A Great New Restaurant - Well Worth a Visit

The other evening I went to SideDoor Contemporary Kitchen and Bar which, after only two visits, has become my favorite new restaurant. The location was once the bar/dance bar "Foundation", and it is brought to you by Matt Carmichael, Executive Chef of Eighteen, and the owners of Eighteen and Social; although there is no comparison between it and the other two.

SideDoor is touted as being an Asian-inspired bistro, and influenced by the dishes of Susur Lee. But I have eaten in two of Susur's restaurant's, as well as having dined at Eighteen when Susur Lee made a guest appearance one night, serving an "all Susur" meal - and personally, I think making that connection is actually doing Chef Carmichael a bit of a disservice.

The approach at SideDoor is on "small plates" - I know, one of these days this trend is going to peter-out, surely! But I have to admit, I'm glad the trend didn't fade before Carmichael opened this gem.

The dishes served here are truly spectacular - simple in presentation, tasty, and very different for the Ottawa scene. My dining guest and I stuck to glasses of wine rather than sharing a bottle or two, and with their wine list there was ample to choose from - also, I think with "small plates" wine-by-the-glass is really the way to go.

I'm going to turn to the words of my dining guest - a sommelier who is always of strong opinion and to the point - to give his critique on the dishes that we had:

• BBQ pork tacos were excellent, original, well presented and bursting with flavour, my fav.
• Cod was large, that is not a bad thing, it was also very delicious and cooked perfectly, my next fav.
• Seared scallops where very well executed, really enjoyed them, the lemongrass was yummy in it.
• Peas worked because of the parmesan, I expected all sugar peas, not fresh peas, so presentation fail
• Lamb tacos very original and I liked them, I’m partial to lamb, but I agree with you, the BBQ Pork was better
• Beef was a good presentation, but WAY too salty, to the point that it was not enjoyable, and the beets were raw, not something I would order again
• Ceviche, fail: wrong fish, average presentation, no tang or zip; I can do better than that, by a mile.

I particularly like the way in which he declares: "I can do better that that, by a mile" – classic! I actually have no doubt that he can - although I would perhaps not have been quite as critical. I'd also agree that the beef presentation was a bit too salty - something that I'm getting sensitive about these days, as I ran in to the same problem with a lunch the other day that I had at another restaurant.

And here are another few comments from my dining colleague:

• Location was fabulous, décor was nice, cool large airy layout.
• Service and attention excellent: knowledgeable, helpful, attentive without being overbearing.
• Wine list was nice and varied, short on Canadian wines

One final note that we both shared - and perhaps a bit of a criticism of restaurants that focus on "small plates" - is the challenge with managing the right number of dining partners. As I said, I've been to SideDoor twice now, and I've been to Play, Food and Wine many more times than that, and I have always found that the optimum number of dining partners is two (meaning 3 people for dinner); any more than that and I find it gets complicated, and if there are only two of you for dinner you don't have an opportunity to try enough of the plates before you get too full.

But in addition to getting a kick-ass tan, rollerblading 15K everyday this summer has helped me drop 15lbs, so I figure I can afford to indulge; and I'm prepared to pay a bit of a premium and run the risk of too much food because it is well worth the extra $30 that two more dishes would cost - even if there were just two of us.