Shelly Lyonnais is a local elementary school teacher who has been living in Ottawa on and off for 20 years. She spends her weekends in search of Ottawa’s great date night dinner locations.
Sometimes when our traditional “date night” isn’t possible, my husband and I still try to do something in Ottawa together but in a less formal way. This often leads us to breakfast out.
Ottawa has many amazing breakfast places but one of our favourites is, of course, the Elgin Street Diner. If you went to University in this city, you are probably well acquainted with the ESD. My husband and I love going there because the menu has barely changed (has it at all?), the atmosphere is laid back, all walks of life go through the doors, it is open 24 hours (we are early risers) and the servers are familiar.
One morning, we had one of those weekends where we were hankering for a good breakfast… so off to Elgin Street we went. We were seated at the back of the restaurant which is a great place to watch the happenings of the place, although I prefer the window tables so that I can watch the hustle and bustle on the street.
It was very easy to pick what we wanted to eat…. where else can you get eggs, your choice of meat, toast, beans, home fries… and poutine? Yes folks, that is the hangover breakfast! We were not hungover on this particular morning, although I am sure that the original reason for choosing this breakfast was after a long night of drunken debauchery, many years ago.
The breakfast is pretty self-explanatory and much like a breakfast that you would get anywhere else (minus the poutine) but what keeps drawing us back is the memories of days past, the comfort of knowing what we want and the staff that we are so used to seeing. No matter how old we get (40 is not old no matter what kids say!) this place will always have a soft spot in our hearts.
Do you love all things brunch in the city? Check out our growing battle of the Ottawa brunch spots, and let us know about your favourite spot!
Great post Shelly!
We eat here often with our 2 and 4 year olds. The food is fast, they have colouring sheets, the servers are great and the kids eat all their food. I can’t ask for much more then that.
I concur with your comments about the diner. Whenever we are in Ottawa, we head to the ESD. We love the retro look, the menu and the staff are always friendly. It’s like going home for me as it reminds me of my family’s restaurant back in the 60′ s.