The walls of pots with brightly-coloured labels is a little overwhelming. There are just too many choices here.
“If you want it on ice, with a fruit flavour, I’d recommend these three,” the server says, getting three pots from the wall and letting us smell each blend.
For the first blog entry from outside Toronto, I’m at David’s Tea on Kingston’s Princess Street with friend Elamin Abdelmahmoud. While I knew him mostly through student government and politics at Queen’s, Elamin has been involved in a lot of facets of student life – from the alumni association, to working with CFRC (the campus radio station for Queen’s, which is the second-longest-running radio station in the world). Having graduated with degrees in philosophy and gender studies, Elamin and his fiancé Emily are moving to Toronto this fall.
With locations in Toronto and Ottawa too, David’s has a dizzying variety of blends: Through the Grapevine (a white-grape tea), Lime Bang, Dragon Pearls (with each pearl having been hand-rolled), Organic Japanese Sencha, Mint Chocolate Rooibos, and even a Crème Brulée. You can take your tea hot or on ice, and the servers are tea-savvy enough to be a big help.
We take seats on the back patio. I tell Elamin that some of my favourite parts of Toronto are the abundance of public art and culture – galleries, public debates, and especially museums. He says he’s especially looking forward to seeing more musical theatre, and says he’s been listening to the soundtrack to The Book of Mormon.
“It’s brilliant,” he beams. “I don’t know how Parker and Stone can possibly go back to just doing South Park.” The musical is quite clever (from what I’ve heard), and goes a lot deeper in its critical look at Mormonism than the 22-minute episodes really can.
The tea is sweet and refreshing, and we linger on the back patio well after they’re done. I wish him well on the coming move, and we note that the next time we meet will probably be in Toronto (possibly for more tea).
The restaurant is dimly-lit; deep-coloured curtains, Arabesque carvings, and the odd lamp with detailed metalwork give the place a Middle Eastern feel. Not the actual kind that exists in Rabat or Cairo, I’d assume, but the feeling of a kind of imagined Middle East that a Westerner who’s read 
We’re at 
Seated to my left is Simon, who is working for 
The second course – for me, a plate of hummus and zaalouk with pita – arrives. The flavours pack a powerful punch, and I try to get every last inch of the savoury and salty spreads on my pita slices. One of the great parts of dinner here is that you can try so many different flavours and dishes.
Romeo orders a bottle of red. A politics major, Romeo is working in communications at the federal 
I order another bottle of red while the third course arrives. Mine is a braised lamb with
While it’s difficult for me to be discerning with Middle Eastern food (of the non-falafel kind), the three of us did find it delicious. While it’s on the pricier end (starting at $40 per person), the experience – including the ambience and live dancing – is quite remarkable.
David and I were both “working from home” today. Not unexpectedly then, we were both significantly late to lunch.
We are sitting outside on the garden patio since the day is nice enough, and the outdoor canopy is large enough to give cover from the light rain that hit downtown earlier in the morning. David orders the Arctic char, while I order an organic chicken with mixed vegetables and potatoes. To be clear, it was the prospect of cinnamon-roasted fingerling potatoes, not the chicken itself, that sold me.
I ask David about Quebec’s political pulse in the meantime. What explains the 
“Hmm, what looks good?” Jason says slowly, glancing at the menu.
Munching on some multigrain olive bread, my eyes settle on the line for the BC halibut in banana leaf. I am a huge fan of fish, especially when it’s not salmon (not that I don’t love salmon – it’s just that it’s too often the only good fish at restaurants). Coupled with the fact that the other two options are a pan-roasted chicken and a turkey sandwich, my choice is glaringly clear.
[Note: if you don’t want to read about economics, as applied to Summerlicious, skip over this paragraph.] Because the halibut is the best item on the menu, there is a large private benefit to each individual who orders the dish (both in terms of (i) the deliciousness of the dish and (ii) in terms of “winning” – by ordering a better item than your friends). However, the cost of ordering the halibut is mostly external; for each person who orders the halibut, the benefit to the other three diners of ordering halibut is diminished (a social cost, because the dish you’ve ordered is now less unique). Therefore, all individuals will order the halibut (because PB > PC), but the utility to each diner will not be as great as it would be if that diner were the only one ordering halibut (because of the SC).
After hearing about Rux’s trip to Hawai’i, I quip that it will be a shame she will be in Ottawa next year (where she will be completing her clerkship 
Josh and Jason talk about social networks and the 
Four plates of mains come to our table. The presentation is pretty cool: using a knife, the waiter unwraps each person’s banana leaf package, unveiling the halibut one by one. The fillet and light-coloured sauces lie at the centre of the grilled banana leaves.
Dessert is pleasant too; my adulthood affinity for 
I’m the first to arrive at 
Spenser and Chantal order some of the more elaborate burger concoctions, while I opt for a classic cheeseburger with sautéed mushrooms and a side of onion rings.
for the birthday of a close friend of his. Spenser relays to me that said friend made a comment about the length of time that had elapsed since I had last updated the blog; in justified anger, I decide that the unnamed friend is thus blacklisted from The Last Duck and will never appear on this blog. Ever.
I don’t think I’ve eaten enough hamburgers in Toronto to confidently make superlative pronouncements, but I think my cheeseburger is one of the best I’ve ever had since moving here. My friends concur.
“I feel like this place should be west of Spadina or on Queen,” Linda remarks to me. “Maybe even 
Linda and I are having lunch at 
This summer Linda is working for 
While we wait (and it’s a long wait – around 40 minutes), we talk about the city. Linda and I both agree on our mutual dislike of the condos on the western edge of the city’s waterfront. They’re not on the subway line and there’s a shortage of amenities in the area, we conclude. I have found that there is no topic which more Torontonians can peaceably agree upon than their disdain for condos built too far west of 
The food finally arrives.
Thus far, The Gabardine has been wildly popular with Bay Street’s lunching classes. Considering the local options cluster at two extremes –underwhelming 
So I very clearly broke the second rule about going to a new restaurant (yes, that didn’t take me any time at all), and went to a local favourite, 
It was a really warm day out and Jake needed to be back at the Legislature after lunch, so we both order soft drinks. Jake opts for a brie and chicken, while I decide to try the most stereotypically Kiwi item on the menu: the lamb burger. While Hemmingway’s has a huge menu of slightly-upscale pub fare, it also boasts Pacific region dishes like chicken roti and pad thai.
While we wait, Jake and I talked law school and council politics. So far, Jake has enjoyed the learning curve that comes with handling Uxbridge’s environmental portfolio; he chairs the town’s Sustainability, Watershed and Energy Conservation Committee. He’s also been an advocate for opening a 
Jake thought the brie and chicken was decent. While you can’t expect anything spectacular from Hemmingway’s, it’s a reliable go-to in the area for some relaxed drinks and food. The appeal is mostly in the classic items on its menu (the sweet potato fries are wildly popular), pitchers on the patio, and the decent price for its Yorkville location.
I thought it would be really very fitting to have my inaugural blog post about my lunch with Stephanie Fusco, an old friend of mine (and a seasoned blogger / social media maven) from Queen’s. Steph and I had lots of close mutual friends, and we were both involved in 
