THE PEPPER GARDEN

Some of Ottawa’s dining treasures are found just off the beaten path.

Nestled in beside a Pizza Hut in the midst of a small parking lot just east of the Aviation Parkway on Montreal Road is one such treasure –The Pepper Garden.

It seems very unassuming from the outside but once you walk through the doors you enter a large warm room resplendent with booths throughout.

At the back there is an open kitchen where the chefs ply their trade just behind a plating cook who adds the finishing touches and garnish to your meal while your server waits to whisk it to your table.

Lynn and I have been there many times. Our first time was on our regular date night, the second time we celebrated Lynn’s father’s birthday there and tried their brunch buffet and a third time we took my family and some family friends, 14 of us for dinner. Each time the food was superb and the service remarkable.

The fare is mostly Italian but there are some standard standbys on the menu. You can get a good steak, a BLT or a burger.

But the real treasures are the Italian offerings.

When Lynn and I were first there she ordered a homemade seafood soup which was aswim with morsels of sole, shrimp and crab bathed in a soothing broth (4.)

Always a sucker for mussels I opted for their version prepared in a smoked leek and wine sauce (11.49.)

Both dishes were delicious and large.

For our main courses we both decided on chicken. Lynn chose the grilled chicken breast with a honey, lime ginger glaze served with a black bean corn salsa tossed in a roasted red pepper sauce (17.)

I ordered the chicken and pesto fettuccini, which was fresh pasta, a grilled chicken breast, zucchini and the same red pepper sauce (16.)

As you may know by now both of us are not big eaters but somehow we managed to try just one more bite, and then another, until our plates were almost empty - almost but not quite.

If we had room for a dessert there was a lot to chose from, ranging in price from 4 to 7 dollars. I saw a tempting raspberry chocolate tartuo go by but we were full. It doesn’t take much food to sate our need for excellent cuisine.

Just recently I was at the Pepper Garden again and my date was my mother. We were there for lunch.

We both had a tomato rice soup speckled with chunks of ham but decided to forgo the warm bread and bread sticks but instead chose capicollo and provolone toast - foccacia bread with melted provolone and diced capicollo (7.)

Every booth and table in the restaurant had a patron occupying every available seat. Yet the three servers managed the crowd like air traffic controllers. Every dish arrived safely and on time.

My mother decided that the foccacia toast was so good she would try something else with cheese and chose the multigrain grilled cheese sandwich with smoked gouda and carmelized onion (8.60.)

I had the snow crab cakes on fresh mixed greens with a side of fresh fruit salsa dribbled in an orange basil aioli (9.80.)

It was hard to imagine that we were Vanier, well maybe not so hard considering that Lynn and I have eaten at other Vanier venues and have almost always come away contented, pleased with our meals.

My mother and I sat there for a while as the lunch crowd thinned out, slowly sipping our coffees and dutifully ignoring the dessert menu. It was a nice place, a comfortable place to catch up on her news and our new lives since the recent death of my father.

We talked about how life changes and how things can only make us all stronger in the end.

Good food and best friends are always a good mix.

THE PEPPER GARDEN

681 Montreal Road,
613-749-2999
www.peppergarden.ca

THE ART OF THE SMALL

Bank Street, between Somerset and Gladstone, has quietly been mushrooming with little nooks and crannies that serve up good, substantial food that isn’t a sub, shawarma or a slice of pizza.

Last winter Lynn and I were about to set off to see Le Cirque du Soleil when we suddenly felt mild pangs of hunger.

Not wanting to commit ourselves to a sit down dinner and neither of us being big eaters anyway plus we just weren't that hungry we decided to go local.

We duckwd into the Temptation Tea Shop which is right next to the Royal Oak at Bank and MacLaren.

The Temptation is an unassuming comfortable place with non-descript tables and chairs, everything is basic and functional.

They started out trying to cash in the on the bubble tea craze that briefly surfaced during ’04 and ’05. Then as that bubble began to burst the Temptation folks quickly diversified their menu.

They expanded their choices in the traditional Vietnamese manner – just add a new ingredient or three to what is already on the menu and call it something else.

The food is basic, filling and reasonable. We shared some wonderfully crisp spring rolls (3.99) and a huge plate of stir fried chicken with lemon grass and a side of extra rice (8.25). I had a mango smoothee while Lynn sipped tea. The bill was 18 dollars. We were full.

The most expensive item on their menu is a stir fried combo of shrimp, chicken and beef with red and green pepper in a lemon grass sauce (9.99). The teas and smoothies are amazing and only cost between 4 and 6 dollars. Try their coconut bubble sherbet drink – a drop of some long lost beach heaven fantasy.

The Temptation Tea Shop is a very affordable gem.

We would have dawdled and hung out but we were in a rush to see the arobatic magic of the Cirque.

We were able to order, eat, pay and leave within 20 minutes.

Eating at the Temptation prompted me to take a tour of other small joints near Bank and Somerset.

Just kitty corner from Hartmans on Somerset is Basmati, which offers Indian fare that they say can be adjusted to fit your individual hot/spicy tolerance level.

Again the place is small and the décor unimpressive, basic and functional seems to be the interior design for these small places. Basmati operates largely as a take out business but they also have seating for about twenty.

The food is very good, better than most Indian restaurants and very reasonable. A butter chicken curry with rice, veggies and a fresh baked naan is (12). It is ready in no time and a treat to eat.

For me one order was enough for two meals.

Basmati has everything you could possibility imagine from an Indian kitchen. They even play to as wide an audience as they can by offering a Tikka or Tandoori Pizza(8.99) – or how about a Desi poutine (4.50), that French Canadian classic with a unique twist. Don’t scoff, for the price it is worth bringing a little adventure to your palate.

Going south on Bank from the Temptation and on the opposite side of the street is MIGA which bills itself as a Korean Japanese establishment. If you ignore that particular bit of food schizophrenia you’ll find reasonable choices from both sides of that great cultural divide.

The interior is again not fancy, just functional.

The food is very good and nicely presented.

They tend to lean more to the Japanese half of their cultural equation perhaps because that is a more common experience for this city.

Neither Japanese nor Korean cuisine are particularly related to one another, although one could make the argument that the Koreans were some of the early settlers on the island of Japan but that was eons ago, somehow imagining culinary exchanges lasting over time doesn’t seem very plausible. (Never ever bring up that particular bit of history with either one of the cultures – some old wounds never seem to heal)

The highlight of this mini sampling tour of the small is the Imperial Food and Beverage just beside Barrymores.

After a renovation of the old Pita Pit, which seemed to take forever, the Imperial finally opened and was a success as soon as they unlocked the door.

In keeping with the previous three establishments the Imperial is a wallet bargain with their Salmon Fish Cakes (14) being the most costly item on the menu. These Salmon Cakes are perfectly sauteed and arrive crispy with a homemade Dill Tartar Sauce. Their soups are made daily and never fail to amaze (4).

Where they differ from the others is in decor. Certainly not basic or cafeteria, the Imperial has created a cosy and comfortable small room with subtle lighting and an eclectic collection of old film posters.

They toss a great salad. Try the Wild Rice Waldorf for a meager (5.25). Like Basmati the Imperial offers poutine (5.25) with a twist that you’ll have to discover on your own. Still hungry try the desserts a whopping (4.25) each.

So that is our little tour. Four small but substantial eateries in a four block area along Bank Street.

Most when they think about that particular stretch of Bank Street only consider Whalesbone and the Buzz as being the best, the premium places to eat at in that area of town.

And that’s what they are, premium places. You expect and get great food, great service and you pay for it. They offer a dining experience where what is offered on our tour of the small is simple good food done well for a reasonable price.

Buzz and Whalesbone have created a new culinary standard along Bank Street and that influences the smaller places and the result is good food all around.

One last thing, the old corner store on the south corner of Bank and MacLaren has been going through some changes.

The store closed late last year and re-surfaced as a Vietnamese fast food place.

Lynn and I tried it just days after it opened and enjoyed their spring rolls and a beef stir fry done in a piquant lemongrass sauce. It was delightful.

A few weeks later that business closed and morphed overnight into a fast food burger joint. They still kept their poutine which was always their best seller. I guess it must be considered as a Bank Street basic staple food. Whats up with that?

Well no sooner had they been open for a few weeks doing burgers when they closed again.

Yesterday new signs went up and they are now called Basil, a Thai and Pho restaurant. I am not sure if poutine is still on the menu.

All this was done under the same owners, the original Vietnamese family that ran the corner store.

We'll keep you posted.


TEMPTATION TEA SHOP

324 Bank Street,
613-237-1291
www.temptationteashop.com

BASMATI

373 Somerset Street West,
613-233-0303

MIGA

399 Bank Street,
613-230-0084

IMPERIAL FOOD AND BERVERAGE

329 Bank Street,
613-237-3636

BASIL

312 Bank Street,
613-567-9029

THE BLACK TOMATO

On a beautiful summer night we decided that we would explore a more festive site for our dining date and set off for the annual Greek Festival in the South end.

Driving by with eyes perked for parking opportunities we passed the main festival site and only to see jams of people lined up to squeeze into a very small space.

Cheek to jowl isn’t our cup of ouzo.

The Greek Festival is obliviously a popular event that has grown over the years – it now needs to expand to a new venue in order to accommodate the crowds.

So we drove on in search of a good menu and a non elbow rubbing environment.

We were now cruising like teenagers just searching for what might fancy us. We tried New Edinburgh, but the Fraser’s Café was also jammed. We considered going back to the Pepper Garden in Vanier but eventually we cruised into the Byward market.

While drifting aimlessly through the market and noticing that the entire city and all of the visiting tourists were seated somewhere and eating, or wandering around watching people sitting and eating, I thought that perhaps we should hit an A&W.

I was driving a nice car with an open sun roof, it was a beautiful Wednesday summer night and I was with a hot girl friend, all the necessary ingredients for a drive in.

But suddenly an empty parking space appeared directly in front of the Black Tomato on George Street.

The Black Tomato had been recommended to us numerous of times and mostly from informed sources. The Parking Gods had gifted us a spot just out side the front door so we were enticed in to try their food.

The room was full but the staff quickly found a table for us. The room itself is pretty basic set in an old stone building with a nice bar that no one seems to use. This isn’t a hangout for food compelled locals.

The menu gives it away. It is a litany of the ordinary, a collection of salads, a selection of sandwiches and a varied choice of entrees. The menu is designed for any and all tastes and wallets.

We both ordered sandwiches which came with a side salad.(16)There isn’t much we can say about our choices. We both ordered variations of chicken, mine their own BBQ version, Lynn’s a Cajun variation. Neither complimented the chicken but overwhelmed it.

In effect we both got chicken breasts that had been prepared the same way with only the slathering of different sauces to distinguish them.

As we looked around we saw eaters not diners. The Black Tomato seems to cater to those people, mostly tourists, who were just stopping in for a bite to eat before rushing off to something else.

The price is a tad expensive considering the quality is only middling but the location is terrific and there is great music – available for sale as nod to the location’s earlier history as a record shop.

Should have gone to an A&W.


THE BLACK TOMATO

11 George Street,
613-789-8123

INFUSION

It was a lazy summer evening and we were in a lazy summer mood for dinner.

After much pondering and a myriad of suggestions from others we decided to return to Infusion in the Glebe.

Infusion was an immediate favourite of ours when we first visited last winter but that was in our pre-blog days so we decided to see if our first impressions still held true.

Infusion is a small, simple space and in the summer they have a patio of sorts in the back. It turns out to be a small number of tables located right next to a blank, bland parking lot.

The trick would be to use a few more plants or screens to separate the tables from the asphalt to lull us somehow into thinking we were actually being transported, however briefly, to a tropical summer.

We opted for the winter space inside.

The main room is more comfortable and conducive to dining.

Infusion is a neighbourhood bistro, relaxed and comfortable. The menu is artfully designed to appeal to almost all tastes from causal noshing to near fine dining.

Seriously tempted by the specials which were Grilled Tuna with a Watermelon and Ginger Salsa (25) or the Maple Mango Shrimp Salad with Balsamic and Field Berry Dressing (17) we decided that we would do a summer nosh.

Lynn ordered the soup of the day, Broccolinni and Parmesan Cheese (8) which could have been a bit thicker but was very tasty. While thin it had all the right nusances of the broccoli and cheese with the hints of onion and garlic just peeking through. Lynn also ordered a half portion of their Caesar Salad. (6)

In a way the Caesar Salad defines the food at Infusion.

The salad wasn’t just tossed together, it wasn’t just another order filled, it was prepared. Crisp romaine lettuce with pancetta, hand made croutons, sun dried tomatoes and large shavings of parmesan cheese, a hint of anchoives, all smoothly coated with a perfect dressing.This salad had a palate crunch and coating that blended together in a perfect summer way. It was a seasonal taste with all the freshness that summer produce offers.

I was feeling summer peckish so I ordered the Antipasto Platter.(12)

Some thought had gone into this presentation. My medley of Italian cold cuts, salami, parma ham and provolone cheese were sliced into linguine thick strips and draped over a collection of red peppers, artichoke hearts and a ragout of shitake, portabello and button mushrooms.

At Infusion the art of food goes beyond presentation. Ingredients are a center piece part to their culinary concoctions. Half of my Antipasto came from Nicastros, an Italian Deli, just kitty corner from the restuarant. The produce was locally sourced.

Lynn could barely finish her half order of salad and I only managed to get through half of my antipasto. The rest is in my refrigerator awaiting a conversion into a glorious sandwich tomorrow.

The table just down from us ordered burgers. The older woman, the mom, chose the lamb burger with goat cheese and a onion merlot reduction served on foccacia bread with a choice of fries or salad.(14)

Her mildly aged daughter also ordered a burger but she chose the beef version with wild mushrooms, a wide choice of cheeses, a sun dried tomato spread, all topped with a chipotle sauce.(14)

I saw their order go by and witnessed their first bites. It was then that I wished that I had brought a bigger appetite with me.

Infusion is a real treat, an excellent example of a local eatery that understands food and presentation, and takes the care to ensure that your meal is exactly what you imagined it would be.

Another treat, the bill. Soup, half order of salad, antipasto and a glass of wine – 36 dollars.

INFUSION

825 Bank Street
613-834-7089

MURRAY STREET

Every once and a while the cosmos aligns itself and it shines only on you.

Recommended by friends of ours we decided to try Murray Street, billed as a Kitchen/Wine/Charcuterie.

It also happened to be my birthday and Lynn is big deal person about birthdays where I tend to be a tad so whatish.

She offered to take me to Bekta, Benitz or anywhere else that was grand and elegant. It was my birthday after all.

I demurred and suggested that we continue on our quest of the unknown best.

We hit gold with Murray Street.

Their signage isn't clear that there is a dining room hidden in the small house that is Murray Street, but there was a chalk board with a large arrow that directed us down this narrow alley between two buildings towards a wonderful patio.

It was pretty full and busy, a waiter who was walking by with a full tray of wine bottles and glasses, stopped and asked, "What do you want?"

He didn't seem that pleased to see us.

I can understand why as the patio was almost totally occupied and he was busy. But, still balancing his tray of wine bottles and glasses, he said, "I'll see what I can do."

In no time we were seated in a nice corner table with a full view of the patio.

I will short hand the basics. The place is great, the patio a real hidden treat, the service is casual but very professional.

If I had stars to hand out I couldn't give enough of them to Murray Street.

Now having that out of the way I can get to the food.

What owners Steve Mitton and Paddy Whelan have created is something that is unique in Ottawa and perhaps in the country.

Some establishments, like Domus, push their concepts of Canadian and local produce.

Murray Street just cooks with them without the fanfare and the results are extraordinary.

If I had the space here I would reprint their entire menu.

We decided to share the Beet presentation, a salad of sorts, a piece of art really.

It was "Roast baby red beets, pickled baby golden beets, fresh herbs, spiced pecans, Brent Halsall's honey and Monforte sheep's yogurt." (9)

It was delicious. The beets, a favourite of mine, were perfect. This is such an unusual dish that I hardly noticed that the pecans were hardly spicy and the yogurt dressing had been replaced with a soothing vinaigrette. I asked for bread to sop up the remaining dressing.

I imagine that if we had been given the salad that was on the menu we would raving.

Lynn ordered the St. Canut Farms Porcelait. "Pork loin, espresso BBQ sauce, smoked confit cheek, apple jelly and pressed 'scalloped' potatoes." (23)

I opted for the Quebec Lamb Duo. "Braised shank meat shepherd's pie, parsnip-potato puree, baby leek and creamed corn, slow roasted lamb loin, Rideau Pines sugar snap peas and lamb jus." (24)

Our meals arrived on long rectangular plates. Normally I would dismiss this presentation as being silly modern - what's wrong with the round plates that have been used throughout history?

At Murray Street there is a rationale to their plating.

I am going out onto the thin ice here but bear with me.

There is a philosophy at work at Murray Street. On your elongated plate is a subtle ying/yang experience.

You order the lamb and you get two versions. On the right edge of the plate was the slow roasted lamb loin nestling on a hidden bed of whole snap peas. On the other edge of the plate was a freelance constructed shepherds pie flavoured with lambs shank meat, corn, leeks, potato and parsnips.

I had ordered lamb and received a musical score of complimentary tastes.

Lynn had the same experience with her Pork Loin.

She had asked me earlier about Pork Cheeks. I told her that if they were slow cooked they were delicious but made the mistake of saying that they were a meaty version of cod cheeks.

Lynn is a conservative eater and said that she could never imagine eating them.

Her Pork Loin plate had the loin posited on the right side of her plate, to the left was a pork cheek. Mixed into this equation were delightfully scalloped potatoes - concealing a dollop of spinach - and a spice I couldn't identify, perhaps nutmeg or a pinch of cinnamon?

The pork cheek that Lynn had imagined that she would never eat disappeared in a nano second.

I am just touching briefly on the treats that Murray Street has to offer. Their menu is a siren song to lure you back for more and more again.

There is a whole other side to the place.

It is also a charcuterie, a cold cut joint, which has meat and cheese selections that might make you consider giving up on your libido. Food sex.

Drop in for an afternoon draw of beer or a glass of wine and try their enticements.

I could easily say more, but enough.

Sorry, one more thing. I noticed that there were no salt and peppers shakers on the tables. They are available but not a single table requested them.

I love the culinary confidence of that.

Best birthday dinner ever!

Murray Street is a very rare treat.

MURRAY STREET,

110 Murray Street,

613-562-7244

VON’s

It had to happen sooner or later.

We have been blessed as we explored our culinary safari of Ottawa’s dining offerings.

Blessed because we have discovered a genuine food culture that is active and alive. Whether it has been a neighbourhood joint or a well known establishment we have never been completely disappointed, critical maybe but never off put.

In fact we have been enormously encouraged, challenged, to find some place better than the last.

That last place we dined at always seemed to be a place we would return to in a breath.

Our run of luck ran out last night when we decided to dine at VON’s in the Glebe.

VON’s is a Glebe institution that has survived for 30 years. That is impressive.

The room is beautiful. Soft colours, whimsical chalked quotations written on the pillars, pure white table cloths and a comforting bar.

As we looked around the room we felt hopeful.

It wasn’t that long before a server arrived and placed us.

After some time our server returned and asked if we wanted drinks. “Water,” I suggested would be a good start.

Our experience went down hill from there.

But you can’t make sloppy service a bookmark for the rest of the event.

We decided to share the PEI mussels. There are four choices of sauces. We chose the tomato saffron option.

They arrived in a narrow sauce pot. These succulent and tasty mussels were sitting atop their sauce instead of swimming in it. When we finally got to the tomato sauce we found it weak and soupy.(12)

Lynn ordered a Grilled Chicken salad.(18) I opted for the Pork tenderloin stuffed with a prune and sage filling.(23)

Lynn’s salad looked like a salad, but the chicken seemed to have never been close enough to a grill to brag about a relationship, it was cold and dry.

There was another affront lurking in this salad just below greens, small chunks of canned pineapple. Need I say more?

My Pork Tenderloin was beautifully presented, two healthy servings of Pork oozing with the prune and sage stuffing.

Problem was the meat was dry as dust and crusted over from being over cooked or worse precooked and then reheated.

Pork Tenderloin is not that hard to prepare. The trick is, and it is not a big one, keep it moist. The meat speaks for itself and you can’t go far wrong if it has a professional touch in the general vicinity.

I looked over to a woman who was seated at the bar. She had ordered the Steak frite. (26)

A dish I had considered ordering.

Her frites, french fries, were presented in a tin mug of some sort. Curiously it was a McDonalds approach to presentation where a traditional look would have sufficed.

I watched as she attempted to carve her way through her steak searching for a morsel she could actually chew on.

Despite these culinary failings there was no shortage of people willing to pay a premium for poor service and over done food.

How does this happen in a city that we are now discovering, or so we think, has a genuine culinary curiosity?

Maybe some are not far enough removed from Mother’s grey, bloodless Sunday Roast Beef dinners to notice the difference yet.

Perhaps just getting a meal, regardless of its content, is enough for most.

Is it fuel or flavour we seek?


VON’s

819 Bank Street
613-233-3277

http://www.819bank.com/

STONEFACE DOLLY’S
On Preston

Yet again we both had been through a busy couple of days and we just barely had the energy to decide on an area of town to eat in.

We chose to play restaurant roulette and headed off to Preston Street.

The logic was simple. Find a place to park and then walk the street reading the posted menus until we found something that inspired us.

I was hankering for a simple veal scaloppini, Lynn was up for whatever.

We walked and we walked. Most menus offered us the same choices as the last.

We approached a new looking place and searched for its outside menu which was not to be found.

Tired, I suggested that we just go in and take our chances, take the bullet as it were.

We entered a terrific room, part bistro, part trattoria, part martini bar, all smoothly blended into a comfortable space – STONEFACE DOLLY’S On Preston.

In the front end of the room Dolly’s has a terrific bar that seats maybe 8, along with 3 high top tables over looking the street.

The bar curves and extends down the inside wall of the room transitioning into a dessert display and then into a serving area for the open kitchen.

The dining area is roomy but subtly divided into smaller intimate spaces. Standing you can view the whole room, seated your space becomes more private.

We were seated and left with our menus and then just as I was thinking about it, our water glasses arrived and our server explained what they had to offer as the evenings specials.

Then just as we had decided which way we want to go with our order our server was back with a basket of bread and a dip.

This is the often unnoticed art of service. If you are lucky to get a server that tunes into your cadence you will have someone who can guide you through your whole dining experience, someone who will ensure that you get exactly what you want.

The very best servers are stealthy, always there just as you need them, always ready with a suggestion or a question, always ready for anything that you might need.

Dolly’s bills itself as offering homestyle gourmet cookery with an international twist – and they deliver.

Owner Bob Russell was born in South Africa and his birth ground seeps into the menu as does influences from Thailand, Mexico, Europe and other spots where spice is an everyday habit.

Neither of us was that hungry and decided that we might skip the preliminaries and head straight for the entrees.

But…the table beside us was a group of six and two were having the mussel appetizer, one with a Red Thai sauce, the other in a white wine cream sauce. I am a sucker for mussels and I was almost tempted.

Lynn ordered The African Chicken Bobotie which was baked chicken chunks with a light spicing of curry, almonds and raisins served with coconut basmati rice, a yogurt raita and small salad. (16)

I chose Veal “Birds,” a concoction of ground veal wrapped in prosciutto served with a Portobello Mushroom cream sauce and vegetables. (18)

Our orders arrived, nicely presented, freshly hot and wafting with a gentle wisp of spices.

Lynn’s Bobotie turned out to be an open faced thickly crusted pie a swim with pieces of chicken interspersed with almonds and raisins all bound together in an aromatic broth. It smelled and tasted wonderful. The coconut rice was soft and rich, the salad just lightly dressed in earthy vinaigrette.

My “Birds” were lightly grilled to give the prosciutto a soft shell effect for the ground veal it was wrapped around. There was a surprise hidden amoung my vegetables, a dollop of turnips doctored with a little maple syrup and perhaps a hint of Roma cheese or sour cream.

There were a lot of choices that we could have tried. How does an Almond encrusted Chicken breast with caramelized pear and a brie cream sauce sound? (18)

Or perhaps the Jambalya - Chicken, shrimp, sausage and mussels in a mildly spiced Creole tomato sauce. Served with sautéed red and green peppers, carrots, and red onion on a bed of basmati rice, also $18.

Tempted?

Eating at Dolly’s was the tonic we needed for a night when we felt a tad unwilling to make our own decisions.

The room is not small, seating perhaps up to 60 people, but the entire production was handled by two servers, two cooks and a kitchen helper.

Not one of them missed a beat.

STONEFACE DOLLY’S
On Preston

416 Preston Street,
613-564-2222
www.stonefacedollys.com