Dining at my Namesake - Grace

I've been wanting to try Grace in Toronto for a few years now, but after I moved back to Vancouver, it became less likely.

The first drink...heave...basically means "outrageous"...it's a concoction of tequila and chili peppers, with some guava nectar and ginger syrup. Definitely packs a punch!

The second drink...the Caesar Caesar, yes, so good they named it twice. It's your classic caesar, with some celery sticks as well as a fresh raw oyster with some horseradish. I suppose you could use that either to further spice up your drink or to spice up the oyster, with a bit of your drink. And that wedge of lemon, use it for everything!

Okay, so the appetizer...a dozen oysters from Cariboo Bay in Nova Scotia. The oysters themselves were nice and meaty, but not fishy. The downside...not a single oyster fork in sight! Fail.
While we were enjoying our drinks and oysters, we were also served some bread but I didn't get to take a picture of it. The really weird thing about this place...when they brought the appetizer, the oysters you see below, they took away our side plate, as well as our butter knife. What makes it really weird is that I was holding a piece of bread in my hand when they did that. I commented that I would need my butter knife, and his response was "we are told to clear everything from the appetizer course, and to bring new cutlery when we present the main course". While I admire their policy, taking away my side plate and butter knife "while I was using them" seemed a little ridiculous to me.

The course I ordered was their Beef Short Rib...the meat was falling off the bone, a big bone. Served with a few spears of asparagus and a side of potato salad. The salad was nothing special and the sauce for the rib tasted like it was bottled barbecue sauce...a true disappointment.

The other main course we tried was the Cripionette of Lamb. Now I don't speak French, but I certainly would expect the waiter to have explained that this was a sausage, good thing I asked! It came with a huge pile of fennel, and a weird mixture of beets with canned/jarred mandarin segments. Another disappointment.
It pains me to say this, but I don't like Grace...at all.