From its perch on the top floor of an agrarian-meets-contemporary-Scandi barn, Restaurant Pearl Morissette has elevated Ontario wine-country cuisine to a level on par with the greatest wine regions of the world. Its 17-hectare farm in Niagara is a culinary playground for Ontario-reared chefs Daniel Hadida and Eric Robertson, who — while working at game-changing kitchens in Paris (Le Châteaubriand, Septime) and rural Belgium (In de Wulf) — collectively realized that to cook the best, they’d need to grow the best.

Their idealism is, thankfully, underscored by a mastery of classic culinary techniques. And their commitment to promoting local product, grown on their regenerative farm or sourced by in-house forager/gardener Deirdre Fraser, is never doctrinaire but instead includes other great products sourced from across the country, like rice from Canada’s only rice paddies (in Abbotsford, B.C.) to fish and seafood from coasts east and west.

A true MASTERPIECE of HOSPITALITY from entry to exit. Keegan Ferguson

All are prepared with a modern European sensibility. Think Mahone Bay scallops with Sungold tomatoes and lemon verbena panna cotta, Dungeness crab accompanied by fried-navy-bean crumble, whitefish roe and celery buttermilk; butter-poached lobster partnered with Badger Flame beets and orange-wine sauce. Service is exemplary, finding the equilibrium between country casual and fine-dining polish. Visitors can book wine tastings and garden tours and stop by RPM Bakehouse, located on the main street in Jordan Village, which sells wines by the bottle.

Scallop, daikon, apple, shiso.

Herb-roasted celeriac with vegetable jus.

Deirdre Fraser (left) and chefs Robertson and Hadida.

Nightshade Vesper cocktail.

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Scallop, daikon, apple, shiso.

Herb-roasted celeriac with vegetable jus.

Deirdre Fraser (left) and chefs Robertson and Hadida.

Nightshade Vesper cocktail.