Paramount Room

From the outside, The Paramount Room doesn't look like much. It's location, next to the train tracks at the end of Milwaukee Ave, also is not at the height of trendiness. The building is an old, narrow brick building with a glass face. Walking into the building doesn't initially do much to impress either. There is a long bar and a few tables but the place to see is the basement. It's very blue. There are actually two levels, a balcony level and the main floor which has a padded, high-backed seat wall with a row of tables. There is another bar under one of the balconies and a DJ on the other balcony. They carry a pretty good beer list. On the night I went with my friend Scott on Jan. 22, they were playing a lot of old English New Wave. The first twenty minutes we were there, it was nothing but The Cure, but we later heard Joy Division, Modern English, New Order and other popular bands of the era. I like that type of music so it was really cool. While the menu has a lot of things that look good, The Paramount Room is known for it's $9 Kobe Burger. It is even listed on the front window. This was the primary reason for coming here. We also got an order of Poutine as an appetizer. Even at it's most basic, poutine is one of those things that taste really good but are really bad for you. It consists of french fries, cheese curds, and chicken gravy. Paramount Rooms version adds pulled pork. Excellent! And as far as the Kobe burgers are concerned, how can you go wrong with Kobe burgers? In actuality, while the burgers were called Kobe burgers, Kobe is like Champagne, it can't be called Kobe unless it's Wagyu beef raised in the Kobe prefecture of Japan. Other beef raised in a similar style is simply Wagyu beef. It's still really good but as it doesn't have to be raised in Japan and imported, it is a little cheaper. I really enjoyed my meal there and it is a place that I will return to.