We wandered directly across the street and saw a pub with a sandwich board outside the open door announcing: Riverside Public House Now Open. I love a public house and was ready to walk in the door but Molly was a bit more hesitant. She looked in the open windows not seeing anyone sitting at the street side tables but then when we looked to the dining area at the back we saw several customers eating dinner and decided we could definitely go in and check it out.
(Image courtesy of Megan Leahy for Toronto Life Magazine)
This place is AWESOME. I immediately loved it! The bar is located in the centre of the room with stools all around it. There is this really funky, totally restored, old skool phone booth built-in to the east side wall complete with beautifully refinished dark wood. Exposed brick interior walls and high ceilings are a definite love of mine and the Riverside has them both. The atmosphere of the place is warm and casual and the staff outstandingly friendly and fun! We were chatting with Steve, our bartender, who told us that that was one of the first nights they were open with their official 'Grand Opening' was still about two weeks away.
If you look behind Steve in this picture you can see the phone booth!
We stayed for a couple of drinks and while we were waiting to hear from Ruby Watchco's our friend Debbie let us know that she was on her way to come meet us for dinner. Since we now needed a table for 3, we decided to see if we could get a last minute reservation at Table 17 just a few buildings east of Ruby Watchco's and we were successful.
Then I got my superstar thrill of the weekend: walking out of the kitchen, who do I see, but Dustin Gallagher ... my FAVOURITE contestant on Top Chef Canada Season 1. I was so excited, I could hardly explain to Molly who he was. I really thought he should have won! Molly is not obsessed with Food Network like I am so we googled Dusty and Top Chef Canada so she could get some deets about the show & the chef.
We had a few more drinks and paid our tab, promised Steve we'd be back later (even though he tried to convince us to eat at Riverside, especially now that we knew who the chef is!) but we already had the reservation at Table 17. Deb had not arrived yet, and since she is directionally challenged we recommended that she grab a cab and let the driver figure out how to get her to Queen Street east of Broadview!
Table 17 is very classy, nice upscale restaurant. The atmosphere is modern and warm and the menu is focused on local, seasonal, modern European dining. This is the 'bread table' on the centre island in the dining room with a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers. Our kiwi waiter (whom we played a game of guess the waiter's name) was friendly although a little pre-occupied with a large party.
Since Deb had not yet arrived, Molly and I decided to share an appetizer while we were waiting, and you know I'm not going to pass up something called "Hot Balls"!! And hence began my obsession with arancio (a.k.a.: arancini, arangini or simply 'rice balls'!). The Hot Balls at Table 17 come in three varieties: mushroom and fontina cheese, goat cheese and spiced lamb. The mushroom/fontina and the spiced lamb are stuffed in risotto (the authentic Italian way of making arancini), breaded and deep fried whereas the goat cheese is just breaded and fried; no risotto.
Each of the three varieties comes with its own dipping sauce (mint sauce for the lamb on the left; wildflower honey for the goat cheese in the centre; and I don't remember what for the mushroom/fontina on the right). My favourite was the mushroom and fontina ones whereas Molly's favourite was the spiced lamb. Both were exceptional! The goat cheese was both of our least favourite -- they were good, but just not our faves and I found with the honey the flavour was too sweet. They were better with out dipping!
Deb finally arrived but she was only drinking not eating (perhaps she has been diagnosed with drunkorexia like me!) so Molly and I proceeded to dinner.
I honestly don't remember what Molly ordered but this is what it looked like:
It might have been the Cavetelli but I honestly don't remember and this clearly is not the best photo (the effects of the drinks might have been starting to kick in!). I had the steak frites. It was fine. It was steak and fries. Good but nothing special. As I recall, the wine was pretty good though!
We left Table 17 and went next door to the Rasputin Vodka Bar. There is a no shortage of vodka in this place but there is a shortage of friendly service! The bartender was rude and completely unfriendly. We were trying to get some information from her on the differences in the vodka and were asking questions but she clearly did not want to spend any time talking to three women. I can understand if the bar was packed but we were the only patrons sitting at the bar.
I was trying to get our reflection in the mirror but all you can see are the bottles and bottles of vodka!
All three of us like a variety of vodka cocktails and we easily could have dropped a wad of cash in this place, but due to the lack of service we had one drink and left, which is unfortunate since its a pretty cool joint with a interesting atmosphere, good tunes and what could have been a fun vibe.
No worries though. We were not disappointed to hit up the Riverside Public House again. Soon enough we saw Dusty come out of the kitchen again and he joined a table of young guys sitting at the front window. A short while later, when he walked by us, I stopped him to tell him how much I enjoyed him on the show and we had tons of questions about the filming and the experience. He couldn't have been sweeter or nicer to us, and if you know the show, you will recall Dusty was the chef who was always smiling ... literally always! And he is no different in person. He was smiling and laughing and just such a nice guy. Stupidly I didn't snap our picture together ... I guess I was too star struck! But here is Molly giving us her best movie star look to make up for me not getting a photo with the chef!
We had such a great night. We had some good food, lots of drinks and laughs and I got to meet a TV star! Deb even had a wardrobe malfunction but luckily for her no one was snapping any pictures at the moment (and Steve was definitely not complaining!)!! Here she is looking perfectly angelic and not at all the little devil she is in person!
After heading back to Molly's, Deb pulled out some totally old-skool boxes of Cracker Jacks complete with cracker jack comic prizes. Who knew I still love Cracker Jacks? Perhaps it was the booze talking but whatever, we mowed that down like we hadn't eaten in days. The end of our second super fun, great day in Toronto and off I headed to bed ... needed my sleep in preparation for the Beer Festival tomorrow!
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