Ottawa Foodies

Hy's is definitely close to the very bottom of my "to eat at list". I went here for lunch today and it was highly disappointing! It was my third time (twice for lunch now, another for cocktails) and I haven't been very impressed all three times.

I ordered the shrimp and crab salad. Very boring. For $17 it sure wasn't worth the price. It was bland and the lettuce was not very fresh -- in fact it was wilted and soaked in what tasted like Thousand Islands dressing. The baby shrimp and crab meat were fine but again, not very exciting. I barely ate half my plate -- it was a truly UNinspired meal. In an effort to compensate for the disappointing dish, I ordered Bourbon chocolate cake for dessert -- it was okay but I tasted too much of the alcohol.

Overall, the meal was truly sub-par.

A largely vegetarian sum-up, with brief comments from the omnivores:

-- tomato/onion/blue-cheese salad: this is a great idea, and everything about it was nicely done save for the tomatoes. More succulence is required, even if it is February. Nice restaurants shouldn't shop at Hartman's.

-- sautéed mushrooms: as expected. Un-fussed-with, thankfully.

-- macaroni and cheese: superlative. Gorgonzola turns out to be a wonderful idea for mac and cheese.

-- cauliflower gratin: as expected. A nice, not-so-common sort of side.

-- asparagus: no, no, no; if you're serving hollandaise, you're supposed to let ME flavour it. No oil, no lemon; just steam and serve. And, for heavens' sakes, are all restaurants adverse to snapping off the ends at the right point? That aside, still good; nice young stalks.

-- hollandaise: worth ordering.

Yes, "largely vegetarian," and "steakhouse." I know, I know. But there's an awful lot to be said for well-done simple fare, and steakhouse sides usually fit that bill.

From the omnivores:

-- a fish dish was the tiniest thing I've ever seen on a plate outside of a French restaurant; name escapes me now, though
-- maple chicken was apparently very good
-- steak with the Hy's sauce, ditto

Desserts: frozen yoghourt 'with fresh berries' needed more than a tiny amount of sliced strawberries, but had a smooth coconutty flavour. Cheesecake -- see picture -- was tops.

Oh, yum!

Mentioning that I was going here got a recommendation to try the cheesecake. For, it turned out, good reason -- smooth and creamy and perfect, I thought.