NCC Press Event

This past Monday, the National Capital Commission (NCC) held a press event to announce this year’s Taste of Winterlude, a festival I once  dubbed Ottawa’s response to Toronto’s Winterlicious.

We arrived late. The press event was wrapping up. The speakers, members of the NCC’s Media Relations team including Guy Laflamme, were a quarter way through their highlights of 2011′s Taste of Winterlude “Dining Experiences.” There was a video camera in the room and several reporters from the CBC on hand (each with handheld recording devices).

My companion Claire (@gadgetgirl_ca), a wine blogger, and I would find seats near fellow Ottawa food blogger and friend, Shari (@whisk_food_blog) of Whisk: A Food Blog. We would also sit with the founder of the food blog aggregator TheFood.ca, Marc-André Plouffe. I waved at Ottawa Citizen‘s food editor Ron Eade and former food columnist Gay Cook who were standing nearby.

The next day, Eade and the Food editor of the Ottawa Magazine, Shawna Wagman, would release blog posts, both highlighting the impending visit of Montreal’s vaunted chef/owner of Au Pied de Cochon. Chef Martin Picard will “recreate his famous gourmet sugar shack” during February 4, 2011′s “Dining Experience Event” at the Museum of Civilization. This event will mark the opening of Winterlude, the National Capital Region’s winter festival that runs for 3 weeks every February. Dinner will culminate in a fireworks display.

Chef Picard goes by “The Wild Chef” on Food Network Canada. He is often referred to as a culinary hedonist. For Anthony Bourdain fans, it was at Chef Picard’s restaurant the Travel channel’s No Reservations host was brought to his knees by savoury excess. An older episode, Chef Picard’s multi-course omakase-style meal showcased dishes he is now famous for: foie poutine, duck-in-a-can (canard en conserve), and an incredibly rich take on one of the fattiest dishes in French cuisine, cassoulet.

Eade and Wagman’s posts would develop some buzz around Chef Picard’s upcoming visit. Both also mentioned how the format of the Taste of Winterlude has changed. Instead of having prixe fixe menus that encourage Ottawans to try new restaurants during what is typically a slower period of the year, the NCC has organized a series of culinary events. The events, according to the media release, are “exclusive culinary happenings” that “celebrate the creativity and talent of some of Canada’s top chefs, sommeliers, and winemakers.”

Between Claire and I, we saw some standout events.

• There is the “Introduction to Indian Cuisine” by the East India Company on February 1, 2011 (cost: $45/person for demo and wine-paired dinner).
• Fashionistas may be interested in the “Fare and Flare” event at the Arc: The Hotel on February 18, 2011(cost: $65/person).
• Chef Derek Benitz’s “East to West – A Culinary Journey Across Canada” at his eponymous bistro on February 10, 2011 caught my eye (cost: $65/person for 5 courses with wine pairings).
• Parents may be interested in “Chocolate Painting with Miss Chocolat” (a Gatineau-based chocolatier) on February 4, 2011 (cost: $22/child)
• We puzzled a bit about the “Let’s Get Loud: Motorhead Dinner” at Atelier, we knowing full well how creative Chef/owner Marc Lepine and his kitchen (looking at you Chef Sarah Allen!) can be (Cost $160/person for a 12 course blind tasting).
• We marveled at the “Dueling Sommeliers – A Food and Wine Pairing Showdown” at Play Food and Wine. It matches Steven Beckta against Grayson McDiarmid in a teacher vs. student style competition. Executive Chef Michael Moffat will prepare a complex four course menu for McDiarmid and Beckta to pair wines with. Attendees decide how well the sommeliers chose the wines (Cost: $100/person for 4 courses, paired with 10 wines).
• Our friends at C’est Bon Cooking will be offering tours of the ByWard Market every Saturday starting January 29, 2011 and ending February 19, 2011 (cost: $49/person). We suggest participants dress warmly!

While there is more of a range of events organized that include restaurants across Ottawa, in Chelsea and in Gatineau, I am left to wonder about the lack of prixe fixe menus. Many of the events cost more than $100/person, topping out in a $300/person package at the Cordon Bleu. Going the culinary event route will likely not attract the same attention as last year, especially from locals. It may even evoke some consternation as fellow Ottawa food blogger Jodi (@simplyfresh) of Simply Fresh Ottawa blogs. She raises some valid points. Are these events meant to attract culinary tourism? Well, some of us travel to Toronto to try new restaurants because of the prix-fixe menus offered during Winterlicious and Summerlicious.

I understand prixe-fixe menus stress kitchen staff because of the repetitive nature of the paired down and value-consious dishes served and the high intensity of increased table turnover, but did last year’s Taste of Winterlude not translate into exposure or new relationships with local patrons?

That said, and Chef Picard’s visit aside, the National Capital Region’s culinary scene has a lot to offer. The organized events demonstrate such. Many are well worth the ticket price.

Tickets/reservations went on sale to the general public yesterday. Click here for more information.

The press event, being held at the Cordon Bleu @ Signatures, tasked Chef Armando Biasis, a master carver, with carving a Santa statue during the press event from a new block of ice.

Chef Armando Biasis and Guy Laflamme

Light refreshments and coffee were served.

Particulars:
Le Cordon Bleu Bistro @ Signatures
453 Laurier Avenue East
(613) 236-2433

I live on the border of two Ottawa neigbourhoods, Hintonburg and the Wellington Village. I spend a good amount of my time contributing to food communities on social networks. Imagine my glee when I discovered that the Hintonburg Community Association (HCA) revived the Hintonburg Supper Club. Its purpose, to support local business and promote enjoying good food with good company in a great neighborhood.

Unlike the supper clubs for which Wikipedia has a definition, this one is informal and does not involve a fixed dining establishment. Instead, Hintonburg Supper Club members visit a new restaurant each month. Its organizer, Carol Paschal, arranges the outing with a local restaurant and sends an e-mail to the club’s membership. Each outing regularly hosts 20 guests and the club always welcomes new faces.

Its January outing to Hino’s (1013 Wellington) was actually written up by columnist Dayanti Karunaratne in the Ottawa Citizen. According to the piece by Karunaratne, Hintonburg is “bounded by Scott Street, the Queensway, the O-Train tracks and Holland Avenue.”

To date, the Supper Club has visited many of the locally owned restaurants in the area, starting with a chicken and rib eatery that features home-style desserts, The Foolish Chicken (79 Holland Avenue). Since, it has dined at a vegetarian restaurant, The Table Restaurant (1230 Wellington Street W.); a Persian restaurant, Khatoon’s (991 Wellington Street W.); a Lebanese restaurant, Les Grillades (85 Holland Avenue); a Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Chinese noodles house, Phnom Penh (1100 Wellington Street W.); a Chilean street food style restaurant, Vina Del Mar (1079 Wellington Street W.); a Thai restaurant, Anna Fine Thai Cuisine (91 Holland Avenue); a contemporary Japanese restaurant, Hino’s (1013 Wellington Street W.); and an Ethopian restaurant, Habesha. Habesha recently moved downtown to Rideau Street (574).

The Hintonburg neighbourhood is also blessed with several great bistros, Absinthe (1208 Wellington Street W.), Canvas (65 Holland Avenue), and, my favourite restaurant in Ottawa, Allium (87 Holland Avenue). Allium would be where our Supper Club’s organizer took a picture of members for a piece in the October 8th issue of the Kitchissippi Times, a neighborhood newspaper. foodiePrints’ editor took that picture. Here are others from that evening:

Upon arrival at Allium, we were greeted with warm looking tables in a newly renovated dining room that featured wood accents and soft lights.

Allium’s New Dining Room

Like previous Supper Club dinners, our reservations were for early evening, just before sunset.

For appetizers, my end of the table ordered the scallops and fish cakes.

Scallops on Succotash Vegetables with Bacon

Think expertly seared scallops, served on seasonal vegetables, and strips of crisped double smoked bacon. The diner, who ordered the scallops, exclaimed that Allium puts just as much care into its appetizers as it does its mains. I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment.

In fact, when most restaurants either close or let their sous chefs take over on Mondays, Allium’s Chef Arup Jana and his cooks hold “tapas nights.” Think of a meal consisting entirely of delectable small plates that show case more varieties of textures and flavours than most 3 course meals can permit. With the small plates priced to match, Allum’s tapas nights are rather popular.

Me, I ordered the fish cakes.

Smoked Fish Cakes, accompanied by a mango chutney and Onion Sour Cream

Panko crusted and topped with deep fried young scallions, mine was a great first course.

Here is Jenn’s main, that evening’s “surf and turf” ($30).

Surf and Turf with White Tuna ashimi, Pork Belly, and Beer Battered Perch

It should be noted that the Perch was sourced from the Whalesbone Sustainable Oyster and Fish Supply (I asked). It was line-caught from Lake Erie. To me, cooking up the Perch fillet in a flavourful beer batter and serving it with truffle fries and a house-made tartar sauce is a great way to do justice to sustainable fish.

Knowing how much I enjoy good sashimi, Jenn let me try her tuna. It was carefully cut, fresh, and served at what I feel is the optimal temperature to ensure great texture and flavour. The crisped pork belly was topped with a quail egg and plated over a smattering of jus.

Another diner, ordered the steak-frites ($23), the hallmark dish by which bistros are compared.

Flat Iron Steak-Frites Served with Hand Cut Fries and Smoked Chili Aioli

Allium compares well to any bistro in town. Served to the ordered done-ness, the steak looked medium rare and the fries, fresh, crispy, and not at all oily. Though, I still feel that Absinthe makes a better steak-frites. Many fellow Supper Club members agree with me.

I ordered the duck breast ($27).

Maple Duck Breast with Balsamic Apples, Roasted Fingerling Yukon Gold potatoes, Sauteed Mushrooms, and something slightly controversial

My potatoes were in no way powdery, fresh and sweet, cooked tender, and sauced in duck jus. The duck breast was perfectly cooked, the best I have ever eaten. Crusted, flavorful, and cooked medium rare, it was heavenly. Everyone who joined me in ordering the duck breast each took their first bite, paused to enjoy it, and sighed. My “perfect bites” paired mushroom, apple, and potatoes with duck, mixing earthy, sweet, acidic, and savoury flavours. The potato helped carry the flavours.

At the opposite end of the plate was a corn relish, topped with a contentious food in Ottawa.

Seared Foie Gras

With several restaurants targeted for protest this past summer, I do not want to debate the ethics of serving or eating fattened liver of duck in this space. That said, I found my slice of foie gras singularly flavourful (almost ethereal) and too rich to eat very often.

Considering the care Allium takes to update its menu and serve seasonal, local, and sustainable ingredients, I am more concerned about the animal welfare of intensively-reared chickens served at fast food restaurants. Still, the table I sat at had the “foie gras discussion”, but, unlike the ugly shouting matches I have seen, ours was an open conversation in which many opposing yet thoughtful points of view were shared.

Good conversation happens to be one of the rewards of dining out with the Hintonburg Supper Club. As our organizer wrote in the Kitchissippi Times piece, we have fun. We eat good food. And, we talk about issues that affect the neighbourhood. Past discussions have included how to help businesses weather the past summer’s disruptive road construction, recommendations for where to find good massage and physiotherapists, and where to find “to die for” sticky buns (Answer: 3 Tarts Bakery (1320 Wellington Street W.)).

With great conversation, friendly faces, and good food, there are worse ways to spend a weekday evening.