Friday night began at Andrew Richard Designs for a showcase of worldly photography snapped by The Morning Show‘s Kris Reyes and her husband, David Leggett. Well, actually, it started with me unsuccessfully attempting to hail a cab prior to the event and having to brave the close-to-but-not-quite fierce cold to make it over. But I digress…
The exhibit highlighted the couple’s experiences in Asia and the meaningful sights that impacted their perspectives on the globe. Putting on the show – presented by ARD’s Andrew Bockner – accomplished two ends: 1) To give the viewer a first-hand look at what lies waiting across “the pond”; 2) To raise funds for Artists for Peace and Justice and their endeavours in Haiti.
After Nicki bid on a couple prints – I’m still unsure if she won out in the end – and a couple of glasses of bubbly later, we were in no mood to head to the Lowe’s Christmas Market in the Distillery as previously planned. It was cold, and my ‘beard’ for the night was in a hot dress, so new arrangements had to be made…
We hopped in a cab and scurried over to John & Sons Oyster House on Temperance Street. (Up until a couple weeks ago it was known as Rodney’s on Bay, but rumour has it after the opening of John & Sons uptown on Balmoral it seemed unnecessary to continue to pay licensing fees for the aforementioned name.) Comfort food is always apropos dans l’hiver, n’est-ce pas?
We ordered a bottle of wine (because the by-the-glass cost was near insulting), and started with some oysters – Kumamoto for Nicki and Raspberry Point for yours truly – and a King Crab Claw. I got a little trigger happy with the La Bomba-like sauce on my bivalves, but they were tasty and oceany nonetheless. Nicki devoured the claw so fast I barely got a slight morsel to sample…
I needed Fish and Chips like nobody’s bidnass that night, and the wild haddock was coated in a perfect crispy beer batter and laid atop some exceptional frites that were seasoned just right to need no accoutrements. Nicki’s duo of lobster tails had the buxom brunette smiling, so my assumption is they were pretty rad. Though, she did kick herself for ordering a side salad after tasting my chips…
I couldn’t leave without something decadent to sate my sweet tooth (or rather, teeth) so without much delay we had the Callebaut Chocolate Brownie with Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream. Sounds like a mouthful? Was it ever. This has to be one of the best brownies I’ve ever tried. (Sorry Mom!) Callebaut chocolate is premium and hand-crafted at an exceptional Chocolaterie, so this isn’t your run-of-the-mill bake-sale brownie heated up. It’s dense, with a stickiness akin to the inner recesses that touch the oozing chocolate centre in a molten lava cake. And the candied pecan atop the ice cream got me thinking the old “cherry on top” adage needs to be reworked for the modern day foodie…