Gezellig
337 Richmond Rd., 613-680-9086, gezelligdining.ca
Open: Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5:30 to 9 p.m.; Monday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5:30 to 10 p.m.
Prices: Mains $28 to $36, appetizers $10 to $17
Access: No stairs to entrance, wheelchair-accessible washroom on the ground floor, washrooms downstairs
At Gezellig, restaurateur Stephen Beckta’s refined dining room in Westboro, the chefs Katie Ardington and Rich Wilson have been reunited and the food is so good.
They worked together about five years ago, when Ardington ran the kitchen at Beckta’s eponymous flagship restaurant downtown and Wilson was her sous chef. Eventually, each of them moved on. Wilson soon left to cook and co-own Segue in the Glebe, which became Pomeroy House. In early 2017, Ardington went to cook for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family.
But this year, both accomplished chefs returned to the Beckta fold. In the spring, Ardington stepped in as executive chef at all three of Beckta’s restaurants after Michael Moffatt left to become managing partner at the catering and prepared foods company Thyme & Again. Pomeroy House closed this summer after three years and innumerable excellent plates, and Wilson this fall landed at Gezellig where he is its chef.
“We are thrilled to have Rich working with us again after the sad closing of Pomeroy House,” Beckta said in an email interview. He added that Wilson’s wife, Lindsay Gordon, who was the general manager at Pomeroy House, now manages Play Food & Wine, his small plates restaurant in the ByWard Market.
“Rich and I have a lot of history together,” Ardington said. “We have a lot of similar ideas and (the) same palate, so it is easy to come up with a menu that we love.” Wilson does most of the initial drafting of menus, and then Ardington and he collaborate to finalize them, she said.
Because I hadn’t eaten at Gezellig since it opened six years ago, and because I enjoyed Wilson’s food so much at Pomeroy House, I figured it was high time to eat again at the restaurant to see if it lived up to its name, which means “convivial, cosy, or nice atmosphere but also belonging, general togetherness, or time spent with loved ones” in Dutch, as per Beckta’s background.
Last month, four of us had a dinner at Gezellig that was filled with very assured, expertly conceived and well-executed food. Combine those culinary satisfactions with the spacious elegance of Gezellig’s welcoming, high-ceiling space and the classy but relaxed service that’s synonymous with a Beckta restaurant and you have all the justification you need for your special dinner’s premium price tag.
(For what it’s worth, when Gezellig opened in 2012, its most expensive main course was $28 — which is now the cost of its cheapest main. Then, the food under chef Che Chartrand, who in this game of musical aprons has replaced Ardington as the prime minister’s cook, was also a little homier, and more diverse in terms of flavour profiles and influences.)
From Gezellig’s offering of seven starters, we picked four that impressed with the precise cooking of their proteins and garnishes and sauces that truly sang.
At this fall’s Ottawa edition of cooking competition Canada’s Great Kitchen Party, Wilson served an interesting tartare of Humboldt squid, a jumbo West Coast cephalopod that’s increasing turning up on restaurant plates. I liked even more Gezellig’s Humboldt squid tempura, with its clean flavour and texture and appropriately Asian accompaniments including a miso mayo that packed a flavour punch.
Humboldt Squid with Miso Mayo, Ponzu, Sesame and Scallions at Gezellig
The fish cake won us over for similar reasons. We enjoyed its panko-crusted goodness and the bracing hit of its pickled ramp tartar.
Fish cake at Gezellig
For me, gnocchi are above all about lightness, especially when I’m more accustomed to encountering leaden and even rubbery specimens while on my rounds. Gezellig’s gnocchi were cloud-like and brightly flavoured with lemony crème fraîche and a horseradish gremolata. The cube of pork belly was dauntingly sized and careful cooking, elevating the humble cut above the sloppiness and fattiness other kitchens are content to serve.
Gnocchi with smoked mackerel at Gezellig
Pork belly at Gezellig
Among our main courses, I thought most highly of the superbly roasted half game hen, perched on a finely tuned celeriac purée and blessed with an excess of jus worthy of bread and sopping.
Roasted game hen at Gezellig
Tucked under a blanket of frisée lettuce, a slab of grilled rainbow trout needed to emerge from hiding. You could then sense equally skilled hands responsible for its spot-on cooking. With it came plate’s Niçoise salad-like accoutrements — fingerling potatoes, green and yellow beans, Kalamata olives — and a perky gribiche sauce.
Trout main course at Gezellig
The menu’s only vegetarian main, as opposed to six meaty options, was a deluxe Asian-themed arrangement of mushrooms including grilled maitake and King eryngii, pickled chanterelles, mushroom-stuffed gyoza dumplings in a mushroom demi-glaze.
Mushrooms main course at Gezellig
The most hefty main was a thick and sprawling pork chop, which, while tasty, could have done more to live up to its jerk-spice designation. Granted, our server was right on the money when she told us beforehand that the dish — and for that matter, none of the dishes at Gezellig — are all that brusquely or potently spiced. But given the sharpness of even run-of-the-mill jerk seasoning, I thought the gentility of Gezellig’s jerk pork, while refined, also arguably missed the point.
Jerk pork chop at Gezellig
Desserts, however, were big on flavour as they combined comfort and craft. I could eat the streusel-y Dutch apple pie from Gezellig every day, and not because it comes with a scoop of whisky gelato. The so-called “butterfinger” dessert was densely chocolatey and peanut butter-y and hits its sweet note without reservation.
Streusel with Whiskey Gelato with Roasted Apple and Lemon Custard at Gezellig
Butterfingers dessert at Gezellig
In its six years, Gezellig, like most restaurants that aren’t owned by chefs, has seen the bosses of their kitchens come and go. Although I’ve not been to Gezellig during the time between my reviews, I can only guess that the restaurant’s true constant would have been the leadership of Beckta and Moffatt. Now, with the return of Beckta alumni Ardington and Wilson, Gezellig could have a golden run ahead of it.
phum@postmedia.com
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