Food and Drink News

Weekly Update for 27 Sept 23

• If you’re looking for a midweek visit to a market stall, Beechwood Market’s Farm Store is waiting for you at 1805 Gaspé Ave in Manor Park (3:00 pm to 6:00 pm). It’s apple season and the market has Honey Crisp, Macintosh, Cortland, and Royal Gala. There’s lots of other great produce from Brockville, North Gower, Ingleside, and Buckingham QC. The local vendors include Le Momo (dumplings), Strawberry Blonde (gluten-free and vegan baked goods), Fettuncine’s (frozen Italian meals for one to four people), Just Perogies, Ottawa Valley Grain Products, and many more.
   
• The Happy Goat Coffee company lost $500,000 with its kiosks in O Train stations. All the kiosks are now closed but the company hopes to return. The City is considering a new rent scheme based on ridership.
   
• The chef de cuisine at Carben Food+ Drink in Hintonburg, Khalid Farchoukh, won the Great Kitchen Party (Ottawa edition) last week. Farchoukh’s winning dish featured ‘a slab of grilled corn on a crisp slice of beef-fat brioche, dusted with smoked, shaved beef heart and accompanied by lime gel, fermented romesco sauce, corn husk emulsion, bone marrow, corn miso glaze and puffed sorghum’.
  
  On a bittersweet note, Carben Food+ Drink itself closed for good last weekend.
   
• Mac My Cheese Fest 2023 serves up the ultimate in comfort food at City Hall Friday through Sunday. It’s going to be cheesy.
   
• Faces magazine recommends three sincere pumpkin patches: Miller’s Farm & Market, Fallowfield Tree Farm, and Courges et Cie.
   
• Yvonne Langen in the Ottawa Business Journal has thrown down the gauntlet with ‘ten of the best lunch spots in downtown Ottawa’. They are: Sansotei Ramen, Thali, Cocotte Bistro, Seoul Dog, Toro Taqueria, Aiana, Bread and Sons, Mulligans Golf Bar, Paradise Poké, and Shawarma Express.
   
• Marianne Jeffery at Eat The Strip says Kanata’s Turkish Kebab House was packed on a Sunday afternoon. 
   
• Dave Chapin and John Chenier in the Lowertown Echo have 12 suggestions for gluten-free dining in ByWard Market: Cupcake Lounge, Aulde Dubliner, J’TM Resto Bar, Heart & Crown, Lexington, Peace Garden, Zaks, Luxe Bistro, Blue Cactus, Grand Pizzeria + Bar, Pure Kitchen, and Starling.
   
• Miriam Porter in Forbes has five recommendations for vegans in Ottawa: The Green Door, Peace Garden, Chickpeas, Grand Pizzeria + Bar, Pure Kitchen, and Amore Gelato.
  
  Someone in the comments suggested Keeping it Vegan.