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| - 3 1/2 Stars
The FARC's were on the fly this evening along College Street as there was meat to eat and we were a pair of girls up for the task. (Isn't this beginning to sound like a Ric T. review :) While everyone was gibbering over the fact that yesterday was the 999 day all I could think of was that today was the day that the Black Hoof was reopening from its summer hiatus and that finally the long, long, long lineups at the new version of Caplansky's might finally be starting to subside. About 3 p.m. this aft I DM'd my FARC winger Deanna asking her if she'd like to check out Caplansky's and it was a big thumbs up from her. What can I say, we are just girls who love the meat. :)
Caplansky's new dining locale is rockin. It was busy and there was a real buzz in the air. Zane Caplan has much to be pleased about because Caplansky's is drawing all generations in to the new location. From the 8 month old beside us gnawing on the eggs special to the 80 year old on the other side of us reading Tennesee William's "The Glass Menagerie", to the hipsters, the students, the suits and TIFF chasers, Caplansky's seems to be the spot that appeals to all generations. It is bright, blue & white, tiled, noisy, breezy and has a really decent feel good vibe to the place.
With all of that being said, let's talk about the chow. After all, isn't this why we came here? We ordered up the smoked meat poutine, a smoked meat burger and a smoked meat sandwich, plunked it down on the table and gave 'er a go. I felt that the smoked meat burger was ok, not great, but ok. We told Zane (that would be Caplansky himself) that we thought the burger was dry and we talked about what might help. How cool was that, gabbing with the Cap-man himself about what the contents of his burgers. He told us that the staff had been notoriously overcooking the burgers out of fear of the health department and ultimately this would dry the burger out more, which to us made sense. To that end I would also say that we thought for $8.00 it was a small burger compared to lets say a Craft Burger. I also felt the bun was a bit dry which surprised me because I figured they'd be going through a ton of buns and consequently they'd be fresh because they wouldn't be day olds.
The smoked meat sandwich is really what Zane Caplan built his rep on and his trademark is that they hand cut the smoked meat, in the traditional way that smoked meat sandwiches were always done. No slicing machines for this joint. Dea and I like our meat moist so we ordered a fattier sandwich. You can really taste the smoke in the meat and I love this but the sandwich, like the burger, was ok, not great. I couldn't put my finger on what was not quite right, but the texture of the meat or perhaps the grain on the cut was off.
Finally the smoked meat poutine. Initially I loved this. The gravy and the chopped up smoked meat and the curds....what's not to love? (my apologies to all the veggie eaters in the crowd :) The fries were uber crispy which I really dig as there is nothing worse than soggy fries, especially in poutine. However it was a bowl of "spud nuts" which seemed all like the small little bits and pieces of potatoes. Lots of crunchy little bits but not much in the way of full pieces of french fries. It left me wanting in that department. It could be that they cut the potatoes smaller as they serve them in small round soup bowls.
We washed this meat extravaganza down with some suds from the King Brewery (my neighbhours up here in the hinterland) and it was a really decent glass of Pilsner. So a big shout out to Phil DeFozzio, the brew meister over at King Brewery! I was pleased as punch to see a true beer artisan getting his dues in such a high traffic spot like Caplansky's.
The service was crazy hectic. Our waitress told us that some of the dinner wait staff didn't show up. Probably had the crap scared out of them after the madness of the opening. We kicked back and told her no worries, we wanted to people and restaurant watch and that was exactly what we did. If we'd been in a hurry though, we'd have been pissed. I did hear the wait staff tell people though as they were coming in that the kitchen was very backed up and that food could take about half an hour to hit the tables. At least they were being up front about the craziness. There are bugs to be worked out as there are in any new restaurant.
Even at ok, I still would like to say that I really enjoyed the repast at Caplansky's and wish Zane Caplan all the best. It's a quantum leap from his original digs and he's a hard working, hard smoking meat dude who truly loves what he does. I suspect Caplansky's will do really well.
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