For Fairouz, the gourmet middle-eastern dining spot on Somerset Street West, pandemic periods demand more comfortable measures.
Centretown Restaurant, which opened in early 2016 and was named one of Canada’s 100 best restaurants the following year, will close in late September. When it reopens in mid-October, it will be renamed Fairouz Cafe at 15 Clarence Street at Byward Market. Coffee will be a more casual restaurant, meant to be aware of what other people need from restaurants in the COVID-19 era, co-owner Tony Garcia said.
“We had the opportunity . . . to put an end to our pivot, to adapt to what I think is the new global of catering,” Garcia says. “It’s a COVID opportunity, I suppose. “
Fairouz will lease to the National Capital Commission the area formerly Black Thorn Cafe, not far from Sussex Drive. This place to eat has been closed for over five years.
The Fairouz Cafe will stay longer than its predecessor and, in addition to serving lunches, dinners and evening meals, will have a takeaway counter, an expanded middle-east flatbred program and takeaway and home delivery, Garcia says.
“We were just re-evaluating our future,” Garcia said. ” If we went in the same place, the message wouldn’t be so strong. If we moved, we’d have a whole new chance to be different. “
Fairouz on Somerset Street West is an older construction with small rooms and is limited in terms of capacity with physical distance measurements implemented. The largest area on Clarence Street, recently under renovation, will accommodate 50 other people in its dining rooms during the pandemic. and up to 160 more people in their front and back yards when it’s imaginable to eat outdoors, Garcia said.
The kitchen manager at Fairouz Cafe will be Justin Laferrière, who is Fairouz’s second chef and has been working on the eating place since it opened.
Garcia says he won’t be happy with some tactics to leave Somerset Street West, as he remembers frequenting the original Fairouz in the 1990s, decades before opening his subtle successor, but his business partner, Hussain Rahal, sold this building, and it’s time. for “Fairouz 3. 0” in a position that sees more traffic from pedestrians and tourists, he said.
“The Byward market has recently had a lot of bad news,” Garcia adds. “The neighbors are incredibly excited that there is something in this space.
“Delicious doesn’t want to be complicated and expensive. It’s our new way of thinking,” Garcia continued. “The days of dry-aged steaks at $85 are over, or almost over. “
That said, the month of angels saw the opening of the luxurious gourmet Aiana dining spot at the Sun Life Financial Centre. Aiana obviously sees expenses from the angelesvish in dining out of the pandemic, as her a la carte dishes of angels come with a $42 Wagyu meat burger and $172 Tomahawk steak, while offering $50 supplements for cakes or caviar and a $185 tasting menu.
Meanwhile, other Ottawa restaurants have tried to stay open COVID-19 by expanding their business plans beyond providing food in their dining rooms, patios and takeaways.
The French restaurant Gitanes on Elgin Street, which opened last year, sells not only wine, but also bottles of pre-mixed cocktails to take away or deliver on its website Gitanes Burger, while its website La Porte offers pantry items, adding sauces, meat and fish packages and even appliances such as seafood tours and oyster dishes.
Downtown Local 613 also sells takeaway cocktails, food is purchased, which is a provincial government stipulation, which made an exception this year to allow the sale of alcohol in restaurants.
Riviera, sparks Street’s place to eat with the score among Ottawa’s places to eat at Canada’s 100 best restaurants this year, sells sauces, seafood soup, meat packs and T-shirts on its website.
Preston Street restaurant Gray Jay Hospitality, whose chef Dominique Dufour competed this year at Top Chef Canada, sells homemade cold meats, pate, marinated duck breast and other pieces that are cooked or served at home.
Shortly after pandemic restrictions came into effect in the spring, Chinatown Corner Peach’s place to eat went from being a coffee shop to a “problem solver” that sells wine, bread, olives, cookies and more on the company’s online page several days a week. , opened to serve snack bar items, adding burgers and poutine.
While restorer Stephen Beckta has reopened its 3 restaurants in Ottawa to cater to on-site consumers, he is also promoting wine and food kits on his website curatedbybeckta. com.
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