Union Local 613

A co-worker of mine, Allan, read about a new restaurant called Union Local 613 that opened here in Ottawa a few days ago so him and I and our former co-worker Val decided to try it at lunch today.  One word....FANFREAKINGTASTIC! I don't know what I enjoyed more, the decor or the food so I thought I'd share both in this post. A bit of info first. It's located on Somerset near O'Connor, the chef used to work at Wellington Gastropub (another fav!) and it is owned by a former assistant manager and former server the Gastropub. It's open until 2 am daily (to feed Ottawa chefs and servers coming off shift) and the food is basically a Canadian take on Southern hospitality. Now I don't know much about Southern food except that everything is fried, but OMG this was AWESOME. Not really a place you'd go if you're trying to shed some pounds. :) Ok, let me start by the decor, which was really freaking cool and totally my vibe as it's got a lot of industrial touches and the designer (Shannon Smithers-Gay of One80 Design) was a genius having maintained and refreshed some of the gorgeous architectural features of the old home it's located in. (I stupidly didn't bring my freaking camera with me so unfortunately all you get this time around are iPhone pics).

It's hard to tell in the 2 photos above but knives are used as handles for the beer spigots. LOVE THAT. Allan was wondering what kind of beer they had and thought it would be fun to order the meat cleaver.

Allan and Val looking pimp in the "Mafia Booth" (the best seat in the house I'd say).

All of the light fixtures were like this, clear beer and wine bottles held together by gas pipe fixtures and lit with filament bulbs. Awesome DIY project!!!

This mural is incredible, the creation of local tattoo artist Julian Garner of Five Cents Tattoo. I love Mr. Turtle and the bird barfing flowers.

My favourite tiles happened to be adorning the walls and floor of the bathrooms.

Adorable little glass flower arrangement on our table.

Even the menu was cool. A clipboard with blackened burlap between each section. 
And now for the real goods.

Val and I had this cocktail. The only one they were serving. I totally do not remember what the hell was in this but OMG I could have drank 8 of these. Thankfully it was kind of pricey and we did have to go back to work so we only had one each. And it was a little trip down memory lane as my Nonna used to have a bunch of wine glasses like that. 

Boiled peanuts are given to each table to munch on. Not sure I'm a fan but I'm not a big fan of peanuts anyway. Apparently these take HOURS.

The 3 of us split this plate of fried green tomatoes as an app...with boston bibb, pimento cheese, pickled corn, bacon, black pepper ranch

I don't know why the stupid camera on my phone was over-exposing like this but this was my main -  texas white shrimp & grits, tasso, zucchini, cherry tomato and scallions. AH MAH GAWD. I LOVE GRITS. WITH ALL THAT STUFF ON IT.

Val's main - kentucky hot brown - roasted turkey, bacon, overnight tomato, mornay with side of broccoli & sunflower seed slaw and seasoned sweet potato wedges.

This was Allan's main - buttermilk fried yard bird & pepper vinegar (with same sides as Val's).
Note that the last 2 dishes were served on steel trays (!!!!) and mine was on a cast iron dish. COOL!

We shared the above. Very odd. Sweet and spicy. I wasn't sure about it but I am a dessert FREAK and the more I think about it, the more I think I am a fan of this odd concoction.

I have GOT to take my husband here very soon. I highly recommend this joint. A new favourite FO SHO.

friday night's dinner

The hubby and I went out for dinner Friday night as it was about 40 degrees and there was no way I was going to cook anything at home. We wanted to try the Hintonburger but it was jammed, then we went 2 doors down to Tennessey Willems (another one we haven't tried before) but they had no room for 2.5 hours. To our delight and shock, our favourite restaurant across the street, Back Lane Café, had a couple empty spots at the bar. It was fantastic as per usual, and we were excited to find out they have a new executive chef who clearly knows what he's doing. Here's what we had:

We had to get a spritzer (fortified of course) as that is our favourite drink here. I got rhubarb and my husband got mango. 

My appetizer was a chilled cucumber soup with yogurt and mint. This was PERFECT on such a hot day.

The hubby chose roasted beet, marinated goat feta with hazelnut dust and tarragon-lime vinaigrette. Also refreshing in a heat wave.

We both HAD to have this wood-fired pizza - wood fired scallops, sundried tomato pesto, goat cheese and arugula. It was so awesome I didn't mind that there was also radicchio on it (not a fan).

My dessert - pavlova with lemon cream and berries. YESSSSSSS. 

Hubby's dessert - orange-chocolate cheesecake with fresh berries and chantilly. 

I even love the way they serve coffee. And we discovered they grind the beans right before making each pot. YEAH.

a modern space

On my way home from a haircut today I stopped in at a modern space, a relatively new shop on Wellington St. here in Ottawa that I had checked out for the first time after my last haircut. :) Patrick and Erin carry cool brands like Blu Dot, Emeco (dear gawd I wanted to take one of those Navy chairs home with me so badly), and new-to-me-and-now-i'm-a-fan &Tradition from Copenhagen. I took some photos of some pieces that caught my eye, and plan to do some measuring in case I can fit a new sofa in my living room - LOVE this one but ideally we want a sectional in the new home and this one would be perfect because it can be configured in any direction.

New favourite song

Discovered Torche thanks to Design Bureau magazine.

A micro house

A while back my bro-in-law sent me a link to a "micro house" that was originally featured on a VERY cool site called Tiny House Listings. I coudl spend hours looking through all the cute little cabins, yurts, sheds, buses, trailers etc. So this micro house is adorable - it's located in Finland, cost around $10,500, is 96 sq. ft. and has a 50 sq. ft. loft for sleeping. SO CUTE!