East Ottawa Star
Published: Friday, April 10, 2009 

Searching for the best Orléans dish

From the Golden Globes to the Grammys and the Oscars or Genies taking place here in Ottawa recently, the entertainment world has run the gamut of its annual glitz and glam, grip and grin, spectacles of self-congratulation.

But the biggest daddy of them all will occur right here on the pages of the East Ottawa Star over the next six weeks. That’s right; I’m talking about the first-annual Orly awards (as in Orléans) for the best in “signature dish” east-end foods.

The voting will be overseen by the non-accounting firm of me. The voting will be conducted by the distinguished members of the academy of cool newspaper readers, you. Over the coming weeks updates will appear in this space with the winners being announced on Friday, May 29th.

An Orly is a distinguished tiny statue of the best gold painted plastic (hey, times are tough out there and we don’t have a sponsor) my money can buy. This year’s categories are: best poutine, best fish and chips, and best pizza.

For all you public health, good-eating, greasy-is-bad aficionados, hold on, these foods come from the four basic food groups for guys known as the four “F’s”: fried, finger, fermented and fun.

In the poutine category the judging panel (aka: me) is looking for that distinct combination of really squeaky cheese curds that take three weeks to digest in your stomach balanced with a mildly spicy sauce and fries that are greasy enough to be somewhat mushy but strong enough keep their form under the weight of all that cheese and sauce. So which chip wagon leads the poutine parade?

In the fish and chips category, the fries must blend seamlessly with salt and malt vinegar. As for the fish, please only nominate cod or pollock if it is fresh as the halibut and haddock offerings already have the inside track with our judges (me, myself and I). Or maybe someone out there has a Florida flair and is using tilapia as there poisson of choice. Does your favourite pub or restaurant deserve this Orly?

Over in the pizza realm, which chain or family-owned pizzeria turns a slice of ‘za into an orgy of sauce, cheese and toppings for your mouth to savour? Is it a traditional approach with tomato sauce and floury dough or is it funky with pesto or barbecue sauce as the mediator between a flatbread or wholegrain thin crust and everything else?

Voting is open now! And the proverbial we need to hear from you ASAP so the judges – yup, me, myself and I – can get out and sample all this, er, um, healthy food.

And if you miss me woofing down this chow at the local chip stand, pub or restaurant, I’ll be the guy doing 15-km runs along Innes Road each day.

Vote early, vote often. The Orlys race is on.

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Comments and nominations can be sent to Walter Robinson at orleansouttakes@transcontinental.ca or walter@walterrobinson.ca.