Recently, I attended a week long course that was given in one of the conference facilities at the RA Center in Ottawa South. Because the RA Center happens to be situated next door to the Billings Bridge Plaza, a local shopping mall, I lunched at an eatery in its food court called Stuart's Place. What attracted me there were the meat columns from which shavings were cut to make shawarma sandwiches. For $6.95, I ordered a large chicken shawarma with some of the "usual" fixings: garlic sauce, tomato, lettuce, pickled turnip, pickled cucumber, onions, and hot peppers.

What impressed me about this particular shawarma sandwich were the onions. They were fresh and seasoned with sumac. Sumac is a middle-eastern spice that is made from a dried berry. It is sometimes used as a lemon substitute and is often used in salads. Unfortunately, compared to the chicken shawarma sandwiches that I have had in other places like Les Grillades (in the Wellington Village) and La Joie (in Gatineau), my sandwich was sub-par. Though the sandwich itself was extremely neatly made, the chicken was overcooked. It was was dry and relatively flavorless. This is most likely because the operators of Stuart's Place pre-cut a bowlful of chicken from the meat column and store it under a heat lamp so they can maintain fast sandwich production during the lunch time rush. Fortunately, the pita bread and vegetables were fresh.

By the time noon came around, business was brisk at Stuart's place. Given that every other eatery in the food court represented large western chains like McDonald's and Subway, there was little choice if you wanted anything ethnic. As for me, Stuart's Place had me longing for the shawarma platters from my favourite Lebanese fast food restaurant, Shawarma Palace.

To the operators of Stuart's Place, perhaps you should start pre-cutting less meat and visit the meat columns more often. This way, the meat will spend less time under the heat lamp and you still keep your sandwich-making brisk.

Particulars:
Stuart's Place
2323 Riverside Drive
(613) 733-2833