Review: Thoroughbred on Richmond Street West is an excellent post-work party spot

Thoroughbred ★★
304 Richmond St. W., 416-551-9221

The DJ’s electro-indie-pop thrums and the well-crafted cocktails go down far too easy at this quintessential after-work party spot. The owners debuted their high-low concept at the Underground Market, where they sold foie gras pop tarts. Thoroughbred’s sharing menus (one vegetarian, one omnivorous) have that same winning mash-up. Creamy buttermilk-fried sweetbreads arrive in a pretty golden ring with delicate, buttery biscuit shards, tangy kohlrabi, sweet-tart green apple shavings and dollops of rich sauce gribiche. The chicken liver pâté is a must-order: velvety quenelles surrounded by a constellation of pickled sour cherries, oddly complimentary toasted granola and marbled rye croutons. Crunchy, deep-fried Kung Pao cauliflower, tangled with crisp pea shoots, tastes like the best late-night beer sop for a few chili-bursting bites, but the intensely salty plate has to be shared among many to avoid sodium overload. The wild mushroom nachos are oxymoronically light. The chips taste like fresh-ground corn and they’re speckled with an umami assortment of hen of the woods and lobster mushrooms, tomatillo jam and a light dusting of queso fresco. Desserts are well done, but calories are best spent on original cocktails, like the Art Vandalay (named after George Costanza’s alter ego), which shakes gin with egg whites, hopped grapefruit bitters and sage.

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