The Bar Towel

This is the old Rebel Chop House in the Bloor West Village. I have not been in since it changed over to this bizarre named place, as I was pretty upset my only local micro friendly place has closed (well, A Dark Horse does have Mill St. Tankhouse on tap). My wife and I finally stopped in last night, specifically because Ken told me the Nutcracker was on tap (it looks like they usually carry the Nut Brown). It was fresh and tasty I am happy to report; served way too cold, but this is a beer you can allow to sit and warm up over conversation. A quick glance at the menu showed a couple of other ok taps, McAuslan Apricot Wheat, Great Lakes Black Jack Lager, and then the standard Sleeman, Creemore, Moosehead, etc. (I am forgetting a couple). Certainly not the excellent selection of the previous place, but they had Black Oak, so we really didn't care. The food was actually quite good and very reasonably priced as well - we found it far less eclectic that Rebel, which maybe suits this area a little better (the place was absolutely packed in the dining room). The layout hasn't changed one bit (did you put all those little nutcracker guys around the dining room Ken )and it still has a great little cozy bar area. I'm not saying it is anywhere near what the Rebel was in terms of good beer but for a couple of decent taps in a micro-starved neighborhood and decent food, it is worth checking out. In my case, there is Nutcracker on tap 10 minutes walking from my place. So I'll be stopping in when I can.

Jeff

The poutine and soups at Dr. Generousity were pretty tasty when I went two summers ago. (back in my high park days Wow... time flies!)

the yellow griffin also has black oak now apparently.

That's funny, last night I had the poutine and the Mushroom Chowder...

Yellow Griffin is a weird little place (28 different burgers! screams the sign) that I had pretty bad service in a few times, so I have not been back in a few years (plus their beer selection was firkin-esque). I'll check it out again and report back.

tupalev wrote:That's funny, last night I had the poutine and the Mushroom Chowder...

Yellow Griffin is a weird little place (28 different burgers! screams the sign) that I had pretty bad service in a few times, so I have not been back in a few years (plus their beer selection was firkin-esque). I'll check it out again and report back.

The burgers at Yellow Griffin are excellent but, yes, the service does lack.

They have Black Oak Pale Ale on tap regularly...though when I went last thursday they were out of it. Other than that there isn't anything interesting on tap.

mds wrote:

tupalev wrote:That's funny, last night I had the poutine and the Mushroom Chowder...

Yellow Griffin is a weird little place (28 different burgers! screams the sign) that I had pretty bad service in a few times, so I have not been back in a few years (plus their beer selection was firkin-esque). I'll check it out again and report back.

The burgers at Yellow Griffin are excellent but, yes, the service does lack.

They have Black Oak Pale Ale on tap regularly...though when I went last thursday they were out of it. Other than that there isn't anything interesting on tap.

The Griffen normally has Black Oak Pale Ale and lots of generic crap on tap, and very very tasty burgers (the 30 or so topping cominations multiply rapidly when you factor in the 5 or 6 types of patty and 5 or 6 possible sides), but the service is lousy lousy lousy most of the time.

Only go when you really have time to kill over a burger.

Later

DT

I've been to the Yellow Griffin a few times and had good service, although the kitchen was quite slow once. I've been satisfied with the Black Oak Pale Ale each time I visited--it was always fresh. I love their burgers and crunchy-fried green beans.
We went to Dr. Generosity last week and, while the nachos weren't the best, they served Nutcracker and Tankhouse Ale, both of which were in excellent condition. The service there was absolutely terrific, really attentive and knowledgeable--I'll go back and try some real food next time.

Black Oak is a regular at the Yellow Griffin. This is my new regular Sunday afternoon haunt and if you go a bit after lunch you can dodge the crowd of Bloor West shoppers in for a bite and get better service. Sit at the bar and Ashley will take good care of you.

this is my favorite place for brunch. food always tastes amazing and portion size is very generous, service is always great too.