The Drake Hotel

Having heard great comments about The Drake Hotel, I decided to go to the place for dinner last Friday with three of my friends. The Drake is located at 1150 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. It opened its doors in 2004 and since then the place has become popular between people in their mid twenties and thirties. If you've ever taken the 501 streetcar on a weekend night you certainly know that the place gets very busy, so I'd recommed to make reservations before going if you are planning to drop by on the weekend.

The Drake Hotel opens everyday at 7:30am for its morning breakfast and closes at 2:00am after last call. The atmosphere in the place is great and as soon I walked in I noticed that Alt-J was playing followed by The Postal Service, which make me like the place even better. The Drake Hotel is certainly characterized by its cool and relaxed vibes.

We got to The Drake Hotel by 5pm and the place wasn't too busy, so we decided to sit in the Lounge which had a really cool eclectic style. Once we were set up, we ordered some Sangria pints ($10), which were prepared with strawberries, oranges, lemons, apples, red wine, appricot brandy and soda water. I can definitely say that it's one of the best Sangrias I've had, I just wish it had a bit more of red wine.

After a couple of pints we decided to order some appetizers to share between all of us, so we started with some Popcorn Shrimp ($14.95) prepared with maple mustard and parsley. The flavour combination was great and it was perfectly crunchy.

We asked the waiter to recommend some dishes, and he told us to try the Fancy French Fries ($9.95), which had grated pecorino on top and were simply delicious. We also had the Mushroom Gnocchi ($14.95) and some Lobster Nachos ($23.95). The Mushroom Gnocchi was one of my favourite dishes having spinach, shaved pecorino and wild mushroom. I'm a big fan of gnocchi, but I've found that they are often soft and very sticky. I've got to say that this wasn't the case at all, the potato gnocchi was cooked perfectly and the flavour was great. Additionally, I'd love to say that the Lobster Nachos were incredible, but sadly I'm allergic to lobster. Luckily, my friends tasted them and found them amazing. They were prepared with Nova Scotia Lobster, guacamole, coriander and pickled jalapeno.

Since I couldn't try the Lobster Nachos, I decided to order the Steak Tartar Tostada ($14.95), which surprisingly was accompanied with queso fresco (fresh cheese). After preparing a tostada and having a bite I just concluded that the dinner at The Drake Hotel was for sure one of the best experiences I've had. The combination of the steak tartare, the queso fresco and the hot sauce was amazing and I thought it was a very creative dish since I've never had something similar before.

The overall dining experience was great, I couldn't find something I didn't like in any of the dishes since everything was just prepared to perfection. Also, all the staff was very friend and helpful and the atmosphere was really nice. I had a really fun time at The Drake Hotel and I totally recommend everyone to give this awesome place a try!

Julie's Cuban Restaurant

 

Some weeks ago I was really craving a mojito and I had the idea of going to have dinner to a cuban place, so I decided to try Julie's Cuban Restaurant. The place is a really cool cuban cantina located at 202 Dovercourt Road, Toronto. Julie's is open from Tuesday to Sunday during summer hours opening at 5:30 pm. I strongly recommend making a reservation before going because the place gets really busy.

Julie's Restaurant is distinguished for its coziness and good vibes, and as soon I got in I felt I was in a cantina in La Habana thanks to Gloria Estefan who was playing in the background (thanks Shazam for identiying the song). I got there by 5:30 so it wasn't an issue to get a table, but when the waiter was seating us, he told me that there was a reservation at 7:30 pm for that table but I thought it was plenty of time for me to enjoy my cuban meal.

 

 

To start with my cuban experience I decided to get a lemonade.. Just kidding, of course I started with a perfectly prepared mojito, which I wish had free refills since it was $10. My girlfriend, on the other hand, decided to get a cuba libre (rum and coke) that she didn't want to share with me at all; apparently it was very good. It was prepared with cuban rum as expected and its price was also $10. Both drinks were very good, especially the mojito that had the perfect amount of mint leaves making it very refreshing.  

When we finally ran out of alcohol we started ordering some tapas. We had Yuca con Mojo ($8) that was basically a root vegetable similar to a potato (cassava) with a mojo sauce made with lemon, garlic and onion. I found the Yuca con Mojo interesting because of its acidity and I think it would be a good alternative as a side dish. We also had Platano Maduro Frito for $5 (sweet ripe plantains) and Chorizos for $7 with a red wine sauce. I would recommend the Platano Maduro Frito for those who like sweet dishes. The menu also offered a great variety of vegetarian tapas, which I found pretty cool for those vegan friends looking to try something new.

Then, as a main plate I ordered Ropa Vieja ($19) to share with my girlfriend. The server who was really nice during our experience told us that it was the most traditional dish, so we decided to give it a shot. The plate consisted of pulled steak stewed in tomato, served with black beans over rice. I really enjoy the combination of beans and rice and the shredded steak was perfectly seasoned, so all the ingredients in the dish came together very well. Some other main plates offered in the menu were shrimp in spicy tomato sauce, beef and pork hash, breaded pork, and grilled chicken stuffed with plantains and plenty more, all ranging between the $17 and $22 range. 

Finally, as a dessert we had a Tres Leches (Milk Cake), which is a cake filled with three types of milks, whole milk, condensed milk and evaporated milk with a heavy milk topping. The cake was good and I'm sure milk lovers will really enjoy it, but I thought it was just too sweet for me. 

Overall,  the dining experience was very good, the food exceeded my expectations, and the staff was super friendly. Although, I did find most of the dishes to be overpriced, I would recommend Julie's Cuban Restaurant to everyone especially if you want to try a different type of food.