l i l e p h y t e


November 6th, 21:44 | Orange jelly beans are the best

So tonight was my dad's birthday. It's a pseudo-tradition to go Devonsleigh's, a restaurant which is actually walking distance from my house. (Man, a pattern I'm sensing? One of things I liked best about Kingston was that I could walk everywhere; I get back to Toronto and I walk to work, we walk to this dinner place...hmm.)

Anyway, so the tradition started a couple years ago when my mom had the idea that my dad might like it. So we booked a whole roomful of people (I have a big family -- ironically, they're entirely on my mom's side as my dad's family's all in England still) and we went. The food was fabulous. Unlike the moron's suggestion here, I would suggest you try the Gateau St. Honor�, not St. Henri. Well, I suggest it if you like custard in your choux; I personally prefer cream, so I didn't like them. But, that's not the point.

The point is that I love this restaurant. It's quiet, the chairs are huge comfy armchairs, and the tables are small without being cramped when they bring the food. (Or maybe they just seem small in contrast to the chairs.) The combination of the two, though, gives a very intimate feeling to the restaurant -- you don't feel like you're exposed to the rest of the people (high backs), but you're still free to look around at the paintings and chandeliers and stuff.

I have never had a snooty waiter there. Even their house wine tastes fabulous (and I don't normally like wine -- not that that says much for my taste, I suppose) and this is going to sound really petty, but I love their snackety veggies before your meal. They have carrot slivers. Wider than carrot sticks but infinitely thinner. So good!

I could go on and on about their food. Anyway, one of the things I really, really like, is the lobby. It's the entrance and exit, and they know it. When you walk in, they check your coat for you, if you want, and they have a giant bowl of jellybeans.

I'm going to break into a side-note here and remind everyone that, yes, I am a sugar-freak. If I love coke with a morbid and ceaseless passion it's not because of the caffeine. Trust me. I know because black coffee, jolt and their ilk have no effect on me and usually disgust me, but nothing gets me pepped up the way a just-icy can of coke will (yes, I like it in cans). This is possibly due to the number I drink, but I think it's mostly the sugar (and maybe the phosphoric acid). Anyway, so yes, having a big bowl of jellybeans in the lobby is a definitely plus. Espcially in a place as classy as Devonsleigh's.

The other nice thing they do is that as you're leaving, every woman who leaves the place gets a long-stemmed red rose. Seriously. They've got a vaseful of these things just for that purpose. And I know it's a little sexist a gesture, especially if you know the waiters, who are all old men, very old-fashioned, and hard-core European, but it's sweet. I like flowers, and even though I don't like roses, I love getting them from these guys. It's possible that I like it just because the flowers -- for once! -- aren't your standard symbol of love and passion; after all, they're a restaurant, not my boyfriend. So it's just meant in a respectful kind of "hey you're special, no really" kind of way. And I like it. Because it works.

I suppose my dad likes the place for the atmosphere, good wine, and good food. I like it because of that too, but also I've never been unhappy there, or when I left there.


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