Lockett’s Kitchen
5536 Manotick Main St., Manotick, 613.491.8899, lockettskitchen.ca
Hours: Tuesday to Friday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed Monday
Prices: mains up to $26
Access: small ramps to front door and dining room
When Colin Lockett was looking to open his restaurant, he sized up more than 20 potential locations, from Orléans to Barrhaven. Although Lockett lives in downtown Ottawa, he wound up launching Lockett’s Kitchen in Manotick in early June.
“I went all over and this is where I decided to stay,” Lockett told me last week.
He is just 37, but has been cooking in Ottawa for most of his adult life. In the 2000s he was in the kitchens of Restaurant E18hteen, Luxe Bistro, Domus Café (where he rose to chef de cuisine) and Social (where he rose to co-head chef). In the last few years, he was the chef at Cafe 327 and then Beechwood Gastropub, both in Ottawa’s east end.
In Manotick, Lockett took over the location of Burgers On Main, which had been empty for a year and a half. He gutted the place, and now there’s a comfy, unpretentious dining room that seats about 50 or so at blocky wood tables, plus a bar for 20 more and a patio for 40 or so. Chalkboards show specials, beers on tap, some of which are local, plus wines, some of which are available in three- and six-ounce pours.
At last the owner of his own place, Lockett has set his sights high, aiming to cook from scratch with the best ingredients that he can get from Ottawa-area farms. Among his suppliers are the farms that higher-end Ottawa restaurants use — Mariposa, Juniper, Two Rivers, O’Brien and Ferme Rêveuse.
But at the same time, Lockett, in our chat, humbly and candidly noted: “I’m still not doing everything that I want to be doing.” It’s been a challenge staffing his kitchen, he added, because Ottawa-based workers who he could hire lack cars to get to Manotick.
I ate at his restaurant three times in September. I sampled some pleasing, amply portioned and reasonably priced dishes that I would happily order again. But some dishes made me think the leanly staffed kitchen, if not Lockett himself, had lapsed.
As a whole, the restaurant seemed also to still be figuring out how to pitch itself. While his menus read well with dishes that spark interest, some dishes aim higher and are more refined, while others go somewhat lower. Lockett admitted he’s still feeling out what Manotick diners prefer, although he said that overall, his feedback has been excellent.
Starting with starters, I can mention two that were irresistible each time I ate them — house-made smoky hummus with crisp crostini, plus fries that benefitted from a toss in oniony compound butter and Dijon aioli on the side.
On another visit, though, we were underwhelmed by a pulled pork egg roll with a crisp wrapper but a forgettable filling. Non-barbecued pork ribs were mediocre. (I have a bias for the smoky, outdoor-cooked real thing.) Also, that night’s “duck wings” oddly turned out to be duck drumsticks, apparently cooked as confit and deep-fried. They weren’t terrible, but duck drumsticks do deserve a better fate.
On a higher note, we found that Lockett’s fared well with its fish-based main courses. The kitchen has served white fish, both halibut and ling cod, with mussels, in a flavourful broth, and at each visits, that dish was the star among the mains.
The twist here on fish and chips has been battered — not really tempura’d, as a server has said — rainbow trout, usually with mashed potatoes and a spunky tartar sauce and slaw.
What to recommend for meat-lovers? At a lunch visit, on the large, pleasant patio, I stole from my friend’s satisfying steak frites, well made with a flavourful flatiron cut. But for dinner a few nights earlier, I had a chewier and too-salty version of that dish.
One dinner visit saw a massive and tender braised short rib land at our table. But it disappointed somewhat because it lacked home-stretch browning and depth of flavour.
In early September, we had a lamb curry that had very little curry punch — Lockett told me that this dish caused him to second-guess himself initially and tone it down — overly so, we thought. He subsequently put the spices back in, he said.
I’ve had a duck “cassoulet” that served shredded confit with white beans and veg. It was OK, although I think more satisfying would have been a full-fledged, big-flavoured cassoulet complete with sausage (although that’s a heartier, more wintery dish), or a more classic duck confit.
A better mash-up, I thought, was a lunch-time fried chicken “po’ boy” BLT with double-smoked bacon that hit all the right indulgent notes. The mushroom bisque on the side was just fine, too.
Of three desserts that I’ve seen on offer here, I’d rank the apple fritters with salted caramel OK, the lemony carrot cake better and the gluten-free chocolate cake with a red wine blueberry compote best and most interesting.
Lockett told me that he might yet move from his downtown digs to somewhere closer to Manotick. His restaurant, I think, merits that show of commitment. While the eating at Lockett’s has been uneven in my experience, its potential, given more rigorous execution in the kitchen and perhaps more reined-in, focused menus, is clear too. Optimistically, this work in progress is in striking range of being quite good.
phum@ottawacitizen.com
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