Bistro Ristoro
17 Clarence St., 343-984-6080,
bistroristoro.ca
Open:
Tuesday to Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Monday
Prices:
appetizers $6 to $24, mains $16 to $26, pizzas $17.50 to $22
Access:
no steps to front door or washrooms
Ottawa has lots of eateries that describe their fare as Mediterranean. But what do they really mean by that?
Dig a little deeper into their menus and you’ll usually see Lebanese dips, pies or platters. At other restaurants, Greek salads and appetizers prevail, or perhaps pizzas and pastas.
And then there’s Bistro Ristoro, which has been open for more than a year in the ByWard Market, near the quieter, western end of Clarence Street.
Its all-day menu, which I’ve sampled from twice this fall, takes its own tour of Mediterranean countries, offering an assortment of thin-crust pizzas and bread-y items from its visible brick oven imported from Italy, plus a smattering of Greek dishes, pastas and salads.
Plus, because the restaurant’s owner-operators are from North Macedonia, the landlocked Balkan country that doesn’t touch the Mediterranean Sea but is just north of Greece, the bistro — perhaps most interestingly — serves some Balkan dishes that you’ll be hard-pressed to find elsewhere in Ottawa.
At least, if someone knows another Ottawa eatery that serves plieskavitza (a spiced, half-pound beef patty that’s widely cherished in the Balkans), could you please let me know, as I would then have something with which to compare Bistro Ristoro’s rendition.
We first visited Bistro Ristoro for lunch, when we found its dishes simple, generously portioned and a little hit and miss.
One carnivore at my table was pleased with his baked pork tenderloin ($24), which was a touch overdone but nonetheless tasty thanks to its white wine mushroom cream sauce. With the hunk of pork came fingerling potatoes and salad, making for a hefty, plate-filling lunch.
The other meat-lover opted for the Balkan kobasitza sausage ($18), a long, somewhat spicy link that we were told had been made by a Montreal-based supplier. Again, meat, potatoes and salad filled the plate.
A friend who had worked as a pizza-maker thought highly of his pastrmaylia ($21), described by the menu as “a Macedonian traditional canoe-shaped pizza.” When it arrived on our table, it made me think of a larger version of Turkey’s pide flatbreads, albeit with cubes of pork as a topping. My take was that the dough outshone the meat on this no-frills dish.
My mushroom risotto ($16) was the letdown of our lunch. Its rice was overly al dente and the too-dry risotto lacked the kind of creamy luxuriousness I prefer in the classic Italian indulgence.
Our choices at dinner last week were more satisfying.
From the menu’s dozen pizzas, we opted for the “flambée” ($19), which was a circular take on the usually oblong, Alsatian tarte flambée. Its blend of thick-cut bacon, cheese, red onions and sour cream was on point, and the thin-crusted pie was toothsome and sturdy — thicker and more dry than a Napolitan pizza, and also nicely coloured but devoid of charring.
Of four pastas, we tried the spaghetti carbonara ($18) and while the pasta was just a touch past al dente, the dish admirably delivered the yolky richness and bacon-y, cheesy satisfaction of a respectable carbonara.
Of two Greek dishes, the no-nonsense but well-made grilled halloumi salad ($16.50) topped the more pedestrian pork souvlaki ($16 for one kebab with fries and salad, $21 for two kebabs), which was made with chopped pork that could have been more assertively flavoured and whose fries were soggy.
Our survey of Bistro Ristoro would not have been complete without the massive plieskavitza ($20), also described on the menu as an “XL beef burger.” Surrounded by dough, the plieskavitza struck me to be equal parts pie and burger. The meat, which had been grilled separately, was well-seasoned and had a certain springiness to it. A dollop of a tangy dairy product called kaymak added a bit of sour richness.
The only dessert available here is a two-scoop serving of chocolate mousse ($8), served on a slate slab with whipped cream. It did the trick for the three of us.
Were I to return and have some wine with dinner, which would most likely be pizza, I might choose one of the Croatian options from the affordable, all-European wine list.
While I wasn’t out-and-out wowed by the food here, I nonetheless like this spacious, unpretentious, new-feeling place that seats about 40, where bouzouki and flamenco music can play on the sound system and Balkan musicians sometimes play on weekends. Bistro Ristoro appeals to me for its uniqueness in town and its willingness to build a bridge between Balkan dishes and palates unfamiliar with them.
phum@postmedia.com
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