What’s on the menu at the Alpine, the Junction’s new craft beer bar

What’s on the menu at the Alpine, the Junction’s new craft beer bar

Name: The Alpine
Contact: 2872 Dundas St. W., 647-352-5585, thealpine.ca, @thealpinetoronto
Neighbourhood: The Junction
Previously: Celts
Owners: Jeff Kennie and Scott Brewer (Mugshot Tavern)
Chefs: Head chef Marta Kusel (Cardinal Rule)

The food

Hearty snacks and mains to soak up all the beer: Welsh rarebit, pork schnitzel, beer-brined fried chicken and the Alpine Board, a tray loaded with a little bit of everything (house-made sausages, schnitzel, brisket, potatoes two-ways, rarebit, Brussels sprouts and slaw). Weekends mean big brunches of egg-based dishes, like rosti breakfast pie. The name of the bar is an homage to The Alps, a family-run diner once at the same address that Kennie grew up going to with his grandparents (apparently the coconut cream pie was killer).

Beer-battered haddock served with fries, kohlrabi slaw and a caper-dill tartar sauce. $19.

 

The Alps Burger tops a house-made patty on a potato-chive bun with smoked bacon, raclette, pickled zucchini and aïoli. Served with fries or greens. $18.

 

Grilled calamari with chorizo, fingerling potatoes, salsa verde, hazelnut picada and preserved lemon. $13.

 

The Alpine Board For Two comes with two house-made sausages, pork schnitzel, brisket, roasted Brussels sprouts, slaw, potato salad two-ways, a house-made soft pretzel and a beer-based cheddar dip. $46.

 

The drinks

Twenty-six taps (and one cask) devoted to a rotating selection of craft beer, including two flagship brews (a hefeweizen and a dunkelweizen) made specifically for the bar by neighbouring People’s Pint Brewing. There’s wine, too, and a short list of cocktails that includes some interesting concoctions, like the Little Malta, a mix of Fireshine (Stratford-made moonshine steeped with cinnamon tea), vodka and apple cider.

The 26 taps and one cask will rotate (save for the bar’s two flagship beers brewed by neighbouring People’s Pint).

 

The Evelyn (left) is made with Empress gin, sparkling wine, simple syrup, lemon and pomegranate bitters; the Junction Sour (right) tops white rye, Dillon’s peach schnapps, lemon, simple syrup, pomegrante and cinnamon with egg white. $14 each.

 

The space

All vestiges of the location’s previous occupant, Celts, a dank dive bar decorated with dirty carpeting and darkness, have been erased. Designed by Sarah Townson, the main-level bar and dining room is decked out in interesting woodwork, leather banquettes and a mural by a local tattoo artist, while the lower-level space (which once bore the pleasant moniker of the Devil’s Cellar) will be used for private events and a series of beer dinners.