of us.

Their drink menu is extensive with 30+ beers on tap, 2 cask beers and pages and pages of canned/bottled choices. There’s also a wide selection of gluten-free ciders and seasonal drinks. I went with a flight of four 5oz samples before settling on pints of a Belgian pale ale. Our server was helpful with recommendations and patiently waited while we were overwhelmed by the selection. All of our drinks arrived quickly and we did eventually get some seats by the front window.

Barhop’s a lot cosier and relaxed than the other beer “gastropubs” in town. It would be easy to spend a night exploring their menu or enjoying hard to find favourites. Go early though, because those tables are golden and it seemed like most patrons settle in early for the night. They also have mussel specials on Mondays and $1 shuck oyster nights on Tuesdays.

Beer Bistro is one of my go-to restaurants in the financial district because of it’s great location (right at King and Yonge, King TTC station) strong food menu and of course their vast beer selection. I stopped by this year on St. Patrick’s day for a few drinks and real food before heading off to more “Irish” venue.

A great option for trying out beer flavours if the “flight”, which includes any 3 samples from their extensive draught menu. The servers are helpful and knowledgeable with recommending choices and I love how the draught menu is categorized based on flavour profile. My usual order is something from each of the “fruity”, “quenching” and “crisp” categories. You can also order by the bottle, and there is even more variety.

Since this was our first stop of the day while waiting for the rest of our group and everyone had already eaten breakfast, we only ordered a few items from the food menu. Beer Bistro does offer a brunch menu on the weekends from 11am to 4pm  with a selection of different toppings with eggs benedict. On this visit, we ordered the fries  cooked in duck fat, kobe beef tacos and cheese and lager fondue.

I always order the side of fries, they’re crispy and savoury (from the duck fat) and comes with smoked ketchup and fresh mayonnaise. The beef tacos had heat and were great to split between people, but weren’t amazing. I really enjoyed the cheese fondue, the flavour was light and not overpowering. The texture could have been creamier and the bread pieces weren’t toasted. My usual dinner order is a mussel bowl and several loaves of the sourdough bread it comes with to soak up as much sauce as possible. I would happily lick the bowl clean after each visit. Beer Bistro strives to incorporate beer in all of their menu items, including dessert. I’m a big fan of their homemade “Beer Scream” and Creme Brulee, both options are a sweet end to the night.