Great Restaurant in Muskoka

Hello All -

We are reinvigorating this blog for our year in Costa Rica. We will work to update it daily, particularly beginning ~September 20 or so...

In the meantime, read a review of a great new restaurant up here on Lake Joseph in Ontario, Canada...those who are good friends will recognize some of the staff (our kids!). :-)...
Jerry


Riggs Restaurant: A Delight for the Senses

July 15, 2009 (Lake Joseph): At last, Lake Joseph is home to a truly five-star dining experience. As is the fashion with the most elite restaurants in Toronto, New York and Los Angeles, the new eatery located on Riggs Point, near Foote’s Bay, is nameless. Adding further to its mystique, it seats no more than six or eight diners on any given night and is accessible only by boat. A treat for only the lucky few!

And what a treat! My wife, three friends and I began with drinks on the dining porch. The menu offers a full range of beer, wine and ade-suffixed drinks, but the true pre-dinner liquid delight is the Fruit Smoothie. A gourmand’s blend of the finest berries, this smoothie is so thick that one is given a spoon rather than a straw to enjoy it. Spoonful after spoonful of this cold delicacy prepared my palette for the rich appetizer and entrée to come.

The new Riggs Point eatery serves up a delectable version of the old Italian classic, Caprese Salad.

For appetizers, my compatriots and I enjoyed a fruit plate with the ripest kiwi, apple, and plum this side of the orchards of California. The plum, in particular, was such a deep shade of purple that we all imagined it to be a beet. Picture the delight of my friend, when biting into its succulence, he tasted the sweetness of the fruit forever memorialized by that murderous professor in the mystery board game Clue™. The green salad was spectacular, including among its other delights, fresh Nisturnum. Delicious and beautiful to behold! As for myself, I enjoyed the Caprese salad—an outstanding representation of an Italian classic. Finely chopped basil adorned ripe tomatoes and fine mozzarella, all with a hint of balsamic and just a touch of pepper. I finished the course, just imagining the delight my tastebuds would behold when the entrée arrived.

Entrees included a beautifully served chilled chicken breast and the aptly named “Tae’s Plate,” a veritable smorgasbord initially designed for the discerning palate of a rambunctious but omnivorous three year old but now made available to all guests to the Riggs eatery. I ordered and was thrilled with my Grilled Vegetable Panini, an assortment of delectable vegetables—including my favorite asparagus—served atop toasted whole wheat and presented stylishly on a plate of the deepest blue, garnished with yet more asparagus and a tomato.

While I enjoyed the Panini, on my return visit to the restaurant I will certainly take in the innovative Mexican Medley. Custom made to each guest’s exacting requirements, this treat for the senses included both refried and black beans, cheese, fresh salsa, and sour cream fetched from afar, all tucked lovingly into two warmed tortillas. My fellow diners fell into a tizzy, as this dish arrived to our tablemate.

The Vegetable Panini presents beautifully with a side of grilled asparagus and tomato.

The Mexican Medley – made to order. MMMM!

So many restaurants these days—fine ones, at that—bet their reputation on a delicious entrée and serve up stale apple pie or crème caramel for dessert, hoping their guests don’t notice the decline in quality from entrée to postre. Not at Riggs Point. Home made ice cream! Home made chocolate sauce (with marshmallows)! Combined together into what many would call—I included—the finest milkshake since the first of those frozen elixirs was conjured.

Head chef Jane Jurayj and Assistant Chef Riley Casagrande deserve front page headlines for the award-winning potential of the menu they designed and implemented. Service by Head Waiter William Jurayj, augmented by occasional appearances by Baker Casagrande, who also served as Sous-Chef, and Baird Atwood, was impeccable. And the dishes! The cleanliness of each plate (each utensil!) is simply unmatched in either the lower forty-eight or the upper thirteen. My understanding is that credit for the brilliance of the plates and utensils goes directly to one Duncan Jurayj.

All the staff at the new restaurant pulled off a remarkable initial meal—and, fended off a kitchen flood at the same time, according to some reports from kitchen staff who asked not to be named. One hopes that the restaurant will be open again and again to all diners with a discerning palate and an appetite for fun.