Stone Road Grille (REST), Niagara on the Lake

Saturday 11 October
A glorious warm fall day, leading into the Thanksgiving weekend. We drove out to what is known around here as NOTL, and saw "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (a very pleasant production of an Unpleasant Play) and thanks to Chowhound got steered to Stone Road Grille (note the -e: sign you're in a classy jointe!).
In a strip mall, with heavy curtains to shut out the fact that you're in a strip mall. There's no sign except for a leftover of a past restaurant, reading only REST. Excellent service. Brill food. Attention to detail (tap water, but lightly tasting of lemon and cucumber from slices in the pitcher; when Holt commented on the comfy chairs, the waiter recommended an even more padded one). And the guy/girl doing the charcuterie is a genius.

So we started with a superb salad of scallops wrapped in duck bacon on a bed of frisée and purslane. What absolutely made the dish was the delicacy of the handling: just a hint of something currylike in mildly vinegary dressing; the three scallops perfectly seared.
The other starter was smoked salmon in sashimi style: four slivers on a bed of cellophane noodles with wakame (seaweed), a little roll around sushi rice, and a hot tempura version with nori. And all the fixins: wasabi and home pickled ginger.

For mains, duck confit: a leg braised till it was falling apart, a timbale lined with savoy cabbage and stuffed with the rest of the confit, outstanding beets on top, and a rich reduction sauce under.
Plus a rotating series called Mary's Little Lamb. This night it was a lamb sausage bursting with fat on a dollop of sweet red pepper couscous; slices of leg with a hot peppery crust; and a loin wrapped in prosciutto. Also a ricotta and broccoli timbale which Holt found a little grainy, but maybe that was just an overdose of broccoli.

The other revelation of the evening was the Strewn "Terroir" Cabernet Franc. I swear: this is the best lamb wine EVER. I have no idea what made the match, but the lamb brought out all sorts of unexpected intensities of flavor in the wine, and the wine just made the lamb pop!