As part of a mini-road trip that took us to Naagan and The Pine, we stopped in at Marilynne in Markdale after determining that The Gate was not open for lunch that day. Housed in an old firehall, it has a spacious interior, decorated with an eclectic mix of antiques and ephemera. The chef and owner is Brandon Bannon, who grew up in the area and did stints in various Toronto restaurants including Antler. The food focuses on local farms, with some elements house-canned or preserved to serve throughout the seasons. The food was hearty and enjoyable, with sophisticated touches that moved it several notches above most small town restaurants.
For drinks I tried Conspiracy Theory, a blueberry and sour cherry semi-dry cider from Spy, located in Clarksburg. It was great, with the sour cherry and blueberry coming through nicely. My wife had an espresso martini, which was a bit sweet but was impressively made with a fresh espresso.
We started with the French onion soup, a special. This was fun, with a rich beef broth, a big cheddar cheese skirt over top, and little baguette slices with melted cheese.
The Meatball was very tasty and came in a hearty and slightly spicy tomato sauce, with some focaccia to mop up the dregs.
Mushroom Toast featured buttery local mushrooms, parmesan, and black garlic ricotta over toast. It was just one slice, but it was very rich. Sorry about the blurry picture.
Roasted Beet Salad was really lovely, accented with wild flower yoghurt, cedar vinaigrette, pickled shallots, blue cheese, spiced granola, and pea shoots.
For dessert, we shared the housemade rice pudding, which was warmed in a sauce pan and topped with sweet poached peaches. It was a little sweet, but had a nice chewy risotto texture.
We’d happily come back for a full meal sometime.
