Monday Morning Mailbag with Bob Segarini
The Monday Morning Mailbag for February 8th 2010
Usually when I leave the house, it is either work related or going to the Grace Meat Market, Golden Wheat Bakery, or the Metro. We live in a neighbourhood where pretty much everything we need is within a 2 block radius, so we count ourselves lucky with the convenience of our location. I did get out to see Chris Hart at the Horseshoe last week, and Pie gets out to see various members of her family every week, but it’s been a while since the two of us went out together, and longer still since we had an actual date.
The Pie and I rarely get to go out on ‘date nights’ these days, but things have been starting to look up for us and Saturday, we decided to go out and celebrate. We figured we’d have an inexpensive dinner and then see if we couldn’t find some good music and have a beer or two afterward. After all, this is Toronto…how hard could it be to tuck into a reasonably priced meal and find some great music?
As it turns out, not hard at all…
The first thing we had to do was find a cool place to have dinner, so, it was time to Google. Pie had had some good barbecue earlier in the week and that sounded good to 
me, and that’s when we stumbled across a little take-out place that has only been open for 7 weeks called Smokin’ Bones.
Tracked down the address and found it on Google Maps. It’s just East of Dundas Square on Dundas. Get off the Dundas streetcar at Church and you’re almost at the front door.
It ain’t fancy, just a dozen or so stools circle the room. There are no tables, just a counter that runs around the small space, but the food…I would have sat on the floor.
How good is it?
After I inhaled my meatloaf sandwich and potato salad and Pie woofed down her pulled pork sandwich and mac and cheese, we ordered a pulled chicken sandwich, a barbecue beef brisket sandwich, mac and cheese, barbecue beans and a Caesar salad to go. I have never had Southern comfort food this good anywhere in Canada, let alone parts of the States where this food originated. Everything is made from scratch. You would think a clutch of Grandmothers from South of the Mason Dixon line were in the kitchen, sauce on their aprons and a twinkle in their eyes, cooking time tested recipes that you just can’t get outside of a family home in the deep south. Instead of Grandmothers, one man is responsible for these wonderful, authentic dishes. His name is Joseph, and he was behind the counter, waiting on customers himself, even though he is the head chef at Smokin’ Bones. That’s a sign of great dedication and passion.
How good is this food?
We got there around 9 pm Saturday night, and they were already sold out of ribs, cornbread, and fried chicken. Their menu even states, “WINTER HOURS: Monday to Wednesday 11:00am to 9:00pm (or until we sell out) Thursday to Saturday 11:00am to 11:00pm (or until we sell out)”
The pulled meats are moist, not dried out like most I’ve had. Moist and flavourful, and as tender as can be. The coleslaw and potato salad as good as any I have ever had…ever!
You have got to try this place out. Call your order in before you go for take out, or just get there early to eat in. Their close proximity to Ryerson guarantees regular sell outs.
Next weekend, we’re going back for the chicken and ribs.
Everything you need to know is here. Just click on the link.
http://www.smokinbones.ca/index.php?pg=Home
After we ate we jumped back on the streetcar and headed back toward home armed with a couple of paper bags full of food. Getting off at Spadina, we headed North towards College, thinking we’d pop into the Orbit Room or see what was happening at the Mod Club or Revival.
We never made it that far. We jumped off the streetcar at Nassau and walked across the street to Grossman’s…the perfect place to hit after a great, down-home meal, and I knew they had Keiths on tap.
We couldn’t have made a better decision.
The place was packed except for a table right in front, and we elbowed our way through the room with our takeout and took the seats. Ingrid (who says most of her customers call her “Where’s Dawn?) brought us a pitcher of ice cold Keiths, and we turned our attention to the band. Pie was ecstatic.
If you’ve heard her “I’ve Heard That Song Before” shows at www.radiothatdoesntsuck.com you know she has a great deal of love for music from the big band era and pretty much everything from the Stephen Foster to Quincy Jones when it comes to songs. Sitting there in front of us was a band that looked like they had stepped out of a time warp.
The Happy Pals.
Usually at Grossman’s on Saturday afternoons, they were playing this night with a guest clarinetist from New Orleans, and they were bringing the Crescent City right into the room. Perfect music for the meal we had just had, and cosmic in its appeal to both Pie, and myself. Even Grossman’s itself was as nice as I’ve ever seen it, some recent renovations and brand new bathrooms downstairs were almost unsettling after years of wondering if the old gal was simply going to fade away like the paint from her walls. The great pictures of all who have graced her stage still line the walls, but everything else is all gussied up, like a hobo going to a wedding. Still as comfortable as always, but now looking well loved as opposed to well worn.
The Happy Pals, tonight consisting of piano, upright bass, drums, tenor banjo, sax, clarinet, trumpet, and trombone, the instruments all showing their age, especially the ‘20’s era drum kit, 
were pumping out authentic Americana with huge grins on their faces, and the crowd was loving every minute of it. Their enthusiasm, and the music they play, are infectious.
I thought we’d stay for a set, but at 2:15 in the morning, with Pie still in the parade circling the room with the band, the bass player riding his bass like a racehorse, and the woman twirling the umbrella leading the parade like it was Mardi Gras already, we had managed to stay the course just like everyone else who was there.
When we got home, we heated up some of our takeout, and finally hit the sack a little after 4:00 am.
Authentic food, and authentic music…we couldn’t have asked for a better night out.
Check out the Happy Pals at one of their Saturday afternoon matinees at Grossman’s, and make sure you get yourself to Smokin’ Bones the first chance you get.
“The Music died 51 years ago today…and again Sunday night at the Grammy’s.” I put that up as my Facebook status the other day and was surprised to see the comments that came flying in. I thought I’d share them with you before we tackle the mail…
Cheryl Lescom: Hey Bob…thanks for the kind words…
SEG SAYS: You’re welcome. You deserve them and more, Ms. Lescom.
And finally…
SEG SAYS: This was sent to the CCR list the other day. Thanks to Rod Moysey…
If you were born in the 1940’s, 50’s, or 60’s…
We survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.
Then after that trauma, our cradles and cribs were covered with bright colouredlead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE ever died from this.
We could collect old pop bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy penny candy, Bubble Gum and firecrackers. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because we were always outside playing.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day, and we were okay.
We would spend hours building ‘race cars’ out of old strollers and wagons and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels. There were no video/DVDs, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms. We had friends and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
Lawsuits from these accidents.
Only girls and Pirates had pierced ears.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
You could only buy candy eggs and chocolate bunnies at Easter time…
We were given bb guns, sling shots, and lawn darts for our 10th birthdays,
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them.
Football and Baseball had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Getting onto the team was based on merit.
Our teachers used to hit us with erasers and gym shoes. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of…They actually sided with the law.
Our parents didn’t invent stupid names for their kids like ‘Kiora’, ‘Blade’, ‘Ridge’ and ‘Vanilla’.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
We were so lucky to grow up as kids when parents trusted us and before the lawyers and the government started regulating our lives for our own good.
SEG SAYS: Amen, Brother…
See you on Wednesday…
Thanks to all of you who wrote and shared your stories with us. That’s why we’re here. See you all on Wednesday…
That’s enough for now. Email me at segarini@fyimusic.ca with your comments, complaints, and thoughts, and remember…don’t believe a word I say.
Bob “The Iceman” Segarini was in the bands The Family Tree, Roxy, The Wackers, The Dudes, The Segarini Band, and Cats And Dogs, and nominated for a Juno for production in 1978. He also hosted “Late Great Movies” on CITY TV, was a producer of Much Music, and an on-air personality on CHUM FM, Q107, SIRIUS Sat/Rad’s Iceberg 95, (now 85), and now provides content for radiothatdoesntsuck.com with RadioZombie, The Iceage, and PsychShack. Along with the love of his life, Jade (Pie) Dunlop, (who hosts and writes “I’ve Heard That Song Before” on RTDS), continues to write, make music, and record.
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I’d like to 2nd that AMEN! Toni Reno, NV