ottawa foodies

I love the mussels at Metropolitan brasserie (good deal during happy hour and nicely prepared:)

I was looking to try other great places in OT for mussels. I particularly like simple white wine/celery/onion and marinara sauces. Any suggestions?

PS. Good recipes also welcome:) I have yet to try making them.

Thank you:))))

LF Sadly I can't help with favourite spots for mussels - the Clocktower in the Glebe used to make mussels in a curry sauce but they are no longer on the menu :(

Preparing them at home is really easy though. (And a new incentive for me to try making that curry sauce myself! Can't be that hard...) When I make mussels at home I clean them first by putting them in a colander to rinse off the residual sand on the shells and to remove the beards. If there are any mussels still open at this stage you can tap the shells and they should close - if they stay open you should throw them out. At this stage I melt a little butter in a pot, sauté some green onions but you can use shallots or onions if you prefer. I add the mussels at this stage then add some wine - maybe half a cup or so for a pound of mussels - then put a lid on the pot and let them steam for about 5 minutes until the shells open. If any shells do not open you have to pitch them... Serve with crusty bread to mop up the wine sauce and enjoy!

That's great:))) thank you!!! Can't wait to try it:)

The Mussels in curry sauce at Emldale Oyster house at the best ive had in the city.

Mussels are fairly inexpensive so I like to cook them at home as well. Whatever you do though, don't just randomly buy grocery store mussels! (unless you really trust the store). Pick some up from Lapointe, Pelican or Whalesbone.

I always used to do the wine/butter/garlic sauce as mentioned above but have since experimented with some diced tomato/chorizo/cilantro concoctions.

They're so ridiculously easy to cook and inexpensive that I have a hard time ordering them when I go out! (and $19 for all you can eat mussels at the Fish Market is just insanity, in a bad way!)

I'm partial to just steaming them and putting a little lemon on them after. I find that sauces are often just a distraction.

Fish Market is usually good and fresh.
I think they have at least 2 different sauces with their special.

Merivale fish market is also really good.

Not sure if Ten Sushi has them on the menu,but the food I have had from there has been fresh.

All you can eat for 19$? Challenge accepted:) I'll have to check out fish market;)

Thanks again everyone:) PL those were awesome cooking instructions and FM great suggestions. I picked up PEI mussels from Lapointe and tried with white wine, onion, celery, butter and touch of ground pepper.

I tried some at vineyards (fish market chain), was underwhelmed by the dish, found mussels undercooked to my taste (I.e. fine health wise but yucky slimy texture wise) but their creole sauce had a nice flavour profile. For restos I would recommend metropolitan (great basic and off menu options, awesome warm bread and frites) and Lapointe in the maket (solid product, tomato arugula sauce was great, wine options VQA Sauvignon Blanc was good but more Italuan and French options wor be nice. Their Argentina Malbec was delish ). I tried anotherhomemade version again based on ottawafoodie and chez Leon recipe (Belgium rocks!!!!) and loved those! (See photo). Will try chez Lucien next.

I hate to divulge this secret but Lapointe in Kanata (I'm not sure about other locations) has AUCE mussels for $15.99 on Monday nights. These are available with a variety of broths/sauces. In Kanata they also have a bar special only for about 5-7$ for a good sized cup of mussels with bread (after 4pm, any day far as I can tell). If you want to go to the bar I suggest a reservation-it fills up quickly.

Thanks W.C. :))) La pointe has great fresh mussels and I enjoyed their cooked version too:)))