Favourite Pub [Archive] - Caithness.Org Forums

rich

20-Aug-03, 16:39

My favourite pub is the Rex Hotel on Queen St. West in Toronto.
You can visit at
:http://www.jazzintoronto.com/the_rex/index.php3?club=the_rex
The Rex offers the sublime pleasure of a seat at a bar where you can watch streetcars outside and listen to great jazz inside.
It still functions as a hotel, albeit the decor of the rooms has not changed since the late 1950s and you check in through the bar.
I know one elderly gentleman who regularly checks in for a nap at three in the afternoon, goes downstairs to the bar for a hamburger and a cigar and a chat about antiquarian art books and then listens to the music for an hour or two.
He is married to a lovely Chinese lady who is obsessively house-proud(he says) and she prefers it if he gets out of the house on her cleaning days.
The principal splendour of the Rex is the piano. A real baby grand - not one of your chicka-boom chicka-boom electronic keyboards.
The Rex features its own big band - 15 players. What with drums, upright bass, horn sections etc the place does get crowded. I remember sharing a table with one of the trombonists during a set. It is quite a complicated business to play trombone and drink beer between riffs and solos!
What can I say about the clientelle - a mixture of Hell's Angels, musicians, poets, grizzled old gents enjoying their retirement, and lots of people who care deeply about preserving America's indigenous music and also about nurturing talent.
Right now we have great - astonishingly great female singers in Toronto. Alex Pangman for example:
http://www.alexpangman.com/
Or Laura Hubert:
http://www.laurahubert.com/
Last but not least the beer at the Rex is excellent, espcially Creemore Springs s and Muskoka Cream Ale - small craft breweries.
Did I tell you that we also have the best Cheddar cheese in the world in Ontario. I'll leave that for another posting....