ottawa foodies

I am at a loss since The Panier in the Glebe closed this year. Is there any similar stores that sell pre-made gifty food items? Rather generic things like jams, ice cream sauces, oils, etc. I know you can get things here and there, but liked how The Panier was rather all-encompassing and centralized.

Perhaps something like Hickory Farms, only not Hickory Farms. Ideas?

If you're into Italian food, any of the Nicastros has that kind of thing. I know for certain that the Nicastros on Preston makes gift baskets. I did not know The Panier closed, very sad, I've gone there the last two years for gifts :*(

embean If you are looking for gift baskets apparently Edible Arrangements and Boushey's can accomodate you.

Otherwise if you would like to assemble your own gift basket and buy all the contents under one roof you can try Jacobsens or the Ottawa Bagelshop. They have all sorts of olive oils and vinegars, fancy cookies and the like. The Swiss Pastry stores also have a nice assortment of cookies, teas, etc.

I second Jacobsens. I had them make me a basket for my Mother in Law and it was fabulous! The Ottawa Bagelshop has some great things, as does Thyme and Again. I've never gone wrong with anything from these stores. Hope that helps!

Another vote for Jacobsens (wow, surprised... it doesn't seem to have an OF Vendor Page yet) and of course Mrs McGarrigles - Mrs McGarrigle's in Merrickville, realize the latter isn't IN Ottawa per se, but if one has a car, it is well worth the trip... infact Merrickville is a great place to go Christmas shopping... lots of great things, lots of artisans so a great source for handmade and unique items... many you won't find in Ottawa, and others that you have seen here in town, but tend to be at better prices out in small town, low rent Merrickville.

Pasta Lover - Is it just me, or does Edible Arrangements seem like a "wierd" concept? I keep wondering how these franchises stay in business... I mean how many "arrangements" would one have to sell in a day... not sure where the demand is.

Food&Think No it's not just you-;) Although Edible Arrangements makes some colourful gift baskets they seem to be popular with the the younger crowd at my office (mostly the 20 somethings) as are cupcakes. Many products they favour are really high in sugar and are artifically sweet IMO so I guess it is a generational thing? I would much prefer an assortment of cheeses and a nice bottle of wine any day. The Edible Arrangements storefront is on Bank Street and is often empty when I pass by so I assume their internet and telephone sales are keeping them busy.

EDIT: Edible Arrangements had a draw on the Red Flag Deals website recently. They were offering a sampler box of chocolate dipped fruit to facebook users who became their fans. They seemed to have closed the contest within days after posting it because they were overwhelmed with the number of responses. If that is any indication of their product then they seem to have quite a following.

Pasta Lover - I have to say out of all the events I've been to in the last 5 years or so (think they've been around about that long) that I am yet to see one of their arrangements show up. But then again, I don't go to a lot of Baby Showers, Wedding Showers etc. these days... thinking they might be popular there (as you say with the younger set). They came on the same wave of popularity that brought us the Chocolate Fountain... and they kind of compliment one another. BUT as I said earlier, one has to wonder how many of these "arrangements" would have to be sold per day (or in a weekend) to cover the rent on the storefronts (BTW, there are actually 2 franchises that I know of in Ottawa... the one on Bank, and another in Barrhaven... might even be a third in the eastend somewhere). Boggles my mind... I realize that people have been doing interesting things with food for a long time (garnishes, etc), but before the whole fruit thing, I could never have imagined someone opening a Veggie & Dip storefront... LOL.

I will have to check out this Jacobson's place even if it is a bit out of the way for me. Boushey's is another one I thought of but does not compare at all to the scale of The Panier.

How does Edible Arrangements stay in business? Ridiculous profit margins! Those things are way overpriced. The one pictured above would probably go for about $60. If you want things chocolate-dipped the arrangements double in price. Much more expensive than flower arrangements, when I consider fruit to cost much less than flowers. I bet they only need to sell 3-4 a day to make ends meet.

Also, I eat a lot of fruit, but that's just nuts. How could you possibly eat that much pre-cut fruit before it went moldy? Maybe it's for people with bigger families or something. And who has a fridge big enough and with enough empty space in it that they could fit something like that in???

I think they will go the way of Candy bouguets, quietly go away.

I worked for the "fruit basket store" a while back. I believe they are still around because of companies and head offices ordering and sending it to their branches. The fruit arrives fresh everyday, so it looks great. But it is definitely NOT difficult to copy. AND it's an easy gift to give without the hassle of cutting the fruit. I had to carry a huge basket (bigger than the one shown above. A $200 basket) up a flight of stairs to an office. I tell you, at that moment I hated fruit!

And yes F&T, they only have two stores. They can not open another store until the population of Ottawa goes up. So they basically have the market cornered in fruit basket designed gifts. I wanted to open a veggie designed basket and see how that goes.

HomeSense, part of the Winner's chain, has fabulous gourmet food items. They are all far cheaper than you'd get at your fancy gourmet food store, but excellent quality and variety. They have interesting oils, salts (I bought organic garlic salt and Australian pink "finishing salt"), chocolates, cookies, pastas in funny shapes (golf balls, elephants), fudge, seasonings, jams, etc.

Only thing is, the packages get awfully battered by so many hands pawing at them. So if you're looking for something as a gift, you're going to need to be flexible and get whatever looks "freshest." Also, getting those sticky price tags off is quite a chore.

My latest purchase was a fruitcake from Tuscany. It was a small hard disk, full of fruit and nuts, redolent of orange peel. It was very good and quite a "find!"

Ms. Foodie - Maybe it is just me... but I am always reluctant to buy food items at HomeSense besides being highly picked over, there are a lot of ends-of-the-line (although I suppose also some over-runs). Many of these items don't have Best Before Dates, and I don't really think that the quality is the best... who knows how long they've been sitting in a warehouse, other store shelves, then another warehouse, and then finally here at HomeSense (part of the reason those sticky price tags are such a hassle to get off).

When it comes to foodstuffs, I am a picky girl. BUT otherwise I love HomeSense which is the sister-store to Winners... in the USA they go by the names HomeGoods and TJ Maxx (the parent company) and have been a favourite of mine on both sides of the Border for a very long time.