ottawa foodies

Okay, was trying to organize some food crawls / get togethers last year but was travelling a bit. With being grounded from my mom's recuperation, I thought I might actually do something lol.

I was thinking Wellington. Cannot location the spreadsheet right now but some in the Wellington area right of parkdale I can think of are:
* Wellington Gastro Pub
* Supply and Demand
* Allium
* Petit Bill's
* Absinthe
* Richard's Hintonburg kitchen
Most of these are within walking distance of each other..

I was thinking maybe 3rd week of July, maybe July 17th but willing to discuss other dates too.

Let the discussion begin...

Is this something you would pre-arrange with the restaurants, asking them to serve the same dish to all participants? If not, then I would encourage restricting this to a small number of vendors (like two -- one for dinner, another for dessert and coffee) to give the restaurants a volume of business proportional to the group size.

And my July schedule is wide open! :D

I was thinking of 3 and more small plates... 2 different ones for small plates and one for dessert..

That sounds good! Thought you might be planning to hit 6 places in one evening. :)

I would be interested in attending! Any time in July or August since I usually hang around Ottawa during the summer months.

You could start with egg rolls and peanut dumplings at Won Ton House.

...just saying :)

I'm interested. Perhaps it could be scheduled mid week and then we would not be competing for tables with weekend diners.

Calling the restaurants and letting them know what we are planning is a good idea.

I was thinking to get an approximate count and maybe a vote on the restaurants people prefer. Each person interested get 3 votes and I will talk to the top 3 restaurants voted for..

July 17 is a Wednesday but willing to discuss other dates if a lot of people cannot make it.

Found the link to the orignal spreadsheet from last year..
docs.google.com

Willing to organize another one for Aug in a different area if there are enough interest.

Great idea Food Travel:) Sounds fun:) I would love to go depending on the date. Wednesday July 17 2013 works form me.

How would you like people to indicate their top 3 restos and available dates or interest?

If looking at alternate dates, I think Allium has a tapas menu on Mondays. Tables are of 8 and under according to the website.
www.alliumrestaurant.ca

I would be interested depending on date.

Someone set up a poll last year burut could not find the link of how to do it. I am okay with low tech of listing 1.2.3. in order of preference. all counts will be singles but if we need tie breaker we can weigh it.

If a lot of people want allium mon jul 22 is an option. just not sure of top of my head if any of the restaurants close on mon.

So
Question 1
July 17 only
July 22 only
Either

Question 2 on preferred resto
1.
2.
3.

Taking votes till 11:59pm July 2nd.

Either (slight pref for July 17).

1. Supply and Demand
2. Allium
3. Petit Bill's

FoodTravel Last year I used www.doodle.com to organize our meetup at Zaki's. It's really easy to use but you'd need to create an account first (it's free). If you would like to use doodle you can create your own account or I'd be more than happy to use mine to set up voting on dates and locations.

So to answer your question:

Dates Both dates work for me.

Resto in no particular order:

1. Wellington Gastropub
2. Richard's Hintonburg Kitchen
3. Petit Bill's

Dates: Either

Restos
1. Supply and Demand
2. Allium
3. Petit Bill's

Thank you FoodTravel, I really like to join! Either 17th or 22nd will be okay...but my problem is I will be very busy next month...my schedule will be very crazy and I cannnot confirm until the last minute :(

Dates: Either (slight prefer for 22nd)

My preferred resto

Supply and Demand
Allium
Richard's Hintonburg kitchen
(Because I have never tried them before!)

Great Idea, We can add Brasserie Savoy and we could have dessert at Gezellig. They have the best dessert in town imo (Butterfinger) is out of this world. lol

Me and the wife are interested.

Supply and Demand
Allium
Petit Bill`s

I was looking for things that are clustered together so we can perhaps walk between restos.

Gezellig and Savoy can be another crawl since it is a tad far to walk from them to others on this list.

I think if we have Allium in the top 3 and if at least same number of people like Monday 22nd as the 17th, we should go the Monday for the tapas night.

Checked the schedule and the only one closed Monday is Hintonburg Kitchen. So if Richard's Hintonburg Kitchen is top 3, we may need to do it Wed. July 22.

July 17, cannot make 22.
Wellington GastroPub
Supply and Demand
Petit Bill's

I am interested and we are two (may be 3)

July 17

Wellington Gastro Pub
Petit Bill's
Supply and Demand

Wellington Gastro Pub
Petit Bill's
Allium

Either date works for me

lol Sorry forgot to officially register my vote:

1) Either works

2) Supply and Demand
Petit Bill's
Wellington Gastro Pub

Okay, quick summary.

Even though wheresdafood did not specify preference for dates, with sourdough and schnicken voting for only 17th and rest saying both are okay, it is

1) July 17th. Thinking about 6:00 or 6:30?

2) 11 interested Attendees for July 17th are:
FoodTravel
Fresh Foodie
Pasta lover
Lovetoeat
Little foodista
Sourdough
Aisu Kurimu
Wheresdafood + 1
Schnicken + 1
To keep the numbers even, maybe I will discuss with the restaurant for 12 people and we can have either 2 tables of 6 or 3 tables of 4. So there might be 1 more opening for any interested foodies.

3) Votes of restaurants.
1. Petit Bill’s with 10 votes
2. Supply and Demand with 9 votes
3. Allium and Wellington Gastro Pub tied at 6 votes each.
3b) We can either vote between Allium or Wellington Gastro Pub or weigh the restaurant choices which would give it to Wellington Gastro Pub.

4) Does everyone want to do small plates or shares? or only share for 1st resto and each order their own main course and other course for the other 2 restos?

Due to size of spaces and locations I was thinking of Starting at Supply and Demand for appies and that can be shared.

So July 17th it is! Either time is good for me.

3b) I am up to either voting or weighing the choices - whatever the majority rules-;)

4) I like sharing but I am flexible.

Hi - I'd be interested in joining if there is in fact room for one more.

Hi cardamon,

I have not talked to the restos yet so you will be the 12th.

Either time works for me.

Small plates at each resto is always fun! Sharing can sometimes lead to problems lol.

Yeah I love sharing with family and close friends but it becomes uncomfortable with groups like this because dishes rarely divide well. This usually ends up with the most polite person at the table leaving hungry.

Summary of my view:

GOOD: Ad-hoc sharing - "Here, you gotta try this!!"
BAD: Communal plates - "We're all gonna share everything."

Communal plates really only work when leftovers are expected (e.g. at a Chinese banquet or when you have people over for dinner).

This could be a whole other topic of discussion! lol

Either time and resto combination works for me:)

Food travel, Me and the wife can`t make it after all ;(

Wellington is my pref. But I am good with either of them

I would be interested and free on Wed 17, to take one of Wheresdafood's places. I'll just tag along to wherever people go. :)

Okay, after 2 tries July 17th is organized. Wellington Gastro Pub has more 1st place votes so it has been selected.

Agenda - crawl route
18:00 Supply and Demand - only 12 spots available / banquette to right (1 hr)
19:00 Petit Bill's Bistro (Terry is okay if > 12 or others drop by for a drink)
20:30 Wellington Gastro Pub (blocking 12 spots in room left of stairs).

With wheredafood and wife not able to make it but Cardamon and Niall are joining in and counting Schnicken as 2 rather than 3, we are currently 11 (Eleven). So we could accommodate 1 more if someone else is interested in the crawl.

To be more flexible, I have not arranged anything specific for each place. Supply and demand and wellington gastro pub changes menu items more often but Petit Bill's have a reasonably up to date menu online. There might be some tweeks / changes before next week in Petit Bill's menu and Terry indicated they might do some interesting special that day. If group want something more organized, I could request when I call early next week with final numbers.

If someone is interested, I might make a mini pre-stop at Richard's Hintonburg kitchen at 17:30 to have a soup or salad and/or pick up a couple of bags of cookies for us to try. I know I bought a bunch for 4 thank you baskets for the doctors/nurses at Heart Institute and Montfort emergency room but have not tasted any cookies myself. I have had several takes outs from there and I liked most of them. I had some of the appies from there at a do and they were quite nice.

I could also bring some smoked salt I brought back from my travels for us to do a taste test during the crawl..

Thanks for organizing. It all looks great to me.

I suggest that we have a couple of people who are willing to give out their cell #'s as the "emergency contacts". This could be shared in a PM with the group.
It would be too bad if people mis-connected with the group. I am willing to be one contact.

I'm good with going with whatever the chefs have on the menu that day.

I'll pass on Richard's and save my stomach for Supply and Demand

Thanks for organizing, I'm looking forward to it. I also will pass on RHK. Do we need some dorky name tags or something to identify our real selves and our handles?

FoodTravel, thanks for setting this up!

I'm happy to be slutty with some mobile contact info.

* kik: warby
* KakaoTalk: warby
* iMessage (iOS only): info@ottawafoodies.com

Please PM me if you don't have a smartphone and would like my cell number.

FoodTravel Thanks for organizing this. I don't think I will be able to meet up at Richards Hintonburg Kitchen at 5:30 since I have to pick up my good food box that day. But I will certainly meet up with everyone at Supply and Demand at 6:00.

FF - what is kik? and kakaoTalk?

lmgtfy.com/?q=kik+kakaotalk :P

lovetoeat, they are mobile instant messaging apps that work on any mainstream smartphone platform (iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone). Superior to text messaging, they don't require a phone number, they allow you to see when messages have been read, and they allow transmission of other media. Kik is Canadian-made and is popular in North America. KakaoTalk is from Korea and is popular in Asia and amongst Android users (Samsung being Korean).

I went a bit too late Monday to finish organizing everything and S&D' owner Jen was away so completed the organization on Tuesday.

Both S&D and Wellington Gastro Pub prefer us to be early or late and Terry had kindly agreed to be the middle so the schedule kind of filled out naturally.

Confirmed:
1. FoodTravel
2. Fresh Foodie
3. Pasta lover
4. Lovetoeat
5. Sourdough

yet to confirm
6. Little foodista
7. Aisu Kurimu
8. Schnicken
9. Schnicken's + 1
10.cardamom
11.Niall
12.Open

I will send my cell and IM out Monday by PM so if a couple of others are okay sharing theirs (sound like lovetoeat and FF volunteered) , PM them to me please and I will include them in the PM to the confirmed people.

Very very sadly I have to back out due to injury, unless something happens over the weekend which allows us to attend.

Sad :(

Please let me know the latest I can confirm two of us as a yes.

Thanks for organizing Food Travel:) Yes, I'll be there July 17.

FoodTravel

Thank you so much for organizing, I will be attending this meet up.

Hi Food Travel,

I'd love to join you guys for this Wednesday's crawl. Please count me in. :)

Cheers,

Vic

P.S. - I can join you guys for all three of the selected venues starting at 6 pm.

Okay so vic is no 12. counting vic we have 8 confirmed cardamon and niall to confirm and schnicken with 2 maybe or no. so basically the first 12 confirmed will be in.

Food Travel, if there is room, I would like to bring a friend.

Okay so Little foodista +1 is confirmed as #9.

Confirmed:
1. FoodTravel
2. Fresh Foodie
3. Pasta lover
4. Lovetoeat
5. Sourdough
6. Aisu Kurimu
7. Little foodista
8. Little foodista + 1
9. Vic Z

yet to confirm
cardamom
Niall
Schnicken
Schnicken's + 1

3 more spots open for confirmation.

Hi FoodTravel - I'm very sorry but have to back out due to the kids' extracurriculars (no fair, says mom...). Will try to join another time. Have fun!

It's not happening for me :(

Really sad as I have yet to go to several of these restos. Hope my late backout doesn't cause any problems!

So we are 9 confirmed and the only MIA is Niall. He has not logged in since July 9th so wondering if anyone has contact for him since I should confirm with the restos final numbers.

Schnicken, not an issue. I told them about 10-12 and will call to confirm numbers. Hope you feel better soon.

Supply & Demand - should be by the banquettes on the right.
Petit Bill's - Ask Terry but likely room on left.
Wellington Gastro Pub - in room left of stairs.

Will be PM contacts to those confirmed. See you all at 6pm Wed at Supply & Demand.

Awesome dishcrawl! The restos were fantastic and great group as always:) It was a wonderful outing! Thank you Food Travel:)

I echo littlefoodista. It was a fun night.
Thank you FoodTravel, you are the best!

It was a great time! Thanks everyone for coming out and especially to FoodTravel for taking the initiative to coordinate and arrange it all!!

For those who didn't come along, you could really tell the group was made up of foodies when every single one of us ordered a savoury dish at the third location (Wellington Gastro Pub). I had initially assumed that the 3 restaurants would represent the three traditional courses: appetizer, main, and dessert. I ended up having a small (sometimes quite large) plate at each venue. One or two desserts were had along the way, but the final stop saw us all digging into real food.

Thanks to the owners and staff of the places we visited! For the kind attention, the excellent food, and for tolerating our sometimes absurd desire to photograph dishes. Lighting for photography was terrible in all three locations as you can see from my picture. Lighting for enjoying the meal was perfect.

Thanks!
Supply and Demand
Petit Bill's Bistro
The Wellington Gastropub

A smaller group of us dropped in to 10fourteen for a further tipple and some more conversation after that.

All in all a wonderful evening! The fact that we bumped into Kevin M (Art-Is-In) at two of the locations was evidence that we were on the right track. Or maybe he was on the wrong track. Doesn't matter.. it's all relative anyway. :-)

I went to sleep just before 2 and woke up at 6. Today will be rough but worth it. I'm thinking a steady diet of coffee and poutine is just what the doctor ordered. :D

Thank you FoodTravel, Great food and even better company. I look forward to the next one.

It was well worth the 5 hours it took you to arrange everything. ;)

Thanks for coming; it's kind of neat to see a foodie site in person!

I hope everybody enjoyed our spot & I know that Gastropub & Supply & Demand always put on a great show..

See you soon
Terry

I'm late adding my thanks too - it was a great evening, and I'll still be recovering from it throughout the day. I didn't quite make the 6am wakeup call. Fantastic hosts, food and drinks at all 4 locations.

It was a great group last night and we had fun and some wonderful food.
Little foodista and her friend offered to be photographer for the event so lots of pictures were taken.

Jenn Walls of Supply and Demand called to confirm numbers so we had a nice corner banquette for 10 near the kitchen. They started us on some complementary watermelon radishes and parker house rolls. Being unusual, I asked where they got the watermelon radishes and apparently they came from somewhere in BC.

Most of us focused on seafood with a number ordering tuna crudo, scallop crudo, at least 1 lobster tarte, some kale salads and a mushroom. I been told to try the gnudis but they were not on the menu currently. Various beer were sampled including pink fuzz, 1855, Beaus if I remember correctly and at least 1 wine. Good food, good company and great service.

We then wondered over to Petit Bill's where Terry set us up on a nice table. Time got away from me yesterday so I did forget to confirm with Terry on the final numbers but Terry being the great host, checked Ottawa Foodies himself and set us up for 9.

Terry was also kind enough to send out a lobster poutine and seafood charcuterie for us to sample. Great lobster poutine and the jerky is still my favourite on the seafood charcuterie plate. Some cocktails / wines were ordered and varies bistro fares such as lobster poutine, seafood chowder, crab cakes, tuna carpaccio, deviled eggs, shrimp and chicken lettuce wrap. Everyone enjoyed their savory foods but most of us sampled the key lime popsicle (key lime pie on popsicle stick and dipped in chocolate with whipped cream) which little foodista kindly passed around.

Even though we had a good amount of food, most of us found room for another round at Wellington Gastro Pub although Vic Z was brave enough to go for a main while most of us stuck to the first course. lots of beer battered gulf shrimps, several smoked duck breasts with poached eggs and johnny cakes, beet salad and bocaccino salads and Vic's pork tenderloin. There were some Art-is-in fennel bread with dipping oil. Several of us tried Stock Pot Ale Big Poppa which was hoppy enough but have apricot and peach flavours.

FreshFoodies suggested 10Fourteen for a round of cocktails and even though the bacon smells were temping and duck sausage intriguing, all of us were too full for more than a handful of the truffled popcorn. This is more of a late night spot since I walked past it a couple of times during the day and they were fairly empty but last night had a decent amount of folks there. Will need to go back and try the food. Interesting that one side of the table ordered side cars and the other side slack and tickle lol.

As discussed, I will put up a vote / survey for an Aug crawl early next week..

And a belated thank you from me to FoodTravel for organizing the dishcrawal. Every single morsel I ate was delicious but the lobster poutine I had at Petit Bill's was sooooo good it has ruined all other meals for me. I also managed to score local beers at every place I went (Kichessippi, Turtle Island, and Beaus). I had the kale salad at Supply and Demand (the bacon on it is awesome), the lobster poutine at Petit Bill's, then a cheese plate at the Wellington Gastropub. I was beyond full at this point so I was only able to eat one of the cheeses on my cheese tray so I brought the leftovers for lunch today. It made a nice break from all the salads I've been eating.

Another item worthy of note, I tweeted a thank-you to the vendors we visited and all four of them responded -- 3 replies and 1 favourite (and of course Terry responded in this thread). This shows an incredible level of dedication and social media savviness, for which we in Ottawa are grateful.

See here: twitter.com

Willingness to embrace social media as a means to reach out to a customer base is quickly becoming a marker for successful business. Restaurant owners who establish a rapport with their customers are rewarded with loyalty. These great places are thus more likely to survive in the difficult restaurant industry.

Here's a few pics of some of the dishes. I went to the first three restos, loved the presentation and great taste:) Thank you again!

Supply and Demand

Petit Bill's Bistro

The Wellington Gastropub

I had fresh scallop with grapefruit and sauvignon blanc at Supply and Demand. It was very nice and refreshing dish. I really like the decor of this restro and their kitchen seemed very clean, neat and tidy!

I had beet salad at Petit Bill's bistro. It's warm root veg salad with candied walnut, goat cheese and dijon dressing. Very tasty, I really like the candied nuts. Great service, always! Thank you Terry, you are the best!

I had smoked duck dish at Wellington gastropub. I was already so full so I couldn't finish johnny cake, but the duck was really good. I had Pot Ale Big Poppa apricot and peach flavour, I really enjoyed it.

Great food and service with nice atmosphere at all venues. I really enjoyed the tuna curdo, tuna carpaccio, gulf shrimp but my favourite was the smoked duck breast at Wellington Gastropub.

I asked about some of the duck breast for takeout to take to my parents and they graciously arranged for me to special order a whole smoked duck breast. Great customer service.