Shawna Wagman | Ottawa Magazine

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FOOD BUZZ: Jak’s Kitchen battles Bronson Ave. construction with Jak In A Box take-out meals

You’ve gotta hand it to the folks at Jak’s Kitchen. They are making lemonade out of lemons. When a construction crew began tearing up Bronson Avenue several weeks ago, owners John Armstrong and Kim Hill (John And Kim = JAK) discovered their restaurant was going to be in a cloud of demolition, dust, and detours until September. The news got even worse: their beloved outdoor patio is out of commission.

In spite of being stuck in a construction zone, the 26-seat restaurant remains open for business inside as usual — serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch. But rather than standing by helplessly and watching the number of customers dwindle due to the mess, Armstrong and Hill came up with a plan to launch a new take-out business called: Jak In A Box!

The idea is to give customers access to Jak’s regular menu, but to pack everything up in cute recyclable to-go containers — perfect for taking home (or to the office or off on a picnic).

One of the great little quirks about Jak’s Kitchen is that they serve breakfast until 3 p.m. They are perhaps best-known for their creative breakfast sandwiches, dubbed Kitchen Macs, which happen to be ideal take-out food. Think of it as a gourmet Egg McMuffin. Jak’s Macs feature fresh and mostly local ingredients like house-cured peameal bacon, Bekings Poultry Farm eggs, and Mariposa Farms’ selection of cheeses. The key is that they are served on hearty homemade breads — rye, sourdough, molasses-oat and, my favourite, buttermilk biscuits. These baked goods can also be ordered by the loaf or the batch for take-out as well.

Jak In A Box @ Jak’s Kitchen

Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 8 a.m. to close.

Jak’s Kitchen, 479 Bronson Ave., 613-230-2088

Please note: You can still reach Jak’s Kitchen off of Gladstone Avenue, turning left on Percy Street and then left again on McLeod Street. The parking lot across the street from the restaurant remains accessible.

Shawna Wagman | May 16, 2012 at 8:46 am

TWO FOODIE ROAD TRIPS: Seed to Sausage Grand Opening (May 19) & The Great Canadian Cheese Festival (June 1-3)

A selection of Seed to Sausage salumi served at the launch of the Great Canadian Cheese Festival

Cured meats, as we all know, are making a comeback. And while I have enjoyed many of the new porky products appearing in deli counters and on charcuterie boards around town, I do find it can get a little confusing. The terminology alone is tough to tackle: is charcuterie the same as salumi? Is salumi the same as salame? What’s the difference between copa and capicola? Smoked, cured, cooked, dried, aged, nitrates, and nitrites — there is so much to know.

Luckily we have an expert, educator, and true Salumist among us! Ottawa-raised Michael McKenzie of Seed to Sausage has emerged from his military career as the region’s Pied Piper of Pork (and lamb and beef). It seems whatever he makes at his salumeria in Sharbot Lake, 130 km west of Ottawa, a trail of chefs and foodies follow behind holding baskets of crostini and jars of artisanal mustard.

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Shawna Wagman | May 15, 2012 at 9:38 am

OPENING SOON! Brothers Beer Bistro in the ByWard Market

The "Brothers" behind the bar in the construction zone: (l-r) Nick Ringuette, chef Darren Flowers, Patrick Asselin

Let’s get the answer to “brothers” question out of the way: co-owners of the soon-to-open Brothers Beer Bistro are not biologically brothers. Patrick Asselin and Nick Ringuette are brothers in the ‘best buddies’ sense of the word. It’s the nickname they have for each other. And upon meeting them for the first time, it’s easy to see why they are friends. They are both warm, charming, fun-loving guys… with matching facial hair. The kind of brothers everyone needs.

Apparently Asselin’s bushy beard is the result of a promise he made (and perhaps now regrets) when he signed the lease for 366 Dalhousie St. that he wouldn’t shave until the 75-seat ByWard Market bistro opens later this month. Ringuette, the self-described “laid-back one,” keeps his beard tidy while he works his final shifts at The Black Thorn where he has been a beloved bartender for the last six years. “I’m not a crazy mixologist, not a flare guy,” he says, “My thing is that I want everyone to feel like they are in my basement bar.”

So the name “Brothers” stuck because these guys really wanted to emphasize the importance of having a fun new social hangout spot where everyone feels like one of the family. “We want to bring back that social aspect of being out on the town,” says Asselin who practiced the art of hospitality most recently as service manager at Play Food & Wine, “Instead of seeing people in restaurants on their phones and texting, we want to go back to people talking and interacting.”

When I stopped by last week, the gas had just been hooked up and chef Darren Flowers, the third “brother,” was eager to get in the kitchen to work on his menu. Flowers, who was most recently Steve Wall’s sous-chef at Luxe Bistro and previously at the Whalesbone, says he’ll be incorporating beer into all of the food — either as the braising or brining liquid or in other ways (beer vinegar, beer mayo, pickling with hops, bread made with spent malt from the brewing process). Even desserts will feature beer — Flowers plans to make his own beer ice cream.

Check out their facebook page for updates on Brother’s opening date.

Brothers Beer Bistro, 366 Dalhousie St., 613-282-9452.

Shawna Wagman | May 9, 2012 at 8:53 am

IN SEASON: Fresh goose eggs. Who knew?

You may like them you will see. You may like them in a tree.

I wandered into Aubrey’s Meats (59 York St.) in the Byward Market last week and spotted a tray of enormous eggs — each one was at least three times the size of a regular hen’s egg. As it turns out, they were goose eggs. Unbeknownst to me goose eggs are “in season” right now. The birds lay their eggs annually from the beginning of March up until early June.

Who knew?

So while I was still scratching my head about what I would do with them, I bought a pair at $2 each and put them gingerly into my purse. Boy, those babies are big! Cooking them would require a strategy. At the checkout I asked how people eat them. Apparently they can be eaten scrambled or fried like a hen’s egg but one customer claims they also make the best and creamiest milkshakes.

Once I got the eggs home, I decided to seek some more expert advice. I called up Ian Walker from the duck and geese farm Mariposa, located 45 minutes east of Ottawa in Plantagenet, Ontario. He supplies Aubrey’s with the eggs. He says he had a childhood trauma related to eating goose eggs for the first time (don’t ask) so he’d be the wrong guy to discuss the flavour and texture compared to ordinary eggs. This made me a little nervous — like when the chef won’t eat at his own restaurant. I began to think perhaps blogging about goose eggs wasn’t such a good idea. I felt like the curmudgeonly character in Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs & Ham. I didn’t want goose eggs here or there, I didn’t want them anywhere. Ian suggested I call Steve Mitton at Murray Street (110 Murray Street) for a second opinion.

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Shawna Wagman | May 7, 2012 at 9:15 pm

FOOD BUZZ: Meet food culture advocate Jeannie Marshall at Stella Luna on Thursday Apr. 19, 7:30 p.m.

Author Jeannie Marshall has ignited a conversation about the importance of food cultures — old and new.

Full disclosure: Jeannie Marshall is my friend. She is also the author of a fascinating new book that deals with a topic that is very near and dear to my heart: Italian food and food culture. She is a journalist from Toronto and we have mutual friends who connected us when I found myself in Rome — where she now lives — during my sabbatical year in 2009.

When I found out Jeannie was coming to Canada to promote her new book, Outside the Box, I quickly convinced her to make a stop in Ottawa. I knew she would feel right at home at Stella Luna Gelateria, where the owners hail from Rome and have dedicated their lives to transporting an aspect of Italian food culture to the nation’s capital.

Outside the Box is Jeannie’s personal investigation into why diets around the world are converging. Why are they becoming more alike? Why are diet-related illnesses increasing around the world, especially among children? The short answer is that this is happening because of the breakdown of local food systems and food cultures.

I asked her a few basic questions to get the conversation started with City Bites readers. I invite you all to come out on Thursday evening to meet Jeannie and join in an important discussion about our ability to help shape the future of eating, starting with nourishing our children. She says parents, not corporations, know what’s best for kids.

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Shawna Wagman | April 17, 2012 at 1:00 pm

DON’T MISS OUT! Grab a friend and book a table. A Taste for Life is happening on April 25

Are you looking for an excuse to go out for dinner? Join thousands of other diners next Wednesday who will be filling up dozens of Ottawa restaurants and doing good at the same time.

A Taste for Life, a fundraising initiative, invites us to select a restaurant from a list of more than 40 participants and simply dine out on April 25^th. The restaurants then donate 25% of sales (food and alcohol, before tax) from that evening to Bruce House and The Snowy Owl AIDS Foundation. The funds are used to support and assist people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. In 2011, the proceeds were more than $90,000.

Now in its 14^th year, the event has been so successful in Ottawa that the idea has been shared with 24 other communities across Ontario and Alberta in support of AIDS services. That’s makes it a Made-in-Ottawa idea that we can be proud of.

Apparently reservations are highly recommended as tables fill up fast!

Shawna Wagman | April 17, 2012 at 8:39 am

OPENING! Nutty Greek Bake Shop rewrites history with soon-to-be-famous baklava cheesecake

The charming Papadopoulos family brings nutty sweetness to Little Italy

Warmth, sweetness, comfort, pleasure. These are the feelings inspired by three simple ingredients: lemon, cinnamon, and honey. Add a bunch of nuts and you are half way to understanding the magic of this new, big-hearted bakery in Little Italy.

In Greek baking, walnuts are revered in the same way that pistachios rule the kitchen in Lebanese pastries. So in the Nutty Greek Bake Shop (apparently Ottawa’s first Greek bakery in 26 years!) you’ll find walnuts that are crushed and rolled, layered upon, and sprinkled overtop many of the dozens of treats on offer. They are outstanding, for instance, as the crumbly adornment for a traditional moist, cake-like cookie called the Melomakrona (say it with me: meh-loh-mah-KAH-roh-nah). Dipped in honey syrup and flecked with orange zest, I could’ve eaten a thousand of those things.

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Shawna Wagman | March 20, 2012 at 8:45 am

TASTE TEST: Could this be the best cup of coffee in Ottawa?

Not just for coffee geeks, good coffee is just good

The new posters hanging inside the popular Bank Street bakery Bread & Sons lists the espresso-based drinks on offer — cappuccino, macchiato, mochachino, caffé latté — followed by the provocative line: BEST ON THE BLOCK. ANY BLOCK.

“The first part is a bit of a joke because the only coffee place on our block is Tim Hortons,” says the bakery’s owner and barista Yoav D’Vaja. (Suffice it to say, folks who happily guzzle double-doubles are probably not in his target market.) But the second statement is one he takes very seriously. And he is ready to stand behind it.

For D’Vaja making great coffee — consistently great coffee — has been a personal project that began in August 2010. “I didn’t realize how complicated it was to get desirable and consistently good results,” he says. Only now, after travelling to Seattle, reading the literature on the subject, and hiring one of the world’s top coffee consultants to personally train him, is he ready to declare his coffee the best.

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Shawna Wagman | March 14, 2012 at 8:50 am

OPENING! Suzy Q leads Ottawa’s gourmet doughnut invasion with a move from market stall to sweet shack

Fruit Loops doughnuts are among the wild & whacky flavours at the new Hintonburg shop. Photo credit (with permission): Mark Warburton, OttawaFoodies.com

With flavours like Maple Bacon, Cornmeal Cherry, Raspberry White Chocolate, Chocolate Frito, Salty Caramel, and Toasted Coconut with Kaffir Lime, you know you’re not in Tim Horton’s anymore. Upscale doughnuts featuring fresh ingredients and creative toppings are the latest trend in fried dough and so far the BeaverTail capital is eating it up.

The brainchild of Sue Hamer, a Canada Post letter carrier and mother of three, Suzy Q Doughnuts is Ottawa’s first dedicated indie-artisinal doughnut shop. We first spotted Hamer’s drool-inducing treats at the Lansdowne Farmer’s Market last summer and had a feeling her fans would rally to keep her in business. In mid-Febuary, Hintonburg residents — already spoiled with an impressive new crop of num-nums — saw Suzy Q’s “open” sign go up on the rustic little shack that was the original home of Hintonburger before it fled to the KFC location across the street a few months ago.

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Shawna Wagman | March 7, 2012 at 8:50 am

CITY BITES LIVE: Highlights from Ottawa Magazine’s Joe Beef kitchen party

A Joe Beef sandwich: David McMillan, Shawna Wagman and Fred Morin (L to R)

On Monday night I hosted a sold-out City Bites Live event at Urban Element, a celebration of the cookbook The Art of Living According to Joe Beef. The book’s co-authors, Frédéric Morin and David McMillan — also the chef-owners of the restaurant Joe Beef — were the guests of honour. They were charming, irreverent, entertaining, and insightful and their good humour swept through the room, setting the tone for a fabulous night of eating, drinking, and gabbing.

From the food world perspective, it’s no exaggeration to say 2011 was the year of Joe Beef. Montreal’s Little Burgundy neighbourhood bistro is adored by everyone from Lesley Chesterman – the Gazette’s food critic who gave it a rating of 4 out of 4 – to celebrity chefs like Anthony Bourdain and David Chang, who calls Joe Beef his favorite restaurant in the world. The Joe Beef cookbook has topped just about every best cookbook list in North America from Martha Stewart to Bon Appétit and recently even won over Alice Waters, the godmother of the farm to fork ethos.

During the Q&A portion of the evening, Fred and David spoke a lot about their interest in staying connected to the history of the city in which they live and work. It was that desire that led them to resurrect the name Joe Beef, the nickname of the legendary 19^th century innkeeper and working class hero Joseph McKiernan, and give it second and third lives in the form of their restaurant and now, as a cookbook of sorts. They have described Joe Beef as a cross between a food temple and Pee Wee’s Playhouse. Anyone who has been there will understand why. There’s a unique playfulness, a sense of whimsy, and an unpretentiousness that permeates everything from its attitude and décor, to its charming service, right down to the food on the round—never square—plates featuring things like truffled beer-can chicken or their version of the KFC double down made with lobes of fried foie gras.

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Shawna Wagman | March 2, 2012 at 9:56 am