MAY 13 12 – 08:45 PM — At shortly past 7 on Friday night, my keen powers of observation tell me as I’m driving home that restaurants along Wellington Street West are hopping with customers looking for pints and protein to fill their faces. Hintonburg has become is a very popular place to eat; perilously close to trendy, I should think.
Once considered a culinary wasteland, this former working-class neighbourhood, now in the process of gentification, that grew up in the shadow of long-ago-dismantled lumber mills during Ottawa’s rough-and-tumble days, is now anything but ho-hum. It is light years transformed from the buckets of chicken of its forgettable past, today offering everything from artisan pizza to gourmet donuts, hand-crafted pasta to rustic bouillabaisse, thanks to proprietors who relish their craft and know what they’re cooking.
Among welcome resto newcomers, Tennessy Williems by 7:30 p.m. is filled with patrons savouring wood-oven pizzas, yum-yum. Over at Back Lane Café, I’m betting more than a few this late-spring night will order its signature fisherman’s stew. Burnt Butter Italian Kitchen is busy, too, dishing out home-made pasta and other clever creations to customers hungry for more. At The Hintonburg Public House, coddled egg, steelhead trout and schnitzel go beyond the usual burgers and beer (which you can get also) you’d expect from just another publican
And speaking of ground bovine, at The Hintonburger the parking lot is spilling over as usual with some pretty big folk gnawing on gargantuan sandwiches.
To this cornucopia for carnivores, I present SimplyRaw Express at 989 Wellington St. W., the latest addition to the culinary landscape, officially opened on Friday by a charming and enthusiastic husband-and-wife team, Natasha Kyssa and Mark Faul, who have made a career of promoting not just vegetarian and not just vegan, but the raw lifestyle that takes herbivore to a whole new level. Their new takeout place is not so strict, however, it being tailored more for mainstream customers who want to give plants — even some cooked plants — a fair try.
Natasha and Mark (photo, above) are the principals behind a popular spring SimplyRaw Festival last held in June 2010 at Central Park in the Glebe. Regular readers may recall Natasha as the driving force behind a busy consulting business (among other projects) that offers raw food products, her own cookbook, vegan workshops and detoxification programs.
And so she hit upon the idea of opening her own shop selling various vegan foodstuffs, among them her ridiculously delicious raw and non-dairy “cheesecakes” that regularly sell out at local health food stores.
She’s got a line of freshly juiced vegetables, and offers such beverages as chlorophyll shooters, electrolyte lemonade, smoothies, soups, salads and maki rolls. There’s room in the back for classes — a vegan’s playground with one-stop shopping. She’s also selling juicers, blenders, and other food-related products.
But where she would normally sell only raw food items, in this shop her repertoire is expanded to include a few “cooked” dishes such as quinoa (the ancient grain of the Incas) with various toppings, aided in the kitchen by her long-time friend and chef, Monica Machado (with Natasha, photo above left).
SimplyRaw Express is definitely targeted at mainstream customers looking for nutritious takeout in a hurry, refrigerated and packaged in biodegradable containers. There’s seating for only eight in her 1,200 square feet of floor space, so “it’s more grab-and-go” food that is significantly different from other food shops along the busy strip.
Will it succeed?
If the enthusiasm of 50 or so well-wishers on opening night is any indication, it should. But it may not be an easy sell with dedicated carnivores who measure value by the quantity of fried food they can pile on a plate, or in a bun.
Above, dill “cheese” made with fermented cashews, lemon, dill, Himalayan salt, served on crispy endive.
What struck me about the launch was the clean, crisp and bright flavours of Natasha’s vegan cuisine — I have always, always loved it. That, plus fact I spotted not one obese person in the room.
Among the well-wishers is Andrea Tomkins, who goes by the moniker @missfish on Twitter, author of the popular blog A Peek Inside the Fishbowl. She couldn’t help but notice the contrast in dining lifestyles hanging out along Wellington West. “Driving over, there was a lineup out the door at Hintonburger,” Andrea notes.
“So when you look at that kind of demand for meat and that kind of eating, I wonder if this kind of establishment will succeed. I hope they do, because I’ll certainly be here. I enjoy a good burger too, but I like to eat well. So it’s all about balance.”
Raw vegan cauliflower sushi with avocado, shiitake, sprouts, red pepper, pine nuts, wrapped in nori.
Steamed quinoa with coconut curry, chickpeas, red pepper and cilantro.
Leanne Cusack, CTV host of News at Noon, is most definitely a booster. “Without question, Ottawa can support this,” she says, laughing at the notion that folks in Hintonburg may soon be sporting kale stuck in their teeth.
“We’ve been starving for healthy alternatives,” Leanne says. “To have something that’s fresh, delicious and so flavourful, it’s hard to believe it’s so good for you. Everything Natasha touches has the most magical flavours.
“Natasha has been a leader in our community for healthy eating, and this shop will make it accessible to everyone. It will blow people’s minds and excite heir palates.”
Says Natasha, modestly: “Here I’m not even focusing on raw — it’s just healthy, clean eating.”
Pamela Tourigny, past president of National Capital Vegetarian Association, which each spring organizes an incredibly popular VegFest at Glebe Community Centre, says the arrival of vegan restaurants like acclaimed ZenKitchen on Somerset Street in July 2009, and more recently Café My House on Bank Street, speaks to a burgeoning demand among vegetarians — and others who just want to eat healthy food — looking beyond some of the more traditional, cafeteria-style eateries where salads and lentils tend to be weighed at the checkout.
“The huge success of recent openings of vegetarian restaurants shows that people are embracing vegetarian, vegan, and plant-based food,” Pamela says.
“At Café My House you can’t get in there on a weekend without reservations. And our VegFest has grown every year for the past four years. So I definitely say there is room for growth and diversification.
“SimplyRaw Express is different — it’s like fast food, convenient and accessible to people in a hurry who don’t want to go to McDonald’s.”
SimplyRaw Express
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989 Wellington St. W
613-234-0806
Hours: Tuesday to Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m; Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; closed Monday.
Incredibly rich, nut-free Super Gogi Fudge with coconut oil, raw cacao, agave, gogi berries, vanilla.
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