Les Grillades
111 Colonnade Rd.,  613-723-3224, lesgrillades.ca
Open: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed Monday
Prices: char-grilled mains $16 to $33, shareable breakfast items $8 to $18 for single servings
Access: stairs to entrance, bathrooms

At my first visit to Les Grillades on Colonnade Road off of Prince of Wales Drive, I was this close to ordering the foul. No, the server insisted. The fateh, which she loved, was the must-have.

Perhaps you would have made the right call, if you’ve had breakfast in the Middle East, or at least the breakfast that Les Grillades in Ottawa’s south end serves only on Sundays.

As unfamiliar as I was with foul (a fava-bean-based dip, pronounced fool) and fateh (chickpeas, toasted shards of pita, pine nuts swaddled in tangy made-in-house yogurt and tahini, pronounced fa-tay), I ordered confidently just the same at Les Grillades. For more than a decade, I’ve occasionally eaten at, but more often taken home food from, chef/owner Ali Chebbani’s original Holland Avenue location, favouring its flavourful, charcoal-grilled halal meats.

When I found out that Chebbani’s Colonnade Road location, which opened about a year ago, served breakfast on Sundays, I decided to make the longer drive and investigate.

The unpretentious, freshly renovated restaurant, which previously had been Grillman’s Fresh Eatery, was busy during my two breakfast visits. There were not just walk-ins but also large, multi-generational parties that took up reserved tables in the dining area that seats 70 or so.  

Around us, we saw families demonstrating the basics of how to eat breakfast in Lebanon, eschewing cutlery in favour of quarters of pita bread, which they used to scoop up foul and other items from bowls, some massively sized to help feed a crowd. Meals were augmented with platters that teemed with raw vegetables and herbs, which Chebbani later told me were meant to accompany the foul in particular.  

Thanks to our server’s urging, I learned that fateh ($12, $21 or $3o for larger sizes) was fantastic. It was a warm, savoury, engaging mix of tanginess, nuttiness and contrasting textures that was best eaten quickly before its shards of pita grew soggy. Foul ($10, $19 or $23 for larger sizes) was not as exceptional but was still very tasty.

Foul and fateh at Les Grillades on Colonnade Road

Two egg dishes — one, called chakchouka, which was vegetarian, and another that was studded with cubes of beef — were described as omelets but were much more rustically scrambled. Looks aside, they were delicious, the meatier one ($10, $29) especially so thanks to the richness of its eggs and tender, irresistibly seasoned meat.  

Vegetarian chakchouka omelet at Les Grillades

Beef omelet at Les Grillades

Based on these successes, on future trips we’ll try Les Grillades’ fried lamb liver, fried halloumi cheese and falafel. But on those Sunday afternoons, my companions and I also ordered from Les Grillades’ regular, all-day menu.

The mixed appetizer plate ($19) provided a deluxe range of starters, including rich, made-in-house hummus, sumptuous, smoky baba ghanouj, fresh tabouleh and garlicky, cooked-into-soft-submission green beans. 

Appetizer platter at Les Grillades

At the Holland Avenue location, I’ve stuck with various kabobs and lamb dishes and their counterparts at the second Les Grillades did not disappoint. The half-kilogram family pack of kabobs ($28) is a good deal, generating leftovers.

Assorted kebabs at Les Grillades

Especially succulent were the chunks of bone-in roast lamb served on saffroned rice ($17), with a sprinkling of fried almonds, pistachios and cashews on the side. 

Mandi roast lamb on rice at Les Grillades

A deboned half-chicken ($17) was moist and heavily charred, served with a mound of fresh salad and cumined rice. More involved to eat but enjoyable just the same was a grilled whole sea bass ($22), served with a tahini sauce.

Grilled half-chicken at Les Grillades

 As a meal-ender, a small piece of baklava was preferable to some overly mushy, rosewatered rice pudding, offered with some maple syrup on the side. Arabic coffee was bracingly potent. “Canadian” coffee was available too.

Rice pudding at Les Grillades

Service has been friendly, if a little relaxed and requiring a bit of prompting, for example, to have orders for coffee taken. But for those guests who would linger on a Sunday, it was fine. 

For newcomers to foul and fateh, it would be helpful too if servers could dispense a bit more advice and information on the customs and practices of Arabic breakfasts. For his part, Chebbani, who mentioned to me that he had taught in a hospitality program in Beirut before he came to Canada, was more than happy when I asked him to explain the details of his menu. 

But even in a less curated way, the breakfast at Les Grillades is definitely rewarding, and even unique in Ottawa.

phum@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/peterhum
Peter Hum’s previous restaurant reviews

Black Cat Bistro

428 Preston St., 613-569-9998, blackcatbistro.ca

Open: Tuesday to Thursday, 5 to 9:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 5 to 10:30 p.m.

Price: Starters, $9 to $18; main dishes, $22 to $45

Access: Fully accessible

It seems hard to be believe now, but almost 30 years ago, Ottawa thought it had seen the last of the Black Cat Café. “The Black Cat may have lived the last of its lives,” said the 1986 Citizen story.

There were business woes then, and finally a bankruptcy. But like its namesake, the Black Cat refused to die, not just surviving but even thriving through a series of relocations, rebrandings and menu makeovers.

An abbreviated history begins in 1980, with owner Richard Urquhart opening the first Black Cat, then called a café rather than a bistro, and serving “Nouveau American” cuisine at its Echo Drive location. It was a trailblazer of fine dining in Ottawa at a time when hotels served the fanciest fare.

The Black Cat’s food and even its logo won fans galore, but business faltered by the mid-1980s. Urquhart moved to Toronto and spent a dozen or so years there before returning to Ottawa. By the late 1990s, he opened his Black Cat restaurant on Murray Street, where he served tapas and then Asian noodles and wine before switching back to being a café. With bright young chefs such as René Rodriguez and Trish Donaldson, he won over foodies.

About seven years ago, the Black Cat moved to larger digs on Preston Street, swapped out the “café” for “bistro,” and stressed dishes with roots in French fare. For most of the Preston Street run to date, including when the Black Cat was last reviewed in this space in late 2011, Patricia Larkin was the bistro’s chef. She left in March 2015; since last April, in charge of the Black Cat’s kitchen has been Michael Farber, who owned and cooked at Farbs Kitchen & Wine Bar in New Edinburgh for six years until he closed his business in the fall of 2014. 

Having sampled about half of Farber’s compact menu earlier this month, I can say that the Black Cat’s latest chef again demonstrates that for all of its changes, the restaurant can be relied upon for distinguished bistro dining.

You can set aside all of the history and relax in the Black Cat’s sleek but comfy surroundings, perhaps sit at the four-seat bar that looks onto the kitchen, and look forward to well-crafted, easy-to-like spins on traditional dishes.

We appreciated three appetizers that had thought and complexity going for them as well as deliciousness, packing lots of stimulation and variety in just a few bites.

Farber’s pork belly starter ($14) was a playful one, nicknamed “snails and curly tails” because the luscious but not overly fatty cube of meat came topped with four plump escargots, plus some similarly textured stewed Eryngii mushrooms in a rich, unifying sauce.

Pork belly and snails at Black Cat Bistro

Beef tartare ($18) was very well accessorized too, benefiting from the small feat of a tempura-crusted soft-boiled egg, the crunch of homemade chips, tart pickles and a spicy mayo.

Beef tartare at the Black Cat Bistro.

Risotto ($14) was a light but luxurious way to start, with cubes of butternut squash and celeriac that were as flawlessly cooked as the rice. 

Late fall risotto at the Black Cat Bistro

Farber has replaced the Black Cat’s standard burger of the last few years with a no-less appealing patty of chopped venison ($22) that keeps good company with goat cheese, grilled scallions and more Eryngii mushrooms (pickled this time). Fries on the side were top-notch, the crisp-yet-tender-inside kind that you wish for at too many other restaurants.

Venison burger at the Black Cat Bistro

Farber’s rendition of duck confit ($28) also stood out from its peers in Ottawa — kudos go to its succulent meat and crisped skin, and to the offsetting beet chutney.

Duck confit at the Black Cat Bistro

Seafood lovers ($34) should savour what Farber called a chowder, but was more elegant than that — a more modestly portioned composition of flawlessly seared scallops and tiny pink shrimp, joined by brussels sprouts and colourful slices of watermelon radish in a refined broth. Too bad about the detracting bits of shrimp shell that should have stayed in the kitchen.

Scallop and shrimp chowder at the Black Cat Bistro

There were no such niggles about the sumptuous black cod ($32). Once more, the plate’s star was perfectly cooked, while the sunchoke purée provided smooth counterpoint.

Black cod at the Black Cat Bistro

The only main course that fell short was a deluxe surf-and-turf effort ($45). The rib eye steak was massive, supremely beefy and bettered by its Marsala sauce, but a few bites were more gristly than we liked. More seriously, the plate’s crab component, tucked into a baked potato, was practically missing in action.  

surf and turf ribeye steak and crab at the Black Cat Bistro

Desserts ($10) closed the meal on an appropriately sophisticated note. Bailey’s bread pudding was simple and classy — another textural success and not overly sweet. Gingerbread cake was moist and packed with flavour, with a big oatmeal crisp and sploosh of pumpkin curd adding extra dimensions. Its garnish of lardons, to me, wasn’t a must, but it wasn’t a stumble either.

Gingerbread cake at the Black Cat Bistro

Bailey’s bread pudding at the Black Cat Bistro

Chocolate cake and peppermint marshmallow at the Black Cat Bistro

In a phone interview this week, Urquhart, 66, told me that by his count, Farber is the Black Cat’s chef No. 9 — as in a cat’s lives. “Maybe it’s good luck,” Urquhart said. “Nine is my favourite number.”

Given Farber’s food, there’s no reason for Urquhart, now one of the restaurant’s owners and its manager, to push his luck into double digits. What could be considered Ottawa’s most senior fine-dining restaurant is in good hands, both old and new. 

phum@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/peterhum
Peter Hum’s previous restaurant reviews

The Waverley

339 Elgin St., 613-627-4140, thewaverleyelgin.com
Open: Monday to Wednesday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Thursday and Friday 11 a.m. to  2 a.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Prices: mains $14 to $28
Access: no steps to entrance or washrooms

There are two kinds of restaurant-goers — one who sees a $25 burger nicknamed “Le Monster” and scoffs, “Not on your life!” while the other, pondering that triple-decker creation that also includes cheddar, gruyère, bacon, short rib, potato chips, lettuce, onion, bacon and special sauce, pauses and then says, “Monster me.”

Le Monster burger at the Waverley on Elgin Street

I’m in the first category. But someone I know was game to try eating a mouth-stretchingly tall burger, layered to excess, and so we went recently to the Waverley on Elgin Street.

He tackled the Monster and even enjoyed it, noting the moistness of its house-ground patties without being that discriminating about what came with them. “I don’t know if I should be proud or sad that I finished the whole thing,” he said after.

As gargantuan as it was, the Monster was one of a few highlights at the Waverley, opened by its owners last spring to replace their Japanese-inspired restaurant and lounge Izakaya. Its owners must have been pleased with the change because they replicated the Waverley’s look and menu in Orléans in late August when they opened the Waverley East at Innes and Trim roads.

On Elgin Street, the Waverley is an attractive room broken in thirds, with a dining area dominated by comfy circular and wall-length banquettes, another section filled with high-top tables, and, between them, a large, woody, three-sided bar. As if to please multiple constituencies, there’s a large mural featuring Jacques Cartier and blow-ups of vintage stamps on one wall, Kurt Cobain’s oversized portrait hanging by the washrooms, and a TV set turned to TSN, all within one’s swivelling gaze.

The menu is similarly broad, featuring lightly tweaked pub fare, sandwiches, comfort food and more ambitious bistro-style dishes.

Over three visits, I’ve sampled a few satisfactions, generally of an à-la-minute, beefy nature, but also much that I wished had been better.

We easily liked best the priciest choice in the menu’s “steak frites” category, a 10-ounce striploin steak ($28) that was properly cooked and full of juice and flavour. 

Striploin steak at the Waverley on Elgin Street

Beef tartare ($14) lacked the bells and whistles offered elsewhere, but the basic version was reasonably well made, with good freshness and mouthfeel. It was short on brightness and surprise, but the drippy fried quail egg was redeeming.

Beef tartare at the Waverley on Elgin Street.

Other dishes ranged from adequate to something of a letdown, with disappointments that were too sweet or too bland or too sloppy or too cold.

With two pre-teens at the table, we chose the nachos with pulled pork ($14). The boys had no complaints but the adults found the pork overly sweet and wished for more heat from the nachos, in terms of temperature and spice.

Pulled pork nachos at the Waverley on Elgin Street.

Each boy had a sandwich — a cobb sandwich that put the famed salad between bread, and a short-rib melt — and both preferred the nachos. I tried the short rib sandwich and found its meat didn’t have the mouth-filling wow of a long, good, just-completed braise. 

On another visit, the Monster-eater tried Waverley’s ribs ($22) and judged them OK, but tasting mostly of sweet maple-bourbon barbecue sauce. Meanwhile, mashed potatoes on the plate packed an odd, peppery hit. 

Baby back ribs at the Waverley on Elgin Street.

Seared scallops ($15) were agreeably peppery but a little overcooked and the cauliflower purée under them was cold and grainy. At first, squash-and-cocoa soup ($10) was a conversation piece, but apart from the flourish of melting, cocoa-tinged whipped cream, the soup was under-seasoned and bland.

Seared scallops at the Waverley on Elgin Street.

Squash and cocoa soup at the Waverley on Elgin Street.

With the lobster mac ‘n’ cheese, the pasta was fine, but where was the promised half-pound of seafood? We found scant flakes of lobster and no hoped-for chunks of meat. 

Lobster mac and cheese at the Waverley on Elgin Street.

Duck confit was pleasingly priced at $19, but not nearly as pleasing as duck confit that elsewhere costs $10 more. Waverley’s duck confit lacked the vivid, rich flavour that makes the dish special, and was awkwardly joined in a big bowl with cold, too-chunky, too-sour pickled beets and too much mushy polenta.

Duck confit at the Waverley on Elgin Street.

Bouillabaisse makes lovers of fish soup swoon in Provence. At the Waverley, the $26 bowl registered mostly as mussels in a slightly lobster-y broth, augmented by some OK shrimp and less OK scallops, plus chunks of fish, tomatoes and potatoes and slices of fennel. Bread slathered with spicy rouille (red pepper sauce) was much needed, as the dish, while meeting the definition of bouillabaisse, skimped on richness.

Bouillabaisse at the Waverley on Elgin Street

Among desserts ($8), only the chocolate-lover’s special of warm cake, chocolate ice cream and chocolate sauce delighted. White-chocolate crème brûlée lacked creaminess, but was more eggy and custardy. An apple tart, which we were told would be fresh-baked, arrived not even warm but was not too bad.

Flourless chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream and chocolate sauce at the Waverley on Elgin Street.

White chocolate crème brûlée at the Waverley on Elgin Street.

Apple tart at the Waverley on Elgin Street

For both Waverleys, the motto is “Chill. Drink. Eat. Socialize.” Based on my meals, I’d guess that if you prioritize relaxing and drinking and socializing at the Elgin location, you might be fine. But our desires for big flavours and culinary care and finesse just weren’t met. 

phum@postmedia.com
twitter.com/peterhum
Peter Hum’s previous restaurant reviews

Pita Bell
1846 Carling Ave., 613-686-1740, pitabell.ca
Open: Monday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday noon to 8 p.m.
Prices: Sandwiches $5.95 to $7.95, plates $11.95 to $24.95
Access: one small step to front door

For months and months last year, we drove past the Carling Avenue strip mall just east of Maitland Avenue and wondered when Pita Bell would open for business.

The name, the location, and, as we eventually saw, the ambiance, all suggested the arrival of one more takeout-centred fast-food joint — as in nothing special to eat here, Mr. Restaurant Critic, move along.

But the single phrase “Charcoal Grill” above the front door raised our hopes. And happily, since Pita Bell opened in August, we’ve been pleasantly surprised by the best of the humble eatery’s dishes, some of which seem to be unique in Ottawa. We even found out that Pita Bell could provide an enjoyable and affordable Middle Eastern feast.

We’ll start with a treat that Pita Bell undersells on its menu. “Pita Pie” didn’t sound that interesting to me, but fortunately I asked for elaboration. One of Pita Bell’s cooks and co-owners told me the item was a “Turkish-style pizza.” Googling leads me to believe that what we have here is pide (pronounced pea-deh, more or less in Turkey), which is a big enough deal that the Telegraph newspaper in London had an article last summer headlined “Move over pizza: it’s all about Turkish pide now.”

Ground beef pita pie (Turkish-style pizza) at Pita Bell

The proof is in the eating, and I thoroughly enjoyed Pita Bell’s version of pide. The puffy, canoe-shaped flatbread came fresh from the oven,  blessed with a golden, egg-washed crust and stuffed with savoury ground beef flecked with peppers and red onions and lightly topped with cheese. 

If Pita Bell’s cook is right, and I think he is, you won’t find better pide in an Ottawa restaurant, because no other Ottawa restaurant serves pide.

The core business at Pita Bell is its selection of charcoal-grilled kebabs, made with locally sourced halal meats, served in pita sandwiches or on platters with rice and salad. A Pita Bell Mix platter of three kebabs ($17.95) yielded enough food for two for lunch, including chunks of moist and well-seasoned chicken, eminently tender filet mignon, and a ground beef skewer that was assertively spicy in the “Adana” style of the eponymous Turkish city. The not-spicy beef kebab is made in an Iraqi-Turkish style, I was told.

Pita Bell Mix platter at Pita Bell

Rice and salad on the kebab plate were satisfactory but not as special as the meat. Meanwhile, fries served with a filet mignon sandwich were chunky, crisp and well made. They were topped with a dusting of  green powder that made me wonder if some MSG-like boost was involved. I was assured that the Montreal made spice, seed and herb blend was all-natural.

Filet mignon pita sandwich and fries at Pita Bell

Encouraged by the pleasant cheap eats, we sprang for one of Pita Bell’s special orders — the lamb ouzi ($160) large enough to feed eight people with its spice-rubbed, slow-roasted lamb leg on a bed of rice pilaf. 

Say what you want about Pita Bell’s no-frills dining room, the lamb ouzi, which we took home in a huge aluminum tray, was an impressive centrepiece meal that spoke to high standards in the kitchen.

We ordered the lamb a day in advance as required and the man who took my order got on the phone and placed the order for the meat.

After three hours in the oven, the massive roast was moist and tender, and not the least bit gamy. I was told that as an option, we could have had the lamb meat cut off the bone, boiled with spices, onions, garlic and more, and then quickly broiled, but we were more interested in the simpler preparation and we weren’t disappointed.

Lamb Ouzi from Pita Bell

The generous heap of baked rice pilaf on which the roast sat was well flavoured by saffron, turmeric, bay leaf, onion and garlic, garnished with fried almonds and parsley. Perfectly fluffy and tasty through and through, the rice was worthy of a special occasion, and indeed, I was told that the so-called Qedra rice was a staple at weddings.

We rounded out the meal with fine accompaniments. The smooth lentil soup ($4.95) had a prominent peppery kick and a soulful depth of flavour from onions and garlic. Superior baba ghanouj ($4.95) impressed with its fresh, light smokiness, balanced flavours and slightly chunky eggplant mingling with tahini. Hummus was super-smooth and fresh, and falafel ($4.95 for six) had good concentrated flavour.

Lentil soup from Pita Bell

Baba ghanouj at Pita Bell

Falafel at Pita Bell

Dessert choices were limited but interesting. We split a big puck of kunafa ($6.45), which combined, I was told, sweet mozzarella and akkawi cheese with a crunchy topping and sugar syrup. Some rose water — thankfully not too much — added a floral note.

Kunafa at Pita Bell

You could wish for more comfort and even finery from Pita Bell’s dining area, that it were worthy of a date night. But, especially in these days of rising food costs, you would be better off appreciating the most well-made and distinctive dishes at this unassuming but commendable place, whether you eat there or at home. 

phum@postmedia.com
twitter.com/peterhum

Restaurant Les Fougères
783 Route 105, Chelsea, Que., 819-827-8942, fougeres.com
Open (winter hours): Wednesday to Friday noon to closing for daily menu,; Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for brunch, 3 p.m. to closing for daily menu; closed Mondays and Tuesdays 
Prices: small plates $8 to $18, large plates $16 to $36
Access: small ramp to front door, several steps to dining room, a few steps to washrooms

The old Les Fougères is gone — replaced, fortunately, by the new Les Fougères.

The Chelsea, Que., fine-dining destination, which opened in 1993, closed last fall for nearly two months for sweeping renovations that did away with its rustic-getaway ambience.

I was keen to see Les Fougères 2.0 — and, of course, to sample chef/co-owner Charles Part’s food, last reviewed in this space in 2003. Twice last month, I made the trip to Chelsea and after, I spoke to co-owner Jennifer Warren-Part about Les Fougères’ sleek, new contemporary look. 

Modernized by the Wakefield firm Maisons Chicoine Homes, Les Fougères’ dining room is still woody, although lighter and brighter. It’s almost Scandinavian in feel with its minimalist chairs and blonde tables that are no longer covered by white tablecloths. The woods surrounding Les Fougères feels even closer thanks to larger, frameless windows. The tile floors have been replaced with grey, flecked epoxy. The kitchen, where Part and his brigade work, is now open to about half the dining area. Those with the best view sit at an undulating bar of a dozen or so seats, made of multi-coloured “rammed-earth” layers of material brought from Morrison’s Quarry in Wakefield.

Les Fougères co-owners Charles and Jennifer Warren-Part. (Jean Levac/ Ottawa Citizen)

The windows have been enlarged with the renovation of Les Fougeres.

Co-chefs Matthew Pritchard, left, and Yannick LaSalle of Les Fougères in the new open kitchen.

Les Fougeres’ dining room in 2012

Meanwhile, the restaurant’s capacity has dropped from 72 guests to 48. Newly added are a wood oven at the entrance to the dining area and showcases for cheeses and charcuterie, as well as elevated take-home food, all for sale. The Les Fougères food store remains open and well stocked, to the left of the entrance that it shares with the restaurant.

Warren-Part told me that the decision to remake Les Fougères was a tough one. “It’s highly emotional. It’s been our life. Our children grew up here,” she said. “But we’re delighted with the new transformation.”

Warren-Part said the bottom line — “numbers moving into dangerous territory” — necessitated the renovation. 

Les Fougères, she said, earned a reputation as a special-occasion restaurant. But birthday and anniversary dinners alone couldn’t sustain it, and the new bar in particular highlights an appeal to less formally inclined diners. Warren-Part says she’ll be glad to see guests pop by, perhaps with their ski boots still on, to have a smaller meal and a glass of wine at the bar before heading home. 

“There’s not that compulsion to have that grande bouffe, that big expensive meal,” she says.

For our first visit, we couldn’t kick that old habit. It was appetizers, main courses and desserts all around at our table, even if the concise Les Fougères menu had been rewritten to encourage less traditional, three-course dining. Les Fougères has gotten into the small-plates business, with most of 10 or so dishes on the menu available in small as well as large sizes. 

Compared to the restaurant’s previous, seasonal menus, the new, “constantly rolling” menu will see dishes coming on and off more frequently, said Warren-Part. “We’ll be more hyper-seasonal and hyper-local than we’ve ever been able to be before,” she said.

Among our starters, the classic seared foie gras with honey, brioche and apple ($18) as well as a more modern plate of roasted Juniper Farm carrots with avocado, kale, rice chips and nori dressing ($8) hit their respective flavour notes well and honoured their impeccable ingredients. 

Foie Gras at Les Fougeres

Roasted carrots, kale and avocado at Les Fougeres

I didn’t get quite as much as satisfaction from small-plate servings of lamb pappardelle with preserved lemon, feta and pine nuts ($13/$26) or squash risotto ($18/$28). While tasty, these plates seemed just a bit jumbled, and in the case of the pappardelle, overly oily.

Lamb pappardelle at Les Fougeres

Squash risotto at Les Fougeres

More well-crafted were the mains and desserts. 

Venison ($36) exemplified the kitchen’s sure hand with game, offering medallions of lean meat that were perfectly pan-roasted and bolstered by a pool of rich port-and-chocolate sauce. Red currants added another sweet note, brussels sprouts and bok choy added colour and crunch, and rutabaga purée contributed humble earthiness.

Venison main course at Les Fougeres

What remains constant, food-wise, here? Sumptuous duck confit, smartly and generously offset by roesti, goat cheese, poached pear, spinach and partridgeberry compote ($18/$36), is deservedly always available. For grande bouffe fans, the dish can also figure in a four-course, $54 table d’hote.

Duck confit with roesti, goat cheese, pear, spinach, partidgeberry compote at Les Fougeres

So too, and again with good reason, is a dish that the menu calls “Mouth of the St. Lawrence”($18/$34). A version of the dish that won Ottawa’s Gold Medal Plates Competition for Part in 2008, the refined seafood composition combines seared Grand Banks scallops, potted Matane shrimp, a raviolo filled with luscious salt-cod brandade and mussels in a concentrated mussel stock.  

“Mouth of the St. Lawrence” at Les Fougères

From the wood oven came the night’s less fussy, “hearth-oven” special, a hearty, slow-braised lamb shank with big batons of polenta ($18/$34).

Braised lamb shank at Les Fougeres

Warren-Part told me that the oven is also being used to make artisanal pizzas that will eventually be on the menu.

Les Fougères’ new hearth oven.

Desserts ($10) were uniformly impressive, from a faultlessly creamy crème brûlée to a chocolate-and-cranberry terrine to the most involved creation, which presented a light, appealing jelly of Quebec buffalo milk supported by lemon curd, maple pecan crumble and cranberries.

Creme brulee at Les Fougeres

Flourless chocolate and cranberry terrine at Les Fougeres

Quebec buffalo milk jelly, Venosta cranberries, lemon curd, maple pecan crumble at Les Fougeres

Last week, I went for lunch, as much for a day-time view of the room and its surroundings. I had another excellent savoury plate (a robust wild boar curry with lentils, adorned with onion bhajee, $18/$34) and another well-crafted dessert (some refreshing vanilla rice pudding with mango sorbet and a sesame tuile, which added a distinct saltiness, $10).

Wild boar “vindaloo” at Les Fougeres

Vanilla rice pudding, mango sorbet and sesame cracker at Les Fougeres

I also had a little misunderstanding. When I didn’t specify the size of my curry plate, and the question was not put to me, I received a large order when I had a small one in mind. Happy ending: the dish was delicious enough to warrant devouring all of it in one sitting, and an apologetic server gave me dessert and coffee on the house. 

Service, then and at our previous dinner, was polished, attentive, bilingual and knowledgeable — there’s a bit more snap to it than at many comparable Ottawa restaurants.

I count myself among the many Les Fougères fans who regarded its previous iteration as a place to combine eating and celebrating. Back in the early 200os, the night after my wife and I were married, we took our guest who had traveled the farthest to Les Fougères. 

My impression is that since those days, Ottawa’s new and ambitious restaurants have raised their game to compete more forcefully with Les Fougères. You could say that the remade Les Fougères, with its smaller portions and elegantly updated setting, has taken some pages from their books to stay in the game.

However, Les Fougères has not diluted its identity. Its signature dishes remain on the menu. More importantly, the quality of the food remains high, but more of it can be sampled on a given night.

The view of the woods and feeling of being inside Les Fougères was always worth a premium. With that ambience refreshed, and a more diverse menu, the getaway has only grown more appealing. 

phum@postmedia.com
twitter.com/peterhum
Peter Hum’s previous restaurant reviews

Bashu Seafood Restaurant
1872 Merivale Rd. Unit C, 613-723-8889
Open: Weekdays 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Weekends 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Prices: shareable dishes typically $13.95 and up
Access: no steps to front door or washrooms

You might expect that coming up on four years doing this job, I would no longer be flummoxed by a restaurant’s menu. And yet, this week at the Bashu Seafood Restaurant, I was bewildered for a good 20 minutes while determining what to order from its lavish catalogue of dishes.

Open since October in a mall at Merivale and Hunt Club roads, Bashu serves a staggering range of Chinese food from Sichuanese to Cantonese to Shanghainese. Bashu’s thick, rubber-bound menu teems with not just the names of dishes in Chinese and occasionally flawed English, but also glossy photos of styled dishes.

It amuses and pleases me that on the familiarity scale, the food at Bashu is at the opposite extreme from what’s served at the East Side Mario’s a few paces away.  

Here, there are delicacies and banquet fare, from Beijing duck at $48 to steamed abalone with shark’s fin and fish maw at $588. Those who value authenticity might find that they can’t handle the truth at Bashu, which serves duck’s blood, beef and tripe in spicy soup, sea cucumber, griddled bullfrog and all kinds of offal. The mid-day dim sum menu is more than 90 items long, and its greatest hits are available all day. As for the seafood in its name, Bashu has whole fish and crab in tanks at the back of the dining room, which can be killed and prepared in any number of ways if you say the word. 

In fact, Bashu is a franchise operation, although its sisters in Toronto are called Bashu Sichuan restaurants. The place is large, as suburban mall restaurants can be, and it strives for opulence, with glitzy modern chandeliers and a bright dining room packed with tables and narrow chairs. Those seeking privacy and more comfort will want one of several rooms along one wall. The canned instrumental music can be loud.

The dining room of Bashu Seafood Restaurant

After three visits and much menu perusing, I’ve found a lot of variability among the dishes. If there was a trend, it was that the Sichuanese dishes, generally the spicier items, appealed more. Fans of robust, exotic flavours will find what they want here, although fans of refined dining might not.

Ma po tofu ($11.99), the famously chili oil-drenched dish of soft bean curd and ground beef, was comforting peasant fare that provided the requisite spicy tingle.

Ma Po Tofu at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

“Fish flavoured” stewed eggplant ($13.95), so named because the preparation with pickled chilies, garlic and ginger was initially applied to fish before being tried with pork and eggplant, was spicy too, but offset by sweetness.

Fish-flavoured eggplant at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

Diced chicken with chili peppers ($14.99), was appealingly spicy but not overpoweringly so. But we did want a lot more meatiness from the admittedly crisp and well-seasoned chicken bits.

Diced Chicken with Chili Peppers at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

“General’s chicken” as it was called on the menu, ($13.95) suffered from the same problem, to the point that it deserved to be courtmartialed. Covered in a sweet, sticky, slightly chili-tinged sauce, the chicken registered much more as batter than bird.

General Tao’s Chicken at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

A half-order of tea-smoked duck ($23.95) was a crowd-pleaser. Not every chunk was moist, but the best pieces were juicy, rich and decidedly but exotically smoky.

Tea-smoked duck at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

The northern Chinese dish of stir-fried lamb with cumin ($13.99) was ruggedly flavourful, although the slices of lamb struck me as far too slippery and perhaps overly tenderized. 

Stir-fried lamb with cumin at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

Stir-fried prawns with salted yolk ($16.99) presented the head-on, shell-on seafood, the carapaces flecked with rich bits of cured egg. The dish made for rewarding eating for those willing to get their hands dirty. 

Shrimp with salt yolk at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

We ordered just one dish — some delectable pea shoots — to offset all that animal protein.

Pea shoots at Bashu Seafood Restaurant.

Two soups, a “sweet and sour” soup ($8.95 for a small serving) that was punchily hot and sour, and flavourful West Lake soup ($8.95 for a small serving), a clear broth with much ground meat, wisps of egg white and coriander, hit the spot.

West Lake Beef Soup at Bashu Seafood Restaurant.

During one visit, the steamed rice ($2 for a small but mounded bowlful) was dry.  

Dessert options tended toward items (a warm rice pudding in syrup for $6.95, four miniature pumpkin “cakes” for $6.25) with sweetened bean-paste fillings. Mango pudding ($3.95), topped with condensed milk, was so-so.

Pumpkin “cakes” at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

Chinese rice pudding at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

At a dim sum lunch, dishes ordered from the mammoth menu were quickly dispatched from the kitchen. At all of my visits, service has been fast, friendly and helpful, although some hailing has been required. 

Seafood congee ($5.80) was an impressively flavourful, assertively salted and gingery rice porridge studded with shrimp and fish. Sichuan noodles ($6.80) topped with ground meat packed a nice spicy punch.

Seafood congee at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

Sichuan Noodles at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

Shrimp har gow ($4.50) were just a bit underseasoned but still enjoyable, with fillings marked by chunks of shrimp. Pork-filled Shanghainese soup dumplings were a less impressive, prone to tearing and not as tasty, although they still delivered the needed brothy, fatty pop. Deep-fried shrimp balls ($4.50) were grease-free and delicious, but shrimp in rice rolls ($4.50) were overcooked.

Shrimp har gow at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

Deep-fried shrimp balls at Bashu Seafood Restaurant

And yet for all of these and other dishes eaten, I think I’ve only scratched the surface at Bashu. After all, none of my fellow diners would eat fire-exploded pork kidneys with me, and a massive tray filled with chili-smothered Sichuan barbecue whole fish would have overwhelmed my more conservative table.

So, even if the quality of what I sampled at Bashu was uneven, I’m sufficiently pleased and, moreover, still curious enough to want to return. Perhaps the best strategy would be to walk around and see what the many Chinese customers with better knowledge of the food are ordering, and then simply tell a server, “I’ll have what they’re having.”

phum@postmedia.com
twitter.com/peterhum
Peter Hum’s previous restaurant reviews

Meat In The Middle
311 Bank St., 613-422-6328, meatinthemiddle.ca
Open: Monday to Friday 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday noon to 6 p.m., closed Sundays

Meat Press Creative Charcuterie and Sandwich Shop
45 Armstrong St.,613-695-7737, meatpress.ca
Open: Monday to Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., closed Sundays

I have loved a good smoked meat sandwich for as long as I can remember. 

As Nepean-raised teenagers in the 1980s, we’d make trips to Nate’s Deli on Rideau Street for its storied smoked meat. I was even more keen on the sandwiches from the Villa Deli on Bank Street that my late father and I bonded over.

When I attended McGill University, smoked meat at Schwartz’s, and better still, the Main, beckoned. Those legendary delis served the thick-cut, robustly flavoured real thing, best devoured during the wee hours. In a pinch, downtown, we made do with sandwiches from Ben’s and Reuben’s. 

In recent years, I’ve had a hard time finding a smoked meat sandwich in town worth getting excited about. The version at the Grand Central New York Deli, when it was open, was a good attempt, although I thought there was room for improvement. Last spring, I thought the smoked meat at The Butchery in Bells Corners wasn’t bad.

Since then, I’ve begun popping by Meat in the Middle on Bank Street, which opened in the summer of 2014, mostly for the made-in-house smoked meat sandwiches. In recent months, I’ve found that when they’ve been good, they’ve been very good. But one of four sandwiches really missed the mark.

The meat there is Alberta beef brisket that’s been brined for a week or so, and then smoked. Thick-cut to order, the best sandwiches I’ve had here could have been a little more hefty for the price ($9.95), but their rich flavour and luscious texture were really commendable, delivering that primal smoked meat experience — maybe even good enough to support the sandwich board outside the shop that says its smoked meat is the best in town. 

Smoked meat sandwich at Meat in the Middle on Bank Street

The 26-seat shop, where classic rock usually plays, is too unpretentious to call itself “artisanal,” but its chefs, Jeremy McDonald and Bruce Robitaille, can craft some above-average meat, with reasonable consistency.

I did have one smoked meat sandwich this month that was a dud, much too fatty and much too salty. To her credit, Janet, Robitaille’s wife, could see my disappointment — that is, the uneaten, fatty scraps on the plate — and she offered me profuse apologies and a replacement. I want to be charitable because, frankly, recent trips to Montreal’s revered delis have yielded some mediocre and even lousy sandwiches as well as good ones. Perhaps everywhere, it comes down to the luck of the cut.

Other sandwiches that we’ve had at Meat in the Middle were successes. A panini-style reuben was cleanly made, with all of its elements shining through. So was the grilled-cheesy croque madame, although with roast chicken in lieu of ham and no fried egg on top, it departed from its French namesake. A smoked pork shoulder sandwich, perked with gremolata and arugula, was delicious but also extra juicy to the point of messiness.

Smoked pork shoulder sandwich at Meat in the Middle on Bank Street

Croque Madame panini sandwich at Meat in the Middle on Bank Street|

Reuben panini at Meat in the Middle on Bank Street.

The shop also serves basic barbecue fare after 4 p.m. But the so-so chicken, with dry white meat, and sloppy, less than memorable ribs made me think that sandwiches remain the shop’s strength. Side dishes though, including a Greek kale salad and some no-frills mac ‘n’ cheese, were quite good. 

Barbecued chicken at Meat in the Middle on Bank Street

Ribs at Meat in the Middle on Bank Street

Side dishes, beans, mac ‘n’ cheese, kale Greek salad, Caesar salad at Meat in the Middle on Bank Street.

***

Meanwhile, more or less three kilometres due west, there’s another sandwich place that puts its appeal to carnivores in its name.

Meat Press Creative Charcuterie and Sandwich Shop opened in early October, the endeavour of the young chef Étienne Cuerrier who has worked at the Wakefield Mill and Soif Wine Bar on the other side of the Ottawa River.

True to the Hintonburg neighbourhood, Meat Press scores high for hipster cred, ambience, and locavorism. Cuerrier sources ingredients from producers such as Enright Cattle in Tweed and Mariposa Farm. He tends a community garden plot and has incorporated its vegetables into Meat Press’s offerings.

Cuerrier’s continually changing sandwiches have been sizeable, even quirky, and pleasingly affordable at $7 or $10 with a drink, such as a refreshing house-made pear or raspberry soda, and a side dish.

Over several visits in the last few months, I’ve sampled a variety of sandwiches and been pleased more often than not.

Perhaps so as not to offend smoked-meat purists, the shop’s chalkboard has offered smoked brisket sandwiches, with long, thin shavings of meat keeping company with not the usual mustard, or even sauerkraut, but marinated avocado and salted cabbage. It didn’t have the meat-bomb satisfaction of your classic smoked meat, but it was a novel and harmonious meet-up that I’d want to eat again. The vegetable curry soup, thickened with cashews, was another win.

Smoked brisket sandwich with vegetable curry soup at Meat Press on Armstrong Street

Another unconventional sandwich that made me a believer was made with rabbit confit, its fattiness offset by slaw and carrot purée. Mashed potatoes with curds and a savoury gravy made this combo rib-sticking.  

Rabbit confit with carrot puree and slaw sandwich and mashed potatoes with curds at Meat Press

A little less noteworthy was a sandwich of unsmoked brisket with aioli and red pepper, and least interesting was a sandwich with lacklustre roast beef, fennel and pickled carrots. 

Roast beef sandwich at Meat Press on Armstrong Street.

Timing seems to matter at Meat Press. On one weekend lunch visit, the shop had run out of the chicken club made with pork jowl, spicy mayo, kale and mushy peas. Once, when I arrived at the end of the afternoon, there were no sandwiches to be had. Fortunately, some pork ribs ($14) from the showcase they shared with cheeses and charcuteries were very good when they were taken home and reheated.

I’ve been told by Meat Press staff that dinner-hour service, presumably with dishes other than sandwiches, could be happening down the road. Let’s hope so. The best food and practices here so far give reason for high hopes.

phum@postmedia.com
twitter.com/peterhum
Peter Hum’s previous restaurant reviews

Holland Kisa Grill
83 Holland Ave., 613-792-4478, hollandkisagrill.com
Open: Sunday 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. 
Prices: Dinners $15.50 to $20
Access: Steps to front door

The day after last week’s Snowpocalypse, we wanted to put all the white stuff and shovelling behind us with a meal that had nothing to do with winter. Congolese chicken, we thought, might just do the trick. 

Not that we knew what Congolese chicken would taste like. We would need to make our first visit to Holland Kisa Grill, which opened last fall where the Red Sea Café was on Holland Avenue’s restaurant row north of Wellington Street West. Even then, what little information the restaurant offers on its menu is more intriguing than descriptive. The chicken there is “seasoned with spices of the Bayou Djakarta style,” says the menu, leaving us to wonder whether this Congolese food would taste of Louisiana or Indonesia.

Chicken dinner at Holland Kisa Grill

We had our fingers crossed, because we’re big fans of the spicy, charcoal-grilled birds served by some of Ottawa’s West African restaurants, and we wondered how chicken prepared by a central African establishment would compare. Holland Kisa Grill, the sister restaurant of Grillade Kisanola in Gatineau, also promises the smoky appeal of charcoal-grilled meat.

The restaurant, we found, was modest in more than a few ways. It seats about 20, and its decor is dominated by a Renoir print and a large TV that I’ve not seen in use during my three visits. Its menu is compact, lacking in desserts. Also, some items listed on the menu weren’t always available. A liquor license application is in the works, we’re told. We’ve experienced delays in getting food because, in one instance, staffing was limited to one person who was cooking and serving.

Still, there’s pride here about the food. After all, this is a place where the Wi-Fi password refers to the eatery’s superior chicken.

It turned out that the chicken was quite good — not the best in town, by our tastes, but definitely seasoned appealingly and enjoyable to eat. Not so much spicy as deeply savoury, brusquely hacked, bone-in chicken pieces yielded moist, flavourful meat after sufficient prying.

Grilled goat involved more chewing, but the salty yet intriguingly dusky seasoning made the effort worthwhile.

Goat dinner at Holland Kisa Grill

Whole grilled dorade, which anglophones would call bream, was a winner thanks to the flavour boost of a perky relish-like sauce made with lemongrass and coriander, although eating it did involve grappling with or spitting out many small bones. 

Whole dorade at Holland Kisa Grill

 We wanted to try the house-made samosas, but were told that the kitchen was out. A few days later, I ordered some to go and wound up waiting 20 minutes longer than the 40 minutes I was told it would take to prepare them. (That Wi-Fi password came in handy.) The beef samosas (neither chicken nor shrimp, both listed, were available) were crisp and tasty, although awfully oily too. 

Samosas at Holland Kisa Grill

My final visit was made this week to sample the eatery’s brochettes at lunch, and to see if these $11.99 options provided better value than the pricier dinners.

Of the chicken, goat and beef brochettes, the chicken was clearly the best, as per the Wi-Fi password. Seasoned winningly as the chicken pieces at dinner had been, the boneless pieces were sufficiently moist. Both the goat and beef tasted basically of themselves and charcoal, but were tough and dry.  

Chicken brochettes at Holland Kisa Grill

Beef brochettes at Holland Kisa Grill

Goat brochettes at Holland Kisa Grill

All dishes have come with mounds of very ordinary salad, and something starchy (fries, plantains, rice and beans). The plump, just-cooked, ungreasy plantains were always a cut above the other choices.

So, some kinks and omissions seem still to be worked out at Holland Kisa Grill. Unique flavourings and friendly service both count for something, but unavailabilities, slowness and tough meat detract. Until the eatery raises its bar, chicken and plantains seem like the best bets for a simple but satisfying meal. 

phum@postmedia.com
twitter.com/peterhum
Peter Hum’s previous restaurant reviews

Asian Alley

8 Byward Market Sq., 613-860-9889, asianalley.ca
Open: Sunday  11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Friday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Prices: main dishes $10.50 to $15.95
Access: no steps to front door or washrooms

My dining companion took a sip from his bowl of piping hot Vietnamese soup and exclaimed, “Ah. Downtown pho.”

We were eating last week at Asian Alley, a narrow eatery among the row of restaurants along ByWard Market Square, where, for starters, the funky, new-generation ambience sets it apart from Chinatown’s myriad and more traditional soup shops.

The 40-seat restaurant, which opened in August 2014, is sandwiched between a long wall painted with a graffiti-style, video-game-themed mural, and a large blackboard that re-lists the two-page menu’s choices. Underfoot is a floor made with thousands of preserved pennies, and behind the open kitchen are washrooms that are conversation-piece quirky. Adele’s playing on the sound system, not Vietnamese pop. Backless wooden seats and banquettes would be harder on bonier derrières if service here weren’t so fast. 

But back to the pho. Asian Alley’s soups are more limited in number than what a full-on pho shop offers. The restaurant’s Facebook page and website mention that organic beef and chicken are used in dishes when possible. Also, the pho can cost a few dollars more here, although fortunately, the most expensive, signature soups are worth savouring.

Quite satisfying was Asian Alley’s rendition of bun cha ca ($13.95), the chicken-broth based soup with thin rice noodles and slippery, spongy slices of deep-fried fish-and-shrimp patties.

Bun Cha Ca soup from Asian Alley

Equally good was the beefy special pho of thicker rice noodles and tender braised veal ($15.95). Its broth was winningly complex, with a strong star anise note, and my friend appreciated the optional and very much “downtown” fried egg that he ordered.

Braised veal soup at Asian Alley

On another visit, a vegan friend tried the vegan pho ($10.50/$12), which turned out not to be a contradiction in terms. Its broth relied on a mushroom-based mix that we were told could be purchased in Chinatown.

Vegan pho at Asian Alley

I’ve tried that standard-issue beef pho ($10.50/$12), and prefer the razzle-dazzle of the premium soups. For one thing, the thinly sliced beef was not only well done to the point of toughness, but also flavour-deprived. 

Beef Pho at Asian Alley

Like many an Asian restaurant, this one swaps its proteins into various dishes. The braised veal, for example, is available on rice too, or with stir-fried rice noodles or fried rice. To my taste buds, the most interesting of the meat options was beef rendang, a spicy Indonesian preparation with intense slow-cooked flavour that’s too infrequently seen in Ottawa.

The rendang did a fine job of enlivening a dish of chow fun rice noodles ($15.95). While it looked like casual, short-order, somewhat greasy stuff, the noodles were the lip-tingling satisfaction that the spice-hound at our table was craving.

Beef rendang chow fun at Asian Alley

Even if every other dish at Asian Alley didn’t appeal, I’d return just to try the rendang, perhaps in fried rice or in a sandwich.

Of the appetizers, pork potstickers ($10.95 for five) were winners, packed with a pork filling made punchy with lemongrass and nicely seared. We only wished they were a little less pricey, and that their sauce was more special than from-the-bottle hoisin. A rice wrap ($4.45 for one) disappointed with flavourless shrimp.

Potsticker dumplings at Asian Alley

Shrimp roll at Asian Alley

Chicken pad thai ($13.95), taken home and sampled, lacked the vibrant flavours that make better versions of the ubiquitous noodle dish worth getting excited about. More on the mark was the shrimp fried rice ($14.95).

Pad Thai from Asian Alley

Shrimp Fried Rice from Asian Alley

Asian Alley is licensed, with several Beau’s and Bicycle Craft beers among the choices. There are no desserts currently available, although the online menu lists a few. Now, a server might direct you and your sweet tooth to the Cupcake Lounge next door.

Servers have always been prompt and enthusiastic, and they’ve ranged from completely in-the-know to very much neophyte.

That Asian Alley Facebook notes that the restaurant’s chef a few weeks ago returned to China — for a family visit, that knowledgeable server told us. The Facebook page added another reason, saying that “Chef Lisa” was “on a secret mission to discover and renew herself with the wonderful street food scene there.”

Other Facebook posts show more dishes that I’ve not seen available at Asian Alley when I’ve visited, including bao buns and laksa, the spicy Chinese-Malay soup. Given what I’ve enjoyed most, I’m hoping for greater ambitions along these lines from Asian Alley. 

phum@postmedia.com
twitter.com/peterhum
Peter Hum’s previous restaurant reviews

The Brew Table Restaurant Bar
360 Moodie Dr., beside the Days Inn,613-596-4226, thebrewtable.com
Open: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to midnight, Friday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to midnight, Sunday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Prices: mains $14.50 to $27
Access: No steps to front door, washrooms

We had somewhere we needed to be in Bells Corners, but not a lot of time to get there. And first, we needed to eat. For a quick dinner last week, we popped into the Brew Table, which, a friend had told me, served better food than might appear on first glance.

Attached to the Days Inn at Moodie Drive and Robertson Road, the four-year-old, high-volume eatery was a Darcy McGee’s franchise for more than a decade. Then its owner, Nicholas Lambros, decided to get out of the franchise business. He opened the Brew Table as an independent restaurant, scrubbing the Irish pub feel from its decor and menu.

Among the food offered here are the usual, crowd-pleasing burgers, sandwiches and gourmet pizzas. But more appealing to us were some main courses that were a little less casual, more interesting and just a little more expensive.

Pan-seared cod was moist and flavourful. If I’d made it at home, I would have swapped the onion and caper topping for something a bit zippier, saucier and complex — involving, say, mustard, or herbs, or deep-fried capers. But there was no complaining about the fish itself, or the rice and wilted spinach below it, especially for $18.50.

Pan-seared cod with caper and onion salsa, rice, wilted spinach at the Brew Table

We felt similarly about the Red Thai Curry Chicken. There were small misgivings in that the tomatoey but spicy curry registered more as Indian, especially with slices of naan and a chickpea salad on the side, but they fell by the side given the $14.50 price.

Red Thai Curry Chicken at the Brew Table

Had we the time to linger, we could have chosen from two dozen beers on tap (among them are Kichesippi and Beau’s Lug-Tread), plus a range of imported and craft beers (among those are offerings from local breweries Broadhead, Whitewater, Covered Bridge and Whiprsnapr).

Service was friendly and as fast as it needed to be. We were out in under an hour and early for our appointment. 

Last Friday, we returned for dinner only to find the eatery’s 130-odd seats packed. Its booths, high tables and long, L-shaped bar were all occupied, largely by the after-work crowd. After a 20-minute wait, we sat down to another meal that was fundamentally good and strong on value. We had a few constructive criticisms but they weighed lightly given the reasonableness of the bill at the end of the meal.  

There was nothing bad to say about fried calamari ($12) that were just right — lightly breaded, crisp and not greasy. Crab cakes ($12) had a made-in-house feel to them, but were a little muddled flavour-wise and had emerged too dark from the deep-fryer.

Calamari at the Brew Table

Crab cakes at the Brew Table

The lamb shank, nicely braised and not gamey, stood out as something of a steal for $20. I quibbled that its sauce was a little thicker and glossier than I’d have liked, but that didn’t stop my friend from cleaning every scrap of meat and marrow from the bone.

Lamb shank at the Brew Table

My striploin steak ($27) was ample and generously accompanied by OK fries, asparagus and mushrooms. Its char was pronounced but its interior was a fine medium rare. It did lack some seasoning before it had hit the grill, and a compound butter would have been a nice touch.

Steak Frites at the Brew Table

Spaghetti with hefty meatballs ($15.50) pleased not just the young adult at the table, but the adult who appreciated the clarity of the red sauce and and well-made meatballs.

Spaghetti and Meatballs at the Brew Table

A pan-fried chicken dish ($18.50) wasn’t bad, but the plating, in addition to looking muddled, took away from the plate’s strong points. Putting creamed leeks on top of potato roesti made for soggy pancakes. The chicken was also under-seasoned.

Chicken Supreme, potato roesti, creamed leeks at the Brew Table

We tried two house-made desserts ($7) and liked the sticky toffee pudding, which was muffin-like but still enjoyable, more than the Bailey’s chocolate cheesecake.

Sticky Toffee Pudding at the Brew Table

Baileys Chocolate Cheesecake at the Brew Table

Like the Elton John and Police tunes that play on the sound system, the food here is more comforting and familiar than novel or wildly exciting. As Lambros, who also helped run his family’s west-end restaurant, Peter’s Pantry, in the 1990s, told me when we spoke this week, “We don’t pretend that we’re an upscale restaurant. We’re an affordable restaurant.” The food at the Brew Table is “standard fare” and “average,” he said.
 
I think he meant average in terms of people’s tastes rather than quality, as his restaurant suggests that “average” food can nonetheless be made pretty well. 

phum@postmedia.com
twitter.com/peterhum
Peter Hum’s previous restaurant reviews

Island Grill
324 Bank St., 613-565-3030, islandgrillrestaurant.ca (islandspiced.com for sauces, rubs, marinades)
Open: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 10 p.m., Sunday 3 to 8 p.m.
Prices: most appetizers under $10, main dishes $13 to $18
Access: no steps to front door, washrooms
Gluten-free: a few designated dishes

While I have little patience for jerks in real life, I’ll go out of my way for some tasty jerk on a plate.

I’m a huge fan of the fiery and flavourful Jamaican marinade, which intrigues with a blend of thyme, green onions and allspice, for starters, and then scorches with Scotch bonnet peppers.

It followed, then, that I recently made some visits to Island Grill on Bank Street, where chef Carlton Melbourne applies jerk flavouring to almost anything that moves. 

At the modest Centretown eatery that opened in the fall of 2014, you can get jerk chicken and jerk pork as expected, made with Melbourne’s in-house jerk marinade. As well, pork ribs, burgers and even salmon are generously slathered in the dark brown sauce. Last Thanksgiving, the special here was jerk turkey.

Bits of jerk chicken add protein and zip to a salad of greens, avocado and pineapple, which we tried and enjoyed, despite the chicken being a little dry. We passed, though, on the jerk chicken poutine.

Jerk Chicken Avocado salad at Island Grill

Melbourne takes his flavours and condiments seriously, to the extent that Island Grill’s tables are adorned with bottles of his punchy mango-pepper and roasted-pepper-habanero sauces, which, along with other products, are available for purchase.

I’ve sampled a lot of Island Grill’s jerk fare. A moist chunk of salmon stood up to its vibrant sauce. Jerk pork cutlets were lean and a bit too dry, but that dark, savoury sauce was right on the money. Meanwhile, pork back ribs were fall-apart soft — overcooked, barbecue aficionados would say. Pieces of jerk chicken were bone-in and coarsely chopped — extricating the tender meat was a bit of work, but worth the effort. 

Jerk Salmon at Island Grill

Jerk Pork at Island Grill on Bank Street

Jerk pork ribs at Island Grill

Jerk chicken at Island Grill

All of the dishes came with a choice of standard accompaniments, including rice and beans or an “island” mix of mashed sweet and regular potatoes, a refreshing slaw and a few pieces of plantain.

Among the eatery’s appetizers, we liked that jerk chicken avocado salad, as well as some tiger shrimp tossed in the chef’s mango-pepper sauce. Cod fish fritters, while crisp and not greasy, were disappointingly short on salt cod.  

Cod fritters with spicy chutney at Island Grill

Fortunately, the salt cod reported for duty in Island Grill’s saltfish and ackee. In that traditional Jamaican dish, the most interesting aspect was the ackee — the properly prepared national fruit was almost like scrambled eggs and absorbed flavours nicely.

Ackee and saltfish at Island Grill

Curried dishes here were satisfying. A substantial goat roti flatbread was packed with curry flavour and pieces of toothsome stewed goat, potato and chickpeas. Sautéed shrimps in a coconut curry were just a touch salty, but made for a nice lunch.

Goat roti at Island Grill

Coconut curry shrimp at Island Grill

The spice-averse diner at our table tried the braised oxtail ($15.50), and wished that the bone-in pieces were a little meatier and that the sauce was less salty.

Oxtail from Island Grill

There are no desserts served at Island Grill. It was recently licensed; in addition to a few beers and spirits there are Caribbean soft drinks.

Service was better at a dinner visit than at lunch. A noon-time meal was slow to come — but then, the server admitted that she was also doubling as the cook.

Perhaps Melbourne was occupied making a new batch of sauces and spice rubs. The flavours at his restaurant make me think it would be worthwhile to buy some of his products as shortcuts to exciting food at home.

phum@postmedia.com
twitter.com/peterhum

Asian Alley

8 Byward Market Sq., 613-860-9889, asianalley.ca
Open: Sunday  11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Friday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Prices: main dishes $10.50 to $15.95
Access: no steps to front door or washrooms

My dining companion took a sip from his bowl of piping hot Vietnamese soup and exclaimed, “Ah. Downtown pho.”

We were eating last week at Asian Alley, a narrow eatery among the row of restaurants along ByWard Market Square, where, for starters, the funky, new-generation ambience sets it apart from Chinatown’s myriad and more traditional soup shops.

The 40-seat restaurant, which opened in August 2014, is sandwiched between a long wall painted with a graffiti-style, video-game-themed mural, and a large blackboard that re-lists the two-page menu’s choices. Underfoot is a floor made with thousands of preserved pennies, and behind the open kitchen are washrooms that are conversation-piece quirky. Adele’s playing on the sound system, not Vietnamese pop. Backless wooden seats and banquettes would be harder on bonier derrières if service here weren’t so fast. 

But back to the pho. Asian Alley’s soups are more limited in number than what a full-on pho shop offers. The restaurant’s Facebook page and website mention that organic beef and chicken are used in dishes when possible. Also, the pho can cost a few dollars more here, although fortunately, the most expensive, signature soups are worth savouring.

Quite satisfying was Asian Alley’s rendition of bun cha ca ($13.95), the chicken-broth based soup with thin rice noodles and slippery, spongy slices of deep-fried fish-and-shrimp patties.

Equally good was the beefy special pho of thicker rice noodles and tender braised veal ($15.95). Its broth was winningly complex, with a strong star anise note, and my friend appreciated the optional and very much “downtown” fried egg that he ordered.

On another visit, a vegan friend tried the vegan pho ($10.50/$12), which turned out not to be a contradiction in terms. Its broth relied on a mushroom-based mix that we were told could be purchased in Chinatown.

I’ve tried that standard-issue beef pho ($10.50/$12), and prefer the razzle-dazzle of the premium soups. For one thing, the thinly sliced beef was not only well done to the point of toughness, but also flavour-deprived. 

Like many an Asian restaurant, this one swaps its proteins into various dishes. The braised veal, for example, is available on rice too, or with stir-fried rice noodles or fried rice. To my taste buds, the most interesting of the meat options was beef rendang, a spicy Indonesian preparation with intense slow-cooked flavour that’s too infrequently seen in Ottawa.

The rendang did a fine job of enlivening a dish of chow fun rice noodles ($15.95). While it looked like casual, short-order, somewhat greasy stuff, the noodles were the lip-tingling satisfaction that the spice-hound at our table was craving.

Even if every other dish at Asian Alley didn’t appeal, I’d return just to try the rendang, perhaps in fried rice or in a sandwich.

Of the appetizers, pork potstickers ($10.95 for five) were winners, packed with a pork filling made punchy with lemongrass and nicely seared. We only wished they were a little less pricey, and that their sauce was more special than from-the-bottle hoisin. A rice wrap ($4.45 for one) disappointed with flavourless shrimp.

Chicken pad thai ($13.95), taken home and sampled, lacked the vibrant flavours that make better versions of the ubiquitous noodle dish worth getting excited about. More on the mark was the shrimp fried rice ($14.95).

Asian Alley is licensed, with several Beau’s and Bicycle Craft beers among the choices. There are no desserts currently available, although the online menu lists a few. Now, a server might direct you and your sweet tooth to the Cupcake Lounge next door.

Servers have always been prompt and enthusiastic, and they’ve ranged from completely in-the-know to very much neophyte.

That Asian Alley Facebook notes that the restaurant’s chef a few weeks ago returned to China — for a family visit, that knowledgeable server told us. The Facebook page added another reason, saying that “Chef Lisa” was “on a secret mission to discover and renew herself with the wonderful street food scene there.”

Other Facebook posts show more dishes that I’ve not seen available at Asian Alley when I’ve visited, including bao buns and laksa, the spicy Chinese-Malay soup. Given what I’ve enjoyed most, I’m hoping for greater ambitions along these lines from Asian Alley. 

The Brew Table Restaurant Bar
360 Moodie Dr., beside the Days Inn,&nbsp,613-596-4226, thebrewtable.com
Open: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to midnight, Friday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to midnight, Sunday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Prices: mains $14.50 to $27
Access: No steps to front door, washrooms

We had somewhere we needed to be in Bells Corners, but not a lot of time to get there. And first, we needed to eat. For a quick dinner last week, we popped into the Brew Table, which, a friend had told me, served better food than might appear on first glance.

Attached to the Days Inn at Moodie Drive and Robertson Road, the four-year-old, high-volume eatery was a Darcy McGee’s franchise for more than a decade. Then its owner, Nicholas Lambrof, decided to get out of the franchise business. He opened the Brew Table as an independent restaurant, scrubbing the Irish pub feel from its decor and menu.

Among the food offered here are the usual, crowd-pleasing burgers, sandwiches and gourmet pizzas. But more appealing to us were some main courses that were a little less casual, more interesting and just a little more expensive.

Pan-seared cod was moist and flavourful. If I’d made it at home, I would have swapped the onion and caper topping for something a bit zippier, saucier and complex — involving, say, mustard, or herbs, or deep-fried capers. But there was no complaining about the fish itself, or the rice and wilted spinach below it, especially for $18.50.

We felt similarly about the Red Thai Curry Chicken. There were small misgivings in that the tomatoey but spicy curry registered more as Indian, especially with slices of naan and a chickpea salad on the side, but they fell by the side given the $14.50 price.

Had we the time to linger, we could have chosen from two dozen beers on tap (among them are Kichesippi and Beau’s Lug-Tread), plus a range of imported and craft beers (among those are offerings from local breweries Broadhead, Whitewater, Covered Bridge and Whiprsnapr).

Service was friendly and as fast as it needed to be. We were out in under an hour and early for our appointment. 

Last Friday, we returned for dinner only to find the eatery’s 130-odd seats packed. Its booths, high tables and long, L-shaped bar were all occupied, largely by the after-work crowd. After a 20-minute wait, we sat down to another meal that was fundamentally good and strong on value. We had a few constructive criticisms but they weighed lightly given the reasonableness of the bill at the end of the meal.  

There was nothing bad to say about fried calamari ($12) that were just right — lightly breaded, crisp and not greasy. Crab cakes ($12) had a made-in-house feel to them, but were a little muddled flavour-wise and had emerged too dark from the deep-fryer.

The lamb shank, nicely braised and not gamey, stood out as something of a steal for $20. I quibbled that its sauce was a little thicker and glossier than I’d have liked, but that didn’t stop my friend from cleaning every scrap of meat and marrow from the bone.

My striploin steak ($27) was ample and generously accompanied by OK fries, asparagus and mushrooms. Its char was pronounced but its interior was a fine medium rare. It did lack some seasoning before it had hit the grill, and a compound butter would have been a nice touch.

Spaghetti with hefty meatballs ($15.50) pleased not just the young adult at the table, but the adult who appreciated the clarity of the red sauce and and well-made meatballs.

A pan-fried chicken dish ($18.50) wasn’t bad, but the plating, in addition to looking muddled, took away from the plate’s strong points. Putting creamed leeks on top of potato roesti made for soggy pancakes. The chicken was also under-seasoned.

We tried two house-made desserts ($7) and liked the sticky toffee pudding, which was muffin-like but still enjoyable, more than the Bailey’s chocolate cheesecake.

Like the Elton John and Police tunes that play on the sound system, the food here is more comforting and familiar than novel or wildly exciting. As Lambrof, who also helped run his family’s west-end restaurant, Peter’s Pantry, in the 1990s, told me when we spoke this week, “We don’t pretend that we’re an upscale restaurant. We’re an affordable restaurant.” The food at the Brew Table is “standard fare” and “average,” he said.
 
I think he meant average in terms of people’s tastes rather than quality, as his restaurant suggests that “average” food can nonetheless be made pretty well. 

Island Grill
324 Bank St., 613-565-3030, islandgrillrestaurant.ca(islandspiced.com for sauces, rubs, marinades)
Open: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 10 p.m., Sunday 3 to 8 p.m.
Prices: most appetizers under $10, main dishes $13 to $18
Access: no steps to front door, washrooms
Gluten-free: a few designated dishes

While I have little patience for jerks in real life, I’ll go out of my way for some tasty jerk on a plate.

I’m a huge fan of the fiery and flavourful Jamaican marinade, which intrigues with a blend of thyme, green onions and allspice, for starters, and then scorches with Scotch bonnet peppers.

It followed, then, that I recently made some visits to Island Grill on Bank Street, where chef Carlton Melbourne applies jerk flavouring to almost anything that moves. 

At the modest Centretown eatery that opened in the fall of 2014, you can get jerk chicken and jerk pork as expected, made with Melbourne’s in-house jerk marinade. As well, pork ribs, burgers and even salmon are generously slathered in the dark brown sauce. Last Thanksgiving, the special here was jerk turkey.

Bits of jerk chicken add protein and zip to a salad of greens, avocado and pineapple, which we tried and enjoyed, despite the chicken being a little dry. We passed, though, on the jerk chicken poutine.

Melbourne takes his flavours and condiments seriously, to the extent that Island Grill’s tables are adorned with bottles of his punchy mango-pepper and roasted-pepper-habanero sauces, which, along with other products, are available for purchase.

I’ve sampled a lot of Island Grill’s jerk fare. A moist chunk of salmon stood up to its vibrant sauce. Jerk pork cutlets were lean and a bit too dry, but that dark, savoury sauce was right on the money. Meanwhile, pork back ribs were fall-apart soft — overcooked, barbecue aficionados would say. Pieces of jerk chicken were bone-in and coarsely chopped — extricating the tender meat was a bit of work, but worth the effort. 

All of the dishes came with a choice of standard accompaniments, including rice and beans or an “island” mix of mashed sweet and regular potatoes, a refreshing slaw and a few pieces of plantain.

Among the eatery’s appetizers, we liked that jerk chicken avocado salad, as well as some tiger shrimp tossed in the chef’s mango-pepper sauce. Cod fish fritters, while crisp and not greasy, were disappointingly short on salt cod.  

Fortunately, the salt cod reported for duty in Island Grill’s saltfish and ackee. In that traditional Jamaican dish, the most interesting aspect was the ackee — the properly prepared national fruit was almost like scrambled eggs and absorbed flavours nicely.

Curried dishes here were satisfying. A substantial goat roti flatbread was packed with curry flavour and pieces of toothsome stewed goat, potato and chickpeas. Sautéed shrimps in a coconut curry were just a touch salty, but made for a nice lunch.

The spice-averse diner at our table tried the braised oxtail ($15.50), and wished that the bone-in pieces were a little meatier and that the sauce was less salty.

There are no desserts served at Island Grill. It was recently licensed; in addition to a few beers and spirits there are Caribbean soft drinks.

Service was better at a dinner visit than at lunch. A noon-time meal was slow to come — but then, the server admitted that she was also doubling as the cook.

Perhaps Melbourne was occupied making a new batch of sauces and spice rubs. The flavours at his restaurant make me think it would be worthwhile to buy some of his products as shortcuts to exciting food at home.

Cucina da Vito
2701 St. Joseph Blvd., 613-834-8486, facebook.com/CucinaDaVito
Open: Monday to Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m, and then 5 to 10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 5 to 10 p.m.
Prices: main courses $20 to $39
Access: no steps to front door or washrooms

I know just how Donald Trump would react if he were served the risotto al limone con gamberi at Cucina da Vito.

“Those shrimp are yuge!” the billionaire vulgarian would say. If his taste buds were as refined as his mouth is loud, the would-be U.S. president would also appreciate the exemplary tenderness of those massive, bursting-with-flavour shrimp, not to mention the well-textured, stock-infused rice on which they sit.

That dish at the Orléans restaurant, like a few others on its menu, reads as a bit pricey for those with less money in the wallets than Trump. It’s $45 for a platter meant for two. But costs aside, the shrimp risotto was one of several splurges, along with some more budget-friendly dishes, that do chef  Vito Di Brizzi proud.

The 60-year-old is a veteran on Ottawa’s Italian restaurant scene, having opened Il Tintoretto on Wellington Street in 1983, soon after he came to Canada from Salerno, Italy. Cucina da Vito is the fourth of Di Brizzi’s restaurants, but the first with his name on it. Owned by Di Brizzi’s daughter but featuring her father in the kitchen, it opened in October in a strip mall at St. Joseph and Belcourt boulevards.

Cucina da Vito serves what has become standard fare in Italian-Canadian restaurants since Di Brizzi arrived. (“I was the one who introduced tiramisu in Ottawa,” Di Brizzi told me this week. “I was the one who introduced balsamic vinegar.”)

But what we’ve eaten here, more often than not, has topped similar dishes elsewhere thanks to superior ingredients, a strong from-scratch ethic in the kitchen, and care taken in the process of cooking.

A lunch visit earlier this month found nothing but winners landing on the table. The soup of the day made humble zucchini delicious. Spaghetti, made in house and perfectly cooked, seemed to need nothing more than fresh — not canned — clams and a hit of garlic to shine. Just as basic, but no less satisfying, was the spaghetti with tomato sauce that accompanied veal, pounded thin, floured and served with a Marsala sauce. 

A subsequent dinner began with the kitchen’s gift of not just fluffy bread with balsamic and oil, but also bruschetta topped with diced tomatoes (which were, unfortunately, short on flavour). Of two other appetizers, we preferred pan-seared escargot in a perky tomato-and-white-wine sauce to small, fried smelts that were cleanly fried but under-seasoned.

Scialatielli, a noodle a little thicker than spaghetti or linguine, played well with a mix of mussels, shrimp, scallops and cherry tomatoes that was generous and again cooked with care. A bowlful of toothsome fresh lasagna was inundated with well-made tomato and bechamel sauces.

From the menu’s veal section came an involved preparation of veal stuffed with prosciutto and smoked cheese, as well as a more simple and sizeable grilled 12-ounce chop. The latter beat the former.

The stuffed veal packets were too salty and seemed like a slightly skimpy portion, while the chop was enjoyably juicy, meaty and nicely charred. The counterpoint of a bright sauce — mustard and sage, perhaps — would have been nice.

Desserts — home-made, naturally — provided the proper finish. Tiramisu was light and fresh, and significantly better than sludgier examples elsewhere. Another light treat was a slice of tangy ricotta-based cheesecake. 

During both visits, service from the black-vested staff was knowledgeable and attentive. 

The look of the place is attractive and comfortable, although the volume can rise sufficiently to make guests wish they were in the private room behind barn wood doors. Tables are clothed and diners are surrounded by brick and posters that nod to Europe, Italy, or Italy’s favourite son, Frank Sinatra. 

If only Ol’ Blue Eyes had been playing as dinner music. We heard Kenny G and other soulless saxophonists instead, which was too-generic accompaniment for food as honestly and scrupulously made as Di Brizzi’s.

Karuna Cafe
820 Somerset St. W., 613-230-1830, karunacafe.ca
Open: Tuesday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed Monday
Prices: main dishes $10.95 to $17.95
Access: steps to front door

For primal dining experiences in Ottawa, it’s very hard to beat getting to the meat of the matter in Karuna Cafe’s crab curry.

When an intoxicatingly scented bowl of the stuff landed on our table, my dining companion asked whether the new Sri Lankan/South Indian restaurant on Somerset Street West had some tools we could use to help crack the tasty animal’s shell, or some little picks to help separate edible bits from inedible ones.

“We just use our fingers,” our server said. We shrugged, and did so too.

The effort was more than worth it. Tearing apart that lustily sauced, delicious animal, only to gnaw and suck at it to wring out morsels and juices put dining on twee little crab cakes to shame. Yes, the cafe is BYOB (bring your own bib) and, yes, you might have to ask for extra napkins. Still, order the crab curry and get your hands dirty. Just perhaps not on a first date.

But while the tiny café, which opened in mid-February, is no-frills, there’s no shortage here of well-made and vibrantly flavoured food. Or of friendly, eager-to-please service from owner Edward Fernando, who years ago was a server at Daly’s in the Westin Ottawa hotel, his wife Anne, who is also the chef, or their two daughters. 

If you are perturbed by the slightly distressed tables or overly distracted by the Bollywood videos on the café’s TV, consider the mitigating detail of the freshly made, in-the-moment nature of the café’s cooking. Order a mango lassi and you’ll hear the blender whirring in the kitchen. Order a chicken cashew curry and you’ll hear the chopping.   

For appetizers, I’ve had the meaty mutton rolls and two vegetarian fritters, the bonda (made with mashed potato and chickpea flour) and parippu vada (which featured lentils). All were properly deep-fried to order, crisp and not oily, and they popped with lucid seasoning. 

Let me say now that Anne Fernando will make her food as mild, medium or as spicy as she eats it, and I’d suggest that to have it less than medium-spicy misses the point. The most spicy dishes were sweat-inducing but never truly debilitating, in keeping with Edward Fernando’s comment that making food that fiery would “kill” its other flavours.   

Those who like it hot should opt for the so-called “Chicken 65,” a dish of assertively spiced, intimidatingly red meat amplified by a brash, mouth-jangling sauce. That dish, as well as the devilled meat preparations, which add the tanginess of tomato, meaningfully dial up the heat.

But even starchier items, such as a plate of stir-fried noodles, or rice with shrimp, or kothu roti, a street-food dish of chopped flatbread with egg and onions, were made with some lip-tingling sizzle.  

We’ve eaten across the cafe’s spectrum of curries. Much less daunting than the epic crab curry, and most pleasing to my spice-averse friends, were the smooth, turmeric-yellow okra and eggplant and coconut curries. After the latter was deemed out loud to be a little too salty, one of the Fernando daughters whisked it back to the kitchen where its sauce was quickly improved.

A chicken-and-cashew curry was notable not just for its savoury, spicy gravy and tender meat but also for the bite of its coarsely chopped, barely softened onions. 

South Indian dosas, the massive rice-batter crêpes that encase fillings such as omelette or spiced potato, were well made and accompanied with bowls of invigorating sambar (a chunky, bracing vegetable soup) and chutney.   

Payasam, a warm, rice-pudding-like slurry studded with nuts and cardamom, was a mouth-cooling way to end a meal.  

The Fernandos are in the process of applying for a liquor license. There’s a small steam table waiting to be hooked up so that lunch buffets can be served. A take-out menu is in the works, Edward Fernando says.

But we can be patient with Karuna Cafe to reach its full potential, especially when Ottawa’s alternatives for Sri Lankan and South Indian food are limited. Best to wish the Fernandos and their personable place well, and to look forward to washing down some Chicken 65 with a beer. 

Karuna Cafe
820 Somerset St. W., 613-230-1830, karunacafe.ca
Open: Tuesday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed Monday
Prices: main dishes $10.95 to $17.95
Access: steps to front door

For primal dining experiences in Ottawa, it’s very hard to beat getting to the meat of the matter in Karuna Cafe’s crab curry.

Crab curry at Karuna Cafe

When an intoxicatingly scented bowl of the stuff landed on our table, my dining companion asked whether the new Sri Lankan/South Indian restaurant on Somerset Street West had some tools we could use to help crack the tasty animal’s shell, or some little picks to help separate edible bits from inedible ones.

“We just use our fingers,” our server said. We shrugged, and did so too.

The effort was more than worth it. Tearing apart that lustily sauced, delicious animal, only to gnaw and suck at it to wring out morsels and juices put dining on twee little crab cakes to shame. Yes, the cafe is BYOB (bring your own bib) and, yes, you might have to ask for extra napkins. Still, order the crab curry and get your hands dirty. Just perhaps not on a first date.

But while the tiny café, which opened in mid-February, is no-frills, there’s no shortage here of well-made and vibrantly flavoured food. Or of friendly, eager-to-please service from owner Edward Fernando, who years ago was a server at Daly’s in the Westin Ottawa hotel, his wife Anne, who is also the chef, or their two daughters. 

If you are perturbed by the slightly distressed tables or overly distracted by the Bollywood videos on the café’s TV, consider the mitigating detail of the freshly made, in-the-moment nature of the café’s cooking. Order a mango lassi and you’ll hear the blender whirring in the kitchen. Order a chicken cashew curry and you’ll hear the chopping.   

For appetizers, I’ve had the meaty mutton rolls and two vegetarian fritters, the bonda (made with mashed potato and chickpea flour) and parippu vada (which featured lentils). All were properly deep-fried to order, crisp and not oily, and they popped with lucid seasoning. 

Mutton rolls at Karuna Cafe

Parippu Vada lentil fritters at Karuna Cafe

Let me say now that Anne Fernando will make her food as mild, medium or as spicy as she eats it, and I’d suggest that to have it less than medium-spicy misses the point. The most spicy dishes were sweat-inducing but never truly debilitating, in keeping with Edward Fernando’s comment that making food that fiery would “kill” its other flavours.  

Those who like it hot should opt for the so-called “Chicken 65,” a dish of assertively spiced, intimidatingly red meat amplified by a brash, mouth-jangling sauce. That dish, as well as the devilled meat preparations, which add the tanginess of tomato, meaningfully dial up the heat.

Chicken 65 at Karuna Cafe

Devilled chicken at Karuna Cafe

But even starchier items, such as a plate of stir-fried noodles, or rice with shrimp, or kothu roti, a street-food dish of chopped flatbread with egg and onions, were made with some lip-tingling sizzle.  

Beef kothu roti at Karuna Cafe

Shrimp fried rice from Karuna Cafe

We’ve eaten across the cafe’s spectrum of curries. Much less daunting than the epic crab curry, and most pleasing to my spice-averse friends, were the smooth, turmeric-yellow okra and eggplant and coconut curries. After the latter was deemed out loud to be a little too salty, one of the Fernando daughters whisked it back to the kitchen where its sauce was quickly improved.

Okra curry at Karuna Cafe

Eggplant coconut curry at Karuna Cafe

A chicken-and-cashew curry was notable not just for its savoury, spicy gravy and tender meat but also for the bite of its coarsely chopped, barely softened onions. 

Chicken and cashew curry at Karuna Cafe

South Indian dosas, the massive rice-batter crêpes that encase fillings such as omelette or spiced potato, were well made and accompanied with bowls of invigorating sambar (a chunky, bracing vegetable soup) and chutney.   

Masala dosa at Karuna Cafe

Payasam, a warm, rice-pudding-like slurry studded with nuts and cardamom, was a mouth-cooling way to end a meal.  

Payasam at Karuna Cafe

The Fernandos are in the process of applying for a liquor license. There’s a small steam table waiting to be hooked up so that lunch buffets can be served. A take-out menu is in the works, Edward Fernando says.

But we can be patient with Karuna Cafe to reach its full potential, especially when Ottawa’s alternatives for Sri Lankan and South Indian food are limited. Best to wish the Fernandos and their personable place well, and to look forward to washing down some Chicken 65 with a beer. 

phum@postmedia.com
twitter.com/peterhum
Peter Hum’s previous restaurant reviews

What: Baroness Chocolate Bars, which come in seven flavours.

Why: Ottawa’s Bill Macy, who grew up in the restaurant business (his dad owned The Mill and The Mayflower), gave up his job with a security company after his wife’s daughter died. The couple started a chocolate company, designed to bring joy. “It’s hard to cry when you’ve got chocolate in your mouth,” he says.

They came up with a line of fun chocolate bars and went out of their way to make sure everything about them was good: they’re Fairtrade certified (“I found out that 70 per cent of all chocolate involves child labour,” Macy says), use sustainable chocolate and organic sugar. They also didn’t make much money.

Two years later, Macy has relaunched the bars with a lower price (and smaller size), brown cardboard wrappers and a higher percentage of dark chocolate. But he still features flavours that remind him of childhood favourites, with sponge toffee in one and crispy cookies in another. “The concept is to bridge the gap between European chocolate, which is good but doesn’t have any fun, and the stuff I grew up with.”

Where: More than 200 stores across Canada. In Ottawa find them at such spots as Ottawa Bagelshop, Whole Foods, Nicastro’s on Merivale and The Butchery in Bells Corners.

How much: About $5 for a 42-gram bar.

More: baronesschocolates.com

Tukan Restaurant

85 Montreal Rd, 613-749-2317, tukan.ca
Open: Tuesday to Thursday 11 a.m. to  8 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to  9 p.m., Sunday noon to 8 p.m., closed Monday
Prices: mains $10 to $23
Access: washrooms downstairs

Like many a new Canadian, Roberto Ventura found work in restaurants after he moved from El Salvador to Canada almost 30 years ago, beginning as a dish washer and moving up to be a line cook. In Ottawa, he cooked at Pancho Villa on Elgin Street and Las Palmas in the ByWard Market, to name a few places.

Tukan Restaurant

85 Montreal Rd, 613-749-2317, tukan.ca
Open: Tuesday to Thursday 11 a.m. to  8 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to  9 p.m., Sunday noon to 8 p.m., closed Monday
Prices: mains $10 to $23
Access: washrooms downstairs

Like many a new Canadian, Roberto Ventura found work in restaurants after he moved from El Salvador to Canada almost 30 years ago, beginning as a dish washer and moving up to be a line cook. In Ottawa, he cooked at Pancho Villa on Elgin Street and Las Palmas in the ByWard Market, to name a few places.

But, until his family opened Tukan Restaurant in 2008, Ventura, 52, didn’t get to cook the kind of food that he ate at home. Just one of two Salvadoran restaurants in Ottawa, Tukan is a homey, unpretentious place on Montreal Road where at times three generations of Ventura’s family, including his mother and his children, have worked. 

All of this was told to me by Ventura’s daughter, Carolina Ventura-Merazo, who owns the restaurant. When I visited Tukan twice in the last week, it was her mother, Maria Merazo, waiting on tables and providing relaxed but friendly service.

Merazo was exceptionally hospitable, and not only to paying customers. I watched as she complied with a hungry, impoverished man’s request for a meal. She fed him some chicken with rice and a coffee, and he was back out on Vanier’s main drag.

Here kindness seemed in keeping with the church-basement ambience of Tukan, where the long walls are mirrored, the table cloths are Naugahyde, and modest knick-knacks are decorations. Behind the bar, a TV shows Hispanic programming.

Tukan’s menu offers more than just the hearty dishes of Ventura’s homeland. There are the usual Tex-Mex items, “Canadian plates” and things that are in-between, such as the Mexican hamburger or the yuca poutine. My friends and I stuck to the Salvadoran dishes, which Ventura-Merazo later told me were rooted in her father’s mother’s recipes.

The food has felt very much home-made, unfussy and generous, seasoned but not nearly as spicy as one might get with Mexican food on one hand or Peruvian food on the other. Here, the food’s been meaty and starchy, especially with the prevalence of corn flour, which gluten-abstainers will be glad to know. For heat or extra zing, meals come with jars of home-made green hot sauce and curtido (El Salvador’s lightly fermented cabbage relish — think Central American sauerkraut).

Some small, snack-sized items figure prominently here, including El Salvador’s beloved pupusas, which are thick tortillas made with stuffings such as pork and cheese or beans, or cheese and loroco, a Central American flower bud used as a herb. We’ve enjoyed our warm, lightly stuffed pupusas, offset with curtido, as well as crisp pasteles (corn pastries stuffed with chopped pork and minced vegetables).

A pupusa at Tukan restaurant

A pastele at Tukan restaurant

We thought less of a platter of four shrimp tacos, which were less distinctive and heavy with chopped coriander.

Shrimp tacos at Tukan

Four Salvadoran soups grace the menu. Smaller bowls of sopa de pata, made with cow’s foot, pleased two friends who don’t flinch at eating tripe along with cassava and yucca. The less hearty sopa de camarones made us think of Vietnamese pho at first glance, but there were no noodles — only shell-on shrimps, spinach and egg in a broth that tasted of shrimp.   

Sopa da pata at Tukan

Sopa da camarones at Tukan restaurant

Once, for our main course, three of us split a platter that showcased three meaty preparations — slices of carne asada (grilled beef) and pollo asado (grilled chicken), plus chunks of chicharron (fried pork) — on top of fried yuca and garnished with curtido. The grilled meats were modestly seasoned and tender, and the pork was flavourful once you bit through its hard exterior.

Platter of carne asada, pollo asado and chicharron on yuca at Tukan restaurant

True carnivores would do better still with Tukan’s long-braised beef ribs, which were fall-apart tender. 

Braised beef ribs at Tukan restaurant

The specials board has directed us to two good choices. Strips of chicken were smothered in house-made mole sauce that, while less complex than other moles that I’ve tasted, added a dusky depth of flavour. Merazo said that Tukan is the only Ottawa restaurant that serves camarones en alguashte, which features shrimp in a sauce that relies on ground pumpkin seeds and which is credited to the Mayans. It made for an intriguing and nutty sauce, of which not a bit went wasted.

Chicken mole at Tukan restaurant

Shrimp alguashte at Tukan restaurant

Less unique was the chile relleno, which was a pork-and-veg stuffed green pepper, egg-washed and pan-fried. As with other mains that night, it came with enough salad and rice to stuff a sizeable appetite.

Chile Rellenos at Tukan restaurant

Our favourite Salvadoran desserts were warm, lightly sweet affairs such as the canoe-shaped canoas, a fried plantain with a milk custard stuffing, and its variant, Empanadas de leche, a plantain turnover with milk pudding. The quesadilla Salvadoreña, a pound cake, was also pleasing, but more dense and less enjoyable was pineapple jam-filled semita de piña.

Desserts at Tukan restaurant, clockwise from top left: Quesadilla Salvadoreña, Deep-fried ice cream, Canoas, empanadas de leche

We’ve all seen cuisines, be they Basque or Peruvian or Nordic or whatever, receive the blessing of trendy food-lovers the world over, often after a top chef champions them. Who knows what it would take for Salvadoran food to gain such kudos?

I’m sure they don’t worry about that questions at Tukan. They’re happy just to represent their homeland with unpretentious, authentic fare.

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Peter Hum’s previous restaurant reviews