August, 2020
The Cornerstone sits in one of the most prime lots of Kenora, in the heart of downtown on Main Street, cornering the street and the entrance to the lakeside. During the warm months, you can enjoy their patio, perched high on the embankment, offering a lovely view of the lake and its activities.
I’ve been a big fan of The Cornerstone since they opened. I feel like I was just visiting their grand opening in the castle-like dining room when they were newbies, way back in 2009. Now, 11 years later, they continue to provide elegant and delicious dishes.
I start with the Cornerstone Mussels, served with a white wine cream sauce and paired with crispy garlic sourdough. I rarely order mussels out and I only order from restaurants I highly trust in handling food. Mussels is one of the most challenging dishes for restaurants to make. When cooked right, the little pods taste perfectly juicy, plump and moist. If even slightly overcooked, they dry up quickly and in no time, they take up the texture and consistency of liver. Once they’re at this point, they’re not fun to eat at all.
Unfortunately, Cornerstone’s
mussels are a tad overdone today. Half
of them maintain their delicious juices but the other half started taking on
the dry, dust-like texture.
I would like to see more of the wine and cream sauce. One of the great pleasures of eating mussels comes with the sopping of the delicious juices with the bread. There’s only just enough sauce to cover the mussels; after I get through them, there’s nothing left on the plate. The toast tastes very good on its own but I live for the mussel juice soaked bread experience.
The Chicken Pesto on Sourdough sandwich comes with lovely rustic fries, skin-on and lightly salted. Most of the straws taste crispy on the outside, soft and tender on the inside—just like a fry should taste.
If you look at the photo, you see that the gravy has some lumps in it. Fear not—that’s not the bad kind of lumpy where you eat raw flour. These lumps come from the reduction of whatever they boiled as a base for this wonderfully deep and complex sauce.
The “black oven” sourdough bread taste fresh and firm while the big slices of chicken come well cooked, still moist and juicy. The pesto aioli tastes subtle enough where I cannot pick out the individual flavours of the basil and garlic, but regardless, it’s a beautiful accompaniment to the chicken. Regardless of what’s in the middle of a sandwich, I like having a leaf of lettuce (or other greenery) to add some nutrition, moisture and texture.
The open-faced Classic Steak
Sandwich features a 6-ounce sirloin on the same sourdough bread. The good-sized steak comes thick enough where
you can grill it properly—and grill it properly they do. Nicely seared on the outside and perfectly pink
on the inside, the medium-rare steak tastes juicy and tender. The cremini mushrooms add depth and flavour,
tasting earthy and velvety smooth. You
can’t help but take the time to perfect the perfect bite, coupling a wedge of
mushroom with a bit of steak. The
flavours swim together in harmony, with the textures embracing each other.
The slab of sourdough soaks up all the beef juices, which makes for a delicious toast, but at the same time, it deprives the juices of the opportunity to flow into the fries. Fries and catsup tastes just fine but there’s no better fry than a fry immersed in steak juices. It’s always hard for me to decide which is better: fries dunked in good gravy or fries dripping with steak juices. I’ll just take both, thank you.
I’m very happy that
Cornerstone continues to serve delicious food and experiences well into the
second decade of their existence. This remains
one of my favourite restaurants in Kenora, seated in one of the nicest spots in
the city.
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