Manotick Gastropub
5561 Manotick Main St., 613-692-2675, manotickgastropub.com
Open: Wednesday and Thursday 5 to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 11 p.m., Sunday 5 to 9 p.m., closed Monday and Tuesday
Prices: appetizers $7 to $16, main courses $19 to $33
Access: steps to front door
It was an ad on Facebook last month that prompted me to sample a decidedly retro, even classic meal at a Manotick restaurant with a new and trendy name.
“Announcing Sunday Night Supper!” said the ad from the Manotick Gastropub. Specifically, the ad referred to 10 ounces of prime rib, Yorkshire pudding, whipped potatoes, more veg and gravy. “Go back to the basics — bring your family, leave the phones at home, enjoy great conversation and enjoy an amazing Sunday Night Supper.”
It was the latest move from an eatery that’s transforming itself. On Friday, Aug. 7, the Main Street Cellar in Manotick served its last dinner. The next night, at the same address, the Manotick Gastropub was up and running, under the same management.
Owners Paul Paton and Kim Burns, who opened the Cellar in 2009 in a former dress shop in a 140-year-old house, felt that a re-branding and new concept were in order. In early September, they hired Ian Carswell, formerly the executive chef at the National Gallery of Canada, to run the kitchen.
Before I went for the prime rib, I had already been once for dinner, lured by the “gastropub” in the restaurant’s name, and the promise of better-than-average and even novel dishes that I expected to go with it. I’ve had a mix of well-made and slightly sloppier food, but also items that struck me and my companions as over-priced and defiantly old-fashioned.
Meanwhile, at the Ottawa area’s self-described gastropubs, and at its gastropubs that don’t call themselves gastropubs, the food is more contemporary and even surprising.
Back in Manotick, much more fashionable is the slate of new cocktails that touts infused spirits such as dark-chocolate vodka, blueberry-basil vodka and cherry bourbon. From our table in the eatery’s intimate dining room, we could hear those drinks being talked up in the adjoining bar.
Of three starters during my first dinner visit, lamb tartare ($16) served with fennel slaw, brioche and dots of tarragon sauce was the most interesting. Fried calamari ($15), with admittedly good red peppers and green beans and bacon-wrapped dates ($13) were more pedestrian, and we would have liked more of them for our money.
Lamb tartare with tarragon cream and fennel slaw and brioche at Manotick Gastropub
Calamari at Manotick Gastropub
Bacon-wrapped dates at Manotick Gastropub
Main courses that night were very straight-forward. Best were plates of duck confit ($27) and rainbow trout ($27) that were both succulent and generously proportioned. A pork tenderloin roulade ($24) was a competent, more mild pick.
Duck confit at Manotick Gastropub
Rainbow trout at Manotick Gastropub
My tourtière ($22) made of veal, beef and pork was quite good in terms of pastry and savoury filling, but the single-serving pie was also surprisingly small. “Is that a butter tart?” one of my friends asked. She exaggerated, but as well crafted as it was, the tourtière didn’t feel like great value.
Beef/pork/veal Tourtiere at Manotick Gastropub
Lamb shank ($26) was tender, but very much under-seasoned and under-sauced. My guess was that the lamb had been cautiously cooked in a sous-vide water bath rather than braised in the old-school way, with the old-school benefits.
Lamb shank at Manotick Gastropub
You read very little above about what accompanied those main-course proteins because, on the side, most of those plates were nearly identical. Four of five plates featured whipped potatoes, French beans and variations on demi-glace-based sauces. High marks for efficiency, but much less for imagination.
Desserts ($9) were as standard as standard gets. But that said, the piping hot apple crumble and chocolate mousse with raspberry sorbet were also very good renditions of the classics.
Apple crumble at Manotick Gastropub
Chocolate mousse with raspberry sorbet at Manotick Gastropub
When I visited a second time, again there were some ups, some downs and familiar food that aimed to comfort.
Of two soups, I thought better of a butternut squash soup special, tweaked with a hint of curry. The soup that’s always on the gastropub’s menu is a classic French onion soup, which was satisfactory but nothing special.
Butternut squash soup at Manotick Gastropub
French onion soup at Manotick Gastropub
Veal sweetbreads lacked the crisp exteriors that I think are a must, in part because of the demi-glace sauce on top. Putting that sauce below the dish’s puff pastry or beside the meat would have made for better sweetbread bites.
Veal sweetbreads at Manotick Gastropub
A sandwich of thinly shaved, too-dry brisket and bacon with cheddar and barbecue sauce was more more hefty than good.
Bacon and brisket sandwich at Manotick Gastropub
That night, the Sunday supper of prime rib ($28, including soup or salad) was the clear, if very basic, winner. The slab of edge-to-edge pink meat was simply salted — perish the thoughts of garlic, herb crusts or hickory smoke you might encounter with prime rib dinners elsewhere. With the meat came with solidly made veg, OK Yorkshire pudding and gravy.
Prime Rib at Manotick Gastropub
Based on a 2011 review, the Main Street Cellar served dishes that seem exotic and practically revolutionary compared to its successor’s fare — think ostrich tartare or duck flavoured with Chinese five-spice, paired with papaya salsa and gingered basmati rice.
Those sound like the kinds of dishes I might possibly find at a gastropub. But now, not in Manotick, where it’s back to basics instead.
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