A new Niagara-on-the-Lake restaurant is cutting soups and salads from the menu in favour of dishes its owners say you can’t make at home.
Revé, which opened Aug. 28 at 242 Mary St., is the dream of four hospitality workers: Nicole Pisarenko and her husband Adriano Cappuzzello, along with Anna Kruusi and her husband Kevin Gillingham.
Together, the two couples have built a two-part concept: by day, it’s Aperitivo by Revé, a bistro and bottega open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
By night, the space shifts to its intimate fine-dining restaurant from 5 to 9 p.m., where chef Cappuzzello delivers a constantly changing “farm to fire” menu.
Since acquiring the building keys on May 9, the group has promised to bring something different to NOTL: “Something really elevated, refined and unique,” said Pisarenko. “Yet, familiar.”
“We want to put Niagara-on-the-Lake back on the map for a culinary destination,” she said. “We’ve let ourselves go with that name in the last, maybe, 20 years.”
Too many restaurants in town have grown comfortable catering to tourists, Pisarenko said — letting quality slip “because the tourists are not going to always come back to that same location.”
Not just another stop for visitors, Revé hopes to receive steady, year-round support, she said, with the real focus being NOTL and surrounding areas.
First wary of the town being seen only as a tourist destination, the group “realized Niagara-on-the-Lake is where we belong for many reasons,” said Pisarenko. “We’re surrounded by the most amazing ingredients.”
And with many wineries closing early or not serving food, Pisarenko said Apperitivo fills a gap in NOTL and allows guests to open international wine bottles on-site and enjoy them with snacks or meals.
The couples have roots in Niagara: Pisarenko and Cappuzzello, based in Niagara Falls, said their pop-up at Ferox Winery also helped build a following in NOTL. Kruusi and Gillingham are from St. Catharines and bring demand from their own community.
“We were just an extension of Ferox,” said Pisarenko. “There is no tie to them at the moment, but it was just a great place for us to start.”
The couple wanted to establish their own brand name, “but at the time, it made more sense to just be part of one (at Ferox’s),” she added.
The two couples met through a consulting job a few years ago and decided to partner, drawn together by shared values and a common vision.
One day, they hope to be considered for international recognition, such as the Michelin Guide.
Cappuzzello, who is from Sicily and has worked in Michelin Guide–recognized restaurants, said “we work with nature, not against” to deliver seasonal dishes.
“The menu is a bit on the Italian side, but it’s not just fully Italian. It’s inspired, first of all, from all the farmers,” he said.
His goal is simple: keep the restaurant busy and keep the dream alive. “I just want to make sure we have a level of hospitality that is not common for the area,” said Cappuzzello.
Kruusi described it as “bringing back traditional hospitality in a modern way.”
Dishes such as soups and salads are left out of the equation, because “we don’t believe that those are items that you’re going to miss,” said Pisarenko.
“We’re back to the origins of what a restaurant is,” she added, “items that you truly cannot make at home.”
The partners “fell in love” with the location after seeing its design perfectly reflect their vision, with each space tied to the elements, Kruusi said. “Immediately, the vision grew.”
The live-fire kitchen represents fire, the dining room was built with earth tones and the bistro and bottega were inspired by water and air.
Diners can watch bread, focaccia and pasta made fresh in the open kitchen, while a harvest table near the entrance offers space to linger over coffee or work during the day.
Cappuzzello called it “kind of like a social table.”
Aperitivo is an “elevated grab and go,” said Pisarenko, adding it also offers imported Italian products for purchase, such as truffle oils, Sicilian olive oils and wines.
“Our daytime experience,” Kruusi said.
Alcohol service begins at 11 a.m., with Aperol spritzes served with a classic Italian pairing: olives and chips.
From 2 to 4 p.m., the restaurant runs a daily spritz special, pairing Aperol, limoncello or non-alcoholic spritzes with chef’s snacks, plus the olives and chips. “It’s kind of like a pre-dinner tradition,” said Kruusi.
It’s inspired by aperitivo hour in Italy and helps “slow down your day,” said Cappuzzello.
“You can relax and have an Aperol spritz,” added Kruusi. “Something that we all love to do, so we brought that here.”
Kruusi said the fine-dining side “is a little bit more moody” and offers both à la carte and tasting menus.
She described the approach as “farm to fire,” with every protein touching the live fire at some point in the evening. “Everything is sourced as close as possible to the address.”
She added that the restaurant plans to build careers in hospitality and create a one-of-a-kind workplace where staff feel valued. That vision, she said, is reflected in the name “Revé,” from the French word rêve for dream.
“When you look at the main entrance for the fine dining, it says welcome to the dream, because it’s truly our dream,” said Kruusi.
“The four of us have been working our whole lives to make this happen.”
