Johnny Farina's

I like it...I know it's kinda standard, but sometimes the usual is comforting and nice and always should be a staple in ones list of places to go out on a date or take friends and family. You don't want any surprises just classic tasty fare sometimes, and this is that kind of place! I love their pizza and I especially enjoy their salads, the strawberry with goat cheese is probably my favorite, you can never go wrong with deep fried cheese! I also enjoy the spinach salad with pine nuts, roasted pear and gorgonzola dressing...tasty. I am a major fan of the combination of sweet with savory, that is probably why if a salad has some fruit in it, I'm sold!!! They also have a small but great beer and wine list. You can't go wrong with this place for lunch or dinner. I'm a fan!

Roasted Chicken....

I can never get enough of roasted chicken I must say.....it seems to rarely be made incorrectly and is usually so flavourful and delicious. One of the tasty places in the city to go for great chicken is Les Grillades which is on Holland in Hintonburg. This is a lebanese restaurant with roasted chicken as a specialty but that's not all they have also, a wide selection of incredible sides, like saffron flavoured rices...that's right laced with one of the most expensive spices the world over...they do not cut corners! Fried potatoes, are also a great choice as well as tasty lebanese/ mid eastern sides like tabouleh, pita bread, hummus etc. This chicken is juicy and spiced with a very interesting combination of spices from the east, with some heat to it also.

But another option is the roasted chicken take home meal at most grocery stores...I'm serious. It also comes with sides, like salads, potato wedges and dipping sauce. It's usually a great price and may even last for a couple of meals. Of course most people think of Swiss Chalet and it is good, the dipping sauce is great or St. Hubert. They are not the only options though. Even another possibility for those who love to cook, is to make it at home-buy a whole chicken, season it and roast it in your oven....one of my favs!

Pho....sure!!!

Who doesn't love Pho these days...the cheap and healthy Vietnamese soups and noodles that really are flavourful and filling!!! For me the dish I love the most is called Bun....it's a big bowl of noodles, with grilled meats, fresh chopped veggies, like lettuce, carrots, cucumbers with chopped peanuts, sometimes bean sprouts. It also comes with fish sauce to pour over the top of it all. I like to personalize mine by adding hoison sauce and some hot sauce too.

I can't believe how affordable most dishes are-usually under 10 dollars. You can't really buy the ingredients and make it at home for much less. I've tried...it also didn't really taste the same.

Another treat I love when going for Vietnamese is the salad roll-rice paper that's see through and delicate wrapped around noodles, veggies, shrimp or chicken. It comes with a side of peanut sauce for dipping...fantastic!!!

Then finally Pho (often times the centre dish that these style of restaurants are focused on) a delicious broth with a variety of meats and veggies added into it to create a tasty soup (often thin sliced meat is served seperate from the broth, for you to add to the broth at your table, it cooks when added in.) My favourite of these soups, includes a wonton like dumpling.

If you haven't done it already...go for Pho or any Vietnamese dish at a spot near you....this variety of food is really taking off in recent years and for very good reason!!!

Bubble Tea.....the Tiawanese treat!

So Bubble Tea has taken over most Canadian cities by now. Some people, very few I would assume (i.e. my mom who lives in a small town would be one of those) that still are not in the know on what this is. Years back, it was only in some pockets of the country where a larger Asian population exists i.e. Vancouver, Toronto....now it's definitely here to stay in most places including Ottawa and very easily accessible especially on Somerset (Chinatown).

I have been a big fan of this delicious drink for a long-long time, when I first sampled it in University (I'm not going to say exactly when that was, I don't want to date myself!) I will say, I didn't go to University here but in Kingston, so it had even come to smaller towns as of then. For me it was an acquired experience. Initially it's kind of odd to have tapioca balls (i.e. the bubbles) or anything else that can be added i.e. jelly chunks etc. to a drink! But once you get past that and discover how tasty it is, it opens up a whole new world of beverages to experience.

For me, there are some staples I always seem to get because you can never go wrong, and I've tried a lot of flavours, please note, I always opt for the bubbles to be added to any of these choices. Though if you are less daring and just want a drink without anything more solid in it, if the textures freaks you out, then you can get these sans bubbles. For those new to this, you are given a large, wide straw to drink up the tapioca (in case you were wondering how it all works!!!):

1. On a super hot day (like today) I will get the slush option, my favorite hands down is blueberry.

2. Milk black tea with almond or coconut flavouring.

3. Milk green tea with honeydew or green apple.

4. A milk slush in red bean or taro or coffee.

Apparently new flavours are often coming out too, like recently lavender and champagne, haven't tried these yet myself. Most of the time the fruit and flavourings taste very natural. Some places make them with more natural syrups versus powders and artifical flavouring-which of course, I'd opt for if you can.

I say try it if you haven't already...it will be well worth it, event just to say you have!!!!

Shawarma in Ottawa....

It's like finding poutine or smoked meat in Montreal....it's everywhere in this city! I just had a falafal shawarma this week, near my office at a place called Orient House. It was pretty tasty...as shawarma that I've had goes...but I've yet to find the ultimate shawarma location here in the nation's capital, the place that is above all others. However, there are a lot of options, guess it's time to keep searching. Over all this type of sandwich for those not familiar with it, is a delicious Middle Eastern wrap made with the combination of pickled turnips, pickles, garlic sauce, marinated meat and other veggie toppings....a cheap and yummy sandwich in general and you know that I love a good sandwich!!! There are other variations on this style of sandwich but not similar just to note i.e. a donair, gyro etc. The sandwich search continues...

Beer Wars...

A couple of posts ago I talked about beer. I also recently watched a film called Beer Wars. It looked at the whole world of beer in the North American market place, mainly in the US and how there are big time breweries who monopolize the industry like Aneheuser Busch, Coors etc. Basically American bars and liquor stores are inundated with the wares of the big breweries that are cheap, flavorless products and the small time craft brewer, making a higher quality, varied product that costs more, doesn't get the same face time in stores or in the marketplace in general. This means, the consumer doesn't really have the choice, that they should have of items that are actually being produced. As well, it means the smaller breweries are struggling because they can't sell as much on the market. I have to agree with this, same thing is happening here in Canada, there is Labbat's and there is Molson's etc. and a lot of the smaller breweries are trying to get their products out there too but it's super hard to compete in the same arena as these giants who have a lot of money to pump out a lot of mediocre beer. I am not drawn to these big brewery products nor do I think I ever will be now that I've experience the fine import and micro-brewery beverages that if you really want to enjoy, you should seek out my friends! It's really worth the effort and the extra cash for the better quality beer! As well, with less purchasing of these big brewery brews, they have less of the market share, which in my opinion is even better! I say if you care about beer, see this documentary, it's very eye-opening!

A Real Scone Experience....

This morning I had a major scone craving, I'm Irish what can I say, scones and beer tend to be my weaknesses....not together of course though! So I headed on over to the Scone Witch...it always lives up to my expectations and is super busy on the weekends which is a good sign and means others share my feeling on it too! I enjoy the fact that there is a good selection of both sweet and savory options. I think my favorites include the herb and feta and the currant and ginger scones. I also like the fact that you can turn your scone into a sandwich or get jams or Devon cream on it too. The one thing I will say though is that I think they should try experimenting a bit more with new flavors, maybe even have a flavor of the week or month. That would be super appealing, so just a thought. I have heard that you can buy the dough and make them at home, which for some people is convienant I'm sure, because then you can freeze the dough and bake them up anytime. I haven't tried this myself yet, probably because when I crave them, I want to eat them right away! The Scone Witch, they know how to make a tasty scone and there are two locations in the city to find them!

Toronto and Beer Tasting

I was away this past weekend to Toronto and I must say it was a great trip! I saw a few old friends and returned to some of my old haunts. This trip I sampled a variety of beer while there and it seems that the products from the Mill St. brewery have really taken over the city. This local T.O. microbrewery just won Canadian brewery of the year, as noted on their website and also listed on their upcoming events section, plans to be in Ottawa this summer, offering their selections at Bluesfest. Friends were really interested in the beers from this brewery and it was readily available in pubs and in a wide assortment at the local LCBO in Toronto. I tried the tank house ale and the new lemon tea beer. I must say though the later didn't taste all that lemony. I was expecting a similar taste to all the lime infused light beers out there, but this was much more subtle.

One of the tastier summer fruity beers I did try was the Lambic framboise, raspberry beer. It was delicious period. It's a Belgian beer need I say more, they know how to brew! Kronenbourg 1664 was another light summery beer I tried, now this one was the last of my beer sampling for one evening, so maybe it was all going to my head a little bit by then, but this beer was too fruity and over the top for my taste buds, it was like it had been infused with malibu rum or something....with a strong taste of tropical fruits like coconut and pineapple and as a result didn't go down smooth in my opinion.

Of course there are the regular beers that I always turn to each year in the summer time for their refreshingly crisp, fruity taste. Hoegaarden, always tops that list with a slice of lemon.

Like all those in the know on beer in Ottawa, I do enjoy frequenting Pub Italia to sample their vast beer selection and of course enjoy the great atmosphere like being inside a mid-evil chapel! I'm sure I'll be making a trip to their patio soon, before the summer is through. This is where I often get adventurous and try a new beer....or two each visit!

For me beer is seasonal, there are just certain beers that hit the spot in summer but aren't really a draw in winter. I noticed a gentlemen at the LCBO this week eyeing up the St. Peter's organic....now that is a heavy full bodied winter beer if I've ever tasted one....put it back on the shelf my friend and lighten up...It's the summer time after all...which is short lived in this fair city so enjoy the summer brews while you have the chance! That's it for my summer beer post and cheers to all as the thermometer reaches 30 degrees in the next few days!!!

Sandwiches...still thinking about sandwiches....

And when I think of them...another great place comes to mind, Direnzo's!!!!!! Now, there are two locations, one near Preston St. in little Italy and another, out in Nepean. But for me it's the original old school Italian deli version in Little Italy, that I'm drawn too.

There is a system to order when you get there, go to the back and pick out a beverage from the cooler first, I'd suggest the lemon flavoured san pellagrino. Then line up at the counter and select a sandwich off the board, that lists the options. They will let you create your own version as well. I'm big on the combo of Italian meats like salami, capricolla, mortadello etc. All sandwiches are made with fresh sliced deli meats and cheeses and a selection of toppings including more unusual ones like pickled eggplant and

Giardiniera.

Choose from classic dressings like mayo, mustard or a drizzle of olive oil. Then move on up to the cash and the big surprise when you go to pay is...it's cheap! I have to say I love good food at a good price.

Once you've been there a few times, the staff recognize you and treat you like family. That kinda of welcoming neighbourly service is also very appealing. They wrap up your sandwich to go (there are no seats in the place), but that is fine by me because you can take your sandwich to a park or over to dow's lake in the summer and it turns into an instant picnic.

Bring a friend along with you and you're are all set to turn it into a real outting! You have to check these sandwiches out if you haven't already...Direnzo's in Ottawa is a staple...and no secret in this city to a true sandwich lover!!!

Best Panini on a Lunch Break!!!!....

...they're found at none other then....Calvina's on Laurier my friends...so many different sandwiches to choose from, grilled up to perfection in their panini press and they come with the make-it-a-combo option to include a side salad and a pop for cheap, cheap! My co-workers tipped me off to this place and whenever I've forgotten to pack a lunch or need to get a quick snack and want to be sure it will be satisfying...this is the place to go! I've made some true believers of other friends too, who'd never heard of it but love a good panini, they too are now on board the Calvina's train. There are also other lunch time dishes served cafeteria style to choose from if you are feeling like more than a sandwich-classics, like pizza, shepherd's pie and perogies along with some delicious desserts...including one of THE best pieces of apple torte....I've ever had.

The panini sandwiches are where it's at though in my books-choose from monte cristo, feta, spinach and tomato (my new fav), greek, bacon and chicken, grilled veggies and the list goes on and on.