Mainstreeter Staff
Rumours of a new bakery and café for Old Ottawa East were confirmed recently when Regional Group unveiled the opening in February 2023 of Tartelette Bakery & Café in The Shops at Milieu on Main Street.
The community’s flirtation with gourmet dining has proven to be a brief one, as Gray Jay Hospitality restaurant at Colonel By Drive and Hawthorne Avenue announced early this month that it will close its doors for good on December 23rd.
Since opening in late 2021 at the former site of the Royal Oak Pub, the Gray Jay has been sideswiped by the impacts of Covid, the Ottawa convoy and the shifting Queensway bridge replacement plans of the Ministry of Transport (Ontario)(MTO).
Owner-Chef Dominique Dufour recently told The Mainstreeter that the latest MTO plans to detour Colonel By traffic for up to two years and to use the gray Jay’s parking lot for bridge staging were, for her, “the last nail in the coffin.”
In a restaurant review in the April 2022 issue of The Mainstreeter, the Gray Jay was referred to as a “culinary gem” for its innovative menu featuring some of the city’s finest Canadian gastronomy.
For local foodies, the news is not all bad. Regional Group, the developers of the new Milieu Modern apartments on Main Street, announced this month that Tartelette Bakery & Cafe will launch its French bakery in February 2023 in The Shops at Milieu.
Regional says that fit up of the new bakery is now underway, and a hiring search of specialized baking staff has begun. The Regional announcement coincided with a spate of Instagram posts picturing a wide range of delectable items that will be served at the bakery, including French pastries, cakes, tarts, croissants, cheesecakes, scones and sandwiches on specialty bread.
A major draw at Tartelette will be high quality coffee brewed using the bakery’s customized Kees Van Der Westen machine, an iconic brewing system within the gourmet coffee industry that is found in many of the world’s finest coffee shops.
