A new food and beverage festival is coming to Lansdowne Park this May, focused on making local eateries more accessible to the broader community.
Henry Monkhouse has amassed more than 16,000 followers on his Instagram account, thebesteats613, dedicated to showcasing local restaurants, breweries and bars. He told OBJ this week that, over the years he’s run the account, he’s been able to create “great connections” with several chefs and business owners across the city.
Still, he felt there was a need to present the city’s gastronomy to the community in an accessible way. “I thought there was a bit of a gap in the market for something that was really fun and didn’t feel pretentious or stuffy.”
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And so Monkhouse set out to create a food and beverage festival that would showcase some of his favourite spots in town, while keeping quality high and prices low. Best Fest Ottawa will take place at the Aberdeen Pavilion from May 8-9, shortly before the facility is set to close for renovations.
“(With this event), you can have (eateries) curated all in one spot. You can cross off all those restaurants and breweries you’ve always wanted to try in one fell swoop,” he said.
Monkhouse partnered with local business people that shared his vision, including Nitin Mehra, executive chef at East India Company, and Kevin Parent from Killer Buns.
Mehra said that he and Monkhouse clicked when they met last year. “We both share a similar passion for the dining scene in the city, the arts and culture scene. Neither of us really understood the criticism Ottawa faces sometimes … so we decided to put this together and demonstrate how the city is fantastic with all of these businesses.”
Mehra said the selection of vendors is “highly biased” on what he, Monkhouse and Parent like best. The current lineup includes East India Company, Killer Buns, Tredici, Beyond the Pale Brewing Company, Flora Hall Brewing and Spark Beer. Monkhouse said he wanted to have a variety of vendors so as to minimize competition.
Dave Longbottom, owner of Flora Hall, said he is looking forward to taking part.
“The setting (at the Aberdeen Pavilion) motivated me, as well as the energy level of the individuals involved. Henry has built himself up very quickly in Ottawa. I like the idea of supporting a young person who’s chasing something and wanting to create something new in Ottawa. Plus it’s spring and it’s a great time for an event to get people out and about downtown.”
Longbottom said Flora Hall will only serve beer at the event. “We’ve just got a ton of group events and things going on at the Hall that would make it too complicated for my kitchen. Once we understand who the other food vendors are, we’ll be happy to come up with a lineup of beer that complements the food that’s available elsewhere.”
Customers can expect a mix of fan favourites and new items at East India Company’s booth, Mehra said.
“We’re going to show up with a unique style of samosa, something maybe we haven’t done within the restaurant … We’re going to do a small cocktail and then we’re looking for one larger offering, maybe a shareable snack for two people.”
With admission tickets priced at $10, Mehra said Best Fest organizers have asked vendors to also keep their food and beverage items reasonably priced.
“We’ve asked all our vendors to keep their prices as approachable, as low and as accessible as possible to give as much value to the customers as possible. That’s the point here, to give value to the customer. We want anyone that comes in to move across 10 different vendors, get a little bit of everything and not feel pinched or upset at the end of it,” he said, adding that most items will range from $5 to $14.
“My main goal is to break even,” Monkhouse said. “It’s so expensive to put an event on in terms of the space. My face and brand are kind of all over it, so the last thing I want is for people to feel like they’re not getting good value out of it.”
Monkhouse said he’d like to make Best Fest an annual or semi-annual event. “It depends on how much hair I lose on this one,” he quipped. “I’d love for this to be something to kick off the summer with and potentially tying it into the fall, before winter.
“I’ve found it a lot more of a challenge because it’s a first-time event. There’s always the unknown. So it’s been great to (get) support from vendors, (especially since) it’s hard to provide tangible numbers. So for people to go out on a whim as a vendor, has meant a lot to me.”
“We’d love to continue to grow it,” Mehra added. “I see it bringing in more restaurants. Ideally, we get some support from the city, from the tourism fund down the road. But the concept is easily replicable in other communities. Could there be a Best Fest Kingston? Why not? Toronto, Guelph?”
