The Twisted Apron, amazing even by Walkerville standards

One of the coolest areas of Windsor is a neighborhood called Walkerville. Walkerville was founded in 1890 by Hiram Walker, yes the booze guy, Hiram Walker. The distillery is still going strong producing Canadian Club and other popular Canadian brands. Walker built the town as a model town and a lot of that old school look and feel is still there. A lot of the original buildings still stand and the newer shops and houses were built with that old town look. Walkerville along with Sandwhich and Ford City all became part of the larger City of Windsor in 1935.

The Twisted Apron main entrance

Walkerville is now a one of many "historic neigbourhoods" of Windsor and features a unified neighborhood look and feel, higher end boutique shopping, good food and great drink. In this area you will find Windsor's only brewery; Walkerville Brewery, one of the cities only euro style pubs; O'magios Kildare House, one of the finest pizza places in the city; Vito's Pizzeria, a great Tapas restaurant; The Gourmet Emporium, the headquarters for the Arts Council of Windsor; The Artcite Gallery and a lot more. All of these places are amazing, but there's one we keep going back to again and again and that's The Twisted Apron. Heck, during my wife's birthday vacation in Windsor we ate there twice.

The Twisted Apron is a fairly small place located right in the heart of Walkerville at 1833 Wyandotte East. It looks a bit tiny on the outside until you realize that they actually take up two store fronts. It's also a lot deeper than it looks from the outside. Though it's larger than it looks, don't expect them to have room for you even though they have all this space. Reservations are recommended and without them you can expect a bit of a wait.

Breakfast Poutine

One of the things that keeps drawing us aback is the fact that everything is prepared fresh with a home cooked style. Their motto is It's like eating at Mom's...if Mom were a kickin' gourmet chef. The food is never frozen, always prepared with local ingredients and using home made recipes. What this ends up giving the diner is a great homey welcoming feel while being served some of the best food they've ever had. There's none of the pretentiousness you sometimes come to expect from places that serve food so good.

Breakfast Flatbread

Menus at The Twisted Apron are seasonal and there is always a Breakfast/Lunch menu and a Dinner Menu. There's also a Carry out Menu for those in a hurry or not willing to wait in line for a table. Personally we've only actually been for breakfast and lunch so that's the food I will be talking about here. Menu items range from $9-$15, though if you aren't that hungry you can grab just a house salad for $6 or a cup of soup for just $3. It's worth noting that the dinner menu also has a large selection of drinks including Wines, Spirits and an amazing Canadian Craft Beer Selection. Dinners range from $10-$21 and still feature home cooked favourites.

Fried Perch

If you are there for breakfast I can't recommend the Breakfast Poutine enough. It's $10 and comes with hashbrowns, bacon, cheddar, chicken gravy and scrambled eggs, all tossed together poutine style. It also comes with your choice of toast and a side of fresh preserves. I absolutely love this meal. It's the main thing that has me personally coming back time and time again. My wife usually mixes it up a bit more than me trying something new each time. Our last trip she tried the Breakfast Flastbread. This was also $10 and had naan bread, bacon, cheddar, scrambled egg, spinach, sweet onion relish and hasbrowns. She loved it.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

Now I noted that during that weekend in Windsor we ate at The Apron twice. Well one of those times was for lunch and it was our first time going there later in the day. We weren't disappointed by the food at all. For lunch I had a great Pulled Pork Sandwich for $10. This had local pork, cheddar, crispy onion and coleslaw all on a pretzel bun. My wife tried the Fried Perch for $12 which was planko-crusted Lake Erie perch, fries coleslaw and fresh made tartar. Neither of us walked away hungry or disappointed.

Actually that's worth noting, I have to admit every time we go the portions look too small to my eyes. I always sit there and think that I'm going to end up wanting desert or leave hungry. I think I'm just soured by so many big chain places overloading you with sub-par food. The food is just okay and you end up justifying it by the huge amount of food you get for the price. The portion size here at the Twisted Apron is pretty much perfect. I've never left hungry.

I love the Walkerville area. It's one of my favourite parts of town to visit, either for an afternoon of shopping, a pint of beer after work or a meal on the weekend. Breakfast at the Twisted Apron has become one of our families weekend delights and I don't expect that to change any time soon. Sometime though, I've got to make it there for dinner.

So when you are in the Windsor area or if you live here, do you head out to the Walkerville area? If so, what's your favourite part of one of the oldest areas of town?