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Twenty-oneC'est What comes of age
It was February 13, 1988 when we first opened our doors to the public. C’est What continues to offer good value and is a leader in the decidedly uncrowded, but growing, craft beer market. Increasing interest in local products is catching up to our vision of “true local flavour”. Our many years in business has seen us survive many up and down cycles - C’est What has stood the test of time. One of the reasons our business model endures is that we never stand on our reputation. We always strive to become a better place for our customers and employees. You will never see C’est What become worn and tired as we are always looking forward, re-inventing ourselves, and making physical modifications to the restaurant to keep things fresh. Our current focus is on energy efficient lighting and fair-trade, local, and organic supplies for our menu. You can keep up to date with all things C’est What by subscribing to News or Events and Artists RSS feeds. Whiskies Of The Eighties
The full table of scores can be found here. Beer Update109 different brews on tap in 2008
Currently we still have a little bit of the F&M Stonehammer Coffee Chocolate Stout on cask, Neustadt's Casked Double Fuggled will be back at the end of this week. In the next couple of days we will make room for County Durham's Red Dragon on cask and will follow that up with a fresh batch of Iron Duke from Wellington. Denison's Dunkel and the Weizen Bock from Church-Key are on tap now and we are looking forward to the Green Tea Ale from Great Lakes. You can peruse and print our beer menu online. Brian Towers on twenty years of traditional jazz at C'est What
At that time our traditional jazz group, the Hot Five Jazzmakers were honing their group skills, playing Saturday matinees in Guelph at Burnaby's bar at the Royal hotel. After about a year there, we brought our show to downtown Toronto. We had managed to talk management at "C'est what?" into giving us a try. Our first performance was on Saturday February 11 1989 and I still have the program from that time. Rainer Hunck was on string bass; John Reid - tenor banjo and acoustic guitar; Brian Graville doubled on trumpet and piano; Janet Shaw doubled on clarinet, alto & baritone saxes and occasional piano. Yours truly played trombone and tried to put it all together. It was an instant success, though there were some hairy moments when I had to dodge loaded trays being carried by the high speed waiters, from the kitchen to the customers! You see, in the original room in those very early days, my trombone position was located outside the door from the kitchen! Since then literally hundreds of visiting jazz musicians have dropped in to jam with the H5JM from everywhere in the world - England, Scotland, USA, Germany, France, Switzerland, Australia, Hong Kong, Spain - to name just the countries that spring readily to mind. The late Jeff Healey cut his jazz teeth, sitting in with the H5JM at the early sessions, before finally forming his own "Jazz Wizards" with a nucleus of players from the H5JM. We have had some truly great moments and witnessed incredible structural changes to "C'est what?" over the years but always it has retained that intimate atmosphere. It is a venue where people actually listen to the music and it has always been that way for us. The acoustics have always been first class and two of our CD's were actually recorded "live" at "C'est what?" Our show on February 14 will be a celebration of twenty years of matinees at "C'est what?" and we will make it a four hour event, instead of the usual three hours. Only Janet and myself remain from the original group at "C'est what?" from that first session on February 11 1989. The other current regulars are Bryan Day - string bass; Jamie Macpherson - banjo; Andrej Saradin - trumpet and Reide Kaiser- piano, when we can persuade him to bring in his piano keyboard! Some of the musicians who have played regularly with the band over the years will be dropping by and so there will be a lot of sitting-in on that day!" Brian Towers, Hikari: Images Of Light, Darren Hastings
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The superstitious among us dread the occasional confluence of a Friday and the 13th day of the month. Our experience at C'est What provides anecdotal evidence that the number thirteen is actually quite lucky especially now that we have made twenty-one (February thirteens). Besides, who could really be afraid of Fridays?
Canadians have made great strides in the art of fermentation over the past few decades but when it comes to distilling we still have a thing or two to learn. In a tasting of well-aged whiskies from Scotland and Canada it was apparent that the visiting side had the advantage. All of the single malts finished with median scores of twenty-two or more (out of 30) with Glenfarclas 21 topping the chart. The highest domestic whisky was Canadian Club 20, well behind at sixteen points. It should be pointed out that the Canadians were less than one third of the price of the Scots, so there may be an argument for value, if not snob appeal
There is never a dull moment taking care of our draught menu. With our local brewers continuing to produce new flavours and seasonal offerings the sheer number of products can make our jobs difficult at times. One hundred and nine different brews rotated through our thirty-five taps last year. A turnover ratio that would be a challenge for a Fund Manager. You won't hear much in the way of complaints from us about this situation - after all someone has to do the taste testing. All of this adds up to more selection and more fun than a trip to the ice cream store.
"It only seems like yesterday when my friend Peter Holland and I discovered the newly opened "C'est what?" It was probably in the summer or fall of 1988. We both worked at downtown banks and badly needed those occasional de-stressing "time-outs" at local taverns! We searched for restaurant/bars that were conveniently sited, offering micro-beers, good food, a convivial ambiance, fast service and reasonable prices. "Cest what?' fell right into these criteria on every single count!.
