Winterlicious and East-End Karaoke

Last night I went to the Old Mill Restaurant for a dinner that was part of Winterlicious. Unfortunately, Winterlicious wasn't as licious as one would hope.

The Old Mill Restaurant is part of the Old Mill complex that includes a spa, an inn, a restaurant and extensive nuptual facilities. I have been to this complex twice now: once, last fall for a wedding, and then the second time, yesterday for the meal in question.

The ambiance of the Old Mill Restaurant leaves something to be desired. It may have a bit more Charm and History than the Medieval Faire at Canada's Wonderland, but not by much (the Old Mill was done up in 1973, while the theme park opened in 1981). The décor involves dark wood and stone, and mixes rustic antiques and architectural details with polished woods and red upholstery and rugs. A small statue of Sir John A. MacDonald surveyed us as we ate in a room separated from the entranceway by a glassed-in collection of wines that seem to be there for display only. Think Black Creek Pioneer Village meets Ye Olde (faux-) British Pub meets More Money than Taste.

The idea of Winterlicious is this: Toronto's fancy-schmancy restaurants put together some good meals which, for the duration of this festival, are not too expensive. It's an opportunity for the restaurants to expand their special-occasion customer base, and for the customers (like me!) to try an expensive resaturant without investing a full week's pay in the experience. The number of options on the Winterlicious menus varies from restaurant to restaurant, I think, but the Old Mill's set-up was pretty typical: three choices for each of three courses.

If you ask my husband, he will tell you that I have "food things". What does he mean? He means I'm picky. I won't eat meat (except when I will). I won't eat seafood. But I'm not so hot on vegetables, either. Basically, I live on bread and cheese. Thus, a menu with thirty choices often offers only one or two Andrew-choices. My appetizer and entrée for this meal were essentially decided for me, and then I picked a dessert.

Before we got to the meal, though, we got to the wine. Two less-expensive wines were offered to complement the less-expensive menu, and my husband ordered a bottle of one of them, while someone at the other end of the table ordered the other. I was somewhat surprised when the wine came that the Old Mill still has a ladies-first wine policy. Christopher tasted the wine that we'd chosen, and then the server skipped me and went on to serve two others at the table before returning to offer me some of the wine I was buying, because they were girls. Strange? Definitely. Does this make me want to buy wine from them more often? Definitely not.

The appetizer was a ball of goat's cheese rolled in quinoa, and served with some fruit and a sweet vinaigrette. It was not a bad appetizer at all.

The main, however, disappointed. I had spinach and ricotta tortellone in a roasted tomato sauce. The initial flavour of the sauce was shocking and tasted of cinders - they had stepped past roasted, it seems, and moved on to charred. Throughout the course of the meal the flavour did build on my palate into something more, well, palatable...but I was not impressed.

The dessert involved a brandy snap bowl containing some mango and blueberry ices and about three cubes of melon. The dish was fine, but the perfect, juicy raspberry that garnished the plate was the highlight.

And then we moved on to some crazy karaoke.

It was a friend's birthday, and her boyfriend had stumbled upon a wacky bar in the east end that offers Saturday night karaoke. The bar's called Jimmy's Place, and it's at Gerrard and Woodbine.

The east end of Toronto freaks me out at the best of times. I think it's because there's a whole city on the other side of the Don that is like the Toronto I know, and yet not like the Toronto I know. The east end may be a parallel universe. But that's beside the point.

Jimmy's place is a small terra-cotta coloured space with no décor to speak of. The main room seats about 20 people, plus about 5 at the bar. right up against the front windows is the area in which the karaoke-ers sing, and in a smaller adjoining room there's a pool table.

The song lists at this karaoke place are extensive; that may be its only draw. The women in charge comment on each performance in thick Asian accents, to unwittingly comic effect. And it seems like everyone but us was a regular.

If you want somewhere where the circa-1980-costumed regulars are falling-down-knocking-things-over drunk by 9:30pm, then Jimmy's is the place for you. If you want somewhere where 50-year-olds will dance in the aisles to your rendition of your favourite Radiohead song, then look for Jimmy's. If you want somewhere where it feels like hicksville though it's steps from the subway, Jimmy's is there. If you want somewhere where you might get beat up if you stay too long on account of the fact that you're wearing a tie, run - don't walk - to Jimmy's.

Two places in one evening, each very different from the other. But I don't really want to go back to either.