Une soirée entre amis à Ottawa, ON

Martinis are old news in Ottawa – unless they’re made with herb-infused vodka from an artisanal distillery. These days, craft cocktails are all the rage at the capital’s trendy restaurants. Whether it’s shaken, stirred or garnished with a sprig of rosemary, a drink from one of these inventive establishments will quench your thirst in a whole new way.

If you want to live a long and healthy life, fried chicken’s probably not a regular feature on your plate. But when that craving strikes, nothing quite hits the spot like it! At first glance it may seem like a challenge to find something in Ottawa other than the Colonel’s red and white buckets, but here are some reliable spots for fried chicken that go above and beyond.

Hotel bars aren’t a mere convenience for hotel guests. Some of Ottawa’s best are grandly sumptuous: perfect venues for a milestone occasion. Other bars are stylish and sleek, ideal for a dress-up date night. There are those where friends meet after work, and a couple that are perfect for the T-shirt-jeans-and-bottle-of-beer set. One thing our favourite hotel bars have in common, though, is decent drinks and nibbles.

Wine bars are great for a quiet, uncomplicated drink. But the good ones also allow patrons to explore Mother Earth’s greatest gift to humankind, glass by glass. So, if you’re like me, barely able to distinguish Muscadet from Merlot or Burgundy from bilge water, head to these capital area wine bars for an affordable and palate-pleasing time. If you’re already a connoisseur? No bilge water at any of ’em. Guaranteed!

Not that we have anything against Bob and Doug McKenzie and their two-fours of Red Cap, but sometimes you want to step beyond brewskies and savour craft beers. With nearly two-dozen microbreweries in the Ottawa area – and more on the way – there’s never been a better time to enjoy the wide range of tastes that dedicated beer makers can concoct. Here are some leading servers of locally crafted beer.

Have you got the late-night munchies? There’s a cure for that. Nachos. Can you imagine a world without them? I can’t. Nachos make the world go round.