Greetings From Toronto: Gretzky's Restaurant Pre-Baseball is Fine

Ah, the exciting world of medicine. Today I am writing to you from Toronto, the home of the 2007 Society of General Internal Medicine Meeting. I know, you can't wait to hit that link and see all of the exciting poster presentations this year.

For those of you less interested in Academic Medicine, there is plenty to do here in Toronto. Last night we went to the Blue Jays game, which is a way more pleasant experience than either the Mets or the Yankees (sorry, fellow New Yorkers, but our stadiums are disgusting pits: hopefully their new versions will be better). Both the Rogers Center and the Air Canada Centre are downtown, and there are plenty of place to eat before or after the game. We chose to eat at Gretzky's, which, while not perfect, is an excellent pre-game place to eat.

For those of you who don't know Wayne Gretzky: shame on you. The great one, number 99, led the Oilers to many a Stanley Cup, played for the Rangers as he aged and finished off his career in Los Angeles. He holds too many hockey records to count, and married Janet Jones! OK, that last point may not be so important. In any case, he has a restaurant, on 99 Blue Jay Way in Toronto. The place is large, airy, and pleasant. We were seated quickly, served quickly, and everyone was rather nice. I noticed that the staff was friendly to every one around us, as well. There is an impressive selection of beer. For those people who care about hockey (and how could you not???), there is a nice collection of Gretzky memorabilia, including a mini-museum near the bathrooms.

The food itself is perfectly edible: maybe a bit better than the Blarney Stone near Madison Square Garden. The boys had Gretzky burgers, with number 99 branded on the bun. The lovely wife and I each had salads, which were quite edible (chicken Cesar and "California" salad). The greens and tomatoes were all fresh. Surprisingly good was Cheesy Garlic Bread. Portions are quite large: just take a look at the "10" layer cake below. Prices are reasonable, and we easily made it to the Blue Jays game after we were done. After writing this, I am thinking that perhaps I should try to start a blog linking to all the places to eat near sporting events.