The timing for the Drinks with Friends contest is perfect for Zeke. Just last weekend, I had a chance to get together with 7 other friends for a weekend of juvenile fun which generally includes Drinks!

So, one morning, we need a place for brunch and a couple beers to start off the day. Sleek tells us the perfect place is a couple blocks south on Queen St. called Death and Taxes Free house. http://donnellygroup.ca/death-and-taxes/

So let's check it out

The entrance is a little strange but I suppose you have to stand our on the busy city street in a trendy neighbourhood.

The menu is rather simple and printed upon a plain white sheet of paper. Much cheaper and probably way easier if they are the sort of place that constantly changing the features on the menu.

Generally, when I see a menu that contains the words granola, kale, and 3 or more mentions of avocado, I figure I have wandered into the right place. The fact that they have breakfast as a section on the menu mot just in the morning is a bit of a saving grace.

Can I get you something to Drink?

Damn right you can! This is the Beverages with Friends spotlight so you have to ask that in order to get started properly. What have you got.

This is where things turned a bit more for the better. 4 gravity pull casks of beer(you can see circled in red on the panoramic shot.) Bingo.

Being still the middle of the day, I opted for the stout. I am glad I did because it was full of taste, was a nice malty change of pace from a weekend otherwise dominated by IPAs, and it was one I had never tasted before.

The other folks with me agreed and it was stouts for about half of us.

Back to the Food

This one is the D&T Breakfast. Standard and pretty tasty looking.

I am not a chicken eater, otherwise, this order of Chicken & Waffles looked great. It didn't last too long either as the eater was all munching and mumbling until it was done.

I opted for the D&T burger half because it was later in the day, and half in order to continue in my Tasteem quest to sample a burger in every restaurant on the planet. They were very liberal on the lettuce but it wasn't too bad as the Russian Dressing topping kinda turned it into a bit of a salad as well. All wrapped up in paper like some old fashioned diner.

Fries were blanched very nicely and acted as a perfect vehicle for a little salt. I am kind of liking the smaller portions of fries at many of the newer restaurants because too many manage to get in my mouth otherwise, and they can't hide a bad job on the main by flooding your plate with fries.

Other Stuff

I generally try and visit the washroom now that I am a professional blogger and restaurant reviewer so that I can check out and share the rest of the place.

As with many of the converted old buildings in Toronto, the restrooms were downstairs through a maze of small and nondescript hallways and stair cases. Halfway there, they make use of some of the limited hallway space to store some of the empty kegs under some black lighted shelving highlighted by an old player piano. That's something unique.

This place also apparently hosts special nights. The one coming up on that Sunday was the Oscar viewing party. Definitely not my thing but I am sure the place was packed with happy ladies and bearded hipsters who enjoyed the cask beer as much as I did.

Zeke's overall impression

I am glad to have stumbled across this place with the crew. The casks were very nice and the food was good. The waitress was hot as hell (seems I must remember to sneak a shot of the staff so that I am not keeping you guessing or wondering) and the service was good. The beer definitely makes it worth it.

There was nothing earthshaking about the style of food or selection of exotic dishes but they had a nice spin on the classics that obviously catered well to the targeted clientele.

The Burger

I did not hate this! Burger wise, it was definitely better than the standard frozen Sysco crap but not quite as good as some of the sous vide gems in my small town.

Thanks for taking the time to share this experience with me. Why don't you spin up a @tasteem review of your own?

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Restaurant Information

Death and Taxes Freehouse

1154 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1J5, Canada

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Death and Taxes - As inevitable as Beverages with friends for Zeke!
This post participated in the Tasteem contest Beverages with friends

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