Sweetgrass…

Wachiya or welcome! A little while ago my girlfriend and I went to Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro on Murray Street. Sweetgrass is a really cool concept, it brings aboriginal foods to the fine dining plates of Ottawa.  It serves some interesting food and is a must try for every food lover in Ottawa.

The evening that we went, we sat on the patio, so we didn’t get much of a look inside. Sitting on the patio was great, lots of people watching. At the beginning of the meal they brought us a bowl of popcorn. While I love the popcorn, it is DANGEROUS!!! I could have easily eaten the whole bowl and then another, and another, and another, you get the idea, I loved the popcorn.

As an appetizer we shared some elk dumplings served with some veggies and mustard crème fraiche. The dumplings were delicious, they were crispy on the outside and the elk was cooked to perfection.

For my main I had the spring Canadian goose leg, with slow roasted vegetables, and potatoes in a port jus. The veggies were great but the real star was the goose. It had a nice crispy skin and was super juicy. It tasted a lot like the dark meat of a turkey. It was so yummy that I picked it up and made sure to get every last piece of meat off of the bone. An added bonus is that it was revenge for all of the geese that get in my way on my bike ride into work. If I ever accidentally hit a goose, I will now take it home and cook it for supper! Mooohahaha!

With our main we were served bannock. Bannock or frybread, it is generally made from flour, baking powder and water. After its all combined it is cooked in some sort of fat and cooked either in an oven or in a pan. (Bannock – Wikipedia) It was a simple and yummy way of keeping the aboriginal theme running through the meal.

My girlfriend had the local organic slow braised bbq beef with 3 year old cheddar polenta cakes and pickled vegetables. She loved the beef and the great bbq sauce. The only problem with the plate, if you can call it a problem, is that there was way too much polenta.

To finish off the night we shared Mom’s Indian Buudin. Buudin is a traditional Cree dessert, it is a dark steamed cake with raisins and cranberries. It is really similar to a bread pudding. It was really yummy and a great way to end the evening.

I would definitely recommend Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro to anyone. However there may be some bad news for the restaurant. I have seen some posts on different websites that said they are currently closed. So before heading to the restaurant, make sure to call to make sure they are open.

On another note, I will be biking to Kemptville from Ottawa for multiple sclerosis. If you’re able please sponsor me for the ride. Click the badge below! Thanks a million!