Eating: Fat Dragon

Went for lunch at Fat Dragon the other day with Philip, and it was DELICIOUS!!



It's located in an obscure area of Japantown, which is already obscure enough. Basically, over on Powell Street. They are described as Southern BBQ meets Asian food. We had the spot prawn tempura banh mi (Vietnamese sub) which was AMAZING. We also scarfed down their crispy squid bao buns, a bowl of greasy and tasty noodles, and of course, made off with their homemade soft serve ice cream - the flavour that day being Orange!

I can't wait to go back to this place!

Eating: Fray

Jill and I needed a late night spot to chill, hang out, eat dessert, and play board games. So obviously she picked out Fray, which is located on Fraser Street, between our two homes. It's the coolest place I've ever been to on Fraser Street, I dare say!!

You can play one of their many board games laying about, from Scattergories to Connect 4, take part in Hipster Bingo, have a seat at the vintage Atari video game console, or just doodle on the Adult Activity Sheet at your table.

I love the hipster diner vibe, coupled with the focus on local ingredients for their food. I had a delicious apple tart which was simple and fresh and hit the spot, while she enjoyed a slice of chocolate silk pie.

Their menu looks delicious, especially the Mac and Cheese, which I am totally ready for! I love my comfort food! And obviously I can't wait to go back here for brunch!!

Eating: Koi

Last night Philip and I checked out Koi, a Japanese tapas bar located on Kingsway, by Fraser.



I've driven by it numerous times and have always wanted to try it, since there always seems to be a huge crowd of people lining up outside waiting to get in. When I stepped inside, I could see why! The place is petite, but the food is quite delicious!!

I gotta say, the vibe is a bit strange, we found. Like, everyone sorta seemed to stare at us when we walked in and the staff seemed super casual, which is fine, but it just wasn't what we expected at an Izakaya place. There were also two giant TV screens above the bar giving off a pseudo sports-grill atmosphere. So, it was a bit confusing in terms of the ambiance, but the food... oh the food speaks for itself! It's on par with a lot of the other izakayas in town, like Guu, Gyoza King, Hapa Izakaya....

Yes, the location is also completely out of left field but I bet all the folks who live in Mount Pleasant are thrilled to have an izakaya place so close to home! I know I would be!

Eating: Via Tevere

Checked out one of the new pizza places that have popped up around town! Via Tevere is located at 1190 Victoria Drive, which is nestled in a quiet residential neighbourhood. I was driving by it one day when I noticed it glowing in the night, like a little cozy ember - inviting, promising, hopeful. It definitely drives more traffic into this typically mellow neck of the woods. The location is meant for locals, but since word has grown, the line-ups have gone out the door!

These are Neapolitan style pizzas, and the only other place I've tried has been Nicli in Gastown. I liked Nicli, but I much prefer the coziness of Via Tevere and its neighbourhood appeal, rather than the sketchy streets of Gastown (which definitely has its own appeal). But pizza-wise, I also preferred the Margherita and Four Cheese offerings we had at Via Tevere!!

Just a block or so away is another new pizza joint - Famoso, a franchise chain that hails from Alberta. Will have to check that one out someday!

Keith Haring Obsessed

I've been obsessed with Keith Haring lately. He has a quirky look to him but there's definitely something I find totally sexy! I've been reading his journals, his biography, and watching the documentary, The Universe of Keith Haring.

New York 2012 - Last Days

After the Keith Haring exhibit and the Noguchi Museum and Sleep No More, nothing could really compare during the last few days I spent in New York. So, I wandered about. I visited with some friends and went to the Brooklyn Flea Market. I did catch another Broadway show, Disney's Newsies. But frankly, I was bored. I didn't enjoy it that much and I would not recommend it. You are better off watching the movie that stars a young Christian Bale: Thank you for another wonderful visit, New York. I hope to see you again soon!!

Noguchi! Noguchi! Noguchi!

Whoops, In my excitement to get to talking about Brooklyn and Sleep No More and the Keith Haring exhibit, I totally skipped a day! So THAT day was actually Day 4. Here's what I REALLY did on Day 3 in New York:

I ventured out to Queens!! Yes, on the advice of Joe in Toronto, I went to visit The Noguchi Museum! And yes, it was absolutely worth it.

It was a serene, tranquil place. It wasn't too busy because it probably isn't that well known and totally off the beaten path. You might know Noguchi from his famous coffee table:



or perhaps from his lanterns, which IKEA has so kindly knocked off and reproduced in the gazillions:



He is a Japanese-American artist, who actually worked quite a lot with stone and sculpture, which I didn't know about.



Here are two of my favourite pieces, a stone "water table" and a heart.

And I was captivated by this water fountain, where the water just simply FLOWED off the top of it, cascading down the sides...

I had the best time hanging out at this museum, and it was free admission to boot! They were celebrating some anniversary, so they just let me walk right in! It was a sunny, peaceful, gorgeous afternoon. With part of the museum being outdoors, it was definitely the perfect spot to be.

And it turns out Noguchi is the one who created this sculpture over at Rockefeller Place! I've seen it many times over the years that I've visited but never knew! How fun!

New York 2012 - Day 3

Day 3 in New York was probably the best day of the whole trip.

It started out in Brooklyn, where we had brunch at a place called the Mile End. Cute and hipster-y.

In fact, Brooklyn is indeed littered with hipsters. It's hipster heaven! But these hipsters? They're fancy hipsters. I mean, the waitress who served us was sweet and nice and friendly and was also rocking a pair of vintage Coco Chanel glasses. Ummm, did she find those in a bargain basement somewhere, or inherit them from an old relative? Or did she pay the big $$$ to look cool and all hipster-y? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of being a hipster? And living in Brooklyn can cost you up to $3000 a month to rent an apartment! So, yeah, I don't quite get the whole hipster phenom.

Brooklyn was charming, however. We walked about 45 minutes through neighbourhoods and finally ended up at our destination, the Brooklyn Museum, where we were to check out the Keith Haring Exhibit.

I was expecting the Brooklyn Museum to be this dinky little shed with one exhibit in it, but what the hell do I know about Brooklyn? Turns out the Brooklyn Museum is HUGE! It reminded me of The Met! It had so many exhibits going on, and I barely had time to see any of them other than the Keith Haring one, which I absolutely LOVED. I am now officially in love with Keith Haring!!

That one right above is me standing in front of my favourite piece!

I took way too many photos at this exhibit to put up here on the blog. I should put them into my Flickr account... Anyhow, I even bought the catalogue that accompanied the exhibit, which is something I've never done before! That's how much I LOVED this exhibit!!

We ended up having dinner at the Spotted Pig that evening, which is always a fun time.

But then in the later evening, around 11pm, we headed to a show called Sleep No More, which BLEW MY MIND. I can't even BEGIN to tell you what this was like. You HAVE to go see it if you get a chance.

For those that are going and don't want anything spoiled, do NOT read any further. Even though, everyone who goes to this will likely have a one-of-a-kind experience and you may not see what I saw.



So we got to the "hotel" at around 11:30pm that night. It's actually old warehouses put together to form a "hotel" and they check you in and give you a "hotel key" in the form of playing cards. I had a Jack of Diamonds and the Ex had a Ten of Clubs.



We go down this dark hallway to arrive at a cabaret-esque room, smoky, full of little tables and chairs and people laughing and drinking. Red crushed velvet curtains everywhere. In the middle is a little stage, on which the emcee appears and calls out a number. "Tens. Tens. Would all the Tens....follow me....?"

So we are separated from the get-go. We are also provided long white masks to wear and told that we are not allowed to speak. Shoved into an elevator you are dropped off randomly on one of the 5 floors. Not the whole group of you, just some of you. So there's no way I could know where The Ex was. From that point, you are left on your own to wander around this hotel, explore the rooms, poke around in the intricately laid out sets, and possibly come across characters of the show and see what they are up to. The show itself is based on Macbeth, so it's good to be somewhat familiar with it.



I walked into an apartment scene where Lady Macbeth was on top of a book shelf scrubbing away, the infamous Out Damn Spot scene I surmised. Her husband arrives home, takes off his shoes and gets up on the bookshelf with her where they do this amazing modern dance number where he flings her, pregnant and all, from end to end, all over the place.



I leave the room and find myself wandering through a graveyard. I then hurry downstairs and enter a den, where a man is getting his shoes shined. He is getting dressed up for some occasion. As his tux is completely put on, two other men arrive and the three share some drinks before running out the door and shouting, "COME ON!" as the masked group (me included) follow suit. We chase them down the stairs into a basement area only to come across a GIANT ballroom scene, where a party is underway. People are dancing on the dancefloor and masked spectators surround them. I watch as a maid poisons the pregnant Lady Macbeth, two men dance seductively with one another, and the crowd eventually disperses to follow the characters as they all part ways.



I end up finding The Ex upstairs in a room full of blood-filled bathtubs. There is also a sanitorium on this floor, with a torture chamber and a padded room. I motion to him that we need to go downstairs and I quickly whisper about the big party I encountered. We are Shushed immediately by one of the show's workers, who appears from the corners in a black mask.



Downstairs, I take The Ex to the ballroom, only to find that it has DISAPPEARED. In its place? A moving forest of trees instead!! What!? How? When? WHAT!?



Our journey that night takes us into a candy shop, a conservatory, a hotel lobby, and an abandoned woods. There are other rooms as well, but these are the ones that remain in my mind. It was an absolute trip and I wish I could have stayed there all night, but everything ended around 2:30am. Sleep No More is a MUST SEE, if you get a chance.

New York 2012 - Day 2

On my second day in NYC, we hit up the Clinton Street Bakery for breakfast, but because of the hour wait, we made a side-trip to the Doughnut Plant first.

Then it was time for me to take in my first Broadway matinee. I opted to go see Matthew Broderick in the show, Nice Work if You Can Get It.



Hmm... let's just say that I left at intermission. I just wasn't into the music, which was all Gershwin, and the razzle dazzle of the show felt like way too many jazz hands going, compared to the night before and the simplistic beauty of Once.

I vowed that this would be the last show I go to only because there was a celebrity in it. Basically I wanted to see Matthew Broderick sing and dance, seeing as how I had missed him in The Producers. The difference though? The Producers is actually a good musical. This was not.

So that also helped me decide that I would not be trying to get tickets to go see Evita, only for the sake of seeing Ricky Martin. Though I'm much more familiar with the music, it's not enough. In fact, I would rather have gone to see Once again.

So I joined up with The Ex and company and we took that afternoon to visit the Big Gay Ice Cream shop, where I first had my Bea Arthur and followed that it up with their Rue McClanahan!

The Rue McClanahan is an ice cream sandwich SOAKED in bourbon!! Ooh was it boozy!! I can't wait for them to come up with a Betty White or an Estelle Getty!!

In the evening, we went over to Therapy for Happy Hour and had multiple Psychotic Episodes. I can't remember where dinner was because I was basically too drunk to care at that point!!

Once: A New Musical

So my first night in New York and I just happen to see the show that I think is going to take the Tony for Best New Musical this year.

Once is based on the movie musical of the same name, which tells the story of a Guy who meets a Girl in Dublin and the two make beautiful music together.



I remember when it was out in theatres and I skipped out on work one afternoon to go for an extended lunch break and take in the film. There I was, one of a handful of folks in the afternoon catching a movie, and the film just brought me to tears.

I wasn't sure what to expect or how this would translate to stage at all, but amazingly, it was so simple and beautiful and there was not one dry eye in the house afterwards. It's not all jazz hands big Broadway. It's much more grounded and has a more realistic feel to it that doesn't come off as cheesy. You're involved from the get go, when audience members are invited straight up onto the stage, which is set up like a bar, and you can actually buy a drink from the bar!

Then a few musicians show up and start playing music while you're on the stage! Turns out, all the actors in the show also play all the music, so it's almost like watching a live band tell a story.

If you only get a chance to see one musical in New York right now, (and you can't get into Book of Mormon because it's sold out for infinity), then you NEED to go see Once!!!

SO. AMAZING.