Firkin & Pheasant
Canada has a habit of exporting greatness you wouldn't even know was Canadian, from Peter Jennings, who read the news with no accent aside from "non-regional gravitas", to Peter North, who doesn't really talk much. Now exporting its greatness for your gullet, Firkin & Pheasant, making its Chi debut.
Decked out with dark wood, exposed brick, strangely soothing carpets, and plush red booths/chairs/barstools made from ass-molding Posturepedic-esque material, F&P's the latest from a chain of 50 high-end British pubs based in the Empire's culinary capital...Ontario. The traditional menu (beer-battered fish n' chips, Guinness steak & mushroom pie, bangers & mash) is augmented with daily specials (clam chowder in sourdough breadbowl) and American action like "The Firkin Angus Burger": jack, bacon, bourbon chipotle onions, and a house steak sauce whose recipe's kept as locked down as the Queen's box. Of jewelry. The 14 taps run with domestics (Goose Island 312, Leinenkugel 1888 Bock), Brit stalwarts (Fuller's London Pride, Boddingtons, Newcastle, Bass), and Irish offerings (Guinness, Smithwick's, Harp, Magners Original Irish Cider); specialty booze includes 10 coffee or hot chocolate “Winter Warmers” (e.g., Baileys & Frangelico “Firkin Nutcracker”), plus 10 drinks served martini-style, most hilariously the Jack Daniel's & banana liqueur “Curious Jack” (spill to become the Man in the Yellow Pants).
Every Sat & Sun, F&P'll be slinging brunch (corned beef hash w/ fried eggs, traditional English breakfast, etc) and hearty bloody marys like the celery salt-rimmed “Caesar”, presented with a silver platter stacked w/ assorted pickles, cheeses, and meats -- order this, and your gut will convey so much gravitas, you won't even need to talk.
