Ottawa’s restaurant-goers can look back at 2015 as a year that brought them more than the usual bounty of appealing restaurants.
I found it hard to keep up, logging 100 or so meals at new eateries from the cheap and cheerful to the spicy and exotic to the sleek and upscale. The year started strongly with South American small plates at the Soca Kitchen & Pub and ended with pan-Asian flair at Datsun. In between, there were winning meals at, to name a few, North & Navy in Centretown, Flavours of the Caribbean and Kochin Kitchen in Lowertown, Pomeroy House in the Glebe, Carben Food + Drink in Hintonburg and Tante Carole in Chelsea. Of those, only Soca has been open for more than a year. Datsun has been open for just two months.
I have some absolute favourites of the new restaurants that I tried in 2015, but you’ll have to read to the bottom to learn which they are. First, a roll call of my favourite dishes.
Below, you’ll see a heavy emphasis on appetizers, small plates and the like, because those smaller-portioned dishes still seem to have pride of place on so many Ottawa menus. That’s what restaurants were pushing hard in 2015. Or it’s how we were eating, or simply what we felt comfortable paying for.
Before we dig in, a few caveats. Don’t mistakes my picks for the best food in town, or even the best dishes at those restaurants — they’re just the dishes that I most happily recall and that struck the bullseye as far as my palate and esthetic sense could judge.
Also, some restaurants may have tweaked or even removed that dish that won me over earlier this year. Finally, these picks aren’t necessarily wholesale recommendations for the restaurants, some of which I found were uneven.
It was also a sad year for Ottawa’s restaurant lovers when you consider some of the closings. Goodbye to the Zydeco Smokehouse, Hino’s, Burnt Butter, Raw Sugar Cafe, Hung Sum, The Daily Grind, Cafe 327, which became a second Mia’s Indian Cuisine location, and Mandarin Court, which became another Green Papaya location. And last but not least, Mellos Restaurant.
We can seek consolation in 2016, perhaps by revisiting the dishes below, or with some new thrills at Ottawa-area restaurants yet to open.
BEST APPETIZER
Foie gras, apple and granola at the Pomeroy House
Seared foie gras with apples and granola at Pomeroy House
If seared foie gras with fruit is a fine-dining standby, Pomeroy House’s version was a triumph of precise execution, with the caramelized, jiggly liver sitting pretty on an apple slice fried in the foie-fattened pan, with a scattering of granola for homespun crunch.
Honourable mention: Bison tartare at Share Freehouse
Bison tartare at Share Freehouse
Although a bevy of Asian accoutrements makes this dish a bit unruly, Share’s bison tartare remains one of Ottawa’s best raw meat dishes — assertively seasoned and bolstered by fried shallots and grated cured egg yolks.
BEST SOUP
Tomatillo gazpacho at Carben Food + Drink
Tomatillo Gazpacho, with cracker, compressed vodka watermelon, cured arctic char, shiso leaf, lumpfish roll, cucumber rolls and thai chili at Carben Food – Drink- pix by Peter Hum Ottawa Citizen Photo Email
Why stop with a vibrant, perfectly balanced and smooth summer-friendly soup when you can go for gold by topping it with a long almond cracker, itself topped with ribbons of cucumber, compressed watermelon, house-cured arctic char? Visually stunning and just as tasty.
Honourable mention: Chilpachole de jaiba at Taqueria Kukulkan
Crab soup at Taqueria Kukulka
The humble Montreal Road restaurant gets marks for ambition and authenticity for serving an intoxicating blend of crab meat, tomatoes and broth that’s native to Veracruz, Mexico.
BEST SMALL PLATE
Dirty Rice at the Soca Kitchen & Pub
Dirty Rice at the Soca Kitchen & Pub
Called arroz sucio at the endearing South American/Spanish eatery on Holland Avenue, this was a pan full of complex, soulful, salty, comfort food, flecked with chunks of made-in-house pork sausage, chickpeas and even some Venezuelan cacao.
Honourable mention: Short rib pastrami at Pomeroy House
Bison Short Rib Pastrami at Pomeroy House
If this pastrami-style cured bison short rib had lasted longer than a minute or so at our table, I would be able to share more details about it.
BEST SNACK (TIE)
Tacos al pastor at Taqueria Kukulkan
Taco al Pastor at Taqueria Kukulkan on Montreal Road.
I ate a lot of tacos in the spring, and my favourite was the tacos al pastor at Montreal Road’s uncompromising Taqueria Kukulkan. Marinated pork spins shawarma-style on a rotating vertical skewer. Once shaved, the crisp and tender meat is topped with pineapple and served in a home-made corn tortilla. Superior house-made sauces seal the deal.
Chicken Wings at Datsun
Spicy chicken wings at Datsun
Datsun’s wow-worthy chicken wings bypassed Buffalo in favour of Thailand and Vietnam, hitting all the right spicy-sweet-salty-umami markers.
BEST VEGETARIAN DISH
Wood ear mushrooms at Carben Food + Drink
Wood Ear Mushrooms w-Eryngii- Miso Glaze- Tumeric Aioli- Sea Beans, Edamame, Shiso at Carben Food + Drink
Finely honed creativity on a plate, with vegetarians, fungus fans and adventurous eaters in mind. Asian ingredients (wood-ear fungus, Eryngii mushrooms, edamame, shiso leaf and a miso glaze) combined in a novel, fascinating way.
Honourable mention: Eggplant masala at Kochin Kitchen
Eggplant Masala at Kochin Kitchen
Roasted eggplant ($9) received the royal treatment at Ottawa’s second, masterfully spicy Keralan restaurant, merged with a thick, dark complex sauce that brought heat, acidity and an almost chocolatey richness to the table.
BEST PASTA
Torteletti at North & Navy
Torteletti at North & Navy
Centretown’s Northern Italian treasure excels at all kinds of unique pasta dishes. Unbeatable were the small but luxurious torteletti nestled in a potato broth and stuffed with potato, pecorino, parmesan and ricotta, and drizzled with aged balsamic.
Honourable mention: “Jor-Dan-Dan” Noodles at Datsun
“Jor-Dan-Dan” Noodles with chili bolognese at Datsun
Here’s hoping that this dish, with its decadently buttery, umami-rich ground pork sauce and swirl of house-made chili paste, sets off a little Asian ragu craze in Ottawa in 2016.
BEST FISH
Arctic Char at Carben Food + Drink
Arctic char with black congee (rice with squid ink), 62-degree egg, scallions, orange ginger sheets at Carben Food + Drink
Perfectly cooked fish came plated with exceptional imagination, joined with “black congee,” (some loose, not-quite soupy rice, coloured and flavoured by squid ink), a slow-poached egg, smoked almonds and even a hardened crisp that tasted of orange and ginger.
Honourable mention: Whole fish at Spicy Legend
Tilapia fish hot pot at Spicy Legend
At the newest of Ottawa’s scarce Szechuan restaurants, the house specialty isn’t so much a dish as an event. Bring three or more with you to partake in a whole fish rubbed with cumin and cooked in a chili-oil bath, surrounded by assorted vegetables, exotic mushrooms, noodles, tofu products and whatever your stomach desires from a lengthy list of add-ons.
BEST BIRD (TIE)
Duck Confit at the Pomeroy House
Duck confit at the Pomeroy House
Pomeroy’s chef and co-owner Rich Wilson made duck confit his own, not only because Daffy’s leg was as optimally crisp and then meltingly tender as could be. The autumnal accompaniments of creamed corn, kale, spiced walnuts and apple put this swoon-worthy dish over the top.
Roast Chicken at the Rowan
Roasted half-chicken at the Rowan
This new gastropub in the Glebe served a stand-out spin on an old favourite. A moist half-bird with perfectly crisp and seasoned skin stood up to punchy, Indian-influenced accompaniments including tart coriander chutney, fenugreek potatoes, radish and cauliflower.
Honourable mention: Jerk chicken at Flavours of the Caribbean
Jerk chicken special at Flavours of the Caribbean
This must be Ottawa’s top hurts-so-good dish, especially if you ask chef Frederick White to make it at maximum, “atomic” spiciness.
BEST RED MEAT
Steak at El Gusto Mazzola
Argentine steak with chimichurri sauce from El Gusto Mazzola
Dry-aged for two weeks and then vacuum-packed and wet-aged, chef Victor Mazzola’s luscious, intensely flavoured best-sellers are a matter of Argentine pride.
Honourable mention: Short rib and tortillas at Belmont
Short rib and tortilla chips at Belmont
Unconventional thinking worked for the tiny Old Ottawa South restaurant, which submerged fine and tender meat in a bowl with salsa verde, a quasi-mole sauce, and some cheddar-ized hominy.
BEST DESSERT
Chocolate cake at Tante Carole
Chocolate cake at Tante Carole in Chelsea Quebec
The dessert staple, deeply chocolatey but not too sweet, was lavished with late summer’s raspberries, a quenelle of chocolate mousse, malted milk ice cream and Earl Grey drizzle.
Honourable mention: Pandan cake at Carben Food + Drink
Pandan dessert with lychee at Carben Food + Drink
Call this one — a summery, Southeast Asian-themed dish centred on light, vibrantly green pandan cake and lychee — the anti-chocolate cake. In a very good way.
BEST RESTAURANTS
Based on the above picks, and my feelings about other dishes I’ve tried, my favourite new restaurants of 2015 were the more out-of-the-box Carben Food + Drink and the more classic Pomeroy House. Among more casual restaurants, Datsun and Taqueria Kukulkan were tops.
THE RESTAURANTS
Belmont
1169 Bank St., 613-979-3663, belmontottawa.com
Peter Hum’s review
Carben Food + Drink
1100 Wellington St. W., 613-792-4000, carbenrestaurant.com
Peter Hum’s review
Datsun
380 Elgin St., Unit B, 613-295-6033, eatdatsun.com
Peter Hum’s review
El Gusto Mazzola
939 Somerset St. W., 613-237-3663, elgustomazzola.ca
Peter Hum’s review
Flavours of the Caribbean
259 York St., 613-241-2888
Peter Hum’s review
Kochin Kitchen
271 Dalhousie St, 613-562-4461, kochinkitchen.ca
Peter Hum’s review
North & Navy
226 Nepean St., 613-232-6289, northandnavy.com
Peter Hum’s review
The Pomeroy House
749 Bank St., 613-680-8803, thepomeroy.ca
Peter Hum’s review
The Rowan
915 Bank St., 613-780-9292, therowan.ca
Peter Hum’s review
Share Freehouse
327 Somerset St. W., 613-680-4000, sharefreehouse.ca
Peter Hum’s review
The Soca Kitchen & Pub
93 Holland Ave., 613-695-9190, socapub.com
Peter Hum’s review
Spicy Legend/Shuwei
709 Somerset St. W, 613-695-6668, shuwei.ca
Peter Hum’s review
Tante Carole
168 Old Chelsea Rd., Chelsea, Quebec. 819-866-3149, facebook.com/RestoTanteCarole
Peter Hum’s review
Taqueria Kukulkan
1730 Montreal Rd. 613-680-5055, taqueriakukulkan.com
Peter Hum’s review
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