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The following message was given to us by a customer:
Pardon my enthusiasm, but I just had the most amazing time of my life last night. Emil Rinderlin and his wife own On The Waterfront in Port Colborne. During the off season every 6 weeks or so they hold a special fine dinner and wine sampling night.The last of this season will be Friday April 28. Mr. and Mrs. Rinderlin circulate meeting and talking to their guests during the appetizer/symposium time. Nothing pretentious about them - they are down-to-earth folks - but what they can do with food is phenomenal.
Here's last night's menu:
Appetizer - in house smoked salmon on baguette. (Emil Rinderlin explained his "cold smoking" technique during his introduction to our meal. We sampled a Sauvignon Blanc and a Merlot from Chile.
Soup - beef-chicken-duck consommé celestine - out of this world; no single flavor dominated it - it was the perfect blend of stocks, and those delicate hand-made noodles.
Pasta - lobster ragout filled ravioli with cardinal sauce and dill oil drizzle. Perched upon the ravioli was a tiny puff pastry lobster. Wine was 2004 Kouros Patras from Greece
Salad - belgium endive chiffonade, julienne of baby spinach with tri-citrus dressing - and the wine was 2004 pino grigio doc from Trentino, Italy
Main Course - roast rack of australian lamb, minted sauce, finger noodles, on a nest of winter vegetables (white beets julienne and individual brussel sprouts leaves, pulled apart and sauteed in something wonderful I tell you, the lamb was rare-medium rare and was the most tender meat I have ever eaten. a 2004 Shiraz (Debortoli) from New South Wales accompanied it.
Dessert - fruit sabayon gratin with hand-made cinnamon ice cream...and the blissful enjoyment of a 10-year old port - Warre's quinta da cavadinha from portugal.
Paul Kealey did the wine presentation, and took great delight in mingling
with the guests, refilling glasses and discussing wine at a level that made
each individual, whether novice, or pro at wine tasting feel equally involved
in the conversation.
The doug Mundy jazz duo (keyboard and saxophone) played throughout the evening.
The evening went from 6:30 until roughly 11, the dining and conversation was
amazing, and I believe that the cost per person - 4.5 hours of wonderful fine
dining, and 6 amazing wines was a steal. In fact, for the caliber of the cuisine,
and the items served, I doubt that the evening made the restaurant any money
at all. These evenings are held to introduce the restaurant, the caliber of
the foods served, and offer a much better solution than dinner in a normal
restaurant followed by a movie...and does not cost much more per person.
This is their website http://www.onthewaterfront.org/index.php. I am sure
by now that the people who were there last night, myself included, will become
regulars, so it may be advisable to contact the restaurant if you are interested
in attending the next one. It's a great way to sample the edibles and the
ambiance.
Remember - The final one for the off-season dinners is Friday April 28. If
they ask how you heard - James' cousin's mother-in-law told you about it.
Bon Apetit