Press

	The next decade's trendsetters, by Anne Desbrisay
	OTTAWA — Ottawa is not a pace-setter. Beg your pardon if that offends, but in terms of innovation in the restaurant landscape we tend to be forever a few steps behind the usual suspects — Toronto, Vancouver, New York. They’re bigger, they’re more ethnically diverse and they have a deeper culinary past. Which is not to suggest we don’t have superb restaurants in this city. We do. We just don’t have buckets of them. And we don’t typically create the fashions that give birth to them. So it did seem forced to look deeply upon the decade of dining in Ottawa in search of new trends. Of course “regional-seasonal-organic” is big here, as everywhere, and yes we are uniquely situated in this region, blessed with a bountiful backyard, easily accessed without spending hours in traffic jams! (In this, at least, there are others who lag far behind.) And yes, I could talk about small plates dining, bar menus, bare-table dining, open-kitchen restaurants, and meat still mattering. But what I would like to do instead is to speak of three Ottawa restaurants, all born during the past 10 years, that I would suggest are worthy of looking at more closely. Not because they’re the best we’ve got — although all three are terrific — but because each is, for now, unique. The Wellington Gastropub Since 2006 1325 Wellington St. 613-729-1315 Much was made of the name when it first opened. It stuck in people’s craws, its phonetics made the tummy squiggle, its definition defied the mind (what the heck is a gastropub anyway?). Blah, blah, blah. But anyone who is familiar with the restaurant scene across the pond knows that gastropubs are a strong and plenteous category in any U.K. restaurant index. And anyone who knows Ottawa knows we are not short on English/Irish-style pubs. What we are short on is English/Irish-style pubs that cook well. What the Wellington Gastropub has done is combine a pub — good drinking options in a convivial atmosphere — with destination dining. You go as much for the food as the drink, and you can shuffle over in your slippers if you care to. And the place is packed. I predict (here we go … ) more of these. Because they make such good sense. Atelier Since 2008 540 Rochester St. 613-321-3537 I think it more likely there will be a gastropub on every neighbourhood corner a decade from now than a molecular gastronomy restaurant. It’s not that I think it’s a flash in the pan (or, say, a ripple in the thermostated water bath) but it requires money to outfit a space-age kitchen, and demands chefs who have the time to spend, an abiding fascination with, and talent for, the science and art of manipulating ingredients to produce flavours, textures and looks that fascinate, provoke and delight. But here we have Atelier, unique not just in Ottawa, but — I’d suggest — in the country. A sign-less restaurant that delivers the double whammy of food prepared using unconventional methods and presented without a menu. It takes courage to offer no options. Thirteen courses, served blind (I can hear Atelier chef Marc Lepine shouting that allergies and food “particulars” can be handled with sufficient notice), but the fact remains that Atelier is not for the finicky or the timid. Hard to say if we’ll see more gastronauts the likes of Lepine, but I’d sure like to see more tasting-menu-only restaurants in this city, molecularly prepared or otherwise. Atelier just takes a worthy idea to extremes, and deserves our admiration. ZenKitchen Since 2009 634 Somerset St. W. 613-233-6404 That Caroline Ishii’s new restaurant serves exclusively vegan food is largely forgotten as you work your way through dinner at ZenKitchen. And that’s what makes this new restaurant extraordinary. ZenKitchen has taken what you might consider peripheral dining to a prominent level. Yes, this is a vegetarian restaurant. No, there are no buffet lines, no weigh scales, and no banquet tables. And sure, it’s early days yet, but if its opening moves are to be trusted, I would happily slot ZenKitchen in Ottawa’s top 10 dining rooms a year from now. So will ZenKitchen pave the way for other so-called fringe eateries to smarten up? If a vegan dining room can polish up its act, can’t we hope for the same from our city’s ethnic dining rooms? We are desperately due for inventive, sophisticated, ethnic dining in this city. Not just “quality” or “authentic” but ethnic food that is truly innovative. Can such a thing happen in this city? To paraphrase one of this decade’s great newsmakers, “Yes it can.” Let the word go forth that within the next 10 years one of Ottawa’s finest restaurants will be Cantonese or Goan. Some might say that Ottawa doesn’t have the ethnic population to support such a thing. But what percentage of our population is vegan? If Ottawa has a yen for ZenKitchen, can molecular mutton vindaloo be far behind? Anne DesBrisay is the author of Capital Dining, A Guide for Dining Out in Canada’s Capital. E-mail her at anne@capitaldining.ca. Ottawa Citizen

	Ottawa XPress: "Consciously Creative"
	"Fortunately, Ottawa's veg community now has ZenKitchen - a fine dining vegan restaurant that leaves guests feeling pampered, from the amuse-bouche to the attentive staff to the thoughtful wine list." Ottawa XPress review

	Ottawa Citizen review by Anne DesBrisay, September 16, 2009.
	Zen Kitchen Zen Kitchen does not have a mission statement pinned to its front door. It does not come with monastically uncomfortable tables, cafeteria-style rails or weigh scales by the cash register. It does not litter the walls with new-agey, pseudo-Buddhist, über-hippy references. What Zen Kitchen does do is help you forget you are in a vegan restaurant. Which is, as far as I'm concerned, high praise. Owned by Caroline Ishii (chef) and David Loan (sommelier), Zen Kitchen opened in late June in the space vacated by Le Panaché. With help from Ottawa designer Heidi Helm, they've created a cheerfully dignified space. Gorgeous art hangs on red and mustard walls, chairs and benches are comfortable, upholstered in jaunty polkadots, lighting is soft and clean, fresh flowers and candles grace gleaming cherry tables. The meals I've had at Zen speak loudly of a gifted chef who draws tastily on a larder of local plants, and who roams the globe - Mexico, Morocco, Japan, Thailand - for bright ideas. Ishii's dishes range from bold to delicate, multi-textured to softly herby, aromatic to spicy. This is thoroughly enjoyable dining that doesn't suffer from any lack of beast. Though I do feel the need to add "for now." This time of year, eating a plant-based diet is dead easy and delicious. How the vegan Zen will taste in February is TBD. Though I look forward to finding out. So vegans, for those who don't subscribe to Mother Jones, are vegetarians at their most "devout." Animal products or animal by-products are all no-no's. So, wonder at the dreamy creaminess of the mushroom sauce? Ground cashew "butter," thinned with silken tofu and spiked with roasted ancho peppers. Presto. Butter with nary an udder tickled! Ishii's gnocchi shows the hand of an expert, pleasantly served with a late summer ratatouille. A roasted corn chowder with coriander is elevated with smoked oyster mushrooms and a chili oil drizzle, and by Art-is-in Bakery's fennel bread used to sop it up. Local chanterelle mushrooms in impeccable condition are lightly coated in a tempura-style batter fashioned with brown rice and gram flours, scattered with sesame seeds and served with a duo of marvellous sauces. Plates are all decorative, though they rely as much on taste as design. Ishii's tapas presentation of salad rolls (with a divine peanut sauce), tofu skewers (fantastic), tumeric-stained daikon ribbons, a pile of kimchi and one of togarashi-peppered potato chips, is inspirational. Even the black bean with chopped chestnut "cake" (more a mound) covered with a ripe guacamole, surrounded with pickles and corn chips, is stylish. Anne DesBrisay's review

	Ottawa Magazine: Veg with Edge
	...the feel-good consciousness of ZenKitchen doesn't supersede taste or presentation. Ottawa Magazine Sept 09.jpg (1718K)

	Ottawa Citizen: Vegans of the city, rejoice!
	Vegans of the city, rejoice! ZenKitchen, a high-end vegetarian/vegan restaurant has just opened at 634 Somerset St. W. in Ottawa's Chinatown area, offering gourmet food and stylish atmosphere that goes well beyond the usual cafeteria-style fare at other vegetarian eateries. Owner Caroline Ishii is an accomplished vegetarian chef, who is teamed with her life partner Dave Loan in the venture. it's a small yet well-appointed space, and definitely worth checking out. Call 613-233-6404 or see www.zenkitchen.ca. (Ron Eade, The Ottawa Citizen, July 4, 2009, p J12)

	apt613.ca ZenKitchen preview
	"This weekend, Chinatown’s Zen Kitchen finally held its long-awaited opening. It is the first fine cuisine vegan restaurant in the city..." The full story

	Ottawa Citizen's Ron Eade visits ZenKitchen
	"But, occasionally, someone comes along who redefines a category, who makes you sit back, behold, taste their food and say simply, “wow!” And I’m most delighted to suggest that Zen Kitchen, which officially opens its doors tonight at 634 Somerset St. W. in Ottawa’s Chinatown neighbourhood, has all the makings of a place I expect will raise the bar on vegetarian cuisine beyond the cafeteria-style dining to date in the nation’s capital." Omnivore's Ottawa