Around town, more and more restaurants, gourmet grocers, and prepared meal vendors are selling appealingly priced premium, delicious alcohol beverages (and their no-alcohol twins) as take away items when you purchase food from them. It is true. Your eyes are not deceiving you.
Among them is Red Apron, the dinner delivery, take home food vendor and café located on Gladstone Avenue in Centretown. This month, I sat down with co-founder Jennifer Heagle to talk about how the Red Apron takes the stress out of food and beverage pairings, supports Ontario beverage makers, and what she’s pouring in her own glass these days.
“The common theme is that the beverages we sell pair well with food that we sell,” Jennifer told me at the start of our conversation. The Red Apron’s beverage experience is excellent, a right sized combination of price points (bottles of wine from $20 to $45) and familiar styles from under-the-radar producers.
Chardonnays at The Red Apron. Photo The Red Apron
Here are three good things you need to know:
They shine a spotlight on small lot, small batch beverages made in Ontario
“We like to support local,” Jennifer told me enthusiastically. All alcohol beverages sold by the Red Apron are crafted by small Ontario producers. Weekly, they offer for sale 20 to 30 different wines from vineyards in Prince Edward County and the Niagara region. On the day that Jennifer and I were talking, their selection of beer was from Matron Fine Beer in Brookfield, Prince Edward County, and ready to drink cocktails were from Toronto based distillery Civil Pours.
All were displayed in rows in the intentionally designed “bottle shop corner”, which is a breeze to navigate and located to the left of the main entrance.
By the way, Jennifer’s current favourite is Niagara’s Wending Home Estate Vineyard’s Chardonnay. When it is sold out, she’ll find another favourite to take its place, she said with a laugh.
They know (and tell you) the beverages that pair well with each of their prepared meals
“We make it easy for our customers to make a choice… we want to make sure that they have options,” Jennifer advised me. Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, they have a curated menu that’s available for pre-order, pickup, or delivery.
They have red wine and white wine recommendations for each main course option on the menu. However, they’d also recommend a rosé or something stronger depending on the ingredients in the dish. Recently, they paired a margarita cocktail from Civil Pours with shrimp tacos.
When you shop in person, it is fast and easy to find the beverage pairing for your meal because they’re clearly tagged in the bottle shop corner. Look for tags featuring the word Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. It’s that simple.
They host complementary tasting events so you can try a beverage before you buy it
During the summer, the Red Apron will host evenings called Sip and Sample, which are opportunities to meet some of Ontario’s top wine makers, become familiar with their wines, and enjoy delicious creations from Red Apron’s kitchen. Word about this event is spread through their weekly newsletter and on Instagram. Sign up to their mailing list or follow them @theredapronottawa.
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The Red Apron is located at 410 Gladstone Ave, and is open Monday- Saturday. They offer fresh baked goods, ready made hot and cold meals, kitchen wares, and a bottle shop. The location, including their outdoor patio is fully accessible.
