http://www.supplyanddemandfoods.ca/
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/250/1724601/restaurant/Wellington-West/Supply-and-Demand-Ottawa
Ottawa’s Supply and Demand places 4th in national list of top new restaurants
October 24, 2013. 8:50 am • Section:
Omnivore's Ottawa
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“A very strong year for Ottawa restaurants,”
says enRoute writer Andrew Braithwaite
.
OCT 24 13 – 9:00 AM – Ottawa restaurant
Supply and Demand by chef Steve Wall and his wife, Jennifer
(photo, above), has made it to the prestigious
enRoute Top 10 list of best new dining rooms across Canada.
By placing
fourth in the nation, the Ottawa showing ends the capital city’s three-year drought since the in-flight Air Canada magazine in 2009 cited Atelier and Murray Street as fourth and fifth, respectively, as best newcomers in the country.
Before that, the only year Ottawa scored in the magazine’s Top 10 list was when Beckta Dining & Wine landed the No. 4 spot in 2003. Owner Stephen Beckta said later the national attention was great for both business and reputation.
“We knew something was up within a week of
enRoute’s visit last June, when the magazine called for a copy of our menu,” Jennifer says.
“You try not to get too excited,” Steve adds, “but the Top 10 list did enter our mind.”
Two Toronto restaurants placed first and second on the national list: Bar Isabel and Shoto, in that order. Claiming third spot is Fogo Island Inn, Joe Batt’s Arm, in Newfloudland and Labrador. Read the full story
here.
This year’s ranking, released at 9 a.m. today, defines “new” as a restaurant opened between June 2012 and June 2013. The 58-seat Supply and Demand, known for its limited but refined, from-scratch menu, opened its doors on Jan. 22 at 1335 Wellington St. W.
In all, 35 finalists were up for consideration after being nominated by 29 panelists across Canada. (In Ottawa, panelists include myself and Pierre Jury of
Le Droit.)
Other top dining contenders from Ottawa, reported
in this blog on Aug. 2, were Gezellig in Westboro (Beckta’s third restaurant, by the way) and Union Local 613 in Centretown.
Now in its 12th year, the annual
enRoute new-restaurant list, which appears in the November issue of the airline magazine, is considered among the most prestigious in Canada that, in the past, has catapulted winners to world recognition. The magazine reaches an estimated 1 million viewers a month.
Unlike some lists decided by popular vote, or by numerous judges armed with varying criteria, the
enRoute selection was decided by freelance writer and sommelier
Andrew Braithwaite, 32, a native of British Columbia and Harvard grad (history of science) who currently lives in San Francisco.
He took over the job this year from Sarah Musgrave from Montreal, who had done the list for three years, by visiting every finalist in five provinces and 10 cities in the course of a month.
“It was a very strong year for Ottawa,” Braithwaite says.
“Supply and Demand impressed me the most, obviously, by virtue of its spot in the Top 10. Making a restaurant ultimately comes down to choices, and Steve and Jen make so many good choices – both in what they present to their customers, and in what they choose to avoid.
“It’s smart, it’s focused, it’s well-curated. Steve’s menu focuses on doing a handful of dishes very, very well. It’s not everything for everybody, and that’s what I really like about it,” says Braithwaite, who plans to go into a bit more detail on Twitter
@agbraithwaite.
For the first time, the public was also invited to select an
enRoute People’s Choice Award decided by an online vote. The people’s pick was Vij’s Railway Express – a Vancouver food truck with east India cuisine
.
News of Supply and Demand’s impressive showing ranks among the biggest Ottawa culinary sensations this year. But owners Steve and Jennifer Wall insist they won’t let it go to their heads.
Says Jennifer: “The most exciting thing for us is showing this to our daughter, showing it to our parents, having our staff able to show it to their families.
“I mean, my dad is flying Air Canada in a couple of weeks and I just realized, hey, he’s going to pick up
enRoute magazine are there we are! That’s really exciting for us.”
(
Reader note: Check an in-depth question and answer interview with Braithwaite, with his comments and impressions of Ottawa finalists, as well as Steve and Jennifer Wall’s restaurant philosophy, in this blog immediately following this post.)
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The Top 10 restaurants in order, with snippets of Braithwaite’s impressions, are:
1. Bar Isabel, Toronto: “looks, feels and tastes vaguely Castilian but does far more than ape a menu straight out of Madrid.”
2. Shoto, Toronto: “a storybook of a tasting menu, with all the typical annoying bits – the repetition of ingredients, the showy caprice, the monotonous pacing – smartly edited out.”
3. Fogo Island Inn, Joe Batt’s Arm, Nfld. and Labrador: “There’s a terrific survivalist spirit bursting out of Chef McDonald’s kitchen, where most everything is made from scratch.”
4. Supply and Demand, Ottawa: “ It’s not supposed to be this easy for a first-timer … you notice all the little things that rookies Steve and Jennifer Wall are getting so right.”
5. Pidgin, Vancouver: “The cuisine of Winnipeg-born Chef Ono, who ran restaurants in Beijing and Hong Kong, draws from multiple languages.”
6. Carino Japanese Bistro, Calgary: “a Japanese-Italian wine bar that defies logic in the most wonderful ways.”
7. Maison Publique, Montreal: “A mere 250 years after the Treaty of Paris, cooking Anglo food in Montreal is cool again.”
8. Le Bouchon du Pied Bleu, Quebec City: “one of the most convivial, playful, unabashedly fun dining experiences I’ve had anywhere in North America.”
9. The Acorn, Vancouver: “That the food is meatless is almost beside the point unless you’re a foodie vegetarian who’s long hankered for a compromise-free night on the town.”
10. Electric Mud, Toronto: “Electric Mud is a twisted hymn to the American South.”
EnRoute People’s Choice award:
In partnership with lead sponsor, Jaguar Land, Air Canada’s
enRoute encouraged Canadians to select their favourite restaurant on eatandvote.com.
Vij’s Railway Express – a mobile restaurant inspired by an Indian rail carriage with a menu that explores regional flavours and dishes of India – receives the inaugural People’s Choice Award as Canada’s favourite new restaurant. The contest offered a chance to vote to win a trip for two to the 2013 Canada’s Best New Restaurants gala event in Toronto, with the use of a vehicle.
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Twitter: @roneade
