Foodnotes

Here comes another summer! Whether you’re basking on a patio or taking refuge in an air-conditioned interior, please remember to share your favourite Sandy Hill food experiences of the season with editor@imagesandyhill.org

Paula Kelsall

 

 

The Nelson
244 Laurier Ave. E.

Speaking of bargains, the sidewalk sandwich board outside the Nelson Pub advertising $10 burger lunches on weekdays until 3:00 p.m., has been calling out to us for some time. We went there on one of the first perfect patio days of the season, and enjoyed the sunny outdoor space as well as the cheerful service. The special lunchtime price applied to all their regular burgers; the 2-patty smash burger, the smokey burger with bacon, crispy onions and barbecue sauce, and the halloumi burger with tzatziki sauce. Fries were included in the deal. Of course, we found ourselves succumbing to the charms of 2-for-1 margaritas and $5.00 beer as well, which doubtless contributed to our feeling of post-lunch wellbeing.

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Volume Coffee House
234 Laurier Ave. E.

How many coffee shops have come and gone from this space on Laurier near Nelson? I remember young mothers bringing their iced cappuccinos to the park over 30 years ago, when our kids were small and the place was a Second Cup, or possibly a Timothy’s. Recently, it was a long stint as Figaro, and now a new independent operator has stepped up to host the leisurely laptop users of the neighbourhood. Volume is brewing coffee from Café William, a sustainable Canadian roaster, and they have a good selection of sandwiches and pastries. We have enjoyed their light and creamy tiramisu, their Greek yogurt and cherry danish (scrumptious when lightly warmed) and the Spanish latte, which contains a dollop of condensed milk for a touch of sweetness and extra richness.

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Cafe Tehran
470 Rideau St.

A string of good movies at the Bytowne has brought us to our neighbourhood Persian restaurant a couple of times recently for before-or-after-movie meals. Their menu of kebabs or stews with perfectly prepared rice has something for any meat-lover, while their hearty and delicious eggplant appetizers and the Ash Reshteh soup are good alternatives for vegetarians. A particular bargain is the Flavours of Iran platter, which includes soup or salad and a plate of dips and olives that arrive before the very generous platter of rice circled by bowls of four different stews of chicken or lamb, all of them tasty. The platter is billed as a meal for 4 or 5 people, and our party of four definitely had enough leftovers for one person to enjoy a couple of lunches.

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Jerkies Chicken
99 Mann Ave.

We were excited to see that the Ottawa Citizen’s Peter Hum had included this small Guyanese-style restaurant from our neighbourhood in a recent column on affordable meals, so we hastened to visit them for a takeout lunch. We were very pleased with both the jerk chicken and the fried fish, both nicely seasoned with a little heat and a lot of flavour. The chicken was fork-tender; the fish was freshly fried when we came in to pick it up. Both meals were served on very generous beds of moist rice with red beans, a dollop of braised tomatoes, onion and peppers, and a side of sweet and tangy fried plantains. Each platter would have made a perfectly satisfying lunch for two.