Café My House
Mon, 29 Sep 2014 8 Comments Saturday night I forced my husband to accompany me to a vegan restaurant here in Ottawa that recently opened on Wellington St. (formerly located on Bank St). I had never been to Café My House and was eager to give it a try because I often wish I was vegetarian (vegan is a little much for me), and want to eat less meat...but my husband does the cooking so I'm pretty much shit out of luck. That and their Instagram photos had me mesmerized.
(I forgot to take a photo of the outside so I stole this off of their FB account - taken by the lovely Ottawa Vélo Vogue - another local IG fav)
The weather was GORGEOUS so we opted to sit on the back patio aka jungle. It was beautiful and we got to watch a squirrel going to town on an apple growing on their apple tree. (Sorry for crap iPhone pics - my Fuji X10 was at work)
They have a REALLY cool cocktail menu - Jeff had the Smoky Red Pepper (Tequila. red pepper juice. Chipotle pepper. lime. bitters.) and I had the Ginger Mojito (Dillons Gin. bitters. mint. lime. cucumber. ginger beer.) OMG it was GOOD!
A little amuse bouche - zucchini with dill oil
I had the Butternut Squash Cakes (Butternut squash cakes. rosemary and pistachio pesto. roasted apples.). LOVED this.
Jeff had the Maple & Miso Roasted Brussel Sprouts (Roasted brussel sprouts. crispy tempeh. Coriander peanut sauce. mung bean salad.) This is where to my shock and amazement that he proclaimed he loved tempeh.
We both had the Yam & Sage Gnocchi (Gnocchi. beet merlot reduction. dried cherries. roasted beets. walnuts.). DAMN the sauce was GOOD. (Photo taken after I dumped my mushrooms on Jeff's plate - I detest mushrooms)
We then had the Dessert Sharing Plate (I think it was butternut squash cheesecake, key lime cheesecake, coconut tiramisu, carrot cake and strawberry basil cheesecake). All fabulous. And we had it with coffee that Jeff adored, made in a Hario ceramic drip coffee maker that he now wants to buy.
Awesome meal, for those into vegan food and those that aren't. :-)
Reader Comments (8)
Always look forward to your restaurant posts and wish you ate in restaurants every night.
I wish I had the time and money to eat out every night :-)
I just so enjoy all your restaurant post. I've collected a list for when I visit Ottawa. Hoping it will be next year on my way to Jazz fest in Montreal. Are you sure you don't work for the visitors bureau of Ottawa? If not you should because it really makes me want to come. I meet people from Ottawa all the time with my work and they say its nothing to do. Weird. It's the capital! I inform them of places I hear about from you and there in such amazement, as if Ottawa is a small town. Well I greatly appreciate you sharing. It lifts my spirits here in Chicago! You've got to come and visit. If you do I can send you a list of all the best restaurants here.
Ottawa has always been known as a boring government town. And I used to bitch all the time about how lame it was. But we finally got some decent big-box stores (Target, H&M, F21, soon a Whole Foods...) and the amount of really good restaurants that have popped up over the last 5 years or so is staggering. I still have a list of about 20 I haven't tried yet.
I'd love to visit something in Chicago besides the airport. I bet you have some pretty sweet restaurants too. :)
P.S. I work for the government, ironically for a dept that is all about bringing folks to Canada
Thanks for the tip! I'll have to try this place the next time I'm in Ottawa. Always looking for good veggie options :)
:-) (zenkitchen.ca is another awesome veg restaurant)
I enjoyed this post as well! I'd totally eat vegan/vegetarian if someone cooked it for me! Seems like it takes more love and time to create delicious veggie dishes, folding in all those layers of flavors to give a meal depth. And I love your word "staggering". The restaurant scene in Nashville has been staggering, too. Fifteen years ago, Parmesan could only be found in a can and five years ago, we never stood in a line (let alone make a reservation) to get into ANY restaurant. Sounds like our cities are on a roll!
My husband does the cooking so as much as I'd love to eat way more veg meals, it's not going to happen anytime soon. That's great that you have a sweet restaurant scene in Nashville - I love trying new food. (jeezus - parm in a can? I'm half Italian so we would have rather croak than eat that crap)