Two of Eastern Ontario's oldest waterfront inns have new life as high-end restaurants. One is under new ownership; the other has been totally renovated.

The Hotel Kenney, under new ownership and with a new chef who used to cook for the Govenor General in Ottawa, has been in operation beside Jones Falls on the Rideau Canal since 1877, when it served passing steamships.

And the newly-named Ivy restaurant, on the St. Lawrence River in the former Ivy Lea Inn, has just been transformed, with most upstairs rooms removed to make the dining area more airy and spacious, and give better river views.

Both are owned by wealthy visitors who fell in love with the surrounding area while on summer vacations.

Franklin Folts, who owns a men's clothing store on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, bought the Hotel Kenney this spring from Joe Kenny, who was the fourth generation of his family to run the hotel. Kenny sold because no one in his family wanted to inherit the business.

The Ivy restaurant-together with a marina and 10 vacation cottages that comprise the Ivy Lea Club-is owned by Toronto businessman Joe Pal. He has a summer home on a nearby island in the Thousand Islands and bought the old inn and surrounding property several years ago when it was badly neglected.

Folts says he plans to keep the Hotel Kenny much as it has been for the last century, a family resort serving good food.

Pal, meanwhile, is believed to have spent millions on his property. Asked how much, he replies: "I would be embarrassed to tell you."

"Gentrification of Hotel Kenney is not about to happen, "Folts tells hotel and restaurant patrons in his first newsletter. But he adds that he aims to draw patrons with good food and has hired "one heck of a chef."

The new Hotel Kenney chef is 40-year-old Bradley Cunningham, who spent three years as senior cook at the Govenor General's residence early in this decade. He has also worked in the kitchens of the Savoy Hotel in London and as chef at Hy's Steakhouse in Ottawa. Cunningham says he aims to cook "world-class Canadian and internation cuisine."

Robert Gobbo, a graduate of Algonquin College's cooking school in Ottawa, has been chef of the restaurant in the old Ivy Lea Inn since it re-opened several years ago as The Captain's Table. The lastest name change coincides with the recent renovations. Gobbo says he serves "local-inspired world cuisine."

Neither restaurant is cheap, but both are very good, I found when I ate at them recently.

Dinner, with wine, runs to about $40 or $50 per person. Lunch is cheaper, in the restaurant of the Hotel Kenney or on the patio of the Ivy restaurant.

Michael Prentice is an Ottawa writer who loves to dine along the Rideau waterway and the St. Lawrence River.

If You Go

Hotel Kenny: At Jones Falls, off Highway 15, about a 90-minute drive from Ottawa. www.hotelkenney.com

Ivy restaurant: Off the Thousand Islands Parkway, just west of Ivy Lea, also 90 minutes from Ottawa. www.ivylea.ca