THE GLOBAL GOURMET: Drink and Dine in the Kawarthas

29 AUG 2019: You don’t necessarily have to travel far for new drinking and dining experiences. This summer I drove to Peterborough and the Kawarthas, about 90 minutes from Toronto, to discover a new brewery, winery, distillery and restaurant all top notch and run by local entrepreneurs.

First on my itinerary was to check into Burleigh Falls Inn. It was originally built in 1857 to offer a welcome bed to tired lumbermen driving logs through the lakes and rivers southward on their way to the lumber mills in Lakefield and Peterborough. After a devastating fire in 1899 it was rebuilt as a summer destination for fishermen. Over the years it evolved to include lodging, a market for supplies, a marina and a restaurant. www.burleighfallsinn.com

I was off that night to Hobart’s Lighthouse at McCracken’s Landing on beautiful Stoney Lake for a meal and to have a chat with owner Wesley Found. The original Hobart’s, a steakhouse in Lindsay, was founded 20 years ago by Wesley’s father Ken, and Frank Peters. It was named after Frank’s father, Dr. Hobart F. Peters, an agrarian researcher with a distinguished career in beef cattle.

A second Hobart’s Steakhouse was opened in 2013 in downtown Peterborough on Hunter Street. This latest restaurant opened this May and Wesley now oversees all three locations. Wesley’s first job off his dad’s farm was in the restaurant and he put himself through university working in kitchens. (He has a Master of Arts degree in economics.)

Chef Scott Hudson who helms the kitchen at Hobart’s Lighthouse has 35 years of experience in the industry. His deft hand shows not only in the delicious tender ribeye meal but also in the lighter vegan dishes and salads. My chili lime and avocado greens salad starter was super tasty and artfully plated. https://hobartslighthouse.ca

After dinner I headed to Kawartha Country Wines for a tasting with owner and vintner John Rufa. Rufa, a former teacher who had been cottaging in the Kawarthas for years, comes from a long tradition of family winemaking. His skill shows in his products of which there are 52 selections currently on the shelf. He sources largely from growers in the area offering everything from the more common fruit wines such as apple, pear, wild blueberry and raspberry, to the rarer Saskatoon berry, shiro plum, gooseberry, barley and pumpkin. http://kawarthacountrywines.ca

He produces about 60,000 litres a year of wines in styles ranging from dry, to off-dry (which he calls ‘social’) to dessert sweet. He also makes some lovely ciders. I was really impressed by all his products and especially liked the shiro plum, off-dry raspberry, blackcurrant mead and gooseberry.

On Tuesday I headed out for a game of golf at Wildfire Golf and Country Club, a private club on the shores of Stoney Lake. Opened in August 2003, it features a gorgeous 18-hole layout designed by Canadian golf architect Tom McBroom. www.golfwildfire.com

Food under Chef Heather Robb is rightfully delicious here. President and founder Glenn Stonehouse is also president of One Fine Food in Peterborough, an Italian-themed, market-style, fine food store and restaurant where Robb has worked in the past.

While Wildfire is private and the equity membership fee is a steep $22,600, golf and stay packages are available for guests of Village Inn and Pine Vistas with access to the course offered at certain times of the day. Dining Club memberships are available for $500 plus HST.

After the meal, I drove to Black’s Distillery in Peterborough. Head distiller Robert Black, a born and raised local, aims to craft the spirit of Peterborough county in his products starting with the personality packed Heritage Vodka made with red fife wheat, a grain that Dave Fife and family began to grow in 1842 at their farm in Peterborough. (Its name is derived from the original red colour of the wheat kernel and the name of the farmer.)

He also uses the red fife wheat spirit as a base for his gin, which he flavours with cubeb, coriander, sage, lavender, cardamom, angelica and juniper. I loved the gin’s layers of flavour and good solid hit of juniper. Black’s also makes a white rye that’s very aromatic with nice rye spice intensity, an aged rye Miller’s Toll with a minimum of nine months in custom casks and an unoaked barley spirit that’s sweetly smooth. https://blacksdistillery.com

The next day after a hot, slow game at the Black Diamond Golf course in Pontypool, I was delighted to stop into Bobcaygeon Brewing Company for a sample of their suds and a chat with president and co-founder Richard Wood. The brewery started just over four years ago with under contract brewing and now finally has their own facility in Peterborough which they opened on June 27 of this year. (They also have a site in Bobcaygeon which is still a work in progress. Construction is expected to start this fall.)

On tap when I visited was Firefly, a Belgian witbier with orange peel and coriander in the mix, Northern Lights a deliberately hazy fruity IPA with heavy dry hopping, Big Bob’s Brut IPA a dry and hoppy refresher which I loved, and Common Loon, an American Pale Ale which was the first beer they launched and their flagship easy drinking best seller. The brewery also produces seasonal beers and one of the kind specialties including a sweet ginger molasses cookies beer – almost like a liquid dessert. https://bobcaygeonbrewing.ca

On my last day in the area, I golfed at Peterborough Golf and Country Club, designed by Stanley Thompson, one of the most internationally renowned Canadian golf course architects. While this is a private club, fees are extremely reasonable and flexible. A real plus is that under executive Chef Blair Walker the food and drinks at the club are excellent. https://ptbogolf

As a take home, I picked up a dozen still hot from the oven Doo Doo’s Bakery butter tarts which have won “Ontario’s Best Butter Tarts” at butter tart festivals. Located in in Bailieboro, it’s consistently one of the best of the 50 stops on the Kawarthas Northumberland Butter Tart Tour – a sinfully sweet tour that started in 2011.

My memories of my Kawarthas and Peterborough trip are sweet indeed.