Category: Comings and Goings
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Dear readers & restaurants…
The new year marks 25 years I’ve written a weekly restaurant column. Twenty of those I was the Ottawa Citizen’s critic; the past five I’ve been with Ottawa Magazine. To have had a supported platform these many years to guide diners toward the good stuff has been a privilege, and it’s been an honour to […]
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Rodriguez opens Orto
I had lunch, last week, at Orto Trattoria, chef René Rodriguez’ new restaurant, and I’m looking forward to dinner in the new year. Rodriguez, who closed his long-running, Mexican-leaning ByWard Market restaurant, Navarra, last spring, has established Orto in the long skinny Glebe space that was, for many years, The Urban Pear. He’s moved away […]
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Opening: Sawision’s Stofa
Have to admit, I’m pretty stoked for this place. Jason Sawision, chef de cuisine at Atelier restaurant for six years, Marc Lepine’s sous chef for both the 2012 and 2016 golden wins at the Canadian Culinary Championships, 14-month intern at chef Michael Stadtlander’s Eigensinn Farm, butcher for a year at Toronto’s The Healthy Butcher, chef/instructor […]
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Bye Bye Black Cat
“The best thing going in Ottawa – maybe the only thing going in Ottawa – is the Black Cat Café. Make sure you get there your first week. It will make the unbearable seem less so.” The “unbearable” referred to was my impending move to Ottawa. The year was 1990 and the speaker was a […]
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Navarra News & Murray Street Moves
Murray Street, once considered the ByWard Market’s gastro-alley, has been dealt three big blows. (And one bright spot with the opening of Sur Lie.) The first bit of bad came when John Taylor’s Domus Café shut its doors in 2014. (Taylor then moved to his second restaurant, the wine bar Taylor’s Genuine in the Glebe, […]
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Share Freehouse shuttered
The doors of Share Freehouse in Somerset Village have closed, but a window’s been left open for a possible rebirth somewhere else: “The 327 Somerset chapter of this book is now finished. Thanks to all who made this place really special. We hope to resurrect in another form.” We wish them well…
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Bar Laurel set to open… soon
Or “in less than two years” anyway, as the window says – a self deprecating reference to the two plus years it took to birth its big brother. Any of you who recall the excruciating pains of chef Jon Svazas’ first restaurant’s genesis might have cause for some skepticism. Whenever it opens, we wish the […]
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Au revoir Tante Carole
News that the husband and wife team of Jonathan Harris and Suyeon Myeong have closed their charming little restaurant Tante Carole in Old Chelsea was met with much sadness. It was very good. We thank them and their team, and wish them all much luck in their future endeavours in the kitchen, or wherever they […]
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RIP Meat in the Middle
I liked this place. Quality slow-meat in a bun with a terrific potato salad washed down with a Beau’s. Nothing not to like about that. So I’m sorry to see it papered over. Here’s my review of it from last winter.