Beckta

Beckta Dining & Wine (613) 238-7063 www.beckta.com

226 Nepean St., Ottawa, ON

Rating: 5 stars Price: $$$$ Last visit: August 11, 2012

Those who know me well, understand my passion for great food. For fine dining I look for a restaurant with a continental flair, super fresh, locally sourced ingredients, presented well by a friendly knowledgeable staff as prepared by a chef that can surprise me with interesting taste combinations.

I've wanted to eat at Beckta ever since I first read about it on the Ottawa Foodies blog. We finally made it there on our last trip to the Canadian capital. Based on that experience I feel confident in saying Beckta is perhaps the finest restaurant in Ottawa today. Situated in a converted house downtown, it is calm and refined. The service is impeccable. We arrived after being soaked in a sudden thunderstorm. They helped me dry off as I was seated. We never felt hurried, and we never felt ignored. Every member of the wait staff was fully knowledgeable about the food. The food is innovative, unique, almost indescribable. Sometimes chef Michael Moffatt reaches a bit too far in an effort to find the perfect pairing of tastes, but there are more hits than misses.  Here's what we ate:

As we surveyed the menu, we were served fresh crusty bread from a local bakery. The choices were fennel/date, whole wheat/nut and classic baguette. We tried them all and went back for seconds. The sweet butter was paired with an unique caramelized version.

We were then offered a bite-sized amuse-bouche of smoked char on lemon fennel puff pastry.

I started with a glass of Rose “Bistro,” (Hidden Bench, Beamsville Bench, Ontario, 2011) that is dry with a tart cherry after taste I liked. Merry tried and liked a cocktail of Campari with sparkling Eska water & fresh grapefruit.

For appetizers I had sweet pea soup with wasabi cream fraishe, verjus pickled ramps, pea shoots and baby fennel chip. This was an interesting contrast of sweetness with highlights of sharp spice.

Sweet pea soup

Merry got the prize, however with heirloom beet salad with baby radish, grilled halloumi cheese, black olive oil croutons with truffled leek vinaigrette. This salad is wonderful on so many levels, it needs to be tasted to be believed.

Heirloom beet salad

For a main course I chose pan roasted breast of Quebec Magret Duck with sun dried cherry gnocchi, arugula, early summer succotash, chantrelle mushrooms and fresh cherry cumberland sauce. Very savory dish. Duck was perfect at medium rare. I accompanied this with a spicy red wine recommended by our server called "Pipe Down" (Organized Crime, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, 2010). I found this too sharp by itself, but our server was right to suggest it, as it went very well pared with the duck.

Quebec Magret Duck

Merry choose the exotic orchid flower rissoto with carmalized onions, almond cream, oyster mushrooms, wilted misuna (Japanese mustad greens) and baby spinach pesto. This dish had a light perfume taste from the flowers but the spinach pesto and misuna over-powered the other flavors and made the whole dish a bit of a dissappointment. 

Orchid flower rissoto

That let-down as quickly picked up with Merry's dessert choice of raspberrty cheesecake with cinnamon basil graham crumbs, exploded raspberries, spice box fudge, huckleberry molassas and fresh currants. This white mound with no crust has the exploded raspberries on the inside of a light, creamy filling unlike any other cheesecake. The graham crumbs, currants and fudge were scattered on the plate to be added as whim dictates.

Raspberry cheesecake

As we were having coffee, a surprise finish was brought out - a chinese spoon for each of us with a "deconstructed" apple crisp comprised of a small crust on the bottom, then cream filling with spiced apple bits on top accompanied by a small graham bar. A very nice last bite.

Dinner took about 2 hours in all. Price was $180 for the two of us including drinks and tip. Although the price is high, we agreed it was a good value for an extraordinary evening. We will certainly go again. Maybe next time we'll try one of their famous blind tasting meals.

Brenner

Say hello to Brenner, our new family member. Brenner is a seven-year old BC who the SPCA removed from a bad situation in PA. He made his way to Glen Highland Farm, a wonderful border collie rescue organization in Morris, NY, near Oneonta, run by Lillie Goodrich. We met him there yesterday (3/10/12).

Brenner had been at the farm for about a year waiting for the proper family to adopt him. Lillie thinks it took so long because he's an older guy and because he has Progressive Retinal Atrophy, a genetic disease that causes blindness in dogs. His sight is fine right now, but over time he may start to lose central vision. Blind dogs do quite well in familiar areas, so it's extra important for him to have a stable home now.

Brenner is very excited to be exploring his new digs. We are learning his likes and dislikes, and he is doing the same. He's a very sweet guy and is settling in well. We're not yet sure if we will keep his adoption name. Suggestions are welcome.

He is sure making us happy.

Joyeux Noelle

Dear Friends, I know it's been a long time, but my writing time has been focused elsewhere recently. Even though I promised to stay away from posting Social Security stories, this one just needs to be told.

These days a digital recording is made of all Social Security hearings. An index of the recording is simultaneously typed in real time by a “verbatim hearing recorder.” It its unending drive to proliferate silly acronyms, the government insists on calling these folks VHRs. The hearing recorders are essential since they create a usable record of the testimony. They also serve as the judge's clerk, checking the waiting room and managing the flow of people in and out of the courtroom.

Social Security assigns recorders from a list of independent contractors, and carefully rotates assignments from the list. Recorders bear their own expenses and are paid by the hearing. The recorders are usually geographically situated near the various hearing points. I try to make the recorder's job as pleasant as possible. This means, among other things, helping them deal with nervous claimants and protecting them from demanding lawyers. Over time, the judges get to know all the recorders fairly well. We learn their particular quirks as well as their strengths and weaknesses.

I started working with a very young recorder named Noelle about a year and a half ago. One of the first times she worked for me I was holding hearings in Utica, NY. Part way through the day she returned to the courtroom obviously upset after delivering a computer disc containing the evidence file to an experienced attorney in the waiting room. She plopped down in her chair, and made a disgusted face.

“I just don't get it. Mr. K has seen me here dozens of times now but he still doesn't remember my name. He always calls me “Nicole.” People have done that to me, like, for always, but I'm sick of it. I told him a couple of times that I don't like it, but he keeps doing it anyway. I said, “look it's easy to remember, it's Noelle, like in Christmas,” but he still does it. He seems to think it's funny, but I don't. I think he should care enough to remember my proper name.”

I told her I agreed with her and we went on with business.

As it happened that day Mr. K had a number of hearings before me. Noelle told me at the end of the day he still had not mended his ways. After his last hearing I asked him to stay behind in the courtroom after his client stepped out.

“Mr. K,” I said with a smile but in a stern voice, “Noelle tells me you insist on calling her Nicole, even after she asked you not to. You may think this doesn't matter, but it does. It hurts her. From now on I expect you to show her the respect she deserves and call her by her proper name.”

I could tell he did not know how serious I was. He wisely decided it would be a good idea to apologize profusely and promise not to do it again. I gently warned him that there would be dire consequences if he slipped up again.

Surprisingly, this warning worked. From that day on he faithfully remembered Noelle's name...until this last Thursday.

It was the first hearing of the day. Noelle took the updated evidence CD out to Mr. K. When she returned a few seconds later she closed the door and stamped her foot. She was indignant. She reminded me that I made Mr. K promise not to call her Nicole any more, but he just did it again. I told her I remembered. I assured her I would take care of it. I wasn't quite sure what I would do, but this time I wanted my warning to be public. Maybe that would focus his attention. All the regular practitioners know I usually start recording the hearing as soon as they sit down. This time I told Noelle not to start recording until I gave her the sign.

Once Mr. K and his client were settled at the table I took a deep breath.

“Mr. K, I'm very disappointed about your behavior today.”

His head snapped up. Real alarm showed in his expression.

“I'm sorry judge, what did I do?”

“I warned you about this sort of behavior previously, Mr. K, but you seem to have forgotten my instructions. I must insist you mend your ways, or I will be forced to take even stronger measures.”

“But judge, I'm … I don't understand.”

“You called Noelle “Nicole” after promising me right in this court that you never would do that again.”

Relief swept across his face. His client was chuckling. He muttered something about the failures of an old man's memory. Noelle was beaming.

“Now promise me, again.”

He raised his right hand and promised.

“OK, I'll let it slide this time, just don't let it happen again. Let's go on the record.”

The hearing began. Everyone was in a better mood.