Friday, June 10, 2011

Exploring Niagara-On-The-Lake

If you're visiting Niagara Falls, take at least a day trip out to Niagara-on-the-Lake, about a 30 minute, beautiful drive from Niagara Falls.

Follow the wine route for the most beautiful views along the drive, not to mention may, many wineries along the route. Many wineries offer tasting rooms or tours. This list from the Niagara-on-the-Lake Chamber of Commerce helps you navigate the wineries that offer tours, where they are and more.

You can also purchase a Wine Country Touring Pass, where visitors can "spend a full day touring and tasting through Wine Country at four of the region's most unique wine destinations: Peller Estates, Hillebrand Winery, Thirty Bench Wine Makers and Wine Country Vintners."

On your drive to the wineries, make a stop at Walker's Country Market, a family owned farmer's market and bakery. They offer delicious baked goods (which make great in between winery snacks), sandwiches, as well as fresh fruit. They also carry jams, jellies and preserves, as well as snacks.

Make sure to take a stop along Queen Street, the main street in Niagara-on-the-Lake, filled with boutiques, souvenir shops, restaurants, cafes, shops and more. If you decided to not have lunch or dinner at one of Niagara-on-the-Lake's many wineries, Queen Street is filled with great restaurants that also offer local wines, regional fare and local flavors.


For a snack or sweet treat, Cows on Queen Street is fun and tasty! Or, try Victoria's Teas and Coffee. Their coffees are delicious and they also have a special Niagara icewine coffee blend that you can also take home with you or as a gift.

As you leave the Queen Street shopping area, turn left down King Street and head towards Lake Ontario and Queen's Royal Park. There's a great pavilion for photos, not to mention a beautiful view of Old Fort Niagara in New York. There's a small sandy area and a walking path along the shore, plus picnic tables.


Parking in Niagara-on-the-Lake is metered, however, we found that you don't pay for a specific parking spot. If you still have time left on your meter from shopping on Queen Street, drive down to Queen's Royal Park along Lake Ontario and use the same meter receipt (don't re-feed the meter).

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Terroir La Cachette at Stewn Winery


 Terroir La Cachette, owned by Chef Alain Levesque offers regional dining featuring local ingredients and wines from Strewn Winery, where the restaurant is situated.

Strewn Winery is towards the beginning of the Niagara-on-the-Lake wine route. On nice days, La Cachette opens their patio to guests.


We ordered the fennel seed crusted pork tenderloin with balsamic and pommery mustard sauce from the lunch menu, as well as the daily pasta special. Both were excellent. The tenderloin was perfectly cooked and the accompanying sauce paired beautifully with the pork as well as the sides on the plate.

La Cachette offers wines from Strewn Winery, as well as local wines from wineries along the Niagara-on-the-Lake wine route.

After enjoying lunch or dinner at La Cachette, stop in at the wine store and pick up a bottle of wine. Strewn Winery also has a tasting room as well as a tasting bar.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Touring Hillebrand Winery


One of the biggest and one of the most popular wineries along the Niagara-on-the-Lake wine route. The winery began more than 30 years ago and today makes not only white and red wines, but also sparkling wines in the champagne style and the area's famed icewine.


For visitors, a Trius winery tour is offered every hour on the hour, which takes you behind the wine. Visitors get to see the vineyard, the wine cellars for both white and red wines, and, the best part, get to taste Hillebrand's top wines, including their Trius white, Trius red and their icewine.


You can even use your tour receipt for a $5 discount on any bottle of wine in their store.

This is a very unique winery tour, in that you get to see the vineyards and the wine cellars, as well as get to drink some wine! (Woo!)

Afterwards, you're taken to the winery store and shown where the wines you tasted are. You can also go to the tasting bar to try a wine you're thinking about purchasing or try a wine flight. Yum!


Monday, June 6, 2011

Guinness Book Of World Records Museum on Clifton Hill

The Guinness Book of World Records Museum was a major disappointment for us.  Located at the bottom of Clifton Hill, this museum is full of facts about various world records and...well, that's about it.

While that was obviously what we were expecting factually in there, we expected there to at least be something to try to bring those records to life.  However, it was really just a bunch of pictures and text to look at.  Nothing special at all, and nothing more than you'd find in the book that they publish annually.

Another extremely disappointing fact is that some of the records shown in the museum are severely out of date.  While I don't know how many facts were out of date, in the sports section, about 1 out of every 5 records shown has been broken in the past 5 to 10 years.  Definitely take a pass on this part of Niagara Falls when visiting!

However, it is free to take pictures outside with a few of the props before the admission counter. Take full advantage of this and skip the museum itself.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Niagara's Falls' Carpaccio Restaurant and Wine Bar

A couple of miles away from the main tourist area of Niagara Falls is Carpaccio on Lundy's Lane.  This Italian restaurant has an extensive selection of wines from the region as well as a delicious, yet moderately priced menu.

The menu is quite extensive to satisfy everyone in your party's tastes.  We got the Vitello Salsiccia, Breaded veal cutlet topped with a julienne of peppers and sausage sauteed in garlic butter, and the Taglierini al Pomodoro con Bocconcini, Egg noodle pasta with basil, chunks of bocconcini in a light tomato sauce, as our entrĂ©es and they were both delicious.

In addition we got the cheesecake with chocolate sauce and it was quite delectable.

If you want to get away from the touristy falls area for some good food, this is definitely a top spot to visit. Reservations can be made online, which is a good idea, since Open Table calls Carpaccio the "Most Booked" restaurant in Niagara Falls.