On the menu for Hintonburg: A flurry of new restaurant openings, with a side of gentrification

Burnt Butter (1100 Wellington) is just one of several new restaurants moving into Ottawa's Hintonburg neighbourhood

Hilary Duff (blog/Twitter) is a quirky 21-year-old who loves multimedia journalism, cycling, food blogging, and churning massive amounts of baked goods out of her cramped student kitchen. She is also a contributing editor for Local Tourist Ottawa.

The Hintonburg restaurant scene is on the rise.

The neighbourhood is the latest in Ottawa to facedown with the issue of gentrification. The sweeping of new eateries has caused some businesses, like the old KFC location, to shut down, worrying some lower income families in the area that relied on the diner’s weekly specials. Now, the folks at the Hintonburger (who are moving into the old KFC location in 2012) are looking to help fill that gap.

And so, here’s what the Hintonburg food scene is looking like now. The trend is generally a positive one, and we recommend you check out the up-and-coming restaurants while they’re still young.

This radio piece was first produced for the current affairs radio show Midweek, broadcast every Wednesday from noon until 1:30 p.m. on the Carleton University radio station CKCU-FM 93.1.

Need a visual to illustrate the last few restaurant openings? Here’s a look at the new places that have opened (or plan on opening) in the neighbourhood. Click on the map pointer to find out more.

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What do you think of the new restaurants in Hintonburg? Which is your favourite so far?  

Charles Crosbie’s wrap-up of this weekend’s Taste of Wellington West festival

Charles Crosbie (blog/Twitter) moved from Toronto to the Hintonburg area after discovering it three years ago. He is an occasional blogger and the founder of Clout, a boutique marketing firm on Wellington West. 

This year’s Taste of Wellington West festival was a great success, as evident by a turnout that seemed to dwarf prior years: some of this year’s new attractions, alongside participation of 35 of the area’s amazing cafes and restaurants, drew a large amount of happy visitors to Hintonburg.

The classic car show was one of the main components of Saturday's festival

Crowds along Wellington West were elbow-to-elbow in many hot spots, chatting in line-ups and enjoying everything the area’s local shops had to offer. In addition, more than 50 local businesses took part in sharing and showcasing their offerings at this year’s festival, holding sidewalk sales and gatherings.

A few of the most notable participating local eateries were area newcomers. Alpha Soul‘s amazing samplings drew in visitors who stayed on their patio for an afternoon pint of delicious Kichesippi Beer; Isobel’s Cupcakes and Cookies, which opens in October, handed out samplings of their beautiful baked goods; Burnt Butter Italian Kitchen had the hungry gathered by the dozens outside; and, wood-fired pizza joint Tennessy Willems also had line-ups down the block to try their gourmet goods.

Hip hop at the Hintonburger

Hintonburger, the area’s year-old, rustic burger trailer near Somerset, had a winning setup: amazing live hip hop music and samplings of their homemade corn-dogs brought in a large crowd. They also (smartly) had additional picnic tables set up in their lot to allow visitors to stop by for one of their famous burgers while listening to the live tunes.

Cozy’s Restaurant, which has been under new management for just one week, was re-introducing itself to locals and making a great first impression on newcomers by giving away delicious samplings of their homemade pizzas. Regular favourites like the amazing Absinthe had lines around the block to sample their fare. Bridgehead was buzzing with visitors who were able to sample their red berry rooibos iced tea.

Area bars and taverns, such as The Royal Oak, Carleton Tavern and The Elmdale (which had a killer blues band in the adjacent parking lot) were also flooded with visitors.

Buskers at the weekend festival

Alongside the amazing eats and drinks this year, the festival offered some great new sights and activities for the day. Attractions like the kids play area in my office’s parking lot at Rosemount Avenue that sported a humungous bouncy-castle, street performers along the strip, live acts at various venues and a bike parade were all hugely popular.

One of the highlights of this year’s attractions was the classic car show component that was arranged in association with one of the coolest shops in the city, Fabgear 64. All kinds of antique and vintage rides lined Wellington West, including Fabgear owner Bob’s own beautiful cars, 1940′s business coupes, mid-sixties muscle cars like a Mustang GT 350 and cute mid-century compacts.

The streets of Wellington West were lined with classic cars like this one

The organizers crafted the perfect recipe of a great event. Visitors were able to enjoy a diverse and entertaining afternoon while being exposed to some of the amazing offerings – old and new – that have made Hintonburg one of the hottest up-and-coming areas of the city.

Thanks for letting us know about Saturday’s ongoings, Charles. We’re hungry now… Did any of you go to Wellington West for the weekend’s festivities? 

The Ottawa Cupcake Challenge: Part III – A visit to Isobel’s for a “tiny cupcake orgasm”

Photo Credit: Hilary Duff

Hilary Duff (blog/Twitter) is a quirky 20-year-old who loves multimedia journalism, cycling, food blogging, and churning massive amounts of baked goods out of her cramped student kitchen. She is currently writing an LTOttawa series on her hunt for Ottawa’s perfect cupcake.

 

Sometimes fate just wants me to eat a cupcake.

It was sheer magic and coincidence that drove me to find Isobel’s Cupcakes & Cookies a few Fridays ago, as I searched for the location of the historic Rockcliffe Park for a school assignment.  Knowing that the neighbourhood was some how accessible off of Beechwood Avenue, I wandered the mush and puddles of the street, searching for my final destination.  Who knew that my quest would secure me another cupcake testing?  Walking further, I recalled that Isobel’s – Ottawa’s first cupcake shop – was somewhere on this street.  Shortly after this epiphany, a pink awning emerged visible from the side of a building across the street.  A small car, the “cupcake-mobile” we shall call it, was parked outside, emblazoned with the shop’s logo that I recognized from Twitter.

And so, who am I to fight fate?  A cupcake sampling was happening.

Isobel's Cupcakes & Cookies

A chime rings as I enter the store, announcing that another cupcake-crazed customer has just entered the shop.  To my left, a bar-like counter stretches around the front part of the store, and eight tall wooden stools sit close, beckoning customers to come sit and stay awhile.  Above this counter, three digital photo frames flash images of the owner and people I presume to be her family.  It adds a nice sort of homey touch to the cupcake eating experience.  The rest of the left wall houses shelves of baked goods, carefully wrapped in plastic cellophane and tied with small coloured ribbons.  Within the bags are tiny heart-shaped cookies, generously piped with pink and red royal icing.  The shelves also hold an assortment of locally made Michaelsdolce gourmet jams (I recommend the vanilla pear); the glass jars a welcome contrast to the baked attractions of the surrounding shop.  In the front window, tiny plastic cupcakes swing rhythmically, their sparkly icing glittering in the afternoon sun.

Most significant, however, are the rows of real cupcakes that I see as soon as I walk in the door.

Isobel's Cupcakes & Cookies

Behind a pane of glass, cupcakes sit on special wooden planks that are indented perfectly to hold a single frosted treat.  Strolling up to the counter, I peer into the open kitchen area, where the stand mixer of my dreams sits staring at me, mocking my poor student kitchen budget.  Hovering around the cash, my eyes grow as I take in all the other delicious-looking desserts that people can buy in addition to their cupcakes.  In glass jars and stands are coconut snowballs, homemade marshmallows, green tea shortbread, roasted soy nut cookies – the ideal remedies for any sweet tooth cravings.

If you’re not in the mood for sugar, there are a variety of loose-leaf teas and coffees available to sip on as well.  As for me, however, I’m just here for the cupcakes.  Asking the cashier which cupcake she would recommend, she’s quick to suggest one of her personal favourites and one of the featured flavours of the day: a Boston cream cupcake.  I agree that this most certainly sounds delicious, and quickly hand over my $2.50 in exchange for this doughnut-cupcake hybrid treat.

Boston Cream Cupcake at Isobel's Cupcakes & Cookies

The first bite (along with all the rest of the bites) was glorious.  The cake was excellent and topped with a chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream whose consistency and creaminess reminded me of a bowl of freshly whipped butter.  Contributing to this cupcake love affair was a fresh pastry cream centre that provided the perfect intermission between icing and cake.  As you can imagine, I experienced a tiny cupcake orgasm.  This being said, there are very few ways in which I think this cupcake could have been improved.  Perhaps the buttercream icing could have had a tad more chocolate flavour to help it better embody the character of this famous doughnut, but other than that, it was perfect.

Isobel's Cupcakes & Cookies

Speaking of the icing, it’s different than the sweeter American buttercream that is most commonly used on cupcakes.  Unlike this icing, the Swiss meringue buttercream uses no icing sugar, meaning that there is probably enough butter in it to make Julia Child proud.  If you’re going to make cupcake icing, you might as well go all out, right?

As for other cupcake flavours, Isobel’s offers a wide variety of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, each with different kinds of buttercream frosting, toppings and filling.  For young cupcake fans, Isobel’s offers a special line of $2 kid’s cupcakes, which are topped by colourful icing and sprinkles galore.  While there are certain flavours offered everyday, the shop’s website has pictures and descriptions of daily specials so you can plan your visit accordingly.

Minutes before I leave the store, three young girls come bolting in with an adult, bouncing up and down in order to see and choose their cupcake from the rows above.  At the cash, their eyes barely reach over the counter, and they look in anticipation as the cashier puts a special sugared figure upon each of their cupcakes.

This is why I love cupcakes – they are cute enough to attract the squeals of a group of children and gourmet enough that I’m able to write a blog series about them.  It’s a beautiful combination.

Cupcake personality: ****

Cake: ****½

Icing: ****

Cupcake overall: ****½

Store atmosphere: ***

Want to check out Isobel’s? It is located at 117 Beechwood Avenue. Do you want to chat with Hilary about her adventure? Please leave a comment below!