The Ottawa Breakfast Club

Brunch at The Prescott, Preston Street, Ottawa...

2012-01-29T14:32:00.000-05:00

Marketing, in whatever form it takes, is very important for any business and especially so for a restaurant - you need to send the messages regarding Who you are, What you provide, When you will supply 'it' and Where you are so people can find you. When it was suggested that we try The Prescott for brunch this week it wasn't immediately obvious from their web site that they did brunch until you

Aaaaah, Fontenelle - we missed you!

2012-01-22T16:36:00.000-05:00

When a group embarks on an exploration of brunch it's so easy to get caught up in the $15 plates and $2.50 coffee that ends up with tax and tip costing almost $50 for two people. There is nothing wrong with the $15 brunch plate - as long as it 'delivers' - and there are some fine places in our city to try these brunches, a number we've been to and reviews can be found here on this blog. Fraser

Brunch tips for the weekend in Ottawa...

2012-01-20T13:49:00.000-05:00

It occurred to me recently that I do a weekly review of places we (Ottawa Breakfast Club) brunch and maybe it's about time to do the odd 'tip' post based on and collated from these reviews - a service within a service, if you will. Maybe you are searching for a place to go this weekend and rather than reading every blog post I could help out a little by providing a mini round-up of places

Fraser Cafe is brunch awesomeness.....

2012-01-15T14:33:00.000-05:00

In my weekly job as recorder of the brunch, blogger critic, whatever this is called, it may surprise you that I do not enjoy reporting bad places or writing any negative comments whatsoever; I still do it, as reporting the exact experience is all part of the service - I just feel bad when I have to do it. This week I will be entirely loving this blog post and not feeling bad in any way shape

The Hintonburg Public House; premiere 2012.

2012-01-08T16:43:00.000-05:00

Our first new year's outing as the Ottawa Breakfast Club finds us at the big table at the back of the recently opened (November 2011) Hintonburg Public House at 1020 Wellington St. West. Some illness kept a couple away but we were a happy six this fine mild winter's Sunday. Some of us have been here for dinner pre-christmas so we had some idea of what the place was/is about when it comes to

Nate's Deli, Merivale Road, Ottawa

2011-12-18T22:19:00.001-05:00

Just the two of us this week for Sunday brunch and as we took the dog to Petsmart for a Christmas groom we decided to try Nate's Deli which is the new site of the famous Nate's that used to be opposite the Bytown Cinema on Rideau Street. Nate's was an institution that was demolished to make way for something new that wouldn't ever be as good as the old place but apparently the owner thought

Another chance for the new Cozy's to shine.......a deconstruction.

2011-12-11T14:41:00.001-05:00

I always thought that Cozys should have an apostrophe, as per the restaurant of Cozy, thus: Cozy's - I'll get to the bottom of this at some stage but it now appears they have added the '! Anyway, we went for an 'economy' breakfast this week and there were going to be a lot of us so we decided the big table at Cozy's would do just fine. As it turned out a couple of the 'Club' were at a concert in

Brunch is cancelled this week........

2011-12-03T13:11:00.001-05:00

Due to the Craft Walk involving the Daily Grind, Shanghai Restaurant and Raw Sugar we are not brunching this week - add to that that we are off to Montreal overnight to see a 'gig' - go to the Craft Walk though - it'll be fun and we might see you all there around 2ish. Until next week, be safe, Drude

Back, back, back to the Back Lane Cafe

2011-11-27T15:00:00.001-05:00

It seems we are addicted to this place and find ourselves in our usual seats at the Back Lane Cafe which has some nice new interior faux windows and shutters on the wall. Apparently the place became a tad noisy when busy and these new additions deaden the sound a bit. I didn't think it was a problem but in any case - they look good. Menu additions and changes that we noticed were a Tomato

Art-Is-In update, follow-up and report.

2011-11-25T16:45:00.001-05:00

In my review of Art-Is-In bakeries brunch a few weeks ago I made reference to an improvement that they could make with regard to increasing their floor space and seating area. Well, I popped in for a coffee and a croissant this morning and they've taken down a wall and added 2 more tables and about 10 chairs. I have no idea if this is in any way connected to our OBC blog nor do I know if the

Atomic Rooster: not as nuclear as you'd think!

2011-11-20T14:59:00.001-05:00

When pubs do food you don't expect too much from them, except when it comes to the basics of a brunch menu. Did Atomic Rooster get the basics right? Well, yes and no! It's a mixed experience here, this week, but let's qualify this a bit. It's a pub, so don't expect table cloths, homemade ketchup and silver cutlery. Atomic Rooster is a medium sized pub on Bank Street between

The return to Todric's Restaurant, Vanier, Ottawa.

2011-11-13T15:14:00.001-05:00

Sunday is a day of rest but also of change. Today we started brunch at Noon rather than our usual 11am, mainly as No.1 son needed dropping off at the 'orientation' for his new job in a new restaurant in town (more to be revealed soon). We actually also decided to move all future brunches to Noon as it was deemed far more civilised. We also welcomed a new member to the group, voted in and

Back to the Back Lane Cafe!

2011-11-06T15:32:00.000-05:00

Seldom do we all agree to visit a new place again so quickly, but the Back Lane Cafe had so many great sounding (and tasting) items on their brunch menu last week that another visit was in order so that we may quench ourselves of the 'fare'. I don't know if I just hadn't found them or they set it up in the last week but they have a Twitter account now, so you can follow them (@backlanecafe)

Back Lane Cafe is superb......

2011-10-30T16:01:00.001-04:00

A cafe so new that the web site isn't up yet, there is no Facebook page but they do have a twitter feed to follow (@backlanecafe). The Back Lane Cafe is in Hintonburg where the Ethiopian Cafe was next to Giant Tiger. We've had it in our periphery vision recently so it was time to try it out as the Ottawa Breakfast Club. We walked into a revamped cafe with interesting art on the walls hung

2 in the same week? Art-Is-In bakery; a belated blog post.

2011-10-26T09:49:00.000-04:00

I got my thinking cap on this morning and remembered that we did, indeed, go to somewhere new (to the OBC) recently but I didn't post anything. This post hopefully rectifies that omission. Art-Is-In bakery and cafe is in a strange location, not for a bakery, but for a cafe/bistro type affair. City Centre is a well known light industrial complex that, among other businesses, houses printers,

The resurrection blog; Ralph and Sons.........

2011-10-24T14:05:00.000-04:00

It's been a while, but until recently there really hasn't been any new places to write about (unless you count the paint and carpet job at Cozys, which is just 'that' and a dip in food quality and taste). Well that's controversial in and of itself, having a 'go' at our mainstay of a Sunday breakfast in the first paragraph! When you 'revamp' a place as 'under new management' and assume the old

Royal Wedding Breakfast #fail

2011-05-03T17:20:00.000-04:00

So, I was one of the 'silly people' getting up at 4am last week to prepare to watch a couple of strangers get married in the presence of billions. My task was to serve Pimms, champagne and a 'full english' to my wife and a couple friends. The day before I shopped for my ingredients. Sausage (english bangers), pea-meal bacon (closest to back bacon I could find), eggs, mushrooms and black pudding..

Move over Todrics, we love you but...........

2011-04-12T09:08:00.000-04:00

Todrics was our favourite 'non-greasy-spoon' brunch venue up until just recently when we discovered the delights of the brunch menu at the Courtyard Restaurant in the Byward Market. We have breakfasted here twice in 3 weeks, the first was for my birthday and then again just this last Sunday. Firstly, I follow the foodie scene a bit in Ottawa from the comfort of my Twitter feed so I know that the

Zola's (Bells Corners)

2011-01-03T11:24:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year dear reader! My company gave me a selection of vouchers and gift cards for Christmas which was nice and appreciated. One of them was a barter voucher for $50 for Zola's Italian restaurant in Bells Corners. So we all went to brunch there this past Sunday to help mop up the over exuberance of manhattans drunk on NYE! I put the $50 in the 'pot' and we all had a great 'limited'

Toscano's

2010-12-05T20:21:00.000-05:00

Today we had our second breakfast at a grill called Toscano's on St. Joseph Blvd. in Gatineau (yes, across the river!). The first time I was mildly OK with the place; parking was hard (it's busy), you have to line up to get a table (which I hate), service is hit and miss and the food was ok for the money. I wasn't bowled over. The food was well presented though and that led to an encore visit

McDonalds!!!

2010-12-05T19:58:00.000-05:00

It had to happen didn't it? A couple of us decided to 'slum' it and try a fast food breakfast for a change 'down'. McDonalds on Merivale was chosen as it's one of the newer locations. We found seats by the TV and the fire that was almost like a VIP 'club' area with nice tub chairs. The rule wrt ordering more than one breakfast was suspended this week and therefore we could sample the range of

Zen Kitchen

2010-12-05T19:44:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it's been a while; we spent a lot of time just doing Cozy's and the Fontenelle so it seemed crazy to just blog about the same places. However, a couple weeks ago we had a change and breakfasted at Zen Kitchen. The food here is amazing and fast becoming a local sensation. Some may have seen the TV show that charted the road that the owners took to make the restaurant happen; "The

Fontenelle Restaurant

2010-06-27T09:49:00.001-04:00

We've been at the Font for the last few weeks so nothing new to report.... maybe soon......there is a new restaurant in town that we plan to visit for brunch very soon; Town here we come!

Fontenelle; can this place get any better?

2010-04-04T16:37:00.000-04:00

Back at Fontenelle after our deep fried frenzy last Sunday, otherwise called Dim Sum! This place feels so comfortable and 'right' and this week they had the eggs benedict on the menu (last time I ordered it it was off, probably due to a muffin disaster). I ordered a 3 egg Benedict with fries (not home, but French)! Can a breakfast get any better? Rhetorical! NO IT CAN"T!! Short post this week

Dim Sum at the Yangtze

2010-03-28T18:20:00.000-04:00

When the core of one's club swells with a couple of out of town guests there is no better place to go for a big table than a dim sum breakfast, if you remember to reserve a big round table that is!! The 'out-of-towners' were up for a new experience having not had dim sum for brekkie before but it's not for everyone and with the addition of the most senior of our group (NK) we were a very lucky '