The Whalesbone Elgin
231 Elgin St., 613-505-4300, whalesbone.com
Open: Weekday lunches 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner Sunday to Wednesday 5 to 11 p.m., Thursday to Saturday, 5 to midnight
Prices: appetizers $14 to $21, mains $30 to $80
Access: wheelchair-accessible front door and washroom
For the innumerable chefs and eaters who cook and eat by the rule that cheese and seafood should not mix and mingle, I have a suggestion. Try the ling cod in padano brodo at the Whalesbone Elgin and get back to me.
At a recent dinner where every dish elicited appreciative oohs and aahs, that bowlful of deliciousness was, for some of us, a by-a-nose favourite.
Yes, its slab of clean-flavoured white fish was pristinely prepared. Putting it over the top, however, were the bowl’s other items — not its herbs and vegetables, but rather plump manila clams, chunks of double-smoked bacon and that ultra-savoury fish-stock-meets-cheese-rind broth. Together, they sang a medley of umami’s greatest hits, and a feeding frenzy ensued at the table, as hands plunged bread into the bowl to sop up that broth.
First of all, lofty prices such as $35 for the ling cod main course raised expectations to practically bliss-level. Also, since the first of Ottawa’s Whalesbone businesses opened in June 2005, those eateries have become synonymous with hip, highest-end, sustainable seafood pleasures in Ottawa.
For the nearly five-month-old Elgin Street outpost, the original Bank Street Oyster House, the Elmdale Tavern in Hintonburg and the Kent Street store — which is to resume its brown bag lunches in a few weeks — are very tough acts to follow.
However, since it opened in early July, the Whalesbone Elgin has distinguished with its larger scale and distinct offerings.
With seating for more than 100, including 24 seats at its long bar, Whalesbone Elgin is about three times the size of the quaint, cosy Whalesbone Bank. Its deep, narrow space is dark, rustic and woody, with barn board, mirrors and stags’ heads on the walls.
The interior of the new Whalesbone on Elgin Street
At the entrance are fridges holding take-home products and a chalkboard listing the types of brown-bag lunch fare that the Kent Street location had become known for. The kitchen is visible through industrial windows and through the air, retro tunes — we’ve heard Johnny Cash, Marvin Gaye and hard-bopping jazz — waft.
As for the menu at the new Whalesbone, with the exception of a bit of overlap, it diverges from what its siblings offer. Most notably, Radford has branched out beyond seafoood to offer beef and poultry dishes.
Among our appetizers at dinner was Radford’s astutely seasoned beef tartare ($18), which delivered the classic, punchy flavours and contrasts that raw-meat fans expect. Another carnivore’s treat and spreadable indulgence was the roasted marrow bone ($16). It was fine, but the tartare is the one I prefer.
But it’s not as if these beefy options have replaced the eminent fish and seafood starters. If I had to have just one starter, it would be the tuna sashimi ($21), in which some of the usual raw-fish suspects — olive oil, wasabi, green onion, salt, lime juice — tasted that much bigger and better than at other restaurants.
That’s not to disrespect the Whalesbone clam chowder ($14), which similarly seemed by-the-book on the menu, but tasted like a rich, vividly flavoured exemplar. (A less chunky, but still admirable clam chowder is available for take-home at the front of the restaurant.)
In addition to that ling cod dish that still makes me reflexively smack my lips, we tried two other mains from the seven-choice list. Eschewing salmon, octopus and lobster, we chose the striploin steak, dry-aged in house for about 65 days ($42) and the more composed whole Cornish hen dish ($32).
With the steak, Radford again made the case for classic flavours and minimal manipulation. Nicely crusted but medium rare inside, the steak thrummed with the funky, nutty notes that dry-aging layers on forthright beefy goodness. A dusting of fried garlic, chives and salt, plus chimichurri on the side added waves of secondary flavour.
The Cornish hen was another lip-smacker, given a spicy “piri-piri” overlay, but balanced by a tangy buttermilk dressing. The bird’s meat was succulent, and its skin was crisp. When I spoke to Radford last week, he gave a shout-out to his deluxe, high-heat broiler, which made the skin of fish and fowl so crisp and seared the steaks so impeccably.
If Radford’s starters and mains wowed, then his desserts were meant more to comfort. I’ve only tried one, in part because those meal-enders are $12 a pop and I thought something fancier should be my reward for paying that much. That said, the made-to-order apple crisp, piping hot in its cast-iron pan, was excellent and very much shareable.
My lunch visit to Whalesbone Elgin generated a few observations.
First, plates landed with dizzying speed — it was as if the kitchen was trying to keep pace with Elgin’s shawarma joints, but with $20-plus items.
A slab of salmon on salad ($23), while speedily made and simple, was in keeping with the high standards at dinner. The succulent, but crisp-skinned fish could not have been better seasoned or cooked, and the bed of salad was fresh and dressed so that sweet, acid, bright and herbal notes popped in turn.
The lobster BLT was the one dish at Whalesbone Elgin that made me grumble. It might be unfair of me to have visions of East Coast lobster rolls in my mind, but when the lobster-salad-based sandwich arrived at my table, it struck me as tasty, yes, but clearly short on lobster. Also, the fries on the plate could have been better, especially for $25.
Registering as overpriced, that one dish burst the Whalesbone bubble. For all of the eatery’s relaxed mien, it’s still a high-stakes operation, as per its prices. If a dish such as the lobster BLT disappoints, then for me, the metal chairs seem that much harder, and the speedy service seems more cursory than efficient.
Fortunately, that disappointment was a one-off. Every other dish, especially at dinner, lived up to the promise and reputation of the Whalesbone brand, which now has a flagship location to be proud of.
