The Butcher & Banker Pub

A Yorkshire pudding bowl arrives at the table holding sliced roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, and frizzled onions, the rim crisped enough to hold its shape, the inside soft enough to absorb everything piled inside it. The Butcher & Banker calls it the Hot Beef Stuffed Yorkie, and along with a Steak & Guinness Pie of diced beef, mushrooms, onions, and carrots braised in stout and finished under puff pastry, it is the dish that tells the rest of the story. The kitchen has decided to cook British. In a Niagara stretch better known for wine-country dining rooms, a pub that puts pies and Yorkies at the centre of its menu reads as a position rather than a default.

The rest of the menu earns its place by widening the lane without leaving it. Burgers run from a plain Original on the lighter end through The Butcher's Burger, dressed in Forty Creek barbecue sauce, bacon, and a choice of swiss or cheddar, to a Rosemary Lamb Burger with goat cheese and french-onion jam at the further end. The Banker's Beef Dip uses the same slowly roasted brisket as the Yorkie, served as a sandwich with horseradish mayo, caramelized onion, and swiss on a fresh loaf with au jus. A Grilled Reuben piles shaved AAA Canadian brisket and sauerkraut on grilled marble rye. Bangers & Mash and Chicken Pot Pie keep the pub-fare section honest. A brown-sugar-and-applewood Atlantic salmon and a Butter Chicken over basmati widen things further without changing the lane. Sticky Toffee Pudding closes the meal in the same comfort-food register, served warm and house-made.