Matías Muñoz, Mat Beausoleil, Adam Vettorel

This is the beat of Ottawa’s nightlife. 

On the official City of Ottawa Nightlife Office podcast, Ottawa At Night, get to know the stories of the people working on stage, behind the bar, in the kitchen, at the studio and into the night, bringing our city to life from sunset to sunrise.  

In the fourth episode of the Ottawa At Night podcast, we discuss the intersection of Ottawa’s food and music scenes with Matías Muñoz, Mat Beausoleil, and Adam Vettorel. Matías Muñoz, the owner of Ottawa At Night HQ, FONO, is a long-time champion of Ottawa’s DIY music scene, Mat Beausoleil is an award-winning food critic and TV personality (famously discovered by Gordon Ramsay), and Adam Vettorel is the Chef and Co-Owner of North & Navy and Cantina Gia, and the host of his own podcast, At the Pass.  

Filmed and recorded at Centretown hi-fi listening lounge, FONO. 

Theme music by The Lionyls - “Can’t Get Enough”  

Produced in collaboration with Baldwin Studios  

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Voici le rythme de la vie nocturne d’Ottawa. 

Dans le podcast officiel du Bureau de la vie nocturne de la Ville d’Ottawa, Ottawa la nuit, découvrez les histoires de celles et ceux qui travaillent sur scène, derrière le bar, en cuisine, en studio et après la tombée de la nuit—donnant vie à notre ville du coucher au lever du soleil.  

Dans le quatrième épisode du podcast Ottawa la nuit, nous explorons le croisement entre les scènes culinaire et musicale d’Ottawa avec Matías Muñoz, Mat Beausoleil et Adam Vettorel. Propriétaire de FONO, Matías Muñoz est un ambassadeur de longue date du scène musicale indépendante d’Ottawa. Mat Beausoleil est un critique gastronomique primé et une personnalité télé (notamment découvé par Gordon Ramsay), tandis qu’Adam Vettorel est chef et copropriétaire de North & Navy et Cantina Gia, ainsi qu’animateur de son propre podcast, At the Pass. 

Tourné et enregistré au salon d’écoute hi-fi du centre-ville, FONO.

Musique par The Lionyls - « Can’t Get Enough » 

Produit en collaboration avec Baldwin Studios  

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Keep up with the night owls making our study ballots from sunset to sunrise grass at the podcast official de la Ville d Ottawa. Presented by the Bureau de la Vie Nocturne. My name is Zoe, our Dropless Hunter, and you're tuned in to Ottawa at night at Phono in the heart of Centertown. For this episode of the podcast of the Bureau of the View Nocturne of the View of Dottawa, I've the pleasure to present Matt Bauselet, critic gastronomic and personality of the tele influent. Adam Veteral, chef and co-owner of Northern Navy and Cantienergia, and the host of his own podcast at the Pass. And finally, Matthias Munoz, owner of Phono and longtime champion of Ottawa's music scene. Gentlemen, welcome and bienvenue to Ottawa at night.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Um, Matt, can I gastronomy cute mark after two annuals? And Adam, what would you say is the vibe of Ottawa kitchens right now? Are we in a creativity era or a comfort era?

SPEAKER_02 1:19

There's a combination going on. There's there's a bunch of different restaurants that are opening that I would definitely call on the creative side. Uh Anthea is getting a lot of attention right now, and that's like a fermentation-driven kitchen, which is like, you know, sort of all the rage right now, and like cutting end, cutting edge trend. And then uh another restaurant that's getting a lot of plaudits, and rightfully so is Raphael, which is Peruvian cuisine. So that's just like, you know, a bunch of incredible flavors that you wouldn't expect to be tasting in Ottawa. So there's a little bit of that, but then also sort of the standbys that seem to last, places like the Manx has been all around forever, and kind of that's one of those like if you know you know sort of places, and that's just pure comfort. Just a great place to have a pint, glass of scotch, and uh really good food.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Yeah, good collection. And Matias, what's a current favorite record that's on rotation at Phono?

SPEAKER_00 2:06

I mean, been playing the fan club wallet, uh, the new fan club wallet record quite a bit. Um uh I I actually got uh Andrew Vincent and the Pirates up there um as well behind the DJ booth uh on display. That's actually a record that's not even on Bandcamp or Title, I don't think, or Spotify. So uh a lot of great Ottawa music. I have a ton of local records, so I'm excited to get them up there and uh get people listening.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Yeah, absolutely. Well, merci à vous toi de me rejoindre ce soir. I thought we'd start by stirring the pot with the night quiz, Ottawa Food and Drink Edition. Vos buzzer sont prêts, et vous question number one which Ottawa restaurant recently ranked on Canada's 100 best restaurant list?

SPEAKER_04 2:53

I think you got first. Anthea.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I'm gonna have to give this one to Matt. Question number two which one of these is not yet a food trend in Ottawa? Is it a natural wine bars, b late night tasting menus, or C, drive-through fine dining?

SPEAKER_02 3:13

It's gotta be drive-through fine dining.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Unfortunately, not yet a trend here in Ottawa.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Well, when is that gonna happen? That's that's gonna be something I should happen.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

I mean, I don't know. I'm looking to you three.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

I don't know. There's a parking lot behind Northern Navy. Maybe we just open a window.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

Yeah, hand it out the back door.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

That's all we need. I regret even saying that.

SPEAKER_04 3:52

We'll say Hindenburg.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Another one from Matt.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Well, you have a thirty-three percent chance of a run. This is literally his job though.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Question number four. Blank is a fine dining restaurant located in a nineteenth century bank building. A Becta. B Stofa. C. Riviera.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

C. Riviera.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Woo!

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Go out of I had that one. I was uh being bad chicken.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

And your question. Question numero 5. Avant devoile sa grande renovation and bar elargy on 2019, Club Saw it connu for vendor prescription exclusivement Calboisson Lord of Spectacle. B Steam Whistle Pilsner or C Bose Lug Tread Town and Country. Nope.

SPEAKER_04 4:48

Bose Lug Tread.

unknown 4:49

Nope.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

The other one.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

No, c'est Steam Whistle Pilsner. Steam Whistle, really? It's Saw? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

I don't remember that.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Back in the good old days, yeah, I'm sure. I worked there. Well, we have a winner, Clermont Saint Mat, Calcun qui a fait devoir avec petit un peu d'experience. You'd be the right person to give a food and beverage tour of Ottawa. Now that we're all warmed up, who's ready for what I'd like to call the midnight snack challenge? For this next segment, I'd like all three of you to imagine that you've come home from a night out, or maybe a late night shift, and suddenly your tiredness is completely quashed by a stroke of creative genius. You have these random ingredients at your arsenal, and you've decided to embark on creating a brand new dish. I've chosen ingredients that I believe to be quintessential Ottawa.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

What would we do with this? What are you gonna do with it, Matt? Uh I can't tell you what I'm doing. I'm gonna do it, my bad. You gotta get it awesome. That's looking like the beginnings of a poutine, I think. Oh yeah. Yeah, exactly. I won't steal your idea. I think that's it. We won't all do it though.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Okay, that's time. Adam, what's cooking?

SPEAKER_02 6:17

I'm gonna go pretty rich. I'm gonna make uh pom alight, which is like a really high-end uh like Michelin star style mashed potatoes where you do like 50-50 cheese and potatoes, so they're very runny and stringy. Did you were gonna do that? I still am. I still am, it's okay. I'll do my own take. And then once I have my my mashed potatoes, I'm gonna cover them in the swarmer chicken, obviously. And then I'm going to mandolin uh with like Julian apples on top and cover that in maple syrup and get a little sweet and salty going on at the same time. Wow. It's a pretty good after the bar stuff.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Impressive. I don't know if I'd be able to come up with that at like three o'clock in the morning. Matthias, what's cooking?

SPEAKER_00 6:59

I mean, I'm just looking at that plate and I'm getting hungry, just looking at it. But um, don't touch the curds. Don't touch the curds. Um you know, I'm not gonna go as fancy as you. I don't have as my my like food chops aren't as uh you know impressive as yours, but um, I just think a giant plate uh of Putin with I think having the apple in there and some maple syrup is actually really interesting. Like maybe you could make um like a tomb or like a garlic. Yeah, you could make incorporate garlic in there somehow too, but a giant plate with some little hit of apple, little app I'm thinking like cubes of apple.

SPEAKER_03 7:38

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Um, and uh yeah, a little maple syrup, why not? Like it that's so Ottawa. That would that should be a thing.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Yeah, there's very rare you can put maple syrup on something and it ruins it. Yeah, it's always pretty good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:50

But I've been in gastronomy, but if you watch tall yeah, I'll get very good. But we're gonna have a pomaligos, uh, some uh am I Adam. Don't have 50% of the patates, 50% of the cheese pull. Okay, it's incredible. Um I'll put the poolin' showerman, I will grill. Um, and I'll make the poulin. Don't the epic salad with the church sucre and salad with the episode. Um gastric of pommes. We have the cell, the sugar, the acidity, the custodian. Don't change composants and plants that have success.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

I'm gonna manage all your plants. Well, now that we're all hungry, why don't we feed our souls with a friendly night chat and maybe uh get rid of this?

SPEAKER_02 8:54

Excellent.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Don't parle more of your debut in your respective. Um when did you decide to go against the grain and maybe pursue a less quintessential Ottawa career path? Matt, is I'm gonna come with you?

SPEAKER_05 9:12

I would say in informatic or in cuisine. It's really the two passions that I had, I'm decided to stay in informatic uh-ded. But I've decided to find the media socials with my booth. Don't get desplats, puis en fait sur Twitter at this point là. Là je me rends vieux, but uh j'avais début 20 ans, puis j'ai commencé à faire des plats sur Twitter, puis j'ai été découvert par Gordon Ramsey qui s'est abonné à moi, puis il mettait mes plats en vedette sur son Instagram, son Twitter à ce point-là. Puis il mettait mes plans en vedette et j'ai commencé avec une audition VIP à Masterchef Canada la première saison. Puis de là, j'ai fait trois saisons, j'ai fait des stages avec des grands restaurateurs, j'ai cuisiné à l'ambassade de la France, j'ai fait beaucoup de temps dans la cuisine, j'ai appris beaucoup de techniques comme ça. J'ai jamais étudié at the club, but I've had an apprentice in the domain and renominated. Don't manage a soup one with m'a demanded questions on the platform. J'ai donné des comments, puis c'était un propriétaire of the restaurant, puis he said, Then I don't want 500 $. He said, You connect your stock, you don't change the money to make it.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Wow, super cool. What about you, Adam? How did you become a restaurateur of two favorite Ottawa stops, but then also a podcast host?

SPEAKER_02 10:46

The podcast was a uh a decision made during the pandemic. So it probably wouldn't have happened if I wasn't going crazy during the pandemic. But uh but in terms of restaurants, uh I yeah, it wasn't the plan to be a chef or or to work in restaurants, but I was working in restaurants to pay my way through university, so my plan was law school, and that's where I was headed. And um, but I had a a mentor who was a lawyer and and he was also a foodie, and we we met because he was always eating at the restaurant that I was working at at the time, and um, and so he was sort of the one that gave me the advice to like I I confided in him that especially towards the end of my schooling when I was not working in restaurants as much because my studying was taking up all my time, that I was missing the kitchen a lot, and so he he was the one who gave the advice that law school will always be there, and if I wanted to make a push to be a chef, I would have to start now. And uh and so I decided to follow his advice and I did, and haven't looked back since. Well, I've looked back like at least a thousand times, but no.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

What about you, Matthias? Did you get any persuasive advice to go into the music industry?

SPEAKER_00 11:57

You know, it was not um a straight path uh to the music industry. I studied political science. Um I'm from London, Ontario. I went to Western. I moved here thinking I was gonna get into politics or you know, work for an NGO or something, you know, those those kind of um, you know, I I was kind of naive and thought that Ottawa was really where it's at for everything. And it is for a lot of for a lot of things uh in that way. But um, you know, I quickly realized that uh my passion isn't um working for the government or public service, or um, you know, I I kind of see what I do as a public service in a different way. And um I got I started as a music blogger. I I actually um just started going to shows in Ottawa. I started um getting engaged with the music community, I started buying merch, I started meeting bands, I started writing about bands on Ottawa Show Box. I literally started like a just a little WordPress blog um and uh gained traction really fast. Um, you know, got some Twitter followers, got some uh readership locally, and then from there started putting on shows once in a while, became a promoter through Ottawa Show Box, and then uh opened up a DIY venue with a few buds uh in 2019 called Sinkhole. And unfortunately, uh, you know, only lasted about seven months or so before the pandemic hit in 2020, which uh, you know, uh hurt everybody a lot. And uh so we had to close that down. But uh I learned a lot from that experience and and all of those experiences really, and um, and met you. Uh and we uh we, you know, put putting on shows really brought me a sense of joy because um, you know, you get to not only support musicians and support people doing really cool stuff in town, but um finding like interesting spaces to do shows, you know, whether that's mugshots back in the day, uh, you know, jail hostel or uh under a bridge, uh on Bronson, um seeing a punk show there, Ottawa Explosion, like, you know, there was just so much uh interesting, like hyper-local stuff that was happening that, you know, the the broader music industry didn't necessarily care about, but uh we were like making it our own. And Ottawa's got some really awesome stuff happening uh and still does.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Tell me about a moment in your careers thus far that is truly an Ottawa moment that has been really defining for you.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

I'm thinking, I I don't know why. I I'm going right to like Ottawa explosion and just like you know, having all your buddies there um crowdsurfing in a very like thin uh group of people, like there's probably like 20 or 25 people, and you're at like Club Saw crowdsurfing, and you're all just having the best time, and you know, maybe it's a band that's coming through, or maybe, but like you're just with all your best friends, and uh, you know, it's like 2017 or something, and we're we're just having the best time. And um, yeah, I think that you know, appreciating Ottawa for what it is and enjoying the the the people that are here and the things that are happening here is been um you know to me that is that is Ottawa. It's like we all live here, we all love this place, and we all we all know what's up. So yeah, crowdsurfing my buds. I'm usually the one underneath holding people up because I'm the tall, tall guy.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

So Matt, is there a critical gastronomic participant in crowdsurfing?

SPEAKER_05 15:27

No, not really. But no, I would say that one of the events the most marking for me in the scene, culinary. It was an event that happens Canada's Table. Uh the tablet of Canada, I think. It's really special, very different.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

We saw my image.

SPEAKER_05 16:07

Exactly, exactly. It's very special.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Adam, what about you? What was a pinnacle moment that was so Ottawa in your career so far?

SPEAKER_02 16:15

There's been a bunch of like small ones, just because uh like we were talking earlier, uh I studied political science and owning a restaurant in Ottawa, you get to see a lot of the figures in politics that and often right after something big happens. So sometimes there'll be a budget will drop, and then a bunch of members of the party that dropped the budget or a bunch of members of the opposition party who who weren't happy about the budget show up. And so we get to see the sort of like gloves-off moments of uh, and and we get to see often politicians from rival parties interacting in our dining room, and and that's always interesting. Sometimes big moments like when um Ukraine got invaded and uh Tony Blinken, the Secretary of State, came to Canada. He had dinner with uh Justin Trudeau and Melanie Jolie in our dining room to so they had a like a big important conversation, I imagine, uh maybe earlier, but afterwards had dinner and stuff. So sometimes it feels like history is happening in the dining room and I'm catering it. Um and uh and so so moments like that feel like you're part of like the fabric of Ottawa because when people people use Ottawa sometimes derogatorily, is like in other parts of the country, like all this happens in Ottawa, but it a lot of it does happen in Ottawa, and so sometimes it happens at uh the great restaurants in Ottawa, and so those always make me feel really connected to the city. Um, when when there's big things like that. And another night I remember is when Shopify went public and suddenly Ottawa had like, I forget what the number was, it was like 30 new millionaires or something like that. Like all these young people who had been in from the ground floor, and suddenly our dining room is just full of these like young people who were like celebrating, you know, like all of their hard work turning into money they probably never thought they'd ever have. So that was also a big, very like a moment that was significant for our city, but kind of happened in the under the roof of the restaurant. So those are a couple big ones.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Yeah, we take for granted the things that happen behind the scenes at these moments in history. And I'm wondering for the three of you at the table, how do you feel that Ottawa's food or music scenes are elevating the reputation of our city?

SPEAKER_00 18:20

There's bands that tour, um, there's bands that find places to crash, there they they bring their music to other cities, they travel North America, they meet other bands, and uh and there's been bands that obviously have toured for a long time in Ottawa, but like right now, there's a lot of young bands that are getting out there, and um, you know, you've even given the state of things uh south of the border, or um, you know, people are still working hard and and doing the thing that we hope never dies, which is making music and um hitting the road, grinding hard. And uh there it is such a grind in so many ways to start a band and try and make it and try and do it right, and but not lose your creativity and not lose your sense of um why you started it in the first place, you know. And um, I just see a lot of especially young bands, um, you know, uh I'm just always impressed that um the like Ottawa bands are finding awesome places to play and making great music and um oftentimes just need some support, like need some um fair places that don't charge them an arm and a leg to to uh to play a show or to um you know sell their merch or or whatever. Um so yeah, I mean I I do think bands hitting the ground hard and continually putting their stuff out there and sometimes you know it resonates and people listen. And um, and there's a few that have gone pretty big on TikTok or um they they fill they fill places uh in other cities, and that's pretty cool to see.

SPEAKER_05 20:05

Only colline, on the quality of the restaurant that augmented a chain, the restaurant who cherch vraiment to se distingue, create des plats and designations uh comme Anthea, the Brianna Kim, puis aussi les classiques, les restaurants classiques comme Northern Navy, JTAN, puis même des petits restaurants comme G-Burger, The Manx, il y a beaucoup d'options pour manger le jour, le soir. Puis on voit vraiment que la qualité monte, puis c'est très important, puis on discutait de ça tantôt, mais nos clientèles sont bien plus connaissants de la restauration, puis la scène, dans la cuisine, à cause des émissions de télé. Et on voit vraiment qu'à cause que nos clients sont plus éduqués de ce sens-là, les restaurants ont besoin d'être à un niveau un peu plus élevé, puis d'être plus présents, puis d'être plus ouverts. Puis comme Madame tantôt, tu vas servir souvent le plat principal dans ton restaurant. But this expérience-là pour un client, it's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

In Ottawa, right now, there are so many great restaurants, and they don't uh collectively we don't always get recognized sort of outside of the city, and the city kind of has a chip on its shoulder for that reason, uh, the culinary scene, anyways, that that sometimes we, you know, the the big three cities, Vancouver, Toronto, and uh Montreal seem to get all the all the attention all the time. And it's it's not that they don't deserve it because they have great restaurants too, but uh, but it does seem like there's a a lot of Ottawa chefs really pushing and making great food and and not just making great food, but telling great stories with their businesses. Like there's really well thought out concepts in Ottawa, which put it to be fair to people from the outside who maybe are dismissing the city, it's because we didn't always have that. There was sort of like some borderline French cuisine shoehorned into like. like a dining room that didn't really make sense for it and there was a lot of that going on in Ottawa, a lot of goat cheese and like and goat cheese is great. I'm not trying to say it's not, but but yeah, just um we we were playing ketchup for a long time, but I I think we've caught up and and uh absolutely and so it yeah I'm I'm just proud when I when I go out to dinner with uh and I I love the opportunity when people come from out of town to take them to some of my favorite spots and and they don't always have to be the big expensive fine dining spots they can be more casual spots a neighborhood spot like can't miss the supply and demand uh you can't miss it there's you know Arlo is just like one of the coolest spots could drop it right into Montreal tomorrow and it would just be fine like there's so many good spots in Ottawa so the idea that that this is the city that is sort of meat and potatoes is sort of a reputation that's in my opinion long gone.

SPEAKER_05 22:51

I I'm gonna I'm gonna go on record here and say the next couple years is gonna be a big change. There's gonna be a big swing uh in the recognition of Ottawa restaurants outside of of Ottawa. I think that uh the growth is just exponential and like you're saying every restaurant you go out to there's there's great spots there's great spots that have not you know people don't know about them necessarily outside of the city and there's not enough recognition for our restaurants in Ottawa and like that's gonna change in the next couple years I it has to change and I mean if we're we'll be at the forefront. Yeah I'll be are you in? I'll be cooking don't cater it.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

There you go there you go I like the energy that we're all like reaping the rewards of this Renaissance. So thank you three for those those opinions and this friendly night chat. We're gonna move on to our final segment for tonight. Um take sur le micro alors on va passer un petit jeu de this or that pour complete set episode. Okay so to start choose a noodle faux or ramen and this is not the time to be polite we're not at the dinner table please interrupt each other.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

I love ramen but I'm gonna say faux okay I'm gonna say pho.

SPEAKER_04 23:57

I mean that's a tough choice. That's a real selfie's choice that's tough stuff. It depends if I'm feeling for richness or for Okay or moving to the next one.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Pelfo and Tim or festival en plein air uh plenaire.

SPEAKER_04 24:07

Intimate performance because I'm a performer too festival outdoors get to party with your friends outdoors I don't know this is an amazing venue in the back room of Fono that just entices me.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Yeah you're like ah man scoring some money points over there.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

How about tasting menu or a la carte?

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Depends who's cooking yeah truth yeah tasting menu if you really trust the chef then that that's obviously the right choice because then you don't have to make any more choices.

SPEAKER_04 24:33

I'm gonna just toss a wrench into that and say uh a la carte with chef recommendations.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

That's just a tasting menu come on it's not because it's full portion of it I give me the more food how do we remedy a long slew of night shifts are we going to gatno for a hike or spa day spa day I I like it.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

Gatneau for a hike or snowboarding if it's the winter.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Snowboarding was an option but I like that uh you're thinking about what's in gatno it's too much work it's too much.

SPEAKER_05 25:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Right well see on préalé ensemble. So thank you three for joining me today on this episode of Ottawa at night. Before we sign off what are we doing after this and who's responsible for the menu?

SPEAKER_02 25:12

We're going across the street to Perfect Meatball to find out just how perfect that meatball is and maybe we should get some Negronis. We've been talking about those for a while though yeah I would go to maybe Paper Tiger and then hit up has the target after oh that's a good good call to I didn't realize we're curating like yeah we're curating an experience tonight yeah that sounds awesome right beside each other story rights itself that those are great spots yeah I'm going with him yeah we're with him you're invited too yeah you can go I will happily join you at the perfect meatball as I'm about to bring in Matt, Adam and Mathias for me joining Ottawa Danui.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Any parting words for our audience at home?

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Don't stop going to shows and buy merch. That's good.

SPEAKER_05 26:04

Because it's music, the industry of the cuisine and restaurants to support the people who fabricated because it's very important to rest my advice would be to go to the farmers markets because all of the farmers that we we buy from as chefs also have stalls at the farmers markets and they're not cheap for them to rent the stalls.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

So go support them there and uh and then it makes our life easier to get beautiful local produce into our restaurants too.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Happy farmers market season. Stay connected with the Ottawa Nightlife office at Ottawa and on Instagram at OTT nightweight at Ottawa and if you're looking for a completely accessible version of this podcast you can go to the city of Ottawa's YouTube channel and to learn more about accessibility visit Ottawaatnight.ca slash podcast