FOOD HALL QUEEN ST. FARE SATISFIES BUT DOESN’T THRILL
The last few times I’ve played tourist in New York, I’ve alternated meals at acclaimed and even Michelin-starred restaurants with visits to some of the city’s food halls. Sometimes it was hard to say which experiences delighted me more.
Certainly the food-hall eats were easier on my budget. And among them were such memorable treats as vibrantly spicy Pakistani lamb chops in Brooklyn, impeccable Scandinavian-style hotdogs at Grand Central Terminal, a sushi roll of sumptuous Hokkaido scallop, also in Brooklyn, and one of the best ramen bowls of my life, at the Ivan Ramen in Hell’s Kitchen.
The point of this recap isn’t just to brag. It’s to show how good a discerning food hall — as opposed to a food court populated with run-of-the-mill national and multinational franchises — can be. A well-curated food hall can showcase the best fast-casual fare that a city offers and make the hearts of foodies, locals and tourists alike, beat faster.
This perspective sets the bar high for Queen St. Fare, Ottawa’s first food hall. Opened two months ago in the Sun Life Financial Centre, it fits six locally based eateries and a new cocktail bar into the 9,000-square-foot expanse that was formerly Hy’s Steakhouse. And that’s not to mention the stage for live bands that adds allure during weekend brunches and some evenings. (Interestingly, DeKalb Market Hall, the Brooklyn food hall of 40 or so vendors that I visited, is to introduce a stage this year — a case of great food halls thinking alike?)
In the last month, I’ve had a handful of lunches at Queen St. Fare, hoping, perhaps unfairly, for the kind of mouth-pleasing excitement that I had at DeKalb. Overall, the mix of options at Queen St. Fare is more limited and conventional, while execution has been for the most part admirable.
My favourite of all the items I’ve eaten at Queen St. Fare was the Nashville hot chicken sandwich at Capitol Burger Counter, a new but retro-styled vendor. It was properly crisp and craggy, moist and spicy (if not tear-yourhead-off Nashville hot), with pickles and slaw adding brightness and crunch. The chicken was nicely swaddled in a pillowy roll reminiscent of the bun that the much-praised Shake Shack locations use in the U.S.
Capitol Burger’s burgers, made with beef from Enright Cattle Company near Belleville and fashioned with Shake Shack-esque simplicity, have also hit the spot, especially because of their pleasing crusts and juicy interiors. Thankfully, they are not so much the overladen, Instagram-able meat-and-garnish bombs sold elsewhere. They are just good burgers that get their fundamentals right, something which can’t always be said about many a fancier burger.
I’ll add that the counter’s vegetarian option, the “Beyond Meat” burger made of plantbased protein, was surprisingly appreciable. I’ve wanted to try Capitol Burger’s milkshakes, but the last few times I’ve asked for one, it wasn’t available.
After those burgers, I’m keen on the tacos from Mercadito, the Mexican-food vendor that has Ottawa celebrity chef René Rodriguez on its payroll. Rodriguez, who won the 2014 edition of Top Chef Canada, the Food Network Canada TV show, is Mercadito’s chef, and when I’ve visited Queen St. Fare, I’ve seen Rodriguez plating dishes, more often than not.
Rodriguez’s tacos — particularly the pulled chicken, beef and fish tacos — have delivered big flavours that pop. At Sunday brunches, I’ve had Mercadito’s pig cheek tostada (a signature Rodriguez dish), breakfast burrito and pork sandwich. They work for me, too, but the tacos would still be my first pick.
The tortilla chips at Mercadito have been oily but good, but the guacamole struck me as oddly lacking, needing more punch, from perhaps onion, lime or coriander. The churros here are small, but a pineapple caramel dipping sauce makes them irresistible.
Closest to Queen St. Fare’s western entrance is the third Ottawa location of pizza vendor Fiazza Fresh Fired. Its pizzas have been reliably made, thin-crusted but devoid of floppiness, fresh and quickly produced. I’ve always ordered one of the pizzas on the menu rather than a customized pie. The truffle-oiled mushroom pizza, here, for example, has done the trick, even if I associate mushroom pizzas with white rather than red sauces.
I do wonder if, for its Queen St. Fare location, Fiazza could develop a more creative, special pizza that might appeal more to foodies, if less to the masses. (Yes, that does imply that I don’t think the menu contains such an option.) I think the same question could be posed for two other food-hall vendors here: Sen Kitchen and Green Rebel.
The former, a spinoff of the Vietnamese eatery at Lansdowne, has served some commendable items, including a reasonable pork belly bao and a peanut chicken dish that tasted considerably better than it looked. The tom yum soup I tried here had perfect, toothsome shrimp in it, but was oddly almost as sweet as it was sour.
Green Rebel is pegged as the food hall’s healthy, wholesome, salad-centred purveyor. However, the “Buddha boxes” with warm ingredients that I’ve sampled have felt like less than the sum of their parts. Despite the long, tantalizing menu descriptions, they’ve seemed to fall short on offering different, vivid bites, and their proteins (chicken or salmon) were simply dry.
The best item I had from Green Rebel came after I asked a staffer what was best, and she replied, “I can make you something not on the menu.” She served a Cobb salad that had more going for it. I do like the beverages at Green Rebel, including the avocado blueberry smoothie and the house-made orange ice tea, which could be desserts on the go.
From Bar Robo, I’ve had just a few coffees and a S’mores doughnut, baked that morning on site, that I wished had been more chocolatey. I’ve not yet tried any of the tempting cocktails at Q Bar. One night, perhaps when I’m lured downtown for music as well as food, I will.
With an optimal location and a built-in lunch clientele, Queen St. Fare seems to have been earmarked for success. I’ve seen it packed to its 400-person capacity during several lunch hours, and we’ll see what the nearby opening later this year of the LRT’s Parliament Station will do for its evening and weekend business.
For now, from a foodie’s point of view, the food hall satisfies but doesn’t yet thrill like a food hall can, which only means there’s a goal to be attained.