Arlo
340 Somerset St W.,
restaurantarlo.com
,
instagram.com/arlo.somerset
Open:
Friday to Sunday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., weather permitting
Prices:
wines by the glass $13 to $15, dishes from $8 to $29
Access:
some steps up and down to back patio but there are tables on Somerset Street itself, which is closed; washrooms downstairs
Note:
no reservations, walk-ins only
We sat outside at a rustic table, sheltered from the evening heat by a giant tree, charmed by the just-opened restaurant Arlo’s ambience that made all thoughts of nearby Centretown fall away. Nearby were the sights and smells of good things grilling. Behind us in the leafy back terrace was a mini-bathtub filled with intriguing wines waiting to be poured. Great tunes played.
Life, despite COVID-19, seemed very good. Or rather, because staff, from servers to cooks, were masked and because they instilled confidence in us about their diligence regarding the virus crisis, we were able to let pandemic anxieties slip away and just enjoy a perfect summer evening last weekend.
Chief among Arlo’s friendly and knowledgeable cohort was owner and sommelier Alex McMahon, whose resume lists stints not only at Fauna and Riviera in Ottawa but also the fabled world-class restaurant Noma in Copenhagen. For all his vaunted pedigree, McMahon on his home turf was the most unassuming of wine experts, working the patio and making his sophisticated passion — natural wines that are made without pesticides, chemicals and other additives — more accessible via relaxed patter with his guests.
On Saturday night, McMahon, who I should say recognized me and my mission from the get-go, gave us a concise primer on natural wines that likened some of them to punk rock and others to Miles Davis. Really, it made sense, even if your ear drums aren’t connected to your taste buds.
For wine aficionados who know more than we do, Arlo has a several-page list of natural wines by the bottle. I suspect a longer list will be in the offing when the restaurant’s dining room, still under construction, opens this fall. We did just fine sampling wines by the glass, whether they were smartly chosen and well-described white, orange, rosé and red natural wines, quaffing our thirst while chef Jamie Stunt’s food, which was prepared steps away from us, ably took care of our hunger.
During two visits, we tried everything that Stunt offered on Arlo’s concise chalkboard menu, from the $8 skewer of duck hearts to the $29 plate of flank steak. As simple as his food sometimes was, Stunt’s dishes all rang true, which is as you might expect from a chef who took home silver at the 2013 Canadian Culinary Championships. (Then, he represented Ottawa and brought glory to Oz Kafe, where he worked.)
Stunt can take humble items and make them at least novel and interesting and at best marvelous. I’m thinking first of his enjoyable grilled cucumbers ($10) and his highly enjoyable and complex kohlrabi salad ($12).
There was as much whimsy as there was simplicity to Stunt’s $36 seafood “bungalow” (more modest than a seafood tower), which combined pristine oysters with a cranberry mignonette, bracing mussels escabeche and plump, winning pickled shrimp. Those with smaller cravings for seafood could have ordered the bungalow’s components separately, but then the kitchen crew would not yell “Bungalow!” upon receiving the order.
Returning on Saturday, we tried larger, meatier items, including piping hot, cheese-topped baked oysters ($14) and those tender, tasty, and barely offal-y duck hearts, dusted with a beguiling blend of spices. The menu’s most expensive and protein-heavy items were big winners, although I would rank the impeccable serving of flank steak, enlivened by an on-point, highly herbal salsa verde, just ahead of the marinated chicken cooked sous-vide and then grilled ($27), joined by a plate-filling dollop of romesco-y sauce.
Arlo is a wine bar, not a dessert bar. Thus, there was just vanilla ice cream with berries ($8) to end our night sweetly. And yet, it too was delicious and pristine, about as good as it could be.
Although we visited Arlo when it had scarcely five nights under its belt, the place had the vibe of an establishment that knows what it wants to do and how to do it. Highly experienced people such as McMahon and Stunt at the helm must have something to do with that. I cannot imagine a more convivial place to unwind with a glass of something interesting and some equally good food. And when Arlo moves from caterpillar to butterfly in a few months, it’s only natural to expect it will grow from a summer-patio infatuation to a full-fledged restaurant dining room worth the adoration of its guests.