The 10th record (not including two EPs, a live album and a “greatest hits” collection) from stalwart Toronto band Sloan, The Double Cross (just released on Yep Roc) also serves to commemorate the quartet’s 20th anniversary as a versatile guitar-pop collective. Guitarists Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson, bassist Chris Murphy and drummer Andrew Scott—all four write and sing their own tunes and often switch instruments onstage—have successfully forged a productive two-decade career full of preternaturally catchy songs and beyond-entertaining live shows. Thankfully, they don’t appear to be slowing down; The Double Cross continues the group’s winning streak, particularly the seamless opening 1-2-3 of Murphy’s “Follow The Leader,” Ferguson’s “The Answer Was You” and Pentland’s “Unkind.” (Check out the band’s YouTube channel for a track-by-track discussion of the LP.) In their typically all-for-one, one-for-all fashion, the members of Sloan are guest-editing magnetmagazine.com this week. Read our brand new Q&A with Pentland.
Pentland: When it comes to authentic Canadian food, most people may point to the popular seal flipper pie or moose burger. Dig a little deeper into our culture and you’ll end up covered in hot gravy, melted cheese curds and fries, otherwise known as the popular French-Canadian poutine. Then you’ve got your tourtiere, your Montreal smoked meat, your Jiggs dinner and, of course, pemmican. But the single greatest Canadian culinary contribution to the world is the Halifax donair, which is basically only available in Halifax. Oh, other cities may claim to do donair the “Halifax way,” but trust me, as a connoisseur of the late-late-late-night dinner, ain’t nothing like the real thing.
Donairs are often compared to the gyro, or the shawarma, but I say that’s just lazy journalism. It is far superior to those dishes in so many ways. Well, in two ways at least. Like the gyro or shawarma, the donair is a sandwich consisting of seasoned meat roasted on a vertical spit and served in a warm pita with onions, tomatoes (none for me, thanks) and sauce (extra, please). Unlike the gyro or shawarma, the donair is made of beef, not lamb or pork, and the sauce is sweet, based on a combination of evaporated milk, sugar, vinegar and garlic powder. Sounds yummy, doesn’t it? Upon first taste, many have been heard to remark that the sauce alone must have come from the kitchens of Mount Olympus itself.
The donair is versatile, too. It easily adapts to pizza or sub form and has even been coupled with the aforementioned poutine. The sauce is also included with another maritime staple: garlic fingers. Don’t let the name fool you; there are rarely bits of fingers involved. I’ve had many helpings of all of these, and despite the gastrointestinal shock that follows several hours after ingestion, I fully intend on going back to the trough for more. So the next time you see me stumbling around Halifax well after closing time with what looks like a tinfoil football under my arm, rest assured I’m making my way back to my hotel room to gorge on the greatest meal ever created in all of Christendom and beyond.
Video after the jump.
