Grub

*Restaurant is now closed*

We were playing at Lord Byng again for our Monday softball game and despite having rights to the field, there was a little league team practicing on the facing field. Since we had some real heavy hitters on both teams, it was a certainty the kids were in harm's way. So we politely asked the coach to remove the kids off the field for their safety. However, they didn't budge. Is it just me or some people are so stubborn that they do not see that their actions may lead to injuries? Anyways, we finally hit a ball smack dab into the middle of the kids and one the opposing outfielders had to bail to avoid the kids. Finally, we decided to TELL the coach to get off because the last thing we wanted were some severely injured little leaguers. Talking about injuries, I decided to run home on a very shallow sack fly by Miss Y. I ran full tilt and didn't slow down as I reached home plate, consequently smacking my face into the metal fencing. Yes, it left a mark...

Oh well, it didn't bother me because we get to eat as a team afterwords. I was remarking to Boss Woman, who runs the team, she had me at "eating after each game" when asking me to join the team. Today I got my wish and the whole team headed to try Grub on Main Street. Grub is a very small restaurant that serves up gourmet eats at reasonable prices. I actually called ahead to see if they could accommodate all 9 of us and they actually held a table for us. The menu at Grub is really quite simple. There are some antipastos, pizzas and salads. Their entrees are featured on the wall. The ambiance at Grub can be described as classy casual. The service was quite unpretentious, friendly and very attentive. For the 2nd time in 3 days, I ordered a Hoegaarden beer. I really find the name amusing, despite the fact it's not pronounced the way it looks.

For my entree, I got the featured beef dish which was a Korean Style Braised Beef. The organic beef was braised with shitake mushrooms and Napa cabbage. Resting on top in a radicchio bowl was a buckwheat soba noodle salad with a ginger soy vinaigrette. The dish itself was quite spicy. I guess it shouldn't have been surprising since it was "Korean-style". I thought the shiitake mushrooms added alot of earthiness and flavour to the dish. I really liked the soba noodle salad. Too bad there wasn't much of it, I could've eaten a whole plate of it. While I had the beef, Miss Y went for the vegan dish. It consisted of an acorn squash stuffed with "spiced millet pilaf", chive and chickpea dumplings and lemon herb parsnip & carrot confit. Personally, I didn't like this dish so much. It's probably because I like meat. However, with or without meat, I found the dumplings and the millet to be a bit dry. I'm not sure if that was the intention or not; but I was expecting it to be a bit more fluffy. Mind you, the flavours were pretty balanced and delicate.

Judes had the Sun-dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken. I actually liked this dish the best. The chicken was ever so tender and the sun-dried tomato stuffing was very flavourful without being overpowering (not too tangy, it was balanced with sweetness). It rested on a bed of mushroom risotto which was perfectly cooked (neither thick or runny). The risotto had an earthy taste thanks to the mushrooms. Bear had the Cashew Crusted Pork Chop with Yam & Potato Pave. This dish was definitely the most impressive looking. On top of a large yam & potato pave rested an equally large pork chop. The dish was finished off with sherry-poached figs and prune compote. I thought the pork chop was cooked perfectly. The meat was moist and tender. I didn't find the cashews all that crunchy; but they did add a fatty nut flavour (that didn't sound right...). The yam & potato were soft; yet not mushy.

4 people had various pizzas; but I'll comment on only 2 of them. Milhouse ordered the Salmon Gravlax and Goat's Cheese Pizza. He thought that the pizza was quite balanced since each component was discernible. He particularly liked that there were ample toppings as well. I didn't try this particular pizza; but I had a bite of Hot Chocolate's pizza which consisted of Sopressata, Artichoke Hearts, Black Olives and Red Onion. I really liked the the pizza since the crust was quite thin and the tomato sauce was light. However, since all the toppings were bold, the resulting flavour was saltiness. Mind you, this was probably the only real criticism of the food. Another minor problem was that the food took a long time. Since Grub is a small restaurant, they may not have been equipped to handle a large group of us all at once. However, the service was very good and the servers kept us happy while we waited. The combination of good food, decent portions and attentive service makes Grub a must try.

The Good:
- Food tastes good
- Decent portions
- Friendly and unpretentious service

The Bad:
- Restaurant is extremely small
- No A/C, it was a bit warm
- Food came out a bit slow