It's The Real Thing

Toronto doesn't have its own baked pastry but there are a few Montreal-style bagel shops in the city. Then I heard about "Turkish bagel" (simit) and wow, there's a café at King and Niagara offering this interesting treat called Simit and Chai.

Early Sunday afternoon, I dropped by. It was a bright place, in the hipster mold, with a trendy clientele. The café offered numerous Middle Eastern bite-site fares especially sweet dessert (other than baklava). I got the traditional offering of simit, pastirma, asiago cheese, and tomato ($11.50). What came out was a large, hollowing bagel liberally coated with sesame seed. It was a wonderful combination of flaviour between the cheese, tomato, and slight saltiness from the cured beef. The simit itself was toothsome and fragrant. I quite enjoyed this "street eat" though there was a bit of sticker shock since the simit itself was only $2/each if you bought a dozen.

Dance Dance Evolution

3 bands played at Massey Hall Friday night, and each in their own way didn't quite fit with the vibe of this venerable hall. First up was siblings Too Attached. Their low-key synth-pop couldn't quite get the early crowd to respond. There were some cheers for singer's Vivek Shraya coming out as transgender. Next up was noisy indie band Torres. The problem is that I've found that Massey Hall's acoustics (though famed) sound muddy when there are lots of guitar and effects. In this case, Mackenzie Scott's introspective lyrics got buried in the mix.

Tegan and Sara's set was generally fun and infectious in the dance-pop vein. But most people remained seated as per the usual Massey Hall crowd. The new songs off their latest album were undoubtedly pop, but the sisters had also converted most of their back catalogue to be more dance and synth. It was a bit hit-and-miss, some worked while others sounded dull and inane. Their older fans cheered loudly when the sisters brought out a guitar for a 3-song acoustic break. The newer numbers did allow them to finally get the butts off the seats with Closer, Boyfriend, and Stop Desire.

Pokey Man

I was wandering around Friday night before a concert looking for a place to eat. But all the restaurants along Dundas St. between University and Bay had long line-up. I suddenly remembered that there was a recent restaurant craze for the Hawaiian's dish of poke. And there was one just off the strip on Elizabeth St.

As it was hidden near the end of the small street, Poke Guys had mostly a crowd of students. I ordered a Sooo Fresh Bowl ($10.50). It certainly looked appetizing with its pile of seaweed salad, grape tomatoes, watermelon radish, pineapple, corn, and raw ahi tuna cubes. In fact, it was quite tasty. The rice had been prepared in the sushi-style: slightly sticky and with a hint of vinegar. Along with the seaweed, sesame seeds, and fish, it was like a deconstructed maki. But the addition of the other ingredients refreshed your palate. This poke idea is a great culinary tradition.

Dirty Women

Friday night, I was at the first of two sold-out shows by cover band Vag Halen. This all-female, queer-positive band usually does "cock rock" to reclaim the space for women. But these shows will be tributes to the women artists in rock.

A very young punk band called Hex opened the show. The female power trio, graduates of the Girls Rock Camp program, liked to mix things up with tempo and volume changes. Their original material was a bit rough compared to the classics they covered: Le Tigre's Deceptacon and Pattie Smith's Gloria. But the covers showed they had some chops.

Vag Halen came out groovy with White Rabbit but proceeded to destroy the crowd with numbers like Edge of 17, Happy House, New Radio, and Rock Star. The evening ended with a raging call for women empowerment with Yoko Ono's Women Power. Though it was loud and raucous for the bulk of their set, bassist Katie Richie entranced the crowd with the quiet Song for the Siren. But most of the night belonged to singer Vanessa Dunn. She put all male rockers to shame with her high-energy presence, all the while being 8-months pregnant, and letting it all hang out with a metal t-shirt rolled up above her swollen belly, and rocking black undies and pantyhose.