Play Food & Wine is closing its doors in the ByWard Market after 17 years in early January, owner Stephen Beckta announced on social media on Thursday.
Beckta said he and managing partner Clay Cardillo decided not to renew the lease at the 1 York St. location.
“We are announcing this news early so we can spend the next two months celebrating the extraordinary things Play has become over these last 17 years,” Beckta said in a post.
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The restaurant’s final lunch service will be on Dec. 19, Beckta said, while the final day of operations will be Jan. 10.
He added that Play’s sister restaurants, Beckta Dining & Wine on Elgin Street and Gezellig on Richmond Road, will be adding more services on Mondays to “find a new home for many of our wonderful core staff.”
“It’s been a remarkable journey (sometimes more challenging than others), but always deeply fulfilling. As my mentor told me yesterday: ‘If someone promised you that you would be open for 17 years when you first signed this lease, you would have taken that deal 100 times out of 100.’ And he is right,” Beckta said in a post.
With a vacant restaurant space soon becoming available in the Market, Beckta added that their landlords at CBRE are starting the search for Play’s replacement.
Less than 24 hours after Beckta posted the announcement to his social channels, over 100 people commented, lamenting the restaurant’s closure and sharing memories made at the establishment.
Play was a community favourite, topping lists for favourite places to eat from several respondents in OBJ’s “My Ottawa” series, including Kathryn Tremblay, co-founder and owner of Altis Recruitment & Technology, and Catherine Clark, president of Catherine Clark Communications and co-founder of The Honest Talk.
When it closes in January, Play Food & Wine will be joining a number of former ByWard Market restaurants and businesses that have closed in recent years, such as Blue Cactus Bar and Grill, Saslove’s Meat Market and the Courtyard.
