Ottawa Foodies

I've eaten here twice for lunch in about a 6 week time frame and have been impressed with the menu and the food both times.

It's not always easy to get good pub food and a menu that goes beyond the usual fries and nachos, but E & C has lots to choose from - including British-style pub selections and more interesting variations on the usual choices we find in Ottawa pubs.

Yesterday I had the blue cheese bacon burger with pub fries. I polished off every last one of the fries (not my usual m.o.) and ate most of the burger, but it was too much beef for me so I ran out of appetite before I could finish. The whole meal was very good and above the usual standard for pub burgers.

My eating companion had a veggie burger with the sweet potato fries - these fries were fabulous! They came with some kind of reddish mayonnaise and were absolutely smashing dipped!

Stopped here today to dine alone (hint: I wasn't the only one!) and ordered the blackened salmon caesar salad. I forgot to mention easy on the dressing, since I know pub caesars are always heavy on the bottled caesar creamy dressing, which it was, but good and tasty anyways. The salmon was cooked perfectly and was nice and peppery. It was a huge salad complete with two big triangles of herbed flatbread. I was pleasantly surprised at how unobtrusive yet genuine the staff was, very nice change of pace. You could tell the staff got on very well with each other and didn't mind working that day! I quite enjoyed myself envying watching the young smartly dressed government workers ordering pints and having a leisurely lunch hour (or two!). Anyway, this pub IMO has good food, good drinks and good atmosphere....great to pop in while shopping at the Rideau Center and avoid the fast food.

with SB for chicken mushroom spinache penne. excellent blend with pasta. now need to hit the gym to burn off the carbs pronto!

elephant castle for thai chicken salad and chicken shroom spinache penne. pub with regular pub fare and upper scale dishes compared to the rest of the pubs in the market.

pictured: thai chicken salad.