PICNIC Tapas & Wine

The sign still reads Tapas & Wine, but the kitchen behind it now cooks like a Mexican cantina — tacos, tostadas, and a raw bar of oysters where a tapas-and-wine menu used to be. PICNIC sits on Mississaga Street East in downtown Orillia, and it has spent its second act reorganizing around salsa roja, mezcal, and a seafood counter without giving up what made the original work: a compact, social dining room built for a table ordering several plates at once. The legacy name stayed. The menu moved.

The cantina turn shows up first in the handhelds. The Fish Taco is built with guajillo chilli and herbs, then finished with salsa roja; the Pork Asada Taco carries slow-cooked pork shoulder under salsa roja and pico; the Cauliflower Taco leans on chipotle aioli, lime, fresh cheese, and Tajín. Tostadas do the same work on a flat shell — a Shortrib Beef Tostada with chimichurri and chipotle aioli, and a Burrata Tostada with wild greens and pumpkin seed. Around them sit the snacks a cantina runs on: Chicharrón, roasted pork belly bites with salsa verde, and Street Corn rebuilt with maitake mushroom, jalapeño, chipotle, pecans, and mint. The plates stay small enough to keep ordering.