Even though things were nowhere near normal in the hospitality and tourism industries in 2022, there were still some happy, good news stories that broke through.
Here’s to looking at some of the positives that took place in Windsor-Essex’s food and drink scene over the year:
WindsorEats Opens A Brick and Mortar Location
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Back in January, WindsorEats announced that we were opening up our own brick and mortar location in Windsor’s Via Italia. After 17+ years of working remotely, as the rest of the world zigged and started shifting to remote work, we zagged.
The site has become a permanent home to many of our tours, events, and as a space to showcase local culinary talents. We now start several tours from our home like our Windsor Graffiti Scooter Tour and Detroit pub crawl tours. We’ve play host to many different restaurants and chefs and food trucks on our massive patio (yes we also have indoor dining) and continue to invite more. We have a home for our classes like the Be A: Sausage Maker and Be A: Mixologist cocktail class.
We even hired a chef and operate our very own Test Kitchen which creates unbelievable foods on an ever changing menu. And, of course, our bartenders are slinging some unreal cocktails in fun ways, like getting flights of margaritas and sour cocktails.
Festivals Have Returned!
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Finally! 2022 Saw the return of many of the Windsor-Essex region’s favourite festivals. We saw decades long traditions renewed with record crowds at Art in the Park and Carrousel of the Nations, the Walkerville Night Market was a smash hit and the Windsor Craft Beer Festival made a last minute return to Willistead Park.
A MASTER OF THE BREWNIVERSE WAS CROWNED
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In addition to classic Windsor-Essex festivals returning, new ones were developed. Beer lovers flocked to WindsorEats in April for the very first Masters of the Brewniverse which pitted brewers and breweries head to head in a fun competition.
In 2022, the winner of the People’s Choice Award was Chapter Two Brewing for their Malibu Barbie, a coconut, guava milkshake IPA. The Master of the Brewniverse championship belt was awarded to the collab between Beerded Dog and Jake’s Brew for their Vanilla Ice Ice Latte, an oatmeal stout with vanilla, coffee.
The 2023 Masters of the Brewniverse will take place on Saturday, April 29. Tickets are now avaialble.
Twisted Apron Moves, Expands
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In a time when many restaurants were struggling or even closing their doors, Twisted Apron moved locations and expanded their operations and they’ve hit an absolute homerun.
More Beer From The Grove In Kingsville!
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Speaking of places opening and expanding with success, The Grove Brewing Company did the exact same thing in Kingsville, moving from the core of town to a new facility that expanded product by 3x!
New Steakhouse In Town
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The Grove wasn’t the only business to open up new digs in Kingsville. Popular Windsor pub, The Thompson House, opened up an upscale steakhouse, the Thompson Manor.
India Paradise expands
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India Paradise took over the vacant retail space beside their Ottawa Street restaurant and created an extra dining and event space.
They didn’t stop there! They even opened a London, Ontario, location!
Windsor Pizza Hits The Big Screen
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Locals have known it for ages. Thanks to a new documentary that hit the big screen this year, now the rest of Canada does. Windsor style pizza kicks ass. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can stream it for free online on CBC Gem.
Detroit Dive Bar Tours Returned
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After being closed for more than 19 months, the border with the United States reopened, allowing the return of our popular D-Tours.
These tours of Detroit dive bars have always been a hit and upon tickets being available the first 3 tours sold out in 4 days.
See if tickets are still available for 2023 tours.
F&B IS MAKING A COMEBACK
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Don’t call it a comeback! (even though we just did) F&B announced that they will be reopening in January 2023 and bringing back their exquisite small plates and craft cocktails.
SOCCER FEVER
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The Manchester became a mecca for soccer lovers across Windsor-Essex during the 2022 World Cup. Named one of only a handful of official Canada Soccer World Cup viewing parties across the country, the downtown bar was packed for all the games throughout the tournament.
COCKTAIL FLIGHTS CAME TO WINDSOR
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Everyone has heard of flights of beers or wines. Well, WindsorEats took it a step further by offering flights of our loved margaritas.
With about 30 different margarita recipes, you’re able to get small versions of four to try. This has now expanded to offer flights of our sour cocktails (whisky sour, pisco sour, Negroni sour and Boulevardier sour), our boozy lemonades and, launching with our brunch on Sundays, mimosas.
