Frank Lloyd would be proud to dine here. The lobby with its soaring cantilevered rooflines supported by long wooden beams is the most dramatic of Wright's Prairie signature concepts. Using natural stone and replicas of Frank Lloyd Wright's stained glass lanterns throughout give a feel good, welcome to all guests who dine at Buchanans Restaurant.
Discreetly located on the second floor of the 224-room DoubleTree Resort Lodge & Spa on Fallsview Boulevard in Niagara Falls, Buchanan's Restaurant (named after the original name of the street) is a 120-seat restaurant with the same Wright architectural touches, Shaker-style chairs and deep-textured, plush mahogany booths. It's an ambience intended to pamper diners with a classical vibe – and it works.
Buchanans is a magnet for family diners who cozy up to great meals at value prices. It's the style of Executive Chef, Roddy Fenner to take sensible dishes like the pasta and upscale them with quality ingredients and professional touches that create common-sense food with elegant and exciting flavour profiles. Their Grilled Chicken Bow Tie Pasta and Wild Mushroom Ravioli are delicious examples of how sophisticated sensible food can be.
Some entrees such as the melt-in-your-mouth, Lemon Ricotta Sole with spinach, ricotta and fresh herbs in an asparagus beurre blanc can be extremely rich and flavourful while the menu also offers solid alternatives such as their signature Buchanans' Classic Rack of Lamb with a Pommery mustard crust in a red currant and mint jus. The flavous offer a robustness that lingers long.
A native of Scotland, chef Roddy trained in classical cuisine and worked in hotel kitchens with traditional menus. Roddy now mixes his love of classical cuisine with modern day palates as his “I do what I want” approach has created a unique dining experience. The sophisticated but unpretentious enclave of fine dining with uncharacteristically large portions and unreasonably low prices is a combination that works magic with chef's large following of local clientele.
At any given time there could be 6 white jackets in Chef Roddy kitchen, all scurrying around preparing from scratch, meals ordered by hungry diners in the often booked dining room. I asked the chef if he were one of those diners, what would he order.
“Well, if I were a punter”, explains Roddy “I'd order anything except chocolate and milky bars.” If you think this Scotchman needs a bit of translation, I'll try for you. A punter is a term usually reserved for sports players but has somehow been casually used to refer to diners and shoppers alike. For example, Roddy explains you can find authentic milky bars at the Scottish Shop in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Obviously it's not his favourite item in the store but does confess, “I'm probably their best punter for the cheese and onion crisps.”
Getting back to Roddy's favourite meal, he would start with the Goat Cheese Bruschetta. The rosemary foccaccia is topped with juicy onion marmalade and toasted goat cheese. His juicy onion marmalade inspires conversation about the emerging popularity of savoury jams such as bacon jam. Roddy's been making savoury jams for as long as he can remember, he smiles when he says, “I invented them.”
Well, invent them or not, there's no mistaking this chef for his innovation and leadership sensibilities when it comes to food. When I ask him why he'd pick the bruchetta he replies, “It's just delicious!”.
Next chef Roddy would order the Grilled Tiger Shrimp and Scallop Skewer with lightly grilled fennel and coconut curry over a generous helping of perfectly cooked Jasmine rice. Wow, the elegant flavours of seafood are lifted with the light flavours of fennel and creamy coconut. The shrimp and scallops are gigantic, fresh and melt-in-your-mouth sweet and tender.  
OK, just because chef Roddy doesn't like chocolate (and don't hold that against him!) it doesn't mean he doesn't have a sweet tooth. This is one of his most difficult choices and he goes back and forth between the Doubletree Cookie Crumb Bread Pudding and Toffeed Apple Tart with whisky ice cream but finally with a great amount of conviction he declares, “it's definitely the Deep Dish New York Style Cheesecake! I make the sour cherry drizzle myself.” This dish is the perfect balance of seduction and promiscuous eating.
Roddy Fenner is a chef worth following because all of his dishes are made from scratch using the best ingredients possible. Buchanan's menu changes often and it reflects some of the ingredients Roddy buys from foraging through gourmet food shops from Toronto to Niagara. In fact, weddings have become popular at the resort because of the outstanding Italian Antipasto Board chef creates as a prelude to his gourmet marital feasts.
Buchanans is open 7-days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Special occasions always inspire a special Table d'Hote Menu so it's best to call ahead. Apparently the menu chef Roddy is planning for the holidays will be one of the more spectacular culinary experiences of the region – I can't wait!
The friendly staff, elegant and warm surroundings, great wine and reasonably priced fantastic food all add up to a restaurant that's serious about food. You're likely to want to linger in the warm room, too, gazing through the Frank Lloyd Wright-style windows while sipping a glass of Niagara's finest VQA wines.
Buchanans Steakhouse
6039 Fallsview Boulevard
Niagara Falls, L2G 3V6  905-353-4111
www.niagarafallsdoubletree.com


Rod's Bruschetta with Spiced Onion Marmalade and Toasted Goat's Cheese

60 ml (2fl oz) olive oil
3 red onions, thinly sliced
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) cinnamon
2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) ground allspice
pinch of chili powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper
45 ml (3 tbsp) red wine vinegar
75 g (3 oz) brown sugar
4 slices ciabatta, focaccia or French
   bread
1 clove garlic
4 slices goat's cheese
4 sage leaves

Heat half the olive oil in a skillet over low heat, add the sliced onions and cook for 1 hour. Add the cinnamon, allspice, chili, salt, pepper, wine vinegar and sugar, remove from heat. Toast the bread on one side.  Rub the untoasted side with garlic and drizzle with a little of the olive oil. Spread the untoasted side with the red onion marmalade and top with a slice of goats' cheese.  Dip a sage leaf into olive oil and cook until crisp. Place on top. Grill until the cheese has slightly melted. Serve with a green salad.

Rod's Shrimp and Scallop Skewers With Curry Sauce

Skewers
2 12-inch metal skewers
2 lime, quartered
4 large scallops
4 large shrimps, peeled and deveined
1 fennel bulb
freshly squeezed lemon juice
olive oil
salt and pepper

Build the skewer starting with a slice of lime, then scallop, fennel, shrimp and repeat until skewer is full.  Make sure ratio is even and half a lime is on each end. Brush olive oil over the skewers, season with salt and pepper, sprinkle fresh lemon juice over the skewers and pan sear until grill marks appear. Finish in the over for about 10 min at 325F.

Curry Sauce
25 g (1 oz) butter
2 shallots, finely diced
1Ž2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) medium curry
   paste
2 apricots, finely sliced
2 tablespoons (30 mL) coconut milk
175 ml (6 fl oz) whipping cream

Melt butter in sauce pan, add the shallots and curry paste, cook for about 2 minutes over a medium heat. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook another 10-15 minutes or until mixture thickens. Serve with skewer over steamed rice.

Lynn Ogryzlo is food and wine writer for Niagara this Week newspaper, Niagara Life Magazine, award winning author of Niagara Cooks, a farm to table cookbook. You can reach Lynn for questions or comments at ogryzlo@sympatico.ca