On a beautiful Thursday evening, Table 40 did their second "special" pairing dinner of the year by hosting a 5-course meal paired with a variety of tasty Beau's All Natural Brewing Company beers (the first was a 5-course meal paired with Norman Hardie wines which *sniff* I could not attend).  

If you're not familiar with Table 40's Monday night family-style meals, shame on you! (and check out my review here). And if you're not familiar with Beau's beers, or their hugely successful Oktoberfest celebration, you should be drawn and quartered.  

As you can see from the menu above, every dish was was amazing and delicious, and portion sizes for both food and beer servings, were extremely generous (as is the case on any visit to Table 40).   We left that evening with full bellies and a lovely Beau's beer opener/key chain.  

I could go on and on about the food, the beer, how each pairing was bang on, how wonderful it was to have 2 of the brewmasters talk about each pairing, but I'll just leave you with pictures from each course and leave you with yet another cry to PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF SHOES AND WINE, make your way to Table 40 / Fraser Cafe.  You will never, be disappointed.  

Oh, and thank you to my lovely lady date who enjoyed this feast with me.   It's the first of many I'm sure and I'm happy to have a new beer and foodie friend to share adventures with!

For my first post, I want to write about one of our favorite restaurants, and very happily, it is a neighborhood restaurant only minutes away from us.  Table 40.  Located on Springfield Avenue, the owner's first restaurant, Fraser Café, is also a gem in the neighborhood located right next door, but Table 40 is one of the first "family-style dining" establishments in Ottawa.  Opened for only a few years now, they serve dinner on Monday nights only, and their website normally posts their Monday night dinners up to 4 weeks in advance (note that the restaurant is available for private functions on most other nights).  

We've enjoyed likely nearly 10 different meals at Table 40 and not one has ever disappointed in any way.  Every Monday night dinner is comprised of 3 courses (although the plentiful portion sizes makes it feel like 4 or 5 courses) and the menus always include both a white and red wine pairing recommendation to compliment the set menu.  The wine pairings are selected with great care and knowledge and highly recommend that you give them a shot with your meal.  Some high points for us: the chef is a master with both duck and pork entrées (that said, the chicken and beef tried here were also wonderful), and the desserts...oh the desserts.  For about $40 per person (taxes and wine extra) it is one of the most delicious and well priced meals you will enjoy in Ottawa. The staff are friendly and fun and I love supporting a neighborhood joint.  

Below you'll find a slideshow of some of the delicious meals we've enjoyed at Table 40.  Do yourself a favor, take a night off from cooking on a Monday night and make a reservation. After your first meal, you'll have a really hard time resisting going back every week.  If money (and my waistline) weren't a factor, I would be here every Monday night for dinner!  http://frasercafe.ca/table40/