Ottawa Foodies

On yet another boring night with no desire to cook at home, my husband and I decided to venture down to The Branch, meeting my mother there to go over some paperwork and to kill two birds with one stone. You might drive by the place at first, but it wasn't that hard to find (Kemptville isn't a big place, after all) and parking was ample.

I called to make reservations ahead of time, and although the man on the phone seemed to find it humourous, it was no problem. I guess you don't always have to make reservations on Thursday nights...;)

Space: The space was shockingly large and the tables seemed quite sparse -- it was nice to not bump elbows with your neighbour. :) There was a nice collection of art on display, as well. The room was, however, VERY cold and pretty dark...I suppose you could say the lighting was ambient, but I think they could afford to take it up a notch. As for the chill, well...that wasn't ambient at all. We kept our coats on.

Service: Our service was average, nothing too special but attentive enough. Refills on drinks were delivered quickly, we were checked in on a few times. There was one waitress for the whole space, which was only 4 tables, so I'd say the service was alright, over all.

Menu: It was hard to choose what we wanted from the menu, everything sounded great! The beer selection was nice, as well.

Food: For starters, we had the spinach salad, the layer dip and the meat/cheese platter. The food took a little longer than expected but nothing to be upset about -- given the size of the location, we just assumed it was all being made fresh to order, and I don't think we were wrong in that assumption.

The spinach salad was huge and there were giant meaty mushrooms mixed in. I don't like mushrooms as a rule, but my husband ate them all from my plate.

The layer dip was OK, nothing special.

The meat/cheese platter was the highlight of our appetizers -- the walnuts were amazing, and the little portions of meat, cheese, and various accompaniments were wonderfully mixed. The olives were also very, very good.

For our mains, we had the branchburger, the Austin City Limits, and some sort of salmon with cream sauce.

My burger was tasty, as was the poutine that I opted for instead of the plain wedge fries. The red wine gravy was great -- I was pregnant at the time and even the slightest taste of something that once had alcohol was unappealing, but this gravy passed the test.

The Austin City Limits was huge and messy and delicious. The cornbread --almost-- passed my standard for good cornbread, but was a bit too dark (not QUITE burnt) for my liking.

The salmon dish was also tasty, the cream sauce was very flavourful and the veggies that accompanied were cooked perfectly.

We had dessert on top of that, but I honestly can't remember for the life of me what we had.

Overall: We will definitely be making the trip out to The Branch again. It was a nice dose of local flavour and the price point was excellent. Next time, however, we will be bringing our sweaters...;)

I find the menu quite interesting and the price is quite reasonable (really want to try out their $500 Chocolate Cake for $6.99). Kemptville is still a bit far away from Ottawa. So, will likely drop in one day on my way from Toronto to home. Anyway, have added this to my Wishlist.

What started off as a great review was poorly punctuated by your jab,

"I can't stand frou frou places that charge you a fortune for an abstract food sculpture on a plate served by a runway model who knows nothing about the "food", while the air is polluted with some bizzare electronic "music".

Without reading too far into your comment, I can reasonably guess that you are taking a poke at Atelier (overpriced sculpture) and Play/Eighteen/Social (runway models with "music"). IMHO this is so lame. If Branch is so great, then let it stand on its own merit.

I have the great priviledge of performing music from time to time at the Branch. One of the great perks of playing there is beeing fed great food. Something about that place, it's like it's charged with culture and good taste. I think people get stoned on the food and ambiance. There are a number of amazing things about this place for me.

One of them is how welcome you feel when you eat there. The first time I went there, I felt like I knew the staff for years. Down to earth, Knowledgeable, charming and friendly people. Now every time i go back they feel like family. Many people seem to have this experience.

The second of course is the food. And it's not just how good the food tastes. it's their whole philosophy about the industry. buying local, using organic products, supporting their community. I usually get the Austin City Limits when I eat there. It's a plate full of "stick to your ribs" stuff like beef brisket, locally produced sausage, cornbread, potato salad and I forget what else. The chef explained the process he uses for making his Brisket to me. I forget the details except the fact that it was a longgggg process and made me hungry hearing about it. Super tender and smokey, deadly good. And I think i would almost pay $500 for that $500 chocolate cake...

Another thing that's great about the branch is how they support local artists. They always have a display of beautiful art on the walls from local artists. And of course they regularly have live music which I'm a big sucker for. There are very few places in the area that have great food, ambiance, service and music. I can't stand frou frou places that charge you a fortune for an abstract food sculpture on a plate served by a runway model who knows nothing about the "food", while the air is polluted with some bizzare electronic "music". The branch is genuine quality all around, food and staff. An entertaining evening guaranteed at the branch.

We dropped in for lunch today, and were quite pleased with it. Haute cuisine it's not, but it's good casual fare at a reasonable price. We both had vegetarian club sandwiches (mine supplemented with roasted potato wedges, my wife's with a green salad). Very tasty, and the portions were just right (hearty eaters might disagree). Some reasonable wines available by the glass, too.

Maybe not worth a special trip from the city, but if you're in the Kemptville area, definitely give it a try. I hope to make it back sometime soon in the evening, when they feature live music.

Can't say enough good things about the branch, and the dedication of the owners to sourcing local organic food.

They started a farmers market behind the restaurant, which has helped build capacity both for the farmers and the restaurant. Bruce Enloe personally goes out to farms to source food during the growing season. He and his wife Nicole are involved in various agriculture and food groups, contributing to the growth of this sector. In fact, they moved here from California where it was, in their words "too easy" to source locally. They wanted to go somewhere more challenging, where they could make a difference. And they are!

One of my favourite items on their menu is the house-smoked mushrooms. Bruce got his hands on an old metal fridge and converted it into a backyard smoker. Apparently this is the perfect device for a home-built smoker, so anyone out there who knows of one... post it!

Their Rubber Boot Buffet on Sundays from 2-8pm is great (but the music can be a bit loud). They have a few well prepared and tasty organic and vegetarian dishes - all for only $15 a person. Bargain!

The best food in Kemptville IMHO.

The "history" and "partners" sections of this new restaurant's webpage are quite charming. I'm adding it to my wishlist. I'd love to hear any comments from someone who has been!