Ottawa is, of course, Canada's capital. Like Geneva, NY (and Chicago), it is one of those places where the weather changes every fifteen minutes, and the sky is less blue than one would wish. And yet, Ottawa (much much more like Chicago than Geneva) is a foodie wonderland. Here are a few mini-reviews of foodie delights to recommend in Ottawa:
Arc the Hotel is a boutique hotel in downtown Ottawa. Yep, walking distance to loads of fun stuff, including Parliament Hill, Byward Market and Elgin Street, for example. While I have never had dinner at the hotel, the menu looks swell -- and the breakfasts are quite nice. I had scrambled eggs with avocado, a bit of red pepper and chives that was good. The crispy bacon was, I have to admit, a bit weird. One of my pet peeves is when butter comes too cold, not true here, and the jams for the toast were runny and lovely. Ditto (ok, being silly) for the coffee (hot) and the orange juice (just right). The service is efficient and kind. And the tone of the whole place is welcoming, easy going and hip.
Beckta is a fine dining joint often ranked in the top places to eat in Ottawa. The first (and only previous) time we ate there, we discovered an amazing foodie item - mango caviar. Yep, a sort of gastro-chemical taste explosion of mango made to seem like caviar. Dandy. For a review of that previous visit, click here. This visit was less thrilling, though the meal was quite good and the service as well. We began with a Henry of Pelham Cuvee Catherine sparkling wine -- though less perfect than their rose sparkling wine, this was a pear-y version that went well with the tasting menu we ordered. Among the delights were some house made papardelle and a foie gras terrine on top of a crispy bit -- which I cannot quite recall but which I remember as incredible perfect juxtaposition of textures. The amuse bouche was a tuna tartare with pickled fennel. MMMMM. A bit price-y but a good restaurant.
Benny's Bistro is a small place beside/behind the French Bakery on Murray Street near the Byward Market area. We read their sign on Saturday and came back on Sunday to try out the brunch. While the ambience is nothing to write home about, the food was inventive and tasty. I ordered what was, for m, a bit risky -- a buckwheat pancake with a sunnyside egg inside, twice smoked pork shoulder and an apple cabbage slaw-like side. And I had a big bowl of latte. The meal was tasty and satisfying. Would I order it again? No. Why? I just simply do not really like sunny side up eggs, with the runny yolk going everywhere. I am not as adventurous an eater as I wish I was. Or, maybe I was adventurous but know what I do not like? Anyway, the pork was great, the pancake thin and light, and the slaw-like bit perfect. I am definitely glad I tried the bistro. And, besides, they have a wonderful side which is lardons of thick cut bacon and fingerling potatoes. Mmmm.
Boushey's Fruit Market is a corner store (at 348 Elgin) with lovely tart cheese bread and other munchies as well as regular corner store grocery type stuff. We usually load up on the the cheesebread, but were moving a bit slowly and missed it. But we did get a spinach pie and a meat pie and ate them on the road back to lovely Geneva. Try them; you'll like them. For a few comments on Boushey's try here or here.
Bridgehead Coffee is an Ottawa (originally Toronto, but now based in Ottawa according to their bags) chain, with 9 places in the city. It has been voted best coffee in Ottawa and focuses on fair trade and organic coffees and teas. I have been a fan of The Second Cup and may have switched allegiances. And, Bridgehead has pretty darn good shortbread cookies; I tried the pistacchio and cranberry with my eggnog latte. And the latte was great -- it tasted like eggnog but was not unduly sweet or thick. For more on Bridgehead, click here.
Domus is simply one of the best places to eat ever. Previously reviewed here, I usually want their to-die-for soups, but this time was tempted into sharing a chopped belgian endive and quail's egg salad. (Seems quail's eggs are in the running for new-food-focus of the moment.) The salad was augmented with asian greens which had a taste -- and even more importantly, had a taste which melded well with the slihgt bitterness of the endive. We followed this with a second shared dish -- a substitute for a fish ravioli that Domus was out of. What did we have instead? Ravioli filled with braised lamb. Wowzers. A bit of black pepper, a lovely broth, some cheddar shavings. Then, I ordered a plate with a focus on suckling pig served in a variety of ways. I love pork. I loved this dish -- every bit of it was perfect. It includes: a stuffed pork loin, a chorizo sausage, a pork croquette topped with smoked pork belly, some pork shoulder confit, a bit of mashed potato and some spinach. Yes, each and every mouthful made me happy. I was not as much a fan of the croquette as the rest of the little piggy but I definitely made a little piggy of myself. Yes, this was one of the top Domus meals ever. And I ended with a bit of self-control and ordered the three truffles as my dessert. Very chocolate-y. Service as always oo attentive and kind --and the view out the window filled with Ottawans and their hats.
Metropolitan Brasserie is beneath another, unrelated, restaurant down a flight of outside stairs nearish the Chateau Laurier on Sussex Drive. The bar is where we had an afternoon snack of a few raw oysters (ok, not me) and french fries accompanied by a drink. The Malpeque oysters were 3 for $6.25 and came with 4 dipping sauces -- including freshly grated horseradish. (Horseradish too seems like a new trendy bit -- we had a schmeer of horseradish cream with something at Beckta as well.) The ambience at the Metropolitan is, as its full name suggests, very brasserie and the clientele varied from Parliament hill types to clueless people like me.
Murray Street Kitchen Wine Charcuterie was recommended to us by the folks at Daya Spa. And wow, were we grateful. We went twice in two days and were very happy both times. The menu calls Murray Street itself "restaurant alley" -- and yes, Domus is almost directly across the street. Anyway, our first visit, we wandered in during the late afternoon and had several cheeses (including a Back Forty Highland Blue cheese from Quebec and both of the available goat cheeses, including a Tomme de Haut Richelieu semi-hard which also turned up on Beckta's cheese plate) and a dandy (noton the menu) elk terrine. The condiments on the side included carmelized onions and raisins, and a grainy mustard. Not to mention the de rigeur cornichons and a bit of pickled yellow beet. The second visit we tried two terrines: yes,we repeated the elk and brandy but added a lamb cassis terrine. The two terrines were very dissimilar in both taste and appearance; the lamb was very finely ground meat with a pink coloring,for example. This time we tried three different cheeses including an alternate blue suggested by the (very helpful) bartender.This blue was a cow cheese, St. Benoit Benedictin unlike the Back Forty raw sheep -- though both were from Quebec. Before this delightful ($25 CDN for 2 meats and 3 cheeses) charcuterie board, I had a lovely soup (that kind of day) with wheat berries, carrots, and duck broth. I also go the chance to taste poutine in a fancy version, made with duck confit and spatzle. Once upon a time(until that very moment), I thought the idea of poutine disgusting. I was wrong. Again. (The spatzle, by the way, trumped the pretty darn good spatzle at Dano's.) Yes, this time we were there for dinner so we indulged andi got dessert. Mine? Chocolate espresso pudding with salted caramel on top and a side of a gingery- (very) compote. The ambience matched the food -- a tad darkly lit, and cozy feeling while hip. All in all a very very happy discovery, including the delightful draught St. Ambroise oatmeal stout I had with the first charcuterie board.
So: we ate our way across Ottawa and were overly full when we left. And, by the way, I have a new hypothesis about restaurant bathrooms in Ottawa: they are always way way way too cold.
