#backhouse

When you eat at Backhouse in Niagara-On-the-Lake you not only have an exquisite meal, you are also told the story of the food.

Chef Ryan Crawford and Beverly Hotchkiss opened Backhouse in 2015.

I met them in September of that year when they gave a talk at Food & Wine Festival in Toronto.

Amy Rosen, Ryan Crawford, Beverly Hotchkiss Food & Wine Festival 2015

They were in the process of building the restaurant, including the impressive wood burning oven pictured above which now emits a warm comforting aroma when you enter the restaurant.

They explained how the restaurant would feature local fresh foods, sourced from a 100 mile radius. They have their own farm supplying the freshest of fresh produce to the restaurant. Their chefs work in the fields giving the staff a better chance to connect with the products they are serving. The potatoes served at our recent meal had been hand picked in the morning and delivered by Chef Crawford. 

DAILY DUG POTATOES/leek/creme fraiche/purslane

Backhouse over the past few years has been recognized as one of the best restaurants in Canada and has won prestigious awards.

We had a tasting menus at our most recent meal.

DUCK LIVER MOUSSE PROFITEROL/duc apricot compote

The courses flew by, each one featuring the freshest produce and the highest quality proteins. Here are some of the highlights, I didn’t take photos of all the courses.

DIP-DIP EGG/fried egg white mousse/confit yolk/spinach caviar/prosciutto

The Dip Dip Egg is on of Chef Crawford’s signature dishes, a souffled egg in its shell topped with kale pearls. 

WOOD OVEN SOURDOUGHS/Ontario artisanal butters

The house made sourdough bread, served with three different top quality local butters is another house specialty. Back in 2015 Chef Crawford talked about his sourdough starter, called Roxanne which he proudly nourished and kept alive for over a decade. A sourdough starter is a fermented dough used to provide the yeast needed to give rise to the bread dough. Properly maintained (it has to be kept alive) a starter can last for decades. Roxanne has aged since then and is now in her 20th year!

We were given a fresh loaf of bread to take home after the meal. It was well enjoyed the next day.

Backhouse Sourdough Bread 

One of the highlights of the meal was the shrimp course.

Shrimp, perfectly cooked tempura style on a bed of freshly gazpacho.

The shrimp are farmed in inland Ontario, from producer Planet Shrimp.They are super-premium shrimp and responsibly raised. These shrimp are free of antibiotics, growth hormones, pesticides, chemicals & environmental waste.

We have become accustomed to eating cheap shrimp in the past few decades, which may have been caught by using unsavory labour practices or from less than clean growing environments. Planet Shrimp has invested large sums of money, sweat, labour and technology to create these top notch shrimps. 

GRILLED LAMB LOIN/summer bean cassoulet/garlic mousse

The grilled lamb loin was like butter. Cooked for hours sous-vide, then finished off on the wood burning grill.

ICEWINE FLOAT/sorbet/sparking “raw”duc vineyard icewine

A perfect dessert amuse. 

The last course had Sweet Corn as the star with K2 ancient grits cake, and meringue and a wood fired golden plum. It was refreshing and not too heavy.

The best ingredients make for the best foods, and are perfectly enhanced by the expert cooking and service at Backhouse.

Not only did I have a wonderful meal, I felt optimistic afterwards. There is so much doom and gloom in the press about the planet running out of food for various reasons.

But the press often doesn’t take into account the contributions restaurants like Backhouse and their suppliers make to ensure there will always be a source of high quality food being grown and developed.