Ottawa Tonite.com : Section Title

It seems that this year’s edition of the Ottawa Magazine that contains Chris Knight’s Top 10 list of “Best Restaurants” has received a sneak preview. For those of you in the know, the November issue of the local magazine, whose articles center on Ottawa, our businesses, and our communities, has included a best restaurant list since 2006. With the October edition still on newsstands, many restaurants seem to have received early copies of the November edition. Subscribers to the Ottawa Citizen, a local newspaper, received copies bundled with their Sunday edition last week. Judging from Tweets from several chefs and restaurateurs on Twitter, some restaurants are happy with the list. Others, less than happy. A controversy, however, has emerged, even with the edition not generally available to Ottawa residents.

This being its fourth incarnation, Knight, a television producer of several popular shows on Food Network Canada, was again asked to put together a list of fine dining restaurants for Ottawa. It is essentially his determination of the best and brightest in the local restaurant scene. Though, his past lists regularly included restaurants in the surrounding national capital region, such as several situated just across the river in Gatineau, Quebec. So how does a restaurant make it onto the list?

In his first list, Knight explained rather artfully the criteria by which he chooses restaurants:

1. The restaurant needs to be a fine dining establishment.
2. The restaurant needs to be on the tip of your tongue when your current boss, former mentor, hero, and father-in-law says he’s coming to Ottawa and wants you to recommend a place to go with the “missus” for their 40th wedding anniversary.

In following years, he was much more specific:

…three things go into making for an excellent night out. The first and most obvious (you’d think) is the food…The service is a close second…The third thing that goes into a great dinner out is the buzz. By this we mean the vibe you get when you first walk into the room.

Source: November 2007 Edition of the Ottawa Magazine

…if I had to assign a number value, it would be as follows: Food – 50 [percent], Service – 30 [percent], Ambiance/Buzz – 20 [percent].

Source: November 2008 Edition of the Ottawa Magazine.

Here is Knight’s 2009 list (care of the online community at OttawaFoodies.com):

1. Domus Café: 87 Murray Street – (613)241-6007
2. Beckta Dining and Wine: 226 Nepean Street – (613)238-7063
3. Restaurant E18teen: 18 York Street – (613)244-1188
4. Navarra Restaurant: 93 Murray Street – (613)241-5500
5. Le Baccara: 1, boulevard du Casino – (819)772-6210
6. The Wellington Gastropub: 1325 Wellington Street – (613)729-1315
7. Allium: 87 Holland Avenue – (613)792-1313
8. The Urban Pear: 151 Second Avenue – (613)569-9305
9. Benitz Bistro: 327 Somerset Street West – (613)567-8100
10. Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar: 1293 Wellington Street West – (613)728-0220

Accordingly, the top fine dining destination in Ottawa is Chef/Owner John Taylor’s Domus. All in all, the list seems like a good sampling of higher end restaurants in the National Capital Region. The Food Editor of the Ottawa Citizen, Ron Eade, disagrees.

@RonEade (Oct 25, 06:16 PM)
D’ya see how many, many repeats in Top 10 list? 8 repeats by my count f’m lst yr. That’s 8 fr 10 Yawn. Move on. Boring.
@RonEade (Oct 25, 06:17 PM)
And, many are his personal friends. In fact, Blackie is catering his wedding. O my.
@RonEade (Oct 25, 10:19 PM)
Ott. mag Top 10 list is v-e-r-y tired, old hat, and old school. Grow up, move on.

According to him, Knight and the Ottawa Magazine may be playing favourites. Eight of the given 10 restaurants are the same as last year. Eade went on to oppose the list on both Twitter and the online forum at OttawaFoodies.com.

Why does a top 10 list from a television producer matter so much that Ottawa’s only food editor is up in arms? Ottawa’s restaurant scene is small, but growing. It consists of both locally-owned and chain restaurants. Two years ago, a piece from CTV went so far as to say that the large strip mall in Kanata, which is replete with big box restaurants like Boston Pizza, Scores, Moxie’s, Subway, and Kelsey’s, is a “microcosm of Ottawa’s restaurant industry.” The very thought that Ottawa is a big box capital is troubling, especially considering that the only branch of the world-renown culinary school, Le Cordon Bleu, in North America is located downtown on Laurier Avenue. There are in fact three culinary schools in the national capital region when you include the programs at Algonquin College and Gatineau’s Cité Collégiale.

The top 10 list from the Ottawa Magazine helps higher end locally owned restaurants distinguish themselves from larger chain establishments. Even if we weren’t in the midst of a painful recovery from a recent recession, most Ottawa residents’ restaurant budgets are limited. Mine only permits me to visit a few fine dining establishments during a given year. The top 10 list, when paired with write ups by local food critics and accounts from Ottawa Foodies, Urban Spoon, and local food blogs, provides much needed reconnaissance, information that will let me spend my money more wisely.

Every year, Knight rebukes Ottawa for its “parochial attitude towards dining out”, calling our city a “small town.” This year, he created a baffling three new categories for restaurants he feels belong neither in his top 10 nor “Ones to Watch” (restaurants that opened less than 2 years ago or have an entirely new back of house): “Solo Act”, “Four that Matter”, and “High Steaks.” In the “Solo Act” category sits a restaurant I feel very much meets Knight’s 2006 criteria: Atelier (540 Rochester Street – (613)321.3537). In the “Four that Matter” category sits Murray Street Kitchen Charcuterie Wine (110 Murray Street, Ottawa – (613)562-7244). Interestingly, both Atelier and Murray Street Kitchen Charcuterie Wine were chosen by a panel of chefs, food writers, and food critics to be included in Air Canada’s enRoute Magazine’s prestigious list of “Canada’s 10 Best New Restaurants”, Atelier receiving the number 4 spot and Murray Street Kitchen Charcuterie Wine, the number 5 spot. Eade himself sits on that panel. That list was released Wednesday (October 28, 2009).

To determine whether or not Knight’s list deserves Eade’s ire, let us look at some progressions of restaurants since 2006.

• In 2006, Chef/Owner Chris Deraiche’s newly opened The Wellington Gastropub (1325 Wellington Street – (613)729-1315) ended up on Knight’s to watch list. In 2007 and 2008, it took the number 5 spot in Knight’s top ten list. This year, it fell to number 6.
• In 2006, the The Whalesbone Oyster House (430 Bank Street – (613)231-8569) ended up on Knight’s to watch list, where it remained in 2007 because of yet another change in chefs. It was nowhere to be found in 2008. This year it is in Knight’s “Four that Matter” list.
• In 2007, Chef/Owner Arup Jana’s Allium (87 Holland Avenue – (613)792-1313) ended up on Knight’s to watch list. In 2008, it took the number 7 spot in Knight’s top ten list, where it remains this year.
• In 2006, Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar (1293 Wellington Street West – (613)728-0220) took the number 6 position on Knight’s top ten list. In 2007, it fell to number 7. It was nowhere to be found in 2008. It reappeared this year at number 10.
• In 2006, Signatures by Le Cordon Bleu (453 Laurier Avenue East – (613)236-2460) took the number 8 position on Knight’s top ten list. In 2007, it was not present. In 2008, it re-appeared at number 10. This year, it is no longer present because the restaurant has been remodeled into a bistro. However Le Cordon Bleu Bistro at Signatures is now in Knight’s to watch list.
• Regarding Eade accusing Knight of nepotism since Chef Michael Blackie is catering his wedding, Chef Blackie’s then Perspectives (Brookstreet Hotel, 525 Legget Drive – (613)271-3555) debuted in 2006 at number 3. In 2007, it promptly fell to number 9. It was nowhere to be found in 2008 because of a disagreement Chef Blackie had with Knight. Today, Chef Blackie’s re-launched Le Cafe (53 Elgin Street, Ottawa – (613)594-5127), formerly operated by the late Chef Kurt Waldele, is on Knight’s to watch list.
• In 2008, Chef Steve Mitton’s newly opened Murray Street Kitchen Charcuterie Wine and Chef Marc Lepine’s yet to open Atelier were on Knight’s to watch list.

With restaurants rising and falling regularly, I am not sure I see Knight really playing favourites. I do question why Atelier was excluded from this year’s top 10 and am very skeptical that additions of “Four that Matter” or “High Steaks” are necessary. An incumbent in this year’s “High Steaks” category is Chef Patrick Garland’s Absinthe Cafe Resto Bar (1208 Wellington Street – (613)761-1138). While Chef Garland serves up a really good hanger steak, my favourite steak frites in town, Absinthe also excels at other dishes that easily make it eligible for Knight’s top 10 list. Incidentally, Absinthe appeared on Knight’s 2007 to watch list, but disappeared in 2008. I should also point out that Atelier was chosen as a must-eat-in destination for Ottawa in VIA’s Destination Magazine (vol(5):5, page 19).

What I do see is the difficulty with which locally owned fine dining establishments open and establish themselves. I commend both Eade and Knight for their lists in nationally and locally distributed magazines respectively and hope that the squabbling has more to do with shared passion to promote great restaurants in Ottawa than a petty case of professional one-upmanship. The controversy however reveals that Ottawa has a restaurant industry that provides some choice and it is high time that residents make their own determinations. We all dine out with our personal criteria. Mine involve comparing like restaurants by ethnicity and genre. That said, I am curious. Based on Knight’s 2006 criteria, what are your top 3 restaurants?

References:

Knight’s 2006 Top 10 List:

1. Beckta Dining and Wine: 226 Nepean Street – (613)238-7063
2. Domus Café: 87 Murray Street – (613)241-6007
3. Perspectives: Brookstreet Hotel, 525 Legget Drive – (613)271-3555
4. Le Baccara: 1, boulevard du Casino – (819)772-6210
5. Ambiente: 101-18 Beechwood Avenue – (613)744-6509
6. Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar: 1293 Wellington Street West – (613)728-0220
7. Social Restaurant + Lounge: 537 Sussex Drive – (613)789-7355
8. Le Cordon Bleu Signatures: 453 Laurier Avenue East – (613)236-2499
9. Restaurant E18teen: 18 York Street – (613)244-1188
10. The Urban Pear: 151 Second Avenue – (613)569-9305

Knight’s 2007 Top 10 List:

1. Beckta Dining and Wine: 226 Nepean Street – (613)238-7063
2. Le Baccara: 1, boulevard du Casino – (819)772-6210
3. Domus Café: 87 Murray Street – (613)241-6007
4. Restaurant E18teen: 18 York Street – (613)244-1188
5. The Wellington Gastropub: 1325 Wellington Street – (613)729-1315
6. Ambiente: 101-18 Beechwood avenue – (613)744-6509
7. Juniper Kitchen and Wine Bar (changed location since 2006): 245 Richmond Road – (613)728-0220
8. Social Restaurant + Lounge: 537 Sussex Drive – (613)789-7355
9. Perspectives: Brookstreet Hotel, 525 Legget Drive – (613)271-3555
10. Les Fougerès: 782, route 105, Chelsea – (819)827-8942

Knight’s 2008 Top 10 List:

1. Beckta Dining and Wine: 226 Nepean Street – (613)238-7063
2. Domus Café: 87 Murray Street – (613)241-6007
3. Le Baccara: 1, boulevard du Casino – (819)772-6210
4. Restaurant E18teen: 18 York Street – (613)244-1188
5. The Wellington Gastropub: 1325 Wellington Street – (613)729-1315
6. Benitz Bistro: 327 Somerset Street West – (613)567-8100
7. Allium: 87 Holland Avenue – (613)792-1313
8. The Urban Pear: 151 Second Ave., Unit C – (613)569-9305
9. Les Fougerès: 782, route 105, Chelsea – (819)827-8942
10. Signatures by Le Cordon Bleu: 453 Laurier Avenue East – (613)236-2460

Tags: chrisknight, food, ottawamagazine, restaurant

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