An excerpt from my new book about places to visit in Ontario includes Port Dover and Lake Erie, plus some great wineries. I also take a look at the fabulous Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate company, which makes truly incredible treats in Hawaii.
My New Ontario Escapes Book: Excerpt Here
This is an excerpt from my new book, “Ontario Escapes: 19 Great Places to Visit Right Now.” It’s available for $4.99 from Apple Books at this link. Thanks for taking a look.
This chapter includes a visit to the fun and funky town of Port Dover and the north shore of Lake Erie, where you’ll find friendly locals, a great bike tour, palm trees on the beach and a winery called The Frisky Beaver. Special thanks to Sharon Creelman at BlackSandDigital.ca for her exceptional publishing work.
Here’s part of the Port Dover chapter.
Dusty Zamecnik of Hometown Brew Co, who I met during a tour of the area the previous year, sees me and walk over to say hi. https://www.hometownbrew.com/
“Welcome home,” he says.
I’ve taken trips to the north shore of Lake Erie almost every summer the past few years and I definitely feel at home. I’ve grown to love the towns and the rich farmers’ fields and the beaches, not to mention the great food and wine and craft beer. But I think it’s people like Zamecnik – friendly, outgoing, no-nonsense small-town folks – that seal the deal for me.
Port Dover’s beach is wonderful; a deep stretch of sand near a quiet harbour with a pretty lighthouse. The town has tons of t-shirt places and shops selling inflatable surf toys, sandals and other summer necessities. There’s a steady stream of folks heading from the beach to The Arbor, a long-time fixture in town that sells burgers, hot dogs, fries and an orange-flavoured soft drink called a Golden Glow. https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Fast-Food-Restaurant/The-Arbor-151620218238743/
(I spotted someone’s TripAdvisor review that said if Richie and Fonzie from “Happy Days” ever visited Port Dover, this is where they’d go. And that sounds about perfect to me.)
Perhaps the highlight of my Port Dover visit was an afternoon bike ride and food tour with Red Apple Rides, a leisurely ride of roughly 16 km’s that took us to a winery, a stunning hillside B&B and along the coast of Lake Erie. https://www.redapplerides.com/”
The next morning was a huge treat; a Lake Erie and Long Point tour with Graham Ferguson, who used to work the pontoon boats at the JW Marriott in Muskoka and now runs Long Point Island Hugger Tours. Ferguson takes a group of us out to a lovely marsh and a quiet canal lined with modest cottages, explaining the geography of the area as we go. http://www.longpointislandhuggertours.ca/
Palm trees on the beach in Port Dover, Ontario, in the age before social distancing was an issue. JIM BYERS PHOTO
JIM’S TIPS:
The Beach House in Port Dover ss a fun spot on the edge of Lake Erie. Owner Peter Knechtel has palm trees brought in every year in late spring to give the beach a tropical feel.
https://www.facebook.com/thebeachhouseindover/
Charlotteville Brewing is a craft beer spot that’s housed in an atmospheric old barn. The place is decorated with flowers, antique chests and telephones and a beautiful bar top fashioned from a fallen tree. https://charlottevillebrewingcompany.ca/
Ramblin’ Road Brewery Farm is located in the village of La Salette, where they make a variety of tasty beers, including one where the beer is washed over sliced, local potatoes, which they also use to make kettle chips. https://charlottevillebrewingcompany.ca/
New Limburg is another fine beer spot in the area; a fun and tasty brewery that’s housed in an old school. You’ll find old blackboards in the tasting room, as well as games. http://newlimburg.com/
David’s Restaurant is a lovely spot overlooking Lake Erie. There’s a beautiful garden and seating area out back with Muskoka chairs. https://www.davidsportdover.com/
Long Point Eco Lodge has is a “glamping” spot with marvellous tents done up in fine style, with comfortable beds and all the other comforts of a hotel room, including free Wi-Fi. They have several cottage-like units as well, and a breakfast room with fine views out over Long Point and Lake Erie. There’s an on-site planetarium, as well as a zipline course, axe-throwing and other activities. https://www.lpfun.ca/
Burning Kiln is a fabulous winery housed in an old tobacco kiln. Most of the senior staff are women, including winemaker Lydia Tomek. Their Cabernet Franc is rich and delicious, and they have a concert facility out back for live shows. Just down the road is Inasphere, where Ryan and Chantelle and their family grow a variety of grapes, as well as other fruits and vegetables.
The Erie Beach Hotel is famous for its fried perch. They also have a rooftop bar with nice lake and beach views. https://www.eriebeachhotel.com/
Be sure to check all websites or phone ahead for COVID-19 restrictions before you travel.
More information: https://www.norfolktourism.ca/
Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate – So Good
Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate. Yum.
There’s yet another sweet reason to visit Maui these days. (Not yet, as there’s still a quarantine requirement, but hopefully soon).
Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate (MKEC) is making some absolutely tremendous stuff in a small place on a hill above the wonderful town of Lahaina, and you can visit or buy it online at xxxxx.
The company was started by Dr. Gunars E. Valkirs.
“The origins of Maui Ku‘ia Estate Chocolate Inc lie in my heritage,” Valkirs said. “My father was a farmer in pre-WWII Europe and although he was displaced as a result of the war, he always had an orchard of fruit trees because he was fortunate to end up in San Diego where citrus trees were easy to grow and to him they were exotic. I have always grown fruit trees, mostly citrus, during my entire career while living in San Diego,” where he worked in medical diagnostics.
“When I moved to Maui and was fortunate to have enough land to plant fruit trees I continued that lifelong activity. The difference was that there are opportunities for growing things in Hawaii that will not grow on the mainland. Cacao is such a tree so I started to plant cacao at my home in Kapalua almost 10 years ago as part of a UH Manoa (University of Hawai’i) field trial to determine what growing conditions were suitable for cacao.
He finally settled on the right spot and began growing cacao. Some of their cacao comes from other places, including the Amazon, but they make all the chocolates on Maui.
“The success of that effort has resulted in a Cocoa of Excellence Award given in October 2019 at the Salon du Chocolate in Paris, the largest and most prestigious chocolate show in the world (https://www.salon-du-chocolat.com/international-cocoa-awards/?lang=en). We are proud to support the sustainable practices of this farm and use one of the world’s best cocoa beans in our chocolate products. Over time the percentage of chocolate made from our own Maui cacao will grow but we will always try to bring unique chocolate to our customers if we can control the quality at the source,” Valkirs said.
The plan is to give 100% of the company’s net profit back to the non-profit community.
“Our focus is giving back to Maui because that is where we live. It has been a long and expensive road to build and open MKEC but we look forward toward the day when we are profitable and can give back to Maui. Even before operating profitably we have provided chocolate to non-profits in their fund raising events and will continue to look for opportunities to provide chocolate to support their efforts.”
Daniel O’Doherty, MKEC’s vice president of farm and factory operations. it the owner and president of Cacao Services, Inc., Dan has worked in 23 different countries around the globe, establishing long-term relationships with farmers and producers of high quality cacao and providing his consulting services on everything from post-harvest handling to importing, marketing and distribution.
He was kind enough to guide some travel writers on a chocolate tasting last week, explaining to us how different soil conditions and different elevations affect the taste of cacoa beans, just as they do with coffee beans or wine grapes. I’d never thought about it, but it makes perfect sense.
The MKEC dark chocolate with blood orange might be my fave, and I also loved the chocolate with Maui coffee.
They now have more than 8,000 trees spread across twenty-plus acres, expanding to more than sixty within the next few years.
Their Maui shop is located at on Ulupono Street in Lahaina, near the renowned Star Noodle Restaurant. They have a retail store and tasting room and have big expansion plans that will include farm tours in the West Maui mountains to see how the beans are grown.
