The solo dining solution
Pamela Young
Whenever I travel by myself, dinner time often finds me lingering outside various restaurants, trying to find one where I’ll feel comfortable eating on my own. My inner monologue sounds a bit Goldilockian: This one is too dark. This one is too loud. This one is too lined up. This one wants…how much for a glass of wine?
The just right choice was always hit and miss until, on a recent trip to Ottawa, I found the solution—dinner in a pub. Embracing the public house’s long tradition of extending hospitality to travelling strangers, the three establishments I visited provided a warm welcome, even though I didn’t arrive with a dining partner. Their prices were easy on my travel budget, and their menus offered the comfort food I craved at the end of a travel day when I was a bit lonesome for home. All the pubs were walking distance from my B&B, the elegant Bella Notte, just off Rideau Street, and are Canadian-owned, an elbows-up dining bonus.
D’Arcy McGee’s Pub is nestled on a corner between Parliament’s East Block and the National War Monument. My maple leaf heart unfurled as I settled into an outdoor table in the more-like- summer-than-fall heat. I eyed a large table of suit-jackets-off, ties-in-pockets patrons for any faces I might recognize, thinking of former Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s quip that “the true state of Canadian politics can be better assessed at a corner table of D’Arcy McGee’s than in the daily Question Period.”
My airport breakfast sandwich seemed like a long time ago, so I chose the stroganoff from the Oktoberfest menu. When it arrived in an enormous soup plate, I thought I’d have leftovers, but fifteen minutes later, I was stopping myself from licking the plate. The six good-sized beef and lamb meatballs, crispy sautéed outside and tender inside, perched on the al dente house-made spaetzle, all of it bathed in a mushroom-studded, basil and paprika- scented white wine Parmesan sauce. My server assured me with a laugh that I wasn’t the first customer who was surprised that they’d eaten the entire meal.
The next night, the Bella Notte owners recommended one of their favourites, the Clock Tower Pub, right on Rideau Street. A few hardy after-work drinkers sipped their brews on the patio, but the autumn breeze chased me inside, where I was the only patron and enjoyed having a server all to myself.
The Clock Tower is the city’s longest established full-service brew pub, and the first to introduce pumpkin ale to the Ottawa market, so I knew right away what I’d order to drink. I loved the can’s art, a Model A pickup backgrounded by fiery maples, its bed loaded with pumpkins. The brew’s amber colour and crisp spiciness matched both the foliage I’d been photographing during the day and the cooler evening.
I decided to try the fish and chips, sometimes a risky decision at an inland pub. But the Clock Tower’s version didn’t disappoint, the fries crisp and golden, the haddock firm and juicy, lightly battered in a mixture that featured the pub’s house Kolsch. The slaw’s crunchy mix of green cabbage, carrot, fresh parsley and black pepper added a welcome tang to my meal.
Patrons enjoy one of the many board games on offer at Ottawa’s Level One Game Pub.
On Sunday, as the skies darkened and a slashing rainstorm hit in the late afternoon, I caught my B&B owner on the stairwell and asked where I’d find the absolutely closest restaurant. “Try the Level One Game Pub. It’s just a couple of blocks away, and our guests always come back with favourable reviews,” he said.
After fending off the rain with a borrowed umbrella and leaping over streaming gutters, I arrived at the pub’s distinctive brick building, built in 1866 as a livery stable. The host was turning away a large group at the entrance, but easily found me a table for one, an advantage to dining alone. As I shrugged off my damp jacket, I noticed my fellow diners were mostly students, many of them wearing UOttawa and CarletonU hoodies, talking and laughing over board games, their phones nowhere to be seen. Level One provides a choice of over 1,800 board games and 1,200 video games to play for only $9 per person, and all ages are welcome. The pub even provides help if you don’t know which game to choose.
The menu changes every few months, with Japanese street food on offer the night I visited. I chose the Karaage chicken tenders and a Midnight Stout from the Ottawa-based Whitewater Brewing Company. A heap of chicken breast pieces arrived, their deep-fried, robustly-seasoned coating golden and crisp, the chicken still juicy, reminding me of a similar dish I’d savoured in Tokyo last spring. The salad with various leafy greens, including locally-sourced microgreens, provided a deliciously fresh contrast to the tenders. While I ate, I watched a young couple playing Scrabble, restraining myself from asking if I could join them.
As I paid my bill, I mentioned to my server that I’d visit with a companion next time so that I could play one of their games. “You should have told me,” she said. “We have lots of games for one, and regular customers who come by themselves to play them.”
Currently, Ottawa is home to almost 90 pubs, so I have lots more to try the next time I visit. Best of all, though, my discovery that pubs offer welcoming spaces for people eating alone has added another strategy to my solo travelling tool kit.
