O•S•C•A•R© Fida's Pizza Changes Hands - Old Ottawa South

MAY 2010
By William Burr
The restaurant Domus in the
Byward market is an upscale
affair. On its menu, you can
find such fare as Cast Iron Seared Wild
BC Pacific Halibut ($33). Ottawa
Magazine named it the best place to
eat in the city. So it was all the more
surprising to find John Taylor, Domus
owner and head chef, in paint-stained
work clothes amidst torn up floors,
half-painted walls, and sawdust.
The restauranteur is overseeing the
transformation of the old Second Cup
location at Bank and Sunnyside into
Taylor’s Food and Wine Bar. “I’ve
always said, If I wasn’t a chef, I’d be
a carpenter,” he says.
Taylor is tall and speaks directly
and matter-of-factly, but with a desire
to promote his brain-child.
The opening of the wine bar marks
the rising affluence of old Ottawa
South. Over the past decades, house
prices have doubled, and the shops
lining the street have become more
posh. The service station at Bank
and Sunnyside and NAPA Auto Parts
at Glen have closed, while specialty
boutiques like Grace in the Kitchen
and Serious Cheese have opened their
doors.
Now, we’ll have a wine bar. But
what’s a wine bar?
“It’s not a bar,” Taylor says.
Except that it is, kind of. It’s a bar
where you don’t go to drink, strictly.
You go to savour a good glass of wine
with tasty food platters. Meanwhile,
you can watch people going by on
Bank Street. “One of life’s great
curiosities is people watching,” he
says.
There will be meat and cheese
plates, featuring cheeses from Ontario
and Québec. There will also be
charcuterie, smoked fish, and salads,
with an emphasis on local products,
like at Domus. Taylor expects that he
will be able to do a lot of his shopping
at the Farmer’s market at Lansdowne
Park. As an example of what you
might catch on the menu, there could
be a salad made of heirloom tomatoes,
cucumbers, black olives, feta cheese,
pickled red onion, and homemade
lamb pancetta.
Because the kitchen is so small,
dishes will have to be designed around
volume over fanciness. Prices will be
lower than they are at Domus. The
wines will be from Niagara, Prince
Edward County, and BC, as well as
from around the world. Taylor’s wife
Sylvia, a sommelier, will be in charge
of the wines, as she is at Domus. Beers
will feature local microbreweries such
as Beau’s.
But the place will close around
midnight. Don’t expect droves of
rambunctious students or TV sets in
the corners.
Taylor got into the food business
at a young age. He participated in a
Canadian government job creation
program when he was just out of high
school. He had the choice of training
to be a window-fitter, a glazer, a
framer, or a cook. His first choice
was framer, since he had already done
some framing work. When he got
deeper into the application process,
however, he realized that he wanted
to try cooking. He’d always enjoyed
Proposed Cardio ... Cont’d from page 1
Memberships would be
available with drop-in opportunities.
Fees would range from $37 a month
to $172 for six months (about 38
chai lattes).
Although the room could be used
as a space for a Yoga/Pilates Studio,
or spinning Classes (requiring
special equipment required) or as
a Multi Use Space, the challenge
remains to thoroughly understand
if there is a need and want for a
community cardio fitness room from
the OOS residents.
The program committee feels
we have the money in reserves, the
community deserves this kind of
special programming and that there
is a very strong case for this kind
of cardio/fitness community based
program opportunity.
In support of better
understanding the market segment,
the OSCA board made a decision to
expand the program committee with
a few more board members for this
study and to survey the community.
We will be coming to the streets
looking for your feedback as to
whether you would support and/or
participate in this initiative in the
coming weeks.
You deserve to be heard! Please
go to www.oldottawasouth.ca for
the link to complete a three question
survey.
May 12 at midnight is the
deadline for doing the survey.
The OSCAR - OUR 37 th YEAR
Our New Wine Bar
John Taylor Photo by W. Burr
it growing up, making things from
carrot cake to Caesar salad. All it took
was a few moments in the kitchen
at the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel in
Fredericton, and he immediately knew
it was what he wanted to do for the
rest of his life. The hustle and bustle
of the kitchen, the entire atmosphere
of it all charmed him.
He stayed in Fredericton for three
years. Then a friend brought him to
Ottawa to work for the new Novotel
Hotel. In Ottawa, he met his mentor,
Jean-Pierre Challet, a Frenchman
from Lyon. Following him up to the
Relais and Chateaux Inn at Manitou
north of Parry Sound, Challet was one
of the first to introduce him to using
local produce. Taylor asserts that if
you don’t start out with good products
then you can’t turn them into anything.
Challet also taught him what Taylor
calls “quality versus attitude or ego.”
Eventually he returned to Ottawa.
Taylor’s inspiration is his
grandmother. He spent a lot of time
with her as a child, and remembers
the smell of her freshly baked bread
and her routine trips to local markets
and farms to get fresh produce. “It
was home-cooked, good food from
farms.”
Taylor’s favourite places to dine
out in Ottawa are in Chinatown: Chez
Nam on Booth Street, and Koriana on
Somerset. Koriana makes a pork and
kimchi stirfry with tofu - “It’s really
Page 9
spicy and porky and then you’ve got
this really creamy tofu inside and the
texture is just amazing.”
Taylor purchased Domus in 1995,
but it was already an established
restaurant. He’s always wanted to
do something “from the ground up,”
something entirely his own. Notice
the name of the new place: “Taylor’s
Food and Wine Bar.”
When the Second Cup location
became vacant, it was almost an
obvious choice. Taylor has lived
in Old Ottawa South for years, on
Belmont Avenue.
Besides taking care of the wine,
Taylor’s wife Sylvia has done the
interior design for the wine bar.
Taylor explained that it was absolutely
essential to get rid of the old Second
Cup colours. Sylvia has chosen a
beautiful burgundy colour for the
walls of the bar. It’s called nazahari;
you might call it “wine.”
As for the bar itself, the tables,
the chairs, and even the floor – they
are all still in progress. John Taylor
works in this construction zone every
day, helping to lay the floors, install
the tables, and paint the walls.
Come early May, Taylor’s Food
and Wine Bar will be open, all going
well. Taylor will dust sawdust off his
clothes and step into the kitchen.