Ottawa Foodies

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As I'm moving out of Ottawa in mere days, I knew that I had to get to something Beckta before I left. Play's lunch deal seemed like a good bet.

After a wild night, I woke up late and feeling kind of miserable. Also, 20 minutes before I was supposed to be at the restaurant. Oops. Anyway, I eventually made it and settled on a couple dishes which I hoped wouldn't agitate the fragile stomach that I was working with this afternoon.

The tomato salad was great. There were various tomatos, some japanese greens, and little jalapeno/cheese fritters which reminded me of hush puppies. There was also a sauce which I assume was the home of the listed sour cherry and maybe also the fennel? Or maybe there was actually fennel and it got lost in the haze.

The hangar steak was alright. It had been pretty heavily seasoned and had quite a bit of a funk going on. All of which I probably would have appreciated on any other day. I ate a couple pieces and some fries and I took the rest home with me. The fries were good but seemed to soften up pretty quickly.

Service was fantastic. Shoutout to... James, I believe, who was attentive without being overbearing -- he seemed to know exactly when to be there and when not to. He also managed to find an item that was lost from our table. And in my quest for something non-alcoholic, he whipped up a very refreshing blackberry lemonade.

Anyway, I'm sad it took me this long to get here. I wanted to eat at Union 613 before I left too but I might just end up back at Play for another lunch.

We had an enjoyable lunch at Play this weekend. My wife ordered the marinated gulf shrimp / almond / bacon / quinoa and enjoyed it - her only quibble was with the shells left on the shrimp, something she dislikes. I had the beef laab / romaine / quinoa / pickled onion / cilantro / mint and found it to be light and refreshing with pleasing Thai flavours; laab is a sauceless spiced ground beef dish and it was served on 3 lettuce leaves with julienned carrots and pickled red onion and I managed to roll them up and eat them a bit messily I confess.

We also both ordered the gnocchi / pickled cherries / chanterelles / tarragon and we both loved, loved, loved it - the flavours were so good I could have eaten her plate too. A dish this good I don't eat very often in a restaurant - kudos to the chef who thought to marry these ingredients. I was so glad when I spied a piece of bread in the bread bowl that allowed me to sop up the last of the sauce on the plate - it saved my wife the embarrassment of me licking the plate clean. The truth is the sauce really was lick-your-plate good. (Go to Play quick before this dish disappears!!!)

We shared the whoopie pie and it was a very tasty version of the classic. It had some wonderful candied pistachios in the meringue cream filling and a lovely lather of raspberry foam for added flavours to go with the lemon rind in the cookie.

4

Oh dear. I had a bad experience with some elderflower-flavoured vodka I bought in Boston. Ever since I've recoiled at the mention.

BUT. Now that Play is offering a drink made with same, it might just give me that perfect excuse to finally try out the food AND give the essence another chance.

PS: always wanted to try a "Beckta-owned" institution. I bought my parents a Beckta gift certificate for their anniversary a few years back and was treated, even as the gift buyer, with nothing but care (had to email and reschedule their reso as my dad was having health problems). Bonus is that their evening was great, and my dad is of the pickiest ilk there is.

/end kudos

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Hi ellabella: Thanks for the great write-up. Good news for you...we just got some more elderflower water in for you. It is in fact bottle green and we are really happy that you enjoyed it, and your meal. Hope to be able to welcome you back to play at some point soon.

All the best,

Steve

Could be that they serve more than one as the one I mean is non alcoholic. Am curious about the other though thans!

Yes, the Elderflower Liqueur is a seasonal offering in Vintages, usually around Christmastime.

EllaBella - Off topic, the Play may be using the Elderflower liqueur to make their drinks. It is delicious, but can be hard to find - seasonal maybe?

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Awesome food today.. as always! It's always that extra little 'umph' that makes an already amazing meal that much better. Had a great server today who even offered to let me use his phones hotspot on my ipad when my phone died so I could message my husband.

Was sad to learn that elderflower drink has been discontinued. I don't know what one you use, but if it's not Bottle Green then you should check out theirs(Rainbow Foods) also Ikea does sell syrup that can be mixed with soda water. The fresh lemonade I had today was great, but I will miss my precious elderflower soda!

Had the hangar steak(As always, always get it and one new dish) and the chocolate pate with coffee crumble was very very nice.

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Hi Sage:

Thanks for the great play-by-play on your dinner recently. I'm really happy that you enjoyed your experience so much. I'm sorry about the bathrooms. We check them very often and must have not gotten there quick enough when you were in to make sure they were in great shape. Promise to do better next time! Thanks for trying out both of our spots on your recent visit to Ottawa. I really appreciate it!

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Play's sommelier, Grayson, is the nicest guy. He always goes the extra mile to make us feel welcome, and is extremely adept at providing excellent wine suggestions. He's also quite the comedian, which makes the experience that much more enjoyable.

Their creme brulee is basically their signature dish, though it changes with the seasons. The first two times that I went to Play, it was an earl grey creme brulee, and I scraped the ramekin down each time. I've since tried the lavender one...another one...and a cinnamon creme brulee with poached pears. Each was magnificent.

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I had the lavender crème brûlée here a few months ago, and honestly... I still dream about it. I'm not even a huge crème brûlée fan, nor even a lover of lavender, but it was FANTASTIC! The flavours were perfectly paired, the dessert itself was creamy and light. GET IT!!!

My friend's pavlova. I tried some and thought it was excellent!

The cookies I ordered for dessert. They were good, but I prefer crispy-chewy cookies. These were very shortbread-y. As Fresh Foodie always says "my problem, not theirs" :)

From left to right - lemon poppyseed, chocolate chunk, lemon sugar.

I'm a big chocoholic as well so wouldn't have complained if there were more chocolate chunks in the chocolate chunk one ;)