ottawa foodies

Does anyone remember the malt shop at Bayshore Shopping Mall? It was located either in The Bay or Sears, and they sold malt drinks. If my memory serves me well, I believe it was called "The Malt Shop".

I wonder if it's still there - those malts were so good!!!

!!!

Yes. Fondly.

I think it died in the very early 90s, if not before.

Are you sure it's gone??? awwwww!!

Those malts were so unique. I'll never taste anything like that again, I bet.

I remember going there one time and searching for about an hour for the darned place. I wasn't sure if it was in Sears or The Bay and on what floor etc...I must have lapped that mall 4 times that day trying to find it, but I don't remember if I was successful or not.

Ah..good memories.

If anyone is going to Winnipeg anytime soon I can probably point you in the direction of a good malt - but in Ottawa I guess we're all SOL. Sigh.

I'd love to know where it is in Winnipeg, I travel there for work a few times a year. Thanks!

It was located in the Bay and called "The Malt Stop" with a red stop sign as their logo. My best friend and I would go to the one in the basement of the Bay on Rideau Street every Friday back when Freeman Street was not part of the Bay store and you could actually drive on it...does anyone else remember this or am I dating myself??

Wow, that takes me back...thanks!

I think the place became obselete when Wendy's started to get a few locations in Ottawa and the frosty tasted much the same and were cheaper.

Too bad....but not much is the same in Ottawa since I was a kid (and that is NOT that long ago I assure you) :-)

Oh! But it was so much better than Wendy's. Really it was...

Thanks for remembering the name! Now I can google it and waste an hour reading pointless information and peoples' blogs about it. ;)

It was owned by Hudson Bay Company and opened in the late 70s, early 80s, btw.

My mom was a Bay "lifer" and when I was young (I am 35 now), I used to take the number 2 bus down Montreal Road all the way to the Bay on Rideau (where she worked) and she would bring me to the Malt Stop in the basement and I would get a chocolate malt and a blueberry sandwich. They had one of those sandwich makers and they would fill white bread with blueberry pie filling (or any other number of fillings) and then cook it. They were sooooo good. The Rideau Centre location only closed recently - not sure when exactly but perhaps only within the last two years?

I tried them within a few days of each other (as my friend and I were curios) and sadly they really weren't that different. Maybe the Malt Stop's was a little sweeter and slightly smoother but really not that much different.

I think we knew the demise of the 'Stop' was coming when we did that.

Oh I just had to share this:

"today i was walking through the shopping center while running an errand at lunch time, when i decided to go see if the malt stop was still there. i had a feeling that it wasn't, for some reason, but i thought to just go and check. turns out it's now a timothy's coffee, and i almost turned around when i saw the sign, but i looked just a little longer and saw that the big malt machine was still there.

i hadn't even had lunch yet, but i had to get a malt. i got a small one and didn't even get through half of it. it was more chocolatey than i remember, and probably didn't taste as good as the memory of it, but it was still the best malt i've had in ages.

i enjoyed the thought of someday being able to continue the tradition by taking my little one (plus grandma) to go have a malt. not to mention all the other memories we'll forge together!"

source: daily.kim-anh.com

My best friend's mom was a lifer too....in the fur/coat section (then later in the ladie's dresses when their fur shop closed down).

But I think the Malt Stop closed in the late 80's/early 90's when the seconds and discount section moved down there, then the linens moved there for a while.

Maybe you're thinking of the restaurant on the 5th floor that closed more recently than the Malt Stop (Also a favorite haunt of my friend and I). We wasted a lot of Friday and Saturdays hanging out in the Bay waiting for her mom or my mom to finish work (my mom worked across the street in the camera shop) way before the Rideau Centre when Rideau was just a street and Woolworth's was still there...and Orientique....okay, I'll quit now!! sorry....

Mark we need a chat room for slacker fridays ;)

There used to be a great greasy spoon diner at the corner of Hunt Club and Merivale that was ALWAYS packed, and had great malts! It was sort of 50s diner type place. Then one day the owners (perhaps new owners?) thought they could do better by getting a liquor license and converting the place to a rib joint (named Dixie Creek or some such name?) I don't know how good the ribs were, but it didn't last long in it's new format. I lament the loss as I had many a great weekend family breakfast there.

I also have fond memories of a malt shop in the Teasles Drug Store in Picton, run by two old ladies, who would give you a free refill as you drained your glass. They were very sweet. The malt shop closed I think when the ladies running it had to call it quits...

I remember that place at Merivale/Hunt Club well! It was my father's favourite place to get breakfast and if I recall correctly, it was smoke-free way before any other places in Ottawa even considered it. I can't remember the name though. South/East corner right?

It was the Capital City Diner... home of the breakfast skillets of hash! After having one of those for brekky, you'd swear you wouldn't need to eat ever again.

mmmfood, a chat room for slacker fridays, eh? Thinking about it, but don't expect anything tooooo soon... ;-)

Why don't you guys just create an IRC channel somewhere? Free, easy, and easy to use, too.

I agree ... We could use IRC and it would be simple to set up:D

IRC is quick and easy, but... it's generally full of freaks and is too much trouble for most people. Let's face it, IRC will always be on the fringe of the net. It isn't just a chat program -- it's a lifestyle, and that isn't for everyone.

I'd be looking at something more integrated with this site. I have some ideas on the whole internet chat thing and might use this site to prototype some of them. But for now I just need time to mull things over. :-)

Yeah, one thing for certain that IRC isn't short of is freaks lol. I'm on a few forums where there's a shoutbox integrated. Something else that might work is to use IRC but have the room password protected...Just some ideas.

I'm *really* dating myself here, but if anyone else is in my age range (47) correct me if I've got this wrong...

That Bay store on Rideau St. everyone mentioned with The Malt Stop in the basement...I think that was a department store called Freeman's before The Bay bought it out. My mother used to take my brother and I there now and then when I was little...this was probably during the 60s. She'd always relent to our begging and take us down to the basement to the little corner where she'd buy us a malted. We'd drink our malteds while we watched that nifty donut machine...they used to have one at the Ex too...you could watch the dough being squeezed out of a metal tube, drop into the hot oil and float around and around in circles till it was cooked enough. We thought that was the coolest thing.

Mark Said: IRC is quick and easy, but... it's generally full of freaks and is too much trouble for most people. Let's face it, IRC will always be on the fringe of the net. It isn't just a chat program -- it's a lifestyle, and that isn't for everyone.


Fair enough. I'm on several IRC channels that are specific to certain websites and/or specific groups of my friends and we don't have a problem with weirdos much. Well, other than ourselves. ;) Some of those rooms ARE password protected, though. I would also argue that things are quite different than 10 years ago when chatting online was a freak thing. These days with instant messengers and people using their cellphones/crackberries/etc to chat online, it's really not as big a deal anymore, and IRC isn't as big a deal either. LiveJournal has IRC channels, Metafilter has IRC channels, heck, even a website my husband helps run for Irish music enthusiasts has an IRC channel! :)

All that said, I'd be interested to see what Mark comes up with for a chat prototype when he's ready to do it. I remember 'web browser chats' from the mid-90s (think Bianca's, if you ever hung out there) and they were... different. Slower (reloading messages) than instant messengers and IRC, that's for sure.


Edited to add: My husband wanted to invite you all to try out cgi:irc. No one is at all required to, of course! He just created the channel when I mentioned this thread to him. And it might give those who do want to chat something to use until Mark's got his project underway. :)

Go to www.ircatwork.com/, then change the nickname to whatever you want, the server to irc.perl.org, and the channel to #foodies

Candice, that works out quite well. I wonder if anyone would be interested in a kind of a weekly townhall chat-type-thing? I know that we have some chefs and some chefs-in-training as well as some food business ownwers on this site...it might be a fun way to get to exchange information.

Just a thought :)

I use IRC and generally prefer it to some web-based thing with java, as I usually have mIRC open anyway and it's much less clutter and cpu usage to have another channel open there than keeping another tab or window open with my browser. Creepy internet people aren't generally a problem if you use a private server instead of something like quakenet, and password the channel.

Hey,

I could easily password the channel. Of course, if I posted it here anyone could see it, but hey. ;)

Anyone who pops by will notice I'm usually 'there', just idling. I'll try to say hi if I'm actually at the computer, though!

PS: I'm 'nyxie' on the perl network, and therefore on #foodies.

Mark, check into jabber for something more modern to install rather than IRC

It's teh chutz!

I guess I'm just hopelessly 20th century and all, but anybody considered just meeting up in person sometime? When the weather gets a little more civilised I'm considering a walking(and of course, eating) tour of some of these areas....Hull (a couple of coworkers live there, but I rarely venture across the river), the Glebe/Ottawa South, Somerset street etc.

Anyone interested in wasting a Saturday that way sometime?

I would enjoy that, Mousseline! Great idea.

Yeah... I used to love their malt shakes, I seem to recall going in early 200x though, so don't think it closed in the 90's... May be wrong.

Speaking of shakes, does anyone know what they put in their shakes @ the Elgin Street Diner? It can't just be ice cream and milk, is it malt? If so, what kind and where can I get it?

I think getting together too to try out a neat restaurant or dessert place or whatever would be fun!

hello, i'm new here. i was searching the net for a malt shop in the area. i'm from out of town. i came across this forum and joined because i'm dying for a malt. i'm originally from Racine, Wisconsin where Wm Horlick invented the drink. i went to wm horlick high. I grew up on malted tablets and drinks and candies. i could go on about the history etc but i suspect that isn't the interest here. what would be helpful, though, is if you actually found a place in ottawa where malted milk drinks are still being served. I'd love to know and have the name and address, if possible. Thanks very much.

leon

While I was in San Diego a few weeks back we found an ice cream shop that was selling authentic malts. It tasted like liquid malteser candies.

They made it in plain view and I saw the big can of Malt powder they used. When I got home I found the same product online and have since ordered some. It hasn't arrived yet, but if it does, and I manage to replicate it, I will post the link and recipe shortly.

I cannot say enough about how good the malts are with this powder. We're following the recipe on the side of the container loosely and have had one every day since it arrived in the mail earlier this week. Tonight we're taking a break, because there might be such a thing as too much of a good thing.

For each serving
-3/4 c Milk (we're using skim)
-2 scoops vanilla ice cream (we're using chocolate frozen yogurt)
-1/2 tsp vanilla
-3 Tbsp Carnation Original malt powder

Drool
Blend
Drink out of tall cup with a straw

It took over two weeks to get here, and cost almost $32 CDN including shipping. Well worth it.

looneystuff.safeshopper.com

I too loved those malts at Freimans/The Bay on Rideau Street - a fond childhood memory for sure. The thing I really loved (besides the amazing taste) was the glasses they served them in....they always came straight from the dishwasher and the thick bottoms were warm and nicely melted the bottom part of the drink....mmmmmm

Thanks for the recipe Chels... you weren't able to find it anywhere locally??

What are the ingredients in the carnation?

I'd think you'd be just as well off going to a local homebrew shop and buying some unhopped dry malt extract powder.

Oh sure, make me take some of the mystery out of it :)

Ingredients: Wheat flour and malted barley extracts, dry whole milk, salt, sodium bicarbonate.

Sounds like something that could probably replicated. Any suggestions for appropriate measurements zymurgist? I'd be willing to give it a shot.

MinhD, I didn't find any references online for this product in Canada, but haven't tried to find it through any other means either. If anyone does find it, I'd love a local source.

As an aside, our consumption has trailed off a little. This container should continue to last us well into the summer.

Zymurgist, since you're our resident expert on malt... would you guess that the malted barley extract in the Carnation ingredient list is the NON-diastatic kind (typically used just as a sweetener -- in contrast to diastatic malt, which is used for its enzymatic properties)?

BTW, I have diastatic barley malt extract listed here: Barley Malt Extract

Zymurgist: Ahem, yes, along with measurements please provide product recommendations. I'm not sure a beer flavoured chocolate milk shake is quite what we're going for.

Thanks FF, I'm a beer ingredient newb, and I expect that could have been disastrous.

It would only taste like beer if you bought the hopped stuff.

I see from the ingredients list that they seem to be using extract from both wheat and barley malt, so you would likely have some trouble finding this in a brew store. Wheat beers are common but I don't recall ever seeing powdered wheat malt extract. Though it would take a pretty good set of tastebuds to taste the difference.

I would be surprised if this were enzymatic extract - there would not seem to be a need for it. The stuff from brew stores is also not unless it says it is, but the enzymatic stuff is increasingly more difficult to find.

As for how much to use? I would take a stab at 60/40 malt extract powder and powdered milk, with tiny amounts of salt and baking soda. Try that and adjust as per your results.

There should be lots of recipes on the weeb for malt shakes and the likes. And brewers' malt should not be any different from the stuff used in them as long as you get the unhopped stuff (which most dry extract powders are).

Oh, and if you do want a fantastic beer shake, try this :
# 1-2 scoops premium vanilla ice cream. Must be premium with lots of real cream
# 1 x 341 ml bottle stout, e.g. McAuslan
# 1 TBSP malt vinegar

Blitz in a blender. It's absolutely fantastic, and I'd normally be the last person who would condone bastardizing a good bottle of stout like that!

Topic bumped because the Bay store at Rideau Centre has frozen malted drinks in the restaurant (5th floor). It's more of a cafeteria than restaurant, and I hesitate to use the word "drink" because what I got was thick enough that it came with a spoon. A small was $2.36. Judging from the customer in line ahead of me, it's a good spot for a cheap downtown meal. Can't vouch for the food quality, but the guy in front of me was paying $5.65 for a fairly large order of spaghetti and meatballs. Wouldn't expect anything exciting, but I'm sure it's easy on the budget.

Just to stray from the topic a little bit I used to eat at the Bay cafeteria a few times when I first moved to Ottawa. Not very often since their meals are nothing stellar but they used to serve turkey dinners around Easter and Thanksgiving. For just a few dollars (forget how much I paid) I could get a generous portion of turkey, mashed potatoes, peas, and gravy.