Server Julia Dundas will co-star with Pressed cafe’s signature waffles on the Food Network.
Featuring the popular local cafe Pressed Gourmet Sandwich Bar on The Food Network has been applauded by local foodies as a great way to showcase the Ottawa food scene to a national audience.
Film crews, including John Catucci, host of You Gotta Eat Here, visited the Preston Street eatery over two days last month.
They sampled the cafe’s specialties – waffles and sandwiches – and interviewed locals about the cafe’s success.
Julie Dundas, a server at Pressed, was working during filming.
“The first day we shut down the whole restaurant. They came, they filmed, we did all kind of prep work,” Dundas says.
“The second day we had the restaurant semi-open to the public and had a lot of our regular customers in who gave little testimonies, did interviews and got to try some of our most popular dishes.”
Dundas says the show’s coverage will be great for sales.
“It will pull in a lot of business from tourists,” she says. “We were featured in the Air Canada magazine and so a lot of people who were unfamiliar with the city knew right away that we were a great spot to come eat.”
She expects a similar reaction after the show airs.
Dundas says Pressed had been recommended widely by locals online from sites such as Yelp! and Urbanspoon, which she says got the attention of the show’s researchers.
You Gotta Eat Here visits scores of cafes and restaurants across Canada, looking for favourite local establishments.
Christine Leadman, executive director of the Glebe BIA, explains that this kind of national coverage is great for Ottawa’s tourism.
“I think anything that highlights the city’s cultural diversity is only going to benefit,” she says.
“It benefits the people thinking of visiting Ottawa and gives them that extra push to say ‘hey yeah, this is an exciting place to go.’”
This isn’t the first time the show has come to the Ottawa area. Murray Street Kitchen, The Smoque Shack and Edgar were featured last year.
Anne DesBrisay, a former restaurant reviewer for the Ottawa Citizen, agrees that while the coverage is great for the local cafe, it’s even better for the local food industry.
“When shows like You Gotta Eat Here show up in Ottawa or across the river in Gatineau to profile a little place like Pressed or Edgar, it does that business good, but it also does the city good,” she says.
DesBrisay says the attention the show brings serves to pique the interest in Ottawa as “more than a pretty government town.”
“It whets the appetite for Ottawa as a dining out destination. And we are all well aware of the value of culinary tourism in attracting people to places,” she says.
Don Chow, of Ottawa blog Foodie Prints agrees that it’s shows like You Gotta Eat Here that help expose hidden gems such as Pressed to a larger
audience.
Chow says the Ottawa food scene is developing into something the city should be proud of but says there is a “relative lack of diversity” and would like to see more choice in dining options for locals and tourists alike.
“Ottawa’s food scene absolutely deserves more attention,” he says.
Chow says the city’s response to its eateries through social networking endorsements and blogs is testament to this.
Pressed will appear on You Gotta Eat Here on the Food Network on April 19 at 9:30 p.m.