Oh Yeah Babeee!!

AAA Bar (Review)

It was a nice, sunny afternoon walking on Adelaide St down to the metro station after work when I got that smoked BBQ aroma that pulled me into a restaurant. From the outside, their name and their signing are not very obvious to what they offer, but once inside I was welcomed by one of the managers, a very friendly young man named Jeremy. I asked for a menu and he directed me to a hand written piece of paper from a notepad. On it, I found just the right kind of items that you would look for on a BBQ place. The staff also didn’t wait too long to tell me about their specials of the day. They mentioned “Barbacoa Tacos”, a very traditional dish in southwestern USA and northwestern Mexican cuisine. I thought to my self, “BBQ, friendly people, at a laid back place… right on!” I had dinner plans for that day so I told Jeremy, “I can’t stay for dinner today, but I’ll be back!”

I went back 2 weeks later on a Tuesday evening with my girlfriend. At night, the restaurant looks dark on the outside with the white, illuminated letters of its name standing out of the black, wood façade. However, from the outside you could also see the relaxed and cozy interior with warm dimmed lights inviting you to come in.  There was nobody at the door to receive us, but after I looked at the hand written menu the other day I didn’t expect a very fancy protocol. We found ourselves a nice table and a waitress came and greeted us right away. She gave us a food menu just like the one I saw on my first visit. The design inside was minimalistic with a touch of old-west and modern decor. There were some old pictures of farms and country related things as well as old Toronto pictures. I thought the décor gave a cool twist on the traditional Texas style Ranch house. They had some country music playing in the background at very low volume to the point where it was hard to distinguish that it was country music behind the noise of the environment. The waitress came back a couple of minutes later and asked if we wanted something to drink. I glanced the table looking for some thing that will have some information about their drinks. I didn’t see anything, so I asked for a drink menu. She said they didn’t have one. Then I asked her to tell me more about their beers on draught. She threw out like 8 different names of beers very quickly. It was impressive that they had so many beers on draught for a small place like that, but not having any further information and being new to Canada, I opted for the only name I knew, a Steam Whistle. Unless you are an expert on the beers of the region it’s quite useless to have so many options. The waitress seemed in some kind of rush so I didn’t feel comfortable asking for recommendations or more information.

The menu was very simple, as I remembered. At first, having a simplistic, hand written menu seemed like a cool thing, but now that I was sitting there trying to decide what to order I felt like it lacked description of the dishes and of the way things were served. They had a list of main dishes ranging from $11 to $18: Brisket, Ribs, Pulled Pork Sandwich, Chopped Beef Sandwich. Below the mains, they had a list of sides ranging from $4 to $6: Corn on the Cobb, Beans, Mac and Cheese, French Fries, Sweet Potato Fries and Coleslaw. I was wondering what was included with the mains, so I asked the waitress and she said that the sides were separate and not included with the mains. I’m a lover of a good smoked, tender, juicy, and well cooked brisket, but I didn’t want to have just a few slices of brisket on a plate. I figured the chopped beef sandwich would have brisket in it, so I ordered that as my main. I convinced my girlfriend to order the pork ribs and we ordered beans, sweet potato fries and coleslaw as sides to share.

I have to mention that I am a big BBQ aficionado. I grew up in Northwest Mexico, land of cowboys and grilled meats. The word BBQ itself is a derivation of the Spanish word “Barbacoa”. Barbacoa is a cooking technique involving a pit dug in the ground where you slowly cook a meat, normally goat, lamb or beef, over Mesquite coals, covered and sealed. It would cook underground traditionally all night. The next morning you would have a smoked tender and juicy meat. Texas style BBQ has its roots in the Barbacoa technique. All of this, to let you know that I grew up side by side with BBQ. I have competed in very serious BBQ cook offs and have won prizes doing it, including a best BBQ Ribs award. To sum things up, I know my BBQ!

We didn’t have to wait too long to get our food. Everything looked very good! I ended up getting a pickle with my sandwich, which was a plus. I took a bite of my sandwich and I got a mouthful of flavors, but there was something missing, the smoky flavor! The meat seemed to have been smothered in an overpowering sweet bbq sauce. It was tasty, but not exactly what I was looking for. I stole a rib from my girlfriend’s plate even though she gives me a look. I bit into it, and there it was, the smokiness that I love. They had a nice bark crust, but a bit over cooked, thus a bit dry. You could see by the very thick smoke ring that they had been smoked for a long period of time, maybe a bit too long. That didn’t stop my girlfriend from devouring them. On the other hand, the Sweet Potato fries were deliciously crispy on the outside and soft inside. They were served with a creamy garlic dip that balanced very nicely with the saltiness of the fries. The coleslaw was very good, but didn’t seem like a respectively sized portion. Finally we come to the beans. Oh the beans! I expected a lot more from the beans. They tasted just like any can of sweet, breakfast beans. Being at a Texas Style BBQ restaurant I was expecting them to have some of the meat drippings, maybe some jalapenos, maybe the crispy tips of the brisket…something! I have to say, I was pretty disappointed.

I talked to the Chef and he is a graduated student from GBC. I congratulated him on doing a good job and he pointed me to the owner. He was a friendly, easy going guy who had lived in Austin, Texas where he had gotten his inspiration for the place.

The bill came with a total of $74. The portions were good enough to fill us up and we had 2 beers each.  I would consider the price on the high side considering the laid-back style of service and the overall experience. I give it three stars out of five and I think people can have decent BBQ and drinks at AAA if their budget is not an issue.

Toronto: A new adventure!

Well, it's been a while, again! Here I am though, still alive and back in Canada. I am done with China. I sold my restaurant in China and now I am going to culinary school here in Toronto. I am living with my girlfriend, I mean my fiancee! Yes, I got engaged a couple months back! :D and Tito! He is our cat the we picked up from the streets in Shanghai. Now he's living the North American dream! (Little gato cabron!)

Toronto, has a been a very sobering experience. From being the Exec. Chef and owner of a restaurant in Shanghai to a student. I've learned that I still have long ways to become a top Chef. There are loads of talented hard working chefs out there that would be willing to sacrifice everything to become the best!

Toronto is also a very inspiring culinary city. It has all kinds of food in all styles and forms.  There are also very trendy restaurants, concerned about good source sustainable ingredients. I thought I was ahead of the game with thoughts of opening a new restaurant focused on that at some point. Over here though, that's almost a must, not a new thing.

At the same time, going through school has taught me so much about cooking and I am becoming a way better cook. I am refining a lot of my cooking knowledge and techniqies and want to keep learning until I feel confident to open my own place again.

A new beginning! (View from my apartment)