My date with Sassafraz Part 2: The feast and the gifts

December 31, 2008 · Filed under Daily · Tagged beef, biscotti, bread, chicken, Cupcake Shoppe, cupcakes, dessert, dinner, duck, Eating out, fine dining, friends, linguine, Sassafraz, tataki, Toronto

I first began to realize that I was totally out of my league when a nice looking waitress approached me shortly after we sat down.  This was starkly different from Chinese restaurants, where there is a lot of barking and flailing involved to get even the smallest ounce of attention from the sour-faced I-hate-my-life staff.

Waitress: “Would you like some bread?” *SMILE*
Me: “Yes.” - easy enough
Waitress: “What kind?”
Me: *perplexed by the different types of bread splayed out on the silver platter* arrrrgh.

I was all alone since Joanna abandoned me for the bathroom and Krishna had not yet arrived.  The waitress just stood there the whole time, smiling at me -_________-;  Anyway, having finally done the eeny-miney, I settled on some sunflower seed bread and decided on the whole wheat for Joanna. It actually wasn’t even called whole wheat, the waitress spewed out some long name and then added “basically, it’s whole wheat” – GOOD enough for me.  I fumbled around with the butter knife trying to figure it out, it had all these weird crevices and I wasn’t sure which side to use.  I suddenly understood why Leo looked so distraught in Titanic..
I later realized that the “waitress” was actually the “bread girl”, because that was her only job the whole night – to walk around with a silver platter of bread and tongs O____o

By the time that Krishna showed up and we got settled, other tables were filling up as well.  The atmosphere was pretty intimate.  In fact, I distinctly remember a certain conversation that we had.  While Joanna was bitching about how she had to buy a new computer because her brother had fucked up the old one, my dearest Krishna (who is deaf in one ear) remarked: ” OH YEAH, it was the PORN”  There was a cute little family sitting diagonal to us, and some of them gave us an inquisitive glance, lol.

After munching on the bread, we began to look through the menu.  Secretly, Joanna and I had checked it out online before hand.  I had been practicing the word “gnocchi” for quite some time.  I did not want to sound like a total scrub in a fancy shmancy restaurant.  What I really liked about the menu was the fact that the name for every dish was one no-nonsense word that described exactly what it was.  For example: “beef”, “oyster”, “chicken”, “soup” – none of this cooking method + name of a Country/city + random foreign word business.  Never quite nailed “gnocchi”, so I resorted to my failsafe and ordered the “linguine”.  Joanna got “chicken”, while Krishna decided on the “duck”.  It was right around this time that Krishna began to open his gifts.  I think it was mostly Joanna and Nelson that had come up with the idea to give him this Wolverine zen painting by Andy Lee.

Sorry guys, I don’t know why it’s sideways.  I think it’s pretty obvious that I am unintentionally talking to myself for most of this video ^_________^;  Now that I’ve seen the video, I didn’t know that I laughed like a meanie!  Sorry Krishna!

Krishna requested a Go board, too.  Apparently, it’s some crazy Japanese game!

"Me likey"

Food began arriving..

A fig and smoked chicken creation compliements of the chef : D I tore into it before I could take a decent picture, sorry -_____-;

As true newbies, we committed a foolish error by not learning our shit.  All of us had decided on the “beef” as our appetizer.  When the waiter took our order, he said “The beef tataki?”  He emphasized the word “tataki” several times, and we were just like “Yes..”  Little did we know, tataki meat is actually served slightly raw.  Joanna wouldn’t touch it, but Krishna and I decided to be a bit adventurous.  I thought it was so delicious O_____o, probably my fave of the night.

Beef tataki

Joanna is undoubtedly dirtying her mind with some DBSK pictures here. She is a true addict, needing to take a hit every hour or so.

AND NOW FOR THE MAIN COURSES!  eeeeeeeek!  I know ya’ll are excited

My linguine

Krishna's duck - SOOOOOOOOOOOOO tasty!

Joanna's chicken .. with some shrimp cake thing that was so delicious ^____^

I was the only one that managed to successfully finish my entire dish.  To be honest, I was not that impressed with my linguine.  I know!  Freaking shoot me already.  I’m pretty sure that Sassafraz is one of the more elegant restaurants that I’ve been to, but I guess elegance doesn’t imply good pasta?  I am a CRAZY PASTA FIEND, which might contribute to my pickiness.  In my defense, I thought that all the meat dishes were amazing!  In general, all I know is that I have much fonder memories of the food from Jump!, which was another nice restaurant that we visited for Summerlicious a few years back.

aaaaaand on to DESSERT!

Krishna's bum : ) a real treat!

lol.. okay.. in all seriousness

The Cupcake Shoppe

These things are the BOMB DIZZLE.  I think this store is well known in Toronto for its cupcakes – and for good reason!  Krishna loves these cupcakes, so me and Joanna decided to get him some with the left over money.  I am pretty sure that these delectable goodies posed the most difficult part of our journey.  Firstly, we had to get them fresh, secondly, Joanna and I were already juggling Krishna’s large and heavy gifts, thirdly, the cupcakes needed to be carried in a certain manner that would prevent them from tipping over and smearing, lastly, the weather was POS – IT WAS A STRUGGLE to say the least.   I was relieved when they finally arrived safely.

Enjoying "Pretty in Pink" - "MEOW MEOW MEOW, MEOW MEOW, MEOW MEOW" (I love you man)

Enjoying "frosted" - Joanna must have said something pretty darn hilarious. I think we were talking about women.

More freebies from the chef : ) Biscotti and chocolates

I think we talked non-stop for a SOLID three hours.  It was nice to talk about our futures and to reminisce about the past as well.  This dinner brought back a lot of weird memories for me that I had actually completely forgotten – how typical of me ^___^’.  For some reason, I feel like it’s been eons since we graduated from crumby old Campbell.  I can’t believe that we were just tweeners when we met.  I’m really glad that our friendship has endured throughout the years, I love you guys!

Joanna reenacting her "say no to the paparazzi" pose in a more dramatic fashion

Not sure what is going on here, but it's SIIIIIIIIICK.

"Peace out" - actually, I'm not sure what he is doing here.. but for the purposes of my post..