Hello Ottawa
In Today’s Edition
→ 85% of City of Ottawa employees are in the office every day
→ This week's dining and drinking news
→ Canadian Made Deal of the Day on Ursa Minor womenswear
Ghost City Tunnel Underpass
Readers continue to update us about the planned underpass connecting Kanata’s Centrum Shopping Centre with the Canadian Tire across the street on Terry Fox Drive. The plan was initiated by the now defunct City of Kanata in 1995.
William and Guillaume (yes, we noticed that too) both directed us to this Bike Ottawa feature from last year, ‘Earl Grey underpass: Is it worth $20m?’. Read it – it’s very good on the background.
Included in the story was the image below:
To THE OTTAWAN’s eye, this looks like a plan to spend $28 million and disrupt Terry Fox Drive for two years so an underpass can be built a block away from an existing traffic signal controlled intersection.
We’ll be sending an email later today to Kanata North ward councillor Cathy Curry asking about this. We’ll let you know what she says.
– Martha and Darren
WEDNESDAY DINING + DRINKING UPDATE
🍺 Overflow Brewing Co always offers deals on pints and snacks during its Hoppy Hour (Tuesday through Friday from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm).
🥘 Taste regional favourites at Navatara’s Indian Food Festival. August 22 - 24 at Clarke Fields Park (93 Houlahan St, Nepean K2J 3Y7)
☕ Longtime readers of THE OTTAWAN know that we have promoted Canadian goods and services from the beginning, and we get especially excited those that make great gifts. So we were delighted to discover The Roasters Pack subscription service, which sends out roasted-in-Canada coffee each month, as well as their cool festive season gift ideas. The first is the 2025 Coffee Advent Calendar, which offers your choice of roasts and sizes of 25 coffees from Candian roasters. The calendar pack includes a tasting journal and a gift card for $10 off your favourite bag of coffee. There's also a smaller ‘12 Days of Matcha’ advent calendar (not technically an ‘advent’ calendar but you get the idea. It’s still a cool gift idea for the matcha lover in your life). We're telling you about these Christmas gifts now because experience tells us that homegrown Advent Calendars always go fast.
🍖 Meatings’ Beer + BBQ + Pairing + Tour in the Broadhead Brewery taproom will be a feast for your beer and brisket-loving senses. (Wednesday August 27).
🍷 The Orléans Cork & Fork Festival is back November 7-8 at the Shenkman Arts Centre. Choose from sessions on Friday or Saturday.
🚨 At Apartment 613, Ali Tejpar and Jade Monaghan have an overview of two year-old St Rita on Bank Street. They find the Italian resto is ‘less like an outing and more like an invitation to a family dinner’.
👨🍳 Chef Ric Watson is opening a second Chef Ric restaurant in September at the Taggart Family YMCA. Watson, whose first restaurant opened in the old Rideau Bakery space under the aegis of the Ottawa Mission, works to provide ‘healthy food, affordable catering, and a job training program for men and women looking to change their lives.”
🏳️🌈 Rainbow Doughnuts are back at Little Jo Berry’s for Capital Pride. But the gluten free treats are only available in store on Wellington Street.
🥊 The 2026 edition of the Canadian Culinary Championship will have five chefs representing the Capital. Returning chefs are Jason Sawision of Stofa on Wellington Street West and Mitch Lacombe of Gitanes on Elgin Street. Newcomers are Simon Beaudry of Les Fougères in Chelsea, Simon Laroche of Caméline in the Hull quarter, and Michael Hauschild of the catering company InHaus Cooking.
🐟 We don’t mention Capital Eats very often as most of their stories are paywalled, but Ralf Joneikies’s review of Manotick East Coast seafood truck Chummy Jiggers is open this week. ‘Make no mistake, this is comfort food pure and simple. What this sometimes means is that it's not exactly healthy but that’s not a concern when we just want a taste of home’, he says.
🍴 Apropos of nothing, when ward councillors for Knoxdale-Merivale, Sean Devine, Barrhaven East, Wilson Lo, and Barrhaven West, David Hill, had a lunch meeting with the Prime Minister yesterday it was at Greenfield's Public House in Barrhaven. The CBC didn’t report the full menu but Lo had fish and chips, Devine had curry and Carney had a kale salad with chicken.
🍨 ByWard Market is getting a new Baskin-Robbins shop, located at the the old ByWard Fruit Market address.
