“if it weren’t for hidden treasures like Dark Horse, basically, at its core, Toronto sucks when it comes to drinkable coffee. It’s unfortunate in a multicultural city - 'the Centre of Canada' - that its more distinguished palates are tortured by the automatron of Starbucks not to mention the metal-in-your mouth of Timmy’s”-Resentful Barista
Under this chandelier i could envision a million different scenarios for what these two men are plotting over lattes in goblets. The one in the ski cap is the dreamer (i bet a full head of hair hides under there); the one in the peacoat (slightly balding) has eyes of a cynical hue, left-brained questioning. Whatever this business plan they are scheming - importing authentic italian cannolis, investing in the newest save-a-bank venture, puerto rican real estate - one never knows the plot of the italian men across the wooden CHAUCER-ESQUE TABLE IN THE DARK HORSE ESPRESSO BAR.
So i call the bartender - “barista” in Italian - I call him Ferland, besides the fact that he is wearing a "Ferland" jersey, he looks like a Ferland and it suits his personality with his quirky description of industrial muffin ingredients versus the banana muffin. He makes it sound like a dialogue from a Stella McCartney film:
Customer: What kind is that one?
Ferland: That’s the Industrial Muffin - no sugar, no butter, egg-free , with coconut and raspberries - really tasty...
Customer: And which is that one?
Ferland: That’s a banana nut muffin (dryly, as though the ordinariness of it offends his sensibility). This one is “healthy”, and this one “not” so healthy.
The Dark Horse baristas are approachable.
WAIT a sec! Did you hear me correctly - a barista and approachable in the same sentence??
Yes, that's right: no snobbery here (at least as far as my experience has shown me), no "your coffee order is a supreme burden for me" attitude. It's like what you would expect from your local bar: a bartender/therapist. And it's what we all need sometimes, an open ear and a smile.
"When we open the Queen and Spadina location, YOU’ll hand ME the coffee.” Ferland quips to another customer, Burrito man. Ha ha ha, the laughter.
Interestingly, in a city where the hospitality and social graces mirror a native New Yorker, Dark Horse somehow facilitates a generosity of spirit - a bit rebellious in the face of a soft city trying to prove, like an impudent 13 year old, "we mean business" to the world.
Now there is a networking with the burrito man and a little lady.
Aside: Apparently the barista used to work for Burrito man and had it out in an alley in the back with a co-worker. “Just so you know” he reenacts his departure and mock-seethes, “I am leaving because of you. Because you are a BAD person.”
But as the burrito place has shut down, little lady inquires, “So what do you do now?” Ahh - networking at its best: organic and over espresso.
Apparently, i overhear, Ferland is closing Thursday and Friday. Now I know how i’ll be spending my after-work time. It’s so shitty to go home straight from work. I have realized this from the displaced feeling that i have rushing home straight after the ol' dodo tail is pulled. Sitting at my stupid looking kitchen table pouring over notes and pages to find some semblance of creative thinking in prose form; something to make me feel like I am still a creative person and that my job has not sucked away all my spirit. But at least my homemade coffee is good - that makes it worth the dark, dank decorum and harassment by various animal noses. Now - a new refuge!
My resolve? Go to Dark Horse. Drink espresso. Work on manipulating my thoughts until they can be transferred from my mind into my Mac and perhaps, one day, be processed by another human mind. And maybe meet a couple new faces along the way. ("What's that you've been working on so intently?" asks another latte drinker. Yes, this is definitely a different kind of place.)
Thank the beans for caffes and wifi.
(Editor’s note: Dark Horse provides free wifi to accompany it's killer small-batch roasted coffee, and expertly handled latte art)
- Cafe Review from March 2009
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