CITY BITES INSIDER

Notable restaurant and food happenings

Big Red

Red Door Provisions (117 Beechwood Ave.) has solved the issue of too many cooks in the kitchen, recently announcing that they had opened a 3,000-square-foot production kitchen and warehouse to replace the cramped prep space at the café. The bold move has freed up room for more seating and another bar for baristas. Coffee nerds will be thrilled by the new slow-brew bar, which features such alternative brew methods as pourover, AeroPress, and French press. Meanwhile, over in the production kitchen, Red Door’s bakers and chefs are busy supplying the coffee shop, expanding the café’s catering options, and leading the charge as Red Door presses forward with a move into the wholesale market. Look for their pop tarts, sticky buns, tarts, and cookies to start popping up all over town — they’ve already been spotted at

Café Palmier, Oat Couture, and Pressed. In the longer term, the satellite production kitchen allows the team to expand their popular line of preserves and packaged food items for city-wide distribution. Plans are also in the works to launch a few smaller Red Door Provisions microfranchises.

Spark Plug The morphing of Chinatown continues apace with the arrival of Spark Beer (702 Somerset St.), which is scheduled to open just before year’s end. A passion project of husband-and-wife team John Sproull and Andrea Gormley, the brewery is being conceived as a neighbourhood hangout with great beers and a snack menu (which may be expanded in the future). Sproull, who has been a dedicated home brewer for a decade, is a fan of sour beer so will be highlighting the art of the tart while also brewing up the more accessible, hoppy American styles. “I love experimenting with mixed-fermentation beers but won’t be brewing far-out beers just for the sake of it,” he says with a laugh. They also have an oak tank on the way so will soon be playing around with barrel aging. The duo has teamed up with restaurant designer Shannon Smithers-Gay of One80 Design to craft a 40- to 50-seat space with a modern vibe. And while we’re on the topic of beer, craft-loving road trippers may want to pencil in a quick trip to Perth, where Weatherhead Brew Co. (29 Beckwith St. E.) opened this past summer.

Café Roundup What are you looking for in a coffee shop? Maybe you’re in it for the fine latte or espresso? Could it be that you base your decision on the cupcakes or the toasted panini sandwiches? Many unique coffee shops have popped up over the past few months. The Kanata-based office worker might search out The Thirsty Maiden (65 Denzil Doyle Crt.), a chic coffee shop with a feminine vibe in a neighbourhood filled with small industrial spaces. The Maiden draws a steady stream of regulars for takeout lunches or sit-down meetings. Along Bank Street South, 3Cents2 (3-1940 Bank St.) boasts an Ikea-meets-the-Middle-East vibe with white walls, lots of pale woods, and brightly patterned carpets and chairs in shades of red. The big draw here is the pan bread. Meanwhile, parents are discovering Westboro’s Wild Child Coffee

Project (314 Richmond Rd.), a “play café” where toddlers have some fun without facing the wrath of regulars. In Hintonburg, The Witches’ Thicket

Café (1066 Somerset St. W.) bills itself as “a home for the vegan gourmet and the metaphysically curious.” And Glebe’s Collabo Cafe (108 Third Ave.) is a comfy-cool spot that promotes coffee and all manner of local clothing and art brands.

Haute Hotel Can’t help noticing that hotels have been upping their restaurant game, snapping up scenester chefs to design menus aimed at impressing discerning travellers and bringing in more locals. Two Gold Medal Plates alumni now heading up big kitchens are David Vinoya and Kyle Mortimer-Proulx. Vinoya, who won the Regina leg of the competition in 2017, is executive chef at Tulip Restaurant in the Hilton Garden Inn (361 Queen St.). Though his roots are in the Philippines, his menu borrows from around the world. And Ottawa Magazine readers will be familiar with Mortimer-Proulx, who first made his name as a Gold Medal Plates competitor when he was chef at ZenKitchen. He competed again while he was in charge of the kitchen at the short-lived but highly rated La Maison Conroy in Aylmer. Now Mortimer-Proulx is making magic at the Sheraton Ottawa Hotel. Time for a meal out and a staycation night downtown? New face, new place Chef David Vinoya (top) recently moved from Regina to lead the kitchen at Tulip Restaurant in the Hilton Garden Inn. (Bottom) Red Door Provisions has updated their Beechwood Avenue space with an expanded coffee bar featuring pour-over and Aeropress options

Green Light Score one for the environment. Main Street just got greener with the announcement that NU

Grocery plans to open a second zero-waste grocery store in Old Ottawa East by late October. The 2,200-square-foot spot at 143 Main St. takes advantage of the street’s sudden accessibility (now that the Flora Footbridge is in place, it’s just a few minutes’ cycle from the Glebe) and the influx of residents courtesy of the Greystone Village project next to Saint Paul University. With the federal government’s pledge to ban single-use plastics and the flagship Hintonburg store doing well, the calculation is that zero-waste shopping will continue to gain traction. As a bonus, the bigger store means more room for the NU team’s regular workshops.

QUICK BITES

• Foodie theatre lovers take note. The NAC’s restaurant, now known as 1 Elgin Restaurant, has been reinvented with a reno adding a 23-seat bar. The plan is to showcase talent from across the country, with guest chefs stopping by on a regular basis to showcase their skills.

• Lots of hype around Embrun’s Burst Cider Co., whose apple-and-cranberry cider will soon be showing up on more restaurant drink lists. They’ve been at Beerocracy, Lollo, and Brasserie

Étienne Brulé for a while, but the goal is to debut at about 20 locations if a fall expansion goes according to plan. Also in the plans? More fruit blends and seasonal ciders.

• Brunch and lunch fans take note of two unique new-on-the-scene spots to check out. In Carlington Park, Miss Molly’s Breakfast Club (1577 Laperriere Ave.) has a diner menu with an intriguing add-on — ever heard of a bulgogi hoagie? In Centretown, Mazarine Restaurant has opened in the old Coriander Thai spot at 282 Kent St. with an upscale Mediterranean brunch menu.

• Scott Adamson spent the past few years crafting cool neon signs for other restaurants around town. Now he’s switched gears and launched his own coffee shop in Almonte with wife (and barista) Karyn Adamson. And, yes, Gaslight Cafe & Sign Gallery does have fab signage.

• Save the date! Canada’s Great Kitchen Party Ottawa takes place Nov. 19 at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa. The stellar lineup of eight competing chefs is Shane Brown of Beckta, Ian Carswell of Black Tartan Kitchen, Justin Champagne of Bar Lupulus, Billy Khoo of Fauna, Ben Landreville of Sidedoor, Daniela Manrique of Soca, Razmon Poisson of Orto Trattoria, and Jason Sawision of Stofa.

• After amassing a devoted following at Train Yards for their super-fresh falafel- and hummus-based sandwiches, Chickpeas has opened a second location in Old Ottawa South, on Bank at Holmwood.

• When Rideau Bakery suddenly closed after 99 years, it was quickly bought by Farm Boy, and kosher Eastern European breads and rolls have already begun appearing on store shelves.