Parlour’s patio an urban oasis with charm to spare
When the worst that you can say about a patio is that some tables wobble on the uneven ground beneath them, you know it’s a patio worth a linger.
Parlour’s patio, which opened a month ago, has that wee drawback, but also charm to spare. Facing quiet Grange Avenue and noticeably removed from the bustle of nearby Wellington Street West, the patio is a shady, unfussy oasis of mismatched furniture beneath a string of lights and acacia trees. If you’re lucky, a DJ will be spinning some relaxing reggae tracks.
And then there’s Parlour’s food, which during my visits last week consisted of casual yet very well-crafted summery indulgences, troubled only by quibbles that would be as easy to fix as putting a bit of Styrofoam under a too-short table leg.
In all, this new al fresco hangout ought to appeal powerfully for however long (or short) patio season lasts.
Closer to Wellington Street West, there’s a counter where you check in for the patio. You order from the menu written on the Parlour’s windows, pay, and write down some information for contact tracing.
For a light dinner, we began with the addictively good potato crisps and chive dip ($5). The only reason to skip them might be because some of the pretty russet chips also come with Parlour’s burgers. Smooth, refreshing gazpacho ($8), made with tomatoes, melon and cucumber, was just as irresistible.
Two salads — a seared tuna Nicoise salad ($19) and a fried green tomato and burrata salad ($20) — put prime ingredients on good display. Our small bit of constructive criticism with both was that they would have benefited from a sharper, umami-rich or salty dressing to pull them together and give a bit more zip.
But then dinner ended with a lovely dessert of brightly tart lemon curd and berry trifle ($5) in a jar, and all was forgiven.
A few days later, lunch began with a box of fresh, crunchy veg with a thick, hearty blue cheese dip ($8.50), which set us up nicely for two exemplary burgers ($10 each). I can only shrug if asked to choose between Parlour’s crispy cod burger and sweet and hot fried chicken burger. Both were simple and simply bang-on.
Last weekend, I took three hungry teenagers to Parlour’s patio for its so-called feast offerings. We took the half-sized feasts ($35 each) of grilled chicken and grilled flank steak.
The feasting opened with small bowls of gazpacho for each of us, before plates of pre-sliced steak, lightly sweetened by its marinade and served with a mellow chimichurri on the side, and pieces of well-charred but beautifully moist chicken touched down. Accompanying them were boxes of greens and plates of the best fries that I’ve had in a long time, which were snappably crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
Had we wanted, we could have accessorized our feast with oysters and tuna crudo from the patio station operated by staff from Supply and Demand, the acclaimed restaurant around the block from Parlour. That seafood station is open Fridays and Saturdays.
Our only letdown for that meal was that Parlour was out of ice
cream sandwiches.
Parlour is licensed and serves a limited selection of canned craft beers and wines by the bottle or the plastic glass.
Now that you know about Parlour’s patio, I should tell you more about Parlour proper.
That indoor business takes up what was formerly the eastern half of the Ottawa Bagelshop and Deli, following that space’s gutting, renovation and restoration last year.
Parlour is a 4,000-square-foot event space that holds 250 (in a pre-COVID -19 measurement) and is available for corporate, social and musical gatherings, as well as community-based and social enterprise projects.
Next month, Parlour will open an indoor culinary market with six curated suppliers, including a farmer, a florist, prepared food vendors and a bottle shop with an in-house sommelier.
Small wine and food shows and collaborations with other chefs, restaurants and producers are also expected.
The veteran business DISH Catering, on nearby Ross Avenue, is the in-house caterer of Parlour, which explains why we ate so well on the patio.
Erin Clatney, managing director of DISH and Parlour, says she sees the patio as “as an elevated food court,” which I’d say is a good thing in pandemic times.
Clatney says she will keep the patio open as long as possible.
“I’m looking forward to Oktoberfest, blankets and heaters, and sausages, and having local beer companies come and pour,” Clatney says. “I would like to do a winter market. I see braised stews and soups.
“We’ll see what the community dictates, but I’d like to keep it open for as long as we can,” Clatney says.