A place to relax, make yourself at home, and enjoy the sunset
Filed Under Kitchen Curtain | Posted on January 20, 2008
Junction residents may be going out for a drink when they drop into The Troubadour, but Kristy Hollidge wants them to think they never left home.The narrow room framed by an exposed brick wall is darkly cozy think New York in the 1920s with a front slightly skewed and deeper at one end. Gauzy red curtains frame the art-glass topped window. An upright piano like the one in your aunt’s parlour or your friend’s rec room waits at the front for the Thursday night Irish band or Sunday night’s open stage.The most common comment we get is people feel like they’re at home, says Hollidge, perched on a barstool sipping a Kristy’s Kiss, the neon turquoise cocktail bartender Adam Wilson invented for her. The sweet mix of cura莽ao, peach schnapps and melon liqueur isn’t for all tastes, but the colour is pure vintage Barbiemobile and it suits Hollidge’s ebullient personality.Hollidge and husband, Quebec musician Alain Richer, opened The Troubadour last May and spent more time waiting for a liquor licence than they have serving patrons. (No, it’s not named for the vintage West Hollywood music club; it’s a nod to the French minstrel tradition.)Hollidge smiles and shrugs off the delay in opening that took until November, saying it gave the couple time to revamp the place to their tastes, including painting the original tin ceiling a rich coppery bronze that adds a lovely glow.They also did a lot of recycling. The bar front is made of old doors. But the most dramatic piece is the back of the bar the remains of a stunning art deco altar salvaged from a local tiny basement church.Hollidge and Richer live just two blocks down the street and we love this neighbourhood so much, she says of the Dundas St. W. area.Walks took them past the bar and they dreamed about owning it from the sidewalk.Now it’s theirs, right down to the regulars. Hollidge, who loves her bar and, by extension it seems, anyone who drinks there, is thrilled to see returning customers.She made sure the kitchen at the back looked more home style than industrial during the reno and has added Comfort Food Mondays, dishing up big servings of meatloaf and mash, or baked mac and cheese. The bar snack of choice is a big bowl of steamed edamame sprinkled with sea salt.The mother of two, ages 11 months and 7 years, is also proud that The Troubadour is what she calls a kid-friendly bar. There are times where there are more bums in strollers than on barstools, and that suits the owners just fine.She even consulted her 7-year-old on the kiddie menu. He suggested crab. They settled on grilled cheese with veggies.As for the more adult side of things, single malts sell well, as do the various local microbrews Hollidge has on tap. Bartender Wilson is happy to take requests in addition to his own recipes for cocktails, or try the new sip Hollidge’s hubby recently invented, the Red Sunset. I think it tastes like a Mounds chocolate bar. The Troubadour is at 3071 Dundas St. W. Open every day at 4 p.m.Know of an interesting bar that makes a signature cocktail with a recipe worth sharing? Email lbarnard@thestar.ca.
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