Ottawa Foodies

I paid a visit to Murray Street on Tuesday for a friend's going-away party, my first time there for dinner. We were seated inside, a bit of a disappointment since their patio is amazing and it was a beautiful night, and I found the interior to be pretty loud, though also quite nice. The food did not disappoint though - I had the vegetarian entree, a chickpea "meatloaf" with mushroom gravy, smoked cheddar and all sorts of tasty roasted veggies, all served in a cast iron skillet. It was really great! Again, I am consistently impressed with the veg options at Ottawa's nicer restaurants, always fresh and often local ingredients cooked just right (nothing I could ever replicate at home!). The entree came with garlic scape "rings" (think onion rings, but scape-ier) and some kind of spicy aioli and a dilled cucumber chutney. I hope to see a menu rotation in the next little while so I can try whatever vegetarian creation the come up with next!

I also got a chance to munch on the charcuterie platter, which two of my friends decided to share but couldn't finish. There was a riopelle, a soft blue cheese (Tiger Blue) and a hard cheese (Winego? Wipenigo? something like that) all of which were super tasty. The vegetarian charcuterie was not so great though... the white bean pate was pretty bland, and the vegetarian terrine was downright gross (although, to be fair, I may just not have a refined enough palette to appreciate terrines). Served with pickled shallots, olives, and a few chutneys/jellies, which I didn't get a chance to try as my friends had gobbled them up with the bread right away (must have been good!).
It would be nice to get a smaller version with just 3 options (all cheese) instead of having to choose 2 "meat" options. Overall pretty stellar though!

Holy Moly! We went to Murray Street for dinner and the tomato salads were interesting as well as the spatzle poutine. Nice taste but I need a heartier meal for the price. Please supersize me as the portions were TINY!

"Mac ‘n’ Cheese
Hand-cut sour cream spaetzle, Le Coprin mushrooms, mixed artisan cheese sauce, extra old Pine River cheddar, bread crumbs"

I had to love this cause it had all of my favorite things: Spaetzle, Mushrooms and Cheese!!! Great lunch menu. I had a hard time deciding between this and the "Short Rib Rueben". Guess I'll just have to go back!

Sorry, picture isn't the best :-S

Finally an awesome Mojito (Moe-he-toe as they call it). The online menu says that it's topped with "Cave Spring sparkling wine". The menu in the restaurant actually say sparkling water. What I got was with sparkling water. I was happy cause I was craving a no non-sense Mojito. It was fantastic.

O....M.....G.....!!!!!

I think I'll need to seek help to stay away from this place. Attented the anniversary party last night and I was blown away with the tasty food and amazing service. I was dreaming of the monster duck wings all night.

I may have to go back tonight.

We went here for bruc=nch yesterday (sunday) the service was slow, there were 6 of us,but the food was different and very gtasty. The plates were not big and I admit to feeling hungry 1.5 hours later and I am a small female, but the dish I had was yummy. I ate the 'sausage' dish. It had keilbasa, apple bread, garlic maple syrp and goats cheese.
The brunch menu was small though and i didnt really see anything else I would choose if we went back.

Made a second visit for a family birthday Friday evening. I was a bit apprehensive since I had a mean hunger on but a couple of glasses of Beau's cured that problem. I wanted to order the pigs heat with the reservation earlier in the week but others in our party felt a bit squeamish so it was a no go. A bit of tardiness resulted in ordering one appetizer between two of us,pickled beets with nuts fried cheese and assorted greens. Not sure what I was thinking but the pickled beets were not of the shawarma variety but were yellow and very sweet. Should have went with the tried and true duck poutine. For the mains two ordered the smoked pork shoulder wrapped in beef fat and stuffed with goat cheese topped with apple sauce. Not being a big fan of sweet the sauce did work well with the smoke flavour. The other mains were the grass fed beef short ribs and I thought was the lamb but turned out to be the duck. Positive comments on both. A great second visit.

We ordered a smoked pig's head (a week in advance) for St. Patty's day.

The skin on the outside was sweet and crispy and the meat inside was smoked and tender to perfection
It was served with braised cabbage, goose eggs and additional condiments.

It was so good, it brought out the primal carnivores out of everyone who sat at the table to eat the thing! We all took turns carving out the meat and at times cracking through the bones.

By the time we finished this thing, it was just a skull. The meat, brains, eyes, ears, nothing was left! Not for the squeamish!
Definitely recommend it!

Went there for a late lunch yesterday; pretty empty, but it was 2:30, so likely so.
I was split between the fish&chips or the mac&cheese, the server voted for the mac so quickly, it was a good sign from the onset! great service, cozy decor.

[1] mac&cheese w/ salad (14$)
[2] charcuterie sandwich w/ soup (shaved lamb + split pea-ham) (14$)
[3] carrot cake (8$)

mac&cheese for 14$ better be damn good, and it *was*. the ultimate "homey" meal! the cheese is strong, but the sauce + consistency mellows it out a bit. i don't know what texture spaetzle should be, but it's less chewy than the lindenhof version--so pretty much pasta noodle, leaning towards al dente.

i traded halfway for the sandwich; in this case the first bit was a bit bland, but i'm coming off aged cheddar!! lamb wasn't gamey (which i like sometimes), but this was good too. nice crusty bread, good pair with the soup or i would've felt... too light? not light in the stomach or on the tongue but more like on the soul. does that sound frou-frou? i can't describe it then.

if i ate that whole mac by myself i would've been rolling out the door!

carrot cake was really nice, carrot-y, too sweet for my preference but the candied shaved carrots on top was a nice wink.

what's so aching about this restaurant is that the menu is so small, yet it's so menacingly difficult to choose only one!

My partner and I have just come home from a delicious experience at the Murray St restaurant. First off , the staff was wonderful, extremely polite, friendly, attentive and knowledgeable. We started with the charcuterie board - 3 meats and 2 cheeses - elk salami, country terrine (rabbit) and roast pork cicciolo - then 2 local cheeses - one hard (Glengarry Big brother) and the other semi soft (Tomme 9 )- with some in house pickles and olives with a side of sultana chutney, apple jelly and a cranberry orange zest sauce - all complimenting each other wonderfully. This was served with Art-is-in crustini bread ( the fennel/multigrain kind) Sweet and salty.
I had the Mariposa duck (duck leg confit and roast breast) with sour cherries, lentils and my partner enjoyed Kerr's red wine braised Ontario grass fed short rib, hand cut sour cream spaetzle and le coprin mushrooms. Both were tender, melt in your mouth delicious. We ended by sharing the s'mores dessert - homemade bourbon marshmallow topping with some espresso and graham crackers and chocolate pudding. Loved every bite of this meal. Highly recommend Murray St and cannot wait to go back to try the other dishes.
The whole meal was not overwhelming. We didn't walk away feeling like we ate too much or not enough. The portions were just right.

We just went for our second meal here and we were not disappointed. We shared a 'Charcu-trio' of tongue, head cheese and marrow (the first and last being Elk, I think) and all three were delicious. For a main I had a pork shoulder confit with creamy cheese polenta, roast carrots tossed in maple syrup, pancetta broth and apple jelly. It was so rich and delicious I barely managed to finish all of it. My husband also had a lamb shoulder with smoked feta that was equally good. For dessert we had the 'smores, as well as the dried cherry cheesecake (again, both were perfect).
On top of how good the meal was, our waiter was great. He clearly knew the menu inside and out and was obviously enthusiastic about food, so it was good to get his recommendations on the menu and wine pairings. Overall, it was a great meal and worth every penny.

Made it down to Murray Street with the BF and a couple of friends for brunch this morning, and it was stellar! We got a seat out on their patio which is totally gorgeous - I will have to make it out one evening for some cheese and wine, which also look excellent. We were treated to some sweets before the meal: 2 pieces of stout chocolate cake with ganache, a cheesey biscuit of some sort and a buttermilk (or sour cream?) strawberry scone, all of which were delicious. I got the fritztatta, which was tasty, but probably should have got the smoked fish that my friend ordered, which was halibut with asparagus today - definitely the winner meal. BF had the sausage that came with chai raisin bread french toast, and my other friend had the "track 06" which is different every day, todays was a double smoked ham sandwich of some sort. They have a great selection of local beers as well - I'm not normally a beer at brunch kind of gal, but I've wanted to try the Heritage lager for awhile now so I went for it. All in all, this place lives up to its reputation - can't wait to go back!

This morning after Church I gave in once again and hit up Murry Street for Brunch.

They started me off with some kind of banana bread. It was perfectly moist, it had a ton of brown sugar, walnuts and a nice malt-y flavor.

Today I went for the Steak and Eggs. Which is essentially a piece of smoked beef short rib on top of a fried egg and huge piece toast. The toast was perfectly crispy and topped with blue cheese butter. Amazing.

My only comment is that it is kind of small, and I found that the breakfast cassoulet was many times more filling. The steak albeit small (but what do you expect for 12 bucks), was out of this world. No steak knife necessary, it literally fell apart like butter and thus the butter knife was more that able to cut it up.

I ordered a tea with my meal, and it was a fantastic earl Grey. One word of caution, the coffee is 2.25 + unlimited refills. The tea is 3.50 for one pot. Not really sure the tea is worth 3.50, just some friendly advice.

Otherwise, the service today was excellent, friendly and attentive. The patio was beautiful, and the food was its standard top quality. This dish would be extremely easy to make at home, so I'll be copying this very soon. As for the amazing steak, not sure if I can duplicate the smoked beef short rib, but I'm sure any high quality steak would work.

2 down 5 to go :-)

This morning I had the pleasure of having brunch at Murry Street Kitchen. What an awesome place!

The service was pretty decent - not outstanding in terms of friendliness - however it was prompt and there was nothing to complain about. I was started off with a very good coffee, and a complimentary molasses cookie. The coffee was strong, and the servers refilled my cup when ever they saw fit.

The cookie was pretty good - tasty at least, but it was a tad burnt on the underside. My girlfriend tells me molasses cookies are supposed to be burnt on the bottom?, and it was free, so meh, no complaints.

For the main portion of my brunch I ordered the "Breakfast Cassoulet" which is described in the menu as: Confit of Mariposa duck leg, in-house sausage & bacon, molasses baked beans, bread crumbs, two cracked eggs.

It was served in a piping hot skillet. It was so hot in fact that my first bite burned my tongue a little bit. Over all it was pretty darn delicious, and for the 12$ price tag, I cannot complain. I got my been fix, my bacon fix, and my egg fix in a very interesting fashion.

I have a few comments about the dish. First I thought the beans were a little under done. Meaning that I found them hardish, and not as soft I like my baked beans. Not sure if this was a mistake or if they are intentionally a little bit hard.

The dish was nice and sweet providing a nice counter balance to the confit. At first I didn't notice any bacon, however after a couple of bites I noticed that there were liberal amounts of thick bite sized pieces. I must say, I didn't notice, taste or see any sausage, but maybe it was just a very little bit or finely crumbled.

The eggs were perfect, well done just as a like them. The yolk was still soft yet not runny. Perfect! They were topped with bread crumbs, and a few greens.

I would definitely have this dish again, however only after I had sampled everything else on the menu. That being said, I will definitely come to Murry Street kitchen in the near future for brunch. And to think in that in the past I have wasted money on breakfast at Zac's, Denny's and/or Cora's.

Highly Recommended!

hmmmm...
hmmmm....
well....
what can I say?

wow!
inspired and inspiring!
bloody fantastic

had the steak and eggs
hard toss up between the cassoulet and the steak and egg

steak...errr....beef....obrien's farms' short rib
braised to a melt in your mouth tenderness

egg...beking farms...no words needed

true loaf bread...first time...awesome

blue cheese butter....perfect

12$ yea! I used the same concept last summer

10$ Chateau de Charmes Gerwurzt...nice pairing but 10$?

service...the Ozzie chap was very informative and well mannered
the blonde companion, always smiling and pleasant
the waitress that greeted us makes me wish she worked everywhere as it is rare to be greeted and seated so efficiently

all in all, two thumbs up
and I rarely give two thumbs up and made it a point to mention it to the Kitchen

now, for a nap
(brutal month with allergies and hectic work for April)

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My daughter's "Fritztatta" was pretty good. She wanted it without goat cheese, so that probably threw off the flavour ratios, meaning the acidic dried tomatoes overpowered the dish. But the eggs were nicely cooked, with tender layers and a nicely browned top. It wasn't clear from the menu that the hand-cut Spaetzle were actually cooked into the fritatta. She was hoping to have them on the side, but was pleased with the toasted baguette she got instead.

Overall, the food was carefully prepared and nicely presented. The spacious outdoor patio is a great place to be! I admit to being a little disappointed by the blandness of the food, but to be fair my expectations were high.

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Miss:
* My Hash was a bit of a letdown. It was made with "leftovers from last night's special" and served with a poached goose egg. Our server informed us that last night's special was smoked ham hock, so I was quite excited! The dish contained exactly three tiny morsels of tasteless but nicely crisped pork, each one smaller than a grape. The perfectly poached goose egg had no seasoning whatsoever (and there was no salt or pepper on the table). I found the strong taste of the yolk and the tough, translucent white to be a little off-putting. That may be my own problem, but it prevents me from recommending the dish. The potatoes and scallions (or were they leeks?) were nice enough, but the dish as a whole was a big boring bomb. As you can see from the photo it looks nice!

It wasn't very big though -- I ended up requiring half of my daughter's fritatta to fill myself up. :-)

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We were a group of five, here for brunch today. Our experience was hit and miss.

Hit:
* Service was helpful, friendly, accommodating, and overall excellent. Except for only telling my wife that they were out of hot chocolate at the end of the meal (she'd ordered it with the food), but they comp'd my Americano to make up for the oversight.
* My Americano was excellent!
* The complimentary raspberry streusel muffin and cinnamon sugar fritters were truly awesome.
* The Sausage (with a cheesy fruit bread french toast, garlic maple syrup, and a poached egg) was enjoyed by both my wife and my son (he ate his entire dish!). You can sort of make it out in this photo.
* My bro-in-law enjoyed his Charcuterie Sandwich, which was served on great-looking bread, with some nice greens and a fried egg.

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New favourite! A selection of plates available for a flat $12. I had the "Sausage" - description from their menu is - Grilled in-house sausage, garlic maple syrup, true loaf apple bread & cheddar French toast, poached egg.

Just about the best brunch I've had in Ottawa. Service was awesome too. Will have to try Murray St for lunch or dinner one of these days.

awesome Mojito great balance of sweet, sour and mint.