In this feature, Apt613 asks blog contributors and local food lovers about their recent Ottawa area restaurant highlights to help you find new tasty treats to discover or revisit when someone inevitably asks, “Where do you want to eat?” We want to hear about something that you ate and loved! Leave comments below, and if you’d like to contribute to a future edition of Best Bites, email <editors@apt613.ca>.
This week, let’s talk about sandwiches. It’s picnic season, and here are some delicious options for your next sandwich craving!
Best Bites this week:
- District Deli (220 Carruthers)
- Moo Shu Ice Cream (1130 Wellington St W)
- Roberto’s Corner (1034 Pleasant Park Rd)
If you follow any of Ottawa’s foodie bloggers, you must have come across rave reviews of the new District Deli in Wellington West. Naturally, we had to check it out to be sure it wasn’t all just hype. And let me tell you. Wow. On a residential street corner a couple blocks north of Wellington, District Deli is a bustling, bright spot. With only a few bar seats along the wall, this joint is definitely pick-up only right now. I recommend the lovely park on Wellington to eat in the sunshine. Despite the upscale address, this place feels like an old school deli and sandwich bar, with no frills, but a whole team of friendly guys behind the counter to make your sandwich lightning quick.
The huge board on the wall lists the sandwich options, all named after local streets. We got the McCormick and the Wellington, based purely on vibes, and the fact they both have three meats. Both are enormous, and $13.99. The McCormick, with capocallo, soppressata, genoa salami, havarti, lettuce, tomato, red onion, green olives, pickles, mustard and mayo was a salty, satisfying bite. The crunchy onions and chopped pickles gave it lots of life, and there had to be half a pound of meat in there. The Wellington has soppressata, mortadella, proscuitto, fresh mozarella, lettuce, roasted red pepper, pickled red onions, pesto mayo and vinaigrette. The mild mozarella was generous, and gave a great balance to the pickled onions and the peppery pesto. No notes.
District Deli. Photo Kiersten Vuorimaki
The pop fridge is full of fun drinks (Cherry Sprite! Berry Fanta!) for anywhere from $1.99-$3.49. We also got the pesto pasta salad, which was a great addition to the meal. Service was very friendly, and next time I’m getting a pickle on the side for $1.
District Deli is open 11-6 Monday to Saturday, and available on Uber Eats. They are still getting their web site up and running, so there is more to come!
This isn’t the first time, or probably the last time that I recommend you check out Moo Shu Ice Cream, especially now that they’ve moved to their sunny, spacious new location on Wellington West. With tons of room for waiting, sitting and hanging out they are slowly expanding their menu to include coffee, matchas and a very delicious selection of shaobing ‘wrap’ sandwiches. With house made, hand laminated shaobing wrappers and crammed with creative, fresh ingredients these are a flaky, chewy, rich sandwich option that I’ve not had before. With a limited menu of options, I’m sure they’ll keep trying new, fun ways to delight us.
We dropped in for a sunny brunch, and took our strawberry matchas and shaobings outside to enjoy on a bench in the fresh air. I got the Egg and Ham, which was a perfectly savoury, chewy and fluffy breakfast option, with a healthy amount of chili crisp giving it a good punch over the richness of the egg and cheese. The surprise star of the picnic was the Garlic Tofu shaobing wrap, with tofu, homemade sweet koji sauce and garlic chili sauce, pickled shallots, cucumber, cilantro, and scallions. I’m honestly not a tofu lover, but this was fresh, sweet, crunchy and flavourful. The flavour profile gave banh mi vibes, which is an easy winner in this town. We added chili crisp to amp up the flavour, and that was definitely the right move.
Moo Shu Shaobing. Photo Kiersten Vuorimaki
Moo Shu has started expanding their hours for summer, and currently are open Wednesday-Friday 11-10, Saturday-Sunday 101-10 and shaobing are currently available from 11-6 every day they are open. Check their instagram for daily scooping menus and updates to their business hours.
I did my homework, and was looking around for recommendations for the best sandwiches in town, and Roberto’s Corner in Elmvale kept coming up as a must-eat. Tucked into the back corner of a Quickie at the MacEwan gas station, Roberto’s is a jam packed lunch counter with take away Italian meals, baked goods and soups on top of the fresh sandwich deli. I seemed to be the only person there who had to actually read the menu, and was immediately overwhelmed with options. I picked a greek pasta salad from the fridge, and got the Roberto’s Italian trio which comes hot or mild. The old school Italian sammy comes with prosciutto, mortadella, hot capicola, pickled eggplant, roasted red peppers, and provolone with my choice of lettuce, onions, hot mustard and mayo on a crusty portuguese bun.
For only $8.99 this has got to be one of the most affordable and filling meals in town. The hefty sandwich was fresh and delicious, but definitely a five-napkin experience. I picked up an egg tart for dessert too, but had to save it for later because the sandwich was more than enough for one meal. The ingredients are fresh and flavourful, and the pickled eggplant is the perfect condiment on a classic Italian sandwich.
Roberto’s Corner. Photo Kiersten Vuorimaki
There are a few seats inside the Quickie if you’re in a rush, but taking the sandwich home, or out to a picnic is the best idea. Service was very fast, and friendly. Roberto’s is open every day of the week, and open later Monday to Friday. You can also order delivery on Uber Eats, Skip the Dishes and Door Dash, if you aren’t in the east end.
We want to hear about something that you ate and loved! Leave comments below, and if you’d like to contribute to a future edition of Best Bites, email <editors@apt613.ca>.
.gif)
