Ottawa Foodies

Theres a new bakery, called delice royal i believe, you can really tell that their products are made with real butter. I bought one of their quiche and it was amazing.

Pour tout ceux et celle qui cherchent des produits de qualité Francais, allez voir la patisserie Francaise Delice Royal.

It reminds me exactly of my trip to Paris, im so glad ive finally found a similar shop!

Thanks Pasta Lover!!

Just thought everyone might be interested in knowing that the Lansdowne Farmers Market officially opens this Sunday. Market hours are 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. Last year on opening day they had wagon rides and some local politicians were there to give speeches. Starting this year the market will be open on Thursdays from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm from June 26 to October 30. I'm looking forward to getting some art-is-in-bread and delicious raspberry jam from Avonmore Berry Farm. Hopefully there won't be so much crafty stuff there this year...

Micaylah makes some interesting points. I went to Lansdowne fairly regularly last year but I have been really disappointed with the selection this year and the prices are definitely climbing a bit. During my visit yesterday only a handful of vendors seem to be selling veggies. Not sure if it's just me but they seem to be selling more crafty type stuff this year too. It definitely looks like a yuppie market. Even though Lansdowne is a little closer to home for me I have actually been going to the market in Ottawa South more often this year. Even though they sell a variety of things the focus is still on locally grown organics. Great place to shop for groceries!

I do believe that this last trip will be my last. When this market started the prices were comparable to a "farmers" market.

Over this past summer I have watched the prices climb and climb. While there was some value for your money, it has become rather clear that this has grown to become a "yuppie" market.

Breakfast (Bearbrooks), while exorbitantly pricey, was surprisingly good, although lacking in any bread type offering. The quality of the ingredients was better than average, and the $2 styrofoam cup (tsk-tsk) of orange juice was freshly squeezed. Again WAY overpriced, but good.

Today was opening day for the 2007 season of the Ottawa Farmer's Market. They had free horse drawn wagon rides to help get things going. Of course, this early in the season there weren't a whole lot of veggies for sale. Leafy greenhouse greens mostly.

Lots of potted tomato plants and flowers were on hand. There were several honey vendors, the Fitzroy beef people, the Elk Ranch, and tonnes of baked goods. We left with a couple Art-is-In breads, awesome scones (Avonmore Berry Farm), good croissants (Swiss Farmer Bakery), cookies (The Bread Lady), and other bready things. There was even a farm specializing in Ethiopian food (True Food Ecosterre), from which we purchased a spicy lentil enjera wrap and a nice sweet potato cinnamon roll loaf. Vendors offer many samples, which is great for deciding what to buy.

As the season progesses, we look forward to returning each week to enjoy the latest offerings from this fantastic addition to Ottawa's food scene.

We too found this an important development in the Ottawa food scene. Connecting with the Fitzroy beef folks was important, although I wish they could get their retail-side act together (they often seemed to have no idea what they had or where it was) and offer 1) fresh beef rather than frozen and 2) have consistent offerings. I was only disappointed with one purchase all summer, and that was corn. We had bought some from a specific vendor one weekend, and went back the next for more as it had been so good, but they either did a bait-and-switch or, more likely, fobbed us off with older corn. It was a revelation that local people were working so hard on artisanal foods. I single out Back Forty Artisan Cheese (www.artisancheese.ca/) and, specially, their Highland Blue and Bonnechere cheeses, which were a highlight of our summer.

The development and success of the Landsdowne Farmer's Market is probably the most important thing to happen to food in Ottawa in years. Unlike the Parkdale and Byward markets, the rule here is that vendors can only sell things that they grew themselves. No supermarket produce bags stashed underneath the stalls.

At first, things were a bit expensive, but it got better as more was harvested.

The problem now is that I can see myself refusing to eat supermarket vegetables all winter, as the difference in quality is clear.

hey you can get awesome apple butter at the lansdowne market every sunday between 10am and 4pm until the last weekend of october (as in next weekend or wait til spring). i tried it and am going back for a couple of jars to last the winter. at 4 bucks a jar its great price too, but the taste is what matters.
spike

I bought 1 lb of frozen ground bison here. They (Pykview Meadows) also have burger patties and steaks. I used the meat for tacos-deelish!