Pho soup for you!

So I am starting to think of Roncesvalles Village as soup central. Since I tend not to be too hungry in the evenings and since a pint of Guiness is enough to fill anyone up at least half way, I've taken to ordering soup for dinner. I think I've mentioned before the usually delicious soups of the day at Dizzy's and recently I had an excellent (and rather spicy) seafood chowder at Loons. That one had a nice grab bag of yummy sea creatures floating around in a thickish stew. Of course there are half a dozen places that serve excellent borscht along the street and a few that have decent schav.

I've recently also gotten onto a pho kick, since this Vietnamese beef noodle broth is more or less a meal in itself. I've got a couple of favourite haunts, one in thje Junction another close to my gym. But the Cafe Pho Nho is so far the only pho restaurant I've come across in the Ronces area. It's not bad as these places goes and sure hits the spot after a hard routine in the gym when I want something that features both liquids and carbs. Only drwaback is that for some reason they serve the hot sauce and the hoisin sauce mixed up in one bowl. Not I like hot foods, but I can imagine others wouldn't, so I advise asking ahead for them to bring the sauces separately. Also, if you are used to the S.M.L.XL paradigm of pho ordering, you might be a tad confused. This place only has one size, which would be around an L at most places.

Anyway, enjoy.

Six Points Jazz Orchestra - Mini review

SPJO during their first set at Gate 403

I'm pretty glad I went to see the Six Points Jazz Orchestra on Saturday afternoon. I caught the first set and a half and would have stayed for more but I had to be downtown and the Gardiner was closed so did not want to risk being late. (Am I the only one who thinks Rob Ford payed someone to close the Gardiner this weekend just to increase his chances of winning the mayoralty? - umm God save us all - oh right, forgot that the only other credible option is Furious George - where can I go hide for the next 4 years or so? - will there be a refugee centre set up in Hamilton?)

Anyway, back to the SJPO. I enjoyed their music, what can I say.... You weren't expecting a real review were you? I'm not really much of an authority on jazz, so other than saying I enjoyed it, I can't really give you much more.

The Gate 403 on the other hand was a bit hectic that afternoon. Since SPJO turned out to be such a popular draw (the place was packed) the Gate ought to put another server on staff next time SPJO does a show. I'd say they missed out on more than a few sales since there was a bit of a wait between orders.

A summer fav looks to have winter legs

Sitting at Loons tonight having a fewski (I'm working okay, so it doesn't count) anyway, I tend to frequent this place a lot in the summer, but once it gets cold I tend to stay away. Big mistake. They've got some guy tonight called Chris Angel? singing. Good stuff man. He's playing a lot of my favs from the 80s and 90s. Might have to come back a bit more often.

Here's the Loons website: http://www.loonspub.com/

I'd include a picture of the two Muskoka chairs that I love to sit in on the patio in the summer, just lazying an eveninf away, but their website is set up in a way that tech-dummies like me can't snag photos off of. Oh well, go see for yourself.

Six Points Jazz Orchestra

Just as a reminder to all, the Six Points Jazz Orchestra will be performing at Gate 403 tomorrow afternoon. They are going to play 3 sets starting at 12pm and ending around 3pm. Don't miss it. I'll see if I can post a few pictures and maybe a mini review in a few days.

Konstrukshun?

Is it just me or does it seem that construction on the street car tracks has slowed down or even stopped of late? It seems to have been quite some time now that the parking in front of Dizzy's, which is currently my fave place for dinner due to the delish soup specials, has been blocked because of the lane reduction on that part of the street. Not much seems to have happened on this stretch for a couple of weeks now.

Speaking of delish soup, Dizzy's should really vary it up a bit more like they did in the summer. The last few times I've been here, its been either the tomato chipotle or the potato with whatchamacalit. In fact I think I had tomato chipotle three times in a row last week. Its yummy, don't get me wrong, but I kind of want my soup of the day to be different from yesterday's soup of the day. Is that too much to ask?