#Instaweekend | From Sports in the East to Music in the West

Slightly worse for the wear this Monday morning – speaking figuratively and literally as I split my favourite jeans at some point between Friday night and Saturday morning – I’m looking back at the weekend that was for the VTV team and trying to decide how many days penance I should pay for our (read: my) shenanigans…

Adam’s Eats and Treats | Twitter: @amazerall | Instagram: amazerall
My weekend started off at Trattoria Nervosa in Yorkville, after a “quick” bottle of wine “sipped” at home. The sister restaurant to Gusto 101 – a View the Vibe favourite – Cafe Nervosa shares similarly delicious dishes but a completely different atmosphere. Less energetic, more subdued. Tis Yorkville, not King West, after all.

Suffice it to say, the candlelight was barely enough to read the varied menus… but we succeeded in trying both the carpaccio and tartare, equally beefalicious, before I dug into the Tirolese pizza covered in salty good strips of speck. The perfect pre-bar crawl top up. At some point in the subsequent hours I ripped two massive holes in my jeans. How…? I still don’t know…

I spent Saturday afternoon planted on a stool at The Combine Eatery as per my usual routine, but at night did something very un-Adam when I headed to The Gladstone Hotel with an audiophile friend who was uber-excited to catch one of the Canadian Music Week concerts thanks to a British act who rarely crosses the pond. I spent a good portion of my time at one of these areas…

Before the object of my friend’s affection took to the stage, Mr. Marcus Foster…

At the end of his set, bolstered by liquid courage, I decided we should try to get backstage to meet the man of the hour. Unfortunately, whatever door we took next to the stage wound us up in an empty stairwell that lead to empty unfurnished rooms, no bands or derelicts in sight (except us, of course). Turned out, we really should have kept a better eye on the door as we were then locked in the abyss of nothingness before our door-knocking finally caught the attention of another concert-goer and we were rescued from having to camp out on the dusty floors. Best laid plans, right…?

Nicki’s Eats and Treats | Twitter: @viewthevibe | Instagram: viewthevibe
Poor Ms. Nicki had a weekend of work on her plate. Don’t feel too sorry for the gal, though, as she’s taking off to Florida this Friday for some fun in the sun. Never one to turn to mediocre cuisine to fill an empty stomach, she did find time to cook some courses that’d ignite any foodie’s saliva glands, like her Asian seafood feast…

…or her lime panko crusted sea bass…

Jason’s Eats and Treats | Twitter: @j_finestone | Instagram: finest_one
Mr. Finestone wasn’t very shutter-happy this weekend save for an amazing meal last night at the Monarch Tavern as part of the Toronto PopUp series. Chef Peter Pietruniak (formerly of Ten in Mississauga, now over at The Guild) took over the fabled establishment’s kitchen to pump out dishes like Lake Erie pickled smelts smoked with hickory for a light app…

…and Niagara winter fruit with a butternut squash puree, yogurt, and hazelnuts. Lookin’ good, Toronto PopUp!

Tanja’s Eats and Treats | Twitter: @TanjaVTV | Instagram: tanjabeg
Our very own Serbian seductress finally entered the “real world” last week thanks to an upgrade to the iPhone 5. Congratulations! Her weekend began with some homemade palacinke (read: crepe) that I’m assuming was smothered in the accompanying bottle of Nutella.

Saturday afternoon she kept the good eats goin’ at the shoot for one of our new clients, Rally Sports Bar. (Video coming soon!) This East York institution serves up some incredible smoked goodies, like their sticky and savory chicken wings…

…and their smoked chicken quesadilla. Dear boss, can we please have a “meeting” there soon?