I know when I think about Beau’s Oktoberfest, three things come to mind: locally-brewed beer, preventative hangover cures, and how much fun it is to say “Vankleek.” But one of the more underrated aspects of the two-day festival — at least, in terms of being the main reason people make the 90-km trek from Ottawa — is the amazing food selection. We’ve pored over the list of nearly two dozen vendors from across eastern Ontario and come up with five “must-eats” at this year’s festival. Because as the Bible says,... | Continue reading article

Ever dreamt of being in a room surrounded by delicious, drool-inducing cookies with a license to sample as you please? I have, and it looks like my dreams are coming true as the first inaugural Ottawa Cookie Jam rolls into town on October 5 at Parkdale United Church. And while my dreams of having free rein might have to be reined in a bit (who could really eat dozens of cookies in one shot, apart from those otherworldly competitive eaters, anyway?) with 60 bakers signed up and ready to bring... | Continue reading article

The City of Ottawa launched a new street vending program earlier this year and now food trucks of all varieties can be found in the city adding to a tastier landscape of quick eats. If you’ve been dying to try one of the food trucks, including those that are not located in your corner of town, this Saturday, September 28 is your opportunity.  In the spirit of community and food, eleven of the trucks will gather at the corner of Norman and Pamilla Streets in Little Italy for the first... | Continue reading article

Post by Caitlin Carpenter. The old adage of “head west, young man” may be backwards in Ottawa. Most areas in and around Ottawa have been thoroughly mined by locals for hidden gems. However, the communities to the east of Ottawa are often overlooked. Non-existent traffic and crowds, fresh ingredients, affordable stays, and bucolic scenery should lure Ottawans to the villages of Prescott and Russell for the perfect day trip. Knox Fine Dining, Moose Creek Moose Creek is probably the last place you would expect to find a fine dining restaurant,... | Continue reading article

What does the best of Wellington West have to offer? Dishcrawl, the North American start-up dining experience founded on bringing foodies together, returns to Hintonburg on September 18. Participants, or “dishcrawlers” as they are affectionately dubbed, tour four local restaurants in and around the Hingtonburg area as they make their merry way through some of the neighbourhood’s finest eateries. Restaurants are kept secret until two days before the event, at which time the first restaurant is revealed to guests. Though tickets to the upcoming tour have sold out like—pardon the pun—hotcakes,... | Continue reading article

What will it be this weekend, Ottawa? Burlesque? A crowd-sourced musical bike ride? Fashion? House of PainT kicked off last night, and goes on all weekend long to celebrate their 10th anniversary. If you haven’t caught their Bboy and Bgirl breakdancing competition in years past, be sure to head down under the bridge on Saturday afternoon. There’s also music, dance parties and of course, live urban art. Ottawa Fashion Week is also entering its 10th season, getting underway on Friday – and although the main event is the runway shows,... | Continue reading article

There’s been lots of action on and around Wellington West these past few weeks. Here’s a rundown of moves, new business openings and future businesses along the strip. Tall Tree Cycles will be taking over the Red Chair Kids space this fall, around November. While the space doesn’t immediately seem bigger than their current space, they will benefit from a full basement where they can do work and store bikes. Since Alteriors moved to Old Ottawa South, I had heard many rumblings about a Starbucks moving into the space. A couple... | Continue reading article

Eating and sleeping are some of life’s greatest pleasures.  In our fast-paced world, however, many of us don’t pay enough attention to what we put in our mouth, or for that matter the beds on which we sleep. Local blogger Alexandra Corriveau is someone who spends a lot of time thinking about food and mattresses.  In fact, you can say that she was born into the dream business. “We make organic and custom mattresses,” says Corriveau about Obasan, her family’s business that is based in Ottawa.  ”Organic meaning that we use organic wool, organic cotton,... | Continue reading article

Last August, Apartment613 ran its first ever local beer guide complete with a handy custom Google map to help people find Ottawa’s most important beer landmarks. Since then, the explosion of craft beer in Ottawa has continued unabated. In one short year, Ottawa has added several new breweries and brewpubs. Keeping our readers’ best interests at heart, we decided that an update was in order. If you’ve been keeping tabs, you’ll notice some similarities to last year’s guide. Entries fall into four main categories: breweries, brewpubs, indie beer stores and... | Continue reading article

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR. It’s time, once again, to picnic. This isn’t just any picnic, though – this is a classy, black tie affair, voted one of Ottawa’s sexiest parties in our racy survey from earlier this year. For the past two years, Harvest Noir has seen hundreds of brave Ottawans gather together in their finest threads. Why ‘brave’, you ask? The picnics have both fallen on unseasonably cold days, with a spot of rain or two. This year, the organizers are hoping to change all that by holding it... | Continue reading article