the gastronauts

I remember this place opening up nearby when I was still going to Victoria High. It has a cheesy yellow banner outside, advertising an All-You-Can-Eat, and is housed in a sort of run-down looking building. I never thought too much of it, but it's pretty close to home and I was hankering for sushi, so my mother and I decided to try it out.

For it's slightly shabby exterior, it's pretty damn classy once you're through the door. Nice neutral colours, subtle decor, and a rock wall by the kitchen. We were seated instantly and the service was good and quick.

To start - calamari. Pretty standard appetizer fare, though this batter was less seasoned than the usual. Squid was really nicely cooked - not rubbery or anything - and it came with a not-overwhelming peanut sauce.

We also had this "fushion sushi" from the "Chef's menu" - on the pricey side, but dear lord this was delicious. Two pieces each of scallop, salmon, and mackerel(?) that I think had been torched lightly, then topped off with a sort of miso-tasting sauce. I absolutely love scallop and salmon, and this was amazing - each piece just fell apart in your mouth. The scallop was buttery-smooth. and the sauce was pretty subtle but perfect for seafood.

The waitress recommended us this unagi (eel) and avocado roll. There's some real eye for detail in this kitchen - the avocado was perfect in ripeness, and matched pretty much perfectly with the sweetness of the eel and the kind of tangy sauce. I could've just had a whole meal of that avocado, sauce, and rice. My mom actually pointed out that even the rice is noticeably high-quality - the right softness for sushi, not overly sticky, and with a slight sweetness.

The other roll we had was the "chop chop" roll - because I love scallops, and I'm also pretty fond of fish roe (tobiko, unless I'm mistaken). Again, really nice quality ingredients, and as you can see, good presentation.

My mom also ordered a sashimi plate. Nothing exceptional about this one, except that I was reunited with my much-beloved Pacific salmon.

And green tea ice cream to finish. Not made in-house, so pretty unexceptional as well.

Overall, I was pretty impressed by this place. Good dining environment, good service, generally quality ingredients, and some people who clearly know what they're doing in the kitchen. Definitely my new favourite sushi place in Edmonton, now that Furusato on Whyte Ave has changed management and become... well, kind of bad. Cost around $60 before the tip for two people, so not notably expensive for a Japanese restaurant. When I'm in town again, I'll be coming back here.

Sapporo Sushi (google map and review)

And I can't really sleep, probably on account of the big Vietnamese espresso I had with lunch, supplemented by coke the rest of the day. In lieu of other things to do, I just got around to editing a big batch of cell phone photos that Albert sent me, in hopes of making them look less like... cell phone photos. Unfortunately it turns out even photoshop can't magically coerce photos to get in focus after they've been taken, but I've done my best.

So this all means that while Albert is bumming around my apartment doing nothing, he'll likely deal with this backlog of gastronomic literature in the next couple weeks. I have some photos of my own from a visit to Au Pied de Cochon earlier in the summer, which will go up once I've reunited with Montreal. It only seems right.

Man, I've been letting the pictures of food pile up on my phone.  So now, instead of working on these job applications for next summer (seriously law people, what's up with that?  This can't wait until the fall, when I'll be back in law school mode?) I figure I'll do some catching up with some quick hits of meals long past.  Also, I'm coming off a bit of a cold, so it's nice to reminisce about back when I could taste my food.

Sima Sushi, in Kingston.

A nice little place, on Princess Street (what a surprise) in Kingston.  Colourful exterior, slightly more subdued interior.  Surprisingly good sushi for a city so far from the coast, though I suppose that also applies to Edmonton.  At least we get the right kind of salmon there, this "Atlantic" stuff just doesn't hold up.  They do some interesting things with it, I'll give them that.  The whole blowtorch-applied-to-salmon-covered-maki is interesting, though it would be even better with a nice fatty cut of wild chinook or king salmon.  Just saying.

Aside from the usual complaints of getting their fish out of the wrong damn ocean, it's actually not bad.  Sushi rice you can taste, but not so much it overpowers the fish.  And yes, sushi is supposed to taste "fishy", whatever the hell that means.  It's fish, damnit, quit trying to hide it.  The chirashi (no pictures to be found, apparently) had a decent selection, but nothing too exciting or unexpected.  A solid and passable take, though a bit uninspired.  All in all, the food was pretty good, but a bit pricey for what you get.  As far as sushi options in Kingston go, I suppose this is my current default option.

I'd just like to mention that Montreal is awesome. I had a $3-something poutine this week in a cafeteria on the McGill campus, and that stuff be delicious. Even cheap-ass cafeteria poutine is great here. I'm also pretty sure it must be illegal to make poutine with shredded cheese instead of curds and still call it "poutine." (As it should be everywhere.)

Really though, Franx Supreme in the Shatner Building - nice light gravy, big curds, crispy-outside, not-quite-shoestring fries. Living here is awesome.

Wowza.  Two blind tastings in two nights.  This seems excessive, even for a glutton like me.  But the reservations were already made, it's not like I could just back out of the whole thing, that would just be rude.  So off we go, to subject ourselves to yet another gourmet meal of the chef's personal creations of the day.  What a shame.

 

Beckta is quite a bit smaller than I had imagined.  It's housed in an old house, tucked away on a quiet downtown street.  Not much activity around here, but the place was still packed for the holiday Monday.  Evidently people know to come looking for this.  I suppose that's true of all the good food destinations, people will come to you so you don't really have to rely on foot traffic.  Inside the lighting was a bit dim but the atmosphere was light, with a pale blue on the wall and white tablecloths.  The staff were very polite and professional, and soon we were seated with some bubbly water.  A choice of three breads was presented, the tame white baguette and multigrain bread, but also an interesting date and fennel bread alongside.  Of course we went with that one first, and it was an interesting experience.  The scent of fennel always reminds me of italian sausage, so it was curious to have a bread with that aroma come out with a nice sweetness from the dates.  Pretty interesting.

The amuse bouche for the evening was a creamy potato soup with double smoked bacon, scallion oil, and crispy potato skin.  Good stuff, I wish there were more.  And in fact there was more.  Later in the evening an awesome Quebec family was seated behind me, with their 6 or 7 year old daughter in tow.  She liked the amuse bouche so much she decided she wanted a big bowl of it for dinner, and the kitchen obliged her.  What a great kid.

The first course was a rabbit and pistachio terrine wrapped with bacon and topped with pinapple, then some poached mustard seeds, and then some dutch cheese crackers.  The terrine was pretty good, nice and light, and the bacon wrap gave a little chewy texture and smoky flavour.  The cheese crackers were even better, nice and crunchy, like those little singed bits of cheese you get on the edge of the plate if you're a particularly messy cook like me.  Always the best part, and here's a big cracker that tastes just like that.  Cheesy, salty, crunchy goodness.

Second course was seared Digby scallops on cauliflower puree, with red cabbage, pea shoots, and citrus oil.  Scallops are one of our favourite foods, and these were very nicely done.  A hint of salty, briny flavour coming from the scallops, rich and creamy cauliflower, with just a hint of sourness from the red cabbage to cut through the heaviness.  Well conceived and executed.

Our third course was some pork belly, served on fettucini swimming in a thin pork sauce, topped with avocado and mango.  Interesting combo.  It reminded us of our father's cooking back home, using noodles and roast pork from the chinese butcher.  Only now with avocado.  The aroma coming from that pork belly was just amazing, I think I my jaw may have dropped just a bit when it hit me.  A strong, rich flavour, but then when I was eating it I didn't feel like the dish itself was very heavy.  In fact, the heaviest thing on the plate was the tiny bit of avocado, otherwise I would have said the whole thing might have been a touch too light and airy for such a rich pork dish.  Interesting stuff, and a great idea if only because it reminds me of home.

Before our main course, a little palate cleanser.  This time, we were given the chef's take on a screwdriver cocktail.  A tiny vodka jello shot, paired with a little cup of sparkling orange juice.  Playful, and it worked perfectly as a palate cleanser, leaving us with clean mouths and great anticipation for the main course.

The main turned out to be some roast duck (medium rare, of course) with taro root puree, sliced beets, and baby bok choy on a soy reduction and broken ponzu sauce.  I'm normally not a fan of fusion cooking, the whole idea of taking ingredients and flavours from one culture and then combining them with the flavours from another.  But this kind of fusion I think I can get behind.  The whole dish was sort of asian flavours, but just cooked to a very high standard using western techniques.  The duck was very nicely done, especially the little crispy bit of skin.  The taro root puree was also a good choice, almost tasting like a potato puree but not quite.  The sauces went well with the duck, giving a little salt and sour flavour.  I didn't think the vegetables were doing much to improve the dish, but I'd rather be neutral on asian vegetables on an asian flavour plate than have some radicchio or something shoehorned in there.  A very satisfying dish overall.

And then the cheese plate.  6 cheeses!  Unfortunately, the transliteration of proper nouns in French is a skill I lack, so these will be by description and not by name.  I'll have to go through them from right to left, and the first one is actually missing from the picture since someone forgot to take a snapshot before diving in.  First, from the eastern townships in Quebec, a soft and mild cheese from pasteurized cow's milk, rich and buttery.  Next, a soft goat's milk cheese from Quebec, smooth and rich with just a little spice from the ash rind.  Third, and exclusive (!) to Beckta was the "Smoking Back 40" from Ontario, and cold smoked in house with rosemary and applewood.  Fourth, a cow's milk cheese from Quebec aged on red cedar planks, with an interesting red colour in the rind and a nice woodsy aroma and flavour, my personal favourite of the bunch.  Fifth, Greenfields from Wisconsin, a hard cow's milk cheese with a fairly mild flavour.  Last, a blue cheese from Quebec, and very mild for a blue, the manager wasn't kidding when he said it was a very accessible blue cheese.  All in all, a very nice spread, and it was great to have a little taste of many cheeses, rather than a big chunk of just a few.

Finally, dessert.  This was called "Cubist Movement", and was a set of 4 desserts on one plate.  From left to right, a citrus cured mango with chili, which was maybe a little under ripe, but still pretty tasty.  Next up, a cinnamon and date semifreddo, strong on flavour and pretty delicious.  Third, a tasty layered something-or-other with white chocolate and passion fruit.  And last, a pineapple and polenta cake, also great.  Overall, the whole dessert was light and playful, a very grownup tasting, fun dessert.

But wait, there's more!  As a complimentary post-dinner treat, we were given some dark chocolate and pistachio macarons, and some chocolate and cherry brownies.  The macarons were pretty good, though I must say I've had better back home (I love you, Duchess Bake Shop).  The brownies were rich and moist, just the way brownies should be.  I'm aware of the debate about making any additions at all to brownies, but if they come out like this I won't complain.  Oh, and I had mentioned it was Edna's birthday dinner when I made the reservation, and they actually paid attention.  Nice touch.  All in all, I had a great time.  Some of it was perhaps due to the other diners, we had the awesome family behind me and also a chef who knew some of the staff beside us.  The service was good too, all the staff really knew their stuff and kept our glasses full and food coming out the door.  But really, it's all about the food, and the food was great.

Beckta

So apparently the Wellington Gastropub is closed today.  Oh well, off to the market we go, looking for a lunch spot before an afternoon wandering around the Canadian War Museum.  The Black Tomato is a little pub-like spot somewhere in the market area, just off Sussex.  I think.  My Ottawa navigation skills are pretty weak.  Going in, it definitely looks more pub than restaurant, but apparently it's clientele on a monday afternoon are expecting more restaurant and less pub, considering how many diners had small children in tow.  Menu was pretty slim, but offered some intriguing ideas, and the blackboard behind the bar had a listing of dessert specials, not drinks.

For our starter, we went with baked brie, served with roasted garlic, shallot and red wine reduction, and art-is-in bread.  Tasty stuff.  The brie was nice and gooey, but held together enough to be easily spread along the little pieces of lightly toasted bread.  Both the shallots and the garlic lent a nice depth of flavour the the creamy, buttery cheese.  The whole dish went together with a well constructed simplicity that really showed off the ingredients.  Well done.

I opted for a Black Tomato Burger, with boar bacon, cheddar, and peppercorn mayo.  Served with roasted potatoes and house salad on the side.  The burger was pretty nicely done, a nice bold beefy flavour and texture.  The mayo was indeed a bit peppery, and set things off pretty nicely.  I didn't really notice the boar bacon in there, perhaps it was masked by the other strong flavours going on.  The potatoes were served with minimal seasoning, the kind of presentation that shows off the ingredient more than the cookery.  I thought it was acceptable, and a nice safe side to go with all possible lunch dishes.  The salad, on the other hand, I wasn't quite so enamoured with.  The dressing was quite sour, and really the whole thing had a very strong, sharp flavour that I wasn't really going for.  There was also a nice little piece of artichoke, and that was really quite a treat.

Edna went for a sandwich of pulled pork and boar.  The sauce for the sandwich was surprisingly a very mild, subtle flavour, not really what you might expect from a barbeque sauce.  A little sweet, and a little tangy, it was altogether quite nice.  Edna was not a fan of the potatoes or the salad sides.

Fortunately, we had room for dessert.  The blackboard mentioned above had several very enticing items, including a honey cream and strawberry mousse cake.  But in the end, we went for the peanut butter pie, and it did not disappoint.  Surprisingly light and airy, with a nice smooth peanut butter taste.  And pairing it with a chocolate graham crust, and a raspberry jam-type sauce, the greatest hits of peanut butter pairings, but in pie form!  The starter and dessert were definitely my highlights from lunch, the main was a little uneven between the feature and the sides.  Well, you can't win them all, but I'd go back just for the bookends.

 

Oh, and the butter they served with our bread was purple.  Weird.  Still tasted like butter, though.

The Black Tomato

After brunch, gallery-perusal, and a stop-in for maple taffy and poutine, we were headed for Restaurant 18 (e18hteen) in the market area for a tasting menu. The restaurant is named for its location (18 York St.), and is located in a gutted old stone building. The decor was muted and subtle, but not dark, and the stone façade was exposed on the inside, making for a really unique and interesting atmosphere. We had really excellent service as well; always a plus.

We arrived on time for our 18h30 reservation, and wouldn't leave until about 21h15. Having made known, in advance, our intention to have the 5-course blind tasting menu, we were sat down and asked if we'd like to begin right away. Why, yes. Yes we certainly would - and we were swiftly obliged.

First up, a nice little braised pork belly amuse-bouche with a spicy miso glaze. It was a bite-sized, sweet and tender start to the meal, and an indication of such good things to come. Albert has eaten here before and maintains that one of the things that sets this restaurant apart is their very deliberate attention to detail, and quality control. Not a fraction of anything in this meal was over- or under-cooked. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well, I suppose.

First course: Lobster pasta (tagliatelle?). Had a pretty familiar smell of ginger and green onion (as in, we both recall it from our parents' cooking), and also garnished with tomato and onion. Very nice lobster - and I say this as someone who doesn't normally get too excited about lobster. It was tender and evenly cooked, and the butter sauce was well-paired, without that distinctive weird after-texture that I find usually comes with straight-up butter. There was a slight tanginess from the ginger, but none too obvious.

Second course: Foie gras on a brioche, on apple butter and maple syrup. Good lord, this was delicious. It was my first foie gras outside of Alberta, and it was awesome. Evenly seared and sat atop sweet sauces. I have a soft spot for duck anyways, and the best description of foie gras I've ever heard is "duck butter." The soft little square of brioche felt far more substantial than the foie gras, which completely melts away in your mouth. A sweet-savoury pairing here was pretty interesting - generally I don't think of fruit going with duck, and I think I would have preferred something salty on the side, but it wasn't so disagreeable. It sort of struck me as foie gras on apple crumble, which was sort of a weird thought. Still delicious, though.

Third course: West Coast sockeye salmon, with Jerusalem artichoke purée and dill sauce and baby vegs with fleur de sel. Yay for Pacific salmon! None of this weird Atlantic and/or farm-raised business. We're pretty sure this was broiled, or maybe just quickly seared - the skin was nice and crisp. The artichoke purée was great with the salmon, which wasn't too cooked, but still had the texture to fall apart nicely under one's fork. I thought the dill sauce wasn't bad either, but Albert found it a bit much.

Palate cleanser: Apricot sorbet in some white wine or another (neither of us are very good at this wine thing). This is a well-designed interlude between meals - it tastes delicious, as sorbets often do, but the alcohol leaves you without any fruity aftertaste with which to enjoy your main course.

Fourth/main course: Surprise! It's ostrich! The first ostrich both Albert and I had ever eaten. It sort of tastes like steak and duck together - with a heavy inclination towards the steaky taste. Again I'll have to mention just how e18hteen does food so well. The ostrich was a beautiful medium-rare throughout, and it was incredibly tender with a great sear outside. There were four sort of complimentary sauces/sides to try the meat with: ground espresso, a sweet onion sous-vide, some unidentified mushroom, brandied cherries, and some peas. Albert and I were both great fans of the salted espresso/ostrich combination, and the onion paired really nice with the savoury-ness of the meat as well. I found the cherries and mushroom both to be too sharp for the meat, so I just left those alone and made the most of the little pile of gorund coffee. This was a surprising and creative dish that worked incredibly well overall. I want more.

Cheese plate: I didn't catch any of the names at all, because they were all French proper nouns. So we'll go with this, left to right: hard nutty, hard mild, and soft mild. Albert and I have totally opposite tastes in cheeses. The hard nutty cheese (think really firm gorgonzola) was his favourite, but I found it way overwhelming. (Then again, he really loves blue cheese.) I was a big fan of the soft, milky cheese, because I love cheese with fruit, and found the creaminess worked really well with all the fruit we were offered (pear, apple, grapes). Anyways, this descriptor would probably be more useful if I knew where any of these were from.

Dessert: Apple crumble with pear ice cream, drizzled with caramel, with chamomile tea for Albert and capuccino for me. A nice, simple hot-and-cold dish, with a fruity-sweetness throughout. Really light, nice way to finish of an excellent meal.

Of course, a five-course meal wouldn't be enough for Albert and I. After a little walk around the now less-crowded Winterlude ice sculptures, and a quick visit to the War Memorial (looks most interesting at night), down we headed to the Rideau Canal for some beavertails. Not that we didn't pass by numerous other vendors on our way back to the hostel, but it just seemed most appropriate to order beavertails whilst standing on ice. We had one cinnamon/sugar, and one maple butter to share between us on our way back to our jail cell. Great ending to a great day.

Restaurant e18hteen. Also, BeaverTails.

Before an afternoon at the National Gallery of Canada, Albert and I brunched at Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro, a pretty nice-looking and decent-sized place in the market area. we arrived at 11h45, not knowing that they opened for brunch at 11h30 - so that worked out pretty well. Forgot to replace my camera's memory card, so poopy Blackberry photos ensue.

After ordering, we went over to take a gander at a small table full of tasty-looking tidbits offered gratis. The selection included cinnamon buns, fruit, various muffins, and cookies. We came away with a small bowl of slightly-minted fruit salad, and these baked goods:

The cinnamon bun was suprisingly not too heavy, or overwhelming in flavour. Pretty light, and sweet. But this muffin. Holy crap. Bacon and jalapeno bits in a cornmeal muffin. The crust was nice and firm, and the inside had a perfect, fluffy, muffiny texture. The cornbread-like taste was great, and the bacon was a good combination - not too obvious, but definitely present, and only a little saltier than salted butter would have been. Mmmm, meat muffins.

 

We nibbled on these while we waited for our mains - bison ribs, roasted potatoes, bacon, and poached egg for Albert, and bison burger with fries for me.

The bison ribs were pretty damn good. Nice, fall-of-the-bone texture, and tender, while still having a bit of that gamey taste. I didn't have any of the eggs or potatoes, but Albert reports them to be of unexpectional, but good quality. The bacon side dish explained the subtleness of the muffin earlier - the bacon they use turned out to be quite mild, not the decidely salty and rich fare one expects. Nicely cooked to a slight crisp and all.

My bison burger was equal parts "bison" and "burger" - this patty was not to be messed around with. The patty was totally enveloped by mozzarella (as pictured), and for a lean game-burger, none too dry. The shoestring fries were pretty remniscient of McDonald's fries, and the serving a good size.

Altogether, around $45 for two, tip included.

Oh, and after our visit to the NGC, we went down to Winterlude in Confederation Park and grabbed the most Canadian vendor-foods in sight - poutine (which was mysteriously produced in like 10 seconds), and maple taffy. Pretty decent poutine, and man that taffy is sweet. I hear it's better eaten fresh, and not quite hardened to lollypop-form as it was for me. Ah well. I'll be living in Montreal for three more years at least - I'll get around to trying the good stuff eventually.

Some last minute internet research yielded a little restaurant I had not heard of before, but certainly not because of a lack of reputation among foodies.  Navarra in the Byward Market is a small space seating maybe 30 diners, but it has earned a reputation for being one of the top dining destinations in Ottawa.  Luckily, they just had space for us Saturday night, if we wouldn't mind waiting until 8:30.  A tortuous few hours passed while we tried to ignore the pangs of first-world hunger, and finally at 8:30 we arrived and were seated.

Navarre runs a 3 course fixed price diner's choice menu, which actually made things more difficult.  A spirited discussion ensued between us as we sought to ensure maximum coverage of the menu's many offerings.  We settled on six dishes that covered as many bases as possible.  Shockingly, we agreed to set the foie gras main course aside, but in hindsight I think it must have been the right decision.

The amuse bouche for the evening was a sliver of smoked salmon in a kind of brine, with onions, cucumber, chilies, and lime.  Kind of a cevice, I gather.  Again, I'm not sure why people are so quick to mask or wash away the distinctive briny and smoky flavours of smoked salmon.  In this case, I'm not sure that the time the salmon spent sitting in that solution was time well spent, although I imagine that having that brine served with a piece of virgin smoked salmon would have made an excellent pairing.  As it was, I had to work very hard to discern any smoked salmon type flavours at all.

Bread was next, and we were offered a choice between a plain baguette (boring!) or a house bread with caramellized onions and pecans (now we're talking!).  Served with a little pot of pineapple butter.  This is something I would dearly want to have at my disposal for a quick breakfast, the pineapple butter was smooth and sweet, and the bread had a nice lightness.  I wonder what it would be like coming out of my toaster?

Then the appetizers arrived within 5 minutes.  And I say that with confidence, because through the whole evening we could clearly hear the kitchen boss reminding his brigade exactly how long they were allowed between the time our previous plate was cleared and the next course had to leave the kitchen.  7 minutes was apparently the maximum waiting time, and even this was allowed only with great reluctance.  They really run a tight ship here.  Anyways, the appetizer 1 was the vine ripened tomato salad, with goat cheese, kalamata olives, and a caper emulsion.  Good lord was that cheese ever delicious.  Smooth and creamy, just a hint of sourness, it went down very well alone and in combination with the tomatoes and olives.  All in all, a very well put together and balanced plate.

Appetizer 2 was a pibil pork quesadilla, with spicy burnt onion relish, and a stick of smouldering rosemary to give off some extra aroma.  The crust here was nice and flaky without being dry, and the filling was smooth and warm, with a nice round flavour.  The relish added a little touch of heat, but mostly a pleasing savoury flavour was the order of the day.

Up next were the "slow food" courses, not the main course but not really starters either.  Number 1 was a duck confit, served on a bed of mashed potatoes, with cheese and salami sticks on the side.  Holy crap was that duck ever delicious.  Admittedly, I have a soft spot for duck overall, but man was this ever good.  Moist, full flavoured duck, and a nice crispy skin with soft fat underneath.  The whole thing went down great.  The cheese and salami pairing was a little odd, I thought, and I wasn't really able to bring those two parts of the dish together in my mind.  The cheese was good, and the salami was good, but what possible connection there was to the nice warm duck on the other side of the plate I haven't the foggiest clue.

The other slow food course was a cured Alberta (yay Alberta!) lamb pancetta, paired with an arugula salad.  This was more in line with the philosophy of the cheese and salami side pairing, and it was executed very nicely.  The pancetta wasn't overly salty, but served as a nice rich background flavour to a light green salad.  Maybe the most I've ever enjoyed a course that was almost entirely tossed salad greens.  The sweet and spicy something on the side didn't hurt at all.

And now the mains. First up, we have a red wine braised beef short rib, served on mashed potatoes, with wilted arugula between.  I love properly braised meat dishes, because you get all the good things about meat (flavour, texture) and avoid any of the pitfalls (dryness, lousy texture).  The beef was so soft you could separate it with some fork pressure, and the red wine braising had certainly given a nice flavour to the meat.  The potatoes matched up nicely, not quite the same flavour as the ones under the duck I think, though I'm not quite certain.  Anyways, a spectacular main course all around.

Not to be outdone was the other main course, a confit of pig cheek.  I have no idea how this dish works on a physics level.  How can a cut of pork that is 80% subcutaneous fat end up both soft and crispy, or rich and airy?  The whole thing is a study in what should be a food paradox.  A delicious, delicious paradox.  I also appreciated the bed of cabbage sofrito and pureed parsnips, giving the whole plate a different finishing touch from the braised beef.  Very nicely done all around.

Dessert isn't included in the fixed price, but of course we simply had to try some.  Edna went with the creme brulee with passionfruit seeds, raspberries, and rock salt.  Apparently the combination was a bit weird, and there was a lot of passionfruit which she does not agree with entirely.  She also went for the cappuccino, which was apparently made using a machine that was lent to Silvio Berlusconi during the recent G20 summit.  So that's neat.

For myself, I had the trio of cannoli with three garnishes: orange gelee, pear chutney, and apple butter/red wine sauce.  I wasn't a fan of the cannolis themselves, finding them quite hard and crusty, with a bit of a bitter off flavour.  The ricotta filling wasn't my favourite either.  I must say, though, that the garnishes, especially the apple butter, were quite tasty.  So I liked the passengers, but not so much the vehicle they were delivered in.

And just before the bill, a parting gift arrives: chocolate truffle sprinkled with chili and salt, served with raspberry coulis.  Now that's a satisfying way to end a meal.  That combination of rich dark chocolate, with the heat of the chili and addition of a touch of salt, pure genius.  I'll take a whole box of them, please?

I can see why this place carries the reputation that it does, given how good the six feature dishes were.  Each of them was carefully constructed to give maximum effect, either by subtle combination or amazingly well tuned primary flavours.  Still, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed that the amuse bouche and desserts were so uneven, especially given the heights the kitchen is well capable of achieving.  I'd go back for sure, if only to give some of those other feature courses a try.  I'm absolutely sure they must all be great.

Navarra.

Back in Ottawa, only there's no alternative justification for making the trip this time.  No, this is all about the eating.  I'm sure we'll kill some time between meals with museums and other touristy things, but the main focus is on food.  Of course, it didn't exactly get off to a terrific start, since someone slept in and wouldn't show up until th early evening.  Looks like I'm on my own for lunch today.

Vittoria Trattoria looked like the right kind of spot.  A small space in a high traffic, high visibility area.  Looked pretty busy on an early Saturday afternoon.  Smallish menu, focused on doing a few things properly.  And a not insignificant consideration, they were still serving brunch for another hour.

Inside, the space was cozy, but not cramped.  High ceilings meant that sound from other tables floated above, but not so much that it intruded on my meal.  It served to make the place feel busy, and of course it was.  A mixed crowd, some young couples taking in a weekend brunch with wine, some families out with their kids for Winterfest activities.  And everyone seemed pretty happy with what they were getting.  Because the tables were set so close together, there was no real sense of privacy, but maybe that's more of an Edmonton/prarie thing, where you have large dining rooms with lots of space between different groups, which makes unintentional eavesdropping a little less likely.

The staff was quick, efficient and cheerful.  They managed to handle diners of all ages and types with equal grace and friendliness.  After a brief lookover, I went with a glass of prosecco, the soup of the day, and a "Francesca" for brunch.

The soup of the day was cream of split pea and spinach.  Given the chilly, blustery winter day going on outside, a nicesoup seemed like a good choice, and indeed it was a comforting way to start the meal.  Not thick or cloying, just smooth and rich, with a nice strong savoury flavour.  A solid mix of herbs, with no one flavour taking over the whole thing.  Just the thing to counteract the lousy weather.

The "Francesca" was a plate of poached eggs with smoked salmon on toast, topped with dill cream sauce.  Some seasoned potatoes on one side, and a bit of fruit on the other.  A passable brunch presentation, although the long rectangular plate seemed like a superfluous touch.  It was hard to define what the dish was supposed to be about, given the way the flavours interacted.  The briny, smoky profile typical from smoked salmon was pretty much washed out by the full, heavy flavour and texture of the egg and cream sauce.  The combination worked well enough, I suppose, but the balance seemed to tilt very heavily in one direction, and this plate seemed to call for a more balanced approach.  The potatoes were seasoned along the same lines, with a very forward, sharp, spicy note but lacking some of the subtle savoury balance that would have been an appropriate match for the central component of the plate.  Certainly not a bad brunch overalll, but not a fantastic one either.  Still, the service and atmosphere were great, and for many people that's what counts.

Vittoria Trattoria.