Review: absinthe, oysters and old-timey cocktails at Geraldine in Parkdale
Geraldine ★½ 1564 Queen St. W., 647-352-8827
The trendy fascination with everything heirloom reaches its apotheosis at this gilded age seafood restaurant in Parkdale. On a typical night, you might see a server dressed as a flapper and patrons breaking into song at an upright piano.
Peter J. Ramsay, the chef, has fashioned a nostalgic menu of small plates: clams casino with lean, smoky bacon, for example, and a piping pile of potato wedges sided by curry mayo. The sparkling daily oyster selection is a better bet than the rubber tire they call charred octopus. Pomaded and bow-tied bartenders complete the set piece with fastidiously old-timey cocktails, often made with absinthe or finished with the oils of a torched orange.
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