Ottawa Foodies

Shopped at Farm Boy today, after a long absence (they are now a side-trip for me -- I do most of my shopping at Loblaws these days). Everything I loved is still there: A great selection of fresh fruits & veggies, an in-store bakery and a deli counter with tons of choice. The cheese selection has increased since my last visit, the fresh meat section has expanded and there is now a fish & seafood counter, a huge prepared meals division and a case full of cream & chocolate temptations.

Besides the fruits & veggies, purchased some kebabs for the BBQ, some sliced cheese and meats from the deli counter. Also a couple of small containers of assorted olives, pre-made salads (red skinned potatoes, and curried couscous), made for a nice lunch of hoagies with cold cuts and salads.

I need to make a point of making this extra trip more often!

As for "The Man" he discovered they sell candy -- bought some jelly beans :-)

EDIT - Forgot to say that I also love their zip-loc baggies that they use in the Deli Department. More grocery stores should offer these, they are fantastic when it comes to opening & resealing coldcuts etc.

Was in Farmboy Kanata today and the deli manager recommended the garlic smoked sausages. They are like a large pepperette. Apparently they are hand made by a butcher in Pembroke. I often find foods too salty and this wasn't an exception, but these were not too fatty, balanced seasonings and quite addictive. We make our own sausages and can balance the salt but with a nice loaf of bread or baguette (pretty good for a grocer)these were very good. I'll add them to my antipasto platter no problem. Don't know if they are available at all Farmboys.

So I got an email about a week ago that they will no longer be carrying the Pillsbury products. There were still a few left when we went in two days ago but I think they are probably just selling off the last of their stock.

They also phoned me the day the almond milk arrived, which was a happy day for me.

CC

"I guess when they were "re-evalutaing all our product lines" ... they were missing 'ready to bake' cookie doughs."

I took their response as they will be re-evaluating their product lines, not that they already have.

Hey Tiana.... Nice rant, and response from Farmboy. Notice how they did not address your concern of the Pillsbury products invading the organic and vegetarian refrigerated showcase.

I guess when they were "re-evalutaing all our product lines" ... they were missing 'ready to bake' cookie doughs.

How can anyone poo poo the Pillsbury Dough Boy ? (he's soooo cute !). And the products are vegetarian ... no animal fats used ... maybe the dreaded 'trans fats'... but no animal fats.


What's next for Farmboy and their re-evaluations.. I know.. they are short on instant pasta products... Bring on the Krapt Dinner !!

The older I get, the crankier I get and the less I hold back on telling people why I'm cranky!

For instance: I've taken up telling people that I see spitting on the sidewalk that they are gross.

In the same spirit, I recently wrote an email to my grocery store of choice as follows:

//I have been a loyal patron of Farm Boy ever since I moved near one. I frequent the location on 10th line at Innes regularly and I recommend this small chain to anyone who will listen.

A few months ago I was very happy to see almond milk being carried at this location as it is my alternative milk beverage of choice and it saves me a trip to another store to purchase it. I've found that lately it has been unavailable and I wonder if this is temporary or permanent?

I've also noticed on my last couple of shopping trips that Pillsbury products are being carried in the same refrigerated case as your organic and vegetarian 'meat' products. When I think of the products provided to me by Farm Boy, I do not think of such poor quality convenience foods as Pillsbury is known to make.

I seriously hope this is not a trend that Farm Boy will be pursuing.

Thank you for taking the time to read my concerns. I really just want Farm Boy to continue with the excellent service, products and reputation.

Sincerely,

Tiana//

And I just got this wonderful response!

//Dear Ms. T:

Thank you for your kind comments about Farm Boy and our Tenth Line store.
It's always nice to hear from our customers and we truly appreciate your
enthusiasm for our store.

Almond milk is a regularly listed Farm Boy item and should be in stock. I
will follow-up with Gerry Kuperferschmidt, the Store Manager of this store
to request that he place an order for almond milk and call you when it
arrives.

Also, I hope you'll be pleased to learn that we are re-evaluating our all
our product lines to make sure they are in keeping with our goal to provide
only the freshest, quality foods and will be discontinuing products which
do not meet this criteria.

Once again, Ms. T, thank you for your comments and for choosing Farm
Boy.

Yours sincerely,

Marilyn Currie
Director, People Services//


I was really impressed that I got such a thoughtful and informative reply. I was really just expecting a form letter if anything.

*Apparently my attempt at making italics has failed*

Get rid of the silly gimmicks Farm Boy.
Rid yourself of the silly swinging monkey. We live in Canada, not a tropical jungle.
Rid yourself of the ANNOYING farm boy singing about nutrition through a tin can.
I do not shop at Farm Boy ever since I saw a lack of local produce on the shelves in the summer.
Next time you're there observe the signs where the fruit and vegetables are from.
Many needed a long haul on a truck or plane to get to the store.
Farm boy ?Where's the farm ? Not in Ottawa. Not near Ottawa.

Bread ? Premiere Moisson ?
Hardly incredible.
The French Baker in the market wins hands down.

Salsa has too much sugar.
Hummous is tasteless.
Salad dressings taste like commercial preparations.

Meat counter is ok but not enough organic.

Not impressed F.B.
No reason to shop there.

Price isn't always the most important factor in grocery shopping.

New to Ottawa...can anyone recommend a good salad dressing from Farm Boy? I see they have a huge variety and any suggestions would be great!

thanks!

Shop at the Merivale local - variety of meats that are harder to find - shop by the caseload for quails, cornish hens, rabbit. Best fresh calves liver.
Their cheese counter offers a selection that is hard to compare in Ottawa.
And their fruit and vegetable selections are plentiful although I prefer Produce Depot for better prices on fruits & veggies.

Today was my first time ever to a Farm Boy(Montreal Rd./St. Laurent)...I know, I know....and WOW! what an amazing selection of great quality produce! I couldn't believe it...I've been meaning to go here for a long time since I've heard so many good things about it from all you fine folks and from others.

The BF and my sis, who I live with, have been "putting up with" the Loeb on Beechwood since it's right down the street from us....but MARK MY WORDS, I will NOT settle for the produce no more from the Loeb (not to mention the prices).

Thank-you Farm Boy!

The honey nut raisin bread that everyone is talking about here is from Premier Moisson, a company out of Montreal. Farm Boy does not advertise breads from PM anymore since they are (sadly) phasing it out. Not all their breads are from PM...they have a few companies they order from.

Side note: what I think some people don't understand is that bread, about 99%, that you buy at grocery stores, is NOT made instore. What I mean is that it will either come par-baked and the store will just 'finish off' the baking process or it might come as a frozen dough and will be proofed (risen) and then baked. With that said, it is still fresh in a sense, but it does come to the store frozen. Could you imagine a grocery making hundreds of loaves of bread from scratch every day?? Impossible. The staff, the space, the time needed would be waaay too much to handle!

ksw don't go blowing up my sale rack spot haha. at the merivale location the rack is frequently overloaded with discounted wares including the premiere moisson croissants (not quite as good as a fresh batch, but a steal compared to their regular price of ~$1 each)

We buy all our bread at Farm Boy. Because it can be pricey, our trick is we go to the "sale" rack which is the day old bread and choose our bread from there. We usually only eat bread toasted for breakfast so it makes no difference that it isn't fresh from that day. We freeze the loaves and take them out as needed. (and let's face it, if you buy a loaf on Saturday and don't eat it till Sunday then it becomes day old anyways and you could have saved yourself some money!)
It's also fun because you never know what will be on the rack that day, so we get to try all different kinds of breads.

F&T - we also got the "day old" honey nut raisin bread (I think for $3.49) and we sliced it up and made french toast with it on a Sunday morning). It was sooooo good!! We have also tried their regular raisin bread and the egg bread as french toast - very good.

Obviously if we are making sandwiches or serving the bread to guests, we will buy a fresh loaf :):) (thought I better mention that....)

Food&Think This bread sounds delicious! It reminds me of a bread I bought from the Ethiopian man at the Lansdowne farmers market last year - it was a whole wheat bread with nuts in - perhaps brazil nuts? I was able to cut through it with a standard bread knife and found the slices had to be a little thicker anyway to keep the bread from falling apart...

Momomoto - That sounds like a terrific suggestion, but slicing it would be a bit of a challenge, cutting thru the nuts would require a professional slicer, me thinks. Because if you don't get it right, it would probably all fall apart. I think this will require further investigation... Lightly toasted Honey Nut Raisin Bread, Cheese, Fresh Grapes, Wine... Patio Party!

F&T - The Honey Nut Raisin Bread sounds like the perfect thing to use to round out a cheese course. Slice it monstrously thin, cut each slice in half, and bake it until crispy. Heaven.

After recommendations from fellow Foodies, I decided to try the Honey Nut Raisin Bread. As it is a Breakfast Bread, and something I can only really enjoy on the weekend, I had to keep it in the freezer. The freezer kept it longer (and at $ 4.49 a loaf, that matters) and it made ok toast, but I did enjoy it much better fresh from the store.

My review here is based on the fact the loaf I purchased was labeled FARM BOY (no other labelling credits) so I therefore assume it was baked onsite at their instore bakery.

Overall the bread was much more "nutty" than I thought it would be, and the use of hazelnuts came as a bit of a surprise, I don't know what I was imagining (it wasn't peanuts for sure) but for me hazelnuts was unexpected. Perhaps something creamier in texture like macadamians.

It was a nice enough change from the many multigrain breads that I normally purchase, and had a little ooomph over regular raisin bread. I would purchase it again.

"The Man" found the Honey Nut & Raisin Bread today (all on his own, I didn't tell him about it)... he thought it looked interesting, but at $ 4.49 was a bit pricey. Now that it's caught his eye I'm going to go back sometime and pick up a loaf and try it. I figure if we keep it in the freezer and toast a slice at a time, there will be little waste and thereby a good value.

We purchased hoagie buns today had them for lunch filled with coldcuts and cheese from the deli counter, they were very fresh and tastey.

I find the Première Moisson baguettes hit or miss. I like hard and chewy bread but sometimes find the freshness of these sub-par. I'll stick with ACE...

An amendment from my comment on few months ago, we bought the bread again, and did a thin cut into medallions, lightly sprinkled some olive oil, and crisped them up in the oven with olive paste ontop and goat cheese with chives on top... it was delicious. If the bread is cut that way it doesn't seem to cut the mouth and seems pretty good, and it does have good air pockets through out.

I worked at Farm Boy in the Cheese department or 3 or 4 years... I will never forget slicing 3 wheels of Raclette prior to Christmas. I stank for days!

They will let you sample a cheese if you're unsure about it, as I did with with a couple Oka varieties a few weeks back in preparation for a fondue party. They'll cut the right amount so you don't have tonnes of leftovers. They'll also shred it for you, if you ask.

The one thing I always liked about it was that I could get whatever cheese I wanted, in whatever size I wanted. This way I never ended up with a huge block of cheese to toss because I couldn't finish it.

I love the large variety of cheeses available at Farm Boy. It is the closest thing to a cheese store. I like to buy my Parm wedge here, as well as any specialty cheeses (ie ricotta). Today I picked up some emmenthal. It is also nice that cheeses are available both by the block or sliced.

I find the cheese at Farm Boy is largely overpriced, especially the fresh parmesan. I get Italian cheeses at Nicastros and other cheese at Costco. OTOH I am going to those places anyway and not making special trips; it is handy to have Farm Boy nearby with a good cheese selection.

I recently asked Farm Boy to provide me with a list of the cheeses they carry that do not contain animal rennet. They only got back to me with a partial list so far but here it is for those who care:

ALL Agropur Cheese Products
ALL St. Albert Products
Mini Mini Bocconcini Light
Mini Mini Bocconcini (200g)
Crotonese Cheese
Friulano Tre Stelle Cheese
Mozarella Balls
Friulano Tre Stelle Wh/Hlf
Provolone Cheese Sette Fette
Provolone Cheese Smoked
Provolone Cheese Tre Stelle
Provolone Cheese Tre Stelle Light
Smoked Mozzarella Cheese
Ricotta CremonaMediterra Feta Garlic/Herbes
Bocconccini (200g)
Bocconccini Cheese
Rosenborg Brie / Camembert
Blue Danish Cheese
Cream Cheese Dill
Cream Cheese Garlic
Cream Cheese Herb/Spice
Cream Cheese Pepper
Tre Stelle Mascarpone
Provolone Piccante
10 Year Old Porto
Emmenthal Swiss Cheese (No Lactose)
Emmenthal Swiss Cheese Slices (No Lactose)
Bocconcini Light
Mini Bocconcini Light
Organic Danish Havarti
Organic Danish Blue
Organic Cream Cheese
Organic Feta Cubes
Light Ricotta Cremona
Bocconcini Pearls
Balsamic Cream
Mediterra Feta Light

I was told that I would be updated with any additions to the list so if that happens I'll post it here.

Many kudos to them for having a few very small bits of cheese wrapped up and ready to go with small prices.

Noted: buffalo mozzarella, which was worth the price.

Friendly service, too.

I love a trip to Farm Boy because of their great selection of fresh fruits & veggies (as kmennie said its fairly exotic for the burbs). And I find the prices pretty good as well.

I found today's selection (April 23, 2008) was really fresh vs the stuff I've seen recently in Loblaws etc. I find the grocery stores produce is looking "really tired" for this time of year. I got some great looking veggies at Farm Boy (no nicks, bruises or off spots), and also some fruits that looked as if they'd just been picked (blackberries, grapes, etc).

Their bagged salads are always marked "MADE FRESH on _____" and there are always a variety of styles (mixed greens, mesculan, baby spinach etc) as well as a variety of sizes, so it is easy to buy just the right amount.

I'm not normally too thrilled with gimmicky pre-sliced stuff. But. I am now a fan of their bags of ("made fresh TUESDAY," or whatever day you happen to go) shredded cabbage (w/a few carrot slivers). Half goes into a slaw, and half goes into a vegetable soup; it's fresh and crispy and nicely shredded. The little bits of pre-bagged lettuces are good, too; I wouldn't hesitate to buy anything that's been a bit prepped by them.

Also:

What a neat aisle of weird veg you don't normally see. I am now regretting not bringing the camera; it's exotic for the suburbs.

Great strong greens -- collard, kale, etc.

Nice selection of organic, with a lot of it fairly competitively priced.

Noted: three types of celery. (Organic. Bagged 'Dole'-branded pair of hearts. Celery celery.)

I too like this salsa. When its at its freshest it is truly awesome.

But then I prefer freshly made salsa over canned. Sig Oth likes it cooked and in a jar. S'ok, makes more for me!

Oh, okay. I just picked some up, and said "Mmm -- Lone Star-y."

Indeed. Very tasty.

The house brand tortilla chips are a thumbs-up, too.

Farm Boy makes a "Fresh Salsa" that is the closest thing to Lone Star's pico de gallo that you'll find. The quality is highly variable depending on tomato availability -- sometimes it's so bad that you don't want to eat it, but other times it's almost like Lone Star.

I'm not much of a chocolate fan, and the 'organic' variety I bought is a bit too sweet for my tastes; should've got the semi-sweet, but -- still, thumbs up. Nice melt-in-your-mouth real chocolatey chocolate.

We've been having 'fondue nights' with friends about once a month and I've been in charge of the dessert portion lately. I bought the Callebaut foutain milk chocolate a few weeks ago and it was really great. It melted quickly and evenly, had great flavour and stuck well to anything we dipped in it.

Yesterday we tried the dark chocolate version and it was even better. I guess it's so good because it's made to run through a fountain?

I bought one chunk of "Callebaut chocolate" few days ago at Farm Boy Kanata. I always passed by the counter without checking them until Mark mentioned it here. I tried the "milk chocolate" kind. I finished them all in 2 days. Next time, I am going to try the dark chocolate kind. Boy oh Boy, I have gained another 2 pounds! Blame this to Mark for his recommendation!

I have to adjust my previous comment. I mentioned that Victoria and Calgary have 12 Callebaut stores between them, but that isn't quite right. See, those are in fact Bernard Callebaut chocolate stores. Bernard Callebaut is the great-great grandson of the original founder of Callebaut, Eugenius Callebaut. Same name, different company.

The world famous Belgian chocolate manufacturer, Callebaut, merged with a rival company (Cacao Barry) in 1996. The new company is called Barry Callebaut but the chocolate is still branded as Callebaut. The company headquarters are now in Zurich, Switzerland. So it's Belgian chocolate but it's actually Swiss. ;-) This is the stuff they sell at Farm Boy!

Thanks kt! The store in Westboro is "Truffle Treasures" and I just added it vendor 1160. :)

There is a small chocolate shop in Westboro that also carries Callebaut. She does not sell in bulk but all of her chocolates are made with Callebaut chocolate and she sells huge bars of their chocolate. I believe the shop's name is Truffles (just a few doors down for Mountain Equipment).

Farm Boy now carries Callebaut chocolate, and it's awesome! We don't have a Callebaut store in Ottawa yet (Victoria has 3, Calgary 9) so this is the next best thing.

Première Moisson! Crusty and chewy with excellent flavour.

I can confirm that the jars of Steakhouse Garlic Dressing are regularly available at the Farm Boy Merivale Road location.

It's tucked away from the other dressings in the cooler right above the eggs. Delicious!

We picked up the Tomato and Vidalia Onion Salad Dressing a couple of weeks ago and tried it when the in-laws came for dinner. All four of us loved it. It had an interesting hickory smoke taste (which we later saw was listed in the ingredients)

Then I had it a couple of days later on another salad and found the hickory taste a bit over powering and well, now I don't really like it.......

That was my first Farm Boy dressing so I will keep going until I find one I like....the Mango Poppyseed sounds good.....

I was at Farm Boy today and see that they have added some new Salad Dressings to the list since my last visit. Has any one tried their Roasted Red Pepper?

I like the fact that they are introducing some new flavours without taking away some of the old favorites (Lemon Garlic, Greek, Italian etc)

Sourberry - I saw the Garlic Dressing (the creamy one, believe it is now called Steak House Garlic Dressing) in the section with the prepared saleads.

Awesome! I was scared they had discontinued it. I'll check it out next time I go. Thanks Tiana.

Sourberry: I'm pretty sure they market the garlic dressing as a steak grilling sauce. I've seen it in the refrigerated section with goat milk and also in the meat section.

Thanks Pasta Lover - I've seen their lemon garlic dressing but they also used to have a creamy garlic dressing - that's what I can't find. I asked last time I was there and the cashier said she hadn't seen it in a while but wasn't sure if it had been discontinued...

I went to Farm Boy on Merivale last weekend and they still carry the lemon garlic dressing. (I have a bottle sitting in my fridge right as we speak...) But it wasn't in an obvious place. The only spot I found it in was where the pre packaged salads are near the entrance. If you can't find any you could try asking - it's so popular I can't imagine them not selling it!

Also love their lemon garlic dressing - perfect as a tabbouleh dressing or as a marinade for fish.

Does anybody know if they still carry that amazing garlic dressing they had? It was very thick and very garlicky... I haven't seen it lately...

The Greek is a bit of a bore. Certainly not a bad bore; I give them a lot of credit for using all olive oil instead of a whack of cheap canola or some such with olive oil way down on the ingredient list. Good quality, but needs more flavour.

Side note: I'm mystified by the bottle's recommendation to keep it at room temperature. I assume that's to prevent it from solidifying, but that hasn't really been a problem in my fridge door.

The blue cheese isn't bad if you like a homogenous (as opposed to chunky) blue cheese dressing.

The honey dijon is yummmmy!!

Yum - I've finally found a croissant that reminds me of the ones I used to get at my local market in Montreal! Picked one up at the Merivale location this morning, fresh out of the oven.

All this talk about croissants made me hungry - picked up a couple at Farm Boy (Merivale) this evening :P

Today's batch (or what was left of it) looked more like buns than croissants ->

Sorry - I should have clarified I was talking about the Premiere Moisson croissants! I really wish they had them in an open display so I could pick and choose as I see fit :)

Just wondering monty....are you talking about the Premier Moisson croissants from the showcases or the croissants that you get in the 6 packs??

I love these croissants. Great flavour with just the right amount of butter, and baked to perfection - unlike some other grocery store's so called croissants (Loblaws...blech!)

Yes!!! If they bake them correctly (e.g. Merivale location) they are recognizable as the superior Première Moisson croissants. Interestingly, the shape is more "manufactured" and less artfully delicious looking than those in Montreal.

I was shopping quite late in the day (6pm) and purchased two of the five remaining croissants. I ate one as soon as I got home and it was clear that it hadn't been baked within the past hour or two; but the great flavour and texture were unmistakable. I'm drooling to try one earlier in the day, when they are fresh from the oven.

For my taste, these are now the best croissants in Ottawa!

Spied at the Merivale Farm Boy location: perfectly baked non-yellow Première Moisson croissants (like the one in my photo on the food 17 page). Because of the holiday shopping rush I didn't get a chance to linger and sample one, but I will do so ASAP.

The new Farm Boy in Barrhaven sells Première Moisson croissants. I was excited when I discovered this because the ones sold in Montreal are truly awesome.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed to find that the Première Moisson croissants sold in Ottawa are underbaked. Croissants are not meant to be a YELLOW food! They are supposed to have a nice brown colour like the one in my photo of a Première Moisson croissant purchased in Montreal. Sorry, I can't recommend them.

I just tried the Chipotle ones (I'm a sucker for punishment), and SURPRISE, I actually like these! A lot!

The flavours are subtle and their texture is just a little different than the other two flavours I tried.

I will buy these again. And again.

So I tried the Lime tortilla chips, keeping in mind what the reviews have been here. They are definitely strange tasting...I couldn't put my finger on it for awhile but I finally got it.

Ok, here goes.....they taste exactly like...wait for it....green suckers. I'm not kidding!

I like the chip itself, and can't wait to try another flavour...but the Lime ones are, if anything, weird.

So I thought I would try another bag of these chips and again I was disapppointed.

This time I tried the lime ones and phooey! I swear they tasted like really old musty shoes, errr...chips and I was constantly checking for mould.

Could I have got 2 bad bags in a row?

I really like the lime flavoured tortilla chips. The flavour is much more subtle than the lime Tostitos ones - they overpower whatever you dip them into - but the Farm Boy ones go well with salsa and guacamole. Speaking of guacamole, their own guac is delicious but sells out in hours so is hard to come by.

I really like the chipotle ones. Actually I like all of them. Maybe you got an old bag...

Actually I wasnt too crazy about the chips. I found them to be cardboard flavoured and tough. Rather stale like.

Perhaps I should try another bag.

The house brand is worth a try -- like the salsa there, almost Lone Star-ish. Try heating them very briefly in the oven.

An antipasto bar...!!

Found, at the Merivale Road location:

-- cheese-stuffed mushrooms
-- " " jalapenos
-- marinated artichoke hearts
-- stuffed grape leaves
-- asst'd mushrooms, olives, peppers in oil
-- bocconcini
-- etc etc

Very oily all told, but also pretty fresh and delicious.

If I become incapacitated in some fashion, I may let Farm Boy do my cooking for me based on this. Okay, a bit too oily, and more tomato was called for, but still -- yum.

Went to the Farm Boy on Tenth Line...this one has the full in store kitchen with a chef cooking up dishes that you can take home. Not all Farm Boy's have this in-store kitchen. Anyways, I bought the roasted vegetable sandwich on the Premier Moisson olive ciabata bread. Roasted red pepper, zucchini, and eggplant with hummus and green leaf lettuce. It was soooo yummy! Pretty big too, satisfied me quite nicely.

This has been consistently good. Not the pre-packaged stuff, but at the cheese-etc counter. Cheaper than those little wee tubs usually are, too.

Excellent for pigging out on their produce. (Or their produce is excellent for pigging out on the hummus...)

farm boy at terry fox drive have just supported a launch to a local company making european cakes.
cakes all have beutiful ribbons on then great for a gift or birthday.very french in stlye belgian chocolate and the company uses local produse as much as possible. The company's name is exquisite desserts. i am also told they only use butter, eggs and fresh cream (not magarine or sythetics). so in other words, REAL cakes. went there when they had samples. very very good. word on the street is the citrus buttercream nd harlequin mousse are to die for. not to mention individuals. just as much taste, smaller portions, awesome to serve at parties (impress the in-laws). or, if you don't have to deal with in-laws, great to impress fellow foodies.

This is where I purchase my cretons. You can find it at the deli counter. Not sure if they have them out anywhere so you'll need to ask for it like you do coldcuts.

We just polished off a 2 kg organic chicken from Farm Boy. Roasted it for 75 minutes at 425 Fahrenheit (convection) in the upright "beer can" position, with white wine in the steam tray and "Montreal chicken spice" and pepper all over the outside. Also three rashers of bacon draped over the top for some extra self-basting activity.

We poured off the fat from the steam tray and made a nice gravy with the remaining juices. This was an excellent roasted chicken -- crispy outside and moist inside.

I didn't think to take a picture!