Real Sports Bar & Grill: New Menu Tasting II

The Toronto Blue Jays' World Series dream is over for this year but wow, what an incredible season. I've never been a fan of baseball but it was tough not to join in on the craze and jump on the bandwagon. In fact, I was so "bandwagoned" I actually went to two Jays games at the Rogers Centre last month. Ah, how I surprise myself sometimes! But then again this was the Jays' first trip to the playoffs since 1993, a whopping 22 years ago...so yeah how can anyone not cheer them on?! Anyway, what's done is done and all we can do now is wait for spring training. So, shall we now switch our attention to basketball? ;) The Toronto Raptors open the regular season tomorrow night at the Air Canada Centre ("ACC") against the Indiana Pacers and I have to admit I'm pretty stoked that the NBA season is starting. I've always loved watching the fast-paced high-scoring game and every year I look forward to catching some of the action at the ACC - that is, if I can score some cheap seats. But if that doesn't work out I know the next best thing would be catching the games at Real Sports Bar & Grill! Oh and if you're a Leafs and/or a Toronto FC fan then all this applies to you as well obviously (sorry for my lack of enthusiasm there but I'm just not a really into hockey or soccer).

Voted as the #1 sports bar in North America by ESPN, Real Sports (Twitter: @RealSports, Facebook: Real Sports) located beside the ACC broadcasts every sport played on the pitch, court or ice on 39-foot HD big screens and 199 HD TVs (you may think having all those screens is ridiculous but when two or more games are happening at the exact same time you're gonna think otherwise!) The 25,000 square foot space also offers five private dining rooms for business meetings and private events.

Executive Chef Matthew Sullivan of Real Sports recently launched a new menu which offers a twist on traditional sports bar classics by incorporating fresh, seasonal and locally sourced ingredients where possible. Sullivan, who joined Real Sports a little more than a year ago, has since reduced the menu from 121 items down to 85, and only four of those 85 dishes remained the same from day one (click here for last year's new menu tasting at Real Sports). This is a positive change in that a smaller menu enables the kitchen to focus more on quality and consistency.

 I was invited by Real Sports to a lunch tasting last month that featured several of Sullivan's signature dishes from the new menu. We started off with a delicious Lemon Pepper Caesar, the most popular cocktail at Real Sports (they sold 300,000+ Caesars last year). The lemon pepper rim gives a unique acidic and spicy tang to the classic cocktail. I like it!

Photo Credit: Real Sports

Not into Caesars or cocktails? Sports fans at Real Sports can also choose from a selection of 36 beers from over 126 draught taps and an extensive wine list with over 14 wines by the glass.

Below is a look at some of the dishes I tried from Real Sports' new menu (#RSBGUnrealfood):

SPINACH RICOTTA DIP ($13)

Served cold with roasted tomato & toasted focaccia

 The cheese blend, sourced from cheese boutique, contains equal parts fresh sheep's milk ricotta, mascarpone and stracciatella. The cheeses are mixed with a cold pressed olive oil and topped with a spinach and herb pesto, blistered tomatoes and onions cooked in Tabasco sauce. Served with hot toasted focaccia, this spinach ricotta dip was one of my favourite dishes on the new menu.

Rose & Sons Revisited

To be honest, my original plan was to hit up Big Crow for dinner, Rose & Sons' new backyard barbecue joint. When my two friends and I arrived at the Big Crow last Thursday around 6:15 pm, we were told the wait would be around an hour and a half. And little did I know, Big Crow actually takes reservations! Gahhhh! If I didn't assume that it didn't take resos (and hence didn't make one) this post would be about Big Crow's barbecue ribs, jerk chicken and s'mores ice cream sandwiches. Major fail on my part. 

We didn't want to venture elsewhere in the pouring rain so we checked whether Rose & Sons (Twitter: @RoseandSons, Facebook: Rose and Sons) had room for us. Lucky enough we snatched the last empty table :)

Dinner began with some draaanks.

DARK & STORMY - Goslings, ginger beer, lime ($11)

PUNCH - Rhubarb, white wine, lillet, lime, seltzer ($11)

MINT JULEP - Mint, 4 roses bourbon, ice ($11)

UNO MOMENTO - Tequila tromba blanco, limeade, elderflower, seltzer ($12) 

Us three girls shared the following four dishes:

TOMATOES - charred onion and avocado salsa, pimento toast ($11)

Reds Wine Tavern

Formerly known as Reds Bistro and Wine Bar, Reds Wine Tavern (Twitter: @REDSWINETAVERN, Facebook: REDS WINE TAVERN) underwent a substantial makeover early October. With a newly renovated space, a new name, coupled with a revamped wine list, a new cocktail menu and a new chef, Reds is set to start fresh in its aim to attract young professionals in the city's financial district.

I had the pleasure of attending a media dinner at Reds on Tuesday night. Previously from Ruby Watchco, Executive Chef Ryan Gallagher (of whom you may also recognize from season two of Top Chef Canada) prepared a tasting for us which incorporated Shareables, Entrée Salads, Fish of The Day, Tavern Plates and Desserts.

Leading to Reds second story dining room features a wall covered with pages from an old encyclopedia. 

Reds' dining room is warm and inviting. They also have two private dining rooms upstairs (The Bay Room seats 8-12 guests, The Adelaide Room seats 15 to 30 guests and up to 50 guests for cocktail reception).

We had dinner at this unique U-shaped chef's table

elle m'a dit

My friends Cindy, Adrienne (@peppercornpoppy) and I really enjoyed our dinner at elle m'a dit (@ellemaditoui) several weeks ago. It was Cindy's suggestion to try elle m'a dit and as always, her picks never disappoint =)


I had a good feeling about elle m'a dit even before stepping inside mainly because I have a soft spot for restaurants in quaint houses; they give me this warm, cozy, safe fuzzy feeling inside (ok maybe not fuzzy). It's kinda like going home but in this case, going home to eat... Alsatian food.

elle m'a dit on Baldwin St (left), its huge mural on the right (right)

elle m'a dit opened in June 2011 and serves "modern Alsatian cuisine". Chef Gregory Furstoss was born in Alsace (a region in the northeastern part of France) and was a sous chef at Bistro and Bakery Thuet before opening elle m'a dit with his wife, Tory Yang (the two met at Bistro and Bakery Thuet).

Several tables surround the bar on the ground floor. It is a very intimate and romantic space.

Macau Goodies & Other Delicacies

My day trip to Macau consisted of the following activities: 1) Eating 2) Sight-seeing and 3) Watching The House of Dancing Water show at City of Dreams (a show very similar to Cirque du Soleil shows). 


In terms of "Eating", I've blogged about my lunch at Solmar Restaurante where I had traditional Portuguese / Macanese food. This post will focus on Macau's street food, traditional delicacies and snacks. And breaking away from the norm, I will actually do a quick post tomorrow about the "Sight-seeing" part because I really want to share some of Macau's beautiful Portugal-influenced architecture. For example, the above picture is The Ruins of St. Paul's, which is an iconic symbol of Macau. Gorgeous!


Okay enough of that! Below chronicles everything I ate in Macau ^_^

ON THE WAY TO MACAU

Ferry Food - A cold and hard piece of cheese and a cold and hard piece of cold cut sandwiched in a cold and hard baguette. I had no idea what that jello-thing was either. Tofu packet produced in China. I did not eat any of it *gag*

IN MACAU

We were on our way to lunch at Solmar Restaurante when I couldn't help but stop here for some...

Meat Jerky - Extremely popular in Macau that it is hard to avoid. So many vendors sell them out in front of their shop and they are more than happy to let you to try a slice (they will use scissors to cut a small piece for you). Price depends on the type of meat and the flavour.

Bought half a pound of beef filet jerky. 

Stopped at Koi Kei, a very reputable and well-known store for their almond cake, egg roll, crunchy peanut candy, and filet of beef and pork. They currently sell over 300 varieties of product and is known as a traditional shop but they now also sell new varieties in pastry, cakes, cookies and nougat.  Koi Kei is a reputable Macau brand - it has13 stores in Macau and three chain stores in Hong Kong. 

Peanut Candy - Like all the other goodies in  Koi Kei, I got to sample these freshly made chewy peanut candy. 

Bought a bag. This one is with black sesame.

Almond Cookies - Referred to as almond cakes or almond biscuits, they are so incredibly dense and full of almond flavour. Bought a box.

After our shopping (and eating) spree at Koi Kei, we went for some traditional Macau snacks....

Steamed Egg Pudding - Which you can get either warm or cold (we got warm).

New City Restaurant

It was a Friday night and my boyfriend just picked me up from Fairview Mall subway station. He would usually ask me the following question: "So where do you want to go eat?". I'm asked this question a lot, and most of the time when I'm in uptown, I'm stumped. I know there are tons of places to eat in Markham / Richmond Hill, but as you know, when you're confronted with so many choices you usually end up...clueless. Well, a few Fridays ago, I knew exactly what I wanted. For some reason, I was really craving baked pasta, the Hong Kong style café kind (or 茶餐廳). I have no idea why but the craving was intense.


I usually go to New City Restaurant when I have such craving. It is located in Peachtree Centre, near Highway 7 & Kennedy.

This is not going to be some long and extravagant post, but rather I just want to let you all know how affordable it is to eat a meal here.

Here is the menu. Sollie no English =D Basically, the menu has a vareity of baked pasta or rice, with an option for a variety of meat (chicken, ham, beef, pork, seafood etc) and sauce (tomato, cream, cheese, portugese, bolognese, etc). These prices also includes a soup and a drink (cold drinks are $0.75 extra and take out is $0.50 extra)

Smothered Pork Chops

Pork chops. They are pretty much a staple in my boyfriend's freezer. I'm personally not a big fan of it but I don't mind it every once in awhile.


Anyway, after the surprisingly fun time I had with the Nong-Shim Oven Roasted Spareribs, where I basically threw together stuff found at my boyfriend's place, I decided to do the same thing a few Sundays ago, but with pork chops. Pork chops is definitely easier to handle.  There are also more recipes out there for them as well.  This time though, I didn't have to cook with random ingredients as I found a recipe in my America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook with ingredients that I had at home.


These pork chops turned out great. I mean, come on, sauce on pork chops with bacon bits on top? You can't go wrong with that. The only alteration I did was I doubled the sauce. After my experience with the Beef Straganoff where I didn't have enough sauce, I'm now paranoid about things being too dry. So I doubled the sauce here just in case - and doubling sauce never hurts IMO; just use as much sauce as you need and you can always save the rest (sauce also goes well with rice).


Smothered Pork Chops - Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
Serves 4

Using a nonstick pan is crucial here in order to prevent any browned bits from sticking and burning. Serve the pork chops with mashed potatoes or buttered egg noodles to soak up the rich gravy.

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in rib pork chops (6 ounces each), 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra s needed
• 2 onions, halved and sliced thin
• 2 garlic clothes, minced
• 1 tsp minced fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried
• 2 tbsps water
• 3 ounces bacon (3 slices), chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp minced fresh parsley

Extremely Easy Mushroom Pork Chops

My boyfriend likes pork chops, while I'm pretty much indifferent about them. I much prefer beef or chicken. This is probably due to the fact that I had many bad experiences with dry and tough pan-fried pork chops (which I would like to avoid for the rest of my life if possible). I honestly don't know many other ways of cooking pork chops. So one day, I went to allrecipes.com and found this great and easy recipe that would satisfy my boyfriend's love (well more so "like") for pork chops and my dislike for "pan-fried" pork chops. 


I made these pork chops twice now, the first time the chops were cut more thick, so they came out a lot more tender. The second time, the pork chops were cut thinner so not as good. So if you want to make this, remember to tell the guy (or girl) behind the meat counter to cut the chops thick.