Ottawa Foodies

Wow - I just had a sandwich from La Bottega for lunch and it was delicious! I hadn't been there in a while and was surprised at how much they've expanded.

I love the way the sandwiches are all made fresh, you just choose your bread/cheese/meat/toppings and they make it for you on the spot.

I had foccacia with swiss cheese, italian ham, spicy eggplant, dijon, lettuce and tomatoe and I am full to bursting. It was huge - a great deal for $4.39.

Great review! Actually, La Bottega has always offered hot daily specials and table service Monday throught Saturday in the kitchen. A lot of people are just begining to notice the kitchen after the renovations.

The recently renovated La Bottega now has a small eat-in area with table service. I stopped by yesterday for lunch with my mom.

They have a nice selection of salads, pizzas and sandwiches, along with daily specials, which yesterday included a pasta dish. My mom had the daily special pizza and I had one of the pizzas from the menu (the one with pancetta and rosemary... Siciliana?). Both came with mixed greens. The food was good, the service quick and friendly.

Two main courses, a mineral water and an espresso came to just under $25 after taxes.

A party of two went to La Bottega today for lunch (side note: I spent less than $100 for food for the day - I'm in a hotel)

Had two of the take out sandwiches:
One with genoa salami and provolone on baguette with veggies
One with turkey and provolone panini bread with veggies

They were very good as well, plenty of meat, fresh bread, a very good sized and tasty sandwich for the price.

In addition to sandwiches we had two oranginas, pasta salad, a bag of chocolate gingerbread cookies, a large bag of chips and the total was $23. Pretty good for lunch for two people (With chips, cookies, pasta salad left over).

Ottawa is lucky to have such a great and friendly place to get a top-notch sandwich in the market. Great ingredients & good bread (fresh foccacia, cirioli buns, etc). It can be a little inconsistent depending upon who is making your sandwich, but even the worst sandwich I've had there (and I've been over 400 times) is worth lining up for.

Pros: They must be losing money on these things with the volume of meat and cheese that they pile on.

Con: Since their renovation, the price for a sandwich has gone up from $3.99 + tax to $5.00 even.

Note that the sandwiches from the downtown, "La Bottega" location of Nicastro's should not be confused with the sub-standard examples that certain other locations make (read: Merivale)

We have found that the prices and selection of cheese is excellent. John, the certified cheese guy is very knowledgeable and more than willing to assist. Living in the Market there are plenty of cheese stores to choose from, but we have found that LaBottega never disappoints.

They have the nicest dark roast decaf. We love coffee but can't do the caffeine, that normally means bland, tasteless, or even worse, instant! We buy the bulk decaf from the bin for the same price as all of their other coffees. (Don't buy the kilo bag of beans, it is the same stuff but more expensive) Delicious.

La Botega in the market sells Harissa right next to the tomato paste tubes.

For those of you who love Italian chocolate like me, la bottega sells, for time to time, the famous Gianduja (Gianduiotto) from Turin.
The best brand is Caffarel.
Expensise (~$20) but so yummmmmmy.