Lundy’s Lane chefs put their best food forward
Chefs all up and down Lundy’s Lane will be stepping up to the plate for Restaurant Week, a twice-yearly chance to showcase their best work.
It’s actually two weeks — Oct. 25 to Nov. 8 — and 17 restaurants on the Lane are participating.
Restaurant Week started three years ago and has gained a loyal following, says David Jovanovic, project administrator for the Lundy’s Lane Business Improvement Area.
“Because this is the main dining district for locals in Niagara, we have people who go back to the same place a couple times a week, 52 weeks a year,” he said.
“But there are people who go around and during Restaurant Week, I think one person last year went to nine or 10 different restaurants over the 15 days.”
All the restaurants participating are listed at LundysLane.com, and some have their menus posted. It’s a chance to lower the prices a little, in some cases try out new menu items and strengthen the bond Jovanovic said businesses there have with their customers.
“It’s really more driven toward locals, it’s very popular in Niagara,” he said.
“We get a lot of people coming in from Welland and St. Catharines because really, we’re where the locals go in Niagara Falls. Probably 85 or 90 per cent of the business on Lundy’s Lane — we represent over 300 businesses — is derived from the locals.”
The Lundy’s Lane BIA holds two Restaurant Weeks each year, in the fall and winter. Jovanovic said last winter’s event attracted more than 8,000 customers. Most of the menus change according to season so he said there’s always something new available.
“I think we’ve got eight venues now with live music at some point during the week, we have a winery now with Lundy Manor, we have a distillery at Niagara Craft Distillers, a micro brewery at Syndicate.
“We have a lot of diversity — we actually have food all the way from Afghan to Vietnamese, we almost cover every single letter in the alphabet for various types of cuisine.”
This year’s event comes as the BIA begins a multi-phase streetscape plan that will eventually include new landscaped medians and corners, streetlights, sidewalks and WeGo shelters, planters and bike racks.
An artist has been selected to paint utility boxes along the Lane and a parkette will be established near the OPG hydro canal, tied in to the Millennium Trail.
“Lundy’s Lane is for all intents and purposes the future Main Street of Niagara Falls, it’s heading in that direction” as the city growths to the west and northsouth of the Lane.
“All the parts are starting to fall into place.”