Living in the West End, I don’t often journey to Leslieville. I wish I did. I like it there – it’s a good place. Alas, it is rarely meant to be as my chronic North-of-Bloor-Syndrome is coupled with a crippling East-of-Parliament-Malady. It is a sordid state of affairs…

Fortunately for those of us enjoying our neighbourhood in vogue for the surely very brief time being, we can bring the East Side to us. Yes indeed, if you too find it painfully difficult, despite your best efforts, to escape the Dufferin-College-Ossington-WQW bubble, you only have to travel a very short distance out of your comfort zone to hit one of Leslieville’s favourite spots that I’ve never been to because I am so rarely in Leslieville, because earlier this year they put a new one on Spadina. Nice!

Dark Horse Espresso Bar’s second location, set up just a little ways North of Queen, is pretty tops. As someone with not a lick of sleep in him for some very long time and a bloodstream boiling over with caffeine as it is, my Latte from Dark Horse earlier this afternoon was truly the best cup of coffee I’ve had in hours. Equally nice!

Regardless of how hopped up I may or may not currently be, I am totally down with this latte, for serious, heck yes and so forth. A lot sweeter than a lot of local espressos, but certainly amongst the more flavourful - the Dark Horse folk even do that funky-fresh milk-art stuff that makes you not want to drink your coffee because it looks like there was love just blasted all over that motherfucker. But then you kind of forget all about that nonsense once you start drinking it and subsequently forget that it ever looked kind of cool once not too long ago. Sure enough your cup just ends up looking like every other: a brown, flaky stain near the rim and a tiny pool congealing near the bottom.

But I digress. Dark Horse: totally cool layout (taking into account space and vibes) and bombass coffee. Check. Lame-O wireless – on account of it’s not actually their wireless you’re using, rather you have several options available to you for stealing – that craps out on you every eight fucking seconds or whatever. They played “15 Step”, which I can certainly appreciate and there’s at least a point there. This review was hardly a review at all, scarcely. Indeed it was entirely the madcap ramblings of a man in desperate need of a nap. Nice!

I'm totally down for more Dark Horse in my immediate future, and maybe someday I'll even man up and venture out East to see which of the two I like better.