A Great Little Oyster Bar - Either/Or & Offsales!

When was the last time that you saw a Marantz Turntable? For me it was in 1978 when, sitting in my dorm with my roomate, I was architecting the ultimate stereo system.

Well, depending upon the mood, when I walk in to a dingy 5-tabled joint with a double doorway off the bad side of Bank Street and see a Marantz turntable behind the bar and a yard of vinyls, I begin to get comfortable. And so started my night at a great little find that's going to become a regular every time I'm itchin' for oysters and not up to self-mutilation.

Now, I'd like to claim this as my own personal find. But they've been open for 9 months, exibited at the Ottawa Wine & Food Show, and been written up in the Ottawa Citizen. Still, when faced with a quick question as to where to go for dinner on a Tuesday night when ditched by my non-seafood loving regular dining partner I thought back a few months and picked Whalesbone... and that was all it took.

With my stand-in dining partner we sat up at the bar - or counter, asked for a Guinness (Sean, the oyster shucker's recommendation) and ordered up a plate of oysters... to start. These weren't your Malpec oysters. For starters, they had a selection of 6 or 7 types, most of which were Canadian - from Nova Scotia or BC., dished up by Sean, who provides a wealth of information about the industry and the food in a faux Irish, Ottawa-Valley brogue, that could almost make a straight guy croon.

After finishing up the oysters we ordered some additional dishes from a fairly simple menu that consisted of a few appetizers - Creamy Lobster Bisque with vanilla & Chive; Warm Lobster Salad, with soft mozzarella, oven-roasted tomato & Basil; Crab Cakes with Caviar Aioli & Apple Slaw; and as entrees - Mushroom Risotto, Pan Seared Salmon, Steak Frites, and market Lobster.

The warm salad was good - lightly dressed and just the right size as an appetizer. However, the crab cakes were a little underwhelming - they were tasty, albeit a touch dry, but lacked the complexity which I would normally expect in a good crab cake. I would order them again because it takes a lot to turn me away from crab cakes on a menu - but I honestly think mine are better.

But what was spectacular were the Sweet Potatoe Fries. These were unbelievably good. They were crispy, light and perfectly balanced in their sweetness. With the Aioli they were the ideal accompaniment to the lobster salad.

Another plate of oysters rounded out the evening, one more Guiness and then we were treated to a complementary scotch, courtesy of our star oyster shucker.

Now one of the other things that really intrigues me about Whalesbone is the idea of Offsales. For you tight-assed central canadians who still can't buy beer in corner stores, Offsales are the BC answer to closed beer stores on a Sunday afternoon... when you can pop in to your local and pick up a 12-pack of Kokannee... the real Kokannee.

Well, apparently Whalesbone will do the same thing. Phone them up, let them know you're coming, show up and order a couple dozen oysters of choice to take home and shuck 'em to the tunes that make you sing.

So I'm giving Whalesbone a huge thumbs up.... and the washrooms? Well, they're not spectacular - but they are clean... and when faced with a conundrum, which one of the two doors do I pick.... I had my own personal guide, the inimitable Sean, to help out... "either/or"... and that was all it took.