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| - I close my eyes and travel back in time where I envision my younger self, hands pressed against the cold glass of the living room window, the flickering of the Christmas tree reflecting in the foggy pane. It is Christmas morning and I look out upon the smooth white blanket of snow, undisturbed and sparkling in the cold air. It's sound-deadening properties quiet our suburban soundtrack of dogs, birds and the occasional car, and in this moment, before anyone wakes up and the chaos of present-opening begins, I am truly happy. This is the memory a part of me secretly hopes to relive during my visit to Toronto after living in Glasgow for the last 6 months, but unfortunately the forecast calls for 14 degrees and sunny, so that fantasy seems unlikely.
I had compiled a list of eateries to visit during our three weeks here, a veritable who's who of fast food delight that may sound abhorrent to some but as a once-a-year pilgrimage seemed like a great idea prior to actually going through with it. As of today I've eaten through them all, and am sad to report that 95% of them were an utter disappointment, another set of misinformed memories of flavor (or the lack thereof). That being said, there was one place that stood out so much that I had to go back and eat there 2 more subsequent times during my trip. That place is Charley's Steakery.
This little gem of a place is located in the Square One Shopping Mall food court - a food court that's now been redesigned, gentrified and rebranded into a shadow of its former self, now blanketed with the same marketing-friendly font found throughout many upgraded malls around the city. Gone are the days of Styrofoam containers and waxed soda-cups, they've been replaced with real plates and cutlery at every establishment - the 'up-market chic' branding an attempt to hide the fact that for the most part you're still eating the same bottom-of-the-barrel grub as before. As such, Charley's Steakery may seem like a pretty innocuous stall nestled between two chain-eateries, one proclaiming to be an 'experience' in 'Teriyaki' and the other a barely-edible global-chain sandwich shop, but I've always considered it so much more than just that. Their showcase dish is a Philly Cheese Steak, a meal that's brilliant in it's simplicity - flank steak fried up with onions, green peppers & mushrooms on the freshest bun I've ever had anywhere. But that's not what I was specifically here for this fine mild day in the middle of December - cause dat gravy was calling me from all the way over in Glasgow.
At a hearty 80% Canadian opacity, this was a gravy that screamed 'hey, let me help drown out the irritating din of the last-minute Christmas shoppers with my deliciousness', and brother let me tell you, it followed through on that promise. As I plunged the solidly built French fry into the jus, my first bite was a delightful dancing of thyme and a mystifying sweetness rarely found in a sauce from a food court. It was a 60/40 mixture of beef and chicken respectively, and that majority flavor of beef resulted in a surprising sweetness that burst forth not unlike Jack Nicholson bursting through a wooden door. But instead of his famous line, this sauce instead screamed "HERRRRRE'S GRAVY!" You don't get gravy like this in Scotland. My time here in Canada has almost come to an end, and when I inevitably return for a visit this is the only place I'll be returning to eat at.
Memories are a difficult thing to quantify; blurred by time, distorted by perception, and while some still hold true - like the warmth and welcoming nature of our families and friends, others never quite measure up to the images imprinted in our minds eye. I'm not sure I'll ever get to experience that childhood memory again looking out on the snow covered lawn, at least not here in Toronto, but as long as Charley's Steakery keeps operating on that same grill, with the same staff, in the same location it's been in for 20 years, I know that coming home again will be worth it.
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