OAT COUTURE , A New Hip Fancy Oatmeal spot on Bank St (Ottawa South). In Ottawa ,Menu and Prices.

Spring is finally here!
I have not been posting as much lately as quite a few things were occupying my time.
But now that there is so much going on around my neighborhood and Bank street,I am going to try and post as much as I can!

Earlier this week I saw that the renovations on the Oat Couture restaurant seemed done and there was people in there last week who seemed to be enjoying their food.
On Facebook I found out it was a "soft open" and was told they would have another soft open March 31 (it was a Saturday).
I happened to be in the area and they had a sign on the sidewalk saying they were giving out samples, but I got there at 2:30 PM and was told they did not have any food for sale or to try as they were closing at 3-but that they would be officially open for business April 2.

I did manage to get a photo of their menu that is on the wall in their store/restaurant and the food does look interesting.
Pretty much all the food they make is based on Canadian-grown oats and and (mostly) local ingredients.

OAT COUTURE MENU!
*click the photo see the whole menu.

Oat Couture is located at 1154 Bank St, right at the corner of Glen Avenue.I'm not sure what the hours for this cafe will be, but will report back as soon as I find out.

*If anyone has had the chance to try the menu, what did you order?
I would love to know, as everything looks so interesting and it is hard to decide what to try first!

Update: Their menu and prices are not online yet, so hopefully this will help you decide what to eat this week!!!

Still trying to figure out this photo editing,but did manage to make part of the menu easier to read...

Oat Couture menu their combinations.

Todric's Lobster Open Ravioli! Great taste and presentation!

I finally had the chance to go back to Todric's and try the Lobster Open ravioli in cognac cream sauce.
The dish was very well presented and had a very rich spicy taste.
The cream sauce was very rich and had an unexpected bit of spiciness to it. I asked the server and was told that there was a bit of cayenne pepper added to the sauce (it was not very spicy,just nicely spiced).
The "ravioli" part of the dish was made of two big sheets of pasta and the cream sauce and large chunks of fresh lobster were placed between that.
The ravioli was very fresh and nicely cooked too.
One part of the dish that surprised me was that there was actually mushrooms in the filling of the ravioli-that went well with the lobster (but was not mentioned on the menu). The mushrooms made the dish seem much more filling!

The server also mentioned that in this dish the chef uses the meat from a one and a half pound lobster,so that was quite substantial.
What was very original was the presentation- the head and tail of the lobster were on the edges of my plate.
There was also the two lobster claws and those were very carefully placed on the edge of the pasta making it look like the whole crustacean was there!
This dish is not something I would order every day as it is quite rich and would be better for a special occasion.
The market price for the lobster ravioli dish today was $38 (also why I could not eat this too often).

Also while at Todric's today I also had the chef's creation appetizer and a pineapple upsidedown cake.
Those will be added to my post soon this weekend!

Todric's Lobster open ravioli in cognac cream sauce!

Lobster Head!

Lobster Tail!

Todric's Catering very tasty local food!

I had the chance to eat at Todrics this weekend!
This small local restaurant uses a lot of local ingredients in their dishes. The menu seems quite modern and traditional at the same time.
Everything I ate there was very fresh and reasonable priced for the style of cooking.
Presentation for every dish was very well done too and the nice dishes added more style to the food as well.
Here is what was eaten tonight:

Potato-crusted goat cheese and tapenade served with mesclun ($9).
This dish was more of a salad type item. The goat cheese was a very good and generous size and was sandwiched between two slices of grilled potato. Tapenade was also sandwiched in between the goat cheese.
The mesclun greens were very fresh and were dressed with what seemed like a balsamic dressing.
The only thing that would have made this dish a bit better would have been some bread to go with the cheese. There was a lot of cheese and it might have gone nicely with bread or some crisps.
Still, I would get this dish again!
*Half the goat cheese was eaten before taking this pic. There was a lot more on the plate...

Potato-crusted goat cheese and tapenade served with mesclun

My guest had the Autumn vegetable soup.
I tried a small spoonful of it and it was very tasty and nicely seasoned. There was also a spoonful of sour cream topping the soup. This was served with a toasted bun.

Autumn Vegetable Soup

Next I tried the Atlantic sea scallops, served on a carrot and late-harvest-vidal reduction, topped with curried parsnip and served with vegetable tempura.
The presentaton for this dish was very nice and the scallops were a nice size and very fresh. Tempura was made up of five pieces and was mushroom, carrot and zuchinni.
The carrot reduction was very tasty and the parsnip was also nicely seasoned. The tempura was nice and crisp and the pieces were a nice size.
This dish was very enjoyable!

Atlantic sea scallops, served on a carrot and late-harvest-vidal reduction, topped with curried parsnip and served with vegetable tempura.

 Guest had the: Vegetable hot pot with cheddar cheese triangle.
I thought this would be like the Asian hot pot where you dip your items in some broth,but this was based on the British hot pot which is more of a casserole and served in a baked dish.
This dish seemed very hearty and a good dish to have for the fall on a cold day! The vegetables were very fresh and the cheese triangles topped the hot pot and added a lot of extra taste.
Serving size for this dish was quite good and generous.
This was the only vegetarian option for the main courses at the moment.
*A part of the hot pot-it is much bigger than this picture.

Vegetable hot pot with cheddar cheese triangle

Overall my meal at Todrics was very enjoyable.
The decor was very nice and modern. Very clean restaurant too.
It was rather quiet as this is a holiday weekend.
I do plan on going back to try the lunch and weekend brunch options.
The restaurant also had some frozen dishes you can take home and some jams for sale.
There were also some cookies and biscotti for sale and the chocolate biscotti was quite good.
The website for Todrics can be found at: 
http://www.todrics.com/

Cedar and Company Grocery Store Food Counter Meal Review!

Tonight I did not feel like cooking and really wanted something that was tasty and grilled for my dinner.
I had been the the new Cedar and Company grocery store earlier this week and noticed they have a prepared foods counter where you can get a meal and sit at some tables to enjoy your food.
It is not too obvious from the outside of the grocery store what foods the counter serves except Shawarma.
At the food counter there is a hand written board with the foods that you can order and that seems to change often.
A few days ago the special of the day was some Tilapia in a sauce (did not try it,but it looked good).
You can also order chicken or beef shawarma,falafel and a tasty poutine.
I tried the poutine earlier this week and the fries are fresh and made in store, cooked while I was waiting.
The french fries also came unsalted,which is nice for a change as you can always add your own salt if you wish.

One thing you should know (and that I was told a few days ago before ordering is to call ahead if you are getting a brochette-they take up to twenty minutes to cook).
I did not call ahead today,so did have to wait around twenty minutes for my brochettes to be cooked on the grill. It was not a huge problem to wait as I saw my food being cooked on the grill and I know it was very fresh.
You get 2 fairly large brochettes with your platter and that also comes with humus,eggplant dip,roasted potatoes,rice,salad and a piece of pita bread.
It was quite surprising the amount of food that there was in my container. I'd say there was enough food for two people or else one very hungry person.
The brochettes when they are stored in the fridge and being cooked they are on some metal skewers that look very similar to small swords.
On my brochette there was around 5 decent sized pieces of chicken and some red and yellow peppers.
The chicken was nicely seasoned and very well grilled. The peppers had a bit of charring that added to the taste.
The quality of the chicken was very good and was made up of chicken breast that was tender and not tough,the meat was also not greasy like in some other places I've eaten at.
One thing I really dislike in eating out is when certain places use chicken that is just too fatty.
I found the chicken here was great,very fresh and tender.
The roasted potatoes were good and had some garlic flavor to them. The rice was a bit seasoned and good.
My salad had some lettuce,tomato,green pepper,red onion and a homemade dressing-the vegetables were very fresh. There was also some garlic sauce included in my platter.
I took my brochette platter to go as I did not think I would be able to finish it all and that was a good idea for me as I only managed to eat half the platter.

You can also eat in the grocery store and there is a very nice seating area with tables and chairs and the store actually has some real plates and cutlery if you do happen to be eating in.
That is actually a nice touch as most places who have shawarma usually just have take out cartons and not real plates.
There is also baklava and pastries for sale at the food counter and in the Cedars and Co grocery store.
If after stuffing yourself with brochette or shawarma you want a healthier dessert,there are also fruit cups topped with Ashta-a type of custard that can be bought.
The fruit cups are $4 and are filled with many kinds of tropical fruits like strawberry,pineapple,mango,banana,blueberry and I'm sure I am forgetting some of the other tropical fruits.
The fruit cups are also quite large and the size on the bottom of my cup said 24oz, so it seems to be a good value.
I would definitely recommend this new grocery store and food counter for a fresh meal.
I'm sure I will be going there quite often as the food is fresh and tasty.
My brochette platter was $14.63 including tax.

Cedar and Company grocery store and food counter is open until 10pm every day and located at:
1255 Bank Street.
There is also a free parking lot beside the grocery store.
If anyone remembers the area,this is where the old Fresh Fruit Company store used to be.

Green bean bun from Golden Baguette on Bank st!

Finally I was able to get my hands on a green bean paste bun from Golden Baguette bakery on Bank st.

You'll have to excuse the formatting of this post but I have been having browser issues all day and can not get anything to load properly. Hopefully this will somehow improve with future posts!

Now on to my review of the green bean bun. This is usually an Asian pastry or sweet dish and is eaten as a snack or dessert. The filling is made of green bean puree and something to sweeten the bun. The bottom part of the bun was a bit sticky I'm assuming from the sugar used?

The bread part was very fresh and good as all bakery fresh bread usually is. The sesame seeds and lone pecan added some extra taste and interest to this snack.

I would eat this again and am planning on trying a similar type of bun if I can find them in other places, just to compare the difference.

One thing I do like about Golden Baguette is that their business cards state that everything is made from scratch on site and that they do not use any preservatives in anything they make. The cost for this green bean bun was around $2 but it was quite a big size and much bigger than most Asian pastries   I've seen before.

You could easily have this for lunch with a soup or maybe a salad and be quite full.

I'd say this was a different and tasty snack from what I usually eat during the week.

Hopefully you can get your hands on one of these filled buns- they are a pretty small store and do not make very many every day!