A Centretown restaurateur wants to bring together Newfoundland and Ontario, the two provinces he calls home, with one bowl of soup.
Claudio Fracassi, the owner of Soup Guy Plus in the World Exchange Plaza’s food court on Albert Street, has vowed that, during this month’s Winterlude festival, he will offer every person who says they are from Newfoundland a free bowl of his signature “Rick Mercer Jiggs Dinner Soup,” inspired by a traditional Newfoundland dish.
The soup was named after Newfoundland native Mercer, who is a renowned comedian and currently the host of the CBC’s The Rick Mercer Report. “Jiggs” is the name of the popular dinner soup. The name was coined from the main character of the cartoon strip, “Bringing Up Father.”
Fracassi, an Ottawa-raised Italian Canadian who is known for naming his soups after notable Canadians, says he called Newfoundland home for many years and wants to give back to a province that describes as “amazing.”
“I lived in Newfoundland for 20 years and I loved it. They’re the nicest people in the world, and the food is excellent,” says Fracassi.
Fracassi’s job with a retail giant brought him to Newfoundland, finding him travelling all over the province. There, he learned to cook local dishes, including Jiggs soup, which he later adapted to what he says is a “healthier” recipe.
Fracassi describes his Jiggs soup as a “beautiful bullion,” although he adds that he consciously cut down the salt content while making it.
“The flavour, the bullion,” he says, “is just amazing. You have this Newfoundland beef which is not that salted, but it’s got a nice flavour. Then when you add the turnips, the split pea, it just gives it this yellow look, this semi-pea soup flavour.
“Then (we add) the carrots, the caramelized onions and then we put a little touch of fresh basil and the Newfoundland (Mount Scio) savoury. It just combines and it gives you this beautiful homemade soup,” he says.
Fracassi’s soup counter alternates through a menu of hundreds of different soups weekly, serving 20 varieties each day. Although Fracassi says that he prefers not to have the same soup two days in a row, the Jiggs soup will remain on the menu for the duration of Winterlude, which runs until Feb. 15.
Newfoundlanders, both those who now live in Ottawa and those visiting the city during Winterlude, have begun making their way to Fracassi’s business.
“Winterlude is only a few weeks, and if they’re going to come to Ottawa and enjoy the canal and the festivities, then why not? It’s fun. It makes me feel good, and they love it. A lot of them pay for it,” Fracassi says.
Kevin Hynes and Siddartha Mookerjea are among the Newfoundland natives to make their way to try the Jiggs soup after hearing about Fracassi’s offer in a CBC radio item.
“It was great,” Hynes says.
“It’s got that flavour. It’s not quite the same, and it can’t be, because as (Fracassi) said, he does his own salt beef that’s not as salty as the beef we get back home, but it’s true to the spirit of the meal for certain.”
Mookerjea says he applauded Fracassi’s choice to make the soup less salty.
“I think there’s advantages to it being less salty,” he says. “I’m not used to eating salty food anymore.”
Christine Bissonnette, an Ottawa resident who works in Centretown, says she loves going to Soup Guy Plus.
“Everything is homemade, everything is a different variety. They’ll have stuff with cream, stuff that’s gluten-free,” she says. “The number one thing is everything is homemade, it’s not frozen, it’s not full of salt, it’s fresh ingredients and variety.”
Bissonnette says that the approach to offer free soup is in line with Fracassi’s “personable” approach at his business.
“I think that’s just something different that they’re doing to attract people and I think it’s a more personable approach, as opposed to a client and a number waiting in line,” she says.
It might be the family-run soup counter, the soup itself or the personable approach that makes customers want to come back, but one thing is clear – the Jiggs soup has passed the approval of the Newfoundlanders.
“It evokes good memories of home,” Hynes says, “and I’ll probably come back and have more.”