Sunday Brunch at Canvas Resto-Bar-Etc, Ottawa

I hadn't heard anything about Canvas Resto-Bar-Etc for a longggg time, so we decided to go check it out for Sunday brunch. A good mid-priced place for brunch, Canvas serves food that you would prepare in your own kitchen. The food is not overly greasy and they don't try to overdo it with extra bacon, cheese or sugar. It is just good wholesome food.

In the summertime, the windows are all open in fresco style, which gives the place a nice airy feel.
Instead of bread before your meal, a sharing fruit platter is served.

The huevos rancheros, surprisingly, was a light dish. It was two eggs served on tortilla with bean puree, aged cheddar, queso fresco, chipotle salsa, avocado, cilantro, with a side salad.

Their nicoise salad was served with thick slices of seared sashimi grade albacore tuna, which was a nice change from the canned tuna you normally see.

The special of the day was apple pancakes with cinnamon butter. The apple pancakes were very dense, and the cinnamon butter just slightly sweet.

Huevos Rancheros

Grilled Albacore Tuna Nicoise Salad

Bistro Tenderloin Burger with Caramelized Onion, Ancho Chili BBQ Sauce, Cream Cheese & Aioli

Apple Pancakes with Cinnamon Butter and Home Fries

Fruit Platter

Canvas Resto-Bar-Etc

65 Holland Avenue

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Telephone: 613-729-1991

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Blackie Brings Upscale Downtown Dining to Ottawa West with NEXT

Labneh Cream Cheese with Baguette, Pickled Okra, Olives and Roasted Pepper

Blackie has ventured out to Ottawa West to bring some oomph into the Stittsville area. A rapidly developing part of the city, Stittsville is short of an upscale restaurant that isn't Italian.

Situated in the same building as the former Isaac's restaurant, NEXT is pretty far West...even for the Kanata peeps. Blackie, with partner Tim Snelling, is doing more than just bringing a nice big shiny new restaurant to Stittsville. NEXT also offers catering, banquet, meeting and take home services, and they can do it all. The dining room holds 80-seats, with an additional 4 rooms that can hold between 50-165 people.



If you like variety, you are in luck. The menu is a bit schizophrenic. We had charcuterie, Asian, British and Lebanese all in one meal. While it was nice to try so many different types of dishes, the menu lacked a unifying element.

The Seed to Sausage charcuterie board of chorizo, lomo, salami, eggplant jam, cumin pickled onions, olives and jalapenos was a favorite.

The labneh board (title picture) with baguette, pickled okra olives and roasted peppers was a beautiful dish but it could have used a bit more labneh for the amount of bread served.

Blackie's chicken is the chef's signature dish, a westernized version of General Tao's chicken.

Seed to Sauasage Charcuterie Board

Blackie's Chicken

British Ham and Cheese Melt

NEXT
6400 Hazeldean Road
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 613-836-8002

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Wall Gets It Right with Supply and Demand, Ottawa

It's exciting when an awesome new place that you know will stay pops up in Ottawa. I last felt it when Back Lane Cafe opened and I'm feeling it again with Supply and Demand, a funky little food and raw bar on Wellington Street West in Westboro, Ottawa.

The couple behind Supply and Demand are Chef Steve Wall and his wife, Jennifer. Twenty-eight-year-old Steve Wall has been with some of Ottawa's most notable restaurants, including Town, Whalesbone and Luxe.

Decked out in black and white, this place is anything but plain. Maybe I've been watching too much Boardwalk Empire, but Supply and Demand reminds me of a 1920's speakeasy funked up in contemporary style. The sea horse wall paper and tiled floors are totally awesome! The brains behind the design is the talented Shannon Smithers-Gay of One80 Design.

And the food...I don't even know where to start with the food, except to say that it all pretty much rocks! There wasn't anything that we ordered that I didn't love.

You can't go wrong with anything on the raw menu as it was a big part of their original vision for the restaurant. While the menu changes often, the highlights on the night we were there were the short rib carpaccio, the sea scallop ceviche, kale salad and ricotta gnudi. The ricotta gnudi was melt in your mouth good and the raw dishes were fresh with nice clean flavors.

This is now one of my new favorite places to eat in Ottawa.

Kale Salad with Caper Vinaigrette, Manchego Cheese and Bacon

Ricotta Gnudi with Basil Pesto

Raw Sea Scallop with Grapefruit, Scallions and Birds Eye Chili

Short Rib Carpaccio with Pickled Pepper Mayo, Preserved Romano Cheese and Mache

New Crop Potatoes with Soft Boiled Egg, Dijon, Lemon and Herring Caviar

Brown Butter Poached Mackerel with Pickled Shrimp Panzanella and Marinated Vegetables

Pavlova Sandwich with Dulce de Leche, Roasted White Chocolate and Banana

Supply and Demand
1335 Wellington West
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 613-680-2949

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Get Together at Gezellig, Ottawa

If you are going to order just one dish from Gezellig, it has got to be the beef tartare. Tender raw beef  tossed with seasoning and served with fried egg, puffed mustard and lemon oil crostada.

Pronounced gah-zell-ig, the word is Dutch for cosy, nice atmosphere, time spent with loved ones or general togetherness. Gezellig is truly just that.

It is the 3rd restaurant child of Stephen Beckta, with the other two being Beckta and Play. Some have described Gezellig's food and atmosphere as something being in between Beckta and Play, but, although the interior is grand looking, I find the food and crowd at Gezellig a lot more casual than the other two restaurants. It has more of a gastropub feel.

Their menu changes often but there are some dishes that remain permanent like the highly regarded beef tartare. If you like peanut butter and chocolate, their butter finger dessert is a must try. The maple pork tamarind sandwich was absolutely delicious and extremely filling. It was packed with a generous amount of pork served with slaw and thick pieces of fresh poppyseed bread.

Maple-Tamarind Pork Sandwich with Napa Cabbage, Carrot Slaw, Bartlett Pear, Chilies and Chips

Seafood Chowder: Red Curry Coconut Broth, Oyster Plant, Sweet Carrots, Purple Potato and Lime Oil

Beef Tartare, Fried Egg, Puffed Mustard and Lemon Oil Crostada

“Butter Finger”, Peanut Butter, White Milk & Dark Chocolate, Graham Cookie, Chocolate Anglaise

Gezellig
337 Richmond Road
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 613-680-9086

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Social Restaurant + Lounge, Ottawa

I'm torn on how I feel about Social. The best way to put it, in my mind, is that this place has a minor identity crisis. On the one end, it has a very chic and upscale feel where this is the place to be seen, but because Social is also a lounge/night club, you also have a very young University crowd coming here, taking away from the upscale feeling. Regardless of what vibe/crowd Social attracts, it is a very big place and there is plenty of room for all. However, in saying that, if I'm going to pay at upscale prices, I would prefer to be dining at a place that is upscale all the time, not just sometimes.

We recently came here for my good friend P's bday dinner and she chose this place for 2 reasons. One: for the patio, and two: she wanted a place where it would be busy enough for people watching. We decided to order a bunch of small/share plates so we could nibble, chat and enjoy the scenery.

We started with a beet salad that had an assortment of different beets: golden, purple and candy cane. The salad was complemented with ricotta, cocoa nibs, hazelnuts, and lettuce. I love beets so this salad was great for me.

Beet Salad

If this gnocchi dish was on the permanent menu, I would come more often. This dish was a plate of pillowy soft hand rolled gnocchi with massive BC spot prawns served in a white wine butter sauce. What I loved about this dish was how light it tasted. Being able to make a pasta dish with butter sauce taste light is talent for sure.

Hand Rolled Gnocchi with BC Spot Prawns

The three of us also shared the Social plate, which was a combination of appetizers from the menu + a Chef's addition. The night we went, we had fried calamari with Asian dipping sauce, Le Coprin mushrooms on crostini served with reggiano and truffled veal juice, seared BC albacore tuna with citrus soy, wasabi mayo and avocado, and the Chef's addition was his take on ham and eggs: crostini served with prosciutto and soft poached egg.

The Social Plate

For dessert, we opted for both salty and sweet. Our first dessert was a cheese platter with grapes, candied walnuts and cranberry bread. The cheese was good but I found the walnuts and bread a little old tasting.

Cheese Platter

Our sweet dessert was a fancy banana split. It was a sliced banana coated with sugar served with chocolate ice cream, vanilla, rhubarb, and broken waffle pieces.

Banana Split

Social Restaurant + Lounge
537 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 613-789-7355

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The Village Cafe, Ottawa

Nothing can compare to a close sisterly bond. I love my sis Freebs and get excited everytime we get to see each other. I hadn't seen her in a while so when she called to see if I wanted to meet up for lunch, I said yes! without any hesitation.

I also invited CK and the three of us spent the afternoon laughing and being silly. What I love most is this common understanding Freebs and I have because we grew up together. I never have to explain anything. Freebs just gets it.

For lunch, the three of us met at The Village Cafe. What I like about this place is that its easy and casual. It's in the trendy Westboro neighborhood and its a friendly, no fuss restaurant.

CK and I split the Mediterranean plate, which was plenty for the 2 of us. It had grilled vegetables, marinated eggplant, olives, tzatziki, hummus, grilled pita wedges, spanikopita and rice stuffed grape leaves. This is one of the best Mediterranean plates I have had in Ottawa. What I loved was that their veggies were freshly grilled and not marinated. Their pita was soft like Turkish pide bread which I love. This is my new go-to dish at this place.

Mediterranean Plate

 

Freebs ordered the roast beef & swiss sandwich served on multi grain bread. This was a fresh and hearty sandwich filled with a generous amount of roast beef, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, swiss cheese and rosemary mayonnaise. I have tried a few other sandwiches at Village Cafe and this is my favorite so far.

All sandwiches are served with a side salad with a choice between multi grain bread, sour dough, foccacia, grilled pita, or a grilled tortilla wrap.
 

Roast Beef and Swiss Sandwich

 

The Village Cafe

295 Richmond Road

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Telephone: 613-728-2162

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Back Lane Cafe, Ottawa

I've been featuring so many posts abroad lately, that it's time I talk about the food from the city I actually live in for once! OMG, we have had a crazy heat wave here this week and everyone is just cooped up in their a/c blasted houses. It's a funny weather dynamic we have here in Ottawa. When it's cold, we complain. When it's finally hot out, we also complain. We get the two temperature extremes for so much of the year, it's hard not to complain. The good stuff in between just doesn't last long here. If the beautiful warm May weather could last a bit longer, I'd be happy.

I recently checked out Back Lane Cafe and I'm so glad I did! I've been waiting for something new in Ottawa to pop up that would get me excited, and this is it. Atmosphere, for me, is just as important as the food, and this place does both really well. What I love about Back Lane is how cozy and quaint the place feels. It has an ecclectic feel mixed with a small cottage feel. A place where you can kick back and be yourself.

I started my meal with the frisee salad with walnut, orange, parmigiano and walnut vinaigrette. The vinaigrette was awesome. Light with a bit of a tang.

Frisee Salad with Walnut, Orange, Parmigiano and Walnut Vinaigrette

My friend A wasn't feeling great so he opted for a soup, lentil & spinach with a goat cheese gougere on the side. It hit the spot for him, soup that tasted like mom made!

Lentil and Spinach Soup with Goat Cheese Gougere

I was torn between the lamb pizza and the special of the day. After some himming and hawing, I went for the special since the lamb pizza will always be there. The special was the pan seared chicken livers on sourdough with sunchokes and shitake mushrooms. I was honestly in heaven eating this dish. The sauce served with the livers was amazing...rich yet very light tasting. And adding sunchokes to the livers was genius because the textures blended together, creating this melt in your mouth feel. I wish they had this as part of their permanent menu!

Pan Seared Chicken Livers with Sunchokes and Shitake Mushrooms

A loves mussels so he ordered the mussels in toasted garlic and provencal tomato sauce with saratoga chips and polenta. The mussels were juicy and cooked just perfectly, and the sauce was very fresh. He absolutely loved his dish.

Mussels in Toasted Garlic and Provencal Tomato Sauce

Check this place out. Restaurants like Back Lane make me excited to be living in Ottawa!

Back Lane Cafe
1087 Wellington Street
Ottawa Ontario Canada
Telephone: 613-695-2999

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Griffintown Cafe, Montreal

Wow, so I haven't been excited about a place like this in a long time! I have to admit, I'm pretty uninspired with what is out there. Don't get me wrong, there is lots of good food out there, but I think that is exactly what the problem is. It is so hard to set yourself apart these days because EVERYONE does it well.

What I love about Griffintown Cafe is that this place has got soul and character! Not only is the food great, but they've really created this atmosphere that isn't easy to replicate. This place has got this old funky saloon type feel that makes it a lot of fun. They are open for lunch, weekend brunch, and dinner, and have live music three nights a week.

Fresh cold water was served in Bulleit Bourbon bottles. I loved the idea and want to do that at my house. Like I said, they make it fun!

I ordered the huevos divorciados with corn tortillas, poached eggs, cheddar cheese, black beans, avocado, Mexican crema, and salsa verde y roja. For an extra $2, you can add pulled pork which is well worth your money. I was absolutely in heaven with this dish. It was substantial, flavorful, fresh, and absolutely DELICIOUS!

Huevos Divorciados

The eggs were cooked rare, and it was a perfect dish to mix up and eat all mushed together. I was so satisfied with my dish that I didn't even look at anyone else's, which is rare for me. I always have food envy and want to try every dish on the table, but not this time. I was faithful to my dish.

Huevos Divorciados

S and P had the eggs benedict served on home baked biscuits with hollandaise, potatoes and mixed green salad. S had hers with homemade bacon.

Eggs Benedict with Homemade Bacon

 And P had her eggs benny with house cured organic salmon.

Eggs Benedict with Salmon

J opted for something sweet and had the brioche french toast with bourbon, vanilla bean, cinnamon fresh berries, sweet cream and maple syrup.

Brioche French Toast

Griffintown Cafe

1378 Notre Dame Ouest

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Telephone: 514-931-5299

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