Child-friendly suburban pub pleases
Craft beers, East Coast dishes appeal at Hunter’s Public House, writes Peter Hum
Findlay Creek, the sprawling new development on Bank Street south of Leitrim Road, is most likely some years away from being a dining-out destination.
Ottawa’s more established suburbs have their special draws. I’d happily venture to the eastern edge of Orléans for some kebab-heavy Persian fare, or to St. Joseph Boulevard for excellent barbecue staples. In South March, there’s South Indian food worth the drive, and classy small plates at Kanata’s biggest mall. But for now, in the mall that’s the commercial hub for Findlay Creek, familiar franchises reign.
The notable exception, though, is Hunter’s Public House, which opened in October 2016. I ate there three times in the past week, and while the fare has been a little hit-and-miss, the restaurant does set the bar for what the fledgling neighbourhood offers for an agreeable, casual night out of food and drink.
Owned and operated by Charles and Amy MacInnis, the eatery has some clear focal points in terms of its offerings and ambience.
Craft beer is a big deal here, with an imposing chalk board showing scads of locally brewed choices, either on tap on in bottles or cans. Food-wise, the menu mixes snacks and appetizers that sometimes nod to the MacInnis’s East Coast roots, along with sandwiches, salads and assorted, occasionally beer-infused, mains, the most interesting of which were “copper-pot” stews.
Making a play for the hundreds of nearby families in Findlay Creek, the pub is large, highceilinged, brightly lit and childfriendly, with not just a kids’ menu but also Trivial Pursuit cards at the table and crokinole boards that come off the walls for games on Sunday afternoons. There are trivia nights on Thursdays, and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, live music wafts from the bandstand in the corner. A patio currently awaits springtime.
We were almost always pleasantly surprised by the starters here. Tops were tacos made with crisped, meaty slices of pork belly and hoisin and Sriracha sauces ($13), a respectable transposition of the Asian pork belly buns that were popularized by Momofuku and then went viral.
Deep-fried items both small and large were reliably tasty, un-oily and full of crunch. That went especially for the shrimpand-pork wontons that came with sweet Halifax donair sauce ($12), the sweet-and-savoury slices of beef short ribs ($14), and the hot-and-sour sauced General Tsao’s cauliflower ($11), even if the cauliflower was a bit lost in the batter.
If you haven’t hit your threshold for deep-fried food, then the fish and chips ($15) — two big chunks of breaded haddock, chunky fries that are better when ordered extra-crisp, some not-as-good apple-radicchio slaw — could be the way to go for a main.
At least, we preferred the haddock to several of the sandwiches, including a mediocre, skimpy roast beef dip ($13) in a circular bun unsuited for dipping in the Beau’s Lug Tread Lager au jus, and the pricey Big MacInnis burger ($19) that was let down by thick-cut bacon that was a chore to chew and generally didn’t seem like that huge an improvement on its much cheaper inspiration available elsewhere in the mall.
A better sandwich featured moist, buttermilk-brined fried chicken ($16), made with white meat. Again, kudos to the staffer running the deep-fryer.
Bacon-wrapped pork-and-beef meatloaf ($17) was hearty and flavourful, but also a bit dry, and both the fried smashed potatoes and especially the Beau’s Lug Tread Lager demi-glace were overly salty.
The copper-pot stew of steak, stout and stilton ($16) appealed with its seam of blue cheesiness and puff pastry. Its seafood counterpart, made with haddock, salmon and shrimp and topped by a big chunk of battered haddock ($16), was another unassuming satisfaction.
We tried both stews with upgraded sides rather than the stock choices of daily soup, salad, fries or smashed potatoes. The onion soup was thin on flavour, we thought. Better was the beet and pecan salad.
Chipotle seafood linguine ($21), while cooked beyond al dente, was otherwise well-made and nicely stocked with shrimp and mussels.
Of three house-made desserts (all $7 each), fluffy cheesecake and stout-infused brownies impressed more than the ho-hum monkey bread.
In the end, while the food at Hunter’s might not be sufficiently exciting or novel to lure high-expectation foodies from beyond Findlay Creek, they seemed enticing enough to draw in the folks from the neighbourhood that kept the pub busy each time I visited. If you live nearby, or happen to be in the vicinity, I’d say it’s worth popping by.