A Weekend in Goderich, Ontario

The meatloaf sandwich at Black Dog Village Pub & Bistro.

Our reservations for dinner are in 10 minutes, but they’ll have to wait. As we make our way to Goderich, we stop to watch the sky set fire to a bank of clouds and the sun submerge into Lake Huron. That same sun fuels the hundreds of farms, apiaries and orchards that give the region its riches, from sweet, flavourful berries to some of the best beans and lentils in the world. Even the carrots that grow here taste especially sweet. We’ve come to try it all, and although the county’s narrow roads and tiny towns feel like they’re out of another time and place, we only left Toronto 2½ hours ago.  

Staying at the spa
Our base is the Benmiller Inn & Spa, a former mill that sits above the waters of Sharpes Creek. Our room looks out over a prime fishing spot, so if we wanted, we could actually sit in the Jacuzzi and watch trout being reeled in, but instead we head to the dining room. We start with a salad of crisp dandelion greens tossed with smoky local bacon. Then comes a 30-day-aged strip loin from area butcher Metzger Meat Products. It’s grilled to a turn and paired with soft mushrooms and fingerling potatoes so buttery, they taste like they were mashed inside their jackets.

Gastronomy in Bayfield
Back in the 1830s, the Little Inn of Bayfield was a coach stop. Today it’s a quaint inn where chef Joseph Watters, who studied molecular gastronomy under celebrity chef Marc Veyrat, offers contemporary dishes with a regional twist, like pan-seared foie gras with Bayfield peach sous vide and smoked-pine-nut-and-raspberry gastrique. His take on strawberry shortcake features local berries dehydrated and served with liquid nitrogen champagne sorbet and kiwi leather. We have it with a sticky riesling icewine from Peninsula Ridge, and, for all of the dessert’s complicated com­ponents, the combination tastes simply delicious.

Finding the Beef
Inspired by our feast at Benmiller Inn & Spa, we head to the little village of Hensall, and make a beeline for Metzger Meat Products in search of – you guessed it – steak. Although the electronically monitored production facility of this clean white shop is modern, the philosophy is old-fashioned. Animals are processed here from the time they’re still on the hoof right through to the jalapeno salami stage. We pick up a couple of pounds of aromatic smoked back bacon, some two-inch-thick T-bone steaks and the frozen veal stock that’s going to finish all of our sauces for the next few weeks.  

Pub fare worth drinking to
At the Black Dog Village Pub & Bistro, sommelier Ted McIntosh supplements his impressive selection of Ontario wines (including the Henry of Pelham unoaked chardonnay and the 13th Street Winery syrah) with Scotch and Irish whiskies, while his wife, chef and cookbook author Kathleen Sloan-McIntosh, delivers a sharp twist on pub fare. Here Caesar salad involves Grana Padano cheese, double-smoked bacon and a roasted-garlic dressing. The meatloaf sandwich is a thick slab of beef topped with sweet caramelized onions, sharp old cheddar cheese and a homemade barbecue sauce that perfectly balances heat and smoke. It’s a bit of a commute from our home in Toronto, but we’re seriously considering making this our local.

Photos: Jillian Dickens (Meatloaf sandwich); Little Inn of Bayfield (Little Inn of Bayfield); Jillian Dickens (Metzger Meat Products)