Clover Food | Drink
155 Bank St., 613-680-8803, cloverottawa.ca
Open: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Closed Sunday
Prices: Lunch mains $12 to $15, dinner mains $18 to $23
Access: One step into restaurant, washrooms downstairs
On the Saturday night before Labour Day, the stretch of Bank Street on either side of Laurier Avenue struck us as a bit of a no man’s land. As we walked to Clover, all that was missing was some rolling tumbleweed.
When we entered that long, narrow eatery, which opened in mid-June where the upscale sandwich outpost Bowich had been, it wasn’t much better. We three were the only customers, and something about twilight and the eatery’s largely unadorned white and blond wood walls made Clover seem especially under-populated.
That was a shame. Not because we were lonely in that 40-seat space, but because chef/co-owner West de Castro’s food deserved to be ordered and enjoyed.
De Castro, who in May left her sous-chef position at ZenKitchen to open Clover, puts out what she calls “simple, humble food,” in line, I suppose, with the dining room’s stylish minimalism and hard, wooden, schoolhouse chairs.
But her assessment might be too modest, given, for example, the spot-on seasoning and cooking of the bison flank steak that I tried, or the well-crafted, intriguing polenta cake that was a likable oddball on one of de Castro’s desserts.
True, Clover does not serve flashy, trendy food. But most of what I’ve tasted during my dinner and lunch visits has been tasty and smile-inducing as well as straightforward, cleanly conceived and fairly priced.
Here, no main course at dinner topped $23. Some of those main portions were on the smaller side, but more important are de Castro’s attention to details and quality regarding what’s on her plates.
Locavores will high-five over Clover’s reliance on local producers such as Juniper Organic Farms, Mariposa Farms, Beking’s Poultry Farm, Apiary 613 and Whalesbone fish supply. Also, four Ottawa-area craft brews and five Ontario wines are on Clover’s menu.
From de Castro’s concise and thoughtful menu (which she tells me will see much gradual turnover as fall arrives), I’ve tried two fine soups. A smooth pea-and-fennel potage was perked by a slick of fennel oil, and my favourite, a rich and varied chowder that balanced sweet charred corn, potatoes, caramelized pearl onions and chunks of bacon.
Corn Chowder with caramelized pearl onion, potato, bacon, charred corn, at Clover Food and Drink. (Julie Oliver / Ottawa Citizen)
At lunch, a grilled romaine salad did less for me. Its Caesar-style dressing could have been brighter and punchier and slices of plain grilled bread underwhelmed. Maybe I’d left it on the plate too long before trying it because I was so focused on chowder.
Grilled Romaine at Clover Food and Drink.
Three of four main courses were the kind of memorable, well-composed plates that merit return visits. That bison steak hit it out of the park, not only because of its meat, but thanks as well to a slab of sumptuous cornbread topped with a melting compound butter of garlic, parsley and oregano.
Bison Flank Steak at Clover Food and Drink.
Chicken adobo — a thigh and drumstick braised to be winningly tender in that distinctly Filipino mix of vinegar, soy sauce and garlic — was a bowl of savoury, exotic comfort, supported not just by confit fingerling potatoes and kale, but by the crisp cracker of chicken skin that flew like a flag atop the meat.
Chicken Adobo at Clover Food and Drink
At lunch, smelts were pleasantly salted, clean-tasting and texturally perfect, while the mound of salad beneath them was thick with slices of cucumber, vibrant tomatoes, the hit of black olives and dabs of basil aioli.
Smelts and salad at lunch at Clover Food and Drink.
Bucatini, a pasta akin to a thicker, more interesting spaghetti, was sparely adorned with a red sauce flecked with sausage and bread crumbs. De Castro told me during a phone interview that this dish was intended as a “safe” dish for customers daunted by smelts and the like. I thought it could have been more bold and meaty.
Of three desserts, I’ve tried a pleasing muddle of chocolate cake, peanut butter mousse and raspberries.
Chocolate Cake at Clover Food and Drink
It met expectations, but was topped by de Castro’s “Fugazi,” a precise, surprising little plate of seared polenta, discs of banana drizzled with caramel and a scattering of maple granola.
Fugazi dessert at Clover Food and Drink
Like the similarly commendable Rex near Little Italy, Clover follows a lunch-centric business model, opening noon-hour eaters most days of the week, but serving dinner only on Fridays and Saturdays. But de Castro’s food is certainly good enough to make you want to eat it more often than that.
phum@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/peterhum
