Ottawa Foodies

4

Another yummy meal at Play over the weekend. Went for lunch.

Some new items on the menu since the last time I visited and both got thumbs up from the BF.

Myself I had the tartare and gnocchi (yes again). Both were quite good, but a tad too many capers in the tartate this time. They overpowered it.

The gnocchi was so good. So rich, but so yummy.

Tried a wonderful Gewurztraminer and a nice red (name escapes me).

Service was wonderful :)

6

Date of Visit: March 11, 2013

I was tempted to visit this place on a couple of past trips to Ottawa and finally got around to it on my most recent excursion to the capital. I really wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not, having perused their website a few times, but I actually had a very nice time and enjoyed a really pleasant meal…

The Dishes
Little Neck Clams with Linguine... Rating: 5 out of 5.
Pork Belly with Kimchi and Sweet Potato ... Rating: 4 out of 5.

Overall
Play Food and Wine is a delightful little place and well worth a visit. The prices are very reasonable for the quality of the food and I would happily return. Taking into consideration the excellent service and ambience, I gave it a 5 out of 5.

See full pictorial review at:sybaritica.me

10

Totally and utterly blown away by lunch here last Friday. Braised cabbage and brown butter gnocchi were our first courses, both flavourful and succulent. I had the halibut, a good portion and delicious accompaniments, for $10! Husband had the tempura boar sausage which, though it sounds crazy, was delicious! The wine list is extensive and the service was the best of our whole trip. I love this restaurant and wish we had something like it in Toronto!

3

Visited Play again with a friend and had another wonderful meal!

Dishes sampled:

Gnocchi with brown butter - divine!

Beef tartare - could eat only that!

Scallops - wonderful as always!

Little neck clams - very tasty, but sadly couldn't beat the tartate and gnocchi.

Pretzel - this was the only item we weren't sure about. It was something new. The sauce was extremely tasty, but I wasn't thrilled about the pretzel - it struck us as a dessert item, except for the sauce. I think I would enjoy the sauce with something else other than the pretzel.

Service convivial, fun and helpful.

I've never left dissapointed!

I also did not know about the top level until now. I will now be considering Play for larger groups. Note that I find the upstairs more appealing in atmosphere (this is in response to a review below about a cafeteria feeling). While I have had similar feelings, the warmth of the staff and food overtook any of that.

6

Dear Bordeaux JoJo: Thanks so much for dining with us at Play again (especially as you were hoping for gezellig on Monday...sorry that we were closed). Thanks also for the great review and really kind words. Your support means so much to us. I'm really excited you thought Play was even better than you remember and you felt our standards have not slipped even though gezellig is now open and taking some of our attention. I'm so proud of the team at Play and the high standards that they practice and I'm thrilled that it translated during your dinner. We look forward to welcoming you back to Play (or gezellig or Beckta for that matter) when time and circumstance permit. Thanks again for all of the support.

Cheers

Steve

5

I have written about several past visits to Play, so it's no secret that I love this restaurant. I tried to get into Gezellig last night but it was closed for some sort of maintenance work, so decided to head back to Play. I was curious as to whether the opening of the third Stephen Beckta restaurant had adversely affected the established spots. I know that some personnel were moved to the new location. As well, it seems to me that making the new restaurant a success would be a priority, so I wondered whether Play would show signs of neglect.

Well, it doesn't. The service was once again outstanding - friendly without being overbearing, knowledgeable without being pompous. The food was wonderful. We enjoyed the charcuterie sharing plate with four lovely savory offerings together with creative condiments like drunken cranberries with rosemary, and caper berry and raisin compote. Delicious! We then had the hangar steak and the beef tartare, both of which we order often. The hangar steak was prepared perfectly, and the accompanying fries were a delicious, crispy guilty pleasure. The beef tartare was beautifully seasoned.

We stopped there - I think that one of the benefits of small plates dining is that you don't have giant mounds of food placed in front of you all at once, so it's easier to stop when you are satisfied.

This was another very successful evening at Play. If anyone was curious about the fate of the established Beckta restaurants, I can happily report that Play continues to deliver on the promise of terrific food and wonderful service.

3

Had a generally wonderful dinner here this past Sunday. The food was well prepared, the pace of service was nearly perfect, and the staff very positive. We sampled a significant portion of the menu and the trout, carrots, and corn dog were definitely at the top. We had trouble identifying anything that belonged at the bottom. As recent residents of Toronto the bill was a pleasant surprise for food of this calibre.

That said, the ambiance of this restaurant is somewhat lacking. The baby blue walls and daylight white fluorescent back lighting makes for an almost cafeteria feeling close to the bar. This is combined with an orange fabric ceilings and ikea sconce lights around the outside to layer on a distinct feeling of college dorm room. Given the huge deep windows and high ceilings this venue feels like it needs deeper colours, warm light, and a little more wood.

In the end the food overcame our ambiance quibbles and we focused on the food and conversation.

We will definitely go back, but in the meantime we'll hope they paint :)

was downtown and wanted to check out The French Bakery to talk to their pastery chef so decided to have lunch in the byward market. Settled on Play to try there 2 plates for $20 deal.

Had been here before for for dinner and loved the steak frite then so ordered that with the scallop.

The scallop was served with collard green and curried cauliflower puree. The 3 scallops were perfectly cooked but the small bits of collard green average and the curried cauliflower puree while interesting was a little bland for my taste.

The hanger steak was a little less impressive then my previous visit and not as good as the flat iron steak I had elsewhere recently. It was marinated too long in a soy brown sugar marinade and I am not a fan of this fusion attempt. The the slices had a gristle or membrance running through them so that it took a bit of effort to cut several of the slices in half. The steak was rare but the red parts are far chewier than what I am expecting and not the tender meat than I was hoping for. Maybe it was partially cured by the marinating liquid? Can I lobby for a different method of preparing the hanger steaks?

The fries are crispy and tasty but the aloai could use a kick.

The service was excellent. Wanted something more than water but not up to the alcohol after last night. They did a very nice blackberry limonade for $4 and was very happy to accomodate my request for splenda rather than the simple syrup they typically use. The bartender muddled the blackberry with the splenda and added the lemonade which tasted fresh (althought not 100% if the lemonade was sugar free) and added some soda water. The lemonade was presented in a thin tall glass and it was a little difficult to get to the bits of blackberries.

4

Went to Play for lunch on Sunday afternoon to take advantage of the 2 plates for $20 deal. Great value in my opinion, on average you save at least $10 per person assuming each gets 2 dishes. We went with extremely high expectations and were not disspointed. Food was amazing and service was exceptional.

There were four of us, each of us ordered 2 dishes and we did a little sharing amongst ourselves. I like that the food is brought out in a logical sequence, each person recieved their lighter dish first and heavier dish second. Here's what we ordered:
- Pork belly: My favourite out of all of them. Super crispy outside, nice and tender once you bite into it. Amazing!!
- Gnocchi: This I didn't enjoy as much. The gnocchi were awesome but the sauce with pickled cherries wasn't my favourite, I think this was more personal preference as everyone else at the table picked this as their favourite dish.
- Lamb corndog: Really fun and creative dish, and also very good. Great crunch from the batter and lamb "dog" was flavorful.
- Clam pasta: This was done very well, like that the sauce was more of a broth. Big portion; for lunch you could order just this and probably be full.
- Scallops: I didn't try these as I'm not a huge seafood fan but according to everyone else, they were perfectly cooked, nice sear on the outside, and had a ton of excellent flavour.
- Shrimp with bacon and quinoa: Some liked this, some didn't. But again, I think it was personal prefence. Not sure what the quinoa was seasoned with but 2 out of 4 were not a fan but the other 2 were quite delighted with it.
- Walleye: Again, not a big fish fan so I didn't try it. But it was rated as the top seafood/fish dish for the table. Apparently I missed out on something good for not trying this.

Service was exceptional. We weren't sure which wine we wanted for the table, so the server recommened his 2 favourites and brought all of us a sample of each to better make a decision. He was extremely knowledge about everything from each dish and how it was prepared, to why the restaurant is set up the way it is.

Overall, an absolutely amazing dining experience, everything you would expect from a Beckta restaurant.

1

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.

1

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 ;)