Ottawa Foodies

Without exception, the veggie and mushroom burger was the best I have ever tasted. This includes vegetarian and vegan cuisine along with free meat/meat. I was very impressed. The one thing they could improve upon at lunch time is their speed of service. I and my colleagues had a reservation for 11:30. We were the first to arrive at the restaurant and be served. We did not receive the bill until just before 1:00, which is unfortunate. I work at Terasses de la Chaudiere, and have a 30 minute lunch break, or a full hour if I choose to forgo my morning and afternoon breaks. At 1 hour 30 minutes, La Belle Verte's service has limited me to visiting only on a special occasion such as when an employee is departing. I would love to visit regularly, but until the speed of service improves, this won't be possible.

I ended up at La Belle Verte earlier this week. For the first time ever, I ordered the daily special – which on Monday was La Belle Verte’s version of scalloped potatoes.

This definitely wasn’t raw, but it definitely wasn’t their best work. I had the potatoes with the house salad. The house salad was stellar as always and although the potatoes were edible and pretty tasty, they pale in comparison to the real deal made with cream, butter and cheese. Cashew butter can only go so far.

For $15(!!) this wasn’t worth it at all. Lesson? Stick to the menu staples, which in my experience they do very well.

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Found this picture on my phone and I thought I'd post it. Pretty soon I'm going to cover the whole menu it seems.

Pictured is the "La Belle Verte" sampler plate. I recommend getting this over a salad. Well.. this is a salad. haha. In addition to the greens and such they include 3 scoops of various spreads and raw crackers. One is Guacamole, but I'm not sure what the other two are (one is cashew the other some kind of sunflower seeds concoction maybe).

The fatty spreads are great in that they fill you up very well and they are very tasty I can assure you.

This dish is 10 bucks.

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I was at La Belle Verte last week for lunch and I thought I'd post a picture of their magnificent "Raw Pizza". As a dish, this just screams health! It is delicious, nutritious and kind of fun.

The pizza 'crust' is made from dehydrated seeds, the 'uncheese' is some kind of nut butter, and the pizza is topped with all sorts of raw goodies.

I can't stop coming to this place (even though I love meat). The food is very creative, the prices reasonable and La Belle Verte is not run by a cult. Win, Win, and Win!

Highly recommended!

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La Belle Verte is easily in my top ten favourite Ottawa area restaurants. I know I'll get flack for saying this, but, I think the vegan/raw food life style is downright dangerous if that is all one eats. On the other hand, the severe limitation placed on such a lifestyle arbitrarily makes vegan/raw chefs extremely creative. And on top of that, vegan and raw food is extraordinarily healthy in terms of plant based nutrients, low fat content etc etc. I find it so funny because La Belle Verte is directly across the street from La Patate Doree. What a dichotomy! The worst food one can eat vs. the healthiest (in moderation of course). Poutine Vs. Salad (not sure which I would go for, I guess it depends on the day).

I have been to La belle Verte at least a dozen times over the last year. I have tried almost everything on the menu and nothing has disappointed me. Not everything on the menu is raw, since there are a few rice dishes, sandwiches (with real bread - not raw), some soups (some of which are raw, others not) and a few other items (see menu). Their soups are always on rotation. My personal favourite pops up during the summer (it's kind of like a chilled salsa gazpachio with a ton of cilantro). This soup is in fact raw - but sooo delicious and healthful. In terms of other items on the menu, I cannot choose a favourite. Their salads cannot be beat - I guarantee you. But the same can be said about raw pizza and burgers which I'm sure boggle any foodies mind. La Belle Verte can do that somehow. This is where the extreme creativity comes in. Cheese= uncheese, which is an in house made cashew type sauce. Pizza crust? = dehydrated seeds (flax etc.)pressed into a round patty. Raw bread = some kind of almond concoction. I could go on all day, this place is impressive.

As a dedicated omnivore - and sometimes 'flexitarian' (since there are periods where I go without meat - not on purpose, it just happens) , I have no problem eating here. But I assure you, if you like flavour - the absence of dairy and meat won't ruin your experience. If you need meatiness, try the smoked tofu sandwich - it is absolutely delicious.

Another thing I really like about La Belle Verte is the fact that it is an open kitchen. I find that there is a very high standard of cleanliness. Watching the 'chef's' in action, they literally wash their hands all the time and they wear hats. Can't complain.

The deserts here are awesome as well. If you have ever been to the Green Door, you know that vegi/vegan/raw deserts can be just as decadent as the conventional kind. La Belle Vert has an awesome raw poppy seed/lemon cookie which is really delicious. I have also had their mango pie which was so amazing I blew 15 dollars on 3 pieces one time. I should have bought the pie - but I wasn't thinking that night. That says a lot, since I'm not really a sweet tooth.

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Tonight I was craving some health, so I had a soup and salad combo. At 10 dollars, it's very good value. In fact, most visits, I don't end up paying more than 13-14 dollars. The prices are reasonable. It's almost a better value to buy salad here than to buy all the separate ingredients, and make it yourself. Obviously, home made will save money on account of portion size, but I am comfortable paying 8 bucks for an amazing salad. (which is the stand alone price)

The soup of the day was a ginger/sweet potato/carrot soup. It was fantastic! It was sweet, savoury and spicy at the same time. There were nice chunks of sweet potato inside and it was garnished with sesame seeds. The soup came with raw crackers which are made of the same stuff the above mentioned pizza crust is made of. Nothing more needs to be said: delicious!

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The salad I had tonight is their house salad "la belle verte". Tonight's salad wasn't their best work. The people running the kitchen tonight were not the folks I usually see back there. But then again whats to complain about, it's salad and it tasted the same as always - fresh and delish! Although the presentation was awesome, I have seen it look better. Sometimes they add edible flowers which is a nice touch. Essentially, the salad is a mish mash of living goodness: lettuce, 2 kinds of sprouts, raw shaved beets, carrots, almonds, sesame seeds, black olives, pickled onion, tomato, zucchini, and red peppers. The house dressing is fantastic. I don't know how to describe it. It is sort of like italian dressing but thicker and creamier. It just tastes great - and it's awesome that they make all this stuff in house.

The service is usually pretty good, although you may have to pour your own water sometimes since the chefs are the servers - and many times they are busy preparing orders. So keep in mind that La Belle Verte is not an exemplar service establishment. Rather, it is a simple unpretentious neighbourhood vegan restaurant. *shudder* But, dare I say it is really amazing and one of my favourite restaurants :)

I urge you to give La Belle Verte a try - it's fantastic.

I stumbled across LBV this afternoon.

I ordered the mushroom and tofu burger with salad, paid, and took a seat. Things went downhill from there (but wait, the story ends on a happy note) as I waited between 30-40 minutes for my meal.

Since it took so long, I had to end up getting it to go. The server/chef was very sweet though and apologized for the long delay and explained how things had gone awry. To compensate me, she added a treat to my to-go bag and sent me on my way.

I made my way back to the office, eager to chow down.

The burger was delicious. The flavourings were right on. As Itchy Feet said, it was pretty messy to eat (I can still smell in on my fingers as I type). No matter, I wolfed it down.

Although I was already pretty full with the burger, I polished off the salad. Since I had to switch to take-out, I got to select one of the pre-prepared mixes. The girl suggested La Zorba (lettuce, cherry tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cashew/nut paste/mix, sprouts). The salad was delish, particularly because of the dressing (EVOO, lemon, tamari, maple syrup, balsamic vin, spices).

Despite being doubly full, I just had to see what complimentary dessert she had given me. It was a lemon tart, at least that's what my taste buds think. Mmmmmm. SO good. It was a perfect tart/sweet ratio in a nut crust.

I'd return to LBV.

LBV might grow into one of my primary go-to-detox restaurants: No booze, only clean and (imo) tasty vegetarian / vegan / raw food meals.

Menu's a one-pager, not too big or small, with an assortment of burgers, pizzas and rice/noodle bowls on offer. Several of the items come in both cooked and raw food versions: the pizza species of the latter uses (i think?) pressed seeds and nuts for the pizza shell. Sort of an interesting approach -- didn't try it myself, so probably there's little justice in my description.

Open-ish kitchen design, everything is prepared on site / upon ordering, a bit closer to the Peace Garden end of the veggie restie spectrum (vs. the buffet-arian places on the Ottawa side).

I opted for the tofu/shroom burger, served w/ home made pickles and a couple spreads that did a good job in augmenting its overall messy-deliciousness. SO had some sort of funky looking pizza (not the raw one), and the other couple shared similar. We plundered each other's plates and everything was devoured quickly. Speaking to the food's nutritional complexity, there was little of the usual compunction to reach for a food menu at Brasseurs du Temps, where we found ourselves nursing beers a couple hrs later -- even the nachos a couple tables over didn't tempt.

Service is friendly and bilingual. Prices reflect the ingredients and work put into their efforts w/ mains + salads ringing in at the $9-13 range.

Only been once, but i think its a safe recommendation for the vegetarian crowd here, as well as parents / uncles w/ an interest in expanding the palettes of their underlings.

And, recognizing that, for some, the veg./raw food orientation evokes excitement levels that fall below ... i dunno, harmonized sales tax discussions... i'll note we were brought here by a friend of the normally scowling, alpha-flesh-fetishist ilk: LBV are doing something to have won him over insofar as he's become a regular and recognized as such by staff. At least, LBV might serve as a nutritional start to activities that follow, including those that arc downward (eg. pinting).