Well, it’s over! Winter Bites 2010 officially came to an end last night with a bang. While we still have to gather all the information, feedback so far from the restaurants indicates this year was a huge success.

Pina and I would like to take this opportunity thank everyone who went out, enjoyed and supported this event by visiting a participating restaurant and ordering a Winter Bites meal. Without the support we received from the local community, we couldn’t have had the success we experienced.

A big thanks goes out to A-Channel Windsor and Christie Bezaire for our live interview about Winter Bites on the 6:00pm news broadcast. Your excitement and willingness to promote this local event shows why A-Channel is much needed for Windsor-Essex and why we should all be supporting local television….and yes, I will be adding the clip of the interview very soon!

We also would like to thank all the participating restaurants as well as all the establishments which hosted events throughout the week. Without them offering some pretty incredible deals, well, there wouldn’t have been much of a Winter Bites. Thank you for supporting our belief that working as a collective can go much further than working as individuals.

I would personally like to thank Jillian for being willing to eat out for dinner each and every night this week.

Eat Your City 2010 is the next Windsor-Essex Restaurant Week we have which will take place August 1-7, 2010. Winter Bites 2011 will be January 16-22, 2011.

Thank you, everybody!!!

In what has been turning out to be a tradition for our Winter Bites and Eat Your City events, the entire family went out tonight on the final night of Winter Bites 2010 to celebrate and enjoy each others company.

This year we decided to go eat at Mezzo Ristorante & Lounge. Thankfully we took our own advice and made reservations as we may not have been seated otherwise. The place was booked solid and we could only get in at 5:00pm. We couldn’t even use our pull to get anything else (we even used the “Do you know who I am?” line…I’m kidding).

With Mezzo offering both a $25 and a $35 Winter Bites 2010 menu, it gave the 8 of us plenty of options to choose from. Here are the selections that I can remember:

Adriano:

• Squash Soup
• Timballo
• Chocolate Tartufo

Jillian:

• Squash Soup
• Manicotti
• Chocolate Tartufo

Pina:

• Squash Soup
• Gnocchi
• Strawberry Tartufo

Sean

• Mezzo Bruschetta
• Timballo
• Strawberry Tartufo

Anthony

• Antipasto Misto
• Veal Saltimbocca
• Crepes

Wendy

• I honestly have no clue what she ordered. She was sitting at the other end of the table.

Mamma

• Timballo
• Strawberry Tartufo

Papa

• Mixed Greens
• Gnocchi
• Strawberry Tartufo

The food was absolutely fantastic and the entire family even stayed a bit afterwards in the lounge for drinks and espresso.

When we left Mezzo, Pina, Sean, Jillian and myself all headed over to Slice of Style for her second and final Chocolate Tasting of Winter Bites 2010. We once again got to see (and take home!) the awesome Winter Bites cake that Fashionista Cakes made for us on behalf of Kelly at Slice of Style. The shop was packed when we walked in with people sampling chocolate dipped oreos, chocolate dipped pringles, chocolate dipped pretzels and chocolate dipped anything!

What a great night!

Last night Jillian and I made our way out to Gourmet Emporium to try out their Winter Bites 2010 menu. The food was delicious and we were also happily surprised to find out they were giving out 2 extra courses in addition to their posted 5 (red pepper bisque and a strawberry sherbet I think it was to cleanse your palate…I can’t remember)

Here is what we ordered:

Jillian:

• Caprese Salad
• Samosas
• Brown Butter Asparagus
• Honey Chipotle Chicken
• Flourless Chocolate Cake

Adriano:

• Caprese Salad
• Potatas Bravas
• Brown Butter Asaparagus
• Pesto Risotto
• Cheesecake

After you have dinner tonight (at a Winter Bites restaurant of course) stop by Slice of Style at the corner of Erie St. E. and Parent Ave. as they are having a chocolate tasting on the final night of Winter Bites 2010!

There will be wine, chocolate, cookies, chocolate fountains. We went last night and I couldn’t stop eating!!!

That’s right…if you haven’t taken part in some of the great deals and events that have happened this past week for Winter Bites then today is your last chance!

Free Skate at Charles Clark Square with WindsorEats and Windsorite.ca at 2 p.m. Windsorite.ca will be onsite to take your photos.

Slice of Style, located at 997 Parent at the intersection with Erie St. E., will be hosting a chocolate tasting.  A variety of chocolate treats will be served along with a chocolate fountain for dipping.  Also on hand to complement the chocolate will be local wines.  The event will take place  from 5:00pm to 10pm. Admission is $10 per person.

Black Kettle Bistro is hosting local photographer Cristina Naccarato.  View great artwork and while there you are definitely going to want to have dinner.  Black Kettle Bistro has an amazing Winter Bites menu.

And don’t forget both Aleksander Estate Winery and Mastronardi Estate Winery have some great deals going.  So head out to the county and stock up on your favourite wines.

Of course don’t forget to head out to one of the many restaurants participating to enjoy a fantastic 3 course meal for a great deal.

Today our family is heading out to Charles Clark for a skate, then Slice of Style for a little bit o’ chocolate and finally to Mezzo’s for our end of Winter Bites celebratory meal.  If you see us there come over and say hello!

The 2nd Per Bacco Wine Maker’s Dinner was a huge success last night on Day 5 of Winter Bites 2010. They actually went past their stated goal of tickets sold and had to turn away customers at the door as there was no more room in the upstairs dining area at Per Bacco. That’s why I always recommend planning and purchasing tickets in advance for any event!

Chef Domenic once again outdid himself with an absolutely fantastic 6-course meal. Jillian and I attended a fundraiser earlier in the night for the St. Clair College Accounting & Finance Club and the Multicultural Council (more on that in a post later today) I arrived late and missed the first three courses.

The three courses I did catch where his Spaghetti Bolognese made with tender veal cutlet and pork sausage in a herbed red wine tomato sauce which was paired with a Chianti Classico from Tuscany…

…the Osso Bucco with creamed swiss chard garnished with gremalade and rhubarb compote paired with the Barolo (which I heard everyone raving about) from the Piedmonte region of Italy…

…and the Chocolate Semi Freddo with cinnamon walnut cream and sabayon served with a sweet Italian liqueur.

The next Per Bacco Wine Makers Dinner will take place in February, but until then, stop by and take advantage of their Winter Bites 2010 menu, available only until Saturday January 23, 2010!

If you are looking for a fantastic deal and experience during WinterBites, you should definitely add Black Kettle Bistro to your restaurants to visit before the week’s end.

Sean and I headed downtown last night to take part in Black Kettle Bistro’s music series where we were treated to a great show by Adam Rideout-Arkell. Owner, Rino Bortolin, came up with the really creative idea of pairing great food and local music. And let me tell you his Winter Bites menu cannot be missed. If you haven’t gone there already….go now!!

We pretty much ordered the entire Winter Bites Menu. Our first course was ravioli filled with ricotta and topped sautéed mushrooms and peas in a garlic sauce. We also had sweet potato filled manicotti that were baked in a garlic cream sauce. The manicotti…..amazing. Highly recommend ordering this dish. The sweet potatoes were just so flavourful.

Our second course was Morrocan style chickpea stew and Lamb stew, both dishes on a bed of baked herbed polenta. And for dessert, Rino totally went the extra mile. Homemade, organic cinnamon icecream overtop a warm organic apple crumble.

If you follow us on Twitter and Facebook, you may have seen these photos already as I was tweeting my way through the entire meal. A three course dinner with live music for only $25. You can’t beat that.

If you missed the shows earlier this week, you can still catch great food and live local music. The Black Kettle Bistro music series continues for the rest of the week including tonite!

This is a great opportunity to meet the artists, get some signatures, purchase some work and support some fantastic local artists. When you purchase the $25 BKB menu $5 will automatically go to the artist and if you choose the $35 BKB menu (which is the same as the $25) then $15 will go to the artist and you will receive a signed copy of their CD or a special limited addition print signed by the artist.

So run! Hurray! Get to Black Kettle Bistro before it’s all over!

The week has been going great and the majority of the restaurants I’ve spoken to so far have said they have had a fantastic response for Winter Bites 2010!

Here are some quick bits to pass your way regarding Winter Bites:

• Per Bacco Ristorante is hosting their Wine Maker’s Dinner tonight beginning at 6:00pm. You can still purchase your tickets for $85 per person by calling them at 519.255.1199. After what I saw with their very first Wine Maker’s Dinner, it is an absolute steal!
• The sales on selected bottles of wine at Mastronardi Estate Winery and Aleksander Estate Winery are still on through to Saturday, January 23, 2010.
• Slice of Style, located at the corner of Parent and Erie St., is hosting two chocolate tastings: Friday, January 22 and Saturday, January 23, 2010. Just for Winter Bites 2010, Slice of Style will be offering milk and dark chocolate fountains and treats for dipping, chocolate cake samples from Fashionista Cakes, display cakes and an edible tribute to Winter Bites with local wines to complement. There is also a 15% discount on chocolate and chocolate products as well as surprise specials! Cost is only $10. A group discount ($30 for 4 people) is also available. Be sure to go and support this great local shop!

I thought I was going to take it easy today and not have a Winter Bites meal, but, the Muffeletta Sandwich from Terra Cotta’s Winter Bites lunch menu kept calling out to me. I caved.

Here were my selections:

• Focaccia e Formaggi
• Muffeletta Sandwich
• Apple Pie

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos with me (I ate lunch at my parents house and used my dads camera) so I can’t show you how delicious everything looked. The Focaccia and the Apple Pie were great but I just couldn’t get enough of that Muffeletta Sandwich. The fresh made bread…the ham…the sopressata….the swiss and provolone….the olive salad! Everything was a perfect combination. I wouldn’t even share it with my mom when she asked for a bite. I didn’t want to part with any bit of it.

Three days, three different Winter Bites menus…and I’m loving it!

On Tuesday I happened to stop by Biscuits & Gravy for dinner. I have always enjoyed Steve’s food and this visit was no different. My choices from the B&G $25 menu were:

• Sweet Potato Maple Soup
• Carpetbaggers Steak
• Bread Pudding

The soup was very interesting and very tasty. The maple syrup was a nice touch and not overpowering. What I loved the best was how you could tell how it was made fresh with chunks of the sweet potatoes and even their skins scattered throughout the soup.

Adriano Ciotoli eating oysters? For those that know me well they would never have thought that would be possible. The Carpetbaggers Steak is a nice Kansas City strip steak stuffed with blue cheese and oysters. Tasty! An added surprise was that it also came with a side of my choice. I, of course, chose the Mac n’ Cheese.

Last, but not least, is the dessert. Oh bread pudding…how I love thee!