At the end of February, Carol Paschal organized another outing for the Hintonburg Supper Club, this time at the Viva Loca Cafe (1233 Wellington Street W.), located inside the Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC). In the months since Viva Loca opened its second location, Don and I have only eaten there once, ordering their delicious oat and whole-wheat pancakes from their weekend brunch menu for takeout. Made to order, they were light and fluffy. When we received the email for February's event, we became excited to try their dinner menu.

In addition to their regular lunch and dinner menu of panini grilled sandwiches, gluten-free wraps, savory crepes, chili, soup, and salads, Viva Loca offered supper club members a table d'hote menu ($17.95). For starters, they offered the soup of the day or a mixed green salad. For the entree, there were three options.

1. Hearty chunky chicken stew loaded with fresh vegetables and served with artisan bread.
2. Roasted vegetable lasagna layered with fresh pasta and cheese and served with artisan bread.
3. Ham and fresh asparagus buckwheat crepe with cheese sauce.

Dessert was a selection of home made treats, date squares, apple & plum crisp, cookies (including a gluten-free option) and carrot cake, along with coffee or tea. Don and I decided to order from the table d'hote for that evening's dinner.

Due to the number of people attending that night's dinner, GCTC closed its doors with a sign to the public, saying it was closed for a private function.


Viva Loca Signage

In the daytime, Viva Loca is a wonderfully bright eatery. The sun streams through its floor to ceiling windows that surround it. Despite the concrete stairs and walls, the dining area is comfortable and the staff, warm and inviting.


Inside Viva Loca

Displays of dessert greeting patrons

Starter – Soup of the Day or Mixed Green Salad

Potato and Leek Soup with Artisan Bread

That chilly evening, Don and I chose the soup of the day to start: a cream of potato and leek soup. Made with a vegetable-based broth, the soup contained thinly sliced leek with large chunks of red potatoes. While I enjoyed eating the large chunks of potato, I was surprised at how the soup was made. I had expected a soup with more body. What we were served that evening was a very thin soup, whose cream finish seemed slightly curdled. The leeks were also slightly overcooked. Despite its loose texture, the soup had great flavour. The accompanying slice of multi-grain artisan bread was delicious. It was nicely toasted, giving off a wonderful scent of toasted caraway seeds in its crust.

Entree – Roasted Vegetable Lasagna layered with fresh pasta and cheese and artisan bread

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

For his entree, Don chose the roasted vegetable lasagna. It was layered with a generous serving of cheese, fresh vegetables, and marinara sauce. In fact the serving was enormous. Overall, Don told me the vegetarian lasagna met his expectations. He would have preferred the pasta cooked more al dente and the sauce, slightly thicker. Again, the slice of multi-grain artisan bread made a nice accompaniment to the lasagna, perfect to sop up the marinara sauce. The salad was fresh and crisp.

Entree – Hearty Chunky Chicken Stew loaded with Fresh Vegetables and artisan bread

Chunky Chicken Stew

For my entree, I chose the hearty chunky chicken stew. Coming in from the cold and watching people walk by bundled in their winter gear, the stew seemed like the perfect choice to me. When the bowls of chicken stew were served, I heard other supper club members express worry the servings were rather small. However, the serving was just right. It was filling. The stew, chunky and satisfying. Each bowl contained a generous helping of fresh vegetables (carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, onion, and celery) and large chunks of chicken breast. The stew was nicely thick and well-seasoned.

Dessert
For dessert, many supper club members chose either the date square or apple and plum crisp. Few chose the carrot cake.

Don chose the date square.

Date Square

Again, as with everything else served that evening, the serving portion of the square was large. According to him, the square was more square than date. The pastry, crisp but thick. The date filling was sweet, but not cloyingly so.

Never one to turn down an apple crisp, I was excited to try Viva Loca's apple & plum ginger crisp.

Apple & Plum Ginger Crisp

It was my first time tasting apple paired with plum in a dessert. When my plate came, the crisp looked delicious. The fruit filling was quite tasty. Not overly sweet, the plums and apples were thinly sliced, skin on. The streussel topping was very thick, crisp, and sweet. After a few bites, it became obvious there was too much streussel and not enough fruit. The distribution of the ginger was somewhat uneven. With every bite, I could taste ginger, but some bites had large pieces of ginger, while others did not.

In general, the meal was rustic and filling. Don and I were impressed with the sheer variety of dishes, flavours, and textures that were made with seasonal and local ingredients. We plan on returning to try their brunch menu.

Total: $40.57 (after taxes, before tip)

Particulars:
Viva Loca
1233 Wellington Street W.
(613)728-8482

More after the jump...

In December, the Hintonburg Supper Club held its monthly dinner event at Pho Van Van (93 Holland Avenue), a neighbourhood Pho noodle house. Interestingly, of the three long tables we occupied in the restaurant's second floor dining room, only three people ordered bowls of pho (beef or chicken), Jenn and I ordering our "usual"'s. She, a medium-sized bowl of pho bo, topped with beef, beef tendon and beef balls ($7.50). Me, a medium-sized bowl of pho bo, topped with beef, beef tendon, tripe, and beef balls ($7.50).

While Pho Van Van is no longer in our top 5 list of Pho noodle houses in Ottawa, it still serves up a decent bowl of pho bo (beef) and, as we hear, pho ga (chicken). That is, along with much more, as other supper club member demonstrated that evening.

Appetizer-wise, Pho Van Van's menu includes pho noodle house staples like Vietnamese salad rolls (Goi Cuon Tom Thit), salad rolls with shrimp or chicken (Goi Cuon Tom Hoac Ga); deep fried squid, shrimp, and chicken wings; and deep fried spring rolls. More exotic is grilled quail ($7.50/pair).

The quail comes quartered on a bed of iceberg lettuce and two sauces (lemon/pepper and a sweet chili). Curious, we first ordered the appetizer in 2007.

Grilled Quail Quarters
Demonstrating consistency, here is grilled quail we ordered this past summer (2009),

Grilled Quail Quarters
The quail tasted marinated, seasoned throughout. The meat was never dry, but it took some finesse to work with the quails' tiny bones. The sauces were great accompaniments.

Noodle-wise, Pho Van Van's menu includes another pho noodle house staple and alternative to pho, Vietnamese vermicelli noodles (Bun). Served dry and topped with a variety of toppings, bun comes with a portion of fish sauce to mix in, moisten, and season the vermicelli noodles. At Pho Van Van we have tried the grilled chicken with spring roll vermicelli ($7.50)

Grilled Chicken Bun with Spring Roll Served

Grilled Chicken Bun with Spring Roll Mixed and Ready to Eat
Please note that if not enough fish sauce is provided, you can ask for more without additional charge. I know of two people who eat bun dry.

Unlike some Pho noodle houses, Pho Van Van also serves up rice platters and chow mein (a more Chinese-style dish). Wanting a change from pho, Jenn ordered the chicken "crispy noodle" with vegetables ($9.95) one evening.

Crispy Noodle with Chicken and Vegetables
The noodles were indeed crispy, but she found the sauce too garlicky and salty. The vegetables were tender, not mushy.

Lately, friends of ours and I have been working through Pho Van Van's complement of milk shakes for dessert. Here is the soursop milk shake ($3.95).

Soursop Milk Shake
It was creamy, but had the texture and flavour of pureed pear. I have been told that the mango and avocado milk shakes are much more enjoyable.

Pho Van Van is a family-run restaurant and we have always had good service there. The waiters are friendly, attentive, and always pleasant to talk to. Regarding bills, as with most Vietnamese pho noodle houses, the waiters will rarely bring the bill to the table as it is custom not to disturb patrons. When you have finished your meal, pay at the cash and till. Your bill will more than likely be awaiting you and so will a bowl of lovely Thai coffee candies as a parting treat.

Here is Pho Van Van's card.

Business Card
Lately, the restaurant put up a more elaborate website that includes more than a link to a .pdf file of its menu.

Aside: To anyone who wonders if Pho Van Van's pho broth is genuinely made from meat and bone, Jenn and I took home some pho we couldn't finish and left it in the fridge overnight.

Gelatinous pho broth
It solidified characteristically of meat and/or bone-based stock/broth, which carries significant gelatin (dissolved from collagen). As per a discussion at a recent pho tweet-up at Pho Bo Ga La (784 Somerset Street West), pho broth solidifying is not itself indicative of significant fat content. Fat will rise to the top of a stock/broth and solidify as a separate layer. This layer is typically completely opaque, white, and brittle.

And, for those interested in pho at Pho Bo Ga La, here are my tweeted first impressions:

Pho at Pho Bo Ga La (#ottawa) is somewhat small in portion, served lukewarm, rather salty, and could do with fresher bean sprouts.

Oh and Pho Bo Ga La (#ottawa)'s pho noodles were overcooked...

You would be better off ordering pho at Pho Van Van.

Particulars:
Pho Van Van
93 Holland Avenue
(613)722-1663

Well, another foodiePrint went up on Ottawa Tonite. Its subject: the Hintonburg Supper Club and our outing to the Allium restaurant (87 Holland Avenue).

As an addendum, here are pictures from the most recent outing, a catered event at the Knights of Columbus Hall (1177 Gladstone Avenue). Catering was Helen Saikaly who, with her husband Buddy, operates the Melrose Groceteria (1082 Wellington Street W.). They will be soon retiring, closing the groceteria that doubles as a popular restaurant (Helen's Cuisine) at the beginning of December. Both pillars of the Hintonburg neighbourhood, Helen and Buddy have been serving great food to faithful patrons for 40 years. Even the Mulroney kids frequented Helen's Cuisine when they were children.

This coming weekend, the Hintonburg Community Association (HCA) will be holding a retirement party in their honour.

Retirement Party for Helen and Buddy Saikaly
If you walk down Wellington Street West, it is somewhat difficult not to come across one of these fliers, advertising the party.

We at foodiePrints discovered Helen's Cuisine's home-style Lebanese cuisine recently. It was recommended by Alexandra Clark, author and publisher of Cheap Eats Ottawa (twitter: @ceot) to CTVOttawa last summer as a great place for a low cost lunch.

When Jenn and I first visited it, we quickly learned Helen's Cuisine offers much more than a cheap lunch. This is an eatery that serves its customers with warmth that is becoming increasingly difficult to find. When you eat at Helen's, you feel like family.

When the Supper Club's organizer announced that October's dinner would be catered by Helen, we quickly reserved our seats. It would be one of Helen's last. And, she put out quite the spread:

Aluminium Foil-wrapped Dishes

It is somewhat amazing what Helen can accomplish without commercial cooking equipment. Her kitchen is equipped with a one-piece residential stove. She has no fryolators, banks of ovens, vertical roasters, or even a gas range. She has four electric elements and a single oven underneath.

From left to right: Fattoush Salad, Baba ganoush, Spinach Fatayer, Hummus, Roasted Chicken on White Rice, More Fatayer

Baba ganoush Close-Up

Spinach Fatayer, topped with Cheese

At a mere $20 per person, we ate very well.

My Plate
Between the soft rice, not quite smooth hummus, roasted chicken, creamy baba ganoush, and crunchy fattoush salad, I dug in eagerly with fresh pita bread, using my fingers to clumsily scoop up small mouthfuls.


Three Kinds of Fatayer
Helen's fatayer is a revelation to me, my being used to thicker meat and vegetable pies from gas-powered oven equipped Middle-Eastern bakeries.

It has been a very long time since I attended a church pot luck dinner. This is what that evening's dinner reminded me of. It was a home cooked meal, made with care, just on a much larger scale. It had none of the textures or flavours from typical shawarma houses. There, I expect its food to be cooked with professional equipment necessitating range hoods that a home owner would hazard to install. I expect temperatures that would make home insurance sales-people faint. Now, I have argued that eating out at a restaurant should be a collection of experiences that are difficult if not impossible to have at home. But, how often do you get to eat authentic ethnic food as it would be served if you were invited into someone's home?

Many thanks to Carol Paschal, the Hintonburg Supper Club's organizer, for arranging this dinner.

BTW, here is a picture of the Kitchissipi Times piece she wrote.

Revived Hintonburg Supper Club Celebrates its First Anniversary

July's Supper Club was held at one of Ottawa's older vegetarian restaurant staples, the Table. Even before locally renowned Chef Caroline Ishii found a permanent space for Zen Kitchen (634 Somerset Street W.), the Table (1230 Wellington St. W) and the Green Door (198 Main Street) restaurants developed quite the following for vegetarian fare. The Table remains a popular standby, almost always crowded at dinner time.

Having lived in the Hintonburg/Wellington West area for five years now, it actually took Jenn and I three to find the opportunity to first eat in the restaurant that reputedly broke all the rules. On its country kitchen floor sits pine furniture that is more Ikea than modern urban bistro. Local art graces its walls.

The table seemingly makes no profit on beverages. Filtered water is free, self serve, and in metal cisterns. Fair-trade coffee and tea are likewise available, costing a dollar each. The menu changes depending on what produce is readily available and dishes are served on four long buffets, two hot and two cold. Food is purchased by weight, cafeteria style. Where regular restaurants mark vegetarian options, the Table marks raw or vegan ones.

When dining at the Table, if you plan on having multiple courses, ask the person at the cash and till to run a tab. All table-ware supplied is pre-weighed. It then becomes a question of choosing what delectables your palate craves. Options often represent a world tour of ethnic-inspired dishes. I almost always have a generous servings of South Indian dhal and potato fritters. Guiltily, I have to admit that I have yet to overcome my aversion to meatless lasagna even though the Table's cooks make a tasty vegetable or mushroom interpretation.

During the supper club, I actually found myself too engaged in conversation to take pictures. With our supper club taking two of the long tables in the center of the restaurant, I found myself seated with club members who were far more familiar with the neighbourhood than I. Among the revelations: the best lemon tart in town comes from the 3 Tarts Bakery (1320 Wellington Street W.) and home-style chocolate brownies with an inch of frosting can be had at the locally owned Wellington Sandwiches (1123 Wellington Street W.) in the reconstruction zone.

Fortunately, I was able to get a shot of my dessert, a luscious chocolate beetroot cake.

Chocolate Beetroot Cake

My chosen slice!
Impressions: Think carrot cake texture, only chocolate and hold the raisins. I was impressed and enjoyed my slice. However, I would have appreciated the beetroot shredded somewhat finer.

Total (2 plates, 2 desserts, and 1 coffee): $24.67 (including taxes and tip)

Every time I visit the Table, I am always surprised by how satisfying a vegetarian plate can be. While there are very rarely any standout dishes, the Table serves a decent dinner, making it deserving of its status as a staple restaurant.

Particulars:
The Table Vegetarian Restaurant
1230 Wellington Street W.
(613)729-5973

The Green Door Restaurant
198 Main Street
(613)234-9597

After missing March's Hintonburg Supper Club event, my better half and I vowed to attend the next one. Having exhausted the restaurants on Wellington Street, April's event was held at the Canvas Resto-Bar on Holland Avenue.

Canvas Resto-Bar
For RSVP'ers, owner Charles Beauregard put together a very respectable table d'hote. The starter was soup (the day's "chef's creation") and a small seasonal salad. The main, a choice between steak or poultry. The dessert, a choice between custard or chocolate mousse.

Menu
Cost: $45 before tip or taxes and drinks were extra. For drinks, Jenn and I ordered "Whispers of Summer" ($5.90 for 2), which is an off-the-menu mixture of citrus and mango juices that features some very summery flavours. It is quite refreshing.

The starter turned out to be a roasted tomato soup and it came with a mixed green salad.

Soup and Salad Starter
The soup was finished with finely shredded Parmesan. The salad featured young dandelion leaves sprinkled with pecans and a raspberry citrus dressing.

While the salad was more seasonal (a wonderful mixture of peppery greens, cherry tomatoes, and a sweet and tart dressing), the soup tasted like a throwback to fall. That is when tomatoes are ripe in Ottawa. It tasted of concentrated tomato, punctuated with sharp tastes from the cheese. Served with Art-Is-In bread and slightly caramel-tasting brown butter (beurre noisette), the dinner opened with promise of good things to come.

For my main, I chose the Quebec Guinea Fowl Supreme: breast meat quarter with wing drumette (aka: date portion).

Poultry Main
It came with sauteed green string beans and smashed fingerling potatoes. The plate was drizzled with a red wine reduction.

I found the supreme portion somewhat overdone for my tastes, slightly harsh. However, its sides were well cooked and well portioned, allowing me to pair meat with either potato or string beans for very agreeable mouthfuls. The fingerling potatoes were a welcomed change to singularly textured mashed.

For her main, Jenn chose the steak frites.

Steak Main
The steak was a tenderloin cut. It was accompanied with bistro fries and a garlicy aioli. The plate was drizzled with a port reduction.

My better half seemed to enjoy her meal. The bite of steak she gave me came from the outer portion of her steak. It was quite well done. Since she ordered medium, this meant that only the center of her steak was done as requested. The fries and aioli, on the other hand, were freshly made and creamy respectively.

For dessert, we both had the Kahlua Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee
The creme brulee, with its delicate custard and thin melted sugar crust, was served with fresh berries and a slice of mint. Their acidity and freshness helped to cut the richness of the custard.

Overpowering Bite
However, the custard itself tasted overpoweringly of Kahlua, each bite packing a powerful alcoholic punch. Less would have been greatly appreciated. Jenn couldn't finish her dessert. I mostly finished mine as I enjoy portioning properly crusted creme brulee with a spoon - every bite of custard with some sugar crust.

All in all, the meal was good and our table mates (Joanne and Brad) sang the restaurant praises both before and after dinner. Save for the dessert, we agreed. What issues we had were minor. The platings were very fetching. Service was also spectacular. Food was served quickly and efficiently.

Beauregard, who was our host, knew his menu and restaurant well, happily sharing information about its dishes and wine. In fact, the yellow chair that is randomly placed in the dining room from evening to evening is a result of he having extra yellow paint during renovations after Absinthe took its leave. It is meant as a conversation starter and was very effective.

The Yellow Chair

Much of our dinner conversation was about the restaurant scene in Ottawa, Ottawa's food critics (including a certain Ottawa Citizen Food Editor), and the Ottawa Magazine. When Canvas was mentioned, Beauregard interjected that the year it was listed on Chris Knight's "To Watch List", Knight walked into the restaurant within days of its opening.

Knight, in the unlikely situation that you are reading this review, I feel that Canvas is a good fine food eatery. It has potential to be much more. Determination: Ethnic European French/British: -$$$, --***

Here is Canvas' business card:

Front

Back

Almost forgot: If requested, Beauregard signs copies of special event menus for you. I plan on collecting special event menus from restaurants when they are offered to patrons.

Updated: If you're interested in brown butter (beurre noisette), The Traveler's Lunchbox blog has a recipe for brown butter ice cream.

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