ottawa foodies

I was at the Carling Ave. Location today and they were selling cooked lobster for $6.99 a pound. They average 1 to 1/4 lbs. each.

Produce Depot on Bank St S now has Clarmell on the Rideau Pure Goat Cheese and is it ever good, fantastically creamy good!

Pictured: Clarmell Goat Cheese on salad and a slice of B&H Lincolnshire Pork Pie

jicama is a great thing BDM
can be used raw in salads or cooked in lieu of waterchestnuts
sorta taste like waterchestnuts or a cross of potatoes and apples

We dropped into the Carling location today. It's definitely one of the better places for fruit and veggies in the area. We picked up some of our usual staple items, and something new to try, jicama.

I do have serious reservations about their fish counter, though. What was on display there was like a gallery of the things that sustainable seafood advocates say to avoid (go to www.seachoice.org for more info, and downloadable guides). They even had Chilean seabass, a definite no-no. To be fair, similar reservations could probably be expressed about most local purveyors of seafood, with the exception of the Whalesbone operation (The Whalesbone Kent).

I go to the one on Carling when I'm in the area. This place has really cleaned up in the past couple years, though I don't really buy anything other than veggies.

Prices are consistently good, produce comes in regularly, and they always have a great selection.

Four kinds of eggplant? Two full aisles of apples and pears? More than just jalapenos? FIVE kinds of cucumbers? SOLD.

They also have the best prices on dragonfruit (consistently about $5, as opposed to $6-$9 I see elsewhere)

Why did I move to Centretown?!

I absolutely love this place.
Great weekly specials.
I just came back from there with 8 different types of pears. I like to do "tastings."

It reminds me of a produce store I used to go to when I lived in France. Loved that place.

[Carling Ave] Love the selection and the freshness, and I agree that the produce purchased here lasts, it seems, longer than what I find in larger chains.

However, I am wary, as I've found a few items lately that are out in the dairy case, or the meat case, which have expired (an entire display of Egg Beaters, over ten days expired. A pile of dinner hams, all three days past the best before date. Just one visit, that). I don't cherish the thought of trying any more seafood from a store that puts out stock long-expired...

Will continue using this store/location for veggies, but no longer to stock up on the milk/eggs/meats. Not til they get better at reading the labels of stock.

PS: I find Rideau Bakery products dry, stale, and boring. Is it just me? It's the true weakspot I've found with Produce Depot, is that I can't count on getting fresh bread at the end of my roll through the store!

This is my weekly regular for fruit and veg. I find the shelf life of the produce is longer than that of the major chain fruit and veg. The fish counter is actually decent as well for a small store! The baked goods... ohh... Rideau bakery pecan ring... that's crack right there. My only complaint would be for them to start carrying better quality cheese, even Loblaws has started carrying some of Quebec's finest now!

(Carling) Easily my favourite for fresh veg and fruit, going on six years now. Quality and prices are excellent, I'm always surprised at how little I'm paying for the bags I'm walking out with, and one area deserves special mention: if you want a fantastic skinned and deboned chicken breast for anything, go here! Even if you don't catch one of their frequent specials on this at $9.90/kg, I haven't seen any place else touch their family-pack trays for size and plumpness. The rest of the meat section isn't bad either, but this is a consistent high point.

This was a favourite of mine when I was a student -- great prices.

Squeakiest cheese curds I've ever picked up at 8:30pm in the city (Carling location).

Also noted:

-- good little bakery section; Rideau Bakery stuff, good pitas. They do a nice job of seeking out good suppliers for stuff besides produce.
-- interesting selection of exotica. Not exhaustive, but. I've always wondered who's buying the six-foot sugar canes...
-- still cheap!

Picked up a 10 pound bag of small beets from Quebec for $3.49 at the Carling location. Guess who is doing some pickling on Sunday?

Produce Depot on Bank St. has started carrying PG (Plaisirs Gastronomiques, out of Quebec) Merguez sausages, 6 precooked sausages for $5.99. Cumin and hot chili seem to be the dominant spices in this version. Lovely flavours when browned on the BBQ. Definitely delicious.

Thanks Chimi!

Currently $10.99 / lb which is not the cheapest price in the city by a longshot but still is not bad. The tank at Carling and Maitland is fairly crowded but the seabugs were lively - and I hand-picked (literally) 3 of the feistier ones for our traditional family xmas-eve lobster supper.

Produce Depot is the place where you find stuff you can't get anywhere else. It's the only place I know that sells the Portuguese-style Queijo Fresco. This large (500g) cake costs around $6.50 and tastes exactly like the ones you get in Portugal. Why the Portuguese Cheese Company in Toronto chooses to market it as the cryptic "St John's” rather than "Queijo Fresco” is beyond me. The Fresh Cheese title on the label is very tiny and hidden along the top edge.

What the product lacks in marketing it makes up for in authenticity. Eat slabs of it on toast or in a crusty roll for the true Portuguese breakfast experience!