Discover Ottawa – Chefx
Chefx: Recipes. Ingredients. Delivered.
Picture it. You arrive home from your Sunday long run to find a stylish insulated bag waiting on your front porch. You take it inside, put it on the counter and open the zipper. From within spills the scent of fresh herbs, the vibrant colour of local vegetables, cheeses and meats, and something more: a detailed vision for how to put it all together.
If you live in Ottawa, you already know the city is going through a food boom. Farmers’ markets and local grocery stores are connecting more people with quality local ingredients, while dozens of top-notch restaurants are showcasing the exciting flavours of a gang of local food visionaries: Beckta, Town, Atelier, Murray Street, Edgar, Supply and Demand, and the list goes on.
Now along comes Chefx to package it all up and deliver it to your doorstep.
The brainchild of Jeff Heaton, a local government worker and food lover, Chefx was born when Jeff took a cooking class and realized that making a delicious meal was a lot less difficult when all of the ingredients were laid out for him. In fact, that it was a lot of fun.
Jeff thought there were bound to be more people like him out there: people who wanted to eat more local food, and cook interesting delicious meals, but who didn’t have the time to go out and source all of the ingredients.
A few calls to local chefs and producers—who were eager to collaborate—and Jeff had the concept:
- Get a great recipe, with fantastic pictures, from one of Ottawa’s top chefs.
- Source top-quality ingredients and package them in the exact amounts called for in the recipe.
- Deliver it all to the customer’s door every Sunday.
Participating chefs come from all of the restaurants mentioned above (see the full list) and the food comes as much as possible from local producers. The focus, says Jeff is on quality, but it’s also about learning: “It’s a bit like a cooking lesson in a bag.” And Jeff admits to getting a lot better in the kitchen in the process.
Here at Run Ottawa, we loved our experience with Chefx, from the experience of opening the bag and discovering all the goodies inside to cooking a mouth watering barley risotto from Steve Mitton at Murray Street. And we definitely learned a thing or two in the process.
For a sample recipe from Chefx, check out our recipe of the month.
Here are a few more details about how Chefx works:
Chefx is based on a subscription model. Customers choose to receive one or two recipes per week to feed 2, 4 or 6 people. Recipe preparation time averages 45 minutes and packages start at $39. Visit www.chefx.ca for more information.
Chefx is offering Run Ottawa readers a special 40% discount on a first box (no commitment required!). Just enter the code RunOttawa when ordering.
