Road Tips

Mascot Brewery - Etobicoke, ON

I got into Toronto late in the afternoon during a recent trip up there.  I was on my own that evening as my colleague from Montreal was driving in later, and my colleague from France - who was on a France-Australia-Los Angeles-Toronto-France around-the-world trip - wasn't due from in L.A. until around 10:30 that evening.  I had it in my mind to find a brewpub for dinner that evening.  I ended up Uber-ing to one place near my hotel for dinner and some beers (more on that later on), but it turned out that only it had food at its downtown Toronto location.  However, the people at that microbrewery steered me to another place that they knew had craft beer and food - Mascot Brewery.  After getting another Uber to pick me up, I took off to head over to Mascot Brewery.  

Aaron Prothro is a native of Nova Scotia who moved to Toronto as a young man full of ambition, but really no clue as to what he really wanted to do.  Prothro was an athlete and worked out at a local fitness center.  He eventually got a job at the fitness center as a personal trainer and competed in local body-building championships.  

But he also had an interest in the hospitality industry and had some conceptual ideas of the kind of place that he'd like to run - a chic little restaurant with seasonal menu items and an extensive wine list.  Oh!  And a second-story bar above the restaurant that would feature artisanal drinks and a D.J. with a thumping sound system.  That dream of Prothro's came true when he opened Nyood Restaurant and Bar in February of 2008.  

While owning and running Nyood, Prothro and a friend came up with another concept - F-Stop - an EDM (electronic dance music) and hip-hop dance club.  But there was something brewing - literally - in his mind.  He became immersed in the craft beer community and as a black man he noticed the inclusivity and the laid-back vibe the growing craft beer scene was in Toronto.

Pictured right -  Aaron Prothro.  Photo courtesy Mascot Brewery Facebook page. 

Prothro especially liked the fact that craft beer seemed to bring people together and not try to divide them.  He didn't like the technical jargon that some microbreweries used to describe their beers and wanted a place where plain-speak in his beer's descriptions was the norm.   And he wanted a brewpub where people could gather and just chill out.  

Aaron Prothro sold his interests in Nyood and F-Stop to work on getting his concept of a brewery and taproom up and running.  He found a space in downtown Toronto and in May of 2015 he opened Mascot Brewery - the first black-owned brewery in Canada.  The original location for Mascot Brewery was on Mercer Street in downtown Toronto, but they moved to their present location on King Street West in 2019.  

Also in 2019, Prothro announced they would open up a second location in suburban Etobicoke complete with a brewing facility, tap room, patio and event space, along with a restaurant in collaboration with Matt Basile who owned the popular Fidel Gastro food truck.  The pandemic slowed down the progress of the buildout and the new Mastro Brewery location finally opened in June of 2021.  

As I said earlier, I set out to go to a brewpub that I thought had food.  The Uber driver dropped me off in front of Great Lakes Brewery (see map) and when I walked in, I sort of suspected that they didn't have a kitchen there.  After sitting down at the bar and ordering a beer, I asked the bartender if they had food.  "No, sorry," she said.  "Our downtown location does, but we don't.  This is our tap room and retail location."   They had a number of beers on tap, and cans of beers for sale in a refrigerator near a wall of wearables that were also for sale.  

But I ended up hanging out there for a couple beers talking with the two bartenders who turned out to be wonderful people.  Canada "Nice" people.  They had a couple hazy IPA's on tap and I tried them both.  I ended up getting the HazeMama New England-style IPA that is one of their year-round beers.  The place wasn't all that busy and I visited with the bartenders who were intrigued that a guy from Iowa had found their tap room.  They were also very helpful in their suggestion of a nearby brewpub that had food - which turned out to be Mascot Brewery.  

Getting an Uber from Great Lakes Brewery turned out to be a bit of a challenge as there was a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey match starting just down the nearby Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto.  It turned out that I had time for one more beer waiting for my Uber ride to show up.  As I said, it was a slow evening and the bartenders were happy for the company.  And they had great music playing in the background from artists such as Onra, The Herbaliser, and Ólafur Arnalds with Bonobo.  

Once the Uber driver showed up, it turned out to be less than a 10 minute ride through residential streets of suburban Toronto to the Mascot Brewery.  (see map)   I found an industrial building which housed some other businesses including a little coffee shop.  Mascot Brewery was toward the back of the building with a very nice wood-facade corner beer garden in front of the building.

Opening the door to Mascot Brewery, I found a small bar area with a concrete-faced bar and room for five or six chairs.  There were some tables in the bar area where some people were seated.  Music from the likes of Bob Marley, Jack Johnson and Red Hot Chili Peppers played on the sound system.  I immediately liked the laid-back vibe of the place. 

 
The on-tap brew menu was on the wall just to the left of the bar and very prominent when you walk into the small bar area.  There was no one behind the bar and I wondered if there was a dining area in the place.  

Just past the bar was a larger room with a larger bar.  There were a few people seated in this spacious room, but the bar was also unmanned.  A large garage door that opened onto the beer patio was the prominent feature of the beer hall.  

A guy came out of nowhere and asked if I needed any help.  I told him that I was looking for some beer and some food.  He said, "You came to the right place!"  I asked him if I could just sit at the bar and he said, "Yeah, I'm in the other room tonight.  We don't have this bar up and running tonight."  

Back in the smaller bar room, I took a seat at the bar.  The bartender's name was Ben and he turned out to be a great guy.  He gave me a food menu to look through and I wanted to know what they had for a hazy IPA that evening.  They had 16 beers on tap when I was there and Ben told me that that their hazy IPA was called the Juicy J.  I tried a sample and immediately signed up for a pint of that after a quick tasting.  

The menu at Mascot Brewery wasn't long, but it was certainly interesting.  They had grilled octopus on the menu that certainly caught my eye.  There was a fennel sausage and rapini dish, as well as a braised short rib served with fresh horseradish.  All three of those sounded great.  Appetizers included wings, charred Brussels sprouts, and "Bang-Bang" cauliflower bites.  And they had other items such as jerk chicken tacos, a chicken Katsu sandwich, and a beer-braised bratwurst plate.  

I really considered getting the grilled octopus - I just love grilled octopus.  But I ended up getting the Oklahoma-style (cooked with onions on a flat grill) smash burger with mild cheddar cheese and bacon.  A side of fries came with the burger.  The burger, itself, was very good.  It had the very crispy edge that you get with good smash burgers.  The cheese oozed out of the burger with each bite, and the grilled onions offered a great flavor complement to the crispy bacon on the burger.  I had absolutely no complaints with the burger.

The fries were also very good - while they weren't all that crisp on the outside, they had a wonderful flavor like they had been cooked in beef tallow.  The fries were delicious on their own.  

I had told Ben of my odyssey that brought me to Mascot Brewery that evening.  I told him that I like to find brewpubs during my travels.  "There's a lot of excellent brewpubs in the area," Ben told me.  And he proceeded to give me a handwritten list of some of his favorites that he suggested I try.  He had listed Rainhard and Shacklands breweries at the top of his list.  "They're next door to one another, probably about a 15 minute drive from here," Ben told me.  "Great beers, great people."  

He also mentioned and listed Blood Brothers Brewing which was northwest of downtown Toronto; along with Henderson Brewing Company that collaborated with the Toronto-based rockers Rush for a series of Rush-themed beers.  (I've had the Rush golden lager and it's a very good beer.)  Closing out his list, he had written down Halo Brewing which was just west of downtown Toronto; and finally he listed Nickle Brook Brewing Company, a brewery in Burlington, ON near Hamilton.  "Nickle Brook has a taproom just down the street from Great Lakes," Ben told me.  "I really like their beers.  They have a stout that I really like."  

I told Ben that I was in town for a trade show and I really didn't know if I would have time to get around to any of the breweries he had listed.  He said, "Well, hang on to this and when you come back you can check 'em out on your next visit."  I didn't know if I would be back in Toronto anytime soon, but it's a guess I'll be back next fall for the trade show.

It was past 9 p.m. and I figured I'd had enough and it was time to get an Uber to get back to my hotel.  However, I was having trouble getting a signal from Bell Canada on my phone outside Mascot to use the Uber app.  I had to go back in and get the wi-fi password from Ben to be able to get the Uber app to work.  He was more than helpful and commiserated with me on the pitfalls of having Bell Canada as a service provider.  

I was actually sort of sad when the Uber showed up at Mascot Brewing to take me back to the hotel.  The me of 20 years ago would have been taking the Uber to the next craft brewery on the list instead of heading back to the hotel.  But I knew we had a long day coming up and it was time to get back to the hotel to rest up.  But what a fun night this was!  I was able to go to two craft breweries in the Toronto area and have some good beers at both places served by typically friendly Canadians.  And the smash burger and fries I had at Mascot Brewing was a spot-hitter, to say the least.  I put the list of breweries that Ben gave me on my Google Maps of "Restaurants to Visit" listing for when I do eventually make it back to Toronto at some point.  But until then, I'll have great memories of visiting both Great Lakes Brewing and Mascot Brewing on this trip to Toronto.  

Tandoori Masala - Etobicoke, ON

In Toronto for a trade show earlier this fall, my colleague from France and I were on our own for dinner one evening.  There are so many Indian restaurants in the Toronto area that you can't swing a cat by the tail without hitting one.  And because of that, they're all pretty good.  I convinced my European colleague to join me for dinner at one that was about a 10 minute Uber ride from our hotel, a restaurant by the name of Tandoori Masala.  

Tandoori Masala is actually found in two locations in the greater Toronto area.  The Brampton location opened in 2018 and the Etobicoke location opened in 2023.  Both locations are combination restaurant/nightclubs and open until 5 a.m.  But that seems to be the norm with the Indian restaurants around the Toronto area.  

The trade show got over about 6 p.m. and by 6:30 we were on our way to Tandoori Masala which is located in a strip mall along Queens Plate Drive near where Ontario Highway 27 and Rexdale Boulevard meet up.  (see map)  Before we walked inside, my colleague looked at the restaurant's closing times on the door and he said in a hesitant manner, "What kind of restaurant closes at 5 a.m.?"  I told him, "I've found that a lot of Indian restaurants in the Toronto area stay open that late!" (or that early)  In fact, the original Tandoori Masala used to stay open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

To the left as you walk into Tandoori Masala, there was a small den/lounge area for people to gather.  There was a spot for people to take off their shoes and literally climb over the short backrest into the rectangular den.  It was very South Asian in the feel of the space.  There wasn't a lot of people in the place when we got there - I think there were two other tables that were occupied in the restaurant.  And they only had one young man working as a server, so things were a bit slow while we were there.  

The "Funky Desi" decor continued into the main dining area with a number of decorative light diffusers over lighting on the ceiling.  A small bar toward the front of the had rows of LED light ropes that changed colors about every ten seconds or so.  And while other Indian restaurants I've been to that have flatscreen televisions on the wall that will play Indian movies, cricket matches, or Funky Desi music videos, the four television monitors at Tandoori Masala had rotating pictures of specialty drinks and cocktails on them.  


The LED lights on the front of the bar changed from red, to green, to blue.  And they were bright.  I sat on a banquette seat bench looking toward the bar for dinner and I have to say that it was kind of disconcerting after a while.  But it had a night club feeling to the place and there was Desi and Punjabi music from artists such as Satinder Sartaaj, Tegi Pannu, Manni Sandhu, and Amrit Maan playing in the background.  Not loud, but noticeable enough.   

We were brought out an offering of a couple crisp papadum wafers with a dual container of plum sauce (which had a spicy kick) and mint chutney (which did not).  I was parched and needed a cold beer and I asked our young server if they had Kingfisher.  "Kingfisher," he asked back.  "Kingfisher, yes sir."  Knowing how long it took him to get to our table in the first place, I immediately ordered two knowing that the first one was probably going to be gone in under five minutes.  

My colleague from France doesn't drink alcohol - not even French wine!  He's not religious, but more of a health nut who gave up drinking a number of years ago.  He stuck with water throughout our stay.  But because of the "nightclub" vibe Tandoori Masala gave off, they did feature a full bar with liquor, wine, beer, boozy shakes and "shooters" available to order. 

To say that Tandoori Masala has an extensive menu is an understatement.  It was like reading a large print novel from front to back as they had authentic Indian "street food" such as lamb-stuffed naan and a Bombay grilled sandwich made with spicy potatoes to start out.  Vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes proliferated the menu, along with noodle and pasta dishes (the pasta dishes turned out to be somewhat interesting to me), along with soups, appetizers, and a number of curry dishes.  True to their name, Tandoori Masala also had a wide selection of items with chicken, lamb and seafood made in a tandoori oven.  

The one dish that caught my eye was a mash-up of Indian and Italian cuisine - the butter chicken pasta.  I was intrigued by the meshing of the two cuisines - penne pasta tossed with a creamy butter chicken sauce.  I mean, it works with rice and noodles, why wouldn't Indian food work with pasta?  Everything else that I saw on the menu that I thought I would like to have, well, I could get that at basically any Indian restaurant that I've been to or going to be at in the future.  Indian food and pasta are two of my favorite types of food.  To complement the pasta and butter chicken dish, I got some garlic naan to go along with it.

I ordered mine as medium in spiciness, but the first couple bites I had told me that the chef's idea of medium and my idea of medium was a tad off.  I mean, it was spicy!  At least for the first three or four bites until my taste buds calmed down or warmed up or whatever they did to make the subsequent bites more palatable.  I killed two more Kingfisher beers during the meal to stave off the spiciness of the meal.  

And not that the spiciness detracted from the overall flavor of the butter chicken pasta - quite the opposite.  It was like the flavor of the butter chicken popped with each bite.  I was sitting there shaking my head and thinking, "Pasta with butter chicken.  Pasta with butter lamb."  Why didn't I think of it before this?  I wanted to go to our favorite little Indian place when I got back home and get some butter lamb or lamb saag to bring home and pair it with angel hair or tagliatelle pasta.  But what I had that evening, it was way too much food.  I had a bunch of pasta leftover by the time I threw in the towel.  

My friend doesn't like spicy food.  (We joke that he is the most boring Frenchman on the planet, but in all reality he's a great guy.)  He got the chicken tikka masala along with rice and some regular naan bread.  And he ordered the tikka masala as mild as the chef could make it.  It looked really good with a drizzle of cream mixed in along with some chopped parsley flakes.  But from his first bite, he was in trouble.  He started to sweat and said, "Wow!  This is spicy!"  I apologized for dragging him to the Indian restaurant and having his food turn out to be too spicy.  But he trudged through the meal continuing to mix the chicken tikka masala in with the rice, taking a bite, taking a drink of water, and then going, "Whoa!"

After a bit, I asked him if I could dip some of my garlic naan into the tikka masala sauce.  "Please do," he replied as he gestured toward the bowel.  I tore off a chunk of garlic naan and dipped it.  After I tasted it, well, I have to say that I didn't think it was spicy at all.  Then again, I had just tried about 10 to 12 bites of my butter chicken pasta that was going to be noticeably more spicy than the spiciness level of his tikka masala.  I guess I should have tried it earlier on as my taste buds had already wrapped themselves around the heat level of what I was eating.  But just like me, after a few bites my colleague had gotten use to the spicy nature of his tikka masala sauce and was happy with what he got.  

Other than my colleague thinking his chicken tikka marsala was too spicy for his liking, I have to say the meal I had at Tandoori Masala was excellent.  And in retrospect the next day, my friend said that he thought what he had was very good, too.  "Ooof..." he said in an exasperated manner.  "It was really spicy, though."  But his level of tolerance for spicy food is significantly lower than mine.  Tandoori Masala was a delightfully funky place, the butter chicken pasta dish that I had was surprisingly great, and the most important thing - they had Kingfisher beer !  But the service was pretty slow.  It didn't matter after we got our food, we had more than enough to keep us captivated for at least 20 minutes.  I'm just still amazed - pasta with Indian food!  It was just a great combination that I was so stupid to figure out until my visit to Tandoori Masala.   

Scenes from the Road

Fall has always been a busy travel time for me.  Since I'm now the North American sales manager for a company out of Germany, I've been doing a lot more flying than driving since Labor Day.  (And that will continue into December.)  My travel has taken me to far flung places such as Southern California, Toronto, Dallas-Fort Worth, and - just recently - Washington D.C.  Over the years, people ask me, "Man, it's great that you get to go to all these places."  But people who travel for a living know that it's not all that great - eating alone in a restaurant, waking up in a hotel room not knowing where you are, not being able to take in sights like a tourist, etc., etc.  But there are times when I'm able to catch moments with my camera that will make the business trip more memorable.  I've got a few photos that I've taken on my recent trips that I thought I'd share with you today.  

Business travel does have its perks - hotel and airline points, eating in good restaurants, meeting with clients and making new friends.  But most of the time, it's airport, rental car, hotel room, restaurant, meetings, restaurant, hotel room, meetings, restaurant, hotel room, airport and home.  I don't get to really go and do and see like I would want.  But every once in a while, I do take the time to take a step back and enjoy my surroundings.  

When I'm close to the ocean, I like to go near the water and clear my head.  In this case, on a trip earlier this fall to Southern California, it was actually going OVER the water and heading out to the Newport Beach Pier after I had lunch.  There was parking nearby and I was able to get out to the end of the pier to hang out for a while.  

While it was a sunny day and warm inland, there was a cool breeze coming off the water.  When I got out to the end of the pier, I noticed a number of fishermen who were dressed more for late fall in the Midwest than a sunny day in Southern California.  I was in a polo shirt and jeans, and it was a bit nippy.  But being able to smell the sea air and take in the sights of the beach up to Huntington Beach and down to just north of Laguna Beach gave me a moment of zen that I need from time to time.  And water always seems to be involved when I have moments of zen.  

For September, the weather was a little strange.  In the months of May and June, the California coast line is usually inundated with low clouds and misty precipitation.  "May gray and June gloom" are the terms residents use when they have to put up with dreary weather in the mornings in late Spring.  But by 11 a.m., the clouds burn off and it turns into a glorious day.  That's what happened every day I was out in Southern California.  Locals said it was highly irregular for that time of the year.  Each morning, it was fog, low clouds and misty rain.  You certainly couldn't see the Santa Ana mountains east of Orange County.

But in the afternoon when I would get back to the room, the day had turned sunny, warm and beautiful.  The Santa Ana mountains were majestic off in the distance.  Days like this in Southern California always remind me of the deadpan weatherman (played by George Plimpton) giving the forecast in the movie L.A. Story - "Sunny, 72."  

Whereas, the equally expressionless anchor in the movie (played by Sam McMurray) says, "The next forecast will be in three weeks."  I said, "Sunny, 72" many times while I was out in Southern California a few weeks ago.  

Of course, when you're in Southern California, you have to go to In-n-Out Burger.  I snuck away from the trade show one day and tried to get into one near the show venue.  But the line was literally out the door and the drive-thru had something like 25 cars in line.  (And I don't think I'm exaggerating.)  So, I got up the next morning and went to one near my hotel in nearby Irvine right when they opened at 10:30 a.m.  And I have to say that I was NOT the first customer in that location that morning.  By the way, when I was in Dallas recently, there was an In-n-Out Burger near my hotel, but I never went.  Quite honestly, I would probably go to a Whataburger if the two were side-by-side.  (And they were close together, but I didn't go to either one when I was in Texas.)    

And as a longtime Iowa sports fan, it's always good to see like-minded people when you're over 1000 miles away.  I saw this license plate in the parking lot of a brewpub I had lunch in one day.  Hawkeye fans are truly everywhere.  

I had to go back up to Toronto for a trade show in October and when I got off the plane, I was on the interminable walk from the gate at Toronto Pearson Airport to Canadian customs.  I was discombobulated with my directions last year and always thought that downtown Toronto was northeast of the airport.  Actually, it's southeast of the airport and as I looked to my left walking to customs, I saw the skyline of Toronto complete with the CN Tower, the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere.  The tower was the world's tallest free-standing structure from 1975 to 2007, and the world's largest tower until 2009.  Since 2007, 9 other free-standing buildings or towers have been built that have all surpassed the CN Tower in height.

Last year when I was in Toronto, my hotel room faced the west.  So this year, I asked for a room at the same hotel with a room that faced the east.  When I got settled into my room and when I opened the shades in the living room part of my hotel space, I saw this spectacular view of the near-full moon rising over Toronto.  Pictures from the camera phone doesn't do justice of the remarkable vista, but it's still not that bad of a pic.   

Speaking of remarkable pics, nearly every morning had a glorious and colorful view of the pre-rising sun coming up over downtown Toronto.  (You can click on the pictures to make them larger.)  The clouds over Lake Erie to the south and east of downtown Toronto gave the sunrise a spectacular color scheme.  It was mornings like these that helped make the time away from home a bit more bearable.    

When I stayed in the same hotel near the airport last year, I had a view of a large transport plane that was sitting on the tarmac.  When my colleague from Europe and I were walking from our hotel to the hotel near the airport where the trade show was being held, I remarked that the plane was still there.  "It's Russian," I said.  "I can tell by the flag.  I wonder if it's been seized by the Canadian government after Russia invaded Ukraine." 

We were out to dinner that evening and I looked it up on my phone.  The plane - an Antonov an-124 super freighter aircraft - landed on February 27, 2022 loaded with COVID 19 supplies from Europe.  The next day, the Canadian Transportation Agency closed all air space to Russian aircraft due to Russia's incursion into Ukraine.  Two months later, the Canadian government started proceedings to seize the plane and convert the assets into proceeds for the Ukrainian government. 

However, that hasn't happened.  The plane has been parked for just over 1000 days - 1007 days, to be exact.  And the airport has been charging the plane's Russian owners - Volga-Dnepr Airlines - about $1100 Canadian dollars ($770 USD) a day since.  The total is now over $1.1 million Canadian dollars and about $775,000 in U.S. dollars.  Nothing has happened in terms of selling the seized plane or handing it over to the Ukrainian government, and it's been sitting so long on the tarmac that it's easily seen in satellite photos that are shown on Google Earth.  The Antonov an-124 entered service in 1986 and there were just 55 built.  25 remain in operation around the world - not counting the one still sitting in Canada.  The an-124 is the largest heavy-lift airplane in the world.  The previous largest - the Antonov an-225 - was destroyed in the opening days of the Russian/Ukraine war as it was being outfitted with new engines at an airport just outside of Kyiv.  Only one of the Antonov an-225's were built and it could carry a payload twice the amount a Boeing 747 cargo plane can carry.   

One funny picture picture that I got while staying at my hotel in Toronto was the one below right.  Marijuana is legal across Canada, but can't be smoked in public buildings including hotels, restaurants and other places that outlaw smoking tobacco.  And these signs were just outside the front door of hotel.  

And being a Hilton Lifetime Diamond member, the hotel had a goody bag for me when I checked in.  Two of the treats were these Nestle Aero bars that are only available in Canada.  Now, if I had smoked pot when I was there (I didn't) those candy bars would have been gone in 30 seconds.  But even without the help of marijuana, I devoured the first of the two candy bars upon arrival into my room since I hadn't had anything to eat all day long.  I've found over the years that there are many types of snacks (like ketchup potato chips) that are available in Canada, but not in the U.S.  These Aero bars were fantastic and it's probably a good thing they aren't sold in the U.S.  For me, anyway...

Renting cars on my travels has been an adventure since I gave up on Hertz earlier this year over a billing dispute that started in March of 2023.  (I lost a wheel cover on a Tesla 3 in Montreal and they wanted to charge me $331 Canadian dollars - $235 US dollars - for a wheel cover that costs $25 dollars US.  We negotiated down and I paid an amount in August of this year, but I told Hertz that I would never rent from them again because they ripped me off.  And I was a Hertz Gold Plus member for nearly 25 years.  They didn't care.)  

So, I've been using National and Avis - I still get a deal on renting cars through National on my old company's account; and I got a deal through Hilton hotels to be an Avis Preferred Plus member.  I have to tell you - I love National.  Their cars are nicer, lower miles and generally cleaner.  Avis - I don't care much for their selection process, whereas National you go to the Emerald lot and pic out any car.  And if they don't have the kind of car that you want - like a sedan - they'll make sure they get you one from the pool right away.  

I rented Avis in Dallas and I had my choice of five different vehicles on their app through an upgrade for being Preferred Plus.  The less pimp-ish of all five was this 2022 Chrysler 300S.  (I could have had the red two-door car next to it, as well.)  Actually, it was a nice ride, but it had 56,000 miles on it and it needed a deep wax job.  I had rented a 300S in Southern California a number of years ago and they're OK.  I just don't like driving black cars.  

Near my hotel in the north Dallas suburbs, I kept passing this store in a strip mall along Belt Line Road.  I was sort of amused by the store's name - Condom Sense - and I had to pull into the parking lot to get a closer look at the place.  From the outside it appeared to be a vape store, but when I looked it up on the internet after I got home, it turned out to be an adult shop - one of ten Condom Sense locations in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.  Founded in 1990 at the height of the AIDS crisis, Condom Sense started out selling safe sex products before morphing into a full-fledged adult pleasure store that their web site says welcomes couples of all persuasions in large, well-lit, clean store fronts.  Now, I don't know about if they sell vaping products like their signs said in the front window, but I didn't see anything on the web site that alluded to the fact that they sold vaping products.  

That was the extent of my sight-seeing during my trip to the Dallas area, but my next trip was going to be to Washington D.C. a week after I was in Dallas.  Plane travel these days is usually a hassle with full planes and people stuck in middle seats who aren't happy.  I usually take the window seat so I can rest my head up against the plane's wall.  A plus for me during plane flights is having the middle seat empty.  A double plus is having the whole row to myself, but that is few and far between.  (That happened to me on a flight back from Paris about 8 years ago.  It was great!)  But when you have your own row AND the row across the aisle empty, well, it's like having your own personal jet.  And that happened on my recent flight between Chicago O'Hare and Reagan Washington National.  It makes air travel more tolerable.  

As we were coming in for a landing at Reagan Washington National, we were coming in from the north on the final approach.  It was a beautiful clear day and I was on the left side of the plane facing Washington D.C.  It was my first ever visit to Washington and I was able to see Georgetown University, then the Capitol Building, the National Mall up to the Washington Monument.  Just before we landed, the Jefferson Memorial along the Tidal Basin was plainly visible.  I was like, "Shit!  Why didn't I have my camera phone ready to take pictures on the final approach!?"

Then divine intervention took over.  The pilot suddenly hit the throttle and we rose and turned away from the final approach.  I thought, "Wow, I haven't been part of a go-around for a long while."  

About 30 seconds later, the pilot came on the flight intercom - "Well, folks, as you've probably noticed, we're not on the ground.  We were coming in a little high and a little fast and we decided to go around and give it another shot."  

That gave me the opportunity to get my phone out and set up my camera with a bit of a zoom on it.  The picture below left is the campus of Georgetown University.  I didn't really know where Georgetown was, but it was further out to the northwest side of Washington D.C. than I realized.  If I were seated on the right side of the plane, I would have had a great view of Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon on final approach.  (I drove past the exit ramp for the C.I.A. on my way from the airport to my hotel in Rockville, MD.  I thought about getting off and going to see the entrance to the facility, but I thought better after a few seconds.)  

I completely missed the White House which is located north - or to the left in this picture - of the Washington Monument, and we flew almost right over the Lincoln Memorial so I didn't see that.  But I was able to get a shot of the Capitol Building, the National Mall and the Washington Monument.  The now-closed RFK Stadium is in the background of the Capitol Building.  

I particularly liked this photo (below left) where the Washington monument's reflection is shown in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and it is lined up perfectly with the Capitol Building.  (And with the Lincoln Memorial which would be out of the picture at the bottom.)  This picture was just dumb luck.  

Just past there, the Jefferson Monument loomed in the distance.  Jutting out into the Tidal Basin, the Jefferson Memorial was easy to spot.  I knew most of the memorials were close, but I didn't know how close.  From the air, they all looked within easy walking distance of one another.  But I'm sure that if I went on a walking tour, I'd be walking a long way in between the sites.  

During this trip, I was able to knock off two more states that I have visited or set foot in.  Reagan Washington National is in Virginia and I had never been there before.  And I visited an account up in Wilmington, DE - the first time I'd ever been in Delaware.  I'm now up to 47 states that I've been in - I'm only missing Idaho, Oregon and Alaska.  I was able to knock off a number of states - New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maine - on a visit to New England earlier this year.  And I've now been to Washington D.C.  

I bagged the trade show early on Sunday and drove Connecticut Ave. down into the heart of Washington D.C.  I did see the White House off in the distance through some trees and barricades, and I did see the Lincoln Memorial off in the distance.  But they were having a parade that day and a lot of streets in the downtown area near the White House were closed off.  Or, maybe they're closed off at all times due to security issues.  It would be nice to spend some time in Washington D.C. at some point.  I know if I went to the museums, that would be four or five days, minimum.  

So, that's my photo dump for my most recent trips across America and into Canada.  Thanks for indulging me with my descriptions and explanations.  Sometimes you do get to spend some time looking at stuff when you're traveling for business, but it's not the same as if you're there to be able to go and do and see the sights in a given area.  Still, even a ten to fifteen minute stop to see something neat is worth it to me.  

Zorro's Steakhouse - Mississauga, ON

I had to go up to Toronto for a trade show recently and I have a former colleague that I worked with for nearly 20 years who lives in the Toronto area.  My current colleagues from Montreal and France also worked with us during that time and we plans to have dinner with our former colleague.  He offered to have us over for dinner, but we didn't want to be barging in on him and have him cook dinner for us.  Then he said, "How about an old-school steakhouse that was a mob hangout for years?"  Now, that intrigued me and I had him make reservations for us at Zorro's Steakhouse in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga.  

Zorro's is the quintessential Greek steakhouse that was founded in 1975 by Nick Iatropoulos.  As my former colleague said, it was a reputed mob hangout in the 70's into the 80's, but was also a favorite of families celebrating anniversaries, birthdays and special occasions.  In 1990, Nick Iatropoulos' son-in-law John Mitropoulos took over the ownership of Zorro's and he continues to run the restaurant to this day.  

Along with my current colleagues from Montreal and France, we had set up our room and another display for the trade show during the day and we were ready to unwind with our former colleague.  He texted me and said that he was sitting in the hotel bar where we were staying near where the trade show was being held.  My colleague from Montreal had rented a van to bring over a bunch of equipment for the show and we ended up taking the van to Zorro's Steakhouse located just past the northwest runways at Toronto Pearson International Airport.  (see map)  

My former colleague had made reservations for 7 p.m. and we walked in about 10 minutes early.  However, our table was ready and we were escorted to the back corner of the main dining room.  To say Zorro's is an old-school steakhouse is an understatement.  It was sort of like walking back into 70's with stucco walls with dark wood trim, wooden beams and sort of a gothic theme to the restaurant.  

There were a handful of side rooms off the main dining area.  Stained glass windows and skylights were prominent in the restaurant along with velvet chairs and cloth table toppings.  The servers were dressed to the 9's and were somewhat formal in their demeanor.  Oh yeah - we were going to have a good meal at this place!

While steaks are main items on the menu at Zorro's Steakhouse, they also had seafood items such as lobster, scallops and shrimp, as well as lamb chops and barbecued ribs.  Appetizers included smoked salmon (which I damned near ordered), tiger shrimp, broiled scallops wrapped in bacon, and oysters on-the-half shell.  Our server brought out a little relish try with dill pickles and Kalamata olives on it, along with a basket of some wonderful garlic bread.  We were all pretty hungry and the garlic bread didn't last long.  

I started out with a Moretti beer and took a look at the wine list to see what they had that would go with our dinners.  I saw that they had a reasonably priced bottle of one of my favorite cabernets - the Liberty School cab that I ordered up for us to have with our main entree.  

Salads came out after we placed our respective orders.  It was a small Greek-style salad with a Greek vinaigrette mixed in with the greens.  It was fine for what it was - nothing really special.

My colleague from Montreal is a vegetarian and he asked our server if they had any vegetarian options on the menu.  They didn't, but the waiter said that they could come up with a medley of charbroiled veggies and rice for him.  When the plate was set down in front of him, my colleague said, "This is perfect!"  It featured grilled peppers, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots along with some squash and a large ball of rice pilaf.  He said it was very good. 

My colleague from France just couldn't wait to have steak that evening.  I relayed a story to him a few months ago about former colleagues of ours from France who would come over to the U.S. and want to eat steak every night because they don't get the same type of beef in Europe they get in North America.  He said that was basically true and we've had steak together on three or four occasions since we started to work together for our new company.  He got the large (12 ounce) filet, medium-rare.  It came with steamed broccoli and carrots.  From his first bite, he was in heaven.  "This is so delicious," he said between bites.  "The beef just melts in my mouth, it's so tender."  

Although I momentarily thought about getting the prime rib that evening, my former colleague ordered the New York strip coated with peppercorns.  I saw that on the menu and I immediately changed my mind on the prime rib.  We both ordered the strips as medium-rare and it was a perfect medium-rare with a lot of pink in the middle.  We also got the carrots and broccoli on the side, but I wasn't interested in either one of those.  I did order a baked potato and the server brought it out plain, but then offered sour cream that he manually put onto the baked potato.  A side of gravy came on the plate with the steak that was actually a nice enhancement to the taste of the meat.  But most importantly, they did have fresh ground horseradish to go with the steak - a must-have for me when I have steak in restaurant (or, at home, for that matter).   

I have to say my steak would superb.  The cracked peppercorn shell on the steak gave it a bit of a spicy kick.  And when I dipped a piece of the steak into the gravy, the cracked peppercorns exploded with flavor.  The horseradish wasn't as hot as Atomic Horseradish, but still got my attention a couple times.  This was simply a top-notch meal.  

We ended up reminiscing and catching up on things, and asked the waiter if he would take our picture for posterity.  I ended up sending the picture to my boss over in Germany and when he saw it he said he was immediately jealous.  "That had to be a great time," he said in a reply.  It certainly was.   

Zorro's Steakhouse is coming up on 50 years of being in business and I have to say that I liked everything about the place.  It was definitely an old-school steakhouse down to the well-dressed servers who were straight-forward and formal in their demeanor without being stuffy or snooty.  The steaks the three of us in our group had that evening were very good, and my vegetarian friend was more than happy with the plate of grilled vegetables they made up for him.  Zorro's Steakhouse was a great choice by my Toronto area friend and I would highly recommend it if you find yourself staying out by the airport on a visit to Toronto.  

Turtle Jack's - Etobicoke, ON

When I was up in Toronto for a trade show last fall, my Canadian colleague got a late start coming in from Montreal for our set up and instead of showing up around noon as he initially planned, it was going to be closer to 4 p.m. when he was going to get in.  I thought, OK, well, I guess I can go get something to eat.  I was at a hotel near Toronto Pearson airport and their restaurant didn't open until 5 p.m.  I took a look on line for restaurants around the immediate area where I may be able to go get something for lunch and I found a restaurant just across Dixon Road that had craft beer.  That's all I needed to know and I set out for a quick walk to Turtle Jack's.   

Officially, the restaurant's name is Turtle Jack's Muskoka Grill.  Muskoka is a popular vacation destination about an hour's drive north of Toronto.  And, I had an idea before I went to Turtle Jack's that it was a chain restaurant.  Turns out I was correct.  

Jim Lishman and his family used to vacation in lakeside cabins in Muskoka in the summer time.  The Lishman's had an idea about a cottage-style lakeside restaurant that served great food in a relaxed atmosphere that catered to the vacationers in the area.  In 1992, they opened the first Turtle Jack's Muskoka Grill in Lake Carling, ON.  The summer-only restaurant was an instant hit with the vacationers coming up from Toronto, especially those who had boats and could hook up to the dock on the lake and enjoy food and drinks on the patio overlooking Muskoka Lakes.  

The concept was so much of a hit that the Lishmans decided to expand into the urban areas where their summertime guests lived year round.  Their latest location opened in Niagara Falls, ON in May of 2019.   Turtle Jack's Muskoka Grill now has 19 locations primarily in the Toronto and Hamilton areas in southern Ontario.

The Turtle Jack's I went to was just across busy Dixon Road from my hotel.  It's located in the Doubletree Hotel at the corner of Dixon Road and Carlinview Dr. in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke (pronounced uh-toe-BE-coe).  (see map)  I considered staying at the Doubletree since I'm a Hilton Lifetime Diamond member, but the Embassy Suites I stayed in was on the same side of Dixon Road as the hotel the trade show was in and less than a 5 minute walk between the two.  

It was well after the lunch rush when I got into Turtle Jack's.  Stepping into the restaurant, I found a nice space with a lot of wood accents throughout the restaurant.  A line of tables with banquette seats were along one wall with a smattering of tables in the bar area.  A number of televisions were mounted for viewing from different areas in the restaurant.  Cross-cut reclaimed wood flooring gave the restaurant a touch of classiness.  

The bar was the most prominent feature of the restaurant.  The horseshoe-shaped bar featured high-top chairs and sat approximately 20 to 22 people when filled up.  While much of the ceiling had finished wooden 2 x 8's, the bar had a floating ceiling with recessed lighting giving more of an intimate feeling when seated at the bar.   

Toward the back of the restaurant was smaller dining area that featured six booths and a handful of tables for overflow dining.  A small glass-enclosed patio area was off to the side of the smaller dining room.  Based on aesthetics alone, the restaurant was very slick and spiffy.  I was just hoping the food would follow suit.

I ended up seated at the bar.  The lady bartender had a heavy northern Minnesotan accent when she greeted me and handed me a menu.  I asked her later on if she was from Minnesota and she said that, no, she was born and raised in Toronto.  When I told her that she had a heavy northern Minnesotan accent, she said, "Well, I have relatives in northern Minnesota and we have gone to visit them a few times.  I do have trouble understanding them, 'ey?"  I got a kick out of her.  

After ordering up a Hop Valley IPA from the Tenth and Blake Brewery - a craft beer subsidiary of Molson Coors - I looked through the menu to see what Turtle Jack's was all about.  Most of the food they offered was your usual upscale family restaurant types - appetizers that included chicken or beef nachos, fried calamari, and chicken wings; soups and salads, sandwiches and burgers, as well as steaks, a bison meatloaf that I highly considered, a chicken parmesan entree, and a blackened Basa fish served with mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley.  Turtle Jack's also has what they called "award winning" pork ribs available in either half or full racks.  

I wasn't all that hungry, but I didn't know when I would be having dinner.  I ended up thinking something light would be good and I found that they had ahi tuna tacos on the menu.  That was a no-brainer.  The ahi tuna was seared and chopped and placed into soft flour taco shells and topped with a cucumber mango salsa, a cilantro slaw and finished with green onions, a sriracha mayo and Japanese furikake seasoning.  I had a choice of a side with the tacos and I got the garlic Caesar's salad with the tacos.  

The tacos were very good.  There were a lot of flavors going on with each bite.  There was a bite of a spicy flavor, a sweet flavor, a fruity taste, and the combination of cilantro and green onions.  The ahi tuna was fresh and had great texture.  With the sriracha mayo, it also made for a somewhat messy meal.  

While I concentrated on the tacos, I did have about half of my salad.  The garlic added to the traditional Caesar's dressing was an interesting - and delicious combination.

I didn't have any problem after the fact finding out that Turtle Jack's Muskoka Grill was a chain centered around Toronto and for over 30 years they've served upscale family-fare-food that keeps people coming back.  The ahi tuna tacos I had were delicious and because it was just me and another couple seated at the bar, our bartender did a great job of making sure my beer glass was filled when it should have been.  She was a friendly person and when I settled up with her before I left to go back to my hotel, she said, "Have a nice day, 'ey"!  Turtle Jack's is definitely a step-up from the sit-down chain restaurants and one that I'd go to over one of those restaurants.  

 

Parantha Palace - Etobicoke, ON

When I found out that I was going to Toronto for my first time ever this last fall, one of my former colleagues who was also going to be there the same time told me that there were a large number of Indian restaurants in the greater Toronto area.  "There's so many good ones that you almost can't go wrong with any of them," he told me.  We took a stab at one place that wasn't far away via Uber - Parantha Palace.

Parantha - also known as Paratha - is an unleavened flatbread that is popular in Indian cuisine as well as in southeast Asia and parts of the Caribbean.  It's a little more thick than naan bread and is usually stuffed or topped with meats, vegetables, chiles, and cheese.  I guess you could call it a type of Indian pizza.  

Parantha Palace has been in business since 2007 in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke (pronounced eh-TOE-bi-koh) providing different types of paranthas as well as Indian specialties.  In 2021, a second Parantha Palace opened in Mississauga, ON.  

The Parantha Palace we went to was the original one on Rexdale Boulevard in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke west of downtown Toronto.  (see map)  It was about a five minute Uber ride from our hotel and it was around 8:30 p.m. when we pulled into the parking lot.  From the outside, we were both a little hesitant - the building looked like it may have been a convenience store at some point, the parking lot was lit up like a used car lot, and there were bright neon signs and large pictures of Indian food in the front windows.

But when we opened the door to walk in - WOW!  The succulent smell of curry, masala and those great Indian spices just enveloped us.  My buddy turned to me and simply said, "Oh, yeah..."  And the other thing we noticed in the dark restaurant - we were the only Anglos in the place.  And we both knew that meant the food had to be great.  Funky Desi music videos by artists such as Arjan Dhillon, Jordan Sandhu, and Navaan Sandhu were playing on the flat screen televisions and on the sound system of the place.  

We took a booth toward the back of the place with the pick-up/to-go counter not far away from us.  The menu was on the wall behind the counter and there was a glass enclosure with bottled drinks available.  A young lady came over with menus for us to look over and we both ordered Kingfisher beers as they were on the menu.  However, the young lady said that they were out of Kingfisher - and had been for some time.  (Kingfisher is even tough to find in Canada!)  We each ended up ordering Stella Artois from her.    

Just over the counter was a man whose only job was to make the parantha.  It's similar to naan bread in that it's an unleavened flat bread but made with wheat flour where naan is made with a white flour.  And whereas naan is baked, parantha is applied with ghee and cooked in a frying pan called a tava (or tawa).  Traditionally, it's more of a breakfast item topped with butter - sort of like toast.  But some people will add toppings such as vegetables, meats or even sweeteners to the parantha.  We watched him make a handful of them and he was certainly keeping busy.   

The menu was similar - yet somewhat different - to many of the Indian restaurants I've been to.  They had lamb, goat, chicken and shrimp dishes.  Vegetarian dishes such as paneer tikka masala (fried cheese in a spicy sauce), bhartha (egg plant), and bhindi do piayza (mainly okra and lots of onions) were also on the menu.  I was mindful of that in case I wanted to bring my vegetarian colleague back to Parantha Palace at some point.  

We started out getting a couple samosas off the appetizer part of the menu.  The deep-fried pastries were light and flaky on the outside, but had a great spicy flavor with the potatoes, onions and peas inside.  A traditional plum sauce and a side of creamy mint chutney - more thin than the mint chutney I've experienced in the past - came with the samosas.  The plumb sauce had a nice spicy kick to it.  It was so good I almost drank it directly from the serving cup.  

For our main courses, I pretty much knew what my friend was going to get - the butter chicken, the same thing I think he's always ordered every time we've gone out for Indian food together.  The butter chicken had a deep orange color to it and my friend said the taste was outstanding.  

I got the lamb masala.  It was a traditional lamb masala with the bones still in the stew.  I had to be careful of that fact so I didn't accidentally swallow any of the joint bones.  It was absolutely off the chain.  The lamb was so tender and full of flavor.  I could taste the lamb through the excellent masala sauce that had a bit of a kick on the tongue.  We got a couple orders of garlic naan and I used mine to dip in the great masala sauce as well as in the spicy plum sauce.

Man, I was absolutely stuffed when I finally finished.  But my buddy said that we should get one more entree to share or - at least - another appetizer.  I said, "No way!  I'm so full right now that I don't know if I can get up out of this booth!"  My buddy finally decided to throw in the towel, as well.  

After we paid our bill at the counter, the young lady who had been waiting for us came over with a treat.  They were two gulab jamun - an Indian dessert sort of like donut holes dunked in a sugary syrup.  "For you!  For you," she said excitedly.  I protested saying that I was so full, and my buddy said that we had already paid our bill.  "No, no," she implored.  "Free.  You were nice.  I'll get bowl for you."  She came back out with two gulab jamuns in a small container covered in a light sugar syrup.  

We Ubered back to the hotel and went to the bar for a nightcap.  My buddy opened the container and pulled one of the little ball-like cupcakes out and took a bite.  "Holy shit," he said with his eyes widening.  "This is going to give me a sugar rush!"  And he was right, the little ball of deep-fried goodness could put someone into a diabetic coma if they ate too many of them.  Even though I was still stuffed from dinner, I couldn't help but inhale the scrumptious treat she had given us for being absolute gentlemen to her while she waited on us.  

Finding a place like Parantha Palace and having a meal like my friend and I had makes traveling and being away from home on the weekends somewhat more tolerable.  First of all, the service we had from the young lady was outstanding.  She was cheerful and her happiness to wait on us was evident throughout the meal.  But the food was just off the hook.  The lamb masala I had was so good that I overate.  My buddy absolutely loved his butter chicken.  The sauces with the meal and with the samosas we got were all just out of this world.  I think we have a pretty good Indian restaurant back home and I've eaten at some other good ones in my travels, but Parantha Palace was off-the-chart excellent.  

Sushi Ya Japan - Etobicoke, ON

While in Toronto, my buddy told me about a sushi place that he and his company went out to the night before.  He said the sushi was outstanding.  I had been in a bit of a food funk and really hadn't had anything to eat other than snack stuff for over 24 hours (thanks to a big - and very good - burger I had at the hotel the previous afternoon).  After I got out of the show on the final day, I took an Uber over to Sushi Ya Japan.  

For 20 years now, Sushi Ya Japan has been serving some of the finest sushi in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke (pronounced e-TOE-bee-coh) in a quaint and casual setting.  There is another Sushi Ya Japan in the nearby town of Milton, but I couldn't determine if they were related in any way.  

It was a short Uber ride from my hotel to Sushi Ya Japan located on Dixon Road just west of it's junction with the MacDonald-Cartier 401 Freeway, the main freeway through Toronto (and the busiest freeway in North America).  (see map)  It's right in the flight path of Toronto Pearson airport, but the building seemed to be solid enough where I never heard a jet the whole time I was inside.

From the outside, the restaurant is pretty nondescript.  I was a little confused because there was a Vietnamese restaurant next door in the same building with an outdoor dining patio in the front.  At first I thought that was part of Sushi Ya, but I determined the door to get into the sushi joint was on the side where an alley way took you back to a parking lot behind the building.  

As I said, from the outside the place didn't look like much.  But on the inside I found a quaint, cozy little place filled with wooden high-backed booths, tables in little nook area, and some small rooms off toward the back for larger groups.  It reminded me of a tiki bar more than a sushi place.  

I ended up taking a seat at the sushi bar.  Three sushi chefs were cutting seafood, making rolls and placing orders on the counter in front of them.   There were two young ladies who tag-teamed in waiting on me while I was there.  The first young lady sat a menu down in front of me, while the other one came back to ask what I wanted to drink.  I ordered a bottle of Asahi Super Dry beer to start out. 

I gathered they had a kitchen in the back as the menu showed a number of teriyaki dinner plates, stir-fry dishes, and tempura offerings.  Noodle entrees and bento boxes were also available as was a four-course meal for larger groups.

My wife has gotten me hooked on kani salads when we go out for sushi.   And Sushi Ya had a good kani salad - stringed crabmeat mixed with tobiko (flying fish roe) mixed with lettuce and a spicy mayo dressing.  Man, it was outstanding.  

I had to get a couple of Sushi Ya Japan's rolls.  I went with the spicy salmon (on the left) and the spicy tuna (on the right).  The rolls were generous in size and were simply scrumptious.  The sushi rolls came with ginger and what appeared to be shaved pickled onions.  Everything was delicious, but I was still hungry just a bit.    

I was ready to get some regular sushi at that point and I order up four pieces of the maguro (tuna), and two pieces each of the sake (salmon) and the hamachi (yellow tail).  The presentation was something I normally don't see at a sushi place.  The ruby red tuna was offset by the orange and white striped pieces of salmon and the pink of the yellow tail.  A cross of tobiko roe gave the plate a little bit of flair.  

And the sushi was out of this world.  They were large pieces with small rolls of rice underneath.  The salmon had a long tail and I almost needed to cut the salmon into two bites.  The yellow tail was extremely fresh and didn't have any hint of a fishy taste.  And the tuna - wow!  The texture was firm, yet soft on the chew.  This was some exquisite sushi.  It was just killer.

My friend certainly didn't steer me wrong when it came to his effusive praise about Sushi Ya Japan.  This was some of the freshest sushi I've ever had.  I liked everything about the place - it was cozy and clean, the service was very good and I can't say enough about how great the sushi was.  As I said, Sushi Ya isn't much to look at on the outside, but as I've learned over the years is to never judge a book by its cover.  Sushi Ya Japan was some of the best sushi I've ever encountered.  

Chop - Etobicoke, ON

During my first ever visit to Toronto last fall, I wanted to get together with a former colleague who lived in the city.  He was the first one from my former company to contact me when they were looking for a guy in the Midwest in 2002 and after I was hired he was sort of the guy I turned to over the first couple of years go make sure that I was doing things correctly.  He had retired shortly before I was let go in 2021 and because of the pandemic we hadn't seen each other for quite sometime.  I called to tell him that I would be up in Toronto and I wanted to get together for dinner at some point.  He heartily agreed and suggested some places out by my hotel near the Toronto's Lester Pearson International Airport   One of the places he suggested was a steakhouse by the name of Chop in the suburb of Etobicoke.  (Pronounced e-TOE-bi-coe).  Another former colleague of ours was going to be in town for the trade show and we ended up making it a threesome for dinner at Chop.  

When I looked up Chop before I went to Toronto, I found that it was a chain of 17 steakhouses stretching across Canada from British Columbia to Nova Scotia.  Chop started in 2007 with its first location in Calgary.  But even though it's owned by a large corporate conglomerate, one man has been instrumental in Chop's growth since Day 1.  

In the early 90's, Marcel Blais went to work as a busboy at Moxie's Classic Grill - now Moxie's Grill and Bar - in Grand Prairie, AB.  He impressed his supervisors so much that they soon promoted him to work in the kitchen, then as a server.  Before he graduated from high school, he was promoted to the assistant manager of Moxie's Grand Prairie location.  

After graduating high school, Blais went on to college at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta.  After getting his degree in business, Blais got a job working as a sales representative for Labatt in Alberta.  But after two years, he went to work at Shark Club Sports Bar in Grand Prairie, a sister to Moxie's of which both were owned by the same company - Northland Properties Corporation.  

Northland Properties Corporation is a multi-tiered conglomerate owned by the Gaglardi family out of Vancouver, BC whose patriarch Bob Gaglardi founded Northland Properties in 1963 and whose son Tom is the CEO of the company today.  In addition to restaurants such as Moxie's, Shark Club and Chop and the Denny's franchises across Canada, Northland Properties also owns resorts, hotels, construction companies, and professional sports franchises including the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League.  

Blais did a little bit of everything at the Shark Club including working behind the bar eventually becoming the restaurant manager.  Within 2 years Blais became the regional general manager of the Shark Club restaurants in Western Canada before he named the Director of Operations for the Shark Club restaurants.  It was a fast rise in less than six years after graduating from college.  

Pictured right - Marcel Blais.  Photo courtesy CEO Magazine.  

Behind the scenes, executives at Northland Properties were working on a new concept - a casual dining, yet upscale steak and seafood restaurant.  The directors at Northland Properties knew the guy they wanted to run all operations with the new steakhouse concept which would be a combination of company-owned and franchisee-owned locations.  In 2007, Chop Steakhouse opened their first location in Edmonton with Marcel Blais as the Vice-President of Operations.  In 2014, Blais was named President of the Chop Steakhouse brand and in 2021, he also became a franchisee of two locations in Ontario.   

My former colleague from Montreal and I were staying in the same hotel and my former colleague from Toronto had made reservations for the three of us for 7 p.m.  I had gotten into Toronto earlier than expected and my Toronto friend decided to just come out to the hotel and have a pre-dinner drink before the three of us Uber-ed over to Chop just before 7 p.m.  

It was about a kilometer (just over a half-mile) from the hotel to Chop.  (see map)  Had it been a nicer day, we would have easily walked the distance.  But we took the 2 minute Uber ride to the restaurant.  

To say Chop was nice is an understatement.  The main dining area had two tiers with booths on the upper and lower tiers.  The atmosphere was elegant, but not pretentious.  

The lounge area at Chop was a classy room with an open ceiling with direct lighting over each table with comfortable cushioned chairs for seating.  A horseshoe-shaped bar was the centerpiece of the lounge.  

We checked in with the hostess and she said that our table was ready.  She shepherded us to the step-up upper level of the dining room and dropped off menus for us to look over.  Our server that evening was a pleasant and outgoing young lady by the name of Caroline.  She was fun and genial with a bit of sass for the 3 smart-assed guys she was waiting on.  My friend from Toronto got his normal rum and Coke, while my friend from Montreal and I got a couple of pale ales to start out.  

Later on we ordered a bottle of the Canciller Reserve Malbec.  When we worked together at our old company, we all loved Malbec wines as our former boss turned us on to the Argentinian wine after a trip there a number of years ago.  I reminded my friends of the time we went to a Brazilian steakhouse in New York City a number of years ago and our old boss ordered a bottle of Malbec and one of the guys from our French factory ordered a French wine.  "And the Malbec just stomped on that French wine," I said in recalling that evening.  And the Canciller Reserve Malbec also had that big and meaty taste for a red wine.  

While steaks are the focus at Chop, they do offer seafood dishes such as a pistachio-encrusted cod and a crab linguine.  They also had an oven-roasted chicken entree and baby back ribs.  They even had vegetarian options for people like my current colleague who doesn't eat meat.

The steaks at Chop are all seasoned with a combination of salt and spices and cooked on a high temperature (1800F) grill to create a crunchy outer crust.  All the steaks are CRSB Certified beef which monitors and certifies sustainably grown beef for Canada.  All the regular styles of steaks - rib eye, filet, strip and sirloin steaks - are available on the menu at Chop.  They even had a flat iron steak on the menu - something you don't always see at a steakhouse in the U.S.  

My two friends went with the rib eye that evening.  (They also have a bone-in rib eye and a smoked rib eye on the menu.)  They called it 13 ounce in the menu, but it certainly looked bigger than that.  A side of steamed vegetables came with the steak and my friend from Toronto got fries for chosen side.  Sides of a brown beef gravy and ketchup came with the steak.  

I thought about getting the center-cut New York strip, but I ended up getting the prime rib.  I asked Caroline to make it the most rare piece of prime rib the chef had in the kitchen.  And she certainly came through with flying colors.  While the guys got the gravy on the side with their steaks, they put the gravy directly on half of the prime rib.  I had never had prime rib with gravy on it before and would have preferred it was served on the side.  But it certainly wasn't a deal-breaker.  I also got the steamed veggies and fries for my sides.  I didn't even attempt to touch the vegetables because I was much more interested in the prime rib.  I had also asked Caroline for extra fresh ground horseradish and she didn't disappoint there, either.  In addition to the regular dollop on the plate, she brought out a healthy-sized container of the pungent horseradish that had a great punch to it.  

And everyone was happy with what they got.  My friends steaks were cooked to a perfect medium rare and my rare-plus-cooked prime rib was just excellent.  It was tender, juicy, and full of great beef flavor.  And I certainly didn't mind the gravy they had put on half the prime rib slab.  I hadn't gotten prime rib for quite sometime and this was a major spot-hitter for me.  The fries were also very good with a crunchy outer shell and a light and flaky potato inner core.   

We hung out for a while after dinner catching up on things before we realized that we were the last people in the dining room at Chop.  My friend from Toronto said that he needed to get heading back home, about a 30 minute Uber ride to his house.  My friend from Montreal suggested that we walk back to the hotel, but it was a cold night and I didn't have a heavy coat with me.  I said that I'd spring for the short Uber ride back to the hotel.

Knowing my former colleague from Toronto as I do, I knew that he wouldn't steer us wrong on a restaurant to have dinner at and to catch up on what is going on with everyone's life.  And Chop was a perfect spot for three old friends to do just that.  The prime rib - even with gravy slathered over half of it - was outstanding, and my friends were very complimentary of the rib eye steaks they both had.  Caroline was a great waitress, on top of her game with a bit of friendly smart-assed demeanor.  All in all, Chop was a winner of a steakhouse.  

Scaddabush - Etobicoke, ON

Last fall, I was in Toronto for the first time ever, thanks to a trade show that I helped my Canadian colleague with.  I stayed at a hotel not far from where the trade show was held so I didn't have a car to get around and do some exploring.  Also staying at the hotel were some friends of mine from a manufacturer based in Montreal - a couple of them were former colleagues of mine from my former employer who either were jettisoned or jumped ship when the new owners took over 2019.  The owner of the manufacturing firm was there and we've been friends for a number of years.  The night before the show was to begin, he and his crew were going out for dinner at a restaurant and he asked if I would like to join them.  There was some miscommunication and a misunderstanding along the way before hilarity ensued and we ended up at an Italian restaurant by the name of Scaddabush.  

It turns out that Scaddabush is a local chain of 11 restaurants in the greater Toronto area.  It is part of a number of restaurants run by the Service Inspired Restaurants (SIR) corporation which oversees other restaurants such as Jack Astor's with locations in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in Canada; and Reds which has two locations in the greater Toronto area and one in Niagara Falls, ON.  SIR also runs The Loose Moose, a landmark bar in Toronto that has been open since 1989;  Duke's Refresher, a restaurant/bar in Toronto; and Abby's Bake House in the resort community of Minett, ON about 3 hours north of Toronto.

For years, Alice Fazooli's was a chain of Italian restaurants around the Toronto area owned by SIR.  In 2013, SIR started a complete makeover of the Fazooli's restaurants (not to be confused with the Fazoli's fast Italian restaurants).  In July of that year, they shut down the Fazooli's in the Square One Mall in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga and reworked the restaurant in less than two weeks to open the first Scaddabush - which is an Italian slang word for "a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit of everything".  And that was the premise of Scaddabush - it offered a little bit of all things Italian from pizza, pasta dishes, chicken, beef and seafood entrees, and a number of Italian specialties.  Each of the Alice Fazooli's was eventually transformed into a Scuddabush.  

When the owner of the company asked me to accompany his crew to dinner that evening, I thought he told me that the name of the restaurant was Scaramouche.  I looked up Scaramouche and found that it was an upscale French restaurant in downtown Toronto.  I didn't have clothes better than a pair of black jeans and a pullover sweater with me and I decided not to join them.  I went down to the lobby where we were supposed to meet and he was seated waiting for the crew to show up so they could go to dinner.  I politely begged off and told him that I wouldn't be joining them for dinner.  

He was puzzled and asked why.  I said, "Man, that's a pretty nice restaurant and I'm way underdressed for something like that."  That puzzled him even more as he was dressed in jeans, a button-down shirt and a sport coat.  

"No, man," he said.  "The place we're going is casual, at best.  I've been there six or seven times and it's far from dressy."  It was then that I realized that he was saying "Scaddabush" (as in scadda-BOOSH) and not "Scaramouche" (scara-MOOSH).  Once we got past the misunderstanding, we both had a good laugh about it.  I ended up joining the owner of the company, as well as a former colleague of mine who now works for the company, and three other guys who were in town for the trade show for dinner.

The Scaddabush location along Dixon Road was about a five minute drive from our hotel in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke (e-TOE-bi-koh).  (see map)  Scuddabush shares its building with a Jack Astor location on the other side of the building.  

Inside the restaurant was a large space with a bar area off to the side.  Booths with leather seats and wooden slats were next to the rectangular bar.  The bar area opened up into the main dining area under an arched wooden beamed ceiling with an open kitchen in rear.  Round tables were mixed around the room on a hardwood floor.  The place wasn't all that busy, but with all the wood in the place there was a noticeable din of various conversations going in the restaurant.    

Reservations had been made in advance and we were taken to a smaller dining area on an upper level just up from the main dining area.  We were seated at an 8-seat table with 3 seats on each side and 2 seats on each end.  Menus appeared and drinks were ordered.  I saw that they had Moretti on tap and I ordered one of those fine Italian beers.  

After our initial drinks were delivered, our waiter for the evening asked us if there were any food allergies that any of us had.  I don't think I've ever been asked that at a restaurant before.  But, then again, this was Canada where "Iowa Nice" pales in comparison.  

The menu was sort of interesting.  They make their own mozzarella in house at Scuddabush and they had it in the form of an appetizer where you could get it plain with olive oil, or with a spicy ragu sauce with smoked bacon, or with a prosciutto fig jam all with focaccia bread.  Some of the appetizers were intriguing including an avocado bruschetta, carbonara spaghetti balls, and crispy fried polenta with a marinara sauce and parmesan cheese.  

Main entrees included a chicken parmesan, a Mediterranean salmon dish, and a New York strip with roasted oyster and cremini mushrooms and a truffle mushroom aioli.  Pasta dishes included a sausage and fennel rigatoni, a pesto chicken and penne pasta dish, and something called Mafalde alla Vongolé - clams with smoked bacon and crispy prosciutto with roasted garlic, caramelized onions and lemon butter in a red pepper chile clam broth topped with fresh parsley.  

The also had pizza on the menu at Scuddabush.  It was more of a flatbread style of pizza with a number of eclectic toppings available.  My former colleague got the Mario pizza topped with prosciutto and San Marzano tomato sauce with fresh mozzarella and parmesan cheese, along with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh arugula.  Two of his co-workers got the same pizza, as well.  Each pizza came with a pair of pizza scissors - something that you don't see left at a table very much these days.  

Our host and one of the other guys got something that I was thinking about heavily before I ordered - the spaghetti carbonara.  It featured a rich sauce of white wine and Pecorino alfredo, with smoked bacon, chives, and garlic and finished with sprinkled parmesan cheese.  Man, did it look rich!  And the smell of garlic permeated the air.  Our host had ordered a bottle of the Bonanza, a red table wine from the Caymus vineyards.  I probably would have had a glass of white wine with the carbonara, but he said the red wine was a fine accompaniment to the rich carbonara.  

Since our host had ordered a bottle of red wine, I ended up getting the fettuccine bolognese.  It featured a thick bolognese sauce of ground Angus beef, Italian sausage and smoked bacon in crushed San Marzano tomatoes whipped with a dash of cream and topped with ricotta cheese dollops over a bed of fettuccine pasta.  Fresh chopped basil was sprinkled on top of the concoction.  

I have to say that my pasta dish was fine.  No, it was good for what it was.  Not great - I've head better bolognese sauce in the past, but this wasn't the worst I've had.  It was absolutely serviceable for Italian food and not bad for a small chain restaurant.

And that's the key - Scuddabush was fine for what it was, an 11-location chain mostly in the Toronto area that has a few touches on the menu to pull itself apart from other Italian chain restaurants in the states.  My fettuccine bolognese was good, but nothing that was memorable.  The other guys who were kind enough to allow me to tag along all seemed to be fine with their meals.  The carbonara that two of the people had looked and smelled delicious.  Maybe I got the wrong thing and should have gone with my gut choice right off the bat.  I don't know when I'll get back to Toronto and I don't know if I'll go to a Scuddabush again.  But I would guess that I'd go for the carbonara if I did make it back to Scuddabush.