With the brunch club gathering at the legendary Von's Bistro (819 Bank Street) this coming Sunday (November 30, 2009), it is time to revisit last month's (almost exactly 30 days ago) at Canvas Resto-Bar (65 Holland Avenue).

There, the club welcomed several new members. Existing ones caught up with each other. And, everyone ordered various omelette, French toast, and eggs benny (eggs benedict) breakfasts, some with sides of Piggy Market double smoked bacon. Me, I opted for the quiche, but, when plates arrived, the new hostess realized she misplaced my order in. She apologized profusely, disappeared, and a beautiful slice of quiche appeared.

Mile High Slice of Goat Cheese Quiche

In their defense, it was the day after this year's Taste of Wellington event (2009), which saw hundreds of people discover Ottawa's Epicurean Row, a neighbourhood densely packed with locally-owned eateries and fine food shops. Many people noticed Canvas offered brunch the next day. That morning, it was busy, every seat taken, with large groups, coming and going. The brunch club actually was one of the smaller tables.

My impossibly delicate quiche was very flavourful, sharp with goat cheese, carefully baked egg providing fat to carry flavour and protein for texture. Accompanying it were freshly cut home fries, crisped on the griddle, and ripe fruit. At $12.00, it was an excellent breakfast. Surprisingly, the quiche breakfast was cheaper than the omelette breakfast, it costing 50 cents more ($12.50).

The brunch club thoroughly enjoyed their meals, many vowing to return.

Particulars:
Von's Bistro
819 Bank Street
(613)233-3277

Canvas Resto-Bar
65 Holland Avenue
(613)729-1991

This morning, I found myself replying to the twitter account belonging to CTV's Canada AM morning show. Its tweet wished everyone a happy Friday and asked about our weekend plans. Here is my reply:

@CTVCanadaAm Invited a bunch of people to go to an outdoor food festival in Ottawa http://www.twitpic.com/i474q. Then, Sunday brunch :)

Outdoor Food Festival:
The outdoor food festival is a "walkable tour" of what the Ottawa Citizen's recently retired food columnist Gay Cook deemed Ottawa's Epicurean Row, the Wellington West Village. Called the "Taste of Wellington", the event is the Wellington Business Improvement Association's (WBIA) third annual. The association intends the event to offer both residents and non-residents an opportunity to discover the food shops, restaurants, bakeries, and caterers along Wellington Street W., from Island Park Drive to Somerset St. W, including some along Holland Avenue. In total, 32 venues will participate, many serving free food samples.

Here is a partial list participants from the WBIA website:

• Absinthe
• Allium
• A?Roma Meze
• Bridgehead
• Canvas Resto Bar
• Cozy's Diner
• Credible Edibles
• Emerald Bakery
• Harvest Loaf Bakery
• Helen?s Cuisine
• Herb & Spice
• Istanbouli Restaurant
• Khatoon Persian Restaurant
• Nectar Specialty Tea Shop
• Ottawa Bagelshop
• Parma Ravioli
• Petit Bill's Bistro
• Royal Oak Tavern
• Siam Bistro
• Sushi Umi
• The Diner
• The Wellington Gastropub
• Thyme & Again
• Viña del Mar
• 3 Bakers and a Bike
• 3 Tarts Bake Shop

My more loyal readers will immediately recognize a number of these food shops and eateries as the foodiePrints' team calls this neighborhood home. We visit many of them often.

Besides food shops and eateries, other area shops and local galleries will also participate by setting up sidewalk sales, holding special tours, and hosting live music. The Westboro Massage will set up a street side massage station. The Elmdale House Tavern will host Barry Buse and his band Still Dangerous just outside its doors.

The Taste of Wellington will also launch the Herb and Spice's 36th anniversary celebrations. And, the Great Canadian Theatre Company at the corner of Holland and Wellington will offer a peek at its new cafe, Viva Loca.

The event starts at 1:30 pm on Saturday, September 26, 2009 and runs until 3:30 pm.

Unlike last year, to participate, admission may not be free. Participants may be required to purchase a $5 button. This, according to September 2009 edition of the Hintonburg Voice, the Hintonburg Community Association's newsletter.

...2009 will see one major improvement: visitors will now purchase a $5 button to participate in the event, with all proceeds going directly to charity...

Having spoken to several of the venues, I have not been able to get this confirmed. The cards (above) only say that the samples are free.

After the event, the WBIA encourages everyone to stay, shop, and make reservations for dinner.

Me, I decided to invite a number of people to join me and Jenn on a "foodie crawl." Our aim, to wander the neighbourhood in a large group, sampling, chatting, and having a great time. It will also be a mini-tweet-up as several of the tweeps I follow will be coming along.

Sunday Brunch:
The next day, Jenn and I chose Canvas to host September's meeting of our brunch club. This time around, we went beforehand to try it, as we did not want a repeat of another somewhat disastrous brunch.

Canvas now serves brunch from 10:30 am until 2:30 pm. Here is the menu from our visit.

Menu

From it, I ordered the eggs benedict ($14.00) and a coffee ($2.75)

Eggs Benny
Instead of the traditional ham, in-house duck prosciutto was substituted giving the runny yolks a cured flavour to carry. It was served with surprisingly flavourful smashed fingerling potatoes with sweated onions, fresh melon, a wedge of grape fruit, a slice of ripe white Niagara peach, and local berries.

Runny Poached Eggs

Duck Prosciutto

Jenn ordered the frittata of the day ($12.50) with brioche toast and a lychee juice ($2.75). The frittata turned out to be zucchini.

Zucchini Frittata
Accompanying the frittata were the same sides as mine.

Jenn thoroughly enjoyed her frittata. It was made with fresh young zucchini, onions, and very young chives. She feels that it was started on the stove top with butter, but finished in an oven. The egg was delicate, lightly seasoned, and seasonal.

All-in-all we were impressed, making Canvas a good candidate for the brunch club.

Here is Canvas' new business card:

Business Card

This just in: The thrift shop on Wellington got into the spirit of the Taste of Wellington too.

Display in front of St. Vincent De Paul

Particulars:
Canvas Resto-Bar
65 Holland Avenue
(613)729-1991

A month ago, the brunch club, I belong to, hit the Lieutenant's Pump on Elgin Street (361). We arrived at 11:00 am, but discovered the Pump a very popular place for Sunday brunchers. The lineup of eager patrons stretched out the door. Yet, everyone patiently waited for a table, refusing to head down the street to any of the other open restaurants.

Our party of 8 was eventually seated an hour later in our own private alcove. Since the club meets monthly, we took the wait in stride. Many of us enjoyed the opportunity to catch up.

Lieutenant's Pump

Cozy Private Alcove

The restaurant itself was deceptively small from the outside. The Pump has several tucked-away dining rooms and seating extends well beyond the front doors into the the building. Inside, it has a very cozy British pub feel, almost disarming: stained dark wood, long tables, polished brass accents, and hard wood floors.

Once we saw the menu, we realized why the Pump was so popular amongst brunch-goers. It boasted a long list of breakfasts, including 6 varieties of eggs benedict. Needless to say, patrons are spoiled for choice.

Menu, showing 6 varieties of eggs benedict

My dear friend Yannick (@endorphinbuzz) and his better half ordered stack of white chocolate pancakes with side orders of potatoes and sausage, and traditional eggs benedict respectively.

White Chocolate Pancakes

Traditional Eggs Benedict

Their guest ordered a 2 overeasy egg breakfast, substituting toast for a white chocolate scone.

2 Egg Breakfast with a White Chocolate Scone

Me, I ordered Eggs Natasha, eggs benedict that substituted ham for smoked salmon. My better half, a 2 scrambled egg breakfast with raisin bread. Hearing the previous order, I also added a white chocolate scone to split with Jenn.

Eggs Natasha with a White Chocolate Scone

2 Egg Breakfast with Raisin bread

Our guest, Izzy (@spoonsie), ordered her usual, a 2 egg breakfast with bacon.

The portions were generous. The service was quick and friendly. And, the coffee was plentiful.

Best of all, the food was rather good, illiciting praise and few concerns from our hungry table.

The Pump handles its eggs well. Ours were shell eggs and came as ordered. Both the overeasy and poached eggs came intact and runny, neither overcooked.

Perfectly Poached Eggs
Jenn's scrambled eggs were fluffy and light, neither rubbery, nor swimming in liquid.

The potatoes were freshly made, crisp and tender in the center. Given their irregular size and texture, they did not seem to come from frozen. Not at all oily, they more than likely spent some careful time on the griddle instead of in the deep fryer.

The accompanying fruit, melon and citrus, was fresh and sweet.

Each 2 egg breakfast came with the option of sausage or bacon. Unfortunately, given how late we were to sit down to brunch, some of our sausage links had spent too much time under the heat lamps, developing an unappetizing starchy crust.

Me, while I have to commend the cooks for a well-plated and well-executed eggs benedict with a made-to-order hollandaise (fresh and not grainy), I discovered that my palate disliked the smoked salmon substitution. I am more used to eating smoked salmon chilled. The hollandaise raised the temperature of the smoked salmon, giving it an odd texture that disagreed with me. The dish would nevertheless have made another patron very happy!

Regarding the white chocolate scone, while I enjoyed it, it did not have the crumb of traditional tea scones. It was tender and light, almost cake-like, neither crumbly nor buttery. Since I have seen scones resemble biscuits, I surmise this one adheres more to that tradition.

Cost for the Eggs Natasha ($12.95), a dessert scone ($1.25), and a 2 Egg Breakfast w/Raisin toast and Juice ($9.28): $34 (including, taxes and tip)

Determination: Domestic North American - Sunday Brunch: --$$, --***

Particulars:
Lieutenant's Pump: British Pub
361 Elgin Street
(613)238-2949

It was a dark and stormy night...Alright, it was just an overcast Sunday morning in Ottawa when Jenn and I walked into the Courtyard Restaurant (21 George Street) in the Byward Market. There, we chose to dine on the patio, hoping the sky would clear. After helping a waitress connect two tables and re-arrange chairs, the rest of our newly formed brunch club arrived. Six in all, we were eager to sit down to brunch at a restaurant whose chef (Michael Hay) often bragged served the best in Ottawa.

Having followed Chef Hay (@michaelthehay) on Twitter for the past several weeks and seeing him plate up some delicious twitpic'ed dishes, I promised my friends a good meal.

Unfortunately, Chef Hay was not in the main kitchen that morning and what we were served did not meet expectations. Only 2 of us enjoyed our meals. Four now refuse to return. One is willing to risk dinner at the restaurant. I am disappointed and have requested other club members choose our next Sunday brunch destination for the next little while.

I should note, before we dive into our dishes, we saw only one other party walk into the restaurant during our stay. We were the only patrons on the patio. However, things were far from quiet. The restaurant was in the midst of preparing for an event. We watched what may have been two florists walk in. We saw a portable dance floor unpacked by a loading area and wheeled inside. A quick peek at the monitor in the lobby explained why. The Courtyard was hosting a wedding reception, a large one by the looks of it.

Even so, service at the Courtyard was not lacking. Both friendly and attentive, our two waitresses were organized, knowledgeable, and quick to provide assistance. Save for not producing enough appetizer pastries (freshly baked croissants, muffins, and chocolate pastries) for a table of 6, for which I'm not sure they were responsible, service was exemplary.

To begin, brunch at the Courtyard Restaurant is a multi-course affair, one that the menu suspiciously suggests start with an alcoholic beverage, bloody caesar, bloody mary, or a glass of wine, all extra! The brunch itself includes juice: cranberry, apple, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, tomato or a combination thereof. I ordered coffee. Later, I joined my friends at the other end of the table with a glass of half cranberry/half orange.

glass of half cranberry/half orange juice
Freshly squeezed and chilled, my glass of juice was refreshing.

Along with drinks came appetizer pastries and a shot glass of house-made berry preserves. At first, one basket of pastries, containing a pair of croissants, a chocolate pastry, and one really small bran muffin, was placed on our table. Thinking we were being rationed pastries, we split most of them, each enjoying half of something.

Half a Chocolate Pastry
When only crumbs remained, another basket was placed on the table. Clearly, two were intended for a group our size.

The pastries themselves were crowd pleasers, freshly baked, crisp, and delicious. Though, in search of a washroom when I arrived, I walked by dual ovens in the lobby, spotting a half sheet pan of freshly formed and egg-washed croissants being baked. Why we weren't served at least enough croissants for the table was puzzling. In hindsight, this was a portent of what was to come...

Next, main courses. Two of us, myself included, ordered Eggs Benedict. Jenn, the blueberry pancakes. My friend's fiance, the crepes. He, the tuna melt. And, my other friend ordered an interpretation of the classic steak and eggs.

Eggs Benedict ($22)
The plates of Eggs Benedict our table was served were identical. Here is mine:

Eggs Benedict
As described in the menu, the dish consisted of poached eggs, hollandaise, and ham. Accompanying it, a potato apple hash and a side salad.

Overcooked Poached Egg
Unfortunately, the left poached egg was overcooked. The other, properly done, soft and runny. Contrary to the menu, the slice of ham did not look grilled. Moreover, the muffin halves had burnt edges as if they were tossed onto a griddle a little longer than they needed to toast.

Since both plates were identical (both left eggs overdone), I surmise that the eggs were poached in pairs. Finding two overcooked, the cooks seem to have knowingly plated one on each plate. On the bright side, the salad was very fresh and the apple and potato hash, novel (sort of a dry Asian potato salad). My better half actually ate most of mine.

Pancakes ($20)
Why? Well, to allow me to save face because I promised a good meal, she quietly choked down her pancakes with 6 cups of water. As she would tell me later, the only part of the brunch she enjoyed was the hash she picked at off my plate.

Blueberry Library Paste Pancakes
As per the menu, the stack of pancakes were served with fresh fruit, including one rather bruised strawberry. And, it was garnished with a pat of maple butter. Unfortunately, only the bottom pancake, the sole thin one, was truly edible. The others were a gooey mess.

The batter must have been so overloaded with previously frozen and thawed blueberries that the starch structures could not form when it was cooked. While the surface developed a skin and browned, the berries inside bled, causing the texture of the thicker pancakes to resemble library paste. My friend who ordered the steak found the pancakes disgusting.

Steak and Egg ($25)
He faired much better.

Steak and Egg
His dish consisted of a 4 oz grilled angus sirloin steak, a "sunny egg", and Bearnase sauce. It was accompanied by a grilled tomato, crispy fried potato, and an apple hash. Accordingly, the steak was quite good. The rest, less than stellar.

While he flatly refuses to return to the Courtyard for brunch, he is willing to try its dinner menu and only steak dishes at that.

Tuna Melt ($19)
The tuna melt illicited no complaints.

Tuna Melt
According to the menu, it is made with a sweet gherkin mayonnaise and topped with aged cheddar. From my view, the dish seemed constructed on a hunk of Art Is In bread with the top sliced off and a mound of tuna salad layered on top. It reminded me of a Russian kubliaka, which is a puff pastry dish that substitutes salmon and pastry for the tuna and bread, but shares much of the other flavours.

Crepes ($21)
Unfortunately, I have no picture of the crepes, but I am told they were good.

To end, with six of us and 3 desserts to choose from, we ordered two of each.

Of the two who ordered the the chocolate pate, one was somewhat put off by its salted caramel garnish, but he enjoyed his dessert. The other, a chocoholic, cleaned his plate.

Chocolate Pate with Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Of the two who ordered the lemon tart with the pine nut crust, one was happy with it.

Lemon Tart
Me, I was critical the sheer number of cracks in the tart. What filled the pine nut crust was a lemon custard. Given its cool mouth feel and darkened skin on top, it was a chilled custard. To crack as it did, either someone was less than careful with the pie spatula (unlikely because the crust was intact) or we were served a day-old tart. As for taste, I judiciously rationed my strawberry sauce, eating a little with each bite. Else, it would have been simply too lemony, even for me. Ordinarily, I love lemon desserts.

Of the two who ordered the seasonal fruit with frozen yogurt, one had had enough. He gave his away. Jenn pushed her plate in front of me, half eaten, and asked me to try the frozen yogurt.

Fresh Fruit with Frozen Yogurt
It was very icy and tasted very little of yogurt. It also melted quickly.

Total cost of one pancakes and one Eggs Benedict brunch: $47.46 (after taxes, before tip)

Were it not for the company of friends and my better half, this brunch would have been a rightful disaster. Three days later, I am still riddled with guilt over subjecting people to this pricey meal.

Determination: Domestic North American - Sunday Brunch: $$$$, ---*1/2 (because the service was good)

Update: For a look at what non-library paste blueberry pancakes should resemble, head over to another Ottawa food blogger's site, RachelleEatsFood. Yesterday, Rachelle posted up both pics and a recipe for some great looking blueberry pancakes she had for dinner to top off a birthday weekend. Happy Birthday Rachelle!

Regarding poached eggs, I recently asked Chef Jonas Luster (@wildhunt) how to make them consistently. He graciously posted tips on his blog for not only how to poach eggs, but also to how fry them up over easy. The blog post is the first in a series of planned "Ask the Sous (Chef)" posts to raise funds for the Riley Center for Battered Women in San Francisco. For every culinary-related request he entertains, a donation will be made to the center. Some generous tweeps are even offering to match donations in their requests.

Particulars:
The Courtyard Restaurant
21 George Street
(613)241-1516

Victoria Day this year was definitely a foodies' weekend. foodiePrints' friends Mademoiselle Ling and Abby, came to visit. Both hailing from Toronto, they traveled to Ottawa to experience this year's Tulip festival, play a couple games of Wii, and visit some of the shops Jenn and I rave about in the Wellington West and Westboro areas. Also, our neighbour Viv's mom came to visit. She insisted we have large communal dinners every evening, all of us crowding around a dinner table like a large family. It was great.

On the Saturday, Mlle Ling and her boy, Thomas, arrived with Viv's mom. They joined us on our weekly excursion for groceries. On our way back, we stopped by Parma Ravioli, Wellington West's pre-eminent artisanal pasta shop.

There, we purchased a freshly made blueberry pie and tiramisu. Jenn also picked up a serving of pasta to go.

Tiramisu:

Tiramisu

Slice
Having never tried tiramisu, my piece was a new experience for me. According to the recipes I've come across, tiramisu is a pie-type dessert whose walls and floor consist of whole or broken lady finger (aka: boudoir) cookies that have been soaked in cold expresso. The filling is an uncooked custard, consisting of marscapone cheese, egg, and sugar. It is traditionally topped with either shaved chocolate or cocoa powder and chilled. I found Parma Ravioli's a cooling dessert. The custard filling held together and tasted very slightly of another flavour, which I presume was amaretto. It was also light and rich. The lady fingers were crunchy with fleeting coffee flavour. I enjoyed Parma Ravioli's preparation, but will have to try others to develop my appreciation for the Italian dessert. I've heard that La Bottegga Nicastro downtown serves killer tiramisu.

Blueberry Pie

Blueberry Pie

Slicing

Slice
The blueberry pie was as good a fruit pie as we have ever purchased from Parma Ravioli. The crust was flaky and buttery. The filling seemed to consist of wild blueberries, more than likely from frozen, that were cooked with sugar and a little lemon juice. The result: very satisfying slices of pie that were not cloyingly sweet, yet featured blueberry.

Sponge Cake
Saturday evening, after our family-style meal at Viv's, everyone piled into our condo to play Wii, chat, and poke fun at each others' virtual dart throwing and bowling skills. To fuel the virtual sports, we attempted a sponge cake recipe that Jenn and I appropriated from her mom during the Mother's Day weekend. The cake her mom's weekend guest produced was incredibly light and airy.

Insanely Light Sponge Cake

Appropriated Recipe

I decided to put the recipe to test. Alas, I have a feeling the oven time wasn't long enough.

Baked

De-Panned

Slice
When we let it cooled, the cake actually pulled away from the tube pan and sunk. It was still fluffy, but not nearly as airy as the cake I had been served at Jenn's parents' place the weekend before. This recipe was a partial failure. I will amend and try again.

Brunch
Sunday morning, Jenn and I went to The Buzz restaurant on Bank Street (374) with some of my former colleagues, now dear friends. I'm told the restaurant becomes quite the pub in the evenings, which explained the very well stocked bar. Its decor is quite modern, taking cues from other urban loft-style eateries elsewhere: stone-tile floors, exposed brick, high ceilings, dark mahogany tables and chairs, and lots of local art work.

Decor

When Jenn and I arrived at 10:30 am, the restaurant was devoid of life, save for one booth. I surmise this year's annual construction project on Bank Street must be deterring patrons. It fences off much of the street, leaving thin walkways along the sidewalks on either side. When I saw the the quality of brunch on Ottawa blogger Nooschi's blog, I hoped that neighbourhood locals would stay loyal. Perhaps everyone just slept in past noon, because only one or two two-seater tables saw any business while we were there.

As per @nooschi's blog (she's on twitter too), one of my friends and I ordered the "Huevos Rancheros" ($13) from the regular menu with poached eggs. According to the menu, it is a flour tortilla stuffed with cheddar, potatoes and topped with eggs, salsa, and sour cream. We both asked ours to be served with sausage.

Regular Menu

Huevos Rancheros
Both eggs were carefully poached, soft, and runny. The salsa was quite mild, tasting like it came from a bottle. The fatty sour cream, studded with chives, added its characteristic richness and sourness. And, along with the egg yolk, it helped to carry flavours with each bite. The tortilla itself seemed like it were made in-house, unusually thin. It was crisped on a griddle. The potatoes inside the tortilla were greasy and partially overdone. The cheese was not melted and cold. The sausages were bordering on cool, but recently made. All in all, it was not a bad breakfast, but it did not meet my expectations. It however converted my friend to poached eggs.

Jenn ordered the three egg asparagus omelet ($11) without cheese. Contrary to the menu, she was served hash browns instead of roesti potatoes. Rösti are pan or griddle fried.

Omelet
Jenn found her omelet difficult to eat because the asparagus was not prepared properly. While cooked, the woody ends were not removed. This made the omelet difficult to eat as our supplied butter knives could not cut through the spears without tearing the omelet to pieces. The hash browns, while crisp, tasted like they came from frozen: pre-cooked and then deep fried, producing a tremendous crust. They were also greasy inside.

My other friend ordered the "Sweet" special of the day, Caramelized Pineapple Filled French Toast ($12), served with sausages. He also added hash browns. It was served with maple syrup to dip the eggy toast in.

Specials

Pineapple French toast
He was completely satisfied with the dish.

Regarding service, the front of house staff was quick and friendly. The back of house, however, was slow to produce dishes that could be served. Since the kitchen was in the basement of the building, one of my friends is willing to overlook the issue. Me, given the fact that we were easily this restaurants' only large table (6 patrons), I am not willing to be so forgiving. Overall, the food was good, but not spectacular.

Total cost of huevos rancheros, omelette, and one coffee: $29.95 (after taxes, before tip)

Determination: Domestic North American - Sunday Brunch: --$$, ---**

Particulars:
Parma Ravioli
1314 Wellington St W
(613)722-6003

The Buzz Restaurant
374 Bank Street
(613)565-9595