I love a museum café. I always try to eat at them when travelling, whether abroad or here in Canada. Usually, that means lunch or a snack to boost my blood sugar after absorbing beautiful, thought-provoking works of art. Still, I was thrilled to hear that the Ottawa Art Gallery’s lovely café, Jackson, now stays open for dinner Wednesdays through Saturdays.
The restaurant is operated by the Germain Hotel Group, whose Ottawa location is situated right next door to the OAG. The hotel group invited us to experience Jackson at Night and discover the evening menu.
James Bratsberg recently came on board as Executive Chef for both Jackson and the hotel’s restaurant, Norca. If Bratsberg’s name sounds familiar, he was the chef at MēNa on Preston Street until it closed in 2018. He then worked in Montreal for a few years before coming home to head the kitchen at Bar Lupulus in Wellington West.
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I never made it to MēNa, but I enjoyed a lovely evening of snacks and drinks at Lupulus last fall. Given Bratsberg’s resumé, I was excited to see what he was doing at Jackson. Spoiler alert: He’s creating inventive flavour combinations in the form of small sharing plates.
Jackson is located on the lowest level of the OAG, with soaring ceilings and huge windows facing Daly St. Despite that, it has a cozy feel, with comfy leather armchairs, a long white bar lit by adorable flower-shaped pendant lights, and several gorgeous murals to look at if you’re seated facing the entrance hall. There’s also an industrial-chic patio tucked between the walls of Arts Court and the hotel.
We started with drinks: the pithily-named Kneecapped Bees mocktail (pineapple-peppercorn-honey syrup, fresh lemon, and soda) and a classic Aperol spritz. Both were delightful and refreshing, with pleasant acidity.
The menu offers four choices for bread. We chose the pepita-flecked sourdough baked at Gatineau’s Maison Oddo, which also supplies pastries for the café during the day, and gluten-free arepas, thick cornmeal cakes with a crisp exterior dotted with flaky salt and a fluffy interior, freshly fried to order.
The main menu section, titled Raciones (Spanish for “portions”), is composed of sharing plates, each suitable for two persons. There were several vegetarian and vegan options, as well as meat and fish. We decided to share the baba ganoush, patatas bravas, beef with brown butter and leek tapenade, and salmon with peas and sorrel.
The baba ganoush, a Middle Eastern eggplant dip enriched with tahini, lemon, and garlic, arrived with our toasted and oiled sourdough—a delightful pairing. I am a sucker for this dip and will always, always order it when I see it. This one did not disappoint: the velvety eggplant purée had not a hint of bitterness, and came drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with finely chopped carrot and preserved lemon, an inspired choice to zing the palate and offset the richness of the dip. We cleaned the plate.
Next were the patatas bravas (“angry potatoes”), a classic Spanish tapas dish: chunks of fingerling potato fried to golden brown atop a pool of habanero hot sauce, dolloped with a luscious brava sauce made from tomatoes and smoked paprika. I like things slightly less spicy than my partner, so I left him most of the hot sauce, but he said it was perfectly medium-hot with tons of flavour. I’ve eaten patatas bravas in many places, and these held their own beautifully.
Jackson’s Beef with Brown Butter and Leek Tapenade. Photo Chris Chase
The beef dish was a piece of seared flatiron steak, sliced and topped with microgreens and finely diced braised leek, all drizzled with deliciously toasty brown butter. The meat was tender and flavourful, though I would have liked it with a little more pink in the centre, and the leek tapenade was top-notch and creative, so much so that we wanted more of it.
Finally, the salmon: two seared and pan-roasted hunks of pink fish nestled among tiny, adorable summer squash and cherry tomatoes, halved and barely cooked, all sitting in a small pool of green pea and sorrel sauce. For those unfamiliar, sorrel is a green herb whose flavour lies somewhere between mint and dill, and it’s fantastic with fish—I’d love to see it on more menus. I adored the sauce’s delicate yet distinctive flavours and the richness the peas imparted.
We were getting full and had to make a tough decision: charcuterie or dessert? Our sweet teeth won out, but I want to go back and try the duelling manchegos (my favourite cheese ever) and the jamón serrano (cured Spanish ham).
From four dessert options, I chose the daily donuts, because I will always try a donut. The day’s flavour was cardamom and saffron—wow! Two airy, fluffy, golden yeasted donuts arrived in shallow pools of bright-yellow saffron syrup, sprinkled with chopped pistachios. Again, an incredible balance of delicate but unmistakable flavours, and the texture was pillowy and tender. Both of us raved.
My partner chose the rhubarb, ricotta, and pistachio dessert, which turned out to be exactly as described: three ruby-pink stalks of fresh rhubarb, crunchy but lightly caramelized, dotted with dollops of sweet ricotta and lightly sugared pistachios. He loved the simplicity of it and the way the three flavours complemented each other without overpowering the others.
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Service was kind and friendly; both servers knew the menu well. Pacing was great: we asked for a few minutes’ pause before dessert, and they gently checked in to see if we were ready. Prices are extremely fair, given the high calibre of the food: breads are $5, raciones range from $10–$16, meats and cheeses $9–$14, and desserts $8.
If you’re looking for a classy but not too fancy date night, Jackson at Night is the perfect spot. We made a point of arriving early to wander the current exhibitions and get our art fix before dinner, and we’d do it again. Bratsberg’s flavours are creative and fresh, and the plates are, appropriately, a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach. Art and food lovers should check it out.
Jackson Café is located in the Ottawa Art Gallery, 10 Daly Avenue. The restaurant is fully accessible, as are the washrooms. Dinner is served Wednesday through Saturday from 4–9pm. Find them on Instagram @jacksoncafe.ott
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