The Farmer's Feast

We recently celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary at the Hillebrand Winery Restaurant, which we highly recommend.  In addition to the delectable food and well matched wine, Hillebrand provides an elegant atmosphere without being stuffy or pretentious.  Its various creative and well-designed seating arrangements can accommodate romantic tables for two or large corporate events at the same time with no interference from each other.  Our patio table at dusk overlooked the vineyards until the sun set and the nearby fountains and barrels lit up.  The level of service was absolutely top-notch.  Knowing the purpose of our visit, we were greeted with an anniversary card and a complementary glass of sparkling rose brut.  The servers were both affable and professional, knew their menu and wines well and truly augmented the overall experience.  Of course, this isn't TripAdvisor, so I should probably get onto the food and the wine.

We opted for the Farmer's Feast, a five course tasting menu with accompanying wine pairings.  I must admit, I was a little hesitant, as nearly every course featured an ingredient that I don't normally love, and certainly would not tend to order: beets, mushrooms, duck, and lobster.  At the same time, though, I knew that award winning chef Frank Dodd would probably work wonders with these ingredients so this was the time to experiment.

Amuse

Course 2

Course 1

Amuse - From left to right, beet macaroon, candied beet and beet-burger.  Accompanied by Sparkling Rose Brut, to be reviewed this week on Zippy Sauce.

Course 1 - Mushroom and truffle broth over Ontario mushrooms and mushroom and goat cheese ravioli, paired with Trius 2011 (lightly oaked) Chardonnay.  Interesting combination as the wine took away much of the broth's saltiness.

Course 2 - From front to back, honeyed duck breast, duck sausage on sweet potato ravioli and duck neck croquette, with Showcase 2009 Pinot Noir.  The breast and the sausage were rich and sweet but the croquette was too bitter, almost metallic tasting for my liking.  The wine was a good pair, but I have had better 2009 Ontario pinot noirs at the same price point of $30 per bottle.

Course 3?

Course 4 sides

Course 3? - Once contained lobster carpaccio with apple cucumber sorbet and tempura zucchini blossom that was too pretty and tasty to wait for a photo!  This course offered the best pairing of the evening, as the Artist Series Limited Edition 2011 Sauvingon Blanc brought out absolutely all of the flavours.

Course 4 sides - From left to right, candied carrots, the best gnocchi I've ever eaten, and bok choy with corn.

Course 4

Dessert

 Course 4 - Thirty-five day dry-aged Wellington County beef ribeye with buttermilk onion rings and Trius Red 2010, a blend predominantly featuring merlot.  Chris would have gnawed on the bone if it were socially acceptable!

 Dessert - From left to right, strawberry consomme, strawberry strudel and strawberry sorbet, paired with 2008 Cabernet Franc Icewine, one of the best I've had and comparable to Jackson-Triggs.  Of the three desserts, the strudel played the best off of the wine.