Barque Smokehouse, Toronto

becky_color
Becky coloring.
fork_knife_brush
Fork, knife, paint brush.

barque_wings
Smoked Dry Rub Wings

barque_brush
Brushing on a sauce. There was a tomato-based Kansas City sauce and mustard-based North Carolina sauce.

st_ambroise_oatmeal_stout
The glass says red, but this was the Montreal-brewed St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout
barque_salad
Arugula salad with savory crumble, apples, roasted beets, lavender ricotta, cider vinaigrette.

well_smoke_anything
OK!

barque_pasta
Sage & Smoked Provalone Pasta

barque_sliders
Pulled lamb sliders with blue cheese.
barque_feast
It is a feast of meat!!

barque_poutine
Pulled pork poutine.

barque_ribs
Two kinds of baby back ribs: Sweet heat & dry rub.
barque_chicken_brisket
Smoked chicken and brisket.

barque_cupcakes
Cinnamon and chocolate cupcakes made by “the elves under the stairs.”

brian_nicholas
Our waiter, Nicholas. Notice – in Canada cards must be swiped right at the table. Server can’t take them away.

barque_shots
Gerardo with shots of bourbon!
barque
We love you, Barque.

Matt has a friend who runs Shut Up and Eat, a Canadian-based food blog. This friend recommended Barque Smokehouse as a restaurant we had to check out while in Toronto. A bunch of us decided to give it a try. We tried to call ahead for a reservation, but couldn’t get one, so we thought we’d just go and hang out at the bar til we could get seated. The problem? It’s a very small bar/doorway area and we were constantly getting shoved around. We had 6 people in our party and there was just no place for us to stand and wait. The staff at Barque was getting annoyed, we were getting annoyed, but luckily we all stuck it out. When we finally got a table, we let all that annoyance go away and the service could not have been better. Our server Nicholas was awesome and the other waiter, Gerardo, who Becky colored a picture for as a goodwill offerring, gave us free shots of bourbon at the end of our meal.

Before we even looked at the menu, our waiter told us we could get a ton of family-style stuff for $35 per person. I don’t know if this was a Winterlicious (restaurant week) special or what, but we were all for it. We added on the pulled pork poutine because, hello!, Canada. Also, one of my coworkers doesn’t eat gluten, soy or dairy and they did not even bat an eye at accommodating her. Awesome. For dinner we had an all out meat-a-polooza! Wings, ribs, pulled lamb, smoked chicken, brisket, you name it! It was all so good!!! I’m talking, the best barbecue I’ve had in a couple years! Becky and I are still talking about how good the chicken is and I’m writing this more than a week later!! So glad that we all went for it and were able to try so many different things. I’m so glad that we stuck it out and made amends and had this fantastic meal. And to be honest, we had many fantastic meals in Toronto. I had no idea it was such a great place for dining out!