Buca Yorkville and The World's Meanest Cabbie

Last weekend, I got together with 5 girlfriends I have known since before puberty hit. Lots of history there.  It's less like herding cats to get us together now, since most of their kids are old enough to feed themselves.  We had the same great time we always did.  And, holy shit, can we ever drink wine! Many, many bottles were consumed.

Since we were asked to leave a downtown hotel last year due to excessively loud laughter, this year, I was fortunate to be able to book a beautiful apartment that could fit everybody.  Some good friends own a stunning Victorian row house in Cabbagetown, and were kind enough to let my friends stay in their garden level rental unit.  It ended up being the perfect solution; we had a great place to hang out, and my old friends were able to meet some of my new ones.

After starting our Saturday night with a few bottles of bubbly, we headed out for dinner at Buca Yorkville.  It was fantastic, and different. The cured fish "charcuterie" was really inventive. We had shrimp mortadella, lobster sausage, and saffron cured scallops, along with two kinds of cured tuna. Everything was delicious.  Oh, and expensive, but that's par for the course at a place like this, right?

We laugh loud.

Buca Yorkville cured fish charcuterie.  Terrible photo, but you get the idea.

For mains, several of us ordered pizza, which had a perfect thin crust, and super fresh toppings.  They were served with scissors, so you could cut slices to your liking, which was cool.  Not cool, I suppose, if a heated argument were to break out during the meal. Those things looked really sharp!

I had king crab ravioli; it was lovely, and not particularly creamy, which I prefer.  The crab was delicate, and the polenta pasta was the perfect texture.  We washed our dinners down with a few bottles of Chianti and some Pinot Grigio, before heading back to the apartment, so we could resume high-volume laughing and yet more wine consumption.

The trip home from the restaurant was a trip, indeed.

After dinner, it was pouring rain, but the restaurant entrance is off the courtyard of the Four Seasons, so it was easy to get a giant cab for six.  The cabbie turned out to be a real jerk.  Parliament street was closed for the Cabbagetown Festival, meaning we had to access Aberdeen from Ontario street, which involved turning the wrong way up a one way street.  This was allowed for the weekend, as it was the only way anyone could get in and out of Aberdeen, and it was only the length of about 4 houses.   Our cab driver was completely indignant when I asked him to turn, and thus began quite a fight. I kept saying "Dude, there is no other way to get to that street!" and he would shout "NO!  I will NOT TURN!"  I ended up throwing money at him (asking for change would have ruined the moment, so buddy ended up with a 100% tip!), and he then dumped 6 women in the pouring rain, blocks from our destination.  I am proud to say that my friend who was most inconvenienced by having to walk in the rain, hit him with her cane on her way out of the car. :)

You may think I am the asshole in this story for asking someone to drive the wrong way up a one way street, but if you saw the way cabbies, especially from this particular company, flout traffic laws 24 hours a day in this city, you'd be on my side.  I live on a one-way street, and these guys are constantly driving the wrong direction to save themselves a bit of time. If I had a dime for every time I have seen a taxi break a traffic law in Toronto, I wouldn't need to work.  Why this guy chose a deserted street in the pouring rain to pretend to be a law-abiding driver, I'm sure I don't know.

I ended up walking home in the rain (only 10 minutes) to crash in my own bed around 2 AM; it took a ton of water, and the greatest invention of all time, Advil, to get me out of bed the next morning, so we could meet for brunch before everyone went their separate ways.

Looks like 6 bottles of wine, and 3 beers, for those keeping track.  Oh, and Perrier!

All in all, this year's reunion was a delight, The best part was seeing so many people I love enjoying each other's company. The second best part was seeing that we haven't lost our abilities when it comes to drinking wine.  Or fighting with strangers, when appropriate.  World, don't fuck with middle-aged chicks from Burlington.