CheapEats Ottawa restaurant guide blog

SuburbanEats: Rangoli

It's no secret we've never been impressed with the suburbs. Sure, they might be well-suited as places to raise children, but otherwise suburbs have frighteningly little to offer. You'll never see a respectable band outside of downtown, nor will you find much in the way of culture. Community theatre is NOT doing great things.But when it comes to food, it turns out there are exceptions to the rule.

 
If you like spicy (reallllly spicy try the
chili pakoras. They’re yummy, but
super-hot!).

Here in Ottawa, for example, the best Indian restaurant we’ve found is Rangoli (CEOT pg. 83) - all the way out in Orleans, 20 minutes drive out of the core. It truly is better than any of the downtown Indian eateries. The only exception is Ceylonta (CEOT pg.40), but technically that’s Sri Lankan, so the judgement still stands.

Being as good as it is then, we're forced to make the trek out to the suburbs every now and then for a meal.It seems to us that every Indian restaurant in town pushes its Butter Chicken – we’ve seen plenty of signs claiming “best Butter Chicken in Ottawa.” You won’t find that claim at Rangoli – in part because they’re not in Ottawa, and why would anyone claim the title of best Butter Chicken in Orleans?

And it’s not that the Butter Chicken is bad – quite the contrary, it’s wonderful – but the kick ass dish at Rangoli is the Chicken Tikka Masala. It’s to die for – a flavourful and rich dish that puts any butter chicken to shame. Get extra – you’ll want it to go. After all, you won’t want to drive out here again too soon.

Unfortunately, Rangoli isn’t open terribly late – so plan your visit. You don’t want to get all the way out there to find it closed. If that happens, you’ll be forced to find another SuburbanEatery, which still tend to focus too much, for our taste, on copy after copy of restaurant chains - Denny's, Kelsey's, Montana's, St-Hubert’s, Casey’s.

At least places like Rangoli help make the suburbs just a little less soul-crushing. No, we won't be moving out of the core any time soon, but this does give us another good reason not to get rid of the car!

Technorati Tags: R&M, rangoli, CheapEats Ottawa, CEOTv2, Ceylonta, Orleans, Ottawa, restaurant, Indian, Sri Lankan, Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala

Feast of Fields

Sunday, September 16, 2007
Vincent Massey Park
12-4 pm

Tickets are now on sale!

This is an outdoor event, subject to the usual concerns about rain, but if you get a nice day, Feast of Fields is one of the best ways around to sample some amazing and creative food.

Technically it’s not a cheap eat (at $40 for an adult ticket) but keep in mind that you do get a $15 tax receipt for that price.

This is a unique opportunity to sample the best of the fall harvest prepared by about 20 chefs from across the region, all of whom have been paired with farmers from the region who embrace local and organic production methods.

The event runs from noon until 4pm, but food is served for the first two hours only. So get there on time. For more information check out the Canadian Organic Growers' website.

New Farmer's Market for Old Ottawa East

  Peppers 
  Originally uploaded by LexnGer

We're getting a new local market!

Starting next Saturday (August 11th), there will be at least 12 vendors at the St. Paul University parking lot on Main Street from 9am until 2pm.

This market is running as a pilot project for three weeks -- so go out and support it. Vendors all come from within 100 km of the downtown core, so we're looking at local food from local producers. It's got the Byward market beat that way. And given Byward's growing reliance on crafts and flowers, it should be pretty comparable in terms of the amount of food available.

Hopefully they get enough of a turnout to make it worth their while to keep this going. The more options we have to buy local food the better.