I had the pleasure of eating at Luxe Bistro last night, and left with the opinion that this is one of Ottawa’s best restaurants. I’m sure that will piss of some of Ottawa’s more well known foodies who swear by the Gastropub or Beckta (also excellent establishments).  What I really like about the restaurant, besides it’s convenient location, is the French brasserie feel. It’s just a cool spot, and doesn’t come off as pretentious.

Our waiter and sommelier, Neil Gowe, provided friendly and knowledgeable service, and paired a fantastic Argentinian wine with my main course of Steak Frites. The whole table was talking about his selection, as two of us had the Steak Frites. I also had the opportunity to meet with Duane Keats, who is the executive chef there.

If you’re going here, you have to try the fish chowder as an appetizer. One of the best I have ever had. Dinner is pricey, but worth it in my opinion. I know Luxe had a bit of a rocky start, but that seems to have worked itself out as I found this to be worth the money. Has anyone tried Stella Osteria? This is one of the other restaurants that the Firestone Group has in it’s roster besides the Blue Cactus.

The menus here change daily. The decor is cool, and you can tell this is a foodie place. The evening I was there, I started with a delicious salad of homemade croutons, what seemed to be pancetta bits, awesome shaved asciago cheese, and about the best salad dressing I have ever had in my entire life (Sorry Renee’s). It was a great salad. I never thought I would say that, but it was fantastic. I chose a glass of Australian shiraz (Shaw & Smith) to compliment my main of a succulent piece of beef, with asparagus and what I think were breaded mushroom caps. The overall experience was very nice. We only had until 8:30 at our table, but we didn’t feel rushed. You’ll have to make reservations here…but it’s worth it.

I didn’t really try anything super Italian here, but the food was quite good. One of my friends had a really good pizza with an extremely fresh tasting tomato sauce. I had a 10 oz. ribeye steak with capped mushrooms in a perfect juice with steamed vegetables. I also sampled some delicious salmon that was served on a bed of steamed vegetables, with an excellent cream sauce. Very good food, and the layout of this little place was quite modern and elegant, while simutaneously not looking like a W Hotel. The bruschetta I had was, no joke, the best I’ve ever had. If you follow my advice and check it out, ensure you order that, because it’s that good. It was very reasonable for a nice night out on the town….dinner for 4 was  about $180.00 including tip.