Analytical Donairs

I've been in Ottawa for a while now and haven't been blessed with the East Coast donair gods since the days when you could leisurely drive to Smith Falls, pick up some bulk chocolate at the Hershey factory and finish your drive with a stop at Pizza Delight. Once seated in the familiar environment we all grew up eating in, I'd order a Donair with extra donair sauce and garlic fingers to share, which also comes with donair sauce.

Gone are those days.. now they've shut down the Hershey factory *tear* and Pizza Delight *streaming tears of fury*, and I've been reduced to bi-yearly donair visitation rights when I go home to New-Brunswick. I hear the king of Donairs is, well, the King of Donair in Halifax, but I grew up swearing up and down Champlain St. that Pizza Delight's and Acadia Donair's version of the sauce was bar-none. It's all about the sauce topping the meat, tomatoes and onions, but here are a few key differences.

Pizza Delight's donair is piled high on a tough and chewy pizza dough and comes with a steak knife because frankly, it's unfold able and there's no other way to eat that bad boy.

Here's a close up for good measure.

The donair meat is crispy like crisp bacon, but cut too perfectly, like crisp chicken bacon, or as I call it, fakecon. Also note the iceberg lettuce which is atypical for donairs. Nonetheless, it's so tasty I refuse to order anything else from PD, including the world's best Caesar salad (ask a Maritimer), but not limited to Garlic Fingers. For the uninitiated, garlic fingers are pizza dough slathered in a supremely garlicky mélange and topped with oodles of cheesy goodness, then sliced into easily shareable rectangles about the width of two fingers.

Acadie Pizza's donairs can be gargantuan creations by a now famous local donair maker who's little restaurant has stood the test of time. Almost ousted from his location, fans now leave a token of appreciation, usually a hand written napkin note praising his efforts to stay open.

Pardon the blurred cell phone picture. This small version of the Halifax Donair also comes monstersized, which is not unlike the size of a football. No need to attempt a dripping disaster, you can also purchase extra pita bread and sauce, reconstructing the larger donair into about eight smaller ones. Trust me, it fed three and we had leftovers.

Enough about my history with East Coast Donairs.. I now bring you..

Halifax style Donairs in Ottawa!

Yes, the rumors are true, Centretown Resto Bar on Bronson St. makes fabulous donairs with East Coast (ie Halifax) style donair sauce, or the closest thing I've found to it in O-ttown..

Their donairs come in small or large, you can pick up, get delivery or eat in and watch the game. I don't care how you get yours, but consider running. Don't forget extra napkins on your way out.