Live to Ride...Ride to Eat

[Nortoon_imp]

About 1 ½ hours west of my home is the picturesque town of Westport on the western end of the Upper Rideau Lake. A popular spot during the summer for tourists, boaters and bikers. It is one of the terminal points on my day rides as it has a number of twisty, hilly, scenic and quiet roads in the area. My homemade maps include a dozen destinations to and from Westport.

My preferred restaurant there for breakfast is The Tangled Garden Café. It has a modern décor, pleasant service, good food and reasonable prices. If you have sausages with your breakfast instead of bacon or ham, you probably won’t eat lunch.

Lunch will usually find me at the Cove Country Inn and Spa. This 19th century inn features two large indoor dining rooms, as well as, a large patio overlooking a quiet cove. In the summer I usually plan my lunch break before or after noon so I can take advantage of the shaded patio.

The Cove is the only place on my day rides that I allow 1 hour for lunch. The chef usually offers an interesting and tasty Soup of the Day that is always worth trying, especially in the cooler weather of spring and fall. The staff are friendly and attentive. The menu offers some unique meals, my favourite being the Beef Yorkie. A large Yorkshire pudding filled with sliced tender roast beef and gravy, served with mashed potatoes or fries. This is a place that I will have a glass of wine with my meal. That usually means I am in cruise mode the rest of the day.

Some evenings they have live a band featuring blues, or jazz, or country and western. There also have rooms for weary travellers.

From Westport some of my favorite roads are to the locks on the Rideau Canal Waterway that runs from Kingston on Lake Ontario to Ottawa on the Ottawa River. They also make great rest stops as there usually pleasure boats passing through the locks.

[Stichill_imp]

Sounds like some good riding and good culture, Nortoon!

My ride today took me along some winding roads through the Kentucky bluegrass region, resplendent in the saturated green hues of a warm, wet spring.



I saw three box turtles crossing the road and stopped to grab a photo of this one. On busy thoroughfares, I'll often stop and give them a lift across but on these quiet country lanes there's hardly any traffic and I let them go on about their business alone.



Stopped at Edwardo's Pizza & Subs for lunch, north of Williamstown on US 25. Had the buffet...place was hopping. Really friendly staff and the after-church crowd was pleasant and cordial as they broke bread with family and friends.

[Nortoon_imp]

I stop for turtles when I see them as well. Often have to put them in my tank bag and move them to a lake or swamp.

Just remembered another place that I stop for lunch. It's not a restaurant, but a large burger stand with picnic tables. It's the Spud Box in Kaladar, Ontario at the intersection of Highways 41 and 7. My favourite there is fish and chips (French fries). I haven't found a restaurant in Ottawa that can top them for this. You know the food is good, because it is always busy with tourists, cottagers and bikers.

[Stichill_imp]

Around 9:00am this morning, I realized I was in the mood for a great steak. I decided I'd make a run for a place ferret & EmptySea have posted about in the past - The Scioto Ribber - about 100 miles away in Portsmouth, Ohio.

Portmouth is located where the south-flowing Scioto River, that drains central Ohio, meets the west-flowing Ohio River that eventually meets the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois and is subsequently drained into the Gulf of Mexico. Scioto River...Scioto Ribber.

I decided to take the north side of the Ohio River riding east and the south side headed back west.



Following my GPS blindly into Portsmouth, it seemed like I wasn't on the right track. The GPS was taking me downtown and around the high school. Suddenly I smelled cooking meat and arrived in the parking lot extremely hungry.





Apparently the place is known for incredible ribs and steaks. As much as I love ribs, I had my stomach set on steak. Before I went into the restaurant, I wandered around the side to see what was going on at the production end of the business. Looks like The Ribber sears their steaks over a hot flame and then smokes 'em in a cooler part of the grill with the hood closed. Oh boy!



Flipping and moving the steaks.





It was incredible! Tender, juicy, flavorful, smoky. It just may have been the best rib-eye steak I've ever eaten. 5 stars. Highly recommended.



On the way home, I rode through the Kentucky river town of Vanceburg, which I'd never been to.

[Cormanus]

Great report, Stichill.

I might just ease the cork out of a bottle of red in anticipation of a steak.

[the Ferret]

Good thing you didn't call me first or instead of helping my wife rearrange my lawn tool shed after this mornings ride, I have ridden 100 miles south east to Portsmouth for a steak with Stichill, and that tool shed would still be a mess lol

Are those good steaks or what? Did you take the opportunity to visit the mural wall?

Btw the ribs are not ribs like one would expect, it's a cut of meat that includes part of the filet mignon attached to one rib, and resembles a large bone in pork chop

[emptysea]

Thanks for the report and especially the photos. I never saw the front of the place since we parked along side the building and went in the back way. LOL And it was a very very good steak.

Thanks again for the post.

[LongRanger_imp]

That looks like good eats!

[Stichill_imp]

Great report, Stichill.

I might just ease the cork out of a bottle of red in anticipation of a steak.

I'd recommend a $30 Australian, say a 1999 Jacob's Creek Centenary Hill Shiraz. (As if I actually know the first thing about wine in general or Aussie wine in particular, lol! )

Good thing you didn't call me first or instead of helping my wife rearrange my lawn tool shed after this mornings ride, I have ridden 100 miles south east to Portsmouth for a steak with Stichill, and that tool shed would still be a mess lol

Are those good steaks or what? Did you take the opportunity to visit the mural wall?

Btw the ribs are not ribs like one would expect, it's a cut of meat that includes part of the filet mignon attached to one rib, and resembles a large bone in pork chop

Dang! I figgered you're all packin' and so forth for the big ride!

Seriously, I was flabbergasted by the rib-eye. I have had such a bad run of tough, flavorless steaks at supposedly "good" restaurants in big cities. The Ribber renewed my faith in American beef! Wow. It was sublime...no more can I say.

I need to get back to Portsmouth. I didn't really look around a whole lot. What the heck was I thinking? I guess I was in a steak coma.

Speaking of the ribs, I was sitting at a booth next to the kitchen serving window. I saw a plate come out of there piled with ribs so high I couldn't believe it. I wasn't sure if that was a table serving or what. But yeah, they didn't look as expected. They looked like giant bone-in pork chops.

[emptysea]

Coincidentally, Cormanus' other nickname IS "The $30 Australian"