There Are No Third Tries For Second Chances

Back when Queen St. West between University and Spadina was a food wasteland, Trimurti was one of the first to bring tasty and inexpensive dining to the area. It was the restaurant where I introduced some of my friends to wonders of Indian cuisine - something they had always associated with "stinky" food. But I haven't been back in a while since there are now great Indian restaurants closer to my neck of the woods.

Since I was in the area for a production of South Pacific, I decided to revisit this restaurant. The atmosphere is still quiet and relaxed, with attentive service from the waitstaff. I hope it was an off-day though, because the food was sub-par. I was a bit worried when the complimentary papadam came out soft instead of crispy, and the accompanying chutney was weak in flavour. Maybe it was the humidity. Then the vegetable samosas came out. Two overly large pieces, quite greasy with a tough shell. The potatoes inside were bland and a bit coarse. Oh, dear. The entrees didn't fare any better: a Gosht Saag (lamb in spinach with spices) and a Murgh Sonfi Simla (Tandoori chicken sauteed in onions, tomatoes, and aniseeds). Two of the blandest Indian dishes I've ever tasted. We ate barely a third of the dishes and only 1 of the 2 naans (they were good though).

I'm at a loss for my poor dining experience since it seems Trimurti is still quite popular. The restaurant was two-thirds full on a Sunday afternoon with some tables seated with obvious regulars. There were some South Asian diners in the crowd, who presumably have eaten enough South Asian cooking to know the good stuff. But I know what I ate - and it wasn't great. As an aside, one of the South Asian couple I saw was one of the most attractive couple I've ever seen: the man was handsome with strong features, and the woman was absolutely stunning.

Disappointed, and a bit bloated from the grease, I headed over to Second City for a night of stand-up comedy. This is a recent experiment as this venue is typically known more for sketch shows. For $15, there was a line-up of 7-8 comedians including two "walk-ons". It was a mixed night with more comedians bombing than not. One totally flamed out - it's hard to do angry comedy. Two got a few chuckles, but the short time allotted to each comic wasn't a good fit for their brand of long, drawn-out stories. A couple of them got people laughing at about half their jokes. The two funniest comics were the walk-ons - people who signed up just before the show. One was a wild-haired "ginger" who did non sequiturs and one liners ("They say you are what you eat - that's why I eat human"). The other was a blonde who told crazy, wildly exaggerated, stories. By the end of one tale she was going clubbing with her change in a mason jar, her accessories in a bucket, and all of them stuffed inside a condom. And naturally, without that condom, she needed to resort to dick-punching as a form of birth control. She's got some good material and I believe she'll be appearing in an HSSE (Heterosexual for Same-Sex Equality) benefit in September.

A Semi-pleasant Afternoon

The musical revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific by Bartlett Sher got rave reviews on Broadway. The touring version also got positive reviews when it arrived in Toronto. Having been on a bit of a musical kick lately (Haunted Hillbilly, Ride the Cyclone, Fairy Tale Ending), I decided to check out this classic on Sunday afternoon.

Let me say that although I did enjoy the 3 hours or so, I didn't feel much more than a pleasant engagement with the musical. It was like going to a matinee of a movie you'll forget in a couple of hours. So I'm mostly going to focus on what were the negative points for me. It wasn't just me though as this performance got only a single curtain call from the audience.

South Pacific has 3 main strands: the budding relationship between Emile de Becque (Jason Howard) and Ensign Nellie Forbush (Carmen Cusack), the affair between Lt. Joseph Cable (Anderson Davis) and a native girl named Liat (Sumie Maeda) engineered by her mother Bloody Mary (Jodi Kimura), and the hurry-up-and-wait lives of Luther Billis (Matthew Saldivar) and the other sailors.

Nellie, a simple girl from Little Rock, Arkansas finds herself charmed by the Gallic sophistication of Emile. Though they had just met, there's a strong attraction between them except for some obstacles. First, their age, though this is essentially glossed over in the play. He is 44 (as Cable would put it, "He can't be in love, he's 44!") and she is in her early 20s. Second, her racial prejudice makes it difficult for her to accept Emile's half-Polynesian children. I find this a bit unfair to Nellie. Yes, she does have trouble with his, in her words, "coloured" kids (or more specifically their deceased mother) but for all of his supposed more liberal stance, let's not forget that he's a French plantation owner during a time (1940s) when France is still laying claim to its colonial territories. Conveniently, no one asked what his workers thought of him. Finally, he has a dark secret. He fled France because he "killed a man". Unfortunately, this twist is so risible that I heard some titters when Howard made his confession: "Nellie ... I keeled a man". Yet there is still a sense of passionate predestination in their romance, though a marriage proposal after 4 weeks may boggle modern minds.

But I could not get down with Cable and Liat. For one thing, they're obviously pushed together by Bloody Mary. Even if she's is Liat's mother, there's too much of a mama-san vibe there. Cable doesn't seem to fight too hard about it though, his supposedly straight-and-narrow upbringing in Philadelphia notwithstanding. Unlike Nellie, a white Southern belle, there's no genteel courtship, fancy dinner parties, or marriage proposal for Liat. It's straight to the sack, or rather grass hut, for her. And if most cultures use the metaphor of the Spring Season for an innocent girl just discovering love (For example, Kudelki's Four Seasons), then what to make of Cable singing "Younger Than Springtime" to Liat? Add the fact that he's probably at least a foot taller and 100 lbs heavier; she barely came up to his ribs and looked to be only as big as one of his leg. All I can say is ... weird psychoses alert!

Jason Howard makes a serviceable Emile, though his sonorous voice with its French accent sounded distractingly like Victor Laszlo from Casablanca. I actually do not like his operatic voice, with its rounded enunciation, applied to these modern songs. Carmen Cusack is a plucky Nellie, a bit self-conscious of her narrow experience but ready to embrace this new wide world. I did not like Jody Kimura's Bloody Mary with her pidgin English and strong asian accent ("You like? You like!"). I don't much find the old "Me love you long time" schtick that amusing. If Emile can speak perfect English but with an accent, so can Mary. Anyway, Bloody Mary can be played Asian, but also Black or Pacific Islander. In the latter cases, if their English aren't perfect, it still wouldn't be in the "Me chinee, Me no dumb" category. So it's a mystery why they went with this caricature. Anderson Davies played Lt. Cable oddly, all wide-legged hero stances and mannerisms.

Ultimately though, a musical has to stand on the strengths of its songs. For an acknowledged classic, I found only 4 songs to be worth listening to: "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught", "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair", "This Nearly Was Mine", and last but best, "Some Enchanted Evening".

Johnny Stromboli

Closest match to Johnny's

Ever since I read about stromboli in a food article I've been on the look-out for this tasty-looking snack as I am more of  a fan of savoury treat than sweet pastry. Yet despite the presence of numerous Italian restaurants (as well as pizza joints) in Toronto, there doesn't seem to be any offerings in town. A few months ago, a Taste T.O. article lead me to Slice of New York, which has a location on Edward St.

But the fare was disappointing. First, being a primarily take-out place, the stromboli is already pre-cooked and is only re-heated in the pizza oven. This only makes the dough slightly warm and toasted, leaving the inside blandly cool. There is a decidedly lack of stuffing, probably to keep costs down. Finally, for some reason, it has a shiny sheen that you usually see on store-bought dessert pastry. It's definitely better to stick to the pizza at this place.

But last Friday before going to see Sheezer, I accidentally discovered that John's Classic Pizza at College and Clinton, a place that I have passed by hundreds of time, also offer stromboli. So exciting! The meat option came out piping hot, with that great cooked dough smell. Each piece that I sliced was filled with gooey cheese goodness, with pepperoni and italian sausage. There's also tomato-based dipping sauce on the side. It was tasty for the first half, then it palled. The problem is that unlike a similarly sized pizza slice, there's a lot more dough. And the cheese and meat didn't quite have enough flavour to balance it out. It would have been better if there was the addition of some fresh herb, or a spicy and herb-infused sausage. Alternatively, images of stromboli on the internet show it over-stuffed with ingredients, and so not so much dough - which I suppose wouldn't make business-sense.

But now I know where to go for better-quality stromboli (I'll try the veg option next time) as well as fresh calzones. The pizza made there also look good enough for a try-out on my continuing quest for the best pizza in Toronto.

Weezer, Geezer! Where'd You Get Those Sheezer?

I was browsing through the local free weeklies last week, and there was a number of positive profiles of an all-female Weezer cover band called Sheezer. Apparently, there's quite a buzz about them in the Toronto indie scene since last winter given that they've only played 2 shows (and as more of a lark than anything else), and the name even came before the band (2 of them had to learn new instruments.) The (mini)-hype is because they are all members of other local bands. Their hotly anticipated 3rd show was to be at the Garrison on Friday. I had never listened to Weezer in the mid-90s, and the Garrison's sound system is underwhelming. So I would have passed on Sheezer except that the group photo had a shot of Laura Barrett. As I like her brand of weird, quirky songs I decided to check out the group. First, of course, I had to familiarize myself with Weezer's first two albums (The Blue Album and Pinkerton) with a couple of listen thanks to youtube playlists.

Laura Barrett, who was actually shorter than I am up close, had chopped off her long hair into a fetching jaw-length short cut. Yay! Then I learned that she was moving to Vancouver. Boo! No more songs about crystalline banyan trees that tinkle like wind chimes!

I made my way up to the front row by the time Sheezer came on at a very late 11:40 pm as they were the only band on the bill. But the wait was worth for me and sold-crowd of 300 or so. Sheezer put on an energetic show that was tight, skillful, and exuberant. Most of the women took turns doing lead vocals except for lead guitarist Alysha Haugen. Magali Meagher (The Phonemes) was the elder stateswoman, keeping things cool on rhythm guitar. Robin Hatch (Sports: The Band) was sweaty on guitar, synthesizer, xylophone, and harmonica. Dana Snell (The Bicycles, Gentleman Reg) contributed a fine voice and a fierce muscularity to the drums. Boy, she smashed those skins but good. The surprise was bassist Laura Barrett (Hidden Cameras, herself) and lead guitarist Alysha Haugen. I couldn't believe Laura only learned to play bass a few months ago for Sheezer; her usual instruments are the piano and kalimba. But there she was, in full nerd rocker with her short hair and glasses, hopping around covered in sweat, laying down some catchy bass lines. I remarked afterward that this was quite a difference from her usual gig and she enthusiastically agreed.

As for Alysha, before tonight she was known as a local music promoter; no one had any idea she could rip out those jangly solos and screeching chords with such ease. With her short curly hair, glasses that kept slipping down her nose, and not a drop of sweat to stain her dress ... well, she did have that sexy librarian/teacher vibe going (if librarians rock out between the book-shelves.)

The night was a smashing success. It'll be interesting to see where Sheezer go from here as each member has her own musical pursuit. Why not open for Weezer? Heck, they might out-draw those old fogeys.

As for the geezer bit, I guess this song from Weezer sums up my attitude at this time. I hope they're not being ironic.

…And I don't wanna be an old man anymore
It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shakin' booty, makin' sweet love all the night
It's time I got back to the Good Life
It's time I got back, it's time I got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back…Yeah!