The weekend of Food Day Canada, a friend from the publishing world visited Ottawa for the long weekend, Bonita (@boneats). An Ottawa native, who now makes her home in Toronto, she is also a fellow food blogger. She happened to shake hands with Chef Thomas Keller at a book event last year.

Where do you think we had brunch that Sunday?

Did we go to big-box restaurant chain Milestones (1080 Baxter Road) where a signature "Traditional breakfast" of 3 scrambled eggs, double smoked bacon, breakfast potatoes, seasonal fruit and multi-grain toast costs $8.99

Milestones

Milestones Traditional Breakfast
Think slightly over-scrambled eggs, greasy potatoes with jarred tomato sauce, super market fruit, cool to cold toast, and thinly cut and under-crisped bacon.

Also on the menu, a breakfast hash of "slow roasted and thinly sliced" prime rib, tossed with crispy potatoes (remarkably similar to breakfast potatoes), bell peppers, sweet onion, roast corn and their specialty (mystery) "hash" seasoning. Everything, topped with two poached eggs, "real" hollandaise, roma tomatoes and toasted herb "Filone" for $12.99.

Prime Rib Hash

Poached Eggs

Prime Rib
Think hunk of oily baguette, deep fried potatoes (re-heated on the griddle with the white onions, red pepper, and the night before's prime rib leftovers), cool-ish hollandaise, pre-poached and re-heated eggs, and watery tomatoes. The mystery seasoning was intensely acidic, tasting oddly of barbecue sauce.

I'm not getting into the dated decor that was once cutting edge for big box restaurants 10 years ago. Milestone's service, however, was attentive and friendly.

More after the jump...

During a recent Capital Cupcake Camp planning meeting, the subject of local restaurants and food shops using social media came up. The discussion was short. With the partial exception of Chef Steve Mitton's active Murray Street Kitchen (@murraystreetkwc) feed, only Boston Pizza Orlean's Community Relations Coordinator, Leslie Scott (@bporleans), was nurturing a thriving following. Most treat Twitter and Facebook as passive extensions of their websites, investing too little in "humanizing" their brands. Both Chef Mitton and Scott are connecting with people, potential patrons, sharing their restaurant's food philosophies. Their efforts effectively lower the barriers with establishing new customer relationships and strengthen existing ones. Restaurant and food shops become approachable.

One of the restaurants that has me reeling at its use of social media is Bin 790 (790 Kanata Avenue), Kanata Centrum's recently opened (Jan 2010), former bistro, now "tapas and wine bar." Someone working for Bin 790 must have taken up Schmap's August promotional offer to create an account and send location-based tweets. Every week, what looks like automated "Schmap It"'s are being sent out with a blurb, a Schmap link, the words "PLEASE RT", and the words "SPREAD THE WORD." Here is this weekend's latest

@bin790bto (Aug 23, 09:13 AM)
PLEASE RT >> http://schmap.it/AGLhwK ¡come! (spanish- Eat UP!) All you can eat Tapas Menu<< SPREAD THE WORD!

Source: Schmap.it

The tweets aren't inspiring me to eat there again...

Though, they are interesting. It seems Bin 790 is switching from a fixed menu of small plates to an all-you-can-eat format September 7, 2010. Bin 790's website's current menu of tapas includes a mind boggling assortment of dishes. Many, not particularly Spanish: spinach and tomato salads, seafood chowder, naan bread, stuffed dates wrapped in bacon, salmon or yellow fin tuna maki tempura with blue cheese, hoisin chicken egg rolls, beef carpaccio with truffled greens, roast duck shepherd's pie with confit onions, sambucca prawns, seared scallops, "charcuiterie sausages", and a moules frites.

That said, Jenn and I visited Bin 790 for brunch during the month we spent living in Kanata. The brunch menu included a number of signature eggs benedicts (from traditional to smoked meat), french toast ($6.99), and omelets ($7.99-$8.99). It also doubled as a lunch menu with salads ($4.99-$7.99), sandwiches ($6.99-$7.99), and various takes on moules frites (all $10.99).

The restaurant itself shows off classic bistro decor with an emphasis on red. There are high tables with dark table-tops and wood chairs to match. The floors and accents are like-wise wood. Everything is strategically lit.

Bin 790
There is a mostly-exposed kitchen.

Plates for Service in front of the Exposed Kitchen
The dining room has a very high ceiling.

On the bar, I noticed a Kichesippi beer spigot. Unfortunately, there was no Beau's spigot alongside.

Natural Blonde

Jenn ordered a bacon, tomato, and cheddar omelet, sans cheese ($7.99). Made-to-order, she found her omelet over seasoned and dry. The sliced sausage sported nice grill marks, but seemed processed and overcooked. The fruit was sweet.

Bacon, tomato, and cheddar omelet breakfast

Me, I ordered a tomato and avocado eggs benny with pesto ($7.99) and a coffee ($2.14). Also made-to-order, my poached eggs were runny. Expecting ripe avocado slices, I was served guacamole between my slices of English muffin and poached eggs. The hollandaise was a little less than smooth. My "signature" potatoes weren't greasy for a griddled hash. However, the onions were undercooked.

Tomato and avocado eggs benedict

Runny yolks

My Coffee

Our guests, Jenn's parents, ordered "classic" breakfasts with 2 eggs, toast and "pan fries" ($6.99). The pan fries looked a lot like the "signature" potatoes I was served. Their scrambled eggs were fluffy, but also over seasoned.

Everything was served cold, as if the kitchen had had difficulty getting the orders out and everything was left to cool in the confusion.

We waited quite the while (20-30 minutes) in the mostly empty restaurant for our orders. When Chef Diego saw me taking pictures, he came to the table, apologizing for the long wait. He informed us he had to deal with an oil spill in the kitchen between preparing our food.

We discussed the temperature of the plates, but, because everyone was ravenous, we had eaten everything. The chef took the criticisms well and, thinking I was a high school student, he told me I should come in for dinner. Apparently, his much "prettier" tapas dishes are great for school projects.

Total cost: $38.69 (includes 2 coffees and taxes, but before tip)

My thoughts, Bin 790 is a difficult sell to suburbanites. Its prices are higher than the surrounding big box fast food restaurants in the same strip mall. Unlike those restaurants, Bin 790 endeavors to cook food, which is very commendable.

My first impressions, because I have not tried the tapas for dinner, are inconclusive. But they lean on the less positive.

That said, I hope Bin 790 gets the chance to improve its brunch service.

Heavily suburban neighbourhoods like Kanata tend to be bereft of locally-owned restaurants. This is especially true for higher end bistros or something that wants to call itself a "tapas and wine bar."

Particulars:
Bin 790 Tapas and Wine Lounge (across from the AMC Theatres)
655 Kanata Avenue
(613)591-3287

More after the jump...

According to Joy Skipper's Brunch, published by New Holland Publishers in 2007, brunch originated in Britain at the turn of the 19th century. It was originally coined by Guy Beringer in Hunters Weekly in 1895. Then, brunch would have been served after a morning or before an afternoon event. The morning event was most often a spot of hunting. American adoption occurred in the 1930s. It started as a Mother's Day celebration, serving mom a lavish meal to replace breakfast and lunch.

To celebrate Mother's Day this year (May 9th), foodiePrints has been running a three-part series on great restaurants to take your mom for brunch. Our first and second recommendations: Canvas and Stoneface Dolly's. We shine the third spotlight on Fraser Cafe in the heart of New Edinburgh.

Despite being tucked away on a quiet residential street just off of Beechwood Avenue, Fraser Cafe is always filled with hungry patrons, regardless of the time of day. It is so busy in fact reservations are highly recommended. Brunch is especially popular with Fraser Cafe plating simple, but delicious foods.

When Don and I popped by for Saturday brunch a few weeks back, we just barely got seats. Had I not suggested we sit at the bar, we would have had a long wait for a table. On the bright side, sitting at the bar allowed us to watch the brigade in action. It also gave us a wonderful view of the entire restaurant.

Open Kitchen of Fraser Cafe

Shortly after we were seated, our host handed us a one page menu for brunch and... a cookbook?!

A cookbook
In actuality it was a drink menu disguised as a cookbook!

Inside the cookbook, a grand selection of drinks

Smiling, Don and I made our selections. Don, an eggs Benedict ($13.00) and a banana orange mango smoothie ($6.00). Me, scrambled eggs ($12.00) and a cranberry juice ($2.25).

As we waited for our food to arrive, we discovered that the bar has the best seats in the house for food enthusiasts, especially at our end, adjacent to the cash and till. Up against the wall sat shelves of liqueurs and wine, various cookbooks, and toys.

Glasses and Alcohol

A tiny monster truck running into a happy giraffe

A variety of cookbooks
Playing on the television, the Food Network.

Peering into the kitchen, Don was mesmerized watching one of the line cooks poach eggs. Even from a distance, we could see each egg had been poached the same way, with the yolks jiggling about.

With drinks first to arrive, Don's smoothie looked delicious. Made to order, its component fruits produced a fresh and sweet smoothie. It arrived pleasantly thick.

A banana orange mango smoothie

Pleasantly thick

By the time our plates arrived, we were famished. Everything looked fresh, down to the last leaf of peppery greens.


Scrambled eggs
My selection: Scrambled eggs with potato, house sausage, grilled tomato, and Worcestershire mushrooms topped with a peppery green (sans cheese curds). The scrambled eggs were stunning. It was light, fluffy, and creamy, just perfectly done. These scrambled eggs were the best I had ever eaten at a brunch. The only place I can think of that could rival these eggs would be Benny's Bistro. The tomatoes were beefsteak tomatoes. They were incredibly juicy and meaty, a rare treat this time of year. The only drawback was the sausage, which I found somewhat dry and a tad overcooked. Otherwise, my meal was delicious.


Eggs Benedict
Don's selection: Eggs Benedict with peameal bacon, grilled tomato, English muffin, hollandaise sauce, and fresh greens. Don, who kept going on about how well Fraser Cafe does its eggs, was strangely silent as he dug into his eggs Benedict. Afterward, he told me he was stunned by how well they were made: incredibly fresh and runny hollandaise (no more than minutes old), delicately poached eggs (wobbly upon arrival), and freshly toasted English muffin. The griddled peameal bacon added salt and savoury to the mix, the hollandaise and egg yolks, carrying the flavours. To contrast, sweet grilled tomato, just cooked. Eggs Benedict is a regular for Don when he brunches. He says Fraser Cafe does it best.

Beautifully poached eggs – a stream of runny yolks

After finishing our plates, Don and I were literally bursting at the seams. Yet, somehow our server managed to convince us to give their famous doughnuts a try. How famous are they? Well, according to the September 2009 issue of Ottawa magazine, Fraser Cafe's homemade doughnuts rank #67 on their list of "101 Tastes to Try Before You Die." Although their brunch menu list doughnuts as a main dish ($9), they are also offered as a dessert ($7). As a brunch plate, they comes with bacon.

Doughnuts for dessert
The doughnuts were quite a treat. Served hot, freshly deep fried, and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar, it came with in-house made apple sauce and a lovely mug of vanilla ice cream and chocolate ganache.

Cutting a piece of doughnut before dunking it into the ice cream
Every bite was sinfully delectable. The doughnuts seemed to drape themselves in the ice cream and chocolate. They were warm, crunchy, fleetingly cool, sweet, and rich. Don was unable to eat more than a few bites, leaving me to happily finish the rest. As for it being on the list of 101 tastes to try? If you haven't tried them yet, make plans to!

Fraser Cafe is a fabulous place for brunch, especially this Mother's Day.

Total: $45.48 (after taxes before tip)

Particulars:
Fraser Cafe
7 Springfield Rd.
(613) 749-1444

More after the jump...

When you talk to a local about brunch in Ottawa, there are several restaurants you will more than likely be recommended: Benny's Bistro in the ByWard Market, Jak's Kitchen in Centertown, Fraser Cafe in New Edinburgh, and StoneFace Dolly's in Little Italy (Preston Street). While Benny's Bistro is legendary for its high-end brunch fare and butter rich bakery from the adjoining French Baker, Fraser Cafe is quickly gaining ground in the same arena. Fraser's single page brunch menu features dishes of comparable quality, but at lower prices. There are seasoned cooks in both kitchens, overseen by chefs. Both Benny's and Fraser's cooks are adept in classical French cooking techniques, especially when it comes to handling eggs. However, Fraser's are more chef's interpretations of usual brunch suspects: eggs Benedict, the "breakfast sandwich", or scrambled eggs with sausage. At Benny's bistro, you can expect less traditional breakfast dishes. But, for straight brunch "usuals", our recommends are Jak's or StoneFace Dolly's. Neither takes reservations. Both have lines going out the door shortly after they open.

StoneFace Dolly's is where Jenn and I took friends Vicky (@momwhoruns) and Paola (@cestboncooking) for brunch several weeks ago. Vicky is a fellow food blogger from Toronto and former Ottawa native. We discovered Jak's together several months ago. Paola is one of Ottawa's most passionate food enthusiasts. Through C'est Bon Cooking, she and her chef offer cooking classes and culinary tours of Ottawa. I hear Paola's tours of the ByWard market are a lot of fun.

StoneFace Dolly's resembles a modern bistro. High ceilings, neutral colours, and lots of exposed wood, glass, and ceramics, everything meant to make the dining room look open and airy. Its decor works with the large windows at the front of the restaurant, letting light spill deeply into the restaurant.

Bright and Open Interior
The restaurant also features an exposed kitchen.

Open Kitchen
It extends to the bar and ends with the cash and till.

Bar
I can only imagine how StoneFace Dolly's looks in the evenings. It is a great place to start a weekend day with brunch.

Its brunch menu is multi-paged and each is covered in well worn plastic.

Menu
Inside, we discovered StoneFace Dolly's serves Bridgehead coffee ($2.75), a local purveyor of fair trade coffee beans and some great local desserts.

Hot Drinks on the Menu

Bridgehead Coffee

Besides coffee, it serves freshly made fruit juices and juice blends. Jenn ordered an apple juice, which was eventually marked on our bill as "pop" ($2.50)

Fruit Juices on the Menu

Apple Juice
She found the apple juice refreshingly sweet. Accordingly, it tasted better than the "from concentrate" varieties, but not as good as the Black River brand Organic Apple Juice Jenn invariably buys when we frequent coffee shops.

For brunch, Jenn and Vicky ordered pancakes. Jenn, blueberry pancakes with fruit ($9.99). Vicky, ricotta blueberry pancakes with lemon curd and whipped cream ($10.99).

Here are the pancakes Vicky was served.

Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes
Jenn's pancakes were thicker and somewhat larger.

Blueberry Pancakes

Underside
Jenn found her pancakes extremely filling, light and fluffy yet substantial. Each pancake sported a handful of blueberries. They were however unevenly spread out, so not every bite tasted of blueberry.

Paola and I ordered omelets ($10.99). Mine, Omelet No. 5 (capicolla ham, cheddar, and mushrooms), with a side of breakfast poutine (house-made potato home fries, cheese, and milk gravy somewhat akin to sawmill gravy). Breakfast poutine is an optional add-on for any breakfast plate ($2.00).

Omelet No. 5

with a side of breakfast poutine

Poutine for Breakfast?
The poutine was a little much, even for a foodie who would attack a good charcuterie plate for brunch. Though, the sawmill gravy on home fries take is rather innovative. As a poutine purist, I think cheddar cheese curds would have worked better.

The omelet was pretty much cooked through, but neither its top nor bottom was overdone.

Omelet Doneness
I prefer my omelets slightly more runny in the middle. Still, it was a great 3 egg omelet. The accompanying salad was fresh and its oddly thick looking balsamic dressing not overly acidic.

We completely overlooked StoneFace Dolly's specials.

Specials
I would later discover StoneFace Dolly's twitter account (@stonefacedollys) tweets each weekend's brunch special the Friday before.

The most interesting thing we saw on the menu: Breakfast ribs ($13.00). It consists of 2 eggs (any style), home fries, a half rack of barbecue ribs, and a slice of "molasses toast."

Service-wise, we were given a slight runaround by someone who looked like the owner. He seemed dubious about giving us a four person table when Jenn and I arrived. Luckily, Vicky walked through the door as he looked behind us at another group whose members had already assembled. Paola arrived shortly thereafter. Our waiter was polite. With the entire restaurant turning over quickly, she checked back on us somewhat seldomly. She also did not point out any of the specials. We found them afterward, Paola lamenting she would have chosen the quiche had she known. Still, we did not wait long for drinks or food. Every dish was freshly made and served hot, not one spending very long under a heat lamp.

Total: $59.85 (after taxes, including 2 omelets, 2 pancake plates, 2 coffees, one juice, and a poutine add-on)

Brunch at StoneFace Dolly's has strong fundamentals. Are the dishes culinary masterpieces, no. Are they value-conscious and filling, yes. They rival Jak's in centertown.

Update: Check out recent thoughts on Stoneface Dolly's from one of our favourite food bloggers, Rachelle of the Rachelle Eats Food blog.

Found another recent review from Eva of Eva's Food World.

Apparently, StoneFace Dolly's ricotta blueberry pancakes are number 84 in the Ottawa Magazine's list of 101 Tastes to Try Before You Die (September 2009, edition).

Particulars:
Stoneface Dolly's
416 Preston Street
(613) 564-2222

More after the jump...

This week, foodiePrints will feature three great places to take your mom for Mother's Day brunch. They are restaurants Jenn and I visited recently that impressed us. We are also compiling a contact list of restaurants offering brunch on Mother's Day. We intend the posts to highlight Ottawa eateries and encourage people to make reservations.

First off: Canvas Resto-Bar. Canvas (65 Holland Avenue) in Ottawa's Hintonburg neighbourhood is our local "go to" restaurant. We are quite fond of its bistro fare that features local produce, artisanal cheeses, game meats, and sustainable fish. Canvas' always friendly and attentive service is the measure by which we compare all other restaurants we visit.

During the Easter weekend, owner Charles Beauregard decided to extend Canvas' Sunday brunch (10:00 am - 2:30 pm) to Saturday as well. Jenn and I were one of its first Saturday brunch patrons.

When we arrived, I ordered black coffee ($2.25) and discovered Canvas serves Francisco's, a local fair trade coffee roastery.

Francisco's Coffee
I try not to drink coffee that is not fair trade, preferring Bridgehead's. Now that I frequent CycleLogik (1111A Wellington Street), I am developing a taste for Francisco's. CycleLogik is where I first encountered Francisco's.

Having just returned from a run, Jenn was famished, so she ordered the 4 oz flat iron steak and eggs ($14.00).

Steak and Eggs
Served with Art-Is-In toast, Jenn opted for medium-rare steak and scrambled eggs. She found the steak unevenly done, but still juicy and tender. Pairing it with fluffy eggs and artisanal white bread toast made for a good breakfast.

Jenn also ordered a side of Canvas' "boozy beans" ($4.00).

Boozy Beau's Beer Beans
Think beans slow cooked with molasses and double smoked bacon and finished with Beau's Lug Tread beer. Beau's is a local brewery. The beans had a great texture, not overly soft like canned. They tasted of dark sugars and, distinctively, of Beau's signature lagered ale.

Me, I ordered a dish ($11.00) Charles told us was inspired by something he was served in a Toronto restaurant, then one of legendary Chef Susur Lee's earliest.

Smoked Salmon Hash
Think rosti-cut potatoes and slivered onions, griddled to order and left to slightly cool. This way, the potato hash did not heat up the smoked salmon. Everything was then topped with a dollop of creme fraiche. Mine was also served with Art-Is-In toast.

My breakfast was enjoyable. The hash was not oily, but cooked through, crusted, and flavourful. It went well with the smoked salmon and sour cream: a little fat, a little brightness, a little starch, a little savoury, and a little smokey.

Total: $35.31 (after taxes, before tip)

Overall, we found brunch a little pricey for the portion sizes, but satisfying.

Unlike other restaurants, Canvas takes reservations for weekend brunch.

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

More after the jump...