El Gusto Mazzola
939 Somerset St. W., 613-237-3663, elgustomazzola.com
Open: Wednesday and Thursday: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Prices: Main courses $13 to $28
Access: One stair to front door, a few stairs to dining room
We mis-timed our visit last week to El Gusto Mazzola on Somerset Street West.
Had we dined at the Argentinian restaurant — Ottawa’s only one, I believe — the Saturday before, we would have ended the night with on-site tango lessons after the eating of dessert and pushing aside of tables.
But then, it’s tricky enough getting to Mazzola when it’s open, period. The restaurant of not quite 40 seats, which launched in late October 2013, serves lunch Wednesdays to Fridays and dinner Friday and Saturday. At other times, Victor and Elena Mazzola, the couple who give the eatery its Mom-and-Pop vibe, are busy with the Gatineau-based L’Entreprise Mazzola, which makes ordered-in lunches for 50 Ottawa-Gatineau schools, and Le Gusto, a take-home food store under the same roof.
El Gusto Mazzola allows chef Victor to delve deeply into the cuisine of the homeland that he and his wife left more than 25 years ago. Between the many dishes posted on Mazzola’s website and Facebook page, there are tantalizing listings and photos of sumptuous grilled meats and offal, paellas and even octopus casserole.
Again, however, a guest needs luck if the most intriguing dishes appeal, since Mazzola’s menu each week is more limited and standard. Happily, the basic, greatest hits of Argentinian cuisine here were hearty and satisfying and served cheerfully and proudly.
Dinner began well with bread and a tangy, complimentary eggplant relish. Then came a selection of compact empanadas ($3 each) — flaky pastries well stuffed with either beef, chicken or cheese.
Beef empanadas at El Gusto Mazzola in Ottawa
Scallops that sat pretty on discs of spicy chorizo were a quickly consumed bargain ($6). More pedestrian were the breaded, seasoned calamari ($12), which seemed pre-made rather than house-made. I wished that the seafood cocktail sauce had been punchier.
Scallops with Portuguese chorizo at El Gusto Mazzola
Rabas, lightly breaded calamari, from El Gusto Mazzola
The best of four main courses, but not by much, was an impeccably fresh and flavourful swordfish steak, flawlessly grilled and served with some garlicky, parsleyed oil ($28). It was the star on its plate, beside assorted vegetables.
Swordfish with sauteed vegetables at El Gusto Mazzola
Fries and sweet potato fries were also options. With other main courses, these humble staples, even if they had not been cut in-house, were perfectly crisp, fluffy inside, and addictively good.
Argentinians are famous for their love of beef, and happily the steak at Mazzola ($28) was a thing of beauty, cross-hatched by the grill, nicely medium-rare and intensely beefy.
Argentine steak with chimichurri sauce at El Gusto Mazzola
In an interview, Mazzola divulged why his steaks are so luscious and tasty. He told me that he dry-ages his steaks for two weeks after he receives them and they spend further time vacuum-packed and wet-aging. The steak, Mazzola’s top-seller, came with a vinegary, sharp, made-in-house chimichurri sauce.
“Here I really cook what I like to cook,” Mazzola said. “If I had to live on what I cook here… I’d be completely broke!” he added. “I do it for the pleasure.”
Online, there had been tempting mentions of Mazzola’s grilled sweetbreads and short ribs, but alas, they weren’t offered when we visited.
The other beefy option that night was Milanesa à la Napolitana ($20), a thin, breaded, fried steak under a canopy of ham, tomato sauce and cheese. It struck us as more filling than sophisticated.
Milanesa a la Napolitana at El Gusto Mazzola
Pasta is big component of Argentinian fare, and it was represented at our dinner by sacchetti ($20), tender pouches — “beggar’s purses,” to be dead-on — filled with truffle-tinged cheese, in a crab sauce. But for some over-salting of the crab sauce, this dish was a winner.
Sacchetti with truffles and crab sauce at El Gusto Mazzola (Darren Brown/Ottawa Citizen)
At a lunch the week before, I tried two rustic stews that are also usually available at dinner ($7 or $8 at lunch, $13 at dinner).
One was carbonada, a somewhat sweet and considerable concoction of beef, sweet potatoes, and peaches.
Carbonada beef stew with peaches at El Gusto Mazzola
The other, which I preferred, was locro, a thickened, slow-cooked mix in which fatty bits of pork belly, white corn, potato and legumes stood out. “Locro is a lot of work,” Mazzola said, adding that cooked from the bones up, the dish needs six hours in the kettle.
Locro stew at El Gusto Mazzola
Of Mazzola’s desserts, I greatly enjoyed a cup of chocolate flan topped with warm berries at lunch ($6).
Chocolate flan topped with warm berries at El Gusto Mazzola
Other choices went heavy on dulce de leche (caramelized, thickened, sweetened milk), including a flan ($6) and a large, too-boozy crêpe ($7). Their main component could be stomp-on-the-floor sweet.
Wine and beer selections here were very basic, perhaps a half-dozen of each. Better were the selections of soft drinks and juices, as well as the meal-ending coffees sourced from Cafe Morala.
During my visits, Mazzola was scarcely busy. Just one other table was occupied, possibly with Argentinian expats. I think, though, that the best, robust dishes and the overall experience here deserve a wider following than that — especially if you throw in some first-Saturday-of-the-month tango.
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