Don’t mess with Texas… so why did you?

I hadn’t been to the Clocktower in quite some time. But since Philippe and I were meeting for lunch, it made sense to meet there, basicially at the halfway point between or geographical locations. The Clocktower is a brew pub chain that now has 6 locations across Ottawa. The original brew pub, on Bank street at Isabella, has a clock tower. It opened in 1996. So yes, they serve their own home brews. The Kölsch, the Raspberry Wheat, the Wishart’s ESB, the Bytown Brown, the Whalesbone Oyster Stout and the Clocktower Red. To that, you can add a selection of seasonal beers, such as the Beerista, the Knifewear Tongue Cutter West Coast IPA, the Clocktower Pumpkin Ale, the United A.P.A., the Pucker Up Sour Cherry!, the Ottawa Pale Ale, the Pint of the Living Dead, the 38th Battalion Ale, the CT Vienna Spring Ale, the Empty Netter Ale, the East…

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How the mighty have fallen

I used to go to Local Heroes regularly after sporting events, wither hockey or softball. My usual location was on Bank St. It was a neat spot filled with paraphernalia and lots of TVs. Founded in 1981 by former Ottawa Rough Rider Mark Kosmos, Local Heroes Sports Bar & Grill became popular for selling chicken wings by the pound, one of the first spot to do so in Ottawa. It dubbed itself the “King of Wings and Ribs”. It expanded across the National Capital region, opening locations on Clyde Avenue, Bank Street, and Carling Avenue in Kanata. Another wave of locations were opened a few years later, at Bells Corners, on St. Laurent Boulevard, in Stittsville and at Scotia Bank Place. But competition is tough, and most of the Local Heroes have now fallen, the Bank street location going under in May 2013. Hometown has now settled in that location.…

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St-Hubert Classics

Our little Wafflings simply love St-Hubert. Whenever we ask them about going to a restaurant, St-Hubert is their choice 95% of the time. Here and there, Boston Pizza or Benny & Co. will pop up as an option. But St-Hubert is where it’s at. Now, we used to always head tothe Maisonneuve location in Hull. But ever since they renovated, at a cost of a million dollars, to make it more modern and somehow “retrochic”, the Wafflings are done with it. Imagine, St-Hubert replaced their favorite games room with a wine cellar. “We don’t drink wine at St-Hubert, papa. Not even you!”  Wise words. Indeed. I’ll have the odd beer, but I usually stick with the bottomless Coke or Sprite. But that’s beside the point. Bottomline is, our new family location is now on the East end of Gatineau, a location that was also renovated in 2015 (for 1.3 million)…

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A pound of pulled pork

Another day, another Ribtoberfest opportunity! Today, the plan was to bring some food home for my family to enjoy. I made my way down Sparks Street until I ended up in front of Blazin’ BBQ‘s stall. Hailing from Chatham, Blazin’ BBQ debuted in 2002 as S.A.R.S. STOCK, one of the largest benefit concerts ever held. In 2009, they started production of sauces and they opened their Ribhouse restaurant in 2010. Blazin’s BBQ offers a lot of options on its menu: Pork Ribs, Beef Ribs, Riblets, Chicken, Pulled Pork, Turkey. But I figured I would keep it simple and ordered a pound of Pulled Pork for $12. The weather wasn’t great so there was no line-up, I got my food right away. I filled my container with extra BBQ sauce – their “Original” sauce and their “Nitro” sauce. This was a heavy container. I put it down carefully on the passenger…

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Live, from Las Vegas, Nevada…. Ribs Royale!

So Sparks Street had the brilliant idea to present another ribfest event. I was pleased, but until they actually set up shop yesterday, I thought might just be a dream. Then they started smoking and they started grilling and it became real. Mrs. Waffle wasn’t as excited as I was, but she was happy enough to make her way downtown for a lunch date. Our plan was to grab some pork delicacies and find a spot on Carmello’s patio. The weather was great, and the lines at the ribbers between Metcalfe and Bank were quite long, though not as long as they are in June. Still, I had to go west. All the way to the last ribber, which luckily, had no line-up at all, despite the best efforts of the grillmen to attract potential customers by shouting “RIIIIIIBS!” to the top of their lungs. “Directly from Las Vegas, Nevada….…

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