My last visit to Ottawa was in December, which means a lot has happened in regards to new restaurants opening up!!  Therefore, I was on a mission to visit these new restaurants even though my trip was a quick one.

I had been tweeting with @AMWATERS about my trip and she suggested we have a coffee at Bread & Sons (195 Bank St). I’m always eager to visit new coffee shops even though I’m a huge fan of Bridgehead. While sipping coffee, we shared a croissant which was buttery and chewy and quite perfect!! I had my “eye” on the butter tarts but decided to try it on a future visit.

Cool presentation!

Then we met for lunch at a new Taco restaurant that recently opened called Taco Lot (995 Wellingston St. W). I inhaled a super fresh taco and can see why Ottawa has embraced this new restaurant as the city was kind of lacking a place to eat a really good taco.

Really. Really. Good.

Seeing as the taco was more of a “snack” – we headed over to Hintonburg Public House (1020 Wellington St. W). We shared an order of fish and chips and noticed that all the surrounding tables had ordered the same thing. Clearly this a a hit on the menu! We were impressed with the food, service and ambience – no complaints.

Perfect.

Due to the fact that Isobel’s was a few stores down, (1018 Wellington St. W) I went in to grab a vanilla bean cupcake with cream cheese dressing. I couldn’t resist.

I encourage everyone to visit Wellington St. West  – it’s truly a happening neighborhood. (referred to as Hintonburg). You can visit lots of fabulous stores and restaurants without having to move your car once!! SCORE.

In the afternoon, I headed over to see my foodie friends  at Michaels Dolce to check out their new kitchen facility. This couple is super interesting and super talented and I was thrilled to have had a few minutes to drop by.

Available in Ottawa AND Toronto!!

For dinner I headed out once again to Wellington St. W. I was excited to catch up with @FoodiePrints and they suggested we eat at Hintonburger (1096 Wellington).  I ate the falafel veggie burger while chatting with this lovely young couple about food, social media and more food!!

The next day, I made sure to visit 3 places very quickly before heading out:

1. Art-Is-An Bakery: to pick up 3 fantastic loaves of bread

2. Rideau Bakery: to pick up challah and rye bread.

3. SuzyQ Doughnuts: to pick up 2  (yes, only 2), salted caramel donuts. By the way – I was introduced to these donuts at the Farmers Market last year, but just recently they opened up a retail location at 991 Wellington St. West. I’m thrilled for them.

Next time Im buying 3.

It was a great trip that combined inhaling great food and spending time with family and friends. Even the weather cooperated. Looking forward to my next trip already.

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I visit my parents every 6-8 weeks in Ottawa and every time I visit I continue to discover great food. Sometimes I even divert from food and stumble across something else. (keep reading).

Last weekend my visit was really really quick i.e I arrived on Friday at 4 p.m. and left on Sunday at 11. No time for a tweet up – however I did have a bit of time to have a coffee with two food bloggers…@AMWATERS in the morning and @FoodiePrints in the afternoon. There is no question that every minute I am in Ottawa  – is a productive minute. LOL

@AMWATERS (who has a great blog – If Music is The Food of Love, Play On) suggested we meet at Le Michel-Ange, Coffee-Warehouse-Roasting. Thankfully I had GPS to find it – as it’s tucked away in the middle of nowhere. But oh-what-a-gem of a spot. I really really liked the atmosphere…cool art, bean bag chairs, interesting nooks and crannys, comfy couches etc. As for the coffee – I am always too busy chatting to notice if my latte was good or not. I even ordered a pumpkin truffle  (made by Clove Chocolatiers) as I’m sure I never had this flavor before. It was a perfect breakfast – coffee and a truffle combined with a discussion about FOOD.

In the afternoon I met @FoodiePrints (who also has a great blog called FoodiePrints) at Planet Coffee in the  Byward Market. I have been there once before and I’m always impressed how busy this place is and the size of their baked goods in their display.

On Sunday, I ran to Rideau Bakery to get fresh rye bread. (3 loaves – thank you very much). On my last visit I only bought one and when I got back to Toronto and had a slice, I said “what was I thinking only to get one loaf?”. Here’s some history on Rideau Bakery. It’s a 80 year old, family run – kosher bakery and their rye bread is the BEST. Really – the best. When I got home, I popped it into the freezer so I can enjoy a slice (or two) every week for weeks!!

Rideau Bakery at it's best.

Then I ran to the Landsdowne Farmers Market. I had never been when the market is indoors and I was thrilled that I went. The building is BEAUTIFUL and the market has some new winter vendors that’s not there in the summer.

I stumbled across Egyptian Onions. Never seen this before, have you?

In between running to visit my dad, having coffee, visiting relatives…I also took a minute to visit a new Art Gallery that recently opened in Westboro called Michael Gennis Gallery.

I am so glad I dropped by. The art is stunning, the space is stunning and to be honest,…there isn’t much not to like. Michael Gennis (who own the Gallery) was a neighbor that I havent seen in decades so it was a real treat to see beautiful art as well as catch up with an old neighbor.

I ended off the trip with a taste of Saskatoon Berry Pie from Farm Boy. Not a bad way to end a great weekend in Ottawa.

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I have just returned from a family reunion in Ottawa. Naturally I made sure to include a visit to the Byward Market and to Landsdowne Farmers Market as part of the schedule. What’s interesting is that no matter how many times I visit the Byward market or the farmers market – there is always something new to discover!!

On this particular trip, I discovered the newly opened Murrays Market. (261 Dalhousie St). The space is just gorgeous and totally suitable for a tweet up – so I made sure to talk to Emma and Chef Steve about this possibility. Beautiful cheeses, meats, local honey and MichaelsDolce jams were on display, but I zeroed in on my favorite food: a grilled cheese sandwich!!  Murrays Market makes it with Glengary’s Lankaster gouda cheese, red pepper jelly on egg bread.  I was a happy camper. I especially liked the addition of the red pepper jelly to the sandwich. Kinda kicked it up a notch. The side of homemade ketchup was welcome too!!

Perfect!!

At the Landsdowne Farmers Market this year, I stumbled upon a new vendor called Suzy Q Doughuts. The Doughnut was yeasty and fresh. (in other words – perfect) I really hope this vendor will be around for a long time, cause there is nothing like a FRESH donut.  @FoodiePrints shared one and I shared mine with @michaelscolce. I asked the vendors, if they had a retail location and they said “no – they are just at Landsdowne Farmers Market each Sunday”. Turns out – she is a postal worker and he is a woodworker during the week, but on the weekends they clearly have a passion for making donuts!! To top it off – my cuzin knows this couple well. (small world).

Now the next discovery – isnt really a discovery. I’ve been eating at Aladdin Bakery (1801 Carling Avenue) for the past several years, even though they have been around for 14 years. I was told they can easily serve 800 Fatayers’ in one day. Fatayer is what everybody orders here – It’s  a slab of thick chewy bread, with a topping of your choice and then warmed in a tradtional brick oven. You cant go wrong here for $2.25!!

This is what it looks like - unrolled

This is what it looks like rolled (and ready to eat!!)

It was so much fun to see my cousins and be in Ottawa during Canada Day. In the event you are wondering if I saw the Royal Couple. The answer is No. I was too busy eating and shmoozing with 26 fabulous cousins!! Must sign off now and head to the gym….

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I’ve organized a few tweet ups in Ottawa over the year so that I could enjoy new restaurants with other foodies. We have enjoyed tweet ups at Ceylonta, at Coconut Lagoon, and at Blue Nile too.  I was kinda having a hard time finding the right restaurant for  the next tweet up but FoodiePrints came to the rescue. While reading their blog entry on Serious Cheese, I said to myself  “aha – a cheese tweet up”.

I immediately picked up the phone to speak to the owner of Serious Cheese and asked him if he would be interested in doing this. He agreed over the phone. I then set up the twtvite and tweeted out the invitation a few times on twitter.

Here’s how it worked: On Sat Night, over 20 people came to the store to enjoy CHEESE – talk about cheese, mingle, eat cheese and eat some more cheese.

It was a perfect tweet up. Lots of mingling and lots of eating.

Many of us enjoyed grilled cheese sandwiches:

Many of us also enjoyed their asweome goo-ey macaroni and cheese.

Cheese-y Goodness...

Jamie put out some lovely samples of cheese along with Dolces’ Gourmet Jam – and everyone was clearly happy.

Tweet Ups are a great way to meet other people with similar interests. Infact the group on Saturday nite, included a foodie from Boston (@GeekBoston).

I can’t wait to organize the next tweet up for my next visit. I’m thinking about a Jam tweet up. What do you think?

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