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

Manx Pub

When is a pub a pub?

Ottawa is certainly not lacking in pub choices. They are everywhere and are all basically clones of each other. They mimic décor, the faux renderings of English or Irish traditions, the same beers and the same menus.

The Manx, hidden in a very small basement on Elgin Street bills itself as a pub. But a pub it is not.

It has all the trappings of a traditional pub, a dark wood bar, crammed booths and small round tables. But Manx has broken the pub mold by recognizing early on that Ottawa has become a foodie town, long past nachos and chicken wings.

Getting into the Manx takes some dedication. Lynn and I have tried twice to eat there in the past only to be frustrated by the lineup to get in.

The Manx is so small that even 4 people in the line ahead of you constitutes a major hurdle. The nights that we tried to gain entry in the past were very wintery ones, snow squalls outside, foot stomping to keep warm, kind of nights.

Our mistake was we had always arrived at the dinner hour, for us just after 7 so we could be eating by say 7:30 or there about.

If you know the Manx, we discovered, you have to get there early.

Our schedules this week were crowded and busy which meant that dinner was not an option for our weekly date. We decided to meet for a drink as compensation and chose the Manx, 5ish was the target.

Even then it was half full. I walked in a little after 5 and there were women sitting alone at half the tables who looked up at me expectantly as I entered, only to be disappointed. They had arrived early to stake out a spot until their dates or companions arrived.

Real Estate is a precious commodity at the Manx.

Lynn was already there protecting our turf like a suspicious lioness.

The staff has that pub lackadaisical attitude to service but in place that is so small and that has so few tables even the so-so service seems to go unnoticed.

What shines here is the food.

One of the specials was Caribbean seafood pasta which reflects some of the adventure that is offered on the menu. As a starter you might choose a Quesadilla with smoked onion, roasted corn, black beans and cheddar cheese served with sour cream and a tomatillo sauce (9.)

You can get a Furlonger club sandwich, a Lamb curry wrap or a Curried tofu and chickpea burger topped with a balsamic onion jam – all $12 each.

Lynn decided on the Salmon filet with a jalapeno and peach glaze and scalloped sweet potatoes served with a small mixed greens salad tossed in a lime-honey dressing (13.)

I wasn’t that hungry so I steered towards the Crab cakes with a mango-basil chutney accompanied by a lemon-caper aloi (12.)

Lynn hit gold with her Salmon. It was perfectly moist with a gentle hint of the glaze that gave it a curious exotic yet comforting taste. The scalloped sweet potatoes were amazing – almost worth having on their own.

My Crab cakes were terrible, over cooked, almost burnt, dry and suspiciously almost absent of crab. There was a crab taste hidden in there somewhere but I was hard put to poke around trying to find it.

We were halfway through our meal when I looked up to see that the room was now completely full and it was only just shy of six o’clock.

A gentleman beside us was just starting to bite into his delicious looking Curried lamb wrap. Just across from us a young woman was tucking into her Caribbean pasta. Lynn looked like she wanted to stay right where she was sitting, forever.

From everyone’s expressions as they ate I seemed to be the only one without a reason to smile, one out of so many others who seemed not only happy but pleased.

We'll try it again, if we can get in.

Manx Pub

370 Elgin Street
613-231-2070

domus café

domus café would be a unique experience in any Canadian city and we are lucky it have all to ourselves here in Ottawa.

The café is dedicated and focused on Canadian, regional and seasonal cuisine. That means fresh organic produce from local farmers, meats and fish from the best parts of the country, seasonal specialties as nature brings them to harvest during the year.

We had decided to try domus at the last minute and arrived just before seven o’clock without a reservation. We managed to squeak in before the room filled up with other more responsible diners who had managed to call ahead.

The interior of domus is almost a season in itself. With its soft yellow walls and shaded rust trim the café is like a constant breath of spring. The large front windows invites copious amounts of light to pour in no matter what seasonal turmoil is going on outside.

Water was served as was a choice of breads with a dipping sauce of canola oil and a light wine vinegar.

Our server arrived, one of three that manage a room that could seat up to 40. She asked if we wanted drinks and returned promptly with them, ready to answer our menu questions and tell us about the evenings specialties.

The menu was that culinary curse that one occasionally runs into. How do you choose when you want to try it all?

With our servers gentle nudging we decided to share a grilled endive and asparagus salad($14) Lynn choose one the specials, a wild west coast Halibut ($32) while I decided on a menu choice, Tempura Perch ($29.) Both came with the same collection of fresh seasonal vegetables.

The salad was heaven. A pure white endive which had been blanched and then lightly grilled was topped by three short plump spears of asparagus, also grilled, and flanked with spring sprouts on gentle shaves of red onion, semi-soft dollops of Ontario goat cheese, all drizzled with a light CPCO vinaigrette (Cold Pressed Canola Oil.)

Our mains arrived. Lynn’s Halibut was light, flaky and moist. The medley of vegetables included sprouts, mushrooms, fingerling potatoes and the same, or so it seemed, three spears of robust asparagus that had peeked through our previous salad.

My Tempura Perch was wanting. Tempura is something I know and love. I had asked when I ordered if the fish was just battered or tempura battered – there is a difference. The batter was weak and flat, not at all like a good tempura batter which is light and softly crispy. My vegetables were a mirror reflection of Lynn’s.

I can understand, in a way, the efficiency of a common vegetable serving but when I saw one of the flank steak specials go by I thought maybe the plate could have used a different approach to the potatoes.

Asparagus and fingerling potatoes seemed to be the seasonal theme of the day leaving one to wonder what happened to the now available fiddlehead?

We ordered a dessert, a medley of lemon tastes. Three examples of lemon on one plate, a mix that included a lemon sauce, a lemon cake with a dollop of lemon sorbet and a lemon pudding that was thick and sweetly tart.

domus café is a rare treat. The food is above average and fresh, fresh. The dedication to organic produce could use a little widening of the network or at least a little more work marrying the dishes to the accompanying vegetables in a more imaginative rather than just a practical way.

A last note is the wine list. It is pretty extensive and representative. In keeping with their theme to pursue local there are a few choices of Prince Edward County wines that aren’t available anywhere but in Prince Edward County which is just down the road from Ottawa.

Our bill was $107 for a shared salad, two entrees, a shared dessert, a juice and a glass of wine.

The experience and quality was just short of being beyond measure.

But we did wonder if success might have devolved into a formula, if the sense of the Canadian culinary adventure might have been set adrift somehow by the lure of a Henry Ford approach to plate presentation.

domus café

87 Murray Street
613-241-6007
www.domuscafe.ca/

JAZZ'OO

It’s like when you buy a great new pair of shoes. They look fabulous, fit perfectly, but will still require a little breaking in before they become completely comfortable.

That’s JAZZ'OO.

It is billed as a European Bar and Lounge, located on Sparks Street just up from Yesterdays.

It is a restaurant, bar, patio, jazz club and probably any number of other things that weren’t immediately obvious.

We arrived and stood inside for a good 10 minutes before anyone asked if we wanted a table. In that 10 minute span a number of waiters had breezed by us, one stood talking to patrons on the outside patio.

But we eventually got seated and left with our menus. Some time later our waiter returned to ask if we wanted to order drinks. No water, no bread, no advice and seemingly no particular interest.

We wanted to order just a juice and a glass of water deciding to wait until we got the lay of the land. There was some discussion about the juices available. The waiter returned with the wrong juice but managed to get my glass of water right. We said nothing.

The menu is interesting and offers a good choice of options. The salads range into the 18 dollar range while entrees hover between 22 to 35 dollars.

Our waiter returned and asked if we were ready to order. In announcing that there were other items available that weren’t on the menu he promptly pulled out his order pad and began to read the choices to us. I hate this. Serving is part of the experience of dining. Surely your server should know what is on offer, how it is prepared and perhaps, if you’re lucky, even how things taste.

We ordered a Mediterranean Seafood Salad to share ($18). Lynn wanted to try the Mediterranean tenderloin goulash with a tomato paprika chili sauce on basmati rice ($22). I opted for one the specials, a 10 oz steak with steamed vegetables, roasted potatoes and a mushroom wine reduction sauce ($25).

I also ordered a glass of wine from one the most curious wine list I have ever seen. It is pages and pages long. What is curious about it is that it tells you what wines are available but most aren’t. 90 percent of what they list are not available. Think of it as a wine wish list where your wish never comes true.

Finally the bread arrived along with our salad plates. Lynn’s plate had encrusted tomato sauce on the bottom while mine was soap scummed. When my wine finally arrived I told our waiter that we wanted clean salad dishes. “Okay,” he said as he scooped up the dirty ones and left.

The salad arrived along with clean plates. The presentation was odd. Holding true to the current rule of building height on a plate this salad had the height constructed by assorted greens tented underneath 3 full leaves of romaine lettuce sprinkled with the dill yogurt dressing. The upside down cake approach to salads. There was a Sesame encrusted piece of tuna, two sea scallops and two shrimps – not the jumbo shrimps as advertised.

This was a great salad. The tuna was perfectly seared and just warmish inside. The scallops and shrimps were just right. The real surprise was the dill yogurt dressing. It had just a hint of dill, not a heavy hand, and something sweetish to balance the yogurt. I am guessing it was a small drop of honey.

Our plates were cleared and while we awaited our main dishes I noticed another waiter attending to a nearby table. He was animated, full of information, suggestions and was engaging. For the first time ever I realized I was experiencing waiter envy.

Our entrees arrived. Both dishes were well plated. We dug in. "Oh no," raced through my brain as I tried to slice my steak with my Crocodile Dundee sized steak knife. I had a tough piece of meat. It was perfectly prepared, the right color and a perfect crusted sear. The sauce was a treasure. The potatoes were earthy and pungent. The Swiss chard was great but the new small carrots were heated but still annoyingly raw.

To be fair the steak was a good quality piece of meat. As I sawed my way around the gristle there was gold, mind you it only appeared in the smallest of nuggets, but it was quality. I decided that I had just gotten that one bad steak in a hundred of other perfect steaks. Somewhat like our waiter.

I looked up at Lynn to see her fanning herself. “This is hot and very spicy,” she said. She reached for my glass of water for relief. Her own water glass had never been on our waiters agenda.

Lynn is a hot babe in more ways than one. Spicy food is something she enjoys and eats regularly. She was enjoying her dish but would have rather been warned about its bite. Our waiter hadn’t bothered to share that information, or worse he might not have even known.

Drone # 6 returned and asked how our meal was. Most of my carved up steak was still on my plate and I mentioned that the cut was bad. “Can I do something,” he asked. “Well, probably not..,” I responded as a question. “Okay,” he replied as he scooped up our plates and left.

The bill was $91.00 I rounded it off to a 100 dollars. Normally I tip in the 15 to 20 percent range but not on this night.

Serving food is not just a job it is a profession and a good professional can make your experience something special. A good server can serve everyone, the customer, themselves and the business. It is easy to be ordinary and not that difficult to be memorable.

JAZZ’OO has a lot of potential. It is a great looking space, it has great music and offers live Jazz on the weekends. The Wednesday night we were there they had a guitarist playing on the patio.

What it lacks at the moment is focus. The night that we were dining no one was in control, no management to attend to the problems, to oversee the flow of the room, no one to host the experience.

JAZZ’OO

132 Sparks Street,
613-232-6161
www.jazzoobarandlounge.com

Anthony’s On Elgin

We decided that back to basics was the way to go.

Lynn had recovered from a month long battle with her flu and was ready to step out again for a dinner date.

Go somewhere we knew was her thought, somewhere downtown. Her suggestion was the Ritz on Elgin between Somerset and MacLaren.

This restaurant has occupied its thin narrow space on Elgin Street for 25 years. It began as the Ritz number three, part of the Ritz Restaurant Empire. That Empire has since fallen but remaining is Anthony’s On Elgin, same address, same staff and the same cook/owner, and more importantly the same dedication to great food.

Nothing beats the three basics of a successful dining experience: excellently prepared and presented food, seamless service and a comfortable space to tie everything together.

The room resembles the dimensions of a dining car on a train. Instead choosing a paint color to open the room up owner Anthony Ford went the other way picking a milk chocolate brown which makes the room even more intimate. The space is designed to focus on the food and the company you are sharing it with. There are no distractions to divert ones attention to anything other than taste.

Anthony’s is an Italian restaurant – sort of. Pasta is its mainstay, made fresh daily on site as are the desserts.

But Pasta Alla Jambalaya or Spaghetti with Curried Seafood Marinara isn’t the kind of fare you would find in Mama Teresa’s kitchen.

Chef Ford adds contemporary twists to his dishes while remaining true the basics of Italian culinary tradition.

To start we decided to share two appetizers. Lynn ordered the Inslatta Al Antonio. A fabulous light salad of Pear, Provolone, Walnuts and Mixed Greens splashed with red wine vinaigrette. (7.95) Also try the house standard, Inslatta Mista which has to be the best in the city. (5.95)

I ordered the Mussels. They are two options, either cream or tomato based. I have had both but this night I opted for the tomato, tarragon and ginger sauce version. (8.95) The plumpest mussels available peek out from a perfectly balanced sauce with a hint of butter to bind it all together.

Lynn and I are both small eaters and at this point I was satisfied, almost ready for a cognac and a cigar but we decided to press on.

And lo and behold salvation was at hand in that the first three pasta dishes on the menu came in half sizes.

Lynn chose the Pasta Alla Calabrese which was a spicy tomato sauce with Calabrese sausage. (9.95) I decided on the Pasta Con Pesto, fettuccine with a basil pesto, a dollop of Goat Cheese and sprinkled with freshly cut tomato. (9.95) Although each dish was different the sauces were both superb. Each held a delicate balance that gave each of its ingredients a voice.

The real success, however, was the freshly made pasta. Even though pasta seems like a simple thing to cook, and it is, it is the quality, the right mix of egg and flour that makes a truely great pasta a real treat. Anthony makes truely great pasta.

The half sizes we were served amounted to pretty substantial portions. Now I was definitely ready for that cognac.

If there if a fault with Anthony’s it is that you don’t want to leave. I actually felt like ordering more if only to just get a taste. I wanted to try some of days specials like the Grilled Trout with black and green olives, and cherry tomatoes with garlic. (16.95)

We decided that coming back was the better idea than ordering more and asked for our bill. That was another treat $54.00 for two with a juice and a glass of wine. It was the half orders that dropped the price but even still I felt guilty knowing that we would have paid double that amount without question.

The basics work every time.

Anthony’s On Elgin
Monday to Friday 11:30 – 10:00
Weekend 5:00 – 10:00
613-235-7027

http://www.anthonysonelgin.ca/

Staying Home
April 8, 2008

We are doing our dining at home these days, when we can. Lynn has been afflicted with a vicious strain of the flu which has robbed her of her energy, her voice and her taste for dining out.

She is on the mend and, hopefully, now the worst is behind her.

But we aren’t taking any chances for another week or so.

As a consolation prize we offer two places that we have visited before we began writing this blog and highly recommend. We hope to get back to them in the future so we can offer more details.

Infusion Bistro

A small welcoming place in the Glebe with a simple menu. The food is good and the ambiance makes you want to hold hands across the table. Great washrooms, actually great terrible washrooms, unique in their own way.

Infusion Bistro
825 Bank Street
613- 234-2412

The Pepper Garden

Call ahead. This jewel amid the strip mall blandness of Vanier is very popular with the local community. They have a flair for Italian and a bit of everything else and they do it all well.

Watch for it just beyond St Laurent on the North side of Montreal Road – next to the Pizza Hut.

Definitely worth the trip.

The Pepper Garden
681 Montreal Road
613-749-2999

www.peppergarden.ca

Hat Etiquette

April, 03, 2008

Men wearing hats indoors is an Ottawa epidemic. There seems to be a faux macho fashion culture in Ottawa that demands hiding ones hair or eyes under the brim of a baseball styled cap.

In some cities this is a signal of gang affiliation, where the colour of the cap, the angle it is worn at or even its wear and tear means something.

In Ottawa it only means poor manners. And I don’t understand the signals that cap wearing Ottawa men are sending.

The activities that we partake in at night should be different from our daytime pursuits.

One might wear a cap on the way to work but never even consider keeping it on at work, unless your employment requires you to spend most of your time underneath an automobile or nailing up drywall.

Regardless of one's profession, after work, for a drink, a date or even dinner somehow wearing baseball head gear is curiously acceptable.

The up side of the hat epidemic is that one can use it as an indicator of the establishment you are entering. If you see men sitting at the bar or worse at a table with a date and they are wearing hats, you can be assured that you have entered into a nacho, chicken wing heaven.

A somewhat nicer place, with men sans hats, might mean that the service and the food would probably be better. It would at the very least mean that the tenor of the establishment demands some respect. Respect for the experience they offer and respect for the person you are with or even, dare I say it, respect for those others around you.

The other side of the coin, a sadder side, is the possibility of degraded self image. One could normally assume that any opportunity to dress well should be embraced enthusiastically.

As my father is always saying; Look sharp, Feel sharp.

Guys, remove your hats and become transformed into gentlemen.

The Village Café
March 27, 2008

Old friends of ours, Allen and Liz, have lived in Westboro for years now. Liz in particular has been suggesting various local spots for us to try on our date night. She has tried most of them and has an impressively long list of places in Westboro that she recommends. At her and Allen’s urging we decided to head for The Village Café, on the north side of Richmond Road just east of Churchill.

Parking is always an issue in this part of town but with a little patience you can find a spot.

We are always surprised whenever we venture into Westboro, which is only a few times a year. The area keeps changing in subtle ways and has a comfortable, neighbourly sense of spirit to it. There always seems to be a new store front popping up that artfully and subtly entices that you come in and browse.

Ignoring the big box Loblaws monstrosity, this western end of the city is an established and growing destination for people to eat and shop.

The Village Café was an early pioneer in the transformation of Westboro. Since the Cafe first opened their doors 20 years ago it has reportedly offered local residents good lunches, dinners and good times throughout their history.

The décor is a bit dated and thrown together like your first apartment. There are interior designer type fabric art pieces on the wall and some of them are even under lights. The room is long and narrow with a bar in the middle. And that is basically it. Nothing particularly jumps out at you but nothing offends either. It is haphazard that works.

The menu is actually a tome that contains everything the Café has to offer from brunch to dinner and desserts. They also have a very adequate wine list with a good number available by the glass.

The menu options vary from simple Salads to Mussels and a great sounding Mediterranean Plate while the dinner menu has a full compliment offering the usual choices from pasta, fish and meats.

We chose to share a Grilled Romaine Hearts salad with a house Caesar dressing. This was a great take on the traditional Caesar salad. Whole leaves of romaine were very lightly grilled until just barely warmed and then served with pancetta and shaves of parmesan cheese. (11)

The dressing was a tab sweet for my taste but to be fair it is almost impossible to find a good Caesar dressing anywhere these days since chefs abandoned making the real thing with raw egg yolks.

Lynn ordered the Pasta Pomodoro Secchi which was Linguine dish with pan seared caramelized chicken and toasted pecans in a sun-dried tomato pesto cream reduction. (19)

The dish was large, the chicken succulent and the pecans were an excellent compliment. I thought the sauce was a little sweet – again with the sweet.

I ordered the stuffed pork tenderloin which came with terrific mashed leek and potatoes and seasonal vegetables. The tenderloin was a perfect pink and moist tender. The stuffing was basic, cheesy and a great companion to the meat. (23)

We felt more than fed and continued to talk for awhile before we were approached and asked if we would want dessert. Against my best intentions and Lynn’s advice I ordered a slice of chocolate cheese cake. Big mistake. The cake was delicious and dangerous to one’s health.

Someone once said to me the every neighbourhood needs a spot like The Village Café. I agreed then and would agree even more today.

The reason Lynn and I are out on these dates is to spend more time with each other doing new things, to discover the best that Ottawa has to offer, from the 5 star to no star. We search for places where one can bring a date or a good book and feel appreciated and well fed.

While certainly not a no star place The Village Café is the kind of place you would want to spend time in, with someone you want to spend time with.

The Village Café
295 Richmond Road
Ottawa
613-728-2162
www.thevillagecafe.net

Black Cat Cafe
March 20, 2008

I had been looking forward to dining at the Black Cat since Lynn planned the dinner. We were first going to see the Joe Fafard exhibit at the National Gallery and then wend our way down to the Café just blocks away in the market.

Our visit to the Gallery was postponed by a political protest marching on the Embassy of China, also just blocks away from the Gallery. The protesters were supporting the struggle of Tibetan people and Lynn was predicting that there would be a large contingent of people championing this important and pressing cause. We decided that we could see Joe’s exhibit at some other time.

We reached the café for our reservation after meeting for a drink in Centretown.

As soon as we were in the door we were impressed. The Black Cat is the epitome of dressed down cool. The décor is soft beige pastels with fabric accents posing as art pieces. The tables are cleanly lined and simple with thick wooden tops. The chairs are plastic and look stackable. All of the décor is basic and very classy. The space exudes a comfortable mood.

We were seated, our coats whisked away by our server who promptly returned with glasses of water and our menus.

Ah, the menus. The Black Cat has been around for a long time and gone through a few number of chefs. I had scanned their old menus on the net and read through the reviews that they had garnered in the past – including a glowing appraisal from the NEW YORK TIMES. But those were days now gone.

Today’s menu is the creation of Trish Donaldson and it is a joy to peruse, in a way. As I worked down the list of offerings I found myself trying to match the culinary concepts to what the dishes might actually taste like.

First off was an appetizer, Isaac’s Tempura Veggies, which was described as “Plum/Passion Dressed Baby Frisee, Tempura Veggies, & Eggplant Mousse Stuffed Caps.” ($12) Hmmm.

And the exotic descriptions of all the Black Cat offerings just keep on coming making a choice feel more like taking a test.

The Main Course offered six choices, two pastas, two meats, a tuna study and a duck breast. I hovered over the Beef Tenderloin which was “Grilled Beef Tenderloin, Parsnip/Marscapone Butter, Black Pepper Hollandaise & Pulled Chai Oxtail Yorkshire Pudding.” ($33)

We decided to share a first course, Kobe Samosas. Lynn had never had Kobe beef before and I was singing its praises at length as the dish arrived. Two Samosas wrapped in a light pastry stuffed with Curried Kobe Beef with Carrot – Orange Marmalade & Tomato Saffron Coulis. ($12)

Lynn loved it, I was less than impressed. Curry is for meat you want to hide while Kobe Beef is a meat that deserves a spotlight and a full orchestra. But the sauce dips were tasty.

For our main courses Lynn chose the Thai Noodles - “Sweet and Sour Thai Spiced Noodles with Soft Tofu, Baby Bok Choy, Eggplant Sous-Vide, Kafir, Smokey Peanuts & Chilies.” ($24)

I decided on the Lamb Ravioli – “Braised Lamb Shank & Silky Ricotta Stuffed in Mint Pasta with Bitter Orange/Earl Grey Glaze, Navy Bean Puree, Carrot Chips and Mint Butter.” ($28)

I love Lamb but in this dish it could have been ground beef. The concept of Mint pasta seemed like a great idea but I yet to have a flavoured pasta that actually tasted like the flavour it advertised.

I can’t count how many times I have had spinach pasta and not once did I get a snippet of the taste of spinach across my taste buds. As for the sauce it was like watching Quasimodo and Ginger Rogers trying to waltz together, just not going to work out. The carrot chips were exceptional and a tasty sidebar.

Lynn liked her Thai Noodles but found that they presented more of the sweet while ignoring the balance of the sour. I wondered what the heck is a Smokey peanut anyway?

Most things about the Black Cat work with precision. The service is seamless and exceptional. Everything brought to the table is explained in detail, even the four small slices of bread as well as the butter mixed with virgin olive oil and two spicy olives that come with them, have a background story.

The problem was that concept and aspiration runs ahead of taste. In her attempt to be newer and different from the last chefs Ms Donaldson might have not relied so heavily on writing her menu and spent more time creating and tasting her food at a stove.

What she offers seems to sound good on paper but falters on the plate. The food isn’t bad by any means, but it misses the essence of the products being cooked. Basics are okay, tweaking the basics is okay, but enhancing the value of the tried and true should be the goal, not infusing the recognition out of the produce.

Any meal is a chance at savouring and experimenting but it also should be a robust adventure
that both inspires and satisfies.

We will go back as the weight of their history and reputation far surpasses anything I could offer here. All the right requirements are in house, great location, great space, remarkable service and all the necessary ingredients for the menu to re-embrace and maybe even re-jig some of the past kitchen classics.

Finally the bathrooms. Lynn insists on checking out the washrooms of where ever we go. She has a theory that an interesting, or at least spotless washroom is indicative of how much management really cares about their clientele.

Returning from her inspection she insisted that I check out the Men’s facilities, no she demanded that I go the bathroom whether I had to go or not. Trust me they were cleaner than clean but also they have a truly unique feature that we will have to leave you to discover.

Black Cat Cafe
Monday to Saturday 5:30 – 9:45
93 Murray Street,
Ottawa
613-241-2999
http://www.blackcatcafe.ca/