Ottawa Foodies

3

What awesome pictures and compliments guys. I'm thrilled that you had such a good time at Beckta. Thanks for the great posts! Hope to be able to welcome you back personally next time!

Cheers,

Steve

6

I think we were all there last night!

Partner and I both had the 5-course tasting menu with the wine pairings.

For me, the star was the risotto arancini with wilted watercress and a nettle pesto. Utterly lovely, great outer crunch and creamy rice, with a Californian Sangiovese that nosed of paint thinner (to me, anyway), and then opened from there. OMG, great (I know, describing wines like that makes them sound foul, but NO! No, I say).

A little too much salt on the baby arugula salad for me (I'm often finding resto food over-salted, frankly), but the whole was impeccable, from start to finish. Wait staff are top notch.

2

Yum is all I have to say.

D, perhaps we sat near each other.
I got my dates wrong, my dinner was also last night!

We saw the cheese platter and all thought it looked delicious!

10

Beckta with my beautiful wife last night. 4 years since our first visit and the anticipation was running high at the thought of returning to the location of our most memorable Ottawa dining experience.

The reminder phone call confirming our reservation the day before was pitch perfect - and set the tone for the professional service that permeated the experience.

We were fortunate to enjoy a cocktail at the bar to start our evening before heading to the table. This wasn't by design it just worked out that way - and thinking back I would make that part of other visits as it adds another facet to the experience.

The amuse bouche delighted as did the Sourdough and caramelized butter. Then Oysters and a Root Vegetable Salad to start. Mains were Sablefish - I heard comments like 'light, buttery' and maybe even 'heavenly'. Certainly my beef strip loin put me over the moon. The marrow butter fried cornbread impressed at every single bite. It makes me smile just remembering it. Michelle (our all-pro server) suggested a glass of red from Organized Crime that paired well with my main.

Desert across the table was Pineapple & Orange and I opted for the Artisanal Cheese to finish. I splurged with a 20 year Tawny and was so glad I did. Sheer bliss touring the six cheeses and I would make a special trip back just for that.

Kudos to Beckta for doing it right and creating another of our most memorable dining experiences.

A long time follower of Ottawa Foodies - this is my first posting and I couldn't think of a better way to start sharing our dining experiences than this.

D

5

I am going tonight for the first time, and I am so excited!

I have been to his other two restaurants and finally trying the first one of the three!

Will report back later, most likely with pictures.
:)

5

I’ve been to Beckta many times since it opened and many times since joining Ottawa Foodies but have never written a review because Mr. Beckta himself is a member of this site and reads the reviews. This is a lot of pressure! My review won’t really do justice to this gem of a restaurant but here it goes.

Four of us went to Beckta on Saturday night and we decided to have the 5-course tasting menu. The appetizer was a piece of salmon sashimi, a small piece of ginger tempura, an oyster from PEI and some small cubes of watermelon soaked in gin. My dinner companions all really enjoyed it but it didn’t do anything for me – it wasn’t awful but just didn’t ‘wow’ me. The next dish we had knocked my socks off – a bowl of soup; shitake mushrooms, corn and rings of squid in a dashi broth. The squid were so perfectly cooked they practically melted in your mouth and the broth was incredible. Next we had ravioli stuffed with zucchini drizzled with a cheese sauce and topped with some French truffles. The three ravioli were delicious but I wished there were a lot more of them! Then we had a piece of muskox – yes, muskox – from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut served with chard and cauliflower, mashed potatoes with foie gras and drizzled with a port and chocolate reduction. Before our dessert we opted to have a plate of assorted cheeses. The ‘cheese sommelier’ came over with a board loaded with the six cheeses we were going to sample and provided some information about each one. They were all really good but the most interesting one was a blue cheese that had been soaked in port. Dessert was a pecan shortbread tart with peach sorbet and some candied citrus. Very delicious except I found the citrus slices to be a bit too tough to chew. My three companions decided to have the wine pairings with their meals and enjoyed each glass offered by our very knowledgeable waitress.

Overall this was a very enjoyable meal and Beckta remains my favourite restaurant for a special occasion. The food is always beautiful, imaginative and delicious and the service is impeccable – not snobby, always polite, smart and just the right amount of friendly.

3

Dined here for a special occasion, and before I even get to the food (which was as good as you'd predict), it bears mentioning that Steve and his staff pulled out all the stops for us, tailoring our evening so graciously and well.

I had the steak, which is a problem because I think I've run out of ways to describe an amazing steak-- which this was. Knocked it right out of the park, and easily one of the best I've had in town (and out of it..). The sides were suitably excellent, too, the mushrooms being a highlight for both of us (mushroom fanatics..).
Companion had a dish containing an ingredients list of which we only recognized a fraction, at first, but that sort of inclusivity/creativity/novelty is one of the great reasons to go, right? The gist of it was potato gnocchi with a smoked Quebec Alfred cheese, along with shiitake mushrooms and an avocado piperade. Every element was perfect.

We also had 2 apps-- young organic salad greens and a sweet pea soup that featured wasabi creme fraiche. And quelle surprise, they were great too.

These slim descriptions of our meal don't really do it justice-- in all honesty I don't think I'm up to that task, though I do hope others continue sharing the super-detailed breakdowns of their meals for me to continue reading-- so this shpiel can probably be boiled to simply serving as an affirmation that Beckta's hospitality and food live right up to their lofty expectations, and it's an absolutely worthy setting for a special night out.

5

Thanks for all of the great words (and pictures!) on your visit to Beckta Sage. Sorry I missed you. Hope to meet you on another trip.

Cheers,

Steve

5

My old friend from high school was visiting me from Boston, so I decided to take her to a special place for dinner. I researched the ottawafoodies forum first, and Beckta seems to be a nice place to spend a night with old friend, so here we came.

The outside of the restaurant was fairly unassuming, nestled between tall buildings on Nepean St. It is an old house with squeaking floor and a nice bay window on the main floor; interior decor is clean-lined modern yet furniture. The washroom is on 2nd level, decorated with fresh flower and hand towels. I liked this place already!

The waiter welcomed us upon coming into the restaurant, sat us down and we quickly decided that we wanted to try the 5 course tasting menu with wine pairing. My friend really likes foie gras, so I made the request to substitute one of the courses with foie gras, and to my surprise, the waiter was very accommodating, we were extremely pleased.

1st Course: Albacore tuna with avocado smoothie, ginger gastrique and sesame snaps. Paired with Muscadet Sevre et Maine "Cuvee Harmonie" Michel Delhommeau, France 2010.

The wine was my absolute favorite in the night! Light and refreshing, with a hint of tree sap, both my friend and I love it! My friend really enjoyed the tuna, I thought the cut could be thicker, and it just melt in the mouth. The avocado smoothie was divine, yum! And sesame snaps, pure delight! My friend kept talking about it days after. For something so common, it added a wonderful extra crunch to the dish.

2nd Course: Pan seared foie gras, maple hazelnut butter on toasted brioche and mango minto float. Paired with Muscat de Rivesaltes "Flor" Domaine Gardies, France 2010

This was my friend's favorite course of the night! The foie gras was seared to perfection, slightly burned on the outside, very tender inside. Toasted brioche complimented so well the foie gras that both of us enjoyed enormously. BTW, the hazelnut butter was GREAT with the all seeds bread too!

The muscat was however not our favorite. It was a little bit bitter and fruity enough. Both of us agreed that a Canadian icewine would be better paired with this dish.

3rd Course: Tagliatelle pasta with shaved truffles, orchid rhubarb vigaigrette and granola. Paired with Sangiovese, Noceto, Amador County, USA 2008.

I cannot remember too much about this wine. The pasta was perfectly cooked, not too hard not too soggy, just right! I thought that the vinaigrette was a bit sour, but my friend thoroughly enjoyed it, as well as the shaved truffle. I, on the other hand, did not really like the texture of the truffle, a king oyster mushroom would do just fine. We also thought that the granola was another nice touch of the "Beckta extras" ^_^

4th Course: Pan seared Quebec duck breast magret. BC morel mushrooms, fiddleheads and asparagus. Paired with Cabernet Sauvignon "Zubiola" Pago de San Gabriel, Navarra, Spain 2007.

This was MY favorite dish of the night! The duck breast was marinated and cooked to perfection! It reminded me of the taste of cured Jinhua ham yet very tender inside. Even though duck is a fattier meat, this one was not, perhaps the searing took away the fatty part and only left the tender juice inside, just wonderful! Picture shown here is half eaten, I forgot to take it when it was untouched, too excited to try.

5th Course: Chocolate mousse, stewed figs, black currant beignets, chocolate soil and a scoop of Verjus frozen yoghurt. Paired with Muscat, Campbells, Rutherglen, Australia N.V.

This was a great dessert dish to end our night. The chocolate mousse was made with dark chocolate, very smooth texture; the stewed figs added that extra natural sugar needed to compliment the chocolate. My only complaint is the frozen yoghurt, it was ginger flavored, and I do not like ginger! However I would also agree to choose a light and refreshing flavor like lychee.

--Continued in next post

The fatty, salty foie gras on top of the buttery, sweet banana bread french toast was such a perfect pairing, and then the fresh, tart and clean taste of the grapefruit salsa and greens was a welcome foil. I couldn't finish the appetizer. It was just too decadent. It would have been like eating an entire box of Godiva truffles, or having an hour-long orgasm. Just too much.

I love petits fours! mmmm
This is what you get while you pay your bill. What a way to sweeten you up!

Dessert was great if you like mousse and strawberries

I almost always start with a beer when I visit Beckta's because they always have something interesting to serve. On tap, too.

This is in response to Zymurgist's comment re: desired wider beer selection at Beckta.

This restaurant is owned by a sommelier and it is even titled "Restaurant and Wine Bar". The emphasis is intentionally on wine. The main reason to go there is to experience Stephen Beckta's amazing wine pairing with Chef Michael Moffat's scrumptious dishes.

If you are are not a lover of wine, you may not want to eat here. The food is delicious on it's own but the menu is designed around the wine.

The place is very popular and I can't see the format being changed any time soon. Although, even with the short list of available beer, you might go anyway and query Beckta on his knowledge and beer & menu pairings. Given his genius on wine, I bet he knows a lot about all types of alcohol!

Website lists Steamwhistle, Amstel Light, Upper Canada .9, Blanche du Chambly, Stella Artois, Trois Pistoles, St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout. Small, but well-rounded selection. Though sounds like the sort of place that really could benefit from expanding their selection a bit and learning more about how to serve/recommend it like wine.

Based on some of the reviews especially from "Fat Cat" I really want to check this place out sometime. Fine dining and "non-pretentious" normally don't go together :-)