Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.
Richardson's Canal House is located on the Erie Canal in Bushnell's Basin near to Pittsford, New York. The bright yellow building is situated cozily between the canal and the one way bridge on Marsh Road while still somewhat visible from the main road, Route 96- Pittsford-Victor Road.
The building itself is quite old, I guess over 200 years old. It was originally used for a hotel for the canal travelers. (Currently, the entire building is used exclusively as a restaurant, overnight guests are not permitted.) Back then the canal boats did not have motors, so mules pulled the boats. Two mules would pull the boat on one side of the canal (the reason there is a canal trail near the side of the canal) and two would be resting on the boat. This canal house could be considered like a modern-day truck stop- a place to rest (or for the mules, refuel their energy) for mules and people alike, eat, and have a place to sleep for the night.
Today people don't sleep overnight in this building, it is used only for short visits to eat tasty meals. They have tried to keep the original layout of the building. We had gone for my birthday and we had reservations. We had a room upstairs all to ourselves. Inside the room was a large table, with two chairs on either end. Along one wall were old style wooden chairs, along the other a 'love seat' and a chair. The room decor also seemed to be of old world style. The walls were ornately painted with colorful and decorative borders.
Though the menu did not have any vegetarian options for appetisers, the chef made us two custom orders- one a stuffed portabello mushroom, the other a stuffed red capsicum (bell pepper). Both were tasty, but I liked the mushroom more. Inside the red pepper was a berry of some type. I don't remember the berry but it was slightly chewy and hard but was not sweet. Both had some cheese and a nice light sauce on them.
The main course was also very good. I had potato gnocchi (which was originally a side dish to a chicken meal, but was specially made for me as a main dish), and hubby had the stuffed homemade ravioli. As I pictured it, gnocchi was piled high with tomato sauce. Though the gnocchi was good, I could not finish the whole thing for two reasons, one I got full, and two it was monotonous, so I boxed the remainder and had it for a full lunch the next day. Hubby's ravioli was also very tasty, but there were only five pieces I believe. Each piece was about four or five inches long and up to 2 inches at it's widest. They were not thick, but the filling was very filling. It had a sauce on it, but I can't remember it.
We were both so stuffed that we forgone the dessert until our next visit. Maybe if we come again, we can come in the summer and sit outside along the Erie Canal!
Being an upscale restaurant, this is no cheap eat. Each appetiser was $10 a piece (actually that was not a bad deal considering each was hand crafted, and each a meal in themselves), and the two main dishes were $19 a piece. This price seems a bit high, but honestly if they were home made, I am not sure the work that goes into making each of these dishes. We had coffee to drink at $5 for two.
**It seems the menu changes on a weekly basis for this location, so maybe on other weeks there are more vegetarian options than others.
To find/contact
Richardson's Canal House
1474 Marsh Rd
Pittsford, NY 14534
Directions to Richardson's Canal House
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Richardson's Canal House, Pittsford, NY
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