ottawa foodies

NooooOOOOOoooooo...

First Bank St, now this.

All is sadness.

Beechwood location will be closed as of Sunday, November 8th, 2015.

We walked from dd's new place to the Beechwood location looking for some pizza last night and found about half the restaurant empty, those empty tables reserved. Outside 2 of 3 tables for 4 were filled with 2 people. We were told it would be a half hour wait for takeout.
So no review from last night but I have enjoyed their pizzas before and may again some day.
Drove over to Pixy's for some delicious rotis.

Anticipating their new menu items we patiently waited for two months and they finally arrived this week so we made a reservation and stopped in Friday with friends. I ordered the Meat Lazagna and yes that is how they spell it that came with a salad. Not being a big salad eater the plan was to split it with my wife. Small portion of lasagne no bigger than two inches square and a large salad. Upon the first bite there was noticeable acidity to it. I like acidity in food but the liberal squeeze of lemon juice was a tad much for me taking over the whole dish. You get a tiny bit of meat flavor come through yet it needed something salty for balance. Some pecorino or parmesan on the size may be a good option as I suggested to our server when he asked about the new dish. The price point was also a tad high for the amount of food on the plate. The next new item Nachoz. Three types and we went for the Angry Roommate with hot dogs mac and cheese. Thin nacho chips with a small amount of salsa as to not soggy out. They came with a side of sour cream and salsa. The salsa was disappointing reminiscent of jarred store bought with a strong vinegar processed taste. Lastly for us was a pizza called Napoleon's Leftovers that had mozza, cheddar, caramelized onions and hickory smoked pork shoulder and coleslaw a virtual pulled pork sandwich made into a pizza great idea. Again we were a bit disappointed on the supposed star of the show the pork. It had no smoke profile at all leaving us flat. This is one of my favorite places in Ottawa to eat and their other options are fantastic. I left feeling sad. Very dark at the back of the restaurant so the pics didn't turn out. We know next time to stick with the tried and true.

I liked it so much last night that I had to go back tonight. This picture is from last night actually but I had the same thing again.

Fantastic pizza. Putnam something-or-other was the name of it.

I dropped in again this evening. Every time I go here I see that menu and immediately just want to leave it is so ridiculous and difficult to read.

But damned if they aren't fantastic pizza pies. I had one of the normal ones even though it still had a stupid name. I forget what it was buy holy crow it was one truly superb pizza!

And their selection of beer is pretty respectable too.

Thanks very much ZaZaZa for your generous contribution to the Connaught Public School Stone Soup fundraiser!

A group of us went to ZaZaZa Hintonburg last Friday for the first time and it was a hit with everyone. I loved my pizza, it was exactly how I like one made.

I had the Lover's Leap (Tomato sauce – mozza, pepperoni, hot italian sausage, tomatoes, black olives) and tried the Hala-Kahiki (Tomato sauce – double mozzarella crispy bacon, pineapple). The remains of both held up well the next day for lunch.

Ha, ha, I do not like Chucks being used as serving vessels, however. Just not a good look with food. ;)

The next test will be consistency. Looking forward to trying it again.

I've passed this place a couple of times and always wanted to try it out and when I finally got to, I was really impressed. A really small tight restaurant but restaurants like that are always the good ones. We ordered the Cajun cowboy pizza which had corn and chicken toppings and very thin crust. I didn't expect the 2 of us would finish 6 pieces of pizza but since it was so thin and tasty we really enjoyed it and finished it all. We also ordered the deep fried feta balls appetizer that was served in a converse shoe. I thought the idea was quite creative and cool, the feta balls were also good and different but I would've liked less filling of the feta since it was too heavy. Overall I would definitely come back and bring my little sisters to eat and try more of their pizza.

Since my kids go to school in the area, the Beechwood location has been our go-to restuarant for a meal in between school and evening events, concerts, etc. for years now. We have never been disappointed. The pizzas are as advertised, some quirky combinations for sure, but they seem to work. I can see where they would not be everyone's taste, however. The kitchen can be a bit slow when they are busy, particularly if there are a lot of take-out orders as well, but the staff are always accommodating if we tell them we are in a hurry. The cross-cut sweet potato fries are the best I have had in the city, and the home made lemonade is always a treat (particularly when I can keep my kids off the sugar rimming the glass). I have read the replies to the negative reviews on Urbanspoon as Lindsay suggested and thought they were polite and professional, always offering to discuss the issues. Lindsay, not sure what else you expect from them.