Dining Out: Working Title Kitchen appealing to nearby Sandy Hill residents and guests from further a
“If you admired Jason Mclelland’s food at Grunt, you will also happily notice that Working Title is a much nicer place to enjoy it.”
Author of the article:
Peter Hum
Except for the sense that it felt more autumnal than summery, a plate that starred slow-roasted short ribs ($28.50) was sensational. Photo by Peter Hum /Postmedia
Working Title Kitchen 330 Laurier Ave. E., 613-230-3336, workingtitleottawa.com Open: terrace is open daily from 8 a.m. to midnight, lunch served from noon to 3 p.m., dinner from 5 to 9 p.m.; bakery is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; three indoor dining spaces are available Prices: starters $7.95 to $32, mains $21 to $28.50 Access: wheelchair-accessible washroom
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For chef Jason Mclelland, a former church turned restaurant is an appropriate place to seek redemption.
The Scotland native, who cooked in fine-dining restaurants in Europe and Australia before coming to Ottawa a few years ago, impressed food-lovers here after he opened Grunt, his tiny Mechanicsville restaurant, in 2019. But Grunt closed controversially last December, after Mclelland’s landlord, and then a string of other frustrated creditors, shone a spotlight on the restaurant’s longstanding debts.
Mclelland, who is far from the first chef-owner to have his business fail, this summer found a chance to cook again in Ottawa. He began last month as the culinary chef at Working Title Kitchen in Sandy Hill, a business that combines a bakery and restaurant at allsaints event space, which was once a church on Laurier Avenue East.
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A fan of Mclelland’s dishes at Grunt, I hoped his food at Working Title would be equally impressive.
At two dinners this month on the restaurant’s lovely terrace, we found Mclelland cooking on a larger scale than at Grunt, serving more customers and making more substantial plates. Most dishes offered big, interesting flavours and a mix of comfort and sophistication. Our disappointments were few and were concentrated among the current menu’s vegetable-forward dishes, although execution may have been as much an issue as the recipes.
If you admired Mclelland’s food at Grunt, you will happily notice that Working Title is a much nicer place to enjoy it. Grunt, for all its underdog status, was a cramped space in a former pizzeria, with just a few tables surrounding an open kitchen.
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Working Title has one of downtown’s nicest patios, a 55-seater during COVID-19 times that’s large and shaded by both tall trees and umbrellas, framed by the majestic former church on one side and far from the street’s traffic on the other. When we visited, couples, older guests and families relaxed in a mix of cosy seating. A bartender was kept busy dispensing common cocktails and wines and beers from a short list.
Mclelland is not the only notable chef at Working Title. French-born Christophe Measson, formerly executive pastry chef at the Art Gallery of Ontario and a baking and pastry professor at George Brown College, is the business’s pastry chef. In fact, Mclelland reports to the more experienced Measson.
Pastry chef Christophe Measson, left, and culinary chef Jason Mclelland are to lead the new culinary team at Working Title Kitchen in Sandy Hill. Photo by Sarah Farmer /Sarah Farmer
I didn’t make a morning visit to Working Title to focus on Measson’s handiwork. Based on a few beautiful pastries I saw on a nearby table this week, I really should.
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I did try Measson’s bread, which came with oils, dips and other sundries, as a starter one night. The bread was top-notch, augmented by spiced oils, a walnut pâté, some spreadable ‘nduja sausage, and mascarpone with garlic confit.
Bread and dips at Working Title Kitchen in Sandy Hill. Photo by Peter Hum /Postmedia
After the bread, we tried the three most substantial mains of the menu. While it felt more autumnal than summery, a plate starring slow-roasted short ribs ($28.50) was sensational. The meat was fall-apart tender, blessed with a superior demi-glace and some homey mashed potatoes and roasted turnip. Some pickled iceberg lettuce on the side offered welcome acidity.
Except for the sense that it felt more autumnal than summery, a plate that starred slow-roasted short ribs ($28.50) was sensational. Photo by Peter Hum /Postmedia
A salmon filet ($25.95) flanked by pastry (not exactly “en croûte,” as the menu said) was a tasty, lighter choice, complemented by garlicky greens, a cream sauce and bright lemon gremolata. Chicken breast ($24.95) benefited from its black, leek-ash exterior, which added a dusky note to the generously portioned dish that also included roasted baby potatoes, celeriac purée, oyster mushrooms, a wafer of crisp chicken skin and a chicken-y sauce.
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Salmon at Working Title Kitchen in Sandy Hill. Photo by Peter Hum /Postmedia
Chicken at Working Title Kitchen in Sandy Hill. Photo by Peter Hum /Postmedia
On our second visit, we kept to vegan and vegetarian dishes — that is, after some strikingly fresh P.E.I. oysters ($3.40 each). We preferred the raw bivalves with pickled shallots and lemon to the Rockefeller preparation, which lacked the richness and spinach and herbs we hoped for.
Oysters at Working Title Kitchen. Photo by Peter Hum /Postmedia
Of three vegetable-forward starters, the tomato soup with basil purée and parmesan crisps ($12) was best. It came with three confit-garlic-and-mascarpone-stuffed gougères, but they let us down because they were cold and arrived a bit after the soup did, as if they accompanied another dish.
Tomato soup at Working Title Kitchen. Photo by Peter Hum /Postmedia
A trimmed broccoli head ($15.95), halved lengthwise and grilled to develop a good char paired well with its almond-y ajo blanco sauce and bits of vegetable chips. The florets were fantastic, but the stem was ultimately just tiresomely crunchy and it went unfinished.
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Chargrilled broccoli at Working Title Kitchen Photo by Peter Hum /Postmedia
Roasted carrots ($14.95) with blood orange and shaved fennel and pecans were improved by some nutritional yeast’s umami oomph. But the lemon thyme vinaigrette mentioned on the menu was negligible or missing.
Carrots at Working Title Kitchen. Photo by Peter Hum /Postmedia
A main course of tomatoes and burrata ($23) lacked the tomato consommé mentioned on the menu, and too many of its rustically cut tomato chunks were under-ripe and lacking in flavour.
Tomatoes and burrata of Working Title Kitchen. Photo by Peter Hum /Postmedia
At both dinners, the $11 desserts — a layered chocolate dessert of dark mousse and cake and shortbread with lemon curd, meringue and some unfortunately too-sour blueberry compote — sent us home happy.
Chocolate verrine at Working Title Kitchen in Sandy Hill. Photo by Peter Hum /Postmedia
Shortbread tart with lemon curd and blueberry compote at Working Title Kitchen Photo by Peter Hum /Postmedia
Service was friendly and youthful, but also somewhat untrained and overly relaxed, given what we paid.
A nice touch here is the $15 children’s menu. It was just a “fancy drink,” burger or hot dog, and Merry Dairy ice cream cone, but it must make visiting more appealing for the neighbourhood’s families.
Indeed, this stretch of Sandy Hill lacks comparable restaurants, given that Signatures Restaurant down the street, in the Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa mansion, is more formal, while eateries near the University of Ottawa tend to offer student and pub grub. It’s a good thing Mclelland and Measson have helped make the winning ambience of Working Title appealing to both nearby residents and guests from further away.
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