La Strada, Non-alcoholic

Good morning,

Today we stop in at an old Italian restaurant that, for lunch, is only open two hours per week. I know. It’s amusing and I had to double-check the website to make sure I hadn’t got something wrong. 

We also start our holiday home and gift buying suggestions with a selection of non-alcoholic products that I think are first-rate.

Let’s begin.

Ralf Joneikies, food and drink editor. [email protected]

ITALIAN

Hitting the road for La Strada

Opened in 1972 La Strada fits easily into the category of “legacy dining”. Only Mamma Teresa, opened in 1970, is older.

Peter Milito first opened this restaurant and today his three sons, Chef Carlo Milito, Leo and Rick, carry on their father’s vision. There’s a bit of comfort in such constancy and it’s obviously appreciated, as we’ll see.

A friend and I sat down at 11:30 for a Friday lunch and it was lovely having the bright, fresh room all to ourselves. As La Strada is only open for lunch on Fridays, I knew that we wouldn’t enjoy this calm for long.

After a quick catch-up we ordered two pasta dishes along with Caesar salad and calamari fritti for sharing.

We began with an attractive Caesar salad, and once tasted, I wished it were larger. The dressing is the star of the show. It was lemony and tinged with anchovy and applied evenly with an experienced touch. Neither too much nor too little. 

This was also the first time that I enjoyed a crouton, and it may have given the dressing a run for best element. It was almost as delicate as meringue and broke apart with little pressure and exploded in delicious, savoury seasoning. 

We were off to a good start.

The good times continued with a fresh and tender fried calamari served with a side of marinara sauce. As fresh as the sauce was, it was a let-down and added nothing to the dish.

There was a lightly applied batter that was modestly but sufficiently salted and that broke away easily to reveal the sweet squid. No excessive chewing was required and everything was in balance.

By 12:30 the place was packed with not a seat to be had. There was a good deal of activity with many people moving between tables, greeting each other. The conversation was so lively and loud that my friend and I had trouble hearing each other. 

My lunch companion was presented with her cacio e pepe pasta and it looked like a healthy portion. She was concerned however, that the dish had been made with cream as there was a fair amount of sauce. Cacio e pepe is made with only Pecorino Romano cheese, black pepper and pasta water with butter or olive oil sometimes in the mix.

She asked one of the owners about the extra cream in her dish and, as if Scorcese himself were directing the scene, he replied “Wha? You saying you don’t like it?” It was both hilarious and vaguely menacing at the same time. Just like in a movie, as the expression goes.

She set the record straight, as it was quite tasty, saying she only wanted to know if they’d used cream (they hadn’t) and we all went about our business, my business of which was tucking into my linguine Calabrese.

I was informed that they use De Cecco pasta here and only make their sheet pasta for ravioli, manicotti and lasagna in-house. That’s a fairly standard practice. Sheet pasta, unlike shaped pasta, doesn’t require space or time for drying and space in a kitchen is always at a premium.

The linguine Calabrese was a generous amount of pasta and I did take my leftovers home. 

It was a simple enough dish of garlic and olive oil, chili flakes, shrimp and capers. When I think of pasta it’s often in its most unadorned versions such as spaghetti with just olive oil, garlic and parmesan. This was close and I enjoyed it very much.

As you’d expect, the pasta was al dente and judiciously dressed. The shrimp was sweet and cooked on point, with the occasional caper adding a salty pop as an accent.

The room was clearly filled with regulars, and because of this, the service was marginally less attentive than I would have liked. The team was, however, professional and efficient in responding to requests.

La Strada does not have lunchtime pricing so you may well want to enjoy their food over dinner. It’s easy to see why people flock to it in droves. It’s a professionally run restaurant with an attractive ambience, good service and nicely prepared food. 

I would like to return to try some of their grilled dishes. If only it weren’t so loud. 

Suggested stories

• An Ottawa institution, La Bottega Nicastro earns the title

• Top Italian chef brings a taste of his Roman heritage to Cibus

• Roberto Pizza Romana shines focaccia-based pizza and desserts

PRODUCTS

Holiday Suggestions: No alcohol

Each year, I attempt to collect as many good and unique things for the holiday table or for your gourmand friends as gifts. This year, I’ve added non-alcoholic beverages that I think are first-rate. These products also lend themselves to being mixed with alcohol, but are terrific on their own.

Cha Yi Tea House

I first met Cha Yi owner Daniel Tremblay at his shop on Eddy St. in Old Hull in 2018. At the tail end of COVID, he made the hard decision to close his storefront. Like so many businesses, he struggled to find employees.

He and his life partner, Véronique Caron-Bossé, carried on and now operate the business as an online shop. Lucky us.

Having lived in Vancouver and Toronto, I’ve shopped at some proper tea stores but I don’t know that I’ve had tea as fine as what Tremblay offers. His Earl Grey is the best example I’ve had, and I won’t drink any other interpretation. They just don’t measure up.

He also offers four different takes on Chai and more than 100 teas from Quebec to Japan and ports in-between. 

Tremblay has travelled extensively throughout Asia and his knowledge is encyclopedic. You may therefore want to consider taking one or more of his 13 courses on tea. Bring some friends as a Christmas gift to yourself and others. You may even book private groups. Inquire ahead for a schedule and which are offered in French or English.

La Presserie

The low and no alcohol movement is in full swing and no longer just confined to Dry January. You now can’t run a restaurant without offering a selection of mocktails or zero alcohol wines and beers. That’s as it should be.

Why? People are no longer content with sodas as an option when dining. Besides, the more these products gain in popularity, the more they will come to market and the better they will be over time.

La Presserie Strawberry Daiquiri is a versatile mixer made from cold-pressed juice. It’s a clean-label product that can be used with rum as a Daiquiri or simply mixed with soda for a refreshing long drink. 

If you’re so inclined, don’t limit yourself and have it with sparkling wine as a fun way to start holiday entertaining.

La Presserie also makes a Paloma mixer, and they’ve just added a Mulled Cider for the winter weather. This is delicious stuff and available at LCBO stores.

3/4 oz. cocktail Syrups

Here the no alcohol cocktail takes a sharp turn into postprandial territory. Think of these 3/4 oz. syrups as digestive amaros. They have the same slight bitterness as their alcoholic counterparts and as such, they encourage slower sipping.

Of course they work well with spirits but I enjoyed these with just a little sparkling water. 

The Old Fashioned is a bitter orange base that is recommended for brown spirits and it was delicious with a modest blended whisky like Cutty Sark.

Vermillion is a cherry/pomegranate blend better suited to white spirits and with just a bit of bubbly water, I could imagine this becoming a regular post-dinner drink. This is a first-rate product but they may want to consider making larger bottles.

This, and other 3/4 oz. products are available at the LCBO.

Barbet

Barbet sodas from Toronto are doing two things simultaneously. The first is showing that you can make a delicious, characterful soda with just 6 grams of sugar. And two, that said soda also works, if you so choose, as a mixer with spirits. 

Three of their products — Wild Card, Love Bite, Light Wave — are readily available at the LCBO and are so unique that they invite you to play around with spirit pairings. But I like these sodas unadulterated. They’re super-clean with profiles a little mysterious, but uplifting.

Wild Card, for example, is a blend of blood orange, calamansi lime and jalapeno. No flavour dominates but the whole makes for a drink you never knew you wanted to taste. Now you want it again.

Quick bites

• Ottawa’s non-profit food advocate Just Food will be holding a local flavours holiday market on Dec. 6 & 7 from 11-3pm.

• This Saskatchewan distillery was just named Worldwide Whiskey Producer of the Year. [CTV]

• The non-alcoholic drinks trend continues to surge with some surprising stats in this report. [Food Navigator]

• The Ottawa food bank has seen an historic spike in visits with seniors making up an increasingly large number. [CBC]

• This recipe for cacio e pepe is doing it right and is simple enough that anyone can make it. [Serious Eats]

ARCHIVE

Jade Yi’s Kitchen should be your Kanata Chinese food staple

Originally published March 2025.

Having lived in cities with high concentrations of Chinese restaurants, I’m always interested in learning what’s new in our own backyard and I recently found Jade Yi’s Kitchen.

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