Big Bunny's Girl of the Month: Eva Mendes

The temperature's starting to drop, so lets warm up around the hot and sultry Eva Mendes. Eva joins Selma Hayek as Campari calendar girls who are also girls of the month.

Real Estate Divas?

This caught my eye. I remember there being 2 divas before, but the flip side of the sign didn't have the other diva.


Here's the original sign

There should be 2 of them one that looks like Peg Bundy and another one.

I wonder what happened to the other diva? Maybe the lifestyle for a real estate diva is too fast paced -- drinks at a cougar bar, drinks at divorcee night at some hotel bar bear the airport, late dinners at Red Lobster or the Keg -- and she burned out. Or maybe they got into a fight. Peg might have stolen the other ones boyfriend or something.

hmmmmmm.........

I'm not sure we'll ever know for sure.

Tati Revisted

I've previously reviewed this spot, and while it wasn't a disaster it wasn't overwhelming either. But things can change over time.

I didn't know this until this summer, but apparently this place is named after the french comedian/director Jacques Tati. They also have a movie poster for one of his films when you first come in. Kind of neat. Better than picking something like "Wild Thing". Have to tip my cap to the owner on this one.

The scene is still pretty mixed, but does lean more heavily to the young side. The musical selections are always pretty decent. You can hear anything from some indie rock stuff to miles davis stuff from the 2nd great quintet.

The service is casual and friendly. They have an all girl crew working here. One is a holdover from earlier in the year, but the rest seem new. They all kind of share. So you can get served by any of them, especially on a busy night. Some of the waitresses are pretty hot as well. The Saturday night crew is particularly noteworthy. There are 2 blonds and a brunette who will give anyone who's a little bit of pervert a bit of exercise for their neck muscles. I have to tip my cap to the owner on this one as well.

The wine list here is pretty well stocked. I've never been disappointed by the wines I've had here. Like a lot of places a lot of the better wines are in the $80-$100 or above range. However, unlike a lot of other places you can still work the wine list for a really good choice in the $40-50 range. I had this really great California Zinfandel there and it was about $48. They also have a Malbec there that they sell by the glass, which is really good. I had a glass and i could smell the bouquet without doing anything to it. I think a bottle is in the low $40 range.

The appetizers are always pretty good. The snails are really good as is the salad with bits of bacon/ham. They also have an antipasto platter which has a little cheese, some cured meats, a grilled pepper, some olives, grilled calamari, grilled shrimp, ... . I know that this is not authentic french bistro fare, but the ironic thing is that the french bistro does antipasto better than a lot of Italian spots.

I think there's been some change over in the menu. I don't remember some of the things that are on there from before. But in any event, aside from the foray into the pasta, its standard french bistro. The cassolulet here is really hearty. I almost didn't finish. The serving size is pretty decent -- noteworthy since most portion sizes are shrinking as the economy goes into the shitter -- and the cassoulet is in the medium range for richness. So its not as heavy as the cassoulet at Pastis for example, but it's not a light weight either. They also have this monk fish that they prepare like a lobster, which is quite good. It might actually be the lightest main on the menu. I say lightest because the most of the mains are really rich or filling. Take the black cod. I thought that this would have been pretty light, but I think they cooked it in a lot of butter and it comes with this truffle oil mash potatoes -- so it was pretty hard to finish. I'd say the fall back options on the menu would be anything with frites: the steak, the bavette and the mussels (when they're in season -- months with an r in them).

The deserts are pretty decent. The coffee was a real weak point during my earlier visits. But one of the new girls is doing a lot better job. The coffee is decent now -- it would definitely be better than Starbucks now -- so its drinkable.

This is definitely a medium price range place, your looking at $100 or so for dinner with a few glasses of wine. They also have a decent looking fixed price menu on Sunday to Wednesday for $25.

Overall, not too shabby. A nice little spot to go for dinner for two or for bigger groups if you're looking for a french bistro with a younger scene.

Rating: 1 Bunny

Notes on the Bunny Rating System:

• 0 or no Bunnies, it's a waste of time; don't go.
• 1 Bunny, the place is worth checking out.
• 2 Bunnies, you should go out of your way to check out the place; the food is really good and the place is cool.
• 3 Bunnies, you absolutely have to go there; the food is exceptional and the place is really cool

Keepin' It Realtor

I found this site just today: Keepin' It Realtor. They take submissions of real estate ads and post them. They also hand out an award on the ad.

I'm not sure, but it looks like its based here in Toronto because a lot of the ads look like they're from here or maybe they have a lot of readers from Toronto. I guess some people have submitted some ads that I had posted previously.

Its great to see another blog pop up and devote itself to the sharing of these great ads. I haven't done a real estate sign post in a while, but I'll have a few for you in the next weeks.

Spotlight on Gear: Aladdin Style Footwear

If you need something to rock to the club and get ready for the ladies how about these.







I'll have to admit, I'm not sure if the Aladdin thing is played out and you're supposed to be moving to a more duck feet kind of look. In any event, lets have a closer look.

Here's something with the edgy Aladdin toe



You see that it comes to a point and curves up. This is the style that I thought was on the leading edge of douche bag fashion.

But when you see them along these two with wider and flatter fronts as well as a bit of snakeskin pattern, I'm not so sure what the leading edge of douche bag fashion is anymore.



These ones have a wider toe, but have a bit of the arc associated with the Aladdin style toe. Could they be some sort of hybrid style?



Now the metal tip on these toes is clearly late-1980s or early-1990s gino. This might be a retro look or could it be a revival?



The Mondrian style colour blocking on these is a really different detail. You don't see that every day, so I guess that's going to grab a lot of attention when you rock them to the club.

Recent Trends in Food: Cured Meats

I was reading this article on a new trend in Italian restaurants in the U.S. Apparently, a lot of the high end spots are starting to cure their own meats and serve them their own instead of buying the industrial made stuff.

How about this to get you salivating. A nice cooler full of prosciutto (with a few cappocollos in there was well).



To make this the old school way you need the hind leg from a pig, some salt, black pepper (and perhaps some chili peppers if you're into a little more heat) and at least 10 months to cure the meat. Of course there's the initial preparation of the meat that needs to be done properly, so this not for amateurs. You need a pro to do it, which is why these places in the U.S. are getting someone specialized to do it.

This looks like some sort of salami, but if you ask me it looks pretty industrial grade.



Now this is a capocollo. This is the real thing. Its made from the shoulder of a pig. The meat is different from the hind leg -- I think its not as a tough. Its a solid slab of meat that gets black peppercorns inserted in the meat. It's then wrapped in a casing that is coated with pepper and other seasonings and then bound with string.

Just look at it. Its magnificent.

Here's some speck. As I understand, speck is a cross between the salting methods used by Italians and the smoking methods used by Germans and Northern Europeans. I guess you end up with something in between in terms of the flavours and textures.


The bresaola, is something I didn't try until recently at Teroni. It was pretty tasty. It's made from beef. From the descriptions I've read, it's sounds like its kind of made like a capocollo. It has a really nice colour and texture to it. I'd like to get close to one and smell it.


It would be nice if this trend in authentic cured meats made its way up here. As far as I can tell it's all over New York. There's even this new french bistro Bar Boulud, which is run by some guy from Lyons. Apparently, Lyons is well known for its sausage in France. So this guy brings in a charcutier, who is someone who basically makes sausage, cured meats as well as other things from pork, from Lyons to give the place the authentic stuff -- instead of the shit you can get at a supermarket. Up here, the closet I've heard to this trend is Teroni getting their prosciutto from a guy who makes them the old fashioned way. Still that's a start.

Wild Thing Espresso and Gelato Bar

Little place on Harbord near Central Tech. The place took over a dive burger joint that used to be frequented by the thugs from Central Tech.

The name is quite unfortunate. I once saw these two guys give each other a high 5 and say wild thing when they saw the sign on the place.

The place is on the first floor of a Victorian house, but most of the original details are long gone. Its got the restoration hardware lighting, exposed brick on one wall. The guys who run this place have no taste in music. I've heard this techo lounge stuff playing in the place, and then on other days its kind of like classic rock (led zeppelin, beatles) mixed in with stuff like diana kral or something like that. Having no music would be a definite improvement in the atmosphere. They also have pretty shitty magazines in the place, elle and similar titles.

To me the crowd looks like a lot of University students and the occasional local. They don't have a lot seating so usually there's something like a half dozen customers or so in the place.

I haven't tried the gelato, not sure if they make it on site. They also do grilled panino's, but not sure how that works out. In terms of the coffee, there are at least 2 guys who work the machine. One is pretty decent, the other is much less so. So if you get the better one you can get a decent americano or espresso. He's got pretty good technique and does all the little things. The other guy is no where near as competent. The second stringers they have at Manic Coffee are better than him. Also if you want to put milk or cream in your coffee or americano then you have to ask for it because they don't have a little place where you can add your own like other coffee places. I'm not sure if they're trying to save a little money or something but its kind of annoying because they don't actually tell you that they don't have any milk available. They also nickel and dime you on the serving sizes. For example, like Manic and Ella's Uncle they serve an iced latte. The price of the iced latte is a little more, but the serving size looks to be a lot smaller. I've been checking the place out for a while and the prices of the americano have also increased from the early part of the summer, but the size of the cup (to stay) is also smaller.

Overall, with Manic Coffee in the neighbourhood not sure this is worth it. If you get the skilled guys at Manic its going to be better than here. If you get the less skilled guys at Manic its still better than here. The atmosphere is also better at Manic.

Rating: 0 Bunnies

Notes on the Bunny Rating System:

• 0 or no Bunnies, it's a waste of time; don't go.
• 1 Bunny, the place is worth checking out.
• 2 Bunnies, you should go out of your way to check out the place; the food is really good and the place is cool.
• 3 Bunnies, you absolutely have to go there; the food is exceptional and the place is really cool