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beerbistro Grand Opening on November 10th

Discuss Ontario's brewpubs, pubs, beer bars and restaurants here.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

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DAN-D-MAN
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Post by DAN-D-MAN »

To celebrate, beerbistro is offering 1/2 price entrées all week long!

I stopped by the beerbistro on Friday after leaving the C'est What Fest and the doors were locked. Luckily, I spotted Brian Morin (Chef and owner) inside and he let me in.

I got the grand tour and sampled some beer on tap that I hadn't tried before.

beerbistro has 20 taps and over 100 bottled beers! Their tap selection has a great range of beers that include regular Ontario micros like Scotch Irish IPA, Black Oak Nut Brown, Denison's Wheat, Mill St. Tankhouse and unique stuff like Fuller's London Porter, Hacker-Pschorr Edelhell, Chouffe Blonde and Granite Best Bitter (yes from the Granite Brewery)!

Over 80% of the items on the menu are made with beer, including appetizers, soups, salads, desserts, breads and so on. All prices on the menu are $19 or less. Each food has a suggested beer to enjoy with it.

I could give more details on the beer and food, since I have both menus at home with me (heh heh), but I'll leave the rest for you to discover for yourself.

beerbistro is located at 18 King Street East and will be open for lunch and dinner daily.

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GregClow
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Post by GregClow »

Hey, Dan, could you check the menu and let me know how many seafood and veggie/vegan options there are (if any)? I'd like to know if it's worth it for Sheryl & I to go there for a meal, or if we should just go for drinks instead.

DAN-D-MAN
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Post by DAN-D-MAN »

Well, I see they have Pan Fried Catfish, Roasted Salmon, Garlic Shrimp Linguine, Bistro Noodle Bowl, Mussels served a few different ways and then there's the salads, appetizers, soups, Cheddar and Ale Fondue, oh yeah!

I'm sure you'll be fine...

bulba
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Post by bulba »

Could you also check for me to find out what honking big time, blood pooling, mouthwatering, cholesterol raising chunks of animal flesh dishes there are as the stuff you've listed so far is for weenies and twits who eat squirrel food...homo sapiens are meat eaters and those that aren't are the cud-chewing cattle they detest consuming...at least that's my humble opinion and I could be wrong.

rabbit
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Post by rabbit »

Hey Greg, you and Cheryl should probably not venture out into the bowels of this great city with such dietary restrictions...enjoy your pablum at home along with a nice Oatemal Stout...veggie/vegan options...give me a break.

borderline_alcoholic
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Post by borderline_alcoholic »

On 2003-11-10 18:21, bulba wrote:
the stuff you've listed so far is for weenies and twits who eat squirrel food...homo sapiens are meat eaters and those that aren't are the cud-chewing cattle they detest consuming...
Good to see someone with an enlightened open-minded approach to modern living...
at least that's my humble opinion and I could be wrong.
That's good to know. :wink:

DAN-D-MAN
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Post by DAN-D-MAN »

Don't worry bulba, there's plenty of artery clogging delicacies for you too, such as the Maudite Beef Stew, Sterling Silver Flat Iron Steak and Frites, Beer Braised Lamb Shank, Buffalo Pepperoni Pizza, Grilled Lamb Sausage, Belgian Beer Burger, and so on.

Let me know when you'll be there and I'll arrange for Brian to cook you up some Mad Cow Blood Pudding marinated in Beef Bouillon for 24 hours and served with a Tepid Tripe Soup and Beer Bread drenched in Spicy Bacon Drippings Gravy. I recommend the Chimay Grande Réserve 1.5L Magnum as the quenching accompaniment.

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GregClow
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Post by GregClow »

rabbit, I really have no desire to get into a debate with you about my dietary choices. However, I would like to make a couple of points (which I'm sure you'll take great pleasure in insulting...)

Sheryl is on a near-vegan diet partially by choice, but also because she has several serious food allergies that restrict her from eating certain items, including dairy and some types of meat. I'm so sorry if her choice to not make herself ill offends your choice to be a carnivore.

As for myself - I don't eat meat primarily due to my issues with the meat production industry. The environmental damage caused by the meat industry in North America is astounding, and has led to a lot of illness and death (such as the tainted water disaster in Walkerton). I'd suggest a couple of good books that you could read on the matter, but they have a lot of big words, so you probably wouldn't be interested.

I fully realize that as an almost-vegetarian, I'm in the minority, especially amongst beer drinkers. But the way I see it, my choice to avoid supporting the meat industry (and other large agribusiness, via my choice to eat food produced locally and organically as often as possible) is very similar as the choice that everyone here has made to support small, quality brewers. Thankfully, many of the people here on Bar Towel recognize this, and have been very respectful of my semi-vegetrianism. In return, I was more than happy to allow them to bring their slabs of flesh to a BBQ at my house last summer.

I should add <b>do</b> have a lot of respect for small-scale meat producers who produce natural, organic and free-range products. I realize that there is some grey area with these terms due to there being no official regulatory bodies, but at least it's better than some massive pig farms with thousands of swine producing so much waste that the water table for miles around is in danger of contamination, and the air for miles around stinks of pig shit.

In closing, I'd like to say that just because I don't eat meat, I don't go out of my way to insult anyone who <b>does</b>, and any insults directed toward you above were not because you eat meat.

They're because you're an asshole.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: GregClow on 2003-11-11 01:50 ]</font>

Gunny
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Post by Gunny »

Well said Greg. That made me hungry for some "Rabbit", sans asshole.

Slainte,
Jeff

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JerCraigs
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Post by JerCraigs »

Cheers Greg for your response, I agree whole heartedly. I think that your stated reasons for questioning the meat industry are extremely valid. The Bow & Arrow for example makes a point of using local ingredients and noting this on their menu.

PS - There was a great BBQ Rabbit in Blanche de Chambly and berry sauce at the TFOBeer a few years back. Yumm!

Andicus
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Post by Andicus »

On 2003-11-11 01:49, GregClow wrote:

In closing, I'd like to say that just because I don't eat meat, I don't go out of my way to insult anyone who <b>does</b>, and any insults directed toward you above were not because you eat meat.

They're because you're an asshole.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: GregClow on 2003-11-11 01:50 ]</font>
Hear, hear.

Rabbit, I know you're a shit disturber, but most of the time you're just trying to be funny. This is just below you.

Bulba, I don't even know who you are, but Greg's a great guy and a frequent contributor of USEFUL comments and insight to this board. I can only hope your comments were supposed to be a joke. Regardless, they definitely weren't funny.

bulba
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Post by bulba »

My you beer guys are a sensitive lot, quick to be insulted but even quicker to take the debate down a few notches with vulgar language...how crude. I stand by my friend rabbit, although I don't know him, and a pox on you non-meateaters and your mealy-mouthed defenders. On that note I will retire from this forum as I grow weary...perchance I'll join a vegetarian forum for people with wheat sensitivity and cast some of my enlightened opinions upon their waters.....

borderline_alcoholic
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Post by borderline_alcoholic »

On 2003-11-11 12:32, bulba wrote:
My you beer guys are a sensitive lot, quick to be insulted but even quicker to take the debate down a few notches with vulgar language...how crude. I stand by my friend rabbit, although I don't know him, and a pox on you non-meateaters and your mealy-mouthed defenders. On that note I will retire from this forum as I grow weary...
I am sorry to see you go, however I think that you really have to expect something of a rebuke when you post to call vegetarians "weenies and twits" and then go on to compare them to "the cud-chewing cattle they detest consuming". The latter phrase in particular being rather more offensive than *anything* subsequently posted in this thread IMHO.

I get the impression that you were trying to be humourous, I also tried to reciprocate that in my response to you, however, it was not me on the receiving end of your diatribe, so I think that you have been treated pretty fairly in this thread all things considered.
perchance I'll join a vegetarian forum for people with wheat sensitivity and cast some of my enlightened opinions upon their waters.....
And I am sure that your comments will be greeted in the same spirit in which they are intended...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: borderline_alcoholic on 2003-11-11 13:49 ]</font>

borderline_alcoholic
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Post by borderline_alcoholic »

Oh yeah, and back to the topic at hand...

I popped into the Beer Bistro last night and very much liked the place. The staff seemed very friendly, if a little nervous about how to pour all the different beers. The food I tried was excellent, and the beer list is very good indeed. I expect to return.

From the tap selection, I tried Tankhouse Ale, London Porter and Denisons Weissbier. As usual in Toronto, all were served extrememly cold, which can be problematic for me, YMMV. For the Weissbier this is less of an issue, but I let the London Porter sit for a little while and coped with the Tankhouse Ale (which I ordered first) as best as I could. But this is par for the course when drinking in Toronto, so I cannot really complain too much.

I also tried the bottled Wittekerke, which I shall talk about in a different thread where it is already being discussed.

The only real slight drawback for me were the acoustics of the place. It is quite a big open space with very large windows at the front and sound does carry, so the atmosphere suffers from excessive background noise. It is nowhere near as bad as the Bier Markt gets, but it is tending to that sort of environment on a smaller scale.

To those of us who are used to drinking in quiet (or even noisy) pubs in which the weird small spaces, alcoves, corners, narrow corridors, etc prevent sound from carrying like this, it is a little disturbing. For those of you who have no problem with the Bier Markt, I am sure that you will not see this problem at all and will enjoy the Beer Bistro immensely.

I think I have probably dwelled too much on the negatives of the place, so I will restate my main impressions. It is a very nice bar, I had a very enjoyable evening, the staff were very personable and I was very happy with my visit. As I said, I expect to return.

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GregClow
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Post by GregClow »

Dan, I forgot to say thanks for posting the info about the menu. We'll try and swing by beerbistro soon to check it out.

Everyone else, thanks for the props. :smile:

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: GregClow on 2003-11-11 16:16 ]</font>

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