Glammed Up Pork Belly, Poutine and Pulled Pork at Odile, Ottawa (Gatineau)

Dutch Baby

This dutch baby, offered on the brunch menu, should be reason enough for you to visit Odile. A fluffy crepe souffle bowl filled with warm baked apples, melt in your mouth pork belly, sharp aged cheddar, drizzled with a thick sweet maple syrup. Drooling yet?

Odile, a follow on restaurant to Marysol Foucalt's Edgar, is just as charming but with a more grown up feel. Although very similar in menu options, Odile feels a bit more sophisticated and refined. Unlike Edgar, Odile is also open for dinner.

While the menu changes weekly, you can expect to see dishes like duck confit poutine with rabbit jus or pulled pork with cornbread cubes and cheese stuffed pepper on their brunch menu.

Duck Confit Poutine with Rabbit Jus, Gouda, Poached Eggs and Fingerling Potatoes

Cornbread, Pulled Pork, Avocatdo, Cheese Stuffed Pepper and Poached Eggs

Odile
47 Avenue Montclair
Gatineau, Quebec Canada
Telephone: 819-205-4425

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Petit Bill's Bistro, Ottawa

My friend J and I met up at Petit Bill's Bistro and enjoyed a lobster lunch together. Petit Bill's has been on my list for a long time and I finally got to try it.

Petit Bill's is French food, the Newfie way. Throw away the pretentiousness, add a whole lot of casual, serve fries with gravy and dressing and voila, you've got Petit Bill's Bistro.

In Ottawa, they are well known for their lobster poutine, so I couldn't come here without trying it. It was a large bowl of shoe string fries, covered with lobster chunks and a rich shelffish butter & mascarpone cheese sauce. I find the cheese sauce overpowers everything, causing the lobster taste to be lost because of it. I'm glad I tried it but I much prefer a regular poutine over this. In a regular poutine, you've got 2 very distinct tastes (cheese and gravy) complementing one another, whereas in the lobster poutine, everything just blends together with no distinct tastes.

Lobster Poutine

J is a huge lobster fan so she ordered the lobster roll, a housemade creamy lobster salad served with lettuce and tomato on a croissant. On the side were cole slaw and frites. For an extra $4, you can substitute the regular fries for Newfie fries, which is regular fries served with homemade dressing and gravy. J opted out of that. The lobster roll was creamy and fresh.

Lobster Roll

And Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!!

Petit Bill's Bistro
1293 Wellington Street W.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 613-729-2500

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Roger La Grenouille, Paris

We got to celebrate Super J's boyfriends's fabulous birthday while in Paris. They wanted to go to a traditional French restaurant that night, so we headed to Roger La Grenouille, or Roger the Frog...what a cute name! This restaurant has been in service for over 80 years, and the decor of the place really shows it.

As the name implies, Roger La Grenouille specializes in frogs...more specifically frog's legs. They serve 9 different frog leg dishes organized in 3 sections: classical, creation, and original savours. Classical frog legs include Provençale (sliced garlic & parsley), and creamy white wine sauce with chives. Creation comes in flavors like "Niçoise" (candied lemon, dried tomatoes, and black olives), and "Grenobloise" (capers, fried bread cubes, and lemon juice). Original savours have an international twist combining ingredients like tandoori, fresh mint, and chorizo.

There are hints of the frog theme beyond what is offered on the menu like this toilet paper holder in the washroom. When Super J saw it, she made me go in and take a photo. Haha.

Frog Toilet Paper Holder

Our meal started with a dish mini olives, and a dish of radish and butter.

Radish and Butter

   

As an appetizer, we ordered a big plate of juicy Burgundy Snails to share. They were smothered in butter and herbs, and were probably the best escargots I had ever had! I couldn't help but soak my bread in the butter sauce when we were finished.

Burgundy Snails
  

Of course, we couldn't come to Roger La Grenouille without trying the frog's legs. We decided to order off the Original Savours section, and chose the "Andalouse" frog legs. This was a plate of meaty frog's legs tossed with chorizo sausage, piquillo peppers, candied lemons, and basil. The flavor combination was fantastic, and the addition of candied lemons was a nice way to balance the salty chorizo sausage. After the escargots and frog legs, I wished I had ordered more of each!

"Andalouse" Frog Legs

For my main meal, I ordered the "aioli" roasted cod with vegetables. The fish was cooked very nicely, but the entire meal was a bit bland...especially after all the butter, sausages, and candied lemons in the previous dishes.

"Aioli" Roasted Cod and Vegetables

 Super J ordered the poached chicken breast with creamy lemon sauce. What beautiful presentation!

Poached Chicken Breast with Creamy Lemon Sauce

The birthday boy ordered the seared rib steak of 350g. This was served with home made "Béarnaise" sauce, and french fries. We loved the way the fries were served...reminded us of Jenga building blocks!

Seared Rib Steak

For dessert, Super J and I shared the strawberry salad, coconut cake, and fresh mint ice cream. It was a great way to end our meal.

Coconut Cake, Strawberry Salad, and Fresh Mint Ice Cream

This is a very charming restaurant with the full French experience. Next time, I am going to indulge in just the escargots and frog legs over a nice bottle of wine!

Roger La Grenouille
26-28 Rue des Grands Augustins
75006 Paris, France
Telephone: 01 56 24 24 34

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Le Pré Aux Clercs, Paris

Destination after London was Paris! One of my favorite cities in the world. Lucky me.

In the last few years, I've really come to understand how important friendships are. I've been trying hard to keep in touch with everyone that has touched my life in a meaningful way. While CK can get annoyed because it means more time spent on my phone or laptop, the upside is that there are more people to connect with while travelling! And that's exactly what happened in Paris.

This trip to Paris was a fun one. I had a few groups of friends who were also in Paris the same week so I got to catch up with a lot of people!

My first stop was at Le Pré Aux Clercs in St. Germain. The beauty about this place is that it is right across the street from Ladurée. I was in dire need of macarons that day. As always, the line up was insanely long. We snagged a seat on the terrace of Le Pré Aux Clercs so that I could monitor the line up at Ladurée, and run over when the line died down.

Ladurée Shop

While waiting for the perfect time to pop over to Ladurée, we decided to eat. I had La Niçoise Salad, a salad of tuna, anchovies, tomatoes, olives, sweet peppers and hard boiled egg.

Niçoise Salad

Y had never had a croque-monsieur, so we encouraged her to try it. It was delicious...the thick layer of Gruyere on top made all the difference!

Croque-Monsieur

JW had the Margret de Canard Façon "Bistrot", grilled duck breast in Parisian tradition with herbs and mashed potatoes.

Margret de Canard Façon "Bistrot"

In the middle of my meal, I did get a chance to run over to Ladurée, and the three of us shared my macarons for dessert :)

Le Pré Aux Clercs
30 Rue Bonaparte
75006 Paris, France
Telephone: 01 43 54 41 73

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Le Lapin Saute, Quebec City

Le Lapin Saute is a cozy little restaurant on the charming rue du Petit-Champlain. If the weather is nice enough, try to snag a seat on the terrace overlooking the cobblestone courtyard and garden right beside it. In the evenings, if it gets a little bit chilly, the wait staff will offer blankets to the ladies. How charming!

Le Lapin Saute, as the name implies, specializes in rabbit. If you are like some, and can't stand the idea of eating those cute little animals, they also do great grilled meats topped with cheese.

This restaurant holds a dear place in my heart because this is one of my first out of town date places with CK. Many years later, when my friend S and I head to Quebec City, I knew I wanted to eat here to rehash some of my fond memories.

My appetizer was the delicious and creamy puff pastry with escargots, sundried tomatoes, lardons and melted goat cheese. This was a fabulously rich dish, and I highly recommend it!

Puff Pastry With Escargots

My main was the two mustard rabbit served with veggies and potatoes. This was a clean, simple dish. It was good but I prefer my rabbit slow cooked or served confit style, so I would probably choose something else the next time.

Two Mustard Rabbit

S ordered the filet mignon topped with goat cheese, port wine and balsamic sauce. This was also served with veggies and potatoes on the side. The warm goat cheese on top of the steak was a very nice touch.

Filet Mignon Topped with Goat Cheese

One thing I loved, that I wanted to share, was their gigantic pepper mill. Look at the size of that baby. It was bigger than the dinner plate!

Massive Pepper Mill

For dessert, I knew exactly what I wanted: Quebec Sauvagine. This was served with arugula, strawberries, and hazelnuts.

Quebec Sauvagine

S had a piece of chocolate cake with strawberry sauce.

Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Sauce

And there you have it. That is the end of my quick Quebec City resto tour. Bon apétit!

Quebec City

Le Lapin Sauté 52, rue du Petit-Champlain
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Telephone: 418-692-5325

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Le Louis-Hebert, Quebec City

A beautiful place to visit in the summer time is Quebec City. Good weather, good shopping, historical beauty, natural beauty, and of course, great food!

This week, I'm going to do a quick tour of some of my favorite places to eat in Quebec City.

Quebec City

Le Louis-Hébert is a solid French restaurant with great people watching if you can snag a seat on la terrasse. It is also part of Auberge Louis-Hebert, a European-style 7-bedroom lodge on the busy Grand-Allee Street.

My friend, S and I grabbed a quick lunch on the terrace as we enjoyed the sun and people watching.

I ordered two starters for my meal. The first was the smoked salmon and Yukon gold chips napolean with sour cream and curried oil.

Smoked Salmon

My second was the duo of duck foie gras: "Au Torchon" and pan-seared. The pan seared foie gras was served with grilled King oyster mushroom, balsamic caramel + arugula, and the "Au Torchon" was served with an apricot and vanilla compote.

Duo of Duck Foie Gras

S had the cream of celery soup to start.

Cream of Celery Soup

And for his main, he had the flank steak with a three pepper sauce, served with potatoes and veggies on the side.

Flank Steak with Three Pepper Sauce

For dessert, a very seasonal and Candian dessert: fresh blueberries with maple syrup!

Blueberries with Maple Syrup

Le Louis-Hébert
668 Grande-Allée Est
Québec City, Québec, Canada
Telephone: 418-525-7812

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Black Cat Bistro, Ottawa

Black Cat Bistro has been on my list of places to try for a very long time. My good friend, N, invited us out for dinner to meet his new girlfriend, so I took the opportunity to knock Black Cat off my list.

This place is easy to miss. I have driven and walked past Black Cat Bistro many times without even realizing it was there! The sign for the restaurant sign is not an in-your-face sign, and I find that the restaurant just kind of blends in with the building it is situated in.

But when you walk in, you get the total opposite feel. The interior is a funky modern space (designed by Yvonne Potter of Y Design Studio) with a hip feel to it. And the food? It is French with a modern twist.

To start, we had home made bread with a delicious maple butter. Not to sweet but just enough to make you crave more.

Bread with Maple Butter

For an appetizer, the four of us shared the sharing table: Chef's choice of 4 different appetizers. On the night we went, the appetizers were: a pork terrine with apple butter, bbq chicken wings, duck liver with grainy mustard & raisin jam, and asparagus salad.

Everything was very good. My favorite was definitely the duck liver. I had no idea duck liver went so well with grainy mustard!

Sharing Table

Our sharing plate came with a small plate home made baguette slices.

Baguette Slices

My main was the seared Atlantic scallops with roasted tomato, grilled green onion, asparagus, pancetta & vanilla salt. I ate my dish pretty quickly! The scallops were so well seasoned that I was just popping them in my mouth like candy.

Seared Atlantic Scallops

CK had the pan roasted Ontario pickerel with potato fingerlings, ramps, carrots, mushrooms, brown butter & caper vinaigrette. He was trying to eat healthy that night, and although it was good, I'm pretty sure he wished he had ordered the steak or burger!

Pan Roasted Ontario Pickerel

DP had the BCB Signature Steak Frites: black angus striploin with maitre d’hotel butter & Peppercorn Bordelaise.

BCB Signature Steak Frites

The frites part of the steak frites was a clean bowl of sage fries cooked in peanut oil.

Sage Fries

Every Tuesday, BCB serves a different Angus burger. N got to try the Mexican burger topped with avocado and a fried egg. The burger was massively tall, so he ended up having to cut his burger instead of biting into it. He would have liked his burger to be a bit easier to eat.

The burger was served with sage fries and a truffle mayo that went really well together!

Mexican Burger

Black Cat Bistro428 Prestron Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 613-569-9998

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Bofinger, Paris

When I asked my Parisian friend, Philippe, to recommend a good restaurant in Paris, he replied Bofinger. It is a very traditional French restaurant he said, good food...very popular. He regrettably could not join us that evening, so he sketched us a quick map of how to get there, and sent us off.

Bofinger is a historical Parisian brasserie. Over 100 years old, Bofinger has a reputation as a place where French presidents, prime minsters, politicians and writers frequently dine and meet up.

While the food was not knock your socks off spectacular, there were elements that were done superbly (like their foie gras), and the whole vibe of the place screamed old world French. It is a place worth checking out.

Our meal started with pretzels and olives.

Pretzels and Olives

My appetizer was the home made foie gras with brioche toast. The foie gras was just perfect...delicate, smooth, and rich.

Home Made Foie Gras

Brioche Toast

My main was the medium rare duck breast with polenta. I didn't care much for the polenta but the duck was cooked very nicely. It was suprisingly tender...not even the slightest bit chewy.

Duck Breast with Polenta

My American friend, Y, ordered a steak well done with diet pepsi. The one thing about the French is that they are not shy about being snobs. When the waiter heard Y's order, he was completely flabbergasted. He rolled his eyes, and started to insult Americans in front of her. After a good minute of listening to how Americans don't know good food, he stood there expecting her to change her order. Y was firm on her order and refused to change it. From that point on, we were invisible to them. I found the whole situation humorous, and had quite the laugh. Y felt otherwise...she was both embarrased and angry...I didn't blame her for feeling that way.

Well Done Steak

Her steak was served with fries, tomatoes, beans, and gravy.

Fries, Tomatoes, and Beans

Gravy

For dessert, I forced Y to order the cherry clafoutis. By that point, she had had enough of the place but I convinced her to stay for dessert. Y loved her clafoutis, and did not regret ordering it.

Cherry Clafoutis

My dessert was the apricot soup. This was just perfect for me...tart and light.

Apricot Soup

Bofinger
5-7 Rue de la Bastille
75004 Paris, France
Telephone: 01 42 72 87 82

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