Good Eats At the Northern Flame Bar & Grill
If you know me, you know that I enjoy a good meal, especially if it has seafood, and that I don’t get out much. Well, yesterday I was out (looking at some lights — expect to hear about Safari Niagra lights soon!), and as we were travelling me and my mom stopped for an early dinner at what looked to be a promising place in St Catherine’s, only a few minutes away from Rio Lane — Northern Flame
When we went in, around 4PM, it was for an early supper and the Northern Flame was pretty empty between COVID, being a new restaurant, and being between meals. Talking with the server, we would learn that only five days before had they started serving supper, and the place was only a few months old overall, having started with breakfast and lunch services.
Not getting out nice, the Northern Flame had a nice, solid and cozy feel to it that was decorated for the holidays. There were brick walls, a nice fire place, a Christmas tree, and overall it was a nice location, albeit one that was startling empty overall, as throughout the whole time we were there, there might have been ten people… including staff.
After we had provided our vaccine proof (2021!) we were able to take a seat, and we took one not too far from the Christmas tree and fireplace pictured above and the person waiting table (whom I suspect was either the manager or owner) brought us the menus, apologizing for them not being finalized versions… as we see that they were stapled together paper.
We would later learn the Northern Flame had only started serving supper 5 days prior, and had only been open a few months for breakfast and lunch. So this was an expansion for what is a pretty new place, and its a spot I’m happy we got to visit. We quickly ordered some coffee (for my mom), and a hot chocolate for me to drink while we looked over the menu.
The hot chocolate came with a wonderful whip cream topping, that I got somewhat on my face, as I am a bit of a messy eater at times. The hot chocolate was rich, smooth, smooth and chocolatey with a good taste, and showed care put in. While I didn’t ask, based on how it tasted, I would guess it was made in large part with cream or milk. It was a bit pricey though, at $3.25 for a relatively small mug of it. The coffee, according to my mom was very good — so good in fact she got it refilled four times, and she almost never drinks coffee later in the day.
Looking over the menu, we quickly picked out two appetizers — the Stuffed Mushrooms with Cheese Deep and the Coconut shrimp. Sadly, the Mushrooms weren’t available as they didn’t have the cheese dip that was stuffed inside (opening restaurant times!) and we instead ordered the Calamari, albeit without the jalapenos, and banana peppers, because I have about no heat tolerance (a very light cayenne is about it).
When we got the appetizers a short while later we were happy to dig in and enjoy them. The shrimp were expertly prepared, with the jumbo shrimp being butterflied perfectly, and them having a lighter batter than many of these. A lot of coconut or breaded shrimps can end up with thick layers, hiding the shrimp — not so at Norther Flame. Here, it is a light coating of nice, but not overpowering coconut with well cooked shrimp that made it a joy to eat. The Sweet Chili was not at all spicy and a perfect accompaniment to the shrimp adding a punch of flavour to the dish. I didn’t try the spicy chipotle (that whole heat tolerance thing), but I am told it was nice as well.
Continuing the trend of light breading was the Calamari. Now, we opted for no jalapenos or banana peppers here, so what we had is on the plainer side compared to most ordering the dish. The light batter was nice and let the calamari come through. The marinara sauce was serviceable (its marinara), while the tzatziki was quite nicely made, and went great with the calamari. Unlike most places, they left the tentacle parts in, which are a treat and often omitted at places. My one slight complaint is that they were a bit on the chewy side, although tastes on that will vary.
So we made it through the appetizers, and I was now on some Diet Pepsi to drink, while we put some extra calamari in a box to take home along with the tzatziki. For our main courses, being both from the coast we went for some more seafood planning to share some between us. The first was a Surf and Turf with an 8 oz Steak, and a Lobster Tail, along with vegetables, and garlic mashed potatoes.
Sadly, we had some problems here, as the lobster was overcooked. This was mentioned to us when it came out and the attendant said they were firing up another lobster tail. Additionally however, the steak, ordered medium-rare, was more of a blue rare. My mom sent that back, and they refired it.
Thankfully, when it came back a few minutes later, it was a perfect medium-rare, and seasoned beautifully, basically melting in your mouth. It was a wonderful bit of steak, complimented with very good garlic mashed potatoes on the side and a very nice mixture of vegetables. When a good while later we got the new lobster tail, it was pretty good, albeit not spectacular.
My order on the other hand was a seafood linguine, and there were no problems with this. There was a rich abundance of seafood in it, with shrimp, scallops, mussels, calamari, and even some salmon as a different addition to the dish than most places do. The tomato-based sauce was rich and very nice, going well with the seafood. The calamari was a bit chewy again, and the mussels didn’t quite have the brine salt bomb flavor that I associate with the best mussels but it was good, as were the shrimp and scallops. The salmon was a nice inclusion and was well cooked, as was the pasta. Overall, the Seafood Linguine was a definite win.
As an apology for the issues with the Surf and Turf, they offered us a free desert, and we each had a Creme Brulee on the house. It was served with the sugar already caramelized in a sweet layer on top of a wonderful custard along with a berry. It also apparently went very well with the coffee.
Overall, the service at the Northern Flame was fantastic, the seasoning excellent and on point, and the food good. While there was a couple of hiccups, its a place I’d definitely visit again, and was definitely good eats.
You can find Northern Flame at 312 Lake Street in St Catharines, Ontario, and on their website: https://northernflamebar.com/
You can also order online via Skip the Dishes https://www.skipthedishes.com/northern-flame-bar-and-grill;
Uber Eats https://www.ubereats.com/ca/store/northern-flame-bar-%26-grill/RTHTOWV9Wdij34TmZcr_EA?diningMode=DELIVERY, and
Door Dash https://www.doordash.com/store/northern-flame-bar-&-grill-st.-catharines-2429923/
