Update: The Epicure has permanently closed.
Aside from brunch out with a friend over Thanksgiving Weekend, it had been ages since Nick and I went out for lunch. Since we work together from our home office, our lunches usually involve heated up leftovers. Don’t get me wrong, they are always good leftovers as Nick plans for our lunches when he cooks, but they are leftovers nonetheless.
So yesterday when he asked me if I’d like to go out for lunch (just like colleagues working out of the house in an office would!) I said sure. Especially after he suggested one of our favourite spots in the neighbourhood, Epicure.
Housed within an old building on Queen Street West, which appears to have Gothic characteristics, this restaurant is much more French Bistro inside than it is Goth. The building was erected in around 1900, when Victorian architecture was popular. Curious about those spires along the top, I looked into Victorian architecture and discovered that it borrowed many features from much older forms of architecture (which in this particular case would have been Gothic, a style which was in favour in the 1600s.) This building was the first one ever on this site; Before that this was farmland. Its unique style really makes me wonder about the people who originally had it built.
And although the whole menu is very good, we both always seem to order the same thing at Epicure … the same as we each had the previous time we were there, and also the same as one another. It is their soy burger. They serve them in different ‘styles’ and this time I went with the Swiss (with Swiss Cheese and Portobello mushrooms) and Nick went with the New York (with a spicy peppercorn sauce.)
Mmmm, so good. So good in fact, that I found myself later, at 9pm, thinking about it again and reminding Nick of our delicious lunch. And no, the thought of it did not send me to the kitchen in search of a snack. If fact, it took away any feelings of hunger because I remembered how comfortably full I felt after our delicious treat earlier that day.
As almost anyone who works from home would agree, regular workday outfits involve more of a casual dressed-for-comfort outfit (*cough* yoga pants *cough*) than it does a ‘going out for lunch’ outfit. And since Nick is not much of a plan ahead type, he wanted to get going right away, leaving very little time to plan what to wear. I had 15 minutes to be ready and out the door, so I went with my basic uniform of black, dressed up with more colourful accessories.
When I saw that it was sunny out I knew I wanted to wear my vintage suede jacket, that I hardly ever wear because around these parts weather that requires the wearing of a jacked usually involves some form of precipitation, which is not suede-friendly.
I got this jacket years ago at one of the Vintage Clothing Stores in Kensington Market. I particularly love it because the heart-shaped details along the seams were obviously done by hand by a previous owner, using one of those leather/wood burning tools.
As for the bag, every bit of wear that it shows was put there by me! This is the very first (adult) purse I ever had, which I got just before starting high school. I was so surprised when my mother pulled it out for me recently. I could not believe that it was still around. Oh the memories it holds of many hours spent hanging around with my teenage peers! I remember that mine was the little version and my mother actually had the exact same purse but in a larger version. That one she didn’t hang onto.
The owl necklace was a vintage find on Ebay (discussed here). I was very surprised that nobody bid against me for it and I ended up winning it for $8.00! I kind of felt badly for the woman selling it, but hey, it wasn’t my fault that I was the only one to find her listing.
Thank you very much for visiting. I hope your Wednesday is a great day so far. What’s going on in your life today?!
xo loulou
Outfit details: Jacket and necklace – Vintage. Purse – Old. Jeans – The Bay. Loafers – Calico. Tee – oops I cut out the tag but I think it was from H&M.
