The Rebel House + Summer's

When the sun refuses to sleep and your shoes are traded in for flip flops, it can only mean one thing - patio season is in.

The weather in Toronto has been incredibly warm lately, and after a long, grey winter, I'm more than happy to welcome in the summer sun. On Friday, I hit up the backyard patio at The Rebel House with Winnie and Mike. Located just north of Rosedale station on Yonge, The Rebel House has been opened for 17 years and is a popular destination for locals to go for drinks and munch on generous portions of quality pub fare.



Inside there is a fantastic classic yet rustic rustic looking bar front that's perfect, while the backyard patio is strung with Canadiana decor and shaded by giant translucent umbrella. They were quite busy but we managed to snag a table.



As Winnie and I waited for Mike to arrived, we ordered the Rebel poutine ($6.75). I rarely think you can go wrong with poutine, and with the name tacked on it you'd think it'd be an awesome signature item - sadly, not the case here. Upon arrival, it looked really interesting and I was excited to dig in. The "fries" were cut more like thick-cut chips, and although tasty, didn't hold the cheese properly and got soaked by the gravy way too quickly. The homemade gravy also had a funny taste - Winnie remarked that it had like a beer-like aftertaste. Oh, well.

For l'entree, I got the daily mussels ($12.95), Winnie got the daily chef salad ($10.75), and Mike got the buffalo burger ($10.95).



The mussels were cooked in a garlic-cilantro broth and served with rye toast. They gave me A LOT of mussels - over two and half dozen? They were hot and fresh, with the garlic-cilantro flavour quite interesting (although a little overpowering). I thought the rye toast was a bit of an odd throw-in. Rye bread naturally has a distinct and strong flavour, and it didn't really go with the mussels. I was craving some crusty Italian loaf instead to dip into the broth.

Winnie's salad came with organic spinach, honey-roasted mushrooms, goat cheese, ham, tomatoes and cucumbers in a orange-ginger dressing. For a restaurant salad, I was surprised at how decent it was (no, I'm not being critical. It's just that most restaurants just don't know how to do salads). The spinach was the star of the dish as the leaves were extremely fresh... tender-crisp and almost thick. Although I was sort of hoping for shreds of real ham hock, we got diced up bites of cold-cut ham (cut too small to be able to jab easily a fork). The dressing was really light and refreshing, and they didn't drench the salad!!!!! Hurrah!! Just for that, I give the salad a thumbs up.

The buffalo burger, claimed to be "the best buffalo burger in town", was also quite good. I'd never tried buffalo meat until then so I didn't really have anything to which I could compare it. It definitely has a distinct, gamey taste that I'm not quite sure I'm fond of. But for buffalo-meat lovers, I think it's sure to please. You can tell the waiter how well-done you want your burger cooked, and it comes on a whole wheat bun with a spicy ancho pepper sauce that gives it that BBQ kick.



Randomly enough, I think the best thing I tasted there was the iced tea Mike ordered ($2.75). We were expected generic Nestea, but was surprised by a homemade iced-tea. It had a slightly bitter/medicinal taste with notes of honey that left your tongue puzzled, yet craving more. Not to mention that it came in a glass mason-jar with s handle, which made me swoon just a little (Hey, I'm a designer, after all).



After dinner, we took a walk around in the Rosedale neighbourhood to burn off the poutine and to covet the gorgeous, gorgeous Rosedale homes. And then it was off Summer's in Yorkville. Being a Friday night with the weather so nice, it was booming in Yorkville and the doors of the little independent ice cream shop were crowded with loads of people. I was entranced by the warm scents of fresh waffle cones as we walked in. We ordered the chocolate chip cookie dough and mango-raspberry sorbet to share. ($3.50 single scoop with waffle cone)

Now sorbet has never really had a good reputation, as most of the ones that exist out there are reminiscent more of melted freezies rather than pureed fruit.

But Summer's mango-raspberry sorbet? HOLY CRAP. One bite each and the three of us were looking at each other thinking oh-my-friggen-goodness. It was... amazing. The intensity of the fruit sweetness cuts through to your tastebuds like a little piece of icy fruit heaven. It was like taking a shot of concentrated fruit smoothie with smushed chunks of raspberries, all wrapped together in a fresh waffle cone...I mean... just, just go get one. Seriously, now.

The chocolate chip cookie dough was also very good, with the vanilla ice cream part tasting especially creamy and fresh. I liked it better than the vanilla at Greg's (Greg's I find to be too creamy). But I think we were all too entranced by the sorbet to really pay attention to it.

It was a great way to end an eventful night. Oh yeah, after the ice cream, we walked down Avenue Road and were held up by security guards who were holding up the entire street - traffic and all. We watched as the prime minister of Israel along with his bodyguards and associates walked from the hotel to the restaurant across the street. It took about 8 minutes total and there were a lot of annoyed car honks, but it was pretty interesting to watch at how intense it was - as if they were parting the red sea for him!