Monster

Was at Monster Records last week. I spent close to an hour going through almost evertying they had and found absolutely nothing. It was amazing. They have so much of nothing there. It seems like they specialize in having non-relevant records of previously relevant bands. For example in the Stones section they had nothing that predated like '75 or something. Basically just all the bad stuff; amazing. This was the case for every band basically. Just lots of really bad rock and pop records from the 70s and 80s. They maintain a very specific aesthetic there. They have an embaressing blues section which is made up mostly of white bands like Powder Blues Band and other equal crap. I don't plan to return there anytime soon as I was thoroughly dissapointed. I need to get back to Around Again as its been a while since I've been there.

Times at The Stem

Went to the stem for breakfast/lunch with Aurora on saturday. The stem is one of the oldest diners in the city, occupying the same narrow Queen Street location since the 50s. As with many of the great diners in the city its run by a Greek family. My dad used to go there all the time back in the 70s when he was playing at the Horseshoe a lot. A few years ago Prairie Oyster was playing at the Shoe and after their soundcheck he went down the street to the Stem to get a sandwhich or something. The same guy who was running the grill 30s years ago was still there and he looked exactly the same. We were able to snag the coveted window booth. The Stem is long and narrow and only has one booth at the front. It offers some of the best people watching on Queen street. There was a woman flying miniature hand-made kites just infront of the restaurant. Aurora got eggs and hash browns. The potatoes weren't that great - kind of cold and unflavoured. I got a hamburger and fries and oh man was it great. The Stem's fries are done in the cripsy style and are really done well. Theit texture is perfect. The burger was great too - fresh, juicy beef patty. They also gave me four (!) pickels - Crazy! The Coffee was also top notch. The burger and fries runs at a pretty standard $5.25.

Vesta Dinner

Friday night Jon and I biked uptown to the truly legendary Toronto diner, The Vesta Lunch. The Vesta has been open 24 hours a day every day since it opened in 1955. It must be one of the most narrow diners in the city as it has no booths, just a lunch counter with stools running paralell to the small open kithcen. The whole place can't be more than 10 feet wide. It proved a good place for Jon and I to regroup our thoughts after each having very long days. There was little talk as he sketched the iconic interior and I focued on my food mostly. Jon got a chocolate milkshake which is quite reasonably priced at $3. He said it was very thick and quite excellent. I ordered the Cheeseburger Deluxe which supposedly came with fries and coleslaw, but I only got fries. Despite the lacking coleslaw the meal was quite excellent. The patty itself was a little on the small side compared to that of say a Friendly's or a People's Food patty but it was still an excellent burger. The fries were quite good too - the 'golden fry' style done quite well. I think it cost me 5.50 or something around there. Also the old guy at the grill was amazing. He looked like he had been waring the same shirt for the last 30 years, not that it was dirty or anything, it wasn't, but his whole style was a complete time capsule. Also the other guy runnin' the place and taking the orders reminded me of the old SNL skit where the guy kept goin' "chesseburger, chesseburger, chesseburger, chesseburger" and so on as thats pretty much all he was sayin as we were there. So in conclusion, the food is decent, the price is good but the Vesta gets full maks for atmosphere.