The Old Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar

The signature pizzas at The Old Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar read like a tasting flight. Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot, Cabernet, Gewürztraminer — each wood-fired pie is named for a varietal, and the topping list reaches for the pairing the name suggests. The Riesling carries basil pesto, artichoke, Kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, and feta; the Chardonnay goes richer with garlic béchamel, roasted chicken, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onion, and truffle oil; the Cabernet stacks crumbled chorizo, pepperoni, and soppressata on the four-cheese base for the table that came to eat meat. It is a conceit that only makes sense in Niagara wine country, and this kitchen on Niagara Stone Road commits to it fully.

The rest of the menu is Italian comfort cooking with a steady hand. Hand-made ricotta gnocchi comes in either gorgonzola cream or tomato sauce, the kind of house-made plate a kitchen leads with when it trusts its pasta. Orecchiette arrives with seared beef tips, roasted shallots, sweet peas, hazelnuts, and a mushroom ragout; spaghetti gets a house Bolognaise built from beef and pork. Starters run to chili and Parmesan crusted calamari with tzatziki and beef-and-ricotta meatballs finished with bocconcini and chili flakes. From the grill, an eight-ounce Ontario AAA beef tenderloin lands with potato wedges and a red wine demi, and a Tuscan steelhead salmon sits in sundried tomato cream. Dessert stays compact and useful — lemon ricotta cheesecake with strawberry coulis, a Belgian chocolate crème brûlée, a chocolate truffle cake.