#VIEWS: 5 more things Yasiel Puig should do in Toronto
Forget Drake. Yasiel Puig is the new 6 God.
Puig, the Los Angeles Dodgers' ebullient right fielder, arrived in Toronto on Thursday for his club's weekend series against the Blue Jays and has already supplanted Drake - Toronto's wonderfully ostentatious native son - as the city's most delightful ambassador. Over the last 36 hours, the 25-year-old Cuba native has gone fishing in Lake Ontario, caught a Raptors playoff game at the Air Canada Centre, and taken in the view from atop the CN Tower. Having documented each of these experience on social media, naturally, Puig is now singlehandedly driving the tourism industry in Ontario's capital.
So what else should Puig add to his Toronto itinerary before he leaves town? We've got a few suggestions.
Nachos at Sneaky Dee's
(Courtesy: Toronto.com)
Let's put this in baseball-friendly terms: King's Crown, the signature dish at this versatile, indelible Toronto dive, is essentially the Clayton Kershaw of nacho platters, stacked as high as the CN Tower with heaps of frijoles, ground beef, tomatoes, onions, mixed peppers, jalapenos, cheese, guac, and sour cream. Fortunately for Puig, whose voracious appetite has been distilled in a hashtag, Sneaky's is open until 3:00 a.m. (and even later on Fridays and Saturdays), so he has ample opportunity to pop by this weekend and order himself a plate (which typically feeds 2-3 people).
Ripley's Aquarium
(Courtesy: blogTO)
Having already established his fondness for aquatic life (well, killing and eating it, at least), and given that the aquarium is literally next door to Rogers Centre, Puig should pop in and check out the wildly popular tourist attraction described by late mayor Rob Ford as "absolutely beautiful."
Good times at Get Well
(Courtesy: Get Well Bar)
When pro athletes come to Toronto, they usually gravitate toward swanky clubs like EFS Social or Brassaii for their nighttime activities, but if Puig isn't about that life anymore since getting into a brawl at a Miami club in November, he ought to check out Get Well, a West End haven for craft beer and retro video games. Good vibes, some Stiegl, and a little bit of Pac-Man. What else do you need? (Oh yeah, they also sell North of Brooklyn pizza by the slice in-house).
Canada's Wonderland
(Courtesy: CoasterImage.com)
Admittedly, the city's preeminent (only?) amusement park is a fair bit north of, well, the city, but Puig would probably have a field day at Canada's Wonderland, snapping roller-coaster selfies and crushing funnel cakes like it's nobody's business. Even if he visited Wonderland back in 2013, when the Dodgers last visited Toronto, newer attractions like Leviathan and Skyhawk might make it worth standing in those insufferable lines.
Eagles of Death Metal at The Opera House
(Courtesy: blogTO)
There aren't many legitimate excuses for venturing to Toronto's east end, but a show at The Opera House - an institution since 1909 - is one of them. As it happens, the Eagles of Death Metal - the non-death metal band that happened to be on stage at Le Bataclan when the Paris terrorist attacks went down - are headlining at The Opera House on Saturday, so Puig could totally hop over with some of his musically-inclined teammates to get a sense of Toronto's music scene after his club's 1:00 p.m. game.