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| - Okay, so I've been back a few times since I wrote my original review and a few adjustments need to be made. For one thing, the opening reference to "the review above" is no longer relevant since that "review" has been (quite rightly) removed. Now, on to the important stuff....
I'm happy to say that my impressions of Stout as a pub--a pub, not an eating-place--are definitely improved. I've gotten over my disappointment that the fireplace is not a real wood-burning fireplace but a glassed-off gas one. At least it's warm and pretty to look at. The big comfy leather chairs really are beautiful. The staff are still friendly and super-helpful, and they seem to be becoming more aware of the need to modulate the music so it's not quite so blaringly intrusive. And, last time I was there, I actually did catch a whiff of the burning peat that the Toronto Life reviewer mentioned--not in the fireplace, but smouldering away in a tin can near the door. They seem to have trouble keeping it alight, and it's only been going for one or two of my last three visits--I hope they can figure out a way to make it work, because it really does add to the atmosphere. (For those who don't know, peat is a fuel traditionally used on Irish fires--it's basically a piece of bog dug up, dried, then put on a fire. It smells GORGEOUS--smoky and whisky-like. Mmmmm.) They've also finally got their Sunday afternoon ceilis (trad Irish music sessions) going, and I can't wait to check one of those out, though I suspect they'll be packed out in that tiny downstairs space.
All this has bumped my review up to three stars, although I would have given 2.5 if I could. Mostly because...
Less happily, I have to report that the food remains a) seriously overpriced and b) truly underwhelming. I've tried two more dishes since my last visit, and not only were they all very "blah", but they are being charged at the sort of prices I would expect to see in an upscale/midrange restaurant.
A beef dip sandwich, $14.99, came on a quality Ace Bakery baguette, but the meat was unappetisingly brown, chewy, and flavourless. It felt kind of industrial. The sandwich needed something--onions, mustard, pickles, something--to distract from/attempt to cover this. The accompanying "jus" was more like gravy, both gelatinously fatty and also lacking flavour. A Caesar salad was better than the usual pub Caesar, with a nice lemony dressing and plenty of actual, no-foolin' bacon, but let down--as most Caesars are in this town--by plasticky shards of pre-grated generic "parmesan". The $20 beef ribs were moist and tender, but the McAuslins' apricot ale sauce was too sweet to be either complex or punchy enough to hold up to the meatiness. It came with a chef's salad, which was fresh, and lightly dressed, but kind of boring.
I know for a fact that tasty, intelligent but traditional, complex but comforting, and beautifully prepared pub food CAN be found in Toronto at great prices. For evidence, look no further than the House on Parliament, just around the corner from Stout, or Dora's on the Danforth, where I recently had delicious wild boar sausage with creamy horseradish mash and a mushroom peppercorn sauce, for $11.20. With such tough competition in the neighbourhood they are going to have to seriously lift their game, and lower their prices. I will definitely be back, though--for awesome beers, Irish music, and comfy chairs. Then round the corner to the HoP for dinner. :-)
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