Location Review1249 Niagara Stone Rd
Niagara-on-the-Lake
Menu
If you just so happen to land on my blog the past week, then you'll notice that I was in the Niagara-on-the-Lake region recently for the Days of Wine and Chocolate festival (read my Day 1 and Day 2 adventures here!), sampling delectable desserts and local wines. Somewhere during the day my boyfriend rob and I decided it was time for some real food, and we headed to Trius Winery (@TriusWinery) which was formerly known as Hillebrand, for lunch. The winery restaurant offers regular lunch service, but we opted to partake in a special lunch Trius Winery hosts. The Harvest Table Lunch is a seasonal event offered each Saturday during the months of February and March, to the first 12 patrons to make a reservation. This intimate lunch is hosted by Trius Chef Frank Dodd's culinary team, who are knowledgeable in both food and wine. For us, this multi-talented individual would be Brad.
Trius Winery
So our Harvest Table Lunch experience starts when Brad leads us from our coatcheck to a glass wine cellar, where a reception consisting of charcuterie and sparkling wine awaits. We got acquainted with the four other individuals attending the lunch, which Rob and I would soon realize were the loveliest individuals to share the table with.
Helping ourselves to charcuterie
Trius' Award Winning Brut Sparkling White Wine
Duck Pate,Pastrami, and Pepper Cured Beef
A bubbly and some snacks to get the appetite going
The rich duck pate, melt-in-your-mouth pastrami, and deliciously cured peppercorn beef all had heavy flavours to balance off the light, award-winning, Trius sparkling wine.
Decanters
After the reception, we are seated, and the first order of business is to prepare the wine. After all, that's what this lunch is about right? Pairing great food with amazing wines. Brad decants the two bottles of Pinot Noir to be paired later with our main course, in a decanter that almost looks too artistic too be functional.
Pouring Out the 2010 Pinot Noir
Red Wine Butter
You know you're having a lunch prepared by a winery when even the butter served with your table bread is wine infused. Personally I couldn't taste any of the wine flavours, but the sea salt on top gave it a good dimension tjogbt
White Bean and Parsnip Soup - Icewine cured and smoked salmon, parsnip chips, fresh Ontario cow's milk burarata
This soup was phenomenal. A creamy thick goat cheese soup, that is frothed light like a latte. You get the good rich and creamy flavours, without all the pasty thickness. And that warm cheddar scone on the side? It disappeared almost as quickly as my cup of soup.
Hillebrand Chardonnay
Paired with the Parsnip Soup is a 2009 Hillebrand Chardonnay . Brad takes the time to explain why he thinks this is a perfect pairing for the soup, but I was too busy putting that soup where it belonged.
Palette Clenaser - Cabernet Franc Ice Pop
A palette cleanser is served to ease off the richness of the soup. The Cabernet Franc Ice Popsicle was perfect for this! Refreshing and sweet.
Pork Plate -blood sausage croquette, prohutto pork loin, seared pork belly, and apricot polenta
I was glad to see that the pork plate was served in a manageable portion, because little did I realize all the dishes albeit small, were rich and very filling. This main course is served with a selection of cullinary displays of pork. A blood sausage croquette, prohutto pork loin, seared pork belly, and apricot polenta. Served in bit size portions, each was perfectly cooked and presented. My favourite was Apricot Polenta. Normally polenta is made bland and unoriginal, but with the addition of fragrant apricot it was just heavenly. The finely breaded Blood Sausage Croquette with onions was a close second. Excellently cooked with no gamy taste at all.
Pork Plate -blood sausage croquette, prohutto pork loin, seared pork belly, and apricot polenta
Pear Almandine - Ginger Cream, Pear Sorbet
Pear Almandine - Ginger Cream, Pear Sorbet
The meal ended with a Pear Almandine. I wasn't intending on having too much of this last course (seeing as I was up to my neck in terms of fullness), but low and behold, I ended up eating the entire plate. To say this is delicious is a major understatement. This was the perfect dessert in many ways. Not too sweet (despite containing many sugary ingredients), and has a spiciness from the ginger that you can really taste. When the chef came out to greet us, he shared that the secret to this dessert is a finely milled almond powder, baked for hours over a caramel poached pear. He explained that because the dessert was not all that sweet, it really allows the wine pairing to shine. I think I'd have to agree, as I enjoyed every bit of the smooth, sweet, and fragrant 2008 Riesling Ice Wine.
Chef Frank Dodd
At the end of the meal, the mastermind of it all, Chef Frank Dodd comes out to greet us and asks us how we enjoyed the meal. If you couldn't guess already, we all had nothing but good remarks. For me though, the food came second to the good company, and amazing service. I want to thank Dave, Molly, Elizabeth, and bill for making it such a pleasure to dine with. Although there was a bit of an age gap, they were light spirited, and shared all their globe trotting stories to wineries all over the world. I felt like I learned so much from them, about wining, dining, and living life to the fullest. If you ever see this, thank you for the most enjoyable lunch!
Leftover Wine
Just want to end off this post showcasing all the wine you'll end up consuming from this Harvest Table lunch. A full glass to pair with each of the 3 courses, plus a couple glasses of sparkling wine from the reception really does add up! I ended up drinking less than half from each glass, and had so much left over at the end! I may have come into this lunch feeling chilly from the winter weather, but I definitely didn't walk out that way!
