Oz Kafe
10 York St., 613-234-0907, ozkafe.squarespace.com
Open: Monday to Saturday 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., lunch and brunch services coming
Prices: mains $26 to $32
Access: ground floor is fully wheelchair-accessible
For almost a dozen years, the old Oz Kafe on Elgin Street was a hidden gem that served fresh, vibrant dinners made in a very small, custom-made kitchen. But in the summer of 2016, co-owner and operator Oz Balpinar had had enough of the cramped quarters, and she closed down her popular eponymous restaurant with the plan to reopen a few months later in a larger space in the ByWard Market.
The reopening took longer — as in roughly a year more — than expected. But the wait for new Oz Kafe on York Street, which at last opened on Aug. 23, was worth it.
The new location is also a hidden gem. Now, Oz Kafe resides in an attractively renovated heritage building, accessed from an off-the-beaten path courtyard and labeled with low-key signage. Once you do find it, you’ll see that the eatery seats about 60 on each of its floors — about twice the capacity of its predecessor’s single floor.
And you should try to find it. Not only does the ambience at Oz cooly combine sleek and comfy modernity with the historical embrace of 19th-century stone walls and woody ceilings. At my two visits, the dishes by chef Kristine Hartling, a 30-year-old Algonguin College culinary program grad who was the chef de cuisine at Taylor’s Genuine Food and Wine Bar before it closed in January 2017, were all deeply satisfying winners.
Chef Kristine Hartling of Oz Kafe in the Byward Market
Hartling’s dinner menu, which looks to Europe for inspiration where the old Oz under chef Jamie Stunt or Simon Bell could turn out Asian-inspired fare, is strikingly concise. There are just five appetizers, five mains, some cheese and charcuterie to nibble on, plus two desserts or house-made ice cream to end dinner sweetly. But every lovely dish I sampled was fully loaded with precise, harmonious flavours and textures.
Oz’s website refers to Hartling’s dishes as “veg-forward,” and that descriptor was borne out in the wide range of respected and ennobled locally grown treats on many plates, whether vegetarian or not. I don’t usually eschew meat, but I would be perfectly happy if I started with Oz’s crispy and cleanly made tempura fried summer squash ($14), bolstered by the richness of whipped ricotta and slatherings of bright, herby pistou, the Provençal cousin of pesto, followed by its charred baby eggplant main ($26).
Another fine dish with a Mediterranean slant, that sunny, savoury plate featured its slices of eggplant on a hearty chickpea and fennel stew, supported by sautéed greens and the flavour hits of slow-roasted tomato, green olive tapenade and sunflower romesco sauce. Generous and savoury, this dish could make carnivores think twice.
Tempura fried summer squash at Oz Kafe
Charred baby eggplant at Oz Kafe
As for meatier options, we’ve had and enjoyed the smoked beef ($15), which struck me as a smart alternative to carpaccio. The app’s lean, thinly sliced beef was discernably, but not overpoweringly, smoked, and the lucidly flavourful and well-combined accompaniments — pickled shimeji mushrooms, blobs of tarragon aioli, sweet and tangy stone fruit mostarda and slivers of crisped leek — again demonstrated the kitchen’s attention to detail.
At Oz Kafe, smoked rare beef from Enright Farms features cured and smoked thinly sliced eye of round, served with crispy leeks, stone fruit mostarda, tarragon aioli, and pickled mushrooms.
Some of Oz’s charcuterie are made in-house and others are not. We’ve gobbled up Hartling’s refined cured steelhead trout ($9), which played marvelously with slices of grilled sourdough and perfectly pickled bits of mushroom and alliums.
Cured steelhead trout at Oz Kafe
Another worthy seafood starter was the slathering of tiny, tender, well-seasoned shrimp on grilled sourdough ($16). (The same bread, baked daily at Oz, comes with a bowl of sunflower oil mingling with strawberry vinegar at the start of meals.)
Nordic shrimp on toast at Oz Kafe
Sourdough bread with sunflower oil, strawberry vinegar at Oz Kafe- pix by Peter Hum Ottawa Citizen Photo Email
On a visit last week while the heat wave allowed us to dine on the 54-seat patio, we found that “veg-forward” doesn’t mean meats need to take a back seat. Hartling’s most conventional meat-and-potatoes option — slices of Renfrew-based Enright Farms sirloin ($32) or ribeye with broccoli, new potatoes, compound butter and crisp shallots — did the trick for our less adventurous dining companion. More exciting was the duskily spiced and juicy Cornish hen ($27), with a deluxe array of veg and a much appreciated chunk of grilled lemon. The showstopper was the juicier-still Nagano pork chop ($32), beautifully supported by grilled corn, corn purée, string bean succotash and more.
Sirloin steak at Oz Kafe
Spiced Cornish hen at Oz Kafe
Brined Nagano Pork Rib Chop, served with creamed corn, succotash and marinated bell peppers at Oz Kafe
I’ve twice had the same dessert — a pavlova ($12) with plum ginger sorbet perched on its baked meringue, surrounded by slices of roasted peaches and pistachios — because it was irresistible.
Peach pavlova and Oreo ice cream at Oz Kafe
Last Saturday, when Oz was close to packed, it struck us that the dessert was a little slow to arrive — not that we mentioned it. Still, our server proactively took the dessert off the bill because she thought it had been overly delayed. Now that’s good service.
Oz has an extensive beer list with interesting draft and bottled choices, and its wine list is similarly smart and curated with glasses — including three-ounce pours — available for many of its bottles.
I ate only once, and not while on critic’s duty, at the old Oz Kafe. I was impressed — but not like I was by its successor. With a cheery but warm and classic vibe and food that ranges from very good to blow-you-away, Oz Kafe deserves massive kudos entirely for its newcomer’s efforts.
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Peter Hum’s restaurant reviews
