Cocktails and Driving Don't Mix in Toronto

In compiling a list of the best cocktails in Toronto, blogger Alexandra Grigorescu notes that there are two distinct drinking cultures in the city. One is mostly confined to the club scene, while the other is cocktail culture. The latter, she observed, “is trickling down from leather-and-glass gentlemen's clubs and from Toronto's up-and-coming neighbourhoods onto the menus of most restaurants worth their salt.”

Topping the list of cocktail bars voted for by BlogTo readers featured in Grigorescu's article is BarChef, which has been Toronto's favorite go-to bar for years. Headed by Frankie Solarik, resident mixologists concoct mixes with a New World twist. While the location certainly has the word 'trendy' written all over it, the bar offers just as much recession-priced alternatives as their very expensive cocktails.

Other dining establishments that made the list include Jenn Agg's Cocktail Bar in Dundas West, Sidecar in Little Italy, Harbord Room in Harbord, and molecular gastronomy-pioneer Origin Restaurant. While trendy Torontonians can wine and dine in these places, drinking and driving is still not a trendy thing to do—unless you consider a $1,000 fine and a 1-year driving prohibition trendy.

Getting pulled over by a police officer for erratic driving is a very difficult circumstance to be in. The police can demand a driver to submit himself or herself to an approved screening device and refusal to provide a breath sample will only merit another offence.