ottawa foodies

I have been following with interest the chatter in the Ottawa Magazine thread that Ms. Foodie started and I thought chimichimi had an excellent idea of starting a new thread to provide our own feedback.

So ottawafoodies what are your own top ten foods in Ottawa? They could be ten foods you really want to try or your top ten foods that you really enjoy and would recommend to others.

My favourites are:

Cheese from Canreg Station Farms
Pâté from The Piggy Market
Bread from True Food Ecosterre
Bank Street Sausage Deli
Meats from Padgeberry Farms
Beau's Beer
Bagels from either the Bagel Shop or Kettleman's
Bekings Farms Eggs
Mushrooms from Le Coprin

And since I am a pasta lover I would definitely add pasta from Parma Ravioli, Luciano's, and all of the Nicastros stores. Because I like them all and I really can't pick even if you made me.

I don't know that I'll limit myself to top 10, so I might keep adding to this thread as I remember or discover newly found must try Ottawa foods:
Bread from True Loaf
Pastries from The French Baker
Cheese from Canreg Station
Mac'n'cheese from Serious Cheese
Ethiopian food from a variety of places, like Habesha
Bagels from the Bagelshop
Deli meats & charcuterie from The Piggy Market
Fish sandwiches from The Whalesbone Supplyhouse
Beavertails from the Beavertail vendors in the market or on the canal in the winter
Coffee from Francesco's, or Culinary Conspiracy
Lebanese pies from Aladdin (sorry Sandrella, your quality has diminished)
Lebanese pastries from Malak
Duck confit & spaetzle poutine from Murray Street Restaurant
Bacon & cream cheese burger from Chez Lucien or Dick's
PUPUSAS FROM LA CABAÑA
Satay style soup from Huong's Viet Bistro
Fried chicken, ribs, mac'n'cheese & collard greens from Jean Albert's

missing a bunch, but here's my stream of consciousness try:

friend's home-made kimchi
mushrooms from Da Butcher
x-spicy v. of somtam (papaya salad) + sticky rice @ Pookie's (looking forward to Obi's someday)
bagels - kettleman / bagleshop, as well (other stuff there, as well!)
pasta - wherever Pasta Lover shops sounds good to me. :-)
art-is-in bread
Rideau Bakery for everyday commodity eating and toasting (screw you Superstore for dropping them!)
garlic - Carp market (and other local sources)
chili's - Carp market
Soyarie tofu (organic, local vendor)
=======
runner-up: Bridgehead coffee ... ok not too exciting, but gotta give 'em props as a loyal customer
most missed: Carib. Flavor / Frederick White's extra-spicy vegetarian roti, but sigh...

other than the Thai/Jamaican/Cantonese dishes out my kitchen:

my buddy Hubert's ice creams and Caribbean patties (beef, chicken, saltfish)

Beau's

Bearbrook Farm's bacon

Art-Is-In breads

Chinese BBQ and roast pork from WaKiu

greens from my buddy, Colin aka Jambican Studio gardens (reminder to self: gotta get some calaloo this weekend)

eggs, Bekings

cider (non alco), Hall's

lamb and sheep's cheese, Canreg

A few repeats from above, but here's mine (not in any order):

- Hot sauces from Chamomille Desjardins
- Art-is-in Breads
- Anything from Atelier
- Sausages from Denis
- Bagels from Kettlemans
- Gelato from Pure
- Oysters at Whalesbone
- Pho from many places (Thu Do, Pholicious amongst my faves)
- Ostrich peperrettes from Bearbrook
- Beau's

Bagels from Kettlemans
Eggs from Bekings
Ice Cream from La Cigale (Chelsea)
Croissants from French Baker
Orange Juice from Bridgehead
Coffee from Planet Coffee
Sandwiches from Bottega
Sausages from Bottega
Pasta from Parma Ravioli
Burger Platter from Chez Lucien

(I still stand by my statement though that trying to create an exhaustive list of that size is a bit pointless...)

In no particular order:

- True Loaf bread
- French Baker croissants and chocolatines
- Stubbe cakes/tortes
- Pascale's ice cream
- Piggy Market sausages and sandwiches
- Golden Palace Egg Rolls
- Koko Chocolates chocolates
- Colonnade Pizza
- Les Fougeres tourtiere
- Poutine from JP's/Crispy Chips
- Back Forty cheese
- Pupusas from La Cabana
- Chicken Shawarma from Marroush

....there, a baker's dozen.

Pasta Lover - Cute topic.
.
.

Around 10... no particular order... Not all Ottawa per se, but are definitely regional (Ottawa Valley).

1 - Beau’s Beer – Vankleek Hill
2 - Suntech Tomatoes – Manotick (a better off season choice than US or Mexico)
3 - Mrs McGarrigles Mustards - Merrickville (and so much more)
4 - Just Wing It – Merrickville
5 - Chili Chili – Navan (assorted BBQ Sauces)
6 - Gramma Moses – Kemptville (Jams, Jellies & Pickles)
7 - Nicastros – various items
8 - Acorn Creek - Veggies
9 - Upper Canada Cranberries
10 - Local Corn on the Cob
11 - Local Maple Syrup - Lanark
12 - Local Berries (especially PYO Strawberry places)
13 - Local Honey

EXTRAS (not grocery items... more Vendor specific)

A - Beavertails (because they are local, soooo good, so famous, and you can't have Winterlude without them).

B - Jean Albert's - My new "Ottawa Festival Food". I hope that they have lots of success and are around for years to come.

Schnitzel sandwiches and smoked jowl at Sausage Kitchen...
Sandwiches, espresso and Spanish ham at la Bottega...
Dim Sum at Jadeland and Yangtze...
Duck liver mousse at Murray St.
Foie gras tart at Whalesbone
Spicy intestine stew at Koreana
After work oysters and beers at Metropolitan...
Vietnamese subs in Chinatown...

Trac - good call on the Sausage Kitchen, I highly enjoy their lunch takeout.
Inkling - good call on the GP eggrolls
Obi - I need to dine at your restaurant some day...

Some more...

Perogies, cabbage rolls, stuffed peppers, borscht at Perogies Takeout
French fries at Absinthe (order the steak frites or the burger)
Popeye pizza at the Newport
Carrot cake at Credible Edibles
Breakfast from Bearbrook Farms at the Lansdowne Farmers Market
Mushrooms from Da Butcher (and myself of course)

It's tough to limit myself to ten. Very tough. So I'm trying to go for things that I've had elsewhere, but much prefer done at these Ottawa places.

- Croissants from the French Baker
- Duck confit (and almost everything else) at Murray Street
- Boar curry at Siam Bistro (anything below *** spice level need not apply)
- Oysters at Whalesbone (honourable mention to dishes involving either tongue or pork belly from there, too)
- Beau's
- Pizza at Colonnade (even though it's not like it used to be)
- Truffles from Koko Chocolates
- Banh Mi from [REDACTED] (I still can't choose between Co Cham and Mai Lan)
- Dim sum at Yangtze
- Baguette (and almost everything else) from Art-Is-In

Thanks everyone for participating. I randomly picked "top ten" because I'm sure many of us can easily come up with ten favourite foods we really like but, hey, who's counting?-;)

I am now adding to an ever growing "to try" list (see my profile) but I can see I will now have to add to it:

Chimi's recommendations of mac 'n cheese from Serious Cheese and meat pies from Aladdin (that place smells soooooo good!).

And I will now have to follow momo's vietnamese sub tasting and pay a visit to Co Cham and Mai Lan. I live a stone's throw from Chinatown so I have no excuse-;)

Pasta Lover - the mac'n'chese is made with rigatoni, so not a "true" mac, I know there are some purists out there who will turn their noses up at this, so I've warned you (but it's still delicious)!

Pupusas at La Cabana
PLANTAINS at La Cabana
Vietnamese subs from Co Cham
Lamb and Chive Dumplings from Dong Ling
Tamales from Mercado Latino
Sandwiches from Dirienzo's
Butter Chicken from Indian Express
Cappucino at Paticceria Gelateria
Cheese from Jacobsens
Coconut gelato from Piccolo Grande