u/Jm137797

irst real brisket try so not too condident. On a Traeger.

Put a trimmed 10-11 lb one on last night at 1am at 225. This morning at 8 or so checked and was 150 and was looking good, mahogany bark. Kept probing every half hour or so to check for 165-175 stall. At 170 or so did a foil boat at 10 and rasied temp to 250.

It got up to 185 or so, (probed 175-185 in diff areas) but after that over the last 2 hours checked it with probes 3 different times over cause i was paranoid of quick jump to 200. Now it actually didnt go up any further but actually dropped and seems stalled around 180 Hard bark. Not close to probe tender. Its been in there 11+ hours total.

Is a 180 second stall a thing? Am i ruining this thing by opening lid too much to probe?

Thinking about putting the foil boat on a tray in the oven and finishing it in there low and slow like 200 or 225 to try and not dry it out? I'm not serving it till 7pm (its noon now) so have a ton of time. Idk haha

My wife and I celebrate our anniversary in downtown TO every year, and our favourite part is a date night that consists of a pre-dinner cocktail bar and nice restaurant or fine dining. We are fine with $200ish pp. 250pp with wine. Staying at Royal York.

The past 5 years we have done: Lee Restaurant, George Restaurant tasting menu, Richmond Station Chefs table, and our favourite so far was last year: Drinks at Bar Pompette, then walking down College to Quetzal for wonderful Chefs table/tasting menu dining experience.

My wife's favourite cuisine is Italian, so I thought maybe another College street night could be perfect for cocktails and then high-end Italian. She loves the more Roman/Tuscan/Sicilian "Italian" Italian places as opposed to the "American" Italian red sauce joints, although I love both (Her favourite meal ever was Mother Wolf in Vegas).

I was thinking maybe Bar Raval or Bar Isabel for fun atmosphere cocktails, and then walk down to Giulietta chef's table? (I love chefs tables as a former restaurant cook in my younger years, and restaurant kitchen enthusiast in my later years, and my wife gets a kick out of me being excited during the meal). She loves beautiful atmosphere and good service.

Giuletta gets a good spot on the Top 100 list again this year, and we are looking for nice upscale atmosphere like I said.

Other Italian options seem to be Enoteca Socielle (too casual?), Viaggio, Osteria Giulia (not sure if we want to go up to Yorkville), DaNico (great location but I hear too pricey/bad value for money?), Tutti Matti (too casual?), Bar Prima (looks beautiful inside, and she loves atmosphere!), Ardo (not crazy about the area). But I kind of like the idea like we had last year, walking on College from Pompette to Quetzal. If any of these non-Little Italy places have cocktail bars by them, that would be a bonus recommendation for the full night!

THANKS in advance!