Restaurants Archives - Page 14 of 27

Restaurants

Realizing a 150-year dream: Ravine Vineyard Estate

Posted on August 14, 2017February 28, 2018 by Pat and David

Norma Jean Lowery Harber's family has farmed the 34 acres of Ravine Vineyard Estate (ravinevineyard.com) in St. Davids since 1867. Indeed, her great-grandfather planted the Niagara region's first commercial vineyard here in 1869 and the land was in orchards for many decades. Norma Jean and her husband Blair Harber bought the farm from the rest of the family in 2004. They set about creating organic vineyards and an organic winery. Norma Jean's father had grown wine grapes, and the couple replanted vineyards to focus on the three classic Bordeaux reds (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc) along with Chardonnay, Riesling, and small amounts of Gewürtztraminer. The wines are reason enough reason to visit Ravine. As luck had it, we missed the tasting room hours. But...Read More

Ontario food rivals the view at Elements on the Falls

Posted on August 7, 2017June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

A big “CANADA 150” sculpture celebrating the country's 150th anniversary of Confederation had just been installed when we settled into a window table at Elements on the Falls Restaurant (niagaraparks.com/visit/culinary/elements-on-the-falls-restaurant/). People were having so much fun climbing on the sculpture and posing for photos that we were almost distracted from the glorious view of Horseshoe Falls. The restaurant is one of five owned and managed by Niagara Parks. The agency was established in 1885 to preserve and protect the natural resources of Niagara Falls and the Niagara River. Niagara Parks also ensures a good time for all in this legendary natural setting. They oversee everything from cruises and zipline tours of the falls to gardens, golf courses, historic sites, and the Niagara River Recreation Trail....Read More

Vineland Estates Winery: a clone of one’s own

Posted on August 1, 2017June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

“These trees are the beginnings of Canada,” David Hulley told us as he welcomed us to the cathedral-like log barn that serves as the tasting room of Vineland Estates Winery (vineland.com). “Trees were being cut down for warships. Some of them weren't needed, so they were used for this barn.” The 1877 structure and the landmark stone tower are among several practical and handsome buildings remaining from a 19th century Mennonite homestead. They perch on an elevated slope along the Twenty Mile Bench of the Niagara escarpment. The chinked log-cabin barn certainly makes the region's most dramatic tasting room. The winery's setting atop the rise among vineyards makes it among the most picturesque estates in the Niagara region. The buildings anchor 42 acres of vineyards,...Read More

Tawse and Redstone prove Niagara wine’s a natural

Posted on July 25, 2017June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

Toronto financier Moray Tawse is a lifelong lover of both red and white Burgundy. A happenstance tasting of a great Chardonnay from an obscure (and now defunct) Niagara winery changed his real estate shopping plans back in 2001. Rather than seeking out vineyards to buy in Burgundy, he turned his attention to the fledgling Twenty Valley, which comprises vineyards in Beamsville, Vineland, and Jordan in the town of Lincoln and extends eastward to the city of St. Catharines. A wine geek's heaven, this region is a patchwork of different soils and subsoils. The Twenty Valley chicken clearly crossed the road because it preferred the terroir on the other side. Now Twenty Valley is home to more than 50 wineries. (For details, see Niagara's Twenty Valley...Read More

Niagara Peninsula: the next great foodie destination

Posted on July 15, 2017June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

We went for the wine, but we stayed for the food. Serious winemaking with vinifera grapes began in the Niagara Peninsula in 1975. When we last visited about 15 years ago, Niagara icewines were world class and table wines were making tremendous strides. An Ontario wine dinner in Toronto last fall (hungrytravelers.com/ontario-wine-country-becomes-world-player) convinced us that Niagara has matured as an important producer of good wines. So in late May we packed up the car and drove across Massachusetts and upstate New York. We spent a week exploring this bucolic peninsula that sits about an hour's drive east of Toronto. Most of the wineries lie in a band of soils and climatic conditions between the limestone ridge of the Niagara escarpment and the south shore of...Read More

Harvest brings Battersby’s big tastes from small kitchen

Posted on July 2, 2017June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

A few times a year our neighborhood restaurant in Harvard Square, Harvest (harvestcambridge.com), holds a Sunday supper in its “The Book & the Cook Series.” These 6 p.m. suppers remind us of being back in Europe, gathering for a less than formal meal at the end of the weekend, often around a big table. Mind you, the meals are far more elegant than our Euro repasts. They invariably feature a cookbook author who is also a chef. With input from the author, Harvest's executive chef Tyler Kinnett (right) and pastry chef Joshua Livesay oversee a meal compiled (or sometimes adapted) from the cookbook. Their realizations are invariably spot-on. They demonstrate both the skill of the Harvest staff and their willingness to step into the background...Read More

Zucchi oils exemplify art of blending EVOOs

Posted on June 27, 2017June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

To blend or not to blend? We'd like to believe that the world's best olive oil is pressed in Jaén province in Spain from Picual olives. That's the oil we like on a Caprese salad made with fresh mozzarella and garden tomatoes. But more than a thousand cultivars of Olea europaea trees grow around the Mediterranean basin, and most are used for making oil as well as for cured and brined olives. Which really are best? Every Spaniard, Italian, Greek, or French person believes that the best oil comes from the family olive grove. They are right because it's a matter of taste. Surprisingly, most olive oils are blends. They might be blended at harvest from groves with many cultivars. They might be blended after...Read More

Biserno wines burnish the potential of Cabernet Franc

Posted on June 9, 2017June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

As a young man, the Marchese Lodovico Antinori (above) helped revolutionize Italian winemaking with his Bordeaux-blend powerhouse wines from Ornellaia. But he had more surprises in store. After selling Ornellaia, he became intrigued about the potential for Cabernet Franc in the region around Bolghieri. So he acquired a 99-year lease on land that had been growing wheat and olives in nearby Bibbona. Here, he and his brother Piero, established the Tenuta di Biserno estate (www.biserno.it/tenuta-di-biserno/). The unique microclimate and mixture of clay and stony soils at the property let the brothers concentrate on different Bordeaux varietals than Lodovico had at Ornellaia. Between 2001 and 2005, the Tenuta di Biserno planted more than 120 acres. Cabernet Franc was the principal grape, but more than 10 percent...Read More

M Rosé d’Anjou is perfect with seaside lobster roll

Posted on June 2, 2017June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

Wine is subtle, wine is complex, wine can even be a transcendent experience. But sometimes wine is just a pleasant drink that harmonizes with the mood of the day. That's the way we think of rosés from Anjou. Located in the Angers region in Beaulieu-sur-Layon, Château de la Mulonnière (www.chateaumulonniere.com) is one of those historic estates that's been making exceptional wines for more than 150 years. The house produces two levels—the old-vine production labeled under the full name, and the entry-level wines under the “M” label. Try level rosé works for us. We took a bottle of the 2015 M Rosé d'Anjou with us to the Lobster Pool in Rockport, Massachusetts, on a recent balmy day. Conveniently, this excellent lobster shack with outdoor tables on...Read More

Fall River has grip on wacky sandwiches

Posted on May 9, 2017May 8, 2017 by Pat and David

In its heyday, Fall River, Massachusetts, was a factory town par excellence. And that's just the sort of place where the need for economy meets the imagination of restaurateurs to produce some of the most innovative and inexpensive casual eats. Just as ballplayers of old seemed to spring full-formed from the soil of America's farms, some of the wackiest contributions to American handheld cuisine spring from the creativity of grill cooks and chefs of the country's lunch counters and diners. And Fall River has some great ones, as we detailed this past Sunday in the Boston Globe's travel section. (Read the story here.) It doesn't spoil the fun to hint at the menu. It includes the chouriço and fries sub at Nick's Coney Island Hot...Read More