We spent the week at a cottage near Huntsville and while we mainly cooked and ate at the cottage, we made a number of forays into town.
For shopping, Farmer’s Daughter is a lovely gourmet food store that carries many local products (preserves, baking, pickled vegetables), sophisticated city treats (frozen ramen), and higher end produce. Bullock’s Independent Grocer, a Loblaws affiliate, carries pretty much everything else you might need (jicama! key limes! Piano Piano frozen pizzas!).
The nieces wanted a patio, so we tried The Mill on Main. The patio has a covered and otherwise open top floor and a floor below enclosed by screens. They didn’t do a great job of wiping the table, so we grabbed supplies to do the job ourselves.
The Summer Spinach Salad with strawberries, goat cheese, red onion, and candied pecans was pretty decent.
With a wood-fired pizza oven in the front, we figured we should try the pizzas.
Taste of Autunno sounded interesting, with garlic and oregano-infused olive oil, roasted butternut squash, brie, and crushed walnuts, drizzled with balsamic reduction. The flavour was only so-so in the end and the pizza crust itself reminded me of water crackers in terms of lack of flavour.
Maple Bacon benefitted from more flavourful toppings: tomato sauce, mozzarella, pecorino, caramelized onion, confit garlic and bacon.
According to my brother’s family (who are quite discerning), the wings, pulled pork sandwich, prime rib dip, and burger were all pretty decent.
While we consumed leftovers for lunch, other family members went into town. Gangnam Korea got their thumbs up for the Korean fried chicken, jap-chae, and bubble tea. They also liked the hot dogs at Muskoka Dog House.
We took out from Smokin’ Hot BBQ, which is only open on weekends.
The stacks of wood and smokers looked reassuring.
Larry’s Signature Ribs were the best option: fall-off-the-bone, smokey, with a sweet but not cloying sauce.
Pulled pork was OK. The brisket had nice crust, but the meat was dry and had little flavour. Turkey had a bit of smoke, but was also dry. Fries and beans were OK.
Bottom line, just get lots of ribs.
For the last night, we sat on the patio of 3 Guys and a Stove. Firstly, we had great service. They were missing a server and thus initially told us that we would have to wait 90 minutes for a table. However a server who was training someone else offered to serve us on the unused portion of the patio and then we were seated within minutes. She provided great service through the evening, attending to water glasses, taking modifications to orders, and putting on a fresh pot of decaf for us.
This place aims to be more ambitious in its cooking, also reflected in its higher prices, and while it does miss sometimes, most things were hits.
They had some nice homemade coolers. 3 Guys Sunrise (banana liqueur, cherry brandy, grapefruit and soda) was fun and not too sweet.
Sweet potato, apple and cashew nut croquettes with coconut banana curry had a lovely mix of fruit and nut flavours and were fried well, without leftover oil.
Calamari with tandoori whole wheat flour was only OK, being a bit heavy on the batter and the squid was a bit too done.
Moroccan lamb meatballs had nice cumin notes, but a bit too much bready filler.
Tandoori Georgian Bay whitefish, while having no obvious tandoori spicing, was nonetheless delicious and perfectly cooked, with crispy skin and delicate white flesh. The raita-ish sauce over top was a nice addition.
Profiteroles stuffed with vanilla bean wildflower honey ice cream (from nearby Belly), served with hot butterscotch, shredded coconut, and raisins was a good finish to the meal.