Let's run it down, in no particular order:
1. Yay a thousand times yay for new food and drinks in my neighbourhood.
2. A changing menu based on different national cuisines each week is fun and exciting and will totally keep 'em guessing. Beaver earned his reputation as a chef and menu builder at nearby loves Pick Up Dep and Triple Crown Dinette and it's great to taste the wide range of his skills and interests here, and nice that he's working with partners who support such an unconventional and unpredictable approach.
3. I had a spicy tomato salad with nuts that was unlike anything else I've tasted, totally filling and crazy good. (11$)
4. The decor is completely nuts and incoherent and utterly loveable. I hung out for way longer than I thought I would just chatting and snacking at the bar. I love a dimly lit room with curtains and cozy corners and a sense of family among the staff. The stuffed animals, semi-erotic art, circuit boards, animal prints, rainbow lights, Leo DiCaprio poster, etc, make no sense and yet make perfect sense.
5. Michael Felber is a world class dishwasher and bar back. ;)
6. I loved the staff generally.
7. I only found out after I left that they have an international collection of bottled beers, I'll be back for more of those.
8. Ultimately, this is a place for friends and neighbours - it only opened recently and is still kind of chaos with the bills, family of the staff walking into the kitchen, most tables were filled by folks I recognized from our little local community. This is not high end, it's not trying to be like anything else, it's odd and yummy, the music is great, the overall weird of it all feels like home to me and I'll be back frequently.