May
18, 2006
Hello from Ottawa: An Authentic Aboriginal
Dining Experience at Sweetgrass Bistro
As always, I like to focus on unconventional travel ideas and experiences,
and food is part of this experience. So before I left for Ottawa I called up the ByWard
Market Business Improvement Association to find out about any
interesting dining establishments. Sure enough, they had a creative
suggestion for me: an establishment named Sweetgrass
Bistro that specializes in aboriginal cuisine.
So after my arrival in Ottawa and my initial explorations I made
my way to the ByWard Market, Ottawa’s largest and most dynamic
entertainment and restaurant area. Sweetgrass Bistro is located
in a former private home on 108 Murray Street at the north end of
the market area.
You walk inside and the place has a bar area with an open concept
kitchen on the left and a dining room to the right. The atmosphere
is calm and understated and aboriginal art is adorning the walls.
I had a chance to sit down with Phoebe Sutherland, one of the co-owners
of Sweetgrass. She and husband Warren opened this dining establishment
in late 2003.
Phoebe Sutherland, co-owner of Sweetgrass
Phoebe has an interesting story to tell: she is of Cree origin
and grew up in Northern Quebec in the James Bay area. She lived
on the reserve until age 10 and spent her childhood camping, enjoying
nature, snaring rabbits, and from a culinary point of view she got
exposed to a lot of game meats including rabbit and moose.
At 10 years of age she moved and went to a private school in Quebec
near the Vermont Border. She later attended Grenville Christian
College in Brockville and after high school she enrolled at Algonquin
College in Ottawa to complete a program in hotel and restaurant
management. Following her graduation she wanted to expand her education
in culinary arts and decided to pursue a degree program in this
discipline. Since no Canadian university offered a degree in culinary
arts she went on to attend the New England Culinary Institute in
Vermont where she honed her practical experience in two internship
programs. Her first internship was at a four star French establishment
named Hammersly’s Bistro in Boston and her second one was
at the Asticou Inn in North East Harbour, Maine. The cuisine at
this historic inn focused on seafood which was a great learning
opportunity for Phoebe.
My rabbit dumpling appetizer
She met her husband Warren in her second year of school where he
was studying a year behind her. Warren had given up his studies
in electrical engineering to pursue a career in creative culinary
arts. After graduation, both Phoebe and Warren moved to Phoenix,
Arizona, where she studied transcontinental cuisine, a mixture of
South-Western cooking and world fusion. Phoebe went on to say that
she was the only female in an all Mexican kitchen crew and through
the interaction with her co-workers she learned a lot about traditional
Mexican foods as well. That also explained why Sweetgrass has a
Mexican Tortilla soup on its spring menu.
After this experience Phoebe and Warren moved back to Canada and
decided to get married. Less than a year later, at the young age
of 27, they started their restaurant business with funding assistance
for Young Aboriginal Entrepreneurs. I asked Phoebe about the name
of their restaurant and she explained that at the time they were
considering two names: “Sweetgrass” and “Smoke
Signal”. Sweetgrass, the final choice, is a tall perfumy grass
that grows mostly in marshy areas and it has a long tradition in
aboriginal culture. It is used in prayers, woven into braids and
baskets and also used as a tea by a variety of aboriginal tribes.
The main dish, “Rustic Mahnoomin Siipai” (vegetarian)
“Sweetgrass”
is the only aboriginal restaurant in Ottawa and only the second
restaurant specializing in native cuisine in all of Canada. Phoebe
explained that they integrate foods from different aboriginal tribes
from all over Canada, the United States and Mexico and they use
a lot of herbs, grains and different types of meat such as elk,
buffalo, duck, pheasant, rabbit and various types of fish. The menu
changes seasonally to reflect the availability of specialized ingredients.
I had a chance to sample Sweetgrass’ unique cuisine and started
off with “Wabush Dumplings” which are pan-fried rabbit
dumplings in a honey mustard sauce with Bryson greens in a citrus
vinaigrette. I am usually not a big meat eater, but the subtle flavour
of these rabbit dumplings complemented by the savoury sauce was
very pleasant to my palate. As a main dish I chose the “Rustic
Mahnoomin Siipai”, a purely vegetarian dish consisting of
wild rice dumplings filled with great northern beans, topped with
wild greens and a spring vegetable sauce, a multi-flavoured, yet
surprisingly filling dish. To cap off this exotic dining experience
I had "Mom's Indian Buudin", a beautifully presented dense,
dark-coloured cake, reminiscent of Christmas cake.
Dessert, the delicious "Buudin" aboriginal cake
Phoebe had joined me for dinner and told me a bit about her childhood,
growing up on a reserve and then moving away to small towns in Quebec
and Ontario. She says she enjoyed the simple life on the reserve
and as children they would always play outside. One of her favourite
activities was to search for wild strawberries. Today the lodge
in her village has been turned into a conference centre and although
8 or 9 hours northeast of Ottawa, the area where she was born attracts
a lot more tourists.
Phoebe and her husband Warren, originally from Jamaica, share a
passion for food. Every year they participate in the ByWard Market
Stew Cookoff and this year they won the People’s Choice Award
for best stew. They also regularly participate in a local food show
in a small town outside of Ottawa which is a true collaboration
between farmers, who provide local produce and meats, and chefs,
who turn these precious ingredients into mouthwatering delicacies.
Last year about 600 to 800 people attended the food festival.
A comfortable atmosphere at Sweetgrass
Phoebe and Warren Sutherland’s creation “Sweetgrass”
is a unique addition to Ottawa’s food scene and testimony
to two young, talented and hardworking people who share an absolute
passion for food.
Related Articles:
Hello from Ottawa
- Overview of my first excursion to Ottawa's Tulip Festival
Hello from Ottawa - Arrival,
two photo exhibitions and my own photo safari
Hello from Ottawa - Doubling up
on antiquity at the Canadian Museum of Civlization
Hello from Ottawa - Sweetgrass Bistro:
Aboriginal dining in the ByWard Market
Hello from Ottawa - The historic
McGee's Inn: 2 couples embark on the adventure of joint B&B
ownership
Hello from Ottawa - The Canadian
Museum of Nature and Fatal Attraction: seduction in the
animal world
Hello from Ottawa - Gatineau Park,
Ottawa's nature playground
Hello from Ottawa - Major's Hill
and a live TV interview
Hello from Ottawa - Bistro 115: Authentic
French-Canadian cuisine in the ByWard Market
Hello from Ottawa - Historic transportation
on the Hull-Chelsea-Wakefield Steam Train
Hello from Ottawa - The Wakefield
Mill Inn & Spa: from historic gristmill to upscale lodging,
dining and pampering
Hello from Ottawa - Flower
and dress design at the Casino du Lac-Leamy
Hello from Ottawa - The Flotilla
- a parade of decorated boats - and an interview about the background
of the Tulip Festival
Hello from Ottawa - Sheep shearing
at the Canadian Agriculture Museum
Hello from Ottawa - Tractors,
cows and small animals at the Canadian Agriculture Museum
Hello from Ottawa - My 2-day
packed itinerary for Winterlude
Hello from Ottawa - First
impressions and an overview
Hello from Ottawa - The Lord Elgin
Hotel: a historic landmark in the heart of Ottawa
Hello from Ottawa - Fat Tuesday's
and the Mardi Gras Experience in the ByWard Market
Hello from Ottawa - An early
morning walk to Parliament Hill
Hello from Ottawa - Skating
on the Rideau Canal, the World's Largest Skating Rink
Hello from Ottawa - Charity and
hilarity: the 26th Annual Bedzz Races on Dow's Lake
Hello from Ottawa - Confederation
Park and other Winterlude locations
Hello from Ottawa - Darcy McGee's:
a historic Irish pub on Sparks Street
Hello from Ottawa - The Canadian
War Museum and "Weapons of Mass Dissemination - The Propaganda
of War"
Hello from Ottawa - The
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography featuring Sunil Gupta
and the challenges of immigration
An interview with Tourism Ottawa
provides a great overview of this city
An interview about
the ByWard Market, a prime entertainment and shopping area
An interview
with the National Gallery of Canada
An interview
with the Canadian Museum of Civilization
Helpful websites:
Ottawa
Tourism: Ottawa's official tourism information
The ByWard
Market Business Improvement Area
The
National Capital Commission
The National
Museum of Civilization
The National Gallery
of Canada
The Canadian War
Museum
The Canadian Museum
of Nature
The
Canadian Agriculture Museum
Useful books about Ottawa:
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