When The Fiance and I graduated from university, a group of mutual friends planned to celebrated with dinner at Harbour Sixty. Then we looked at the menu and realized that as new grads, the steak was a little out of our budget. Now, being employed, one of the best perks is being able to splurge on a meal. Since steak is one The Fiance’s favourite foods, I made reservations at Harbour Sixty for his birthday this year.

Atmosphere: Harbour Sixty’s decor was classy and traditional. There was a lot of big armchairs, heavy tables, wall sconces, brocade and leather. It’s the kind of restaurant that makes me worry I’ve used the wrong fork. Luckily, their friendly service offsets the intimidation. Our dinner was before a leafs game so diners were more relaxed and there were as many people in Leaf’s Jerseys as suits. Many of the diners were regulars and greeted with familiarity. Overall, Harbour Sixty felt fancy, but comfortable. One day, I’ll be a regular, one day.

Service: First off, valet parking was default. That night, we were driving my 10 year old Honda Civic that has a few dents, a perpetual engine light and likes to hum when the headlights are off. Needless to say, next to the Benzs, Lamborghinis and Jaguars, I felt a little out of place. However, service was impeccable and the valet attendants were efficient and professional.

Once seated, our server was friendly and checked in on us throughout the meal. I had a hard time choosing a wine and our server offered lots of suggestions and picked one to my preferences. When our sides and steaks arrived, the mashed potatoes were served onto the plate for us. At the end of our meal, the busboys were efficient, quickly cleared dishes and packed away our food in a heavy paper shopping bag.

Food: As usual, we ordered too much food. This time though, I learned and took half my steak home rather than stuff myself. The meal started with bread, a whipped herb butter and three side dishes. There were olives, pickled peppers with feta and a parmesan couscous. Of the three, I liked the couscous best followed by the olives, the peppers were too sour for me.

For our sides, we chose the lobster mashed potatoes and truffle oil fries. The thin fries were good, garnished with a sprig of fresh rosemary, two slices of parmesan cheese and a light touch of truffle oil. My heart was won over by the mashed potatoes. That little tin of heaven was buttery, creamy with lots of lobster and topped with baked brie. Who needs roasted vegetables? If you’re ordering a side, get the mashed potatoes.

The Fiance ordered the bone in rib steak while I stuck with the traditional ribeye. We both chose medium and between the two steaks, mine was the fattier cut. I really enjoyed the spice rub, which we’re guessing contained paprika and the fat was rendered beautifully. The steak of juicy, well spiced and expertly prepared.

While The Fiance does make a great steak at home, I do still enjoy eating out at steakhouses for special occasions. Harbour Sixty was an intimate restaurant with excellent service whose spice rub inspired our next home-cooked steak. I would stick to ribeye and one steak with two sides would be plenty to feed two people.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been craving a good burger. With no time during the week to run to Burger’s Priest or Holy Chuck, I looked for options outside of the city and found Fresh Burger in Richmond Hill. The uptown location was a perfect lunch stop between Saturday errands.

Atmosphere: Fresh Burger is located in a strip mall next to a Tim Horton’s. The walls are painted a bright red and menus are prominently displayed. For a burger joint, there’s lots of seating with tables and a bar along one window. Decor is simple and clean. We arrived at noon, just after they opened and were the first customers. There was a steady stream of customers during the time we were there.

Service: Walking up to the counter, the Fiance and I took a bit of time to talk through our options. We wanted to maximize our burger experience. The person manning the counter (the owner?) patiently waited for us to be ready and answered our questions. Once we’d placed our orders, utensils, napkins and drinks in an open refrigerator were self serve. We grabbed an empty table and our order was ready after a short wait.

Food: The burger was fresh off the grill. As soon as our order was placed, the cooks started on the patties. I had the Fresh Burger combo topped with onions, pickles and sauteed jalapenos, and an upgraded poutine side. The Fiance ordered the 14oz Double Prime Burger. His was a big burger, even the bun itself was a good inch wider than mine. It was a midday nap inducing burger, delicious.

My fresh burger had a wonderful, warm toasted bun, melted cheese and a loosely packed patty. Both our burgers were super juicy and required more than a couple of napkins. I loved that the sauteed jalapenos were actually really spicy. There’s been a times when I’ve added a “spicy” topping to my burger only to be disappointed with the level of heat. Fresh burger did not dilute anything. It was hot and amazing. I also really liked their pickles, that were again really flavourful. My taste buds only picked up a slight difference in flavour between the prime and normal patty. The prime one was a bit meatier but I wouldn’t have a preference between the two.

My poutine was great, simple and with generous helpings of hot gravy and cheese curds. With the temperature of the gravy, the cheese curds melted nicely and pulling the crispy fries apart created long strings of cheesy goodness. I would highly recommend upgrading the combo.