Food flings

Last week, I celebrated a dear friend’s birthday. Last year, another dear friend and I cooked up a storm, and this dinner even found its way on this blog. This year, the venue for the birthday dinner was an Ottawa restaurant, the Oz Café on Elgin Street, an innovative/fusion type of restaurant.

The Oz Café has settled in the little “mall” beside Pancho Villa and the Lieutenant’s Pump, where there used to be an Oh So Good. We had early reservations, so when I arrived, there was almost nobody but my friends, a few patrons near the bar and the 2 waiters. Thank heavens, because I made somewhat of an “entrance”. As I stepped off the rubber mat at the door and onto the slate tiles, I totally wiped out in front of horrified friends and other patrons. Whew! Way to start an evening!!

After I composed myself (this took several minutes), I was eventually able to concentrate on the matters at hand: celebrating a birthday and ordering food and drinks. The friendly waiter listed the evening’s specials in French even though it wasn’t his first language, which was great. I realised afterwards that I could barely remember the list though as I had focused on helping him with a few words he didn’t know in French…I am not sure that the 3 evening specials (a soup and 2 mains) warrants a separate insert in the menu, but perhaps since the restaurant is quite cosy, a board that patrons could peruse at their leisure might be useful. It is nice though when the waiter goes through the troube to present the specials one by one. It allows for questions and details on each dish’s composition, shows that the waitstaff is working well with the kitchen and is able to properly present the food in the restaurant.

Despite interesting specials, all our party decided to choose menu items. I think the use of horseradish in at least 2 of the specials had something to do with it…chacun ses goûts! I settled on a “starter” of duck breast on a purée of root vegetables. The birthday girl who was next to me selected a vegetarian stir-fry, also part of the regular menu, which she said appeared to be a cross between a Hungarian and a Chinese dish. My other friend selected a dish called “Vegetarian Business” which was a layered tower of mainly root vegetables and mushrooms, interspersed with soft goat cheese.

The duck breast was well-cooked and just tender. It came nicely presented in a fan-shape atop the purée, which appeared to be mainly parsnip and was well-seasoned. As it was among the “starters” it was not a very big portion and would probably not suit a normal appetite on its own. The stir-fry was impressive and colourful. It filled a good-size oval plate. It was composed of crunchy noodles, lots of beets and sesame seeds. Basing this dish on pickled beets meant a slight loss of complexity in the flavours, with the red root taking over on its other compatriots in the dish. The “Vegetarian Business” was quite good with the veggies cooked nicely and working harmoniously together. This latter dish was also a “starter” and therefore not super generous in portion size. It was nice to see all of the dishes feature hardy seasonal vegetables like cabbage and tubers.

For dessert, the 3 of us opted for the single dessert item, warm chocolate cake. I find it slightly unusual that the restaurant only offers one dessert option…it seems to be somewhat of a trend in the area as Chez Éric was low on dessert choice when we went a few weeks ago as well…are pastry chefs a dying breed? It is possible I am probably paying too much attention to this because I am dessert fiend, but I do find that dessert, even when there is a selection, can be the downfall of some restaurants. I don’t feel you can get away with being shabby in that area if you are promoting yourself as good to very good in the savoury sector. Ok, back to the chocolate cake. These came to us piping, and I mean piping, hot from the oven in custard dishes. The first spoonfuls which were way too hot to be eaten, and I think the cakes could have done with a litte cool down before being taken out to us…it was verging on unpleasant. The overall taste seemed good, but because of the excessive heat, I am not sure I was able to taste the cake to its full benefit.

Overall, the dishes we tried were of a strong quality. My bill of a glass of wine, duck and the cake was around 25$, before tip, which is ok, although I didn’t feel super satisfied and perhaps will choose an actual “main” next time, even if the duck calls!!