Wellington Gastropub
1325 Wellington St. W., 613-
729-1315, thewellingtongastropub.com
Open: takeout Wednesday to Friday noon to 7 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., dine-in Wednesday to Saturday 5 to 10 p.m., closed Sunday to Tuesday
Prices: mains $24 to $33, lunch boxes to go $20
Access: steps to front doors, then flight of stairs to second-floor restaurant
When the Wellington Gastropub opened in 2006, its name required some explanation.
Then, Ottawa had a clear demarcation between its ambitious restaurants and its more casual pubs. The Wellie, as it came to be nicknamed, was a hybrid, mixing gastronomical offerings with easy conviviality, not to mention a fondness for better beers. My predecessor loved the Wellie so much when it opened, and then again, in 2010, that I never stopped by to check it out after my reviewer’s stint began in 2012. I just assumed, and word of mouth led me to believe, that co-owners Shane Waldron and chef Chris Deraiche had refined their formula to the point of very smooth sailing, inspiring more than a few, albeit lesser, gastropubs along the way.
But then 2020, the year of anything but smooth sailing for Ottawa’s restaurants, happened. In addition to COVID-19, Waldron had to cope with Deraiche’s decision this summer to step away from the business and its kitchen.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of the pandemic, chef Jonathan Korecki, formerly of Restaurant E18hteen and a Top Chef Canada finalist, returned to Ottawa after several years of cooking in Tokyo. The culinary stars aligned: Korecki was out of work, the Wellie needed a chef, and Waldron hired Korecki.
Given that change, I figured it was the right time to finally eat at the gastropub.
My two recent dinners confirmed that Korecki, not surprisingly, still sends quality plates out of the kitchen, which remains in good hands after Deraiche’s departure.
At the same time, the gastropub’s menu leans as hard as it ever did into a traditional meat-and-veg mandate. There’s no obvious nod to the fact that Korecki was previously the executive chef at the official residence of Canada’s ambassador to Japan, where he developed a deep love for that country’s food and people.
The chef and Waldron must feel that the gastropub’s brand is bigger than Korecki’s and that, during a pandemic, when customers are skittish about dining out, it’s not the best time to stray from proven hits and comfort food.
Speaking of proven hits, I’m reliably informed that one of Ottawa’s luminaries of photojournalism treats himself each birthday to the Wellie’s beef tartare ($22). I can’t say whether Korecki has tweaked Deraiche’s recipe, but I can say that the Wellie’s tartare is both classically made and exceptionally big-flavoured and well balanced, one of the best beef tartares in the city. We also had the Wellie’s lemony fishcakes with dill dressing ($14), which were fine, if not as eye-wideningly good as the tartare.
As for main courses, there was very little to complain about regarding plates that starred braised lamb shanks ($28) or beef short rib taken off the bone ($32), or a roasted chicken breast ($25) or pounded-until-thin and then fried pork schnitzel ($26). The chicken breast stood out as a juicy, crisp-skinned wonder that restored one’s faith in chicken breasts after too many dry disappointments, and its truffle sauce was a luxurious add-on that distinguished the dish from its homier peers.
The Wellie’s kabocha squash gnocchi ($24) were lightly sweet and a touch heavy, but they made for a satisfying and even self-indulgent dinner with their fine tarragon cream sauce.
The only dish that I thought was lacking was a mushroom risotto with properly seared scallops ($33), but only because the rice seemed short on savoury umami punch.
Korecki’s main-course plates, while hefty, seemed somewhat minimalist as they generally contained meat, starch and sauce and were scarcely garnished. If you wanted more veg, you would have to order the Brussel sprouts, parsnips, or Swiss chard and kale on the side for $6.
But, then, you might not have room for dessert. The gastropub’s decadently rich dark chocolate pavé with whisky-macerated cherries and moist, sumptuous vanilla cake (both $8) sent us home on sweet, happy notes.
True to its pub side, the restaurant offers a page of interesting wines, 10 Ontario craft beers on tap and many more Ontario and Belgian beers in bottles and cans, as well as several featured cocktails.
Service at the gastropub was friendly and welcoming, and it began with us checking in on the restaurant’s COVID-19 guests’ list with our cellphones. We received our menus on our phones, too. For all its popularity, the restaurant was barely busier than our own table on the weeknights we visited.
The gastropub also offers its full menu to go for pickup, as well as some box lunches that Korecki calls “bento boxes,” referring to the Japanese meals that contain multiple delights in their partitioned trays. That said, the Wellie’s bento boxes contain such distinctly non-Japanese items as stewed beef and pork meatballs in tomato ragout with Lancaster gouda.
Perhaps when the pandemic abates, the gastropub will be able to allow Korecki to show off more food that acknowledges the Japanese part of his life journey without detracting from the restaurant’s comfort-food mission. In my book, that would be yet another reason to bid COVID-19 good riddance.