Apartment613

Zen Kitchen co-owners Ishii and Loan.

This weekend, Chinatown’s Zen Kitchen finally held its long-awaited opening. It is the first fine cuisine vegan restaurant in the city. (Read: the first vegetarian/vegan restaurant with servers!) Co-owner David Loan describes it as the first vegan place “where you can bring a date.”

You won’t read much about that claim to fame in Zen Kitchen’s publicity material – and that’s a conscious choice, says co-owner and Executive Chef Caroline Ishii. “We are not trying to be pushing or preachy,” she says. “Think of it as another type of ethnic cuisine. It’s just a style of cuisine that doesn’t have any animal products in it,” says Loan. “And you’ll also rarely find tofu on the menu,” he promises, “because people associate tofu too negatively.”

THE PHILOSOPHY
“The best way to eat on a health level for most people and for the environment is vegan,” says Ishii. “More people are getting sicker earlier and getting diagnosed with diseases – all has to do with what we are eating. More processed food, more junk, all these genetically modified organisms, chemicals and preservatives. It’s sickening.”

The restaurant will be all natural ingredients, organic and locally sourced when possible.

THE RESTAURANT

The restaurant seats 40 inside, 16 on the patio. Ishii and Loan purchased the spot at 634 Somerset W. where Le Panaché stood at the end of March.They gutted the place – there’s a brand new kitchen and the dinning room now features a fresh colour scheme, wood tables, a bar from local artisans and local art on the wall. Ishii says she wanted to reflect the foods’ local philosophy in the restaurant’s furnishings as well. The Chef is also very proud of a gorgeous ‘harvest table’ installed in the dinning room. Ishii says she’s not sure Ottawa’s ready for a restaurant with a complete communal table concept but she thinks women will gravitate towards it because, unlike men, they are less likely to eat at the bar if they’re alone, she says.

Friday morning, I got a sneak peak of the kitchen’s inner-workings with sous-chef Kyle MacNeil. He said the first soft-opening had showed a few kinks but the team was hoping to sort through it before opening night.

THE BACK STORY
Ishii and Loan (pictured above) have been together for 12 years. Two and a half years ago, she came back from cooking school in New York and started offering gourmet private dinners each month. She says the clientele for her vegan organic local cuisine were nearly all non-vegetarians. She expects 90% of Zen Kitchen’s customers will be meat eaters.

Ishii eats meat. Loan is a vegetarian who loves cheese. Loan said they always knew they wanted to start a restaurant. After years of working as a political staff, first at city hall and most recently with Hamilton NDP MP David Christopherson, Loan had enough – especially with the frequent elections that kept him away from home for six weeks at a time. Loan quit his job two weeks ago and will now be managing the front of the house. He’s also been taking the sommelier course at Algonquin College.

THE REALITY SHOW
In January, the couple became reality show subjects. The series, The Restaurant Adventures of Caroline and Dave, is scheduled to air next fall on the W network. Loan said four of the episodes will feature the building of the restaurant and all their financial ups and downs and the other nine episodes will focus on the restaurant once it is up and running.

So it is quite possible that if you visit Zen Kitchen, you’ll find yourself on television.

Zen Kitchen will be open Wednesday to Sunday for dinner only. Ishii hopes to continue giving cooking classes in the restaurant’s kitchen on Tuesdays.

Click here for another review from Glenda M.

SAMPLE MENU
3-course Table d’Hôte: $35

STARTERS
Creamy Mushroom soup, le Coprin mushrooms, truffle oil, garlic crostini $8
New Caesar Salad, seasonal greens, carrots, roasted garlic polenta croutons, tempeh bacon bits $12
Land and Sea Vegetable Salad, with cucumbers, spiral daikon, sea vegetables, yuzu vinaigrette $9
Tomato Pesto Galette, with slow-baked tomatoes, pesto cheese caramelized onions, marinated olives $9

MAINS
Handcut ravioli with mizuna-scape pesto filling, mushroom ancho cream, chile oil, seared seasonal greens $18
Seitan piccata with a lemon caper sauce, served with spiced rice, seasonal vegetables $22
New Caesar Salad with grilled miso-apple engaku age tofu skewers $16

TAPAS PLATES
3 dips (truffle white bean, Mohammara red p3pper, roasted carrot-ginger with grilled bread, marinated olives, house-made pickles $14 (for 2 people)
Zen summer salad rolls with Thai peanut sauce, dengau skewers, house-made pickles, togarashi chips $14 (for 2 people)
Basket of handcut chips with togarashi $7
Bowl of organic edamame with togarashi and Himalayan pink sea salt $6

DESSERTS
Chocolate cheesecake with berry coulis $8
Strawberry-rhubarb pie with vanilla bean-cinnamon crème anglaise $7