Méli-Mélo - November 2022

Beach Slang Oyster Club
"I like summer," Marc Doiron says as he explains his latest project — a "moveable popup" called Beach Slang Oyster Club. "I just wanted to do something to put people in a summer holiday state of mind throughout the year.” Though he and partner Lori Wojcik have full plates with their two restaurants, Town and Citizen, Doiron says he just felt like creating a different environment for something fun, "it's just nice to play dress up somewhere else sometimes."

The first Beach Slang shindig took place from Citizen. Guests were served out of the restaurant's garage and could take their food away to a nearby park for a picnic. The weather didn't co-operate, but the Beach Slang crew still went forward with a summer vibe. "We had an old VCR TV combo and played Jaws over and over again on the bar," Doiron chuckles, "and a projector going with old black and white skateboard movies on the wall." With the menu taking inspiration from beach shack and street food, the kitchen crew served up fare such as lobster rolls, octopus tostadas and passion fruit cream donuts.

Longtime colleague Sheri Busby is helping with the logistics and the decor, and the team is already planning the next iteration (which will "definitely be away from Citizen," Doiron confirms).

Follow @beachslang_oysterclub on Instagram to find out where the next beach party will be.

Beach Slang Oyster Club
@beachslang_oysterclub

Fill Your Socks
If you’ve been missing in-person holiday markets over the past few years, we’ve got good news for you. There are plenty of markets happening in and around Ottawa to take care of your holiday shopping and seasonal provisions, not to mention adding to that festive holiday feeling.

Here are just a few of the holiday markets taking place this year featuring local makers and vendors: Ottawa Farmers' Market Christmas Market, The Museum’s Christmas Market at the Canadian Museum of History, Carp Christmas Market, Metcalfe Farmers’ Christmas Market and Ritchie Feed & Seed’s annual Christmas Bazaar in Richmond.

Pleased as Punch
A staple of Ottawa's cocktail scene, Centretown's Union Local 613 has teamed up with Perth's Top Shelf Distillers to create canned PUNCH. After a decade of crafting seasonal cocktail menus, the team, led by bartender Shane Gifford, went to work tweaking some of its signature punches and cocktails to be made with Top Shelf's liquors.

Having contemplated a similar venture for several years, Union 613's owner Ivan Gedz, was keen to diversify his means of revenue once the pandemic hit, but wasn't interested in creating a seltzer or a diet-type flavoured vodka drink. "What craft beer is to beer, we wanted to be to cocktails," Gedz says. His current favourite is the Cranberry Sarsaparilla, though he notes that the Blueberry Lavender and Hibiscus Spice have been the more popular sellers. His team is actively developing new recipes and flavours, with Mango Mint and Pomegranate Passion Fruit Ginger coming next.

PUNCH can be found at the bar at Union 613 and at Top Shelf's (web) shop. Like his changing cocktail menus, Gedz has said they're constantly tweaking and refining recipes — and are potentially open to requests from Union’s cocktail-enthusiast clientele.

Union Local 613
315 Somerset St. W., Ottawa | 613.231.1010
union613.ca | @613union613

Top Shelf Distillers
14 Warren Cres., Perth | 613.201.3333
topshelfdistillers.com | @tsdistillers

C'est Si Bon
While C'est Bon Cooking had to press pause on in-person food tours during the pandemic, the team was busy developing a self-guided tour for visitors keen to get a taste of the ByWard Market. With a grant from Ottawa Tourism making the innovation possible, C'est Bon co-owner and president Stefanie Siska dove into researching app platforms and tourism experiences to create C'est Bon's geolocalized experience. It is the only experience of its kind in Eastern Canada, and there are only 50 or so in the world.

By downloading the C'est Bon app, tourists will get a customized tour map and game, six prepaid food stops, additional markers for plenty of other landmarks in the ByWard Market, historical information and discount coupons from other participating businesses. "It's a real mix of lunch counters, bakeries, restaurants and specialty grocery stores," Siska says, "and Beavertails will always be there. The tour caters to travellers from everywhere — some people have yet to discover that staple of our food scene."

With the self-guided tour getting a successful soft launch in the spring of 2022, Siska is hoping to launch the French version before the end of the year and is keen to replicate this kind of experience in other neighbourhoods. "These are still walking tours, but now that the base programming and formula are there, I think it can be reproducible… and we could get people visiting outside the core, too," she says.

In selecting tour stops and developing the app's content, Siska was determined to offer the same quality of knowledge and culinary tastes that visitors get on a guided tour, which, by the way, are now being offered again so adventurers have a choice of guided or self-guided. "It's a full-on city exploration meets food tour, a full-on cultural experience," Siska says.

C'est Bon Cooking
200 Dalhousie St., Ottawa
cestbonottawa.ca | @cestbon_ottawa

Vodkow Gets Cheesy
"How do we get the vodkow story into places where alcohol usually is not?" is the question that led brand manager Jonny Crozier to reach out to Gunn's Hill Artisan Cheese in Woodstock, Ont. Inspired by Gunn's Hill's collaboration with Beau's Brewery ("by far one of my favourite cheeses that comes out of Canada," Crozier says), he thought a vodka-soaked cheese might be an excellent experiment. Dairy Distillery's signature spirit, Vodkow, reduces waste by distilling otherwise unused milk sugar into vodka. In a sort of full-circle moment for dairy products, Crozier figured it made perfect sense to soak the cheese in a liquor made from a dairy production byproduct. Shep Ysselstein, Gunn's Hill's owner and cheesemaker, was game and, within a few months, had 35 wheels of cheese for the Dairy Distillery. 

Ysseltein soaked his Oxford's Harvest cheese in Vodkow to get his desired result — a mild creamy cow's milk cheese. Crozier notes that the Vodkow lets the cheese "shine through, with a light smokiness."

In addition to this new cheesy offering, Dairy Distillery has begun doing distillery tours again, having transformed its old office into a bar. There’s a food truck onsite along with yard games, so visitors can "be put out to pasture," Crozier laughs. The holiday season will arrive with its first batch of Vodkow Eggnog, and the company has also partnered with The Ketchup Project to make a vegan Caesar mix, which pairs well, of course, with Vodkow cheese.

Dairy Distillery
34 Industrial Dr., Almonte
dairydistillery.com | @dairydistillery