Q & A with OCCO Kitchen's Marc Steele

With both a take-out restaurant (OCCO Kitchen) and a sit-down restaurant (OCCO Kitchen Innes) to maintain, chef Mark Steele has become a major player in the Ottawa food scene. Hailing from the east coast, Mark's career includes being the Chef de Cuisine at the Chateau Laurier; the Executive Chef for the Ottawa Hilton, and the Ottawa Marriott hotels; and a teaching position at Algonquin College for the School of Hospitality and Tourism. He has also led a team of chefs representing Ottawa's regional cuisine at the coveted James Beard Foundation in Manhattan; executed state dinners for British Royalty and the President of France; and competed on "Chopped Canada". I had a chance to ask him some questions via e-mail recently, and here's what he had to say:

FRANKLIN on FOOD: What needs to be done to make the Ottawa cooking scene stand out more?
MARK STEELE: I think to help Ottawa stand out we really need to Showcase our local talented Artisans from beer to spirit producers to local cheeses and charcuterie and use those products to create our own dishes that really showcase the region and what it has to offer.

FoF: Why don't more restaurateurs consider the suburbs as a location for their restaurants?
MS: There are definitely some obstacles for restaurants in suburbia that include you really have to be a destination restaurant and have a draw for people to come to you. Staffing can be a real issue.

If your restaurant is centrally located you can draw from a wider area of Ottawa. I personally love Orleans it has its own culture and food scene that I like to think I'm helping develop, its very own Craft brewery (Stray Dog) that has just started their first batches.

FoF: How do you split the time between your two restaurants?

MS: Most of my time is spent at the bigger location, but now it has really found its legs and Ricci Binch our new Chef from Australia is taking the reigns and I'm looking forward to working the take out again like the good ol' days.

FoF: Other than your own places, where would you go for a sit-down meal in either Orleans or Ottawa?

MS: There are many restaurants I enjoy going to and very hard to narrow it down to one but overall I really appreciate when I order a meal and there is passion and craft that has been put into the preparation. 

FoF: What's the one ingredient that you will always find in your kitchens, and why?
MS: The one ingredient you will always find in my kitchen is Mt Scio Savoury from Newfoundland. It is a nostalgic ingredient for me one I was raised with. It is a very unique form of summer savoury that I use in my stuffing and in some herb blends that I use.

FoF: What advice would you give to anyone who wants to become a chef?
MS: Advice I would give anyone who would want to become a Chef would be that you have to love it and love the lifestyle. It can be very long hours, very physically demanding and high stress. Your busiest time is usually when the rest of the world is off having fun, weekends and special occasions are going to be when you have to put in the most work, if your OK with this and your not afraid of hard work and you thrive to create interesting artistic and inventive food that will completely overwhelm your guests then you will never find a more rewarding profession.

FoF: What was the most surprising thing about being on "Chopped Canada"

MS: The most surprising element of Chopped was definitely receiving a baked potato for the dessert round. In hindsight, I can think of a hundred thousand ideas that I could create with it but in that moment when the pressures on it really through me for a loop.

FoF: I remember you said you like to roll around in the prize money if you had won "Chopped Canada:; have you had a chance to make it rain with some $5 bills recently?

MS: Yes I was planning on doing the backstroke through a pool of fives that being said I'm doing OK. I couldn't be happier with the success of OCCO and I'm in planning of the next move.

For the Love of Popeyes Chicken

Most people when they hear the name "Popeye", they think of the lovable spinach-eating sailor man from Saturday morning cartoons, but it makes me think of my favourite fried chicken fast food restaurant. Established in 1972, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen has been making mild and spicy fried chicken along with sides such as red beans and rice, Cajun fries and mashed potatoes that beat anything that the Colonel has to offer. The first time I ate at the apostrophe-free Popeyes was back in 1991. I was in New York visiting my cousins, and we stopped there before going to see "Boyz in the Hood". I remember loving how tasty and non-greasy the chicken was, and lamenting that we didn't have a restaurant like that back home. I didn't get another taste of "Louisiana Fast" until over a decade later when I discovered there was a Popeyes in Toronto during a visit with my future wife. She too became a Popeyes convert. I made more converts when I took a trip to Detroit with some friends sometime later when we were visiting a friend living in London at the time; to this day, one of my boys says he'd take "a bullet in the ass" for some Popeyes. My love of this place may have caused me to oversell its greatness, as some friends of mine who have tried the food there didn't think it was as amazing as I described it, but even then, they agreed that it was better than the chicken they had at KFC (or Dixie Lee, or Church's for that matter). But now that Ottawa finally has a Popeyes location, with another now at Orleans location to taste for yourself. (Updated: Feb. 12, 2015)

NOTE: I have not been paid by AFC Enterprises to produce this blog entry, but if Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen wants to send some free food my way because of this, I won't object.

St. Martha’s Brasserie - The Best Restaurant in Orleans

Early last week was my birthday, so my wife and young son took me out for a celebratory lunch. I am pleased to report that they took me to a place I've been wanting to try ever since I saw it out of the corner of my eye when I was leaving Place Centrum a few months back. St. Martha’s Brasserie is my favourite restaurant in Orleans. I know that's not saying much what with all the fast-food and corporate restaurants that litter the suburb, but that shouldn't be held against this place. This restaurant would be a standout in any of Ottawa's trendier neighbourhoods.

Not a large place by any means, the Brasserie makes the most of the space it has. The dark wood interior made the restaurant feel warm and inviting. The three of us sat under the mirror near the spotless stainless steel diner seating overlooking the equally spotless kitchen.  For a Tuesday afternoon, there were a lot of people there for the lunch rush, but it was cozy and not cramped.

Lunch for me started with steamed mussels served with a white wine cream sauce, Pernod and bacon, garnished with fennel and roasted garlic, served with a side of hand-cut frites with a garlic aioli.

The mussels were cooked well in a delicious broth, and the frites were as tasty as their reputation has claimed. That was followed with confit de canard; Dawn had the pasta and sausage lunch special while young Master Franklin nibbled on chicken taken off skewers and frites from the children's menu.

The confit was nicely done, crispy from the pan-searing, and made even sweeter with the honey and apricot sauce it was glazed with. I would have preferred more of the roasted vegetable than the crispy corn polenta that came with it, but it did add an interesting texture to the meal. Dawn enjoyed her meal, saying the pasta was simple and satisfying.

Overall, we found that St. Martha’s Brasserie's concept of "classic French brasserie fare within an Ontarian context" surpassed expectations. With its traditional fare, as well as vegetarian and gluten-free options available, we highly recommend this restaurant to anyone in Orleans, or to anyone willing to drive out to Ottawa's east end.

New Asian Supercentre opens

An Asian Supercentre opened in Orleans this week. Having never made the trek to T&T, I was interested enough in this multicultural big-box store to go to the grand opening yesterday. Very impressed with the selection and the opening week sales. I wasn't impressed with the power outrage when I was next in line at the cash with my purchase (a frozen whole duck, and four frozen duck legs). They were only able to take cash, and I planned on using Interac. D'oh. Anyways, here's some cellphone pictures of some of what I saw: