The 20’s/30’s crew at Beamsville has made a habit of going out for dinner after service on Sunday nights. Â Usually some of us take it in turns to host everybody else but about one week of the month we go out to a local restaurant. Â This week we went to The Butcher and Banker on Ontario Street.The Butcher & Banker opened at the beginning of March. Â It’s the most recent in a long line of restaurants in a particular unit in the Ontario Street strip mall. Â We tried the second-last incarnation and weren’t at all impressed. Â It would be really nice if this one hung on, though. Â It was great.
It’s working very hard at being an Irish pub and succeeds, by and large. Â The decor is very cozy and the waitstaff are very friendly. Â Jas Mogford (one of the members at Beamsville) is a server there. Â He had gone off duty by the time we got there. Â We were served by a lady who we thought might be the owner or manager. Â She was doing double duty tonight as waiter and barkeep. Â We got the impression that they were a good deal busier than they expected to be tonight.
We got there at about 7:40 and came as a crew of 12 (in dribs and drabs, but 12 in the end). Â We were fortunate in that a couple of other groups were just about to leave so they moved a whack of tables together for us. Â The food is extremely similar to our other favourite pub, the Judge & Jester in Grimsby. Â This is not too surprising as we’ve heard they’re owned by the same people. (Edit: Thanks to Jodi for the update.) Amy and I split a chicken & peameal bacon sandwich with fries. Â It was $10.99 and the portion size was pretty reasonable. Â We also tried their sweet potato fries (a $1.50 upsell and probably worth it if you really like sweet potatoes) and I had some of Brandon’s poutine. Â The service was a bit slow (and kind of forgetful, Amy asked for more iced tea several times and was forgotten. Â On the plus side, they didn’t charge us for her iced tea!) but very, very funny. Â They brought back our favourite Judge & Jester dessert. Â The Jam Butty (called the “Banker’s Delight”).
A Jam Butty (deserving of capital letters) is essentially a raspberry jam sandwich that is battered, deep fried and served with ice cream and whipped cream. Â It is a heart-stoppingly delicious piece of dessert. Â It’s a bit like a funnel cake apparently. Â I have never had funnel cake but I have it on pretty good authority. Â If you get a chance to try one of these things, take it. Â We walked to and from the restaurant to counter-balance its effects. Â It probably took about 10 minutes off of our lives (best that we split it).
We’re likely to make the B&B a pretty regular stop. Â It’s quite reasonably priced and very good quality. Â It’s also quite a bit more convenient for most of our peer group to get to after service.