Dear reader,
Let me start this by saying that I’m in the throes of a brutal sinus infection. I get one every December, like an annual tradition. To me, nothing says the holidays like the lighter-fluid burn of oregano oil and the stinging saltwater blast of HydraSense. This is all to say that, due to a couple of sleepless nights (one of which involved a constant loop of Taylor Swift’s “Christmas Tree Farm” running through my Nyquil-addled brain), what follows could very well be the product of a fever dream.
On Tuesday morning, the Toronto Star reported that, prior to leaving the city after her last concert, Taylor Swift popped by Inter Steer, a long-standing Polish bar on Roncesvalles. When a colleague shared a link to the news, I was devastated. Inter Steer is one of my favourite bars, and if Swift really did throw back a bottle or two of Zywiec there, it would never be the same. I mourned the loss of a quiet neighbourhood spot for a minute or two, then reached out to Courtney Shea—writer, reporter and diehard Swiftie—to contact Inter Steer’s owner for a Q&A. But the staff member Shea got on the line had no idea what she was talking about.
Then we started going down a few internet rabbit holes, and things got stranger and stranger. What started as an assignment for a lighthearted Q&A turned into a full-on investigative report. In today’s Table Talk, you’ll get to read it and decide for yourself whether the T-Swift sighting really happened.
Also in this week’s newsletter, how the grandson of Toronto baker Dave Silverstein found his way back to bread. Plus, what’s on the menu at Maven, chef Shauna Godfrey’s new restaurant with eastern European and Jewish roots (hello, pickle martini).
For more of our food-and-drink coverage, visit torontolife.com or subscribe to our print edition.
