Something I discovered at Apothecary: They offer gluten-free and vegan options. I'm not a celiac patient, nor am I a vegan, but I thought the rest of you might want to know.
I got a groupon for this place a month or two ago, and I decided to finally use it. My friend, Arran, works for the state just up the street, so I asked her to meet me at Apothecary after work. I was greeted with water, and three different menus, which was almost like going to a doctor's office and being greeted with all that pesky paperwork. One was the rotating glass wine menu; another was the bottled wine menu; and the third was the food menu.
Arran couldn't have gotten there soon enough; I was raring to order. I don't remember what wine she got, but she also ordered a Smoked Turkey and Brie Panini. I got a glass of the Paraiso Chardonnay, and the Brie, Pear and Honey Panini (it came with truffle oil and arugula).
The wine was good. I'm no oenie, so I can't tell you if I got my groupon's worth from that glass. I can tell you that I apparently have the uncanny natural ability to expertly pair wine and food. The sammich was simply fabulous. The sweetness of the pears nicely balanced the brie and truffle oil. I could have taken or left the arugula, though. Arran thoroughly enjoyed her sammich, as well as the chips. Those chips were some heavily peppered mothers that amazingly didn't throw me into a coughing fit. I've said this in previous reviews, and I'll say it again: A little bit of pepper goes a long way. Arran disagreed with me; she thought the chips had the perfect amount of pepper on them. Sheesh!
Employee Brittany (wonderfully friendly gal) came over and offered to let us taste some other wines. Boy howdy! We tasted as many as she would let us. I don't remember the names of any of them, but the final one we tried we each liked best. It had starfruit, with a grapefruit punch. Or was the grapefruit a completely different wine? Did I mention we tasted several different wines, and that there was no spit bucket?
Arran and I worked a crossword puzzle, at which we excelled. We simultaneously played the wine-tasting game. We each wrote down what ingredients we thought were in each wine, and we each adopted the personalities and mannerisms of Frasier and Niles Crane, just to make it more fun. Unlike Frasier and Niles, Arran and I totally stunk at this game. I think she got one ingredient of one wine correct, while I got none. But it was something fun to do while we waited for rush-hour traffic to end.
I don't get to the Rosedale area very often, but next time I'm there I will definitely stop in at the Apothecary for a dose of grape-flavored "medicine".
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