Vichet O.
Yelp
Who would have thought that, as a Philly native, one of my favorite Irish Pubs would be in Montreal?
Well, God, for one.
Cú Chulainn for two?
Let me just write out how this went down and see if you can count where each of the five stars came in:
Arrived at the basement speakeasy section to meet some friends. Find that they have met and are talking to the bizarro Canadian versions of themselves.
Order drinks and fries. Both are great after a day of walking around and also drinking. Reed, the best bartender in French Canada (bless her heart) is slinging drinks and cheering us on as we play the box.
Are you not familiar with the box? Well, it's a simple group dice game where, at the end, the loser pays for a round of drinks for all of the other players.
We hang out at McKibbin's for about 3 hours because of our luck streak with the box, and then happen to meet some filmmakers who are in town for the Fantasia Film Festival, after which we are invited to see their film (Lake Michigan Monster, it's pretty great) and get invited to the afterparty the following evening.
But, not before I return to McKibbin's to throw down on the Rim Reaper Challenge, 12 ghost-pepper sauced wings that would destroy the colon of a lesser man, which the bar patrons had mentioned casually the day before. Well, you know me, Yelposphere. I don't shuck challenges from dangerous foods.
I ate possibly the hottest wings I'd ever had (and I've eaten some stupidly hot things) only to continue to party through the night, end up at a nightclub while still wearing my "You Completed the Rim Reaper Challenge" shirt, and dancing my ass off, returning home to pass out and regret nothing as I lay in bed recovering from the best decisions I'd ever made in my life.
Pro-tip: Seriously though, don't combine spicy food challenges with binge drinking. The hangover is an out of body experience.