ottawa foodies

Now that I'm working in the ByWard Market (yay!) I am finally able to attend this event tomorrow.

11:30-14:00, for $10 you get to eat stew from "over 20 ByWard market restaurants." I believe they are separate stews rather than one big combined stew but I'll report back! 😝

Details: byward-market.com

warby Welcome to the market - my stomping ground! I'm sure you will have fun eating your way from one end of the market to the other;) If you are looking for lunch recommendations I'm sure I can think of a place or three I really like;)

As for the stew cookoff you are right - they don't serve one big stew - they serve separate ones. I went a couple of years ago and the stew cookoff was set up in a tent in front of the Byward Market Square (in front of Rocky Mountain Chocolates/Café 55). There were a couple of dozen participating restaurants and each one had a table set up and their stews on offer. You get a sample size and the $10 admission gets you as many samples as you can eat. When I went the Union Mission was there and their stew was awesome - I was glad to hear they won a people's choice award that year! I would love to hear your feedback. Happy noshing!

Awesome, thanks Pasta lover! This year the event moved a long block north, to the plaza in front of Tucker's Marketplace.

There were 17 restaurants participating. Most of the options were very good to excellent and the fine folks doing the ladling were congenial and in good spirits.

My top three choices:

1. Feast & Revel
2. Heart & Crown
3. The Fish Market

The judges' top three:

1. Tucker's Marketplace
2. Blue Cactus
3. Heart & Crown

People's choice:

1. Heart & Crown
2. Tucker's Marketplace
3. The Fish Market

I thought Feast & Revel's coq au vin was stellar but everyone has different tastes of course. Of the 17 options, the Tucker's Marketplace one was the only one I didn't try. It was described as "Morroccan style" and unfortunately Morroccan is one of the very few world cuisines I avoid unless there are no other options. So maybe I missed out on something wonderful this time. ;-(

It was super busy at 12:15 when we arrived but the crowd thinned noticeably after 20 minutes or so. The best strategy was to just seek out whichever table had the least people near it...

All in all a fun time and totally worthwhile!

Anyone else make it to the stew cook off this year?
The tent was smaller and there was less stews. Only 12-13 instead of 20+ in years past. And even less vendors as several were offering 2 stews. Still delicious and great value for $10. Many servings were beyond "sample" size.

I went for the first time this year and really enjoyed it. They certainly were generous with the portions at most places, I was too full to try all of the stews. My favorites were the fish stew, the chicken gumbo and that big mac inspired one was actually really good too.