Best French Canadian restaurant

[miketoronto]

Do any of you know of any good restaurants in Ottawa and area, including the Quebec side, which are good and have a French Canadian flare to them. It does not have to be fully traditional French Canadian, but even a more modern take on it.
The friend I am going to Canada Day with has never been to Quebec, and even being in Ottawa, I want him to experience some French Canadian cuisine, etc.
So if you guys know of any good places, that would be great.

Also anyone know of any good poutine places on the Hull side, or even in Ottawa?

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Do any of you know of any good restaurants in Ottawa and area, including the Quebec side, which are good and have a French Canadian flare to them. It does not have to be fully traditional French Canadian, but even a more modern take on it.
The friend I am going to Canada Day with has never been to Quebec, and even being in Ottawa, I want him to experience some French Canadian cuisine, etc.
So if you guys know of any good places, that would be great.

Also anyone know of any good poutine places on the Hull side, or even in Ottawa?

Poutine on the Ottawa side: The Works or M&M Chip Wagon in Old Ottawa South.

Gatineau side: Best I've had is up near Wakefield, just a minute or so past the train station.

As for proper French Canadian restaurants, no clue dude. Sorry.

[waterloowarrior]

Les Fougères in Chelsea?

check out this guide from the Citizen
Quebec guide http://www.ottawacitizen.com/pdf/din...ide-part-6.pdf

[Kitchissippi]

Too bad, there used to be a place on St Raymond called "Les Raftsmen" that served honest-to-goodnes, stick-to-your-gut quebecois food like patte de cochon (pigs knuckles), maple pork and beans, ragout, etc. but it closed down a few years back. haven't seen anything like it since.

I think your best bet is having weekend brunch in Gatineau, a place that offers cretons and french style pancakes (crêpes). My suggestion would be St Eloi in Lac-Leamy (good food and nice view to boot) or the Café Cognac on 230 Rue Montcalm. Both are very affordable, more for value than any place for brunch in Ottawa.

[harls]

Yeah the St Éloi is a good place.. afterwards you can walk around the lake to burn off your calories.

If you are looking for something fancy, try L'Orée du Bois in Chelsea

http://www.oreeduboisrestaurant.com/en

It's pretty expensive, but a really nice place. They've won a few regional awards, too.

[Acajack]

I second Harls' recommendation of L'Orée du Bois. It is in a gorgeous setting in the woods of Gatineau Park, yet only a 10-minute drive from downtown Ottawa.

Les Raftsmen used to be an inexpensive choice for lumberjack-type fare, but since it closed your main options for Québécois cuisine are pretty much all higher end now. This seems to be the trend pretty much everywhere, BTW: local cuisines seems to have gone high-end in many parts of the western world.

Another good option is Le Tartuffe, which is right in downtown Hull a block from the Museum of Civilization. Québécois/French haute cuisine is how I would describe it. Less rustic than L'Orée du Bois I would say. But still excellent.

[Acajack]

Forgot to include the Web site for Le Tartuffe:

http://www.letartuffe.com/

Also, this place in downtown Hull is a real hidden gem in my opinion:

http://www.restaurantlaubergine.com/

(Relatively) inexpensive for what you get.

Quite European (French and Belgian in fact), but as in all restaurants of this kind in Quebec they tend to produce a "fusion" type cuisine that mixes in the European and Québécois traditions and products.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I second Harls' recommendation of L'Orée du Bois. It is in a gorgeous setting in the woods of Gatineau Park, yet only a 10-minute drive from downtown Ottawa.

My uncle redid the landscaping there. I helped with the design

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Do any of you know of any good restaurants in Ottawa and area, including the Quebec side, which are good and have a French Canadian flare to them. It does not have to be fully traditional French Canadian, but even a more modern take on it.
The friend I am going to Canada Day with has never been to Quebec, and even being in Ottawa, I want him to experience some French Canadian cuisine, etc.
So if you guys know of any good places, that would be great.

Also anyone know of any good poutine places on the Hull side, or even in Ottawa?

I would recommend any Sugar Shack. Many of them are open for the week between La St-Jean and Canada Day.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

I would recommend any Sugar Shack. Many of them are open for the week between La St-Jean and Canada Day.

This would be a good suggestion, but I have never heard of any of them (in the Outaouais at least) being open out of season like this.

I know the Sucrerie de la Montagne in Rigaud is open all year, but that is a lot closer to Montreal than Ottawa.

[m3i6]

Not too many "Traditional" French Canadian eateries around when the maple syrup isn't running.

[miketoronto]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Another thing is we don't want a tourist version of Quebec style food. We want stuff Quebecers eat now, in addition to some traditional. Anyway those places sound great and I will look into them. We want a nice meal before heading down to the fireworks.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Another thing is we don't want a tourist version of Quebec style food. We want stuff Quebecers eat now, in addition to some traditional. Anyway those places sound great and I will look into them. We want a nice meal before heading down to the fireworks.

Although the places named here are high-end price-wise, they cannot really be called "tourist versions" of Quebec cuisine.

As I alluded to earlier, authentic local cuisine has gone high-end in much of the Western world, and what people eat on an everyday basis is often quite similar across North America and even in much of Europe.

So anything reasonably authentic tends to be pricey these days. This is not just true of Quebec.

Though not necessarily "typically" Québécois in cuisine, a few decent and less expensive places are to be found around the corner of Rue Laval and Rue Aubry. This is about a 5-minute walk from the Museum of Civilization.

Fleur de Sel/L'Argoat (Restaurant Fleur de sel et l'Argoat de Gatineau : secteur Hull) is French-style, with crêopes bretonnes and things like that.

Pizza'za is a European-style pizza (thin crust) and wine bar place.

Right next door to Pizza'za is Le Café Aux 4 Jeudis, a good place to have a drink and relax. They have a really nice terrasse in summer.

Another interesting place is Swiss restaurant Meule et caquelon.

It is a fondue and raclette place. You can bring your own wine so this helps keep costs down. It is in a totally uninteresting strip mall on an unequally uninspiring (though not dangerous) stretch of Boulevard Gréber a few km west of downtown Gatineau where the museum is. But it is easily accessible by car or bus from both central Ottawa and Gatineau.

These are the types of places that your (non-philistine) average Québécois likes to eat these days.

[harls]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Another interesting place is Swiss restaurant Meule et caquelon.

It is a fondue and raclette place. You can bring your own wine so this helps keep costs down. It is in a totally uninteresting strip mall on an unequally uninspiring (though not dangerous) stretch of Boulevard Gréber a few km west of downtown Gatineau where the museum is. But it is easily accessible by car or bus from both central Ottawa and Gatineau.

I think that place closed a while ago. Too bad because I wanted to try it.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by harls

I think that place closed a while ago. Too bad because I wanted to try it.

No, they just moved a little further south (closer in) on Gréber. They are now in the same strip mall as Au Vieux Duluth, near the corner of St-Louis.

There is actually a modest concentration of bring-your-own-wine restaurants at this corner now, with Vieux Duluth, Meule et Caquelon and also Prasat Thai across the street.

[harls]

Ah! That's good to know! Thanks!

Seems like a lot of businesses are fleeing that parking lot (Pizza Pizza, Moores) although I think a new breakfast place is or has opened there recently (near the Future Shop side).

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by harls

Ah! That's good to know! Thanks!

Seems like a lot of businesses are fleeing that parking lot (Pizza Pizza, Moores) although I think a new breakfast place is or has opened there recently (near the Future Shop side).

Yeah, there has been some movement, but they do OK at filling their holes.

Moores was replaced by a jeans place. A Benjamin Moore moved and was replaced by Sherwin Williams.

I recall seeing the new breakfast place but can't remember the name. It is where there used to be an Italian place called Le Four, which had a big wood-burning brick stove in the middle. The father of Canadian Idol winner Eva Avila, Carlos Avila, used to be the entertainer (chansonnier) there some nights. But the place never really took off.

Funny how breakfast-only restaurants seem to be all the rage. There is this one (name?), plus all the Chez Cora locations, plus another one close by on La Gappe called Tutti Frutti that is also breakfast/late breakfast only.

Must be related to an aging population that has more time to go out and eat often on weekday mornings (and not so much energy to go out for dinner at night.)