Hello Ottawa

WEDNESDAY DRINKING + DINING UPDATE

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  🍗 The Ottawa Kosher BBQ Cook-off and Festival 2026 is set for August 16, 2026, 11:00am-4:00pm at Ottawa Torah Centre Chabad, 111 Lamplighters Drive.  This one-day culinary extravaganza will feature teams and pitmasters competing in multiple categories, including best brisket, chili, and chicken, all prepared in accordance with Kosher dietary laws and judged by professional Kansas City Barbeque Society-approved judges.

  Additionally, attendees with advance “Taster Tickets” will have the opportunity to sample dishes from the competing teams and cast their votes, helping to crown the champion.  (Barrhaven)  

• 🥔 Potatoes are delicious, versatile, and even useful (we’ve heard you can use one to extract a broken lightbulb that’s stubbornly refusing to exit a fixture. If this has worked for you, tell us). They also feature prominently in the name of the newest Little Italy coffee joint. Let us know if you’ve visited the Happy Potato Café.

• 🌽 The Heart of Orléans Market returns with an incredible 130+ vendors. The event happens rain or shine and the parking is free.

• 🥣 The humble and nutritious breakfast staple is celebrated in The Golden Spurtle, a documentary about the World Porridge Making Championships in the Scottish Highlands. Check the Bytowne Cinema schedule for dates. 

• 🎟️ We know, we know ... summer’s not over. But it’s our duty to remind you that one of the tastiest events of the cooler season, Harvest: A Taste of Fall is coming up on September 15. (Sandy Hill) 

• 🍩 If you’ve been lusting after a donut from Homers Boîte à Beignes but find Gatineau too far, they opened an anglicized edition, Homies, at Herongate Mall last weekend.   

  🍔 Long before he was a competitor at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow – held this week – David Moulongou  accepted a challenge from his Merivale High School coach to break the 53-second barrier in the 400 metre dash in exchange for a Harvey’s burger. He got his burger.

• 🥚 In the Ottawa Citizen, Abyssinia Abebe wasn’t searching for anything in particular at the Lansdowne Farmer’s Market but went home with quail eggs laid in Osgoode.

• 🏵️ Also in the Citizen, Peter Hum notes that Arlo on Somerset Street West has made it into the 50 Best Discovery Guide, the only Ottawa resto to do so.

• Hum also says that ‘these new eateries are transforming Somerset Street West’: new globally inspired fried chicken eatery Kozhi, Casa Verde Latin Kitchen, Lola’s Kitchen, Instant du Palais, Coqueto, and Algrillades.

• 🍷 Faces magazine has five Local Wineries Worth the Drive This Fall:  KIN, Little Red Wagon Winery, River House Vineyard & Winery, Smokie Ridge Vineyard, and the Richmond Estate.

STATISTICS OTTAWA

NUMBER

• 200

• The number of new body worn cameras that the Ottawa Police Service plans to buy for use this autumn by its constables.

• – Josh Pringle at CTV

OTTAWANS OF THE DAY

• Andrew Lumsden and Gavin Lumsden

• In 1976, Andrew, 42, and his son Gavin, 11, hitchhiked across the Atlantic Provinces over two weeks.

• Fifty years later, the duo – you can do the math on their ages – did it again, hitchhiking from June 12 to June 29. 

• – Abyssinia Abebe in the Ottawa Citizen

QUOTE

“

• There’s so much more to do, and we’re honest to the public about that, but we’re addressing the reliability that they're asking for

–  OC Tranpo general manager Rick Leary after the first transit town hall. Leary and his staff heard from dozens of transit users who had come with questions and frustrations. 

– Dan Taekema at CBC

SPORTS

⚾ FRONTIER Ottawa Titans 2 vs Sussex County Miners 6

Yesterday

⚾ FRONTIER Ottawa Titans vs Sussex County Miners

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WHAT’S GOING ON AT CITY HALL

WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

THE DAILY POLL

How sympathetic are you to Eastern Ontario farmers about the proposed Alto route?

🔘 Methinks they doth protest too much

🔘 It will make their farms untenable

🔘 Trains, highways, and freeways have been cutting through farmland for nearly 200 years, this is the cost of living in a society

🔘 Once someone explains that we in Ottawa could travel to Montréal in 45 minutes in total comfort, the farmers will come around

🔘 Hear us out: rails floating on pontoons in the Ottawa and St Lawrence rivers

• 
  Previously in OTTAWAN polls:

• Will you go to the Ottawa 200 Block Party at City Hall?

  • 16% Absolutely

  • 48% Absolutely not 

  • 27% I’ll think about it

  • 0% Not until the City recognizes the pedants who maintain the City is only 26 years old

  • 9% I’ll celebrate in my own way (Tell us in the comments)

  •  

Wow! We have never run a poll that OTTAWAN readers were as unenthusiastic about more than this one. We should have asked about dogs and cats again..
 

Commentary

▪️ “I believe Nuit Blanche is the same night as well. May check this out as part of the celebrations.”

HISTORIC OTTAWA LOGO T-SHIRTS

Talisman Motor Inn  T-Shirt The Beachcomber Room tiki bar at the Talisman Motor Inn was where Ottawa swingers could be found in the early 60s Help support the ottawan by buying one of our historic logo t-shirts. Shop for t-shirts

THE ROLLING THREE DAY CALENDAR

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✳️ Means change from previous edition

WEDNESDAY

• Chamberfest begin’s the day’s programming at noon with a two-part tribute to Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra’s former leader and violinist Jeanne Lamon, by Yolanda Bruno (violin), Pasale Giguère (violin), and Christina Mahler (cello). The program of Baroque trios will feature pieces by Jean-Marie Leclair, Antonion Vivali, and Lamon’s arrangement of Bach’s Chaconne. After an intermission, there will be a screening of The Immortal Serafin, about Lamon’s violin. Next, snag what is likely your first opportunity to hear Poiesis Quartet in action. The young string quartet has already been winning accolades and prizes for their work. (Downtown)

• 🆓 Make the transition from workday to evening even sweeter with the happy hour Spanish Guitar show with Raymundo Pizana, live at the Robo Lounge (the Glebe) 

• The moon is in that state again so it’s time for Full Moon Yoga at Lansdowne (The Glebe) 

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema: Peter Asher: Everywhere Man, Spectacle: Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, Summer of Schoenbrun: I Saw The TV Glow 

• Mayfair Theatre: La Rêve Américain (The American Dream), One Hundred and One Dalmations, Trog 

Gigs

• Lucas Haneman. Corner Sessions at Wellington and Hinton

• Awesome 360 with Hopefilly and It Shines. Rainbow Bistro

• Taproom Trivia. Stray Dog Brewing

THURSDAY

• 🆓 This week’s screening at Lansdowne Park is SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants. (The Glebe) 

• 🆓 ByWard Market Square brings out the DJs, live performances, food and drink, and local makers every Thursday through Sunday. 

• 🆓 The vendor line-up changes weekly at Urban Art Collective’s Hintonburg Night Market. 

• Go treasure hunting at Unitarian House’s Jewelry & Accessories Sale, which has been compiled through donations from local businesses, friends, family and supporters of the organization. (Woodroffe North) 

• Book your team of up to four people into the Speed Puzzle Competition, the competitive jigsaw puzzle solving session that is fueled by drinks, food, and teamwork. Under 19s must be accompanied by an adult.  Royal Oak Pub Kanata.  

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema: The Sheep Detectives, Gail Doughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, The Zone: Zardoz 

• Mayfair Theatre: Couture, La Rêve Américain (The American Dream), Backrooms 

Gigs

• Napoleon. Dominion Tavern

• Jessy Lindsay. The Robo Lounge

• Polarized, Sun Dried Flies, Tristen Walkling. Rainbow Bistro

FRIDAY

• The beach at Constance Bay sets the scene for an early morning (7:00 am to 8:30 am) Yin Yoga and Sound Healing session. 

• Road Trip: Catch the Ottawa Valley’s best acts at the Goodwood Country Music Festival in Beckwith Park (near Carleton Place). Day Passes, Weekend Passes, and camping are all available. 

• The 2026 Glengarry Highland Games will welcome more than 1500 pipers and drummers, 37 clans and Scottish societies, and 270 Highland dancers between July 31 and August 1. Organisers suggest bringing cards rather than cash. 

• Stock up on crystals and get a reading at Galaxy - Ottawa Psychic & Crystal Fair.  Kids 12 and under get in free; for the rest of us it’s $10 at the door. (Nepean)  

• Soak up the chill Friday night vibe at Orléans Unplugged. 

• Broadway Across Canada’s limited run of Mamma Mia! continues at the National Arts Centre (Downtown). 

Cinema

• ByTowne Cinema:  Sheep in the Box, The Golden Spurtle, I Want Your Sex 

• Mayfair Theatre: The Sheep Detectives, The Invite, The Rocky Horror Picture Show 

Gigs

• Hebi Katana with Grand Malheur, Cain Rising, Slammed into Ruins. Avant-Garde Bar

DEALS OF THE DAY

The Meatings Long Wknd Sale is online only. Use the code AUGUST to save on wings, brisket, and more, but only until Friday (July 31).   Province of Canada’s Secret Summer Sale is live as of today, so, not really a secret anymore.

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BUT, ONE MORE THING ...

• In its mere 35 years of existence, the Sens have played in 18 different jerseys. Matthew Nate at Senshot rates them from best to worst.

RAPID RESPONSE QUALITY CONTROL

THE END

THE OTTAWAN is written and edited every working weekday by Martha and Darren. Is there something that Ottawa should know about? Email to us at hello@theottawan.com. We read every single comment.