We’ve made 2 trips to 13th Street Winery in the past 6 months. It’s a relatively large beautiful winery on 60 acres on the west side of St. Catherines, Ontario. It has a large tasting area in the main building as well as an impressive selection of very good wines. The winery itself should be on anyone’s list to visit if touring wineries in the region. But this article isn’t about wine. It’s about the best butter tarts in Ontario.
An excellent bakery sits within a separate building on the 13th Street Winery grounds, with very good baked goods, sandwiches, and other unique items. On our first visit last fall, I noted a sign next to the butter tarts proclaiming that these were voted the best in Canada. “No way,” I thought. And being the judge myself, as well as a big fan of butter tarts, I tried one, and like most butter tarts I’d ever had, this one was really good. Now if presented with an opportunity to choose one baked good from amongst all baked goods, there’s a good chance I’d choose the butter tart (not in Paris, of course…or Milan… or Tokyo, where’d they’d probably taste like fish).
So what’s a butter tart? Basically, it’s a small pecan pie without the pecans. I don’t know that to be absolutely true, as I’ve never made a butter tart or a pecan pie. I first tried one in Ontario, where they are a bit more prevalent, but now they are common in New York too.
What could the basis be for proclaiming a butter tart the best around? I don’t know, but I can definitely say that the best butter tart I ever had came from Kurtz Orchards original location that was on East and West Line and Niagara Parkway in Niagara-on-the-Lake. That location closed down as they opened a smaller location on Queen Street in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Although a nice shop selling Kurtz’s awesome jams, jellies, and sauces which you can try before you buy, the Queen Street location pales in comparison to the original farm market. The original location had such great sandwiches and baked goods there that I never missed an opportunity to shop there, and sometimes went out of my way to visit. And my must have item: their butter tart. It was significantly bigger than most butter tarts. You had to be careful how you’d hold it when you took a bite because occasionally part of the filling would flow out in sweet syrupy liquid form. Oh, those butter tarts were so good. But when they moved the store, the bakery, other prepared foods, and fruits & vegetables were no longer part of their product offering. How disappointing when the original location closed!
It would be hard to judge the best butter tart in Canada. So try a butter tart near you, and most likely it will be very good, and either slightly better than, or slightly worse than, the best butter tart in Canada.
