The most unique farm to table experiences across Ontario

The most unique farm to table experiences across Ontario

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It’s no secret that modern society has become disconnected from what it takes for a tomato to make it to the dinner table. Farm to table dining rebuilds that bridge in a way that benefits everyone involved from the person who planted the seed to you, enjoying a delicious meal. Not to mention the fact that eating food in-season means you’re consuming everything at its flavour and nutritional peak while reducing your carbon footprint.

Nowhere is the beauty of farm to table dining more wholeheartedly embraced than in Ontario. Every summer, restaurants, chefs and farmers’ markets across the province open their doors, prep their kitchens, and roll out their tables to offer visitors some of the most delectable bites the province has to offer.

In addition to giving you a taste of the local produce, helping reconnect people with where and how their food is grown also supports the local economy. “One of our main goals is to support other farmers who are our neighbours and friends in our community,” says Mike Higgins, co-owner of Lynn River Farm’s Graze restaurant, which offers diners the opportunity to experience where their food is grown firsthand. “It’s real, hard work, growing food.”

Here are some can’t-miss farm to table experiences across Ontario to enjoy this summer.

From May to October, Lindsay and Mike Higgins, the owners and operators of Lynn River Farm, run Graze, a farm dining experience where everything is grown on their land or nearby, prepared fresh and devoured in an idyllic country setting.

After purchasing the land from Lindsay’s grandfather in 2009, the couple launched a farm to table dining experience in fall 2021. With Graze Farm Dinners, guests receive a six-course, three and a half hour dining experience at outdoor tables scattered around the fire pits and outdoor grill, for only $120 per person. (For $65, guests can choose the family-style Country Cookout with Lynn Farm Fried Chicken, pork ribs, potato salad and plenty more). Everything is prepared by Lindsay, Mike and their longtime farm associate. “We look after the bees, garden and livestock together,” Mike says. “The three of us will research recipes and get ideas for the menu, and then in the end I cook everything at dinner service.”

At Lynn River Farm, owners Lindsay and Mike Higgins host Graze Farm Dinners.

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The menu changes every four weeks, inspired by what’s in season and what guests enjoy – this past June, they served shoyu ramen with homemade noodles and smoked chicken thighs and spring greens ravioli with sage flowers. But it goes deeper than that. The Higgins take inspiration from the land itself, the link we all have to growing food in the ground. “Food has changed, we’ve changed and our priorities have changed,” Lindsay says. “To get people back to those basics, that’s the good stuff. To eat food that came out of the garden right over there, to remind people that it’s still all within us.”

Farm-to-table isn’t only a staple in rural areas. Look no further than the latest festival coming to the country’s capital city. And no, we’re not talking about another Rib Fest (although those are delicious). Starting this July, Ottawa is getting a whole festival dedicated to farm to table dining. Running from July 11 to 27th, the Chef’s Table features menus curated by local chefs, like Stella’s Eatery Chef Leah Marshall Hannon and Chef Pascal Ménard, all alongside live music from local talent. The multi-weekend event takes place along the gorgeous Rideau Canal, giving new meaning to the term “dinner and a view.”

For those who don’t have time to pop in over the month, or are visiting outside festival dates, The Clarendon — located in the city’s ByWard Market neighbourhood — is a permanent staple in the city, offering a menu with features like homemade sausage and local mushrooms.

Farm to table experiences often take inspiration from the land, using seasonal ingredients to highlight diners’ connection to the food they eat.

Lindsay Higgins

The streets of Kingston’s historic downtown are dotted with heritage buildings and a laid-back, old-time sensibility permeating throughout. It makes sense that the city’s restaurants — just outside the more rural Prince Edward County and along the St. Lawrence River — would lean into the local.

Like the Juniper Cafe. Set right up against the waterfront, this lakeside cafe — which opened in 2016 — functions as both a community hub and farm to table restaurant. Located inside the city’s Tett Centre for Creativity & Living, the restaurant boasts seasonal sandwiches stuffed with local chicken and soft chèvre (don’t forget to ask for extra aioli!). In addition to feeding hungry visitors and locals alike, the café also caters a lunch program aimed at keeping kids at camp well-fed.

If you’re looking for more of Juniper Cafe’s great tastes, the cafe recently opened Terra Verde, their second location, closer to Ontario’s major 401 highway, meaning you can pop in for a quick bite on your next roadtrip.

Connecting with people and the land via farm fresh ingredients is what drives Chef Albert Ponzo of The Royal Hotel in Picton, Ont., in the heart of Prince Edward County just outside of Kingston. “After visiting, I started falling in love with the area and had this idea that I wanted to open a restaurant that had a farm as well. I wanted to cook more farm to table,” he says.

When Ponzo learned Greg Sorbara and business partner Sol Korngold were renovating the dilapidated Royal Hotel, he moved to the County and joined the team. The Sorbara family also own a 650-acre farm nearby, Edwin County Farms, and The Royal Hotel is their primary customer for produce, meat, maple syrup and more. It’s just like Ponzo dreamed; what’s grown there influences the elevated menu inspired by his Italian roots. “This year, there’s a nice crop of nepitella, a traditional Italian herb that’s a cross between mint and oregano,” he says. “My father is from Rome and it’s used in a Roman lamb dish [we’ll serve this season].”

Ponzo believes that creating a farm to table dining experience is about more than just eating a meal. “Knowing where my food comes from, working with people I know… it brings me back to a time when people’s priorities were family, sitting down together to break bread, sharing the bounty of the farm and all of the hard work. I hope that translates in the menu.”

Farm to table isn’t just for the rural countryside. In Picton, The Royal Hotel’s menu features locally-grown and supplied products and meals inspired by Chef Albert Ponzo’s Italian heritage.

Left: Courtesy of Jeff McNeill, Right: Courtesy of Graydon and Herriott

Owned and operated by Michael Stadtlӓnder, Eigensinn Farm in Grey County was a lifelong dream for the chef, who grew up on a small farm in Northern Germany. Stadtlӓnder — a pioneer in the Canadian farm to table dining movement — opened the farm along with his wife Noboyu and son Hermann, and the trio work together on the farm.

Their vegetable stand and farm lunch runs every Saturday and Sunday beginning June 8. For those not able to stay for an entire meal, the vegetable stand offers delectable (and fairly transportable) bites like wood fired sourdough bread and fresh oysters from Collingwood’s Oyster Boy North (a northern expansion of Toronto’s Oyster Boy). If you have more time to stay on the farm and enjoy a sit-down meal (and believe us, you’ll want to), dinner features eight elegantly plated courses that change depending on what’s in season.

Toronto is no stranger to the farm to table experience, offering visitors a bevy of farm to table restaurants across the city. This includes the west end’s Season Six. Opened in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic and starting out as a takeaway restaurant, this hip supperclub in the heart of Toronto’s Ossington neighbourhood changes their menu seasonally based on locally-available ingredients through the six seasons of produce. Whether you’re noshing on their caesar salad with gem lettuce (a must-try), tasting one of the restaurant’s rotating risotto dishes, or taking advantage of seasonal delicacies like Atlantic Lobster Bucatini with sweet peas, saffron and cream when it’s in season, you’ll never leave hungry.

In the city’s Junction Neighbourhood, the family-run Farmhouse Tavern offers diners another perspective on the farm to table experience. Leaning into the delicacy of handhelds, this restaurant specializes in melt-in-your mouth burgers made from locally sourced meats and ingredients. While farm to table often evokes the idea of fresh veggies, meat is also a key part of the equation, meaning Farmhouse Tavern is a restaurant that keeps the role of farmers — in all of their iterations — front and centre.

While farm to table brings to mind fresh veggies and produce, it applies to meats, too, like those served at Toronto’s Farmhouse Tavern and Lynn River Farm’s cookouts.

Little Big Creative

Just west of Toronto, Mississauga is also getting in on the farm to table dining trend — via their annual farmers market. The Lakeview Farmers’ Market, which runs from May 26 to October 27, is home to unique farm to table vendors. While you can find an assortment of produce vendors, the big — and truly unique — draw comes from one particular vendor selling a foodie-beloved staple: Pizza.

With Crowded Table Pizza, a pop-up farm to table pizza dining experience, Allison Leroux is perfectly melding her love of pizza — influenced by years working at her parent’s pizzeria, Amadio’s, in Mississauga — with her knowledge and love of her local community. Despite growing up in a city, Leroux was exposed to gardening and raising animals from a young age. “The skills I gained from those experiences are invaluable,” Leroux says. Her education equally played a role. As a fourth year Animal Biology and Agricultural student at the University of Guelph, “I realized how much of a gap there is between consumers and farmers,” she says. “So my goal is to inspire people to seek local ingredients and learn more about their food in the process.”

Leroux does this by sharing fun facts about where the toppings she uses — like smoked brisket from Ontario’s Good Beef Company and asparagus from local Heritage House Farms — come from with her social media followers and using what she calls “funky,” native, local or in-season ingredients on her pizza. It’s a process which not only lends itself to some delicious combinations, like peas with chives, roasted mushrooms, heirloom tomatoes, and chive flowers, but also feeds the pizzaiolo’s creativity. “I have a passion for being involved in my community, so collaborating with local businesses and farmers and being able to feature their products brings me joy,” Leroux says.

There’s something magical about eating fresh, local food outdoors on a beautiful summer day or night and Ontario is the place to do it. To kickstart your own unique farm to table dining experience, head to canadaculinary.com.

Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio with Great Taste of Canada. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.