My sibling and their family came over for a Thanksgiving brunch on Monday before my trip and brought some chicken from Mary Brown's. Ottawa has gone gaga for this Southern Chicken by way of Newfoundland franchise. Oddly enough, I had never heard of them even though the GTA has had stores since the 70s. Staying in Toronto and being on a mostly plant-based diet meant that, like last time, I didn't visit any Caribbean restaurants in the Eglinton and Weston area (except for the vegan V's Caribbean). But since I already ate meat this week, I decided to finally sample some jerk chicken from a local business.
Stepping inside Meechies on Friday was a throwback to places like Vena's Roti and Caribbean Queen with faded menus and eager regulars. For $10.50, my small chicken dinner was overflowing with rice and peas, chicken, and macaroni. The rice was dry and could have used more of the oxtail curry sauce. But the chicken was glorious and flavourful. If Ottawa is flustered over heavily breaded chicken, how would they respond to nicely seasoned fare? On the other hand, the fact that Jerk King has several locations means Toronto wasn't immune to mediocre food.
For their birthday I took my friend and their teen that evening to a concert at Massey Hall. This was their first show in a real venue. The friend because some immigrants stay within their bubble and don't integrate socially with the mainstream culture. The child because they were still too young for shows: all-ages are rarer now in Toronto and popular artists (like their idol Olivia Rodrigro) cost too much. With millions in recent renovation at Massey, they were blown away by the grandeur inside.
Dwayne Gretzky was also an easy sell. My guests might not have known all the tunes compared to the capacity crowd but there were recognizable hit songs. Massey was a long way for this "cover band supergroup" from their start at the Dakota Tavern (their genesis was actually a little bit earlier). For this august occasion, Gretzky started with the one-two punch of In The Air Tonight and Don't Stop Me Now. Over two sets, the performers brought the big guns: I Will Always Love You (Meg Contini), Piece of My Heart (Carleigh Aikins), Under Pressure (Tyler Kite).
New-comer James Baley got some of the biggest cheers. His high-energy stage presence electrified Easy Like Sunday Morning and Sledgehammer. These songs were usually sung by Lydia Persaud but they still had some powerful performances including Somebody To Love to close the final set. This number soared with 7 singers on harmonies. It wasn't the only one that was goosed by such depth in backing vocals. When Jill Harris took on Like A Prayer, it was practically a religious experience for the crowd.
For the final song in the encore, though Dwayne was rushing to wrap things up before the 11 pm deadline, it was appropriate that Tyler (the "heart and soul" of the group) finished with Dancing In The Dark. The entire band took a well-deserved bow to thunderous applause.
17/10/2022: The jerk chicken lunch special ($5.99) at Meechie was excellent: moist and soft rice, tender chicken with crispy skin, and a nice kick to the sauce. From a recent picture hanging over the counter, the owner was 78. He looked to be in great health moving around the kitchen. But get your fix before another slice of old-school Toronto disappears.
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