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The Strand Brasserie

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

Moderators: Craig, Cass

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Uncle Bobby
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Post by Uncle Bobby »

Popped in on Tuesday night. First night -- it had just opened although they had held a couple of private functions earlier on the weekend.

Substantial renovations of the bar and lay-out. Reasonably nice decor along the same lines as the Distillery District restaurants or BeerBistro. Boxy, clean lines, minimal. Only saw the old bar area -- downstairs will be open next week.

Friendly staff in starched white shirts, black pants and long aprons,...like in a bistro. Staff not at all knowledgeable about beer.

The beer? All Amsterdam all the time. Four Amsterdam ("good") drafts and four bottles including Corona and Coors Light. 16oz glasses, $5.85 incl tax. Only had a Nut Brown and it tasted weak. And that's the best beer in their portfolio.

They will not be brewing for the foreseeable future at this location. But the kettles sure look nice.

Bar snacks included grilled red pepper, olives and a sprig of rosemary in a dish, in addition to kettle chips. All starters in the $7-15 range, entrees in the $25-50 range including lots of steak options. Downstairs will have a "pubby" menu. The emphasis on the lay-out of the tables appeared to be on eating rather than drinking. Things were still in a state of flux, too -- no licquor shelves yet, no bar gun.

The manager and his team were pre-occupied with red wines while I was there.

Nothing objectionable, but I've seen it done better in other places. And not at all a beer place.

-Uncle Bobby

Muskoka
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Post by Muskoka »

Where is that place???

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Uncle Bobby
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Post by Uncle Bobby »

Sorry.

The old Denison's building -- on the southeast corner of Richmond and Victoria Streets, just back of Yonge and Queen.

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JerCraigs
Beer Superstar
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Post by JerCraigs »

Ahhhh! Hence the all Amsterdam line up.

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Cass
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Post by Cass »

What a waste that they're not brewing. I would have hoped that they could use this place to brew some small, unique batches of beer, like the Rotterdam used to. I always looked forward to the Scotch Ale that they brewed in the winters.

Although it's very sad about Denison's, at least they could make use of the equipment that's there.

the.brewer
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Location: Toronto

Post by the.brewer »

They WILL be brewing there, but maybe not for a while. Amsterdam are leasing the brewery facilities from the owner of the restaurant, who also bought the building. I just responded to some enquiries from them and restarted the cooling system for them. Please don't expect to get much more information from me though, as I think they would probably prefer to speak for themselves.
Michael

Immotius
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Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2001 8:00 pm
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Post by Immotius »

Only one person should be allowed to brew with those kettles...

PRMason
Bar Fly
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Post by PRMason »

I second that. Mr. H....

the.brewer
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Joined: Fri Jan 17, 2003 7:00 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by the.brewer »

Gee, Thanks guys! :grin: ......or maybe you meant Oliver, my assistant brewer, or Matt or Lorne or......

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: the.brewer on 2003-12-09 16:31 ]</font>

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