After catching a Sunday afternoon matinee movie one weekend, none other than Star Trek, Jenn and I decided to hoof it down to Bank Street to catch a bus home. We needed to work off the popcorn and I promised several tweeps that I would visit Grace Ottawa that day. Having completed our chores we literally meandered our way through downtown Ottawa.

Site of the new Ottawa Congress Center
Because I don't spend as much time downtown as I used to, I was caught off guard when I saw the carnage that once was the Ottawa Congress Center. According to its website, a new and improved Ottawa Congress Center will open April 2011. First, the old one must be razed to the ground...



Progress as of May 31, 2009

Sparks Street Mall
At Sparks Street (repeat: meandering), we came across a reputedly healthy food purveyor, newly serving the downtown core, Toss it Up.

Wall Signage

Window Signage

Takeout or Delivery
According to its website, Toss it Up is the "Capital of fresh in the Capital", serving salads, soups, tortilla wraps, frozen yogurt, fresh coffee, and other "nutritious foods on the run."

Perhaps the best testament to this being a good eatery is its positive review on the Lord of the Wings blog. His lordship (JB) is Ottawa's foremost expert on wings and he hosts the best wing classification system I have ever come across. Regarding Toss it Up, he writes:

Over all, this was a great little lunch joint. They also do breakfast, but not supper...If you work down town, this is a great alternative for lunch to the deep fried and less healthy alternatives from the carts...It may not be chicken wings, but you'll live longer off of this grub

If Toss it Up can earn kudos from a wing expert and amateur barbecuer, I'm sold. I promise to visit soon.

Conversely, I'm not sure what to think of all-fruit maki sushi from the Sushi Shop. Having seen these things advertised on the sides of STO busses on the Quebec side, I had thought they were a regional specialty of Gatineau. Clearly, they're not.

All fruit maki sushi
It will take much convincing for me to try anything from a sushi shop that stuffs orange segments into a maki roll.

Grace Ottawa
Finally, Jenn and I made it to Grace Ottawa. There, we found a very neat ethnic grocery that sells a large variety of ethnic food products, including some fresh produce, a multitude of dried spices, bottled drinks, shelves of prepared sauces, a variety of oils, and frozen foods.

Following a tip from another tweep, I wandered upstairs to the "Hair Center." Tucked away in a corner, next to wigs, is a small collection of ethnic cookware and a pair of large stone mortars and pestles. Expecting a large assortment of lava rock tools, I was somewhat disappointed. Later, I was told that, at one time, the entire floor was dedicated to ethnic cookware. No more...

We also found no spruce tip beer, which is also reputedly sold at Grace Ottawa. Happily, as the sandwich board outside the store reads, the store still sells Jamaican patties, warm at $2.50/each.

Jamaican Pattie

Filling
Encased in a thick corn pastry, the filling was piping hot. It consisted of very finely ground meat, a spicey sauce, and a smattering of finely chopped greens.

The aforementioned sandwich board also brags that Grace Ottawa sells the "Best" Jamaican patties. With no kitchen that I could discern on site, I was skeptical. Then, when my better half purchased a Jamaican pattie for me, I noticed an empty cardboard box on the warmer. It matched that of frozen Jamaican patties in Grace Ottawa's frozen section. The patties are actually made in a factory in Markham, Ontario. Frozen, they sell for $7.99/12.

Even so, I would like to argue that there is still something to be said about being able to walk out of a store with a steaming hot Jamaican pattie on a serviette.

Also to be had in the frozen food section were goat meat, stew beef, and, as mentioned by people on Ottawa Foodies, black pomfret.

I love ethnic markets and am happy to know one exists in the downtown core. It will no doubt come in handy someday.

Particulars:
Toss It Up
208 Sparks Street
(613)216-2845

Grace Ottawa
219 Bank Street
(613)567-7730