A visit to Good Earth Food and Wine Co.- 16 August 2011

We picked a bad day, or a good day, depending on your point of view, to visit Good Earth Food and Wine. As we arrived a busload of food and wine writers arrived.

There were a good number of us plebeians about so it was actually a good test of the establishments offerings and service.

A video of part of our visit

 

 Nicolette Novak is the Owner and Fun Coordinator

 

a table of pampered critics

 

Now down to the review: I found the soup to be a disappointment. Bland - enough said about that.  The main course was delicious. I found my glass of wine, while acceptable, mundane. The service was very good.

On a practical note - The outdoor chairs that we sat in were extremely uncomfortable and one septuagenarian complained about them vocally several times both at the time and since - my mother in law.

I assume that the reader understands and accepts that different people have different palates but we all like to be comfortable.

While I am speaking about food and wine, I want to bring up a pet peeve of mine. I want to talk about the quantities of wine served by the  individually ordered glass in most wineries.

Simply put, I find that most wineries are miserly in their portions and overpriced for those portions. I understand that there is a minimum quantity required by law but that is the minimum requirement. Wineries should loosen up and give a thank you to their patrons by being magnanimous in their servings. It isn't as though they weren't saving the 50% or so discount that they would have to sell to the LCBO and then doing a mark up as though it was purchased from the LCBO.

I predict that the first wineries / restaurants that step up to this practice will be around in a few years. Most of the other restaurant will close. Peak Oil and Peak Credit are real folks - show some appreciation to the people that spend time, money and effort to find your venues -  get with the program.

  Main course at lunch

 

The Pantry operates on the honor system - a very nice touch

 

The property is very appealing to the eye

 

The well respected cooking school

 

 

 

All in all this is a great place to visit and we will come again. We recommend it to all. The kitchen is very good overall and the grounds are very pleasant.

The Good Earth Food and Wine Co.
4556 Lincoln Ave., Beamsville, ON L0R 1B3 

Tel 905-563-6333

www.goodearthfoodandwine.com

Google Map

 

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A visit to Aure Wines - 1 August 2011

Aure Wines is a very new winery in Beamsville.

Video

 

 

 

Aure Wines
3749 Walker Road, Beamsville, Ont., L0R 1B2 

Tel 905-563-7256

www.aurewines.com

Google Map
 

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A visit to Angels Gate Winery - 1 August 2011

Angels Gate Winery is located in a picture perfect location on Mountainview Road in Beamsville, Ontario. The Winery's buildings look out and down the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario is clearly visible.

It was a beautiful day when we visited and the ample parking lot a a dozen or so vehicles in it on this holiday weekend.

The grounds are lovely and the facilities are first rate. We will be going there again.

 

Video

 

Angels Gate Winery
4260 Mountainview Rd. Beamsville, Ont. L0R 1B2 

Tel 905-563-3942

www.angelsgatewinery.com

Google Map
 

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Beamsville Berries and Blooms Festival - 18 June 2011

Moving on, I decided to visit the "Beamsvillle Berries and Blooms Festival" billed as a "Lincoln Family Festival" - I don't think so!

This so-called berries and blooms family festival was anything but. There was one lonely strawberry stand, they had the sole concession and the price was $5.00 for a pint! That was it for strawberries as far as I could see, the rest was your typical chip-wagon food - greasy, pricy and the same stuff you see everywhere.. The venue was the Beamsville District Secondary School (pavement, I'm afraid). Apparently the fair grounds (where it would normally have been) was not available because they have sold it off for a condo development. Really charming....not!

          

It looked to me like it was nothing more than a flea market, and a poor one at that. Take a look at the level of excitement and joy evident in these photos.

        

It's clearly all about the vendors.

I think it would have been less expensive and much, much, nicer to spend an afternoon with friends and family at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Strawberry Social than at the flea market type of affair in Beamsville. If I were driving in from perhaps Hamilton or Toronto, to enjoy a day out I would have been very upset to have read the website  billing the event as "Berries and Blossoms" and a "family festival"  only to have arrived to find a sad excuse for a flee-market.

Beamsville is part of the Town of Lincoln which, includes many positive things not the least of which is Charles Daley Park so I don't know what happened to Beamsville - could it be just plain old neglect? If you want to send the Mayor a wake-up call he can be reached at:

Mayor Bill Hodgson

4800 South Service Road

Beamsville, Ontario

L0R 1B1

tel 905-562-4464    

email: bhodgson@lincoln.ca