Snails, mushrooms and politicos

For my last night in Ottawa, Daphne took me to Vittoria Trattoria. An Italian place in her neighbourhood complete with a wood burning oven. The place was pretty busy for a Monday night, but they still managed to find us a table. And this being Ottawa it was next to Stephane Dion and his backpack. My version of a celebrity. Well maybe former celebrity.

Anyway after looking over the menu and hearing some rather lacklustre specials we decided on our dishes. For a starter I had the nails sautéed in creamy tarragon and garlic scented wild mushroom ragu, spiked with cinzano and served on cornbread that was fantastic. I picked the dish in part because I saw it when it was delivered to Dion. It looked great. A deep rich garlicky sauce that was outstanding. It was a ragout of mushrooms and escargot on a cornbread muffin. Highlight of the meal for me. Easily. Imagine the mushroom and crostini dish at Cru, only with escargot, more garlic and a more complex sauce. The cornbread was a little sweet for my taste and Daphne agreed, but otherwise the dish was perfect.

Daphne had the Artichoke heart salad with , sbaby spinach and black olives tossed in a citrus vinaigrette topped with crumbled feta that was great for a whole different set of reasons. As rich as the escargot dish was, this was light and delicate. The dressing around the salad was outstanding. The feta and olives were a nice addition to the artichoke. But the highlight was the dressing. It was a bright lemony dressing that was delicious. I never make artichokes for myself at home, so it is always nice to have out.

For my main, I had the veal scaloppine in a Marsala wine and mushroom sauce accompanied by roasted potatoes and ratatouille. After the rich sauce of the escargot, the rich marsala reduction with veal was a little much. I think, as good as the veal was, I chose poorly. I should have ordered a lighter dish. Perhaps a pasta as Dion did. But I went for the veal. It came with a ratatouille and roasted potatoes. I'm not sure the potatoes were necessary. It was already a very filling dish.

Daphne had the Cannelloni di Funghi. A wild mushroom and potato filled fresh pasta tubes baked with white truffle scented cream sauce. I know this sounds a little odd as it is one starch filled with another, but it was quite tasty and seemed to work. It came with a truffle cream sauce. To drink I had a glass of Columbia Crest cabarnet sauvignon, a wine I've had before and enjoyed. It went nicely with both dishes, though better with the escargot. I can't remember what Daphne drank, but it was red and from Argentina.
We did not have dessert as we were both stuffed. Overall I thought the service was OK. A little slow, but otherwise not terrible. We weren't in a rush so it was OK. The starters easily outpaced the mains. They were outstanding. The mains while excellent, weren't anything really special like the starters. They were in class by themselves.

Vittoria Trattoria. 35 William St. Ottawa. 613-789-8959.

Comments

[Les]

I think i've actually been to this one. It's not bad, and it's especially good when you're there with the owner's friend and the Grappa just keeps on comin'.