Cocotte Bistro

Cocotte takes its name from the small French casserole that does the patient work of bistro cooking — the vessel for braises, eggs set over heat, dishes built on time rather than flash. The restaurant carries that name into a downtown Ottawa dining room that opens at seven in the morning for breakfast, holds a brunch service through midday, runs lunch, dinner, and cocktails, and still serves a late-night Parisian Hour after nine. That range is rare in French bistro cooking, where most kitchens choose a window and stay inside it. Cocotte has chosen the wider one and built a menu disciplined enough to keep its bistro identity intact across every hour.

The dinner board reads as a built lineup rather than a list of safe defaults. Steak Frites is the order to understand it: a champagne-marinated bavette finished with red-wine jus, garlic confit butter, frites, and aioli. Beef Tartare and Salmon Tartare sit among the openers alongside French Onion Soup. The mains run through Duck Confit, Gnocchi, Coquilles Saint-Jacques, Poulet Cordon Bleu, Saumon Basque, Moules et Frites, and a Royale Burger that gives the table a casual exit when it wants one. The cocktail list works as its own program: Steeped Old Fashioned and French Martini variations on the signature side, sparkling cocktails, local beer, bubbles by the glass, and a spirit-free section for the table that wants the same form without the alcohol.