Since I mentioned the bar called “Not My Dog” in the previous article, I thought I’d post a couple of reviews. Here’s an excerpt of one from the Martini Boys site, which specializes in bar and restaurant reviews:
Enter Not My Dog and you get the sense of something cool going down. The exposed brick walls, a 1957 Nordheimer honky-tonk piano and a guitar tucked away in the corner, all add to a comfortable, DIY enclosure. A walk further out to the secluded back patio provides more of the same coziness.
The virtues of Not My Dog are considerable. The most immediately obvious is its unceremonious sense of being in a friend’s apartment. There’s a small bar near the back and a smattering of tables and chairs to accommodate a few dozen trendy Parkdale denizens.
“Parkdale,” begins the Toronto Life article on the area, “now trimmed with sweet cafés, bars and vintage boutiques—cleans up good.” Here’s what they have to say about Not My Dog in their review of places in Parkdale:
About the size of a room at the Y, this tiny, glamorously unglamorous hole in the wall is long on pogey chic. Locals, decked out in Value Village’s finest, swill organic brew and couture cocktails (wasabi martinis and cucumber saketinis) to indie folk rock strains. A 1957 Nordheimer honky-tonk piano invites Johnny Cash tributes; local band Makita Hack performs weekly. TIP: Look for the occasional Tuesday-night movie screening on the back patio.
For those of you not familiar with Canadian slang and who were uncertain about the phrase “pogey chic”: pogey means welfare. Depending on where your head’s at, you can read that to mean either “scruffy” or “authentic, duuuuude“, take your pick.
Be sure to check out the rest of the article to see their reviews of other spots in Parkdale, including one of my favourite breakfast spots, Easy.
2 replies on ““Not My Dog” and Other Parkdale Hangouts”
“Cucumber saketinis”?!
Jesus God, just reading those words makes me want to reach for a bottle of rotgut whiskey… and I don’t even drink.
Pogey! One of my favourite where-the-hell-did-that-come-from words. I didn’t realize it was still much in use!
My northern Ontario family uses pogey to refer to UI/EI, as opposed to welfare (which is almost always just called welfare). I think that slight distinction meant a lot to people, especially in northern ontario towns where resource-based industries meant work options were/are notoriously unreliable. (Ie. “They closed they mill, Uncle Bob’s going to have to get pogey until snowmobile rentals start in winter.”)
If you’re interested in its etymology, check out this .pdf: home.comcast.net/~russ1980/stuff/Pogey.pdf
Interesting stuff!