ottawa foodies

Does anyone have a feel for how the "winter" ottawa farmer's market is working out? I'm wondering what the attendance is like given the cost of parking.

I went to Brewer Park's farmers' market today for what is now my annual visit. I picked up some delicious heirloom tomatoes from Bryson farms, made the regular trip to Fitzroy Beef Farmers for ground beef and oxtail, bought some kimchi, some beautiful kale, as well as a stop at Bearbrook for a bratwurst on a bun. I also bought some ground beef at O'Brien's cuz I was feeling a bit flush. I also wanted to buy some garlic but it was very expensive and I did notice that the hot peppers were a bit extortionate. I must say that the vendors, each and every one I dealt with were very friendly and accommodating. A few jokes and lots of info. They were stars. Unfortunately, a lot of my fellow patrons were a bit rude and oblivious. All in all, a very satisfying shopping trip.

I'm moving the recent comments to the following discussion: Forum - Farmers' Markets - Price Gouging?

The Ottawa Farmers Market will be holding a spring market next Sunday April 15th. It will be the last one at Lansdowne Park. Starting on May 6th they will be located at Brewer Park at Bronson and Sunnyside across from Carleton University. There is more info on their website about the market at Bayshore and the market in Orleans: www.ottawafarmersmarket.ca/

Bacon I.V I found the flavors on these pizzas are better than most in Ottawa. The sauce is not slopped on since it has a good tomato flavor to it. The cheese was good quality so a large amount is not needed thought a bit more would have been nice. Let's hope the next step to our ever evolving food scene in Ottawa is an actual pizzaria with this style of pie made to order something like Lombardi's or Regina:)

Ken, those are about the saddest looking pizzas I've ever seen. Is there any cheese at all on them?! Also, the sauce seems to have been brushed onto the crust. On the bison pep-mushroom pie, the toppings seem to 'start' 2 inches from the edge.

Thanks for the pics; one more Ottawa pizza to be avoided.

Blubbery we had iced tea as well but again not a great experience but just on my part. My wife had the raspberry lemonade that was cold and tasty. I had the iced tea infused with ginger. Ice was in the glass but my iced tea was warm tea and had no ginger taste at all by the time we sat in the tent two minutes later.

Ken V, I was there today too, and had the three cheese, so thought I would add to your review. I enjoyed the crust, and although there were three cheeses on the pizza, the brie predominated. There was a small drizzle of balsamic vinegar on the pizza and a liberal toss of arugula. Overall I enjoyed the flatbread, but thought it was just good, not great, and would have enjoyed it more if there were more balsamic and/or a few condiments available. It was $9, which is about $2 more than a larger flatbread pizza with more interesting ingredients from Art is in, which I wish was offered at their Lansdowne stand.

I do like the stuff from Tara's iced tea though, which is next to the pizza place. They have a range of interesting cold drinks with varying degrees of sweetness Today we enjoyed a southern style iced tea (only slightly sweet) and a ginger apple iced tea. Both were fresh, cold and very nice with the pizzas.

The bison pepperoni mushroom and red onion was a much better buy with a good amount of toppings. It did however go up $1 to $9.

Decided to do lunch at the farmers market and went for the pizza again. The prices have gone up by a dollar for the pepperoni but stayed the same for the Margherita. We not satisfied with the Margherita seems basil must have been in short supply today. Nothing was said since it is pretty obvious there was no basil on the pizza.

hey you can get awesome apple butter at the lansdowne market every sunday between 10am and 4pm until the last weekend of october (as in next weekend or wait til spring). i tried it and am going back for a couple of jars to last the winter. at 4 bucks a jar its great price too, but the taste is what matters.
spike

I bought 1 lb of frozen ground bison here. They (Pykview Meadows) also have burger patties and steaks. I used the meat for tacos-deelish!