Town
296 Elgin St., 613-695-8696, townlovesyou.ca
Prices: Small plates $6 to $17, main dishes $17 to $29
Open: Wednesday to Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m, Monday to Thursday and Sunday 5 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5 to 11 p.m.
Access: Easy access, washrooms on main level
“Meatballs,” Marc Doiron tells me, “are pretty much king.”
The chef and owner of Town, which opened almost four years ago, does the tally. Doiron figures that each week, Town sends 600 ricotta-stuffed spheres rolling down its cosy, narrow length toward Elgin Street, two at a time, surrounded by soft polenta and concentrated, rounded San Marzano tomato sauce.
This comforting cocotte has clearly caught on, even at the asking price of $11. Indeed, Doiron says he’s no food snob, that he’s happy to serve folks who want no more than a glass of wine and some meatballs.
But having made two recent visits to Town, I can also vouch — snobbishy so, you might even say — for a slew of other dishes on Doiron’s compact, thoughtful menu.
As well crafted and satisfying as Doiron’s meatballs are, I’ve enjoyed even more other small plates, a few larger ones, and some sumptuous desserts. That’s not to mention one of the best made-in-house breads in Ottawa. Doiron’s top dishes were deeply flavoured, artfully complex and visually striking.
Singling out highlights, I’ll mention two generous and imaginative small plates.
In a lovely raw tuna dish ($17), the vividly flavourful, succulent fish held its own with a bracing orange and fennel salad and even some indulgently good sausage-stuffed olives.
Tuna small plate at Town.
On another nicely designed plate, crisp and fatty pork belly married well with mellow, skewered octopus, white beans and parsnip purée ($16).
Pork belly and octopus at Town
For belly-meat fans, I’d rate the pork belly/octopus option above the crisp lamb belly coiled over Israeli couscous, mingled with cherry tomatoes, cucumber and grilled scallions ($17), which wowed a little less.
That made-in-house ricotta stuffed in the meatballs is available on a plate with beets and shaved smoked duck ($16), but I opted instead for the ricotta and kale malfatti ($17), a winning concoction of loose dumplings in an deliciously soppable sage brown butter, accented by toasted garlic and pickled jalapeno.
Ricotta and kale malfatti at Town
Especially spring-like was a fine tagliatelle ($17) immersed in a potent pea purée, perked by lemon confit, slivers of guanciale (cured pig cheek) and Parmesan.
Tagliatelle with guanciale, pea puree, at Town
I’d recommend Doiron’s long-braised beef cheeks ($29), dark, succulent, and irresistibly sauced, except that they have come off the menu since I tried them. Nearly as good, I thought, was the memorably dubbed “notorious P.I.G.” ($25), a lively plate of pork tenderloin, wee, mustardy du Puy lentils and refreshing matchsticks of apple, among other things.
“notorious P.I.G.” at Town
While Doiron describes his food as “modern Italian,” that pork entrée, he told me after my visits, pulls from his French Canadian roots too, with a mix of spices from a family tourtière recipe.
Also in Doiron’s background is his experience as a pastry chef. Not surprisingly then, Town’s desserts impressed.
Buttermilk panna cotta with a passionfruit glaze and a coconut macaroon ($6) was good, lemon tart on a bed of toasted meringue, offset by a pistachio-mint-pomegranate salsa and buttermilk granita ($9) was better …
Lemon Tart at Town
… and Town’s ice cream “Sunday” ($9), resplendent with salted caramel ice cream, chocolate sauce and caramel popcorn, was the nostalgic, inner-child’s choice.
Ice cream “Sunday” at Town
Weeks after Town opened in 2010, my predecessor Anne DesBrisay wrote that it was serving “very good” food with the verve and efficiency of a place that had “had a year to find its stride.” From what I remember of my off-duty visits there years ago, Town still has that bounce to its step, and then some.
It remains a fun, busy and boisterous neighbourhood place, with friendly, black t-shirted servers who represent it well, knowing the ins and outs of Doiron’s dishes as well as of the wines and other beverages on offer.
Many a new restaurant strives to make its mark with a vibe that’s casual and inviting, along with food that’s seriously good and engaging. Town, it seems to me, has this combination down pat.
phum@ottawacitizen.com twitter.com/peterhum
