Food Review: Art Is In.... Part 2 (Ottawa)

Time for lunch!

Can't stop coming back to ART.IS.IN. The very next day, my friends and I came here to sample their lunch menu.

We got there just before 12:00pm and already on the ART IS IN SANDWICHES board, 4 options were SOLD OUT. =0(

So I claimed a simple Ham & Cheese sandwich. 

Needed A LOT of will power to pass the sweets without buying one. I'll tell you, it... was..... hard.... to... do!

Where to start? It was suppose to be just a simple and easy-to-make Ham & Cheese sandwich. After the first bite, it was so much more!

The bread, although looking very thick and hard-textured, was light and oh so crispy (like a lightly deep-fried exterior) allowing me to taste every ingredient in the sandwich with every bite.

This was a good sandwich! 

The distinguishing factor was the bread, but as you eat it all together, you find that the cheese is just as soft and creamy, the chives add a great seasoning around and on top of the sandwich and the green leaves give it that wholesomeness of the sandwich. 

Finished it less than 2 minutes. 

Went with a bunch of church friends... yes after church and this was their biggest table! =0)

I hope ART.IS.IN gets a read of this blog because I really want you to know just how much I enjoyed your product, the experience of Art Is In.

THANK YOU!

Food Review: Art Is In (Ottawa)

Our first morning in Ottawa, my friends took us to a place in the wholesale packing area, where the local bread artist holds his retail store.

With a spacious ocean of parking, you can find ART.IS.IN at unit 112-114 for their retail store.

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Unfortunately, it doesn't get prettier than this. BUT, the food you are about to see will make up for it. =0)

It's completely industral-looking and it's clean. They've got a very electic decor and lots of tables and chairs for their mountains of customers. 

But the real showstopper is in their food and baked goods. Take a look and I know you'll be drooling by the end of these photos.

Their baked goods are on the large side, so it's great for sharing and making new friends *wink*.

Art.Is.In also has a fair amount of food items to order. But, get there earlier than later because the food made that day get sold out quickly... on Sunday afternoon, 3 items on the list was sold out by noon (and it opened at 9:00am).

My breakfast started with their amazing-looking lemon raspberry danish (I honestly ate with my eyes). 

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After I saw these giant mommas, I had to try one. But don't worry I shared it! It was WAY too big to eat it all up by myself, I'm not a piggy ;p

Here's a way to measure just how big this danish was. I took their postcard to help. The box is not small, more of a medium size.

Also, I tried their peppermint tea -tasted like Christmas!

And here IT IS:

How'd it taste? I'll tell you!

It was GOOD. The fluffy croissant danish underneath the beauty was absolutely fresh, light and oh so buttery. The lemon sauce with the raspberry gave a tart flavour making the frosting taste not-too-sweet -which I like best.

Then I had a taste of the chocolate walnut chewy cookie (gluten free) and THAT was great because it wasn't overly sweet. The cookie inside was a soft like a brownie and I just devoured it! So... that was a good cookie and it's great for the gluen-free ppl. =)

In the midst of all this sharing of great pastries, I forgot to take a photo of the chocolatine croissant that doubled the size of "my" fist (photo above, to your left). Just like my danish and the chocolate cookie, it was ridiculously good. There weren't any fancy frostings or pretty fruit on it, but this, the invention of the croissant by Chef Kevin was perfect.  It did not take dry at all. The croissant was extremely flaky (stuck to my lips and made a mountain) and so soft inside with a nice toasted exterior.

Overall, I cannot gush more about Art.Is.In.... or can I? Wait till I tell you about my lunch adventure here. Yes, I came back the very next day!

It's got it all, Art in the form of bread. He's the Michelangelo of bread!

6/5 stars

Here's a little something for you to read about... the man behind the bread:

Thanks Kevin! I'll definitely be coming back!

Food Review: The Wellington Gastropub (Ottawa)

On my travels up north to Canada's capital city, we arrived in the early evening and my friends arranged to have reservations at this cute little Gastropub called " The Wellington". 

If you say the name of this restaurant, it seems as though many locals will say, "Oh yeah, good food!"

Our first real Ottawa food adventure, we dine in at The Wellington Gastropub for dinner.

Reservations are required because they get full quickly with it's small to medium seating available.

Its place on the second floor of an independent plaza. It has two main areas, and we were seated in one of their spacious booths by the window -best spot in the house. The photo above shows the larger main space of the two.

The decorations are very homey and light feeling and not at all pub-like with a heavy look and darker palette. It's clean and the seats are far enough apart that it doesn't look overcrowded. It looks as though it's a more older crowd, but then again I've only been here once.

On the menu, they have 2 pages. I was told that their menu changes quite often, so it's a pretty nice surprise to come here to see just what's on the menu.

The prices run a bit higher here (entrees are between $21 - $28)

They provided the table with complimentary bread (free refills) supplied by one of Ottawa's local bread artists (you'll see more of this amazing bread artist in my next few posts) by a chef named Kevin. His work is simply amazing in its smell, texture and taste. Our bread was served with a cold press canola oil. From my bread-dipping experience, I enjoy the olive oil and balsamic combination for taste. With only the canola oil, it was tasteless, but it was still good only because of how fresh the bread was.

For this adventures' foodie file, I ordered the Parisienne Gnnocchi ($21.00).

Since I've been trying to eat more healthy and intake a larger amount of green veggies, I was delighted how green this dish was. But to my delightful surprise, it was the gnocchi that made it's punch. It was the most delicate gnocchi I've ever tasted. I'm not a pro on gnocchi, but I'm sure this is how fresh gnoochi can taste. It melted in my mouth and the kale and peas along with the creamy sauce molded together in my mouth so.. tastefully.

Overall, this was a very delightful place.

When we arrived with a reservation, we had to wait for a table for about 20-30 minutes. However, the staff was very nice and polite and gave us one of the best seats in the house to make up for the wait time. I appreciated this type of care for their customers.

4.2/5 stars