Windsor Ontario News / Restaurants

Vangs Restaurant, Lakeshore

Want a great place for a meal before or after the show? Check out Vangs (25 Amy Croft Dr., 519-735-1119) in the St. Clair Shores Shopping Centre, immediately west of Lakeshore Cinemas. Vangs has been in existence eight years and is named after the first owner Tony Vangs, brother of Tou Cha who now runs it. The restaurant is unique in that it serves Thai, Sushi and Chinese food, a great idea given the varying local attitudes towards Asian cuisine (Chinese – tried & traditional, Thai – trending higher, Sushi – coming on strong). The restaurant seats 56 in booths and at tables it a rather open, if slightly spare but extremely clean, space. The restrooms are impeccable. The idea of ordering from all three cuisines is tempting and Cha says he originally prepared special combination platters. But customers didn’t always “like that” so he thought it would be best for the customer “to pick whatever their favourite dishes are.” (Of course you can always ask for help.) The menu is expansive with appetizers, soups (including Pho), salads, seafood and duck, and Thai noodle, fried rice and curry, through to Sushi. The Sushi selections are all pictured so you can see exactly what you’re getting – now that’s user-friendly to Western eyes! Most Westerners love Pad Thai of course but Cha says he makes it the genuine way with Tamarind fruit sauce. Did you know other restaurants use ketchup? The Tom Yum Veggie soup had the lightest and most flavourful tomato broth with fresh cut mushrooms, broccoli and diced tomato, both hot off the stove and spicy enough to counteract a cold winter night. The Green Curry (Saucy) is doubly spicy (as per menu icons) and has green pepper, mushroom eggplant, pea pods, lime leaves and string beans. It’s served heaped in a bowl with a mound of rice on the side. You’ll probably want to remove the tough lemon grass flavouring stems. The combo veggie Sushi roll with avocado and carrot was well-prepared and fresh. The restaurant has a great Sushi selection but it would be nice if there were more combinations of seafood or vegetables on individual plates.

Hoi Sushi Japanese Cuisine, west Windsor

All-you-can-eat sushi appears one of the hottest restaurant trends. In fact sushi altogether seems a huge growth market in Windsor and Essex County. It’s almost the new Chinese food. Or Chinese for a younger generation fed up with calorie-laden meats and sauces. The accent in Japanese cuisine is on fresh and lean, according to Hoi Sushi (2080 Wyandotte St. W., 519-258-3888) general manager Jessica He. Hoi Sushi also appears hugely popular with west Windsor’s university set – with line-ups apparently to get in - although on the first Saturday night in January there were plenty of seats available. This is a large restaurant – spacious with bright and fresh colours in something of a modernist minimalist design. Think browns and lemon grass. For people looking for an alternative to western or even Chinese all-you-can-eat, Hoi seems to fit the bill. Weekday lunches are $13.99, dinners $19.99. Add a dollar more on weekends. And you get a dollar off if paying by cash. In terms of our order, the spicy miso soup was adequately spicy, just enough to take your breath away on first sip but not overwhelmingly hot. The seafood salad was fresh, crunchy and vinegary – a great way to start the meal. The chicken skewer was rather small (ask for several). Various sushi items like salmon, white tuna or red snapper were good but we wouldn’t order tofu again because we’re not partial to tempura-like frying. The maki (six pieces) were fine. It’s hard to ever get a bad meal at a sushi restaurant, anywhere, it seems. This cuisine is delectable, bite size (literally, of course) without being filling. But it seems some of the rolls could have been packed tighter. The favourite was the Spider Roll with its sticky texture and sweet crab and avocado crunchiness. The cucumber roll was rather bland. For those on a budget all-you-can-eat sushi has arrived, and none too soon.

The RyeGate, Tecumseh

We had not made it out to The RyeGate Steakhouse & Lounge (1640 Lesperance Rd., 519-735-6500; www.thereygate.com), having memories of the former Tecumseh Chop House at the site at Lesperance and County Rd. 22, after Robert Troup of Sandbar fame remade the sprawling resto just over a year ago. Our first experience was with the early dining (4-6 pm) menu, a good deal including beverage and dessert, making us wonder if more restaurants are going this trend. (Or else we don’t get out very much.) Discounted prices include $5 local wines, beers and selected martinis. We ordered the Atlantic salmon from four offerings including chicken, steak and pasta. It was served with basmati rice pilaf and fresh seasonal vegetables. The meal was adequate but not overwhelming based on taste and portion size. On the second visit it was pleasing to see the range of menu items and the fact there was an accent on freshness. Appetizers included a California Roll with crab, avocado, cucumber and tobiko ($9), Bruschetta Flatbread - whole wheat flatbread baked with diced tomatoes, cubanelle peppers, avocado and sliced sweet red onions and crumbled feta cheese topped with “lime kissed” baby arugula leaves ($11). This was a new experience - a platter with heaped leaves on a very thin crispy dough. The Green Salad had organic greens tossed with grape tomatoes and cucumbers in sweet lemon balsamic dressing and topped with parmesan shavings ($7). And the ricotta Gnocchi ($13) – served with what seemed blush or marinara sauce – was light. That’s good because pasta can be doughy and heavy and we’re watching the glycemic index. Overall, The RyeGate’s menu is extensive including a range of build-your-own stone oven cooked pizzas, four main pasta entrees, eight beef cuts including Hickory Smoked Prime Rib. The starters menu is nice including delectably light sushi and something called the RyeGate Crispy Roll with shrimp, crab, avocado, tempura bits, topped with salmon and crispy potato, drizzled with creamy spicy sauce and sesame ginger soy glace ($13), which looked great on paper. In fact the RyeGate, with its large bar and partly casual atmosphere, would be a good place to go for cocktails and appetizers alone. Let’s hope the resto has a long life and doesn’t succumb to the fate of its predecessors.

Bozii, Downtown, East Windsor

Bozii (357 Ouellette Ave., 519-946-0215; www.bozzi.com) is an interesting franchise concept which now has two locations in Windsor and expects to have more in the near future. There could also be franchise opportunities in other Canadian cities. Opened barely a year Bozii seems unique in that it melds traditional fast-food culture with healthy Asian or Fusion-inspired cuisine. The owner is Brian Pan. Kim D’Amore oversees the original location on Ouellette. D’Amore is former owner of the lamented Nisbett Inn which through a twist of fate is now owned by the former owner of the space Bozii is in, Rino Bortolin. That resto was known as the (lamented) Black Kettle Bistro and Nisbett is now Rino’s Kitchen. Bozii (rhymes with cozy) is “very loosely inspired” by the Chinese “bao” dumpling found on Dim Sum menus, D’Amore says. It’s 10 per cent pizza crust and 90 per cent filling (meat or vegetables). The large dumpling-like servings are baked, not fried. And there is minimal fat and no additives or preservatives. Yet despite its Asian roots Bozii stuffs these food packages with a combination of Eastern and Western ingredients – everything from a Reuben to pulled pork, and steak and cheese. There’s also chili, jerk chicken and Greek spinach feta. There is also breakfast Boziis like bacon, egg and cheese baked in croissant dough. And, yes, there are dessert boziis. Sides include a few soups and salads or sweet potato fries. Bozii opened its second location at Tecumseh Mall in the summer. The investment in this concept must be sizable from the signature logos and store layout to an off-site kitchen on Huron Church Rd. D’Amore says the Fusion-type cuisine is an attempt to “appeal to a wider market.” This concept would likely work well in areas where there is a high concentration of students and foodie types fed up with typical greasy fare. (No bozii has more than 230 calories.) Downtown Toronto and Montreal come to mind. Our order included the jerk chicken which had rice, carrots, celery, green onions and bamboo shoots, and the chili bozii. Both were welcomingly grease-free and flavourful enough. Single boziis can vary from about $1.50 to $2.50 and there are combo specials including sides. The Asian chicken vegetable soup had a light broth with a variety of ingredients that would be at home in any Chinese restaurant. A light eater would only need a couple of boziis and be on her way.

Taza Mediterranean Cuisine, South Windsor

Relatively new Taza Mediterranean Cuisine (350 Cabana Rd E, 519-972-8292; www.tazaisfresh.com) opened to great fanfare but was tragically hit by a fire almost a year ago which closed it for four months over the busy holiday period. A recent visit found the restaurant buzzing and it seems to have re-established its clientele. Owner Abe Taqtaq was at the door greeting diners. Unlike some other Middle Eastern style restaurants Taza is licensed, which can make a difference in the choice of where someone wants to eat, since alcoholic beverages are often a part of what makes dining a well-rounded experience. In fact the restaurant specializes in unique drinks and has several special martinis. Taza means fresh in Arabic and the items on our plates were delightfully fresh such as the hummus, baba ghannouge, vegetarian grape leaves, falafel, spinach pie and tabbouli. We ordered the vegetable combo with baba ghannouge on the side. The combo was served with potato harra which is herbed cubed fried potatoes. The menu otherwise is fairly extensive with cold and hot appetizers, soups and salads and pita sandwiches, along with various sides. There is also a strong take-out menu. Portions for a number of fellow diners were quite large. The desserts had a distinctly Western flavour although there is rice pudding, baklava and Ashtalia pudding which has fresh fruit, pistachio nuts and rosewater syrup. Desert beverages included Irish and Spanish coffee and Baileys Delight. The dinner menu has a variety of skewered and ground meat, fish and vegetarian dishes. In our order, there could have been fewer potatoes on the platter, which necessitated us ordering the baba ghannouge as a substitute. And, since we don’t particularly like doughy items, we should not have ordered a dish with spinach pie. But that’s our fault. With Taza, the newer Armando’s next door, and Quick Sushi across the street, the Cabana and Howard intersection is become something of a vibrant eating destination.

Seasons Bistro, LaSalle

Walking into Seasons Bistro (5975 Malden Road, Unit 5, LaSalle, 519-250-1234; www.seasonsbistro.ca) is like walking into an urbane big city resto with an emphasis on striking interior design. In the centre of the large open restaurant is a ceiling with a huge circular series of overlapping pink discs, almost like a gigantic flower petal. Along one side are several other large ceiling discs in various colours with thin contemporary hanging light fixtures. (The lighting fittingly changes to fit the season.) Upholstered booths along the other side are separated by a divider containing arty decorative plant sprigs. On the opposite wall are gigantic sculptures of a fork, knife and spoon. Subdued jazz plays in the background. The open area, which could have created a lack of privacy, doesn’t. Rather the feeling is one of warmth and even a certain intimacy. Seasons opened in 2008 and should be considered a LaSalle gem. The owners are Mary Lambros and Ivana & Murray White. The restaurant is famous for its special dinners including new season offerings. The next one – sold out – is Sept. 26, an introduction to what “Chef Chuck” (Charles Koury) has on tap for the fall/winter menu. “You get to try almost everything,” wait staff Gina Loupas, Ivana’s sister, gushes. On our visit we sampled appetizers, which are the same for the lunch and dinner menus. The split pea soup had lots of slivers of ham and was hearty without being flour-dense. The Thai Noodle Salad had rice noodles with bok choy, broccoli and julienne vegetables in a light sesame dressing, a cool antidote to the warmer food items. The Birds Nest was a mélange of marinated grilled chicken, olives, roasted pepper, shaved fontina cheese served in a shredded phylo cup with an ancho (pepper) and avocado aioli – slightly salty but that could have come from the olives. The mussels were rather large, refreshing given the smaller mussels we’ve been coming across at other restaurants in recent months. The calamari was some of the best we’ve tasted – lightly breaded, juicy and flavourful. The main lunch menu contains some inventive sandwiches in the $10-$12 range served on naan, focaccia or baguette. The (summer) dinner menu offered items like Grilled Rack Lamb, Angus Rib Eye, Beef Tenderloin, Grilled Tuna and Ravioli, most priced above $20.

Rino's Kitchen, Midtown, Windsor

We lucked out. We dined at Rino’s Kitchen (131 Elliott St. W., 519-962-8843; www.rinoskitchen.com) on the night that just happened to be the first time the one-and-a-half year old resto was preparing to serve evening dinners. Rino’s chef Rino Bortolin, after having served lunch, weekend brunches, and snacks, since opening in the former Nisbett Inn near downtown, has now geared-up for a full dinner menu. From now on dinners, with varying weekly menus (check the web site), will be served Thursdays and Fridays. “I’d rather cram this all into Thursdays and Fridays,” Bortolin says, because many patrons typically don’t ask for full meals. Since moving to Elliott Street Bortolin has welcomed the change from his former restaurant the Black Kettle Bistro. The overhead on that Ouellette Ave. location, which operated for more than two years, was astronomical, he said. But this new site in a quiet and comfortable former house with a lush backyard garden and patio deck, more than fits his requirements. “My general overhead is less than my hydro bill was,” he laughs. Hmm, anyone wondering why there are vacant storefronts on Ouellette Ave.? The interior of the new place is very reminiscent of the Nisbett Inn so those who mourned the Inn’s closure should be delighted. There’s an adjoining room is an apparel store operated by business partner Shane Potvin called SPOTVIN. “The beauty of this house is that it’s small, it’s manageable,” Bortolin says. The lunch and brunch menus, which change daily, look scrumptious. Recent items included Ravioli in blue cheese blush sauce, Mussels in garlic and Thai green curry cream sauce, and an Antipasto sandwich. But back to dinner. The first night’s menu featured four appetizers and six entrees. We chose as an appetizer Southwest Style black bean cakes, and two entrees – Pizza served on artisan flat bread, and Pappardelle Vodka. The three bean cakes were a good size, flavourful with bean, zucchini, southwest spices – prepared with an absence of grease - and with delicious Cilantro lime mayo on the side. The pizza was served on thick but light Calabrese topped with pesto, mushrooms, shrimp and goat cheese. It was enjoyable but not heavy. The Pappardelle Vodka, however, was extraordinary. This tantalizing mound of ribbons of home-made noodles and sheets of smoked salmon came immersed in a vodka blush sauce. It was savoury and not filling, typically a pasta-eating hazard. Order this dish and you’ll be happy for weeks. Both dinners priced in the $15 range. With Rino’s Kitchen you get the pub and quiet residential atmosphere of the Nisbett Inn with upscale adventurous cooking.

Lord Amherst Public House, Amherstburg

The Lord Amherst (273 Dalhousie St., 519-713-9165) opened less than a couple of months, fills a big niche in Amherstburg’s dining and bar scene. It is unlike anything the town has had up to now. A genuine English style pub it has been doing strong business since it opened, often crowded with a mixed clientele. It’s easy to see why. You pretty much have to go to Windsor or another city to find this type of atmosphere. First off, the beer selection is great. Other pubs might advertise a lot of brands but what they really offer are conventional mass market labels and two or three imports. The Lord Amherst has 12 on tap including Fuller’s London Pride, Railway City’s Iron Spike Copper, Czechvar premium lager, Neustadt, Mill St. Organic and – almost unheard of in these parts – Quebec’s St. Ambroise Cream Ale. How’s the food? Pretty darn good. The owners – Anthony Mancini and Quoc To – imported Ryan Hatton from Orillia to head the kitchen. Hatton’s pedigree includes the last two years as executive chef at Orillia’s Sixteen Front restaurant. Windsor and Essex County is all new for this central Ontario lad who just attended his first Tigers game. Hatton admits he has landed in fresh produce heaven given the county’s rich offerings of vegetables and fruits. “I love to support the local economy, especially the farmers,” he said. In fact a good many of the menu’s ingredients are sourced locally including the beef and lamb. This is upscale pub food alright and some might find the prices a tad high such as the Lord Amherst Burger at $11 or Mac & Cheese at $10 though the latter has a béchamel sauce finished with cream ale. It’s all probably worth it. The burger – brushed with BBQ sauce and finished with caramelized onions, pea meal bacon and aged white cheddar - seriously, was probably the best burger this diner had ever eaten. Sure the stacking’s flavours were great. But most noticeable was the absence of grease making one think that the flavour of every burger eaten beforehand came largely from fat. The accompanying red cabbage coleslaw was flavourful and, again, light in oil. The fish and chips were flavourful though the fillets could have been larger. The ale batter was delectable - light and crispy soft – with homemade tarter sauce with a minimum of oil. The pub really does have English fare such as Shepherd’s Pie (piping hot and meaty though a small side salad would have been nice), Steak and Guinness Pie, Yorkshire Bangers & Mash and Britain’s “national dish” Chicken Tikka Masala.

Crave Grill, Ottawa Street

Open about half a year Crave Grill 1269 Ottawa St. 519-254-9777; www.cravegrill.ca) is trying to do something many other restaurants aren’t – using a top not chef to create fresh, healthy dishes with some fun fusion offerings. It also holds special nights – including two this month – with area wineries pairing food and wines. So we thought there would have been sufficient buzz to have attracted a fair number of customers to this newish restaurant in the heart of the city. We were astonished to find this wasn’t the case. The resto is located in one of the former rooms of Tops of Windsor on Ottawa St. The owner is Milan Miokovic, who grew up in a family with many years in the restaurant and hospitality business. He opened Crave Grill to avoid “all the faults I found in other restaurants” such as crowded seating and compromised mass market ingredients. Miokovic acknowledged business has been “hit or miss” of late. On nights when there are summer festivals there are fewer patrons. It’s a shame. More people need to sample this restaurant. Miokovic has hired wisely with chef Shaun Newmaster, who went to Le Cordon Blue culinary school in Ottawa, and has worked as personal chef on private yachts around the world, and locally at the former Chop House and Sandbar in Belle River. He’s a chef for Muscedere Vineyards’ private dinners. Newmaster doesn’t skimp when it comes to fresh and local ingredients. “I’ll drive out to the county for a basket of peppers,” he said. “Fresh makes a difference.” Our meal was the Special with potato leek soup or a house spinach salad. The entree was mussels in tomato sauce. The potato leek soup wasn’t too thick or thin and melded potato and leek tastes nicely. The mussels’ sauce was light – almost transparent - with finely chopped hot peppers, white wine, minced garlic and sambal oelek, a paste made of chillies which doesn’t drown out other foods. For dessert the crème brulée had a crisp but not hard caramel top and custard underneath that had the consistency of cream – not too heavy and not too sweet. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner and has a wide variety of upscale but reasonably priced sandwiches, pastas, steaks and sea foods. One interesting menu item is Chevaps, a mix of ground beef, veal and pork, mixed with secret spices, formed like small sausages, grilled, and served with flat bread and cream cheese. Crave Grill if an ambitious restaurant seeking to serve an interesting, tasty menu with attention to detail, in a contemporary informal atmosphere. It deserves diners’ support.

Annabelle's Tea Room, Kingsville

Kingsville has developed a unique dining culture in Essex County with several high end restaurants serving the Lake Erie community. One is Annabelle’s Tea Room (76 Main St. E., 519-733-0967; www.annabellestearoom.com), a Victorian-style tea room set in a brick 1859 house and run by Susanne Brown Ternosky and her husband Rob Ternosky. The restaurant is a reflection of Susanne, who calls it “an outlet for the three things I most love to do - cook, decorate and collect antiques.” The two dining rooms – with other tables located on one side of the front room (the other side sells gifts) - are exquisitely decorated in antiques. The name? Anna Belle Miriah Brien Evans was Susanne’s grandmother, for whom tea time was an “institution.” Fittingly, the restaurant serves Anytime Tea on a three-tiered silver stand, with a fresh baked scone served with Devon cream and preserves (worth a visit itself), tea sandwiches and petite pastries. Annabelle’s features an extraordinarily wide tea menu. The luncheon menu is imaginative with items such as the Portobello and Baguette Sandwich, Pot Poulet, and the Bohemian Salad with chicken breast, dried cranberries and crumbled blue cheese. There are also meat sandwiches and a Tea House burger for anyone who thinks the list a tad feminine. The dinner menu has four appetizers, three salads, nine entrees and a daily special. Our party had chicken breast, salmon filet and a pasta-vegetable dish. The dishes were cooked right and were flavourful. The vegetarian dish was also plentiful. The chicken dish topped with asparagus and a flavourful dressing suffered from too much rice when a medley of vegetables might have done. Our next visit will be for lunch.

Riccardo's Italian Restaurant, Amherstburg

Riccardo’s Italian Restaurant (238 Dalhousie St., 519-736-4333; www.riccardositalian.com) is a little unassuming, tucked in the back of the former Amherstburg Echo building just off Dalhousie St. in downtown Amherstburg. But its river location and summer patio make it attractive for tourists strolling the historic town’s streets. And it’s a favourite of locals. The restaurant is a little deceiving. Its basic open layout with little emphasis on fancy decor may hide the fact that the food here is really awesome. Our two dishes – basic Spaghetti with meat sauce ($11.95) and Home Made Baked Lasagna ($13.95) – hit the bull’s eye in terms of quantity, balanced tastes, pasta quality, and appropriate amount of meat. The lasagna noodles had a fresh silky quality. Riccardo Maltese, the owner, buys them from Windsor Ravioli. With lasagna some restaurants overdo the cheese, noodles or meat thinking that because this is a layered baked dish let’s just smother everything and forget the taste. Not here. The wait staff was also helpful and friendly, and the staff all seem to get along like old friends! Riccardo himself is on the premises day in and day out, overseeing the open kitchen. Maltese opened Riccardo’s in 2007 in what had long been the Dalhousie Street Grill. He used to operate Rosa’s pizzeria but opened Riccardo’s – just over a block away - as a decidedly “family oriented” restaurant. The most popular dishes are veal and chicken parmigiana. And, on the pasta side, Spaghetti Carbonara with garlic, bacon, parmigiana cheese and cream sauce.

Rock Bottom Bar & Grill, Olde Sandwich Towne

A report from a novice visitor is that well-established (though it only seems like yesterday) Rock Bottom Bar & Grill (3236 Sandwich St., 519-258-7553; www.rockbottom.ca) is a west end discovery. On a recent visit, not only was there a packed house on the two floors of the 15 year old pub during a midweek night. But people were digging into and enjoying their food – whether traditional wings (perhaps RB’s best seller) or burgers, or the non-traditional Mediterranean or steak salads which were large and fresh. Back in the Nineties Nicole and brother Jason Sekela opened the bar in a building that had a long history as several restaurants, a Sixties teen club, a furniture store – and going way back – a saddle shop. Originally Nicole and Jason lived upstairs because it was convenient to go to work. And, for customers, they first targeted the university crowd. “We had the students in mind because it’s so close to the U,” Nicole said. “But the business kind of grew with us.” Now the pub has a wide range of clientele and even draws from people attending events at Mackenzie Hall. RB’s popular all day weekend breakfasts even grab the church crowd. There are 16 beers on tap. “I think it is the largest selection (in the city),” Nicole says. “That’s what I hear from the customers anyway.” One reported problem is parking, though it shouldn’t be. The owners make clear on the front door there is free parking next to the grocery store. But, our diner noted, “People park across the street in an empty lot. We watched cars being towed one after the other.” Meanwhile Nicole agreed that with several pubs in Olde Sandwich Towne the area is more than ripe for promotion as a bar destination. Hmm, with ongoing attempts to attract business to the district, maybe the local BIA, and others, might want to seize this opportunity.

Gilligan's Fire Grill, Amherstburg

We hadn’t sampled Gilligan’s new concept Fire Grill restaurant in Amherstburg since it opened last May. Thinking it was a franchise we were surprised it is in fact the only corporate store of the successful local hamburger chain, the rest of the five locations now franchise-owned. That means founder Michael Di Meo is on site at the 70 seat cozy location in the town’s Wal-Mart plaza. Gilligan’s filled a niche in Amherstburg because it was contemporary and had both a dining and bar atmosphere. Di Meo says the store is a “prototype” - smaller, with a new (darker) colour scheme, and where different menu items are tried out. “We’re working with a team of chefs to reengineer our menu,” he said. Look for new salads, proprietary appetizers and specialty cheese toppings. The restaurant broke the mold back in the 1990s with its variety and humongous hamburger offerings. And adventuresome sorts loved trying ostrich and buffalo burgers. Gilligan’s has stressed fresh and locally sourced products such as meats from Essex County. Most of our group went for buffalo or turkey burgers on garlic toasted chiabata. “The burger to bun ration is really good,” one eater reported. Another ordered a traditional beef burger (they come in half pound, three-quarter pound and one pound) but served with hot and spicy ingredients like jalapenos and onions and the signature house sauce. One disappointment was that even though ostrich was on the menu it’s no longer served because local producers aren’t raising it. Of the spicy burger the spice was subdued letting the meat flavour sink in. It’s great to eat a burger with minimum of grease. Gilligan’s is planning to open a store in London soon, showing that, for once, Windsor area residents have been long-indulging in something our London counterparts could only dream of.

Don-Luciano's Place Trattoria, Amherstburg

The proprietor of Don-Luciano’s Place Trattoria (237B Dalhousie St. Amherstburg 519-736-2917), is virtually a one-man show. ”I do everything,” Lucino Mancini says. Mancini is a well-known presence in downtown Amherstburg and can often be found standing in his white apron in front of his restaurant talking with friends and greeting passersby. He’s the chief cook and by own admission “bottle washer.” Don Luciano’s has been in business 14 years. Born in Italy Mancini spent the younger part of his life in Amherstburg (his brother is Claudio Mancini who owns A’burg’s popular Romano’s Italian grocery store). Then he moved to Montreal where he lived from 1976-1998 and worked in restaurants in that city’s large St. Leonard Italian district. “I was what they called Italian Quebecois,” he laughs. The restaurant thrives in summer with indoor and outdoor dining but remains busy throughout the year. Most of Mancini’s customers are couples or visitors from out of town. On a recent Saturday night there was a table of people from Kingston. The restaurant’s menu has four categories: nine pasta dishes, nine house specialties, five grilled seafood dishes and four antipasti plates. Fresh crusty bread, along with tomatoes and mushrooms in olive oil, are immediately placed on the table. We were in the mood for stick-to-the-ribs tomato sauce pasta and found it in cannelloni stuffed with ricotta. The other dish was spaghetti pomodoro (or make that fettuccine, since the restaurant had run out of spaghetti and Mancini came to apologize). The dishes were fresh, the pasta not overcooked – a big deal in our books. Meals are served with salads. Mancini also serves a lot of meat and seafood. Pork tenderloin with blue cheese and Ontario lamb are popular. The trattoria’s setting is intimate and located in the heart of Amherstburg’s tourist district. It’s a perfect spot for a weekend drive from the big city.

The Sushi California, downtown Windsor

Local residents are fortunate that Sue Yoon and husband Jin Cho decided to leave the wilds of London (Ont.) and come to the land of the living known as Windsor. The Korean couple moved to London seven years ago – she to pursue studies, he to work at restaurants and perfect his fusion and especially Japanese cooking, learned at a cooking school in Korea. Sue says they came to Windsor as tourists, drove around, loved the riverfront, and decided Windsor would be a great place to live and open a restaurant. For three years The Sushi California (128 University Ave. W., 519-258-0806) has operated across the street from the Capitol Theatre, and downtown has been a better place for it. The Asian decor of this “cozy” space – as Sue calls it – is pervaded with a warm ambience, with chefs at the front busily preparing the eatery’s vast assemblage of menu staples. The restaurant calls itself a “fusion” space because it offers some traditional Korean barbecue. But the overwhelming items are Japanese in an amazing number of categories and combinations that could satiate the appetite of someone just dropping in for a snack to a group of people looking for a solid and splendid dinner. Consequently the resto is quite busy, from serving lunch to downtown government and legal office workers, to dinners to the night student and club crowds. Even the appetizer list is broken into “lighter” and “greater” varieties. There are four basic dinners which are combos, a good introduction to the restaurant’s culinary assortment. The vegetarian Czen Bento was priced at $16.95 and could serve one or two people depending how hungry you are. The California Bento was larger with more variety at $28.95. Romantic couples (Valentine’s Day is coming up!) may want to choose the California Special Feast for $79.95. There are also, of course sushi and sashimi platters as well as larger boats. And yes there are tempura dinners and some fabulous-looking rice bowls such as Gyu Don covered with beef tenderloin, vegetables and tangy house sauce. As for taste the Czen Bento dinner had garden salad with a wonderful ginger dressing, not the thick oily coverings we Westerners consume. The vegetable roll had delectable pieces of avocado, and the tempura vegetables were to die for with a light batter that locks in the taste of sweet potato or zucchini without giving you that leaden feeling. Day or evening The Sushi California should be a mainstay of downtown dining choices.

Bacio Cafe & Lounge, Lakeshore

Bacio Cafe & Lounge (25 Amy Croft #9A; 519-735-6900, www.baciocafe.ca) has been in existence about three years in the St. Clair Shores Shopping Centre but under new ownership since April. The cafe has the ambience of downtown complete with small tables, two sofas, upholstered chairs and patio in the summer. Randa Marar-Mueller was seeking more profile for what is a tucked-away location. So she enhanced menu offerings from what previously was a coffee shop with some food items. She’s no stranger to the restaurant business, coming from a family who has long managed fine eateries. She began serving tables at 14. “I knew I had to do something to increase business,” she said. She reinvented Bacio as both bistro and bar, filling-in missing food niches and creating a warm meeting-and-eating atmosphere. There’s an array of paninis made with Erie Street Milena’s Bakery’s unique olive oil-infused breads – “phenomenal” for this purpose, she says. There are five varieties with house salad for $9.99. She installed a pizza oven for gourmet pizzas. Marar-Mueller was trained by a master in making homemade gelato and has 20 flavours. There’s also live entertainment on various evenings. We were eating light so ordered potato-leek soup which was creamy smooth, not too heavy, and delicious. We also had the Hummus Trio with pita – traditional hummus, roasted red pepper hummus and custom fusion hummus with pesto and basil. The cafe has tasty salads and a large variety of hot and cold beverages including Turkish coffee and Chai Tea Latte, various beers and wines, and six types of martinis (she had a fantasy to open a martini bar!). There are also some exquisite cakes. For early risers the cafe has a breakfast variety from Yogurt Berry Crunch to Belgium Waffles. Who says you have to go downtown for sophisticated flair?

Citrine, south Windsor

Devonshire Mall’s newest eating place is Citrine Restaurant & Lounge (519-915-2876), which opened in late November in the former Tony Roma’s location. The resto has an upscale casual elegance with colour scheme of black, white and gray, interrupted by splashes of yellow gold on the wait staff’s aprons. That’s the colour of the November birthstone (when the resto was born of course) called Citrine. The owners Tom Vardas and Sener Gorica have a background in the local restaurant industry and have opened Citrine to appeal mainly to female clientele. A restaurant representative also said Citrine also aims for diners at large, not just those shopping at the mall. It has a separate entrance. “We’re a destination not an affiliation.” She said a competitor in price and ambience would be The Keg just across the parking lot on Division Rd. Citrine puts a distinct emphasis on freshness, with meat cut or ground in-house, as well as sauces and dressings prepared by kitchen staff. A recent visit won applause for attentive service, a seeming minimum of fat-based dressings and food, and fresh warm Italian bread. Soup of the day was roasted tomato. On the menu appetizers include crabs cakes, mussels, lamb chops and sushi tuna. Salads include Mediterranean, Asian tenderloin, Caesar, and spinach. There are four pastas including vegetarian. Sandwiches appear popular and include shrimp salad croissant, vegetable and - an early favourite - stuffed cheeseburger with aged cheddar for $12 including tax. The lowest priced entree is the Chicken Montecehio stuffed with asiago, asparagus and prosciutto with vegetables and starch at $19. There is a separate lounge which stays open later than the 10 pm regular restaurant closing though management is still working on final hours as well as on a website.

Ducks on the Roof, Amherstburg

Ducks on the Roof (1430 Front Rd S; 519-736-0044; www.ducksontheroof.com) has been a long time Amherstburg tradition. By long time we’re talking decades. Years ago it was a purveyor of what would now be called upscale dining – formal with an emphasis on gourmet. But times change and traditions change. And the restaurant, south of the urban part of the town at the entrance to Amherst Point along County Rd. 20, in recent times under owners Pat and Grant Pottle has gone for a more causal menu. There are now vegetarian and breakfast items and a Sunday brunch. The main menu offers a fair variety of dishes from Chicken Marsala, Prime Rib with Yorkshire Pudding, to Blackened, Broiled or Maple Pecan Salmon as well as perch and trout. And still living up to its namesake the resto offers Flaming Duck a L’Orange at $22.95. During December it has a three course Friday and Saturday special for 19.95 with entrees from Chicken Carbonara Pasta to New Zealand Lamb. The restaurant has done a lot in an effort to diversify its clientele including having nightly Happy Hours with choice of appetizers, to Murder Mystery dinners. Despite the emphasis on casual the meal presentations maintain a certain upscale look with food arranged attractively on contemporary dinner wear. One of our selections Pork Schnitzel ($16.95)- breaded and deep fried with mozzarella cheese then baked - hit the spot. Its accompanying vegetable medley was cooked perfectly though the schnitzel was slghtly salty. The Seafood Pasta ($17.95) – Fettuccini Alfredo topped with shrimps, scallops and crab - was plentiful if a little creamy. The restaurant also has an enticing dessert tray. Ducks on the Roof is a good way to warm up on a cold winter night in cozy surroundings (yes, the carved ducks are still on the shelves) at a location where the Detroit River meets Lake Erie.

Windsor Seoul, west side Windsor

Windsor Seoul (2050 Wyandotte St. W; 519-977-5227) is the only Windsor restaurant specializing in Korean and Japanese fusion. The tucked-into-the-block resto in Wyandotte’s Asian village has been around four years. It draws a largely Asian clientele with students from the University of Windsor. The menu is a combination of the two cuisines. Its list of appetizers includes Croquette (Japanese deep fried mashed potato with vegetables and salad) and Duk Bok Ki (soft Korean rice cake, Korean fish cake, veggies like carrot and cabbage and spicy sauce). The restaurant serves Sushi and Kimbak, a popular Korean food made from steamed sesame oil, white rice, other ingredients, rolled in Gim (dry seaweed sheets) and served bite size with sesame seeds on top. (Sesame is a big part of Korean cooking; no problem with that!). For a light but hearty meal (is that a contradiction?) try the Kal Guk Soo ($9.99), freshly-made noodles in a meat or seafood flavoured broth with thinly-sliced zucchini, carrots, mushrooms and green onions. The broth was ever so slightly spiced, the vegetables freshly-cut and the shrimp (there’s a choice of beef or chicken as well) added a subtle flavour, a refreshing change from restaurants that like to drown meals in spice. The menu offers several rice dishes, soups and, if you’re really hungry, an all-you-can-eat BBQ Buffet for a reasonable $17.99. This includes meats, vegetables, side dishes of steamed rice and beans, and appetizers like dumplings or rice cakes. Yes, we’ll be back.

Swiss Chalet, Huron Church Road

Normally this page isn’t devoted to chain restaurants. The preference is clearly for local independent eateries. But a recent experience at a chain begged comment. One of the reasons for dining at a chain is because you know exactly the quality of the food you’re getting and that service will meet a certain standard. It’s part of the formula, right? Such was the thinking when we entered the Swiss Chalet on Huron Church Rd. We thought we’d be served in no time flat. Not quite. After being seated we waited a good 10 minutes for the waitress to show up. Starting to worry that it might be a slow night we decided to order everything at once – drinks and dinners. We ordered two glasses of ice water and two glasses of wine (good to see that Swiss Chalet offers quality Ontario wines). Our thinking was, even if the meals took a little while to arrive at least we’d have our water and wine to console ourselves. Not quite. It took about 15 minutes for the drinks to show up, the waitress apologizing when she arrived. One of the dinners was the Harvest Meal Deal for $7.99, the other a vegetable stir fry ($9.99). The Meal Deal comes with soup, leg of chicken and potato choice and slice of pumpkin pie. Not a bad offering though the leg was kind of small. After the drinks were served it took another ten minutes for the soup to arrive. By this time we had been in the restaurant almost half an hour and still no dinners. When the entrees finally showed up the waitress apologized again. The food itself was fine. The dipping sauce is how we remembered it from childhood. The stir fry was cooked right with a tasty light sauce. It wasn’t the food we complained about it was the service. The restaurant was half full on this weekday night. There were three or four wait staff and all seemed busy. Maybe the kitchen was slow. Regardless, this kind of service is inexcusable, especially at a chain. And hearing about how tough the waitress’s personal life was didn’t make up for it.

Culinary Escapes, downtown Detroit

It’s called Culinary Escapes. And for about $50 Can you can take a delightful, mainly walking, tour of downtown Detroit, and sample some of the city core's better known eateries. The tour we took met up at Hard Rock Cafe in the Compuware Building on the edge of the beautiful Campus Martius Park, the hub of downtown on Woodward Ave. The Hard Rock, now seven years old, provided our group of about a dozen people with platters of vegetable rolls and chicken fingers from a menu more varied than what might have been expected for an, ah, upscale rock and roll bar. Next stop was Forans Grand Trunk Pub, a block south on Woodward. The pub specializes in Michigan craft beers and has some terrific traditional grub like corned beef sandwiches and deep fried but very fresh fish. Then our merry band sauntered a few blocks east to Small Plates, opposite the Michigan Opera Theatre. Small Plates, which specializes in Spanish-style tapas or appetizer plates, celebrates its eighth anniversary this November. We were treated to a mushroom mix cooked in sherry and cream. The resto also features stir fries, lettuce wraps and thin-crust pizzas. Up the street was Vicente’s Cuban Cuisine. We could have done without the $11 (US) mojito, which was more mint than anything else. But the food was delish! It included fried plantain, shrimps rolled in bacon incl chopped peppers and cream cheese, and perfectly cooked chicken. We then got on the People Mover for a great tour around downtown (a fantastic way to get an overview of Detroit’s historic buildings) ending up at famous Fishbones in Greektown. Fishbones is, well, Fishbones. The platters were large with crab spring rolls and alligator bites along with artichoke and spinach dip with pita. The food was fresh but tended to the greasy. Finally, we walked (we needed to at this point!) to Angelina Italian Bistro on Broadway between Woodward and the opera house. The folks here pulled out the stops to serve fresh and tasty chick pea fritters, wild mushroom risotto and cheese ravioli. All bottles of wine are under $30.....Culinary Escapes can be contacted at 248-331-7296 or check their web site. The company also has tours of other areas such as Royal Oak’s restaurants....We thought afterward: wouldn’t downtown Windsor benefit from this kind of culinary tour?

Calabria Pizzeria, Cottam

One of the county’s best kept secrets – though becoming less so where reservations nightly are recommended – is Calabria Pizzeria in Cottam (123 County Rd. 34; 519-839-5611). You’d hardly know it from the outside but this little restaurant on the town’s main drag is a gem. John and Linda Driedger took over the restaurant eight years ago, remodelled it and revamped the menu. First off, they changed the interior. You walk into a charming darkened room with twinkling lights and a trellis-effect of overhanging grape leaves. The atmosphere is intimate – perfect for a date – yet with warm, friendly service by the owners themselves. Linda says these days yellow perch ($15.75) sells as well as pizzas. When they opened the Driedgers made a point of buying locally produced ingredients. “We didn’t even think about it, we just did it because we’re out in the county.” Now, she says, the “big kick is buying local -we’ve been doing this forever.” This includes a wine list of only Essex County producers, tomatoes and peppers from local greenhouses, meat from area butchers. Calabria has traditional oven–cooked pizzas but also specializes in grilled thin crust gourmet ‘zas $11-$25). They’re brushed with fresh basil and olive oil. One type has no tomato sauce but pesto sauce. This is “unique in a way in that it’s kind of crunchy,” Linda says. Another standout is the restaurant’s unique otti. Think panzerotti cooked for less time than a pizza to make it chewier and stuffed with either cherries or apples – a perfect dessert with icing sugar glaze. Tell them it’s for a birthday and they’ll put candles on top.

Centro, Via Italia, Windsor

Centro Restaurant Caffe Bar (770 Erie St. E., 519-253-1110) is a great concept. It combines the informality of an Erie Street (Via Italia) coffee house with the menu of a restaurant. It has a breezy contemporary feel. The decor is great. And the fact this is a hybrid venue with a separate pizzeria in the back makes the resto an interesting space. Best of all it’s run by the people who operate Mezzo Ristorante just down the street. Only problem was, it didn’t live up to expectations. For starters, the service was slow. One order was Primavera - seasonal vegetables, extra virgin olive oil, white wine and fresh basil tomato sauce ($10). It took more than 20 minutes to arrive, which is rather unacceptable for a small venue with only a couple of tables full. The dish itself was nothing especially to write home about. Maybe we’re biased but penne pasta makes us think of banquet hall fare, not pasta with upscale pretensions. The vegetables were vegetables. But there was no zing to the dish, nothing that gave it extroardinary flavour. We could have made this at home. The other order was a chocolate pastry. It looked decadently yummy. But it turned out to be slightly stale, as if it had been kept in the glass case too long. Centro’s menu looks terrific and there’s a lot of variety – from 12 types of antipasto to five imaginative sides including Risotto - arborio rice prepared with porcini, portabello and cremini mushrooms in white truffle oil - to panini sandwiches like the Erie Street Special – vitello, salsice or pollo served with spiced eggplants, peppers, tomato, lettuce and provolone cheese with balsamic aioli. Hopefully these dishes are great and ours exceptions to the rule. Because Centro, which means “centre of it all,” should have the food quality to match the overall concept.

Viewpointe Estate Winery, Harrow

It doesn’t happen often. Sometimes you’re out by only one or two items. The food might be great but it took too long to arrive. Or the meal was good but you got shoved into a tight corner with a wobbly table and a yelling child next door. But every once in awhile you hit upon perfection. And that was the case with a visit to Viewpointe Estate Winery (151 County Rd 50 E., 519-738-0690; www.viewpointewinery.com). Nobody is criticizing Essex County’s other good wineries. But what is lacking at virtually all is some form of dining experience. That’s a major difference from so many Niagara-on-the-Lake wineries, which have a culinary dimension. Viewpointe not only offers dining but it does so in a spectacular setting. Sit out on the patio in the afternoon or early evening (dining is open until 8 pm) on a brilliantly sunny day and you might achieve that right combination of great wine, terrific food and, yes, atmosphere - that being the glittering vastness of Lake Erie. Viewpointe offers what has got to be one of the best, if not the best, outdoor dining experiences in the county, and a steal at the prices. Our appetizer was Marinated Goat Cheese with Roasted Red Peppers, Artichoke & Sundried Tomato: $6.50. The main dish was Grilled Salmon on Greens in a Meleg Apple BBQ glaze topped with frizzled sweet potato on mixed greens: $12. Viewpointe is known for its culinary seminars and special food events. The dishes we had proved the kitchen’s mettle. The main dish’s fresh apple wedges were crisp and offset the sweet but not syrupy salmon. You savour each bite, taking your time to consume the wonderfully-flavoured fillet. The frizzled sweet potato gives you the potato taste without the salt. The wine was 2006 Ideal Pointe Barrel Fermented Chardonnay, VQA: mid-to-heavy, oak, buttery with tropical fruit and vanilla flavours ($8) - amazingly good.

Crepe Temptations, Cottam

Crepe Temptations (126 Talbot Rd. W., 519-839-6363) is one of those amazing finds in the county that also has a matter-of-fact quality about it, like “we’re here and you’re welcome to come in - if you want.” Daniel and Kim Choquette run this small resto, bakery and organic dairy including ice cream, but specializing in - bien sur! - a huge variety of that great French stuffed pancake, the crepe. Daniel and Kim divide their menu into “sweet” and “savoury” crepes. You might also divide these under the adjectives “yummy” and “scrumptious.” Under the Sweet label come crepes like the French Canadienne with peanut butter, banana and chopped nuts, and the Deluxe with peaches, cottage cheese, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. Under Savoury come ones like Chicken Crepe-sadilla with egg, cheese, chicken, salsa and sour cream, or the Asperge with asparagus and cream sauce. See what we mean? The unassuming and delightful couple support local growers, serve organic fruits and vegetables when available, offer vegetarian and seafood dishes, allow BYOB wine (with corking fee) and sell homemade jams. And they still find space to have an Internet cafe. All in the heart of Cottam, the tiny community with a growing reputation for restaurants and small grocers serving tasty and fresh food.