Boston Pizza doesn’t sound Canadian but it has ties to the Mounties!

Little did I know back in 1998 when the first Boston Pizza was built on Terry Fox in Kanata that it’s history was, and remains uniquely Canadian. I had assumed then that like so many other similar chains, it was coming North from the States rather than coming East from Alberta. I never ate in that particular location, even though we drove right by it several times each week. It was not until the Orleans location on Innes Road at Tenth Line (or thereabouts) about 6 or 7 years agi opened that we first ventured in. The chain has enjoyed added recent publicity because its principal owner, Jim Treliving, who was once an RCMP officer is one of the entrepreneurs in CBC’s Dragons Den, a successful weekly show to help budding business attract venture capital. Just as Boston Pizza has been exported South of the Border, so too has Dragon’s Den, becoming Shark Tank in the United States.

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At this time, starting out as a single location in Edmonton, Alberta in 1964, Boston Pizza has grown to 335 locations in Canada, 52 in the U.S. and 2 in Mexico. Looks like the Mounties’ loss was Boston Pizza’s gain!

Where we went: You may recall from previous posts that I am regularly included in a group which was originally exclusively made up of the fairer sex. Our monthly outings are still call Girls Night Out even though males now account for a significant portion of the attendees. Due to the geographical locations of the members of the group, we traditionally end up somewhere in Ottawa’s East End. Since one of the group had recently relocated to the Hunt Club area, this month a slightly more central location was chosen. Thus it was that we found ourselves, on a Wednesday evening, visting Boston Pizza’s St. Laurent (Donald Plaza) location. As one might expect, reservations were not necessary. The place was not exactly empty but neither was it abuzz with activity. The sports bar which was attached as almost a separate entity, did seem to be busier. Being totally self-contained as it is, any excessive noise or rowdiness is moot (or mute 🙂 !

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What we ordered: The restaurant’s name notwithstanding, although we have frequented other Boston Pizza locations on numerous occasions, I personally have only ever once ordered pizza. On this particular occasion, the jambalaya took my fancy. Having visited New Orleans some 15-20 years ago, I developed a taste for this Creole dish, even though few of the Canadian attempts I have sampled since that time have come really close to the real thing. Dorothy, on the other hand, did opt for the pizza, albeit an unusual variety: Spicy Perogie!

What we got: It turns out that Dorothy might have had the better idea, though I must say that the notion of mixing perogies and pizza is not one that particularly appeals to me. Nevertheless, she thoroughly enjoyed her meal and said that the leftovers were equally as good when subsequently reheated for lunch. As for the Jambalaya, I have no real complaint, except that what I got was chicken, shrimp and sausage in a mildly spicy tomato sauce served over linguine. As such, it was quite good, but if I had really been expecting the authentic Creole or Cajun dish, I would have been sorely disappointed. Since when did jambalaya require pasta instead of rice?

Summary

• Positives: Good location, clean, bright and spacious, pleasant server, reasonable food and prices.
• Negatives: Nothing major to complain or rave about! Basically a middle of the road place!
• Recommendation: Overall, a pleasant place for a monthly meeting providing gourmet food is not what you are looking for!

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