This Magic Moment

Friday night, on the way home from work, I stopped by Drift. This casual bar at Bloor and Havelock replaced Casa Mendonca, a local Portuguese Bar and Grill, about 6 months ago. No doubt part of the ongoing gentrification of this neighbourhood.

Exposed brick and reclaimed signage as decoration suggest a hipster sensibility, as do the men with mustaches and beards and the women wearing giant glasses. The 8 or so tables made from recycled bowling alley material (you can still see the strips of wood that made up the bowling lanes), the dark-wood bar, and the sofa area were a nice touch. Even better, the 6 drafts and 25 bottles beer selection are priced at $4-5. I ordered a laphroaigh scotch which is also a good deal at $6.50. I needed that scotch since it took 10 min before someone took my dinner order.

Drift had a one page selection of sandwiches and wraps, french fries, salad and other pub food. I wavered between the two most expensive dishes: a $9 pork burger or the same for some home-made Mac and Cheese. The waitstaff suggested the burger.

While waiting, I noticed that the bottled beer selection included "Fin Du Monde", made by the Quebec microbrewery Unibroue. This beer has consistently been ranked one of the top beer in the world. Intrigued, I ordered a bottle. Fin Du Mond was a wonderful revelation. It tasted clean and best of all, had a slight flowery accent. It reminded me of those perfumed Italian soft drinks, but in a good way. The night was looking up  from that slow service.

The pork burger came, not on regular hamburger buns, but bread that looked more like baguette slices.The patty seemed more loosely packed than typical, and with a slight hint of pink (but not worryingly so for those people who are leery of undercooked pork).

I've eaten at other "gourmet" burger places, such as the Gourmet Burger Co. and Burger Shoppe Meat. I recognize that they use better ingredients than fast food, but personally they never tasted as good as a Harvey's burger, even if that flavour came from some lab in New Jersey. Will Drift's pork burger be equally disappointing?

No, it was delicious! Finally, a burger that made a case for freshly made burgers. The meat inside was moist, juicy, and warm. The meat outside was cooked enough to give it a nice resistance and a grilled, charcoal taste. Whatever additional ingredients were added made the patty well-seasoned and flavourful. Maybe it was the scotch and beer, but I told the bartender to send my compliment to the chef. Forget just the burger category, this was one of the best dish I've had in a new restaurant lately.

This will definitely be my go-to restaurant for burgers from now on. I hope that it wasn't a one-off phenomenonal night for the chef. More worryingly, other reviews of Drift seem to suggest that they vary their menu! You. Must. Not. Touch. That. Burger.