Interview with Stephen Beckta [General]

2012 Jan 26
He even slipped in a shout-out to Ottawa Foodies when listing his favourite web sites! :-)

His favourite restaurant The Wellington Gastropub is the highest rated restaurant here. It's also my wife's favourite; she will be pleased!

At the risk of gushing too much, there are a handful of chef/owners (or in Stephen's case sommelier/owners) in Ottawa who are all around class acts. It's been my experience that the very best in their field are humble and caring. They have nothing to prove and are driven by their sincere love of food. Marc Lepine (Atelier) and Marysol Foucault (Edgar) spring immediately to mind.

2012 Jan 26
Speaking of class acts - our Scout Troop had a bottle drive a couple of weeks ago and when Stephen heard about it he donated a week of bottles from both restaurants to us - it was quite a lot!

Thanks to him.

2012 Jan 26
:D It's hard not to gush when you just plain like people who are nice. Stephen and Marc are everything that's right with the Ottawa restaurant scene. (I'd probably add Marysol, too, but I haven't dealt with her personally.)

2012 Jan 26
and the most exciting part is he is looking for a location for a 3rd restaurant. My kitchen is available, but the turnover won't be that great :)

2012 Jan 26
Having been to Beckta's often I call this my favourite restaurant in Ottawa.
This is my go to place for celebrations and just a great date night restaurant.
Thank you Stephen,you out do yourself every time..

2012 Jan 27
Hey foodies:

Thanks so much for all of the this. I'm really humbled. It's just great to be part of the awesome food community in Ottawa. You guys just make it that much better. The reason that I enjoy ottawafoodies so much is that the comments are almost universally positive, well-meaning and well-informed. You police the site really well and provoke great, balanced conversations and debates. Keep up the awesome job and please let me know when I can make a reservation for any of you personally at either Play or Beckta in the future. It would be my pleasure. Email is best...sbeckta@beckta.com

Cheers and thanks!

PS my wife is a beaver leader...glad to help, but I didn't really have much of a choice, if you know what I mean. :-)

PPS, we are looking for another location downtown (larger spot, say 4000 sq feet or up including basement) if anyone knows anyone?

2012 Jan 29
Living 45 minutes to an hour from the Ottawa core our fine dining is limited to a few times per year--but if in the Market we definitely try to hit Play while acting like tourists. And Beckta for special occasions happens also. We have always been very pleased with the food, service and ambience. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to this new venue! And we love Wellington Gastropub--its a little closer to West Carleton! Maybe westend for the new resto?!

2012 Jan 29
What a classy guy -- a friend of mine used to work at one of his restaurants and had nothing but great things to say. I haven't been to Play or Beckta yet but I'll be happy to take up the reservation offer. Some other establishments could learn from this example...

2012 Jan 30
Awesome interview and news... I won a gift certificate for Play at our staff Christmas party. I think I am going to make the effort and go this week!


2012 Jan 30
Stephen Beckta, thanks for being one of the first to set the bar so high in Ottawa. When I worked downtown, and when lunch was served at Beckta I indulged as often as I could, but don't get there nearly often enough these days. Need to go back soon!