The new Ottawa bar has no website, no reservations, and a room full of taxidermy, vintage maps and family heirlooms.
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At Natural History, the latest spot on an increasingly lively stretch of Somerset Street West, I took a seat next to a bear cub and found myself gazing directly at a poster-sized diagram of the human excretory system on the opposite wall.
It was a little creepy, I will admit, especially in the dim glow of the bar’s red lighting. The effect made it feel like we had stepped into a candle-lit laboratorium from the past. Finding out the cub’s name was Kevin did little to ease the weirdness.
At the same time, as the daughter of an outdoorsy dad and a nurse mom, I was fascinated. Beyond the taxidermied critters and the anatomical artifacts, my eyes landed on a myriad of other items from previous decades. There was no shortage of things to look at: Globes, owls, shells, butterflies, planes, maps, carvings, fish, artwork, vintage pennants and more were on display, artfully arranged in antique showcases or on high shelves.
If you’re the sort of person who considers other people’s old stuff to be worthless junk, stay away from this corner bar on the hill at Rochester Street. You’ll recognize it by the sabre-tooth tiger stencilled to look ancient on the brick exterior, a striking piece by local artist Pascale Arpin.
But if you’re open to the retro, rec-room vibe of a place like nearby Ward 14, but elevated to the spirit of a world explorer’s personal museum, this is a great choice for drinks, snacks and nostalgia.
For my companion and I, it felt like we had discovered a secret hideaway. There’s no website for Natural History and no way to reserve a table. It’s been open a few weeks but the only digital presence is an Instagram account, and its official-sounding name makes for a frustrating Google quest.
Evening Update
A search for “Natural History” in Ottawa is more likely to get you to the Canadian Museum of Nature or the Canadian Museum of History than to a new bar in Chinatown.
Still, the buzz is gaining momentum at a pace owner Max Anisman hadn’t predicted, but figures it must have something to do with the many months of renovations that were evident to passers-by. “They knew something was going on,” he said, and you can imagine the raised eyebrows as the menagerie of taxidermy went in.
Turns out that Natural History’s museum-like vibe is a key part of the vision for Anisman, who’s also an owner of Ward 14, the quirky Preston Street establishment down the hill and around the corner from Natural History.
Ward 14 opened nine years ago as a consignment store with a bar, and a way for Anisman to display and sell his collectibles. Natural History follows the same business model, but was designed as a place to showcase, and eventually sell, his grandfather’s treasure trove of vintage and antique artifacts (excluding the taxidermy, which is not for sale as per Ontario regulations).
Now for a bit of family history: Anisman is the son of Maida Anisman, the Ottawa woman who owned the long-running toy store chain, Mrs. Tiggy Winkles, which closed its last store during the pandemic. His brother, Simon, now runs Hokum, a vintage and gift shop in the toy shop space. Their maternal grandparents, the late Ann and Ralph Silverstone, resided in Montreal, where Ann ran an antique shop, and they had a rural property north of the city. That’s where Max’s grandfather built a series of structures he called “museums” for his collections, a passion project chronicled in a 2002 issue of Cottage Life magazine.
Anisman, who’s 38 and has clearly inherited the pack-rat tendency, recalled exploring those wilderness museums as a child, captivated by the cabins the Cottage Life writer described as an “overstuffed archive of every whim and curiosity that ever crossed a young cottage summer.”
“The word ‘museum’ is really loose because they were literally just cabins filled with stuff,” Anisman said. “My grandmother was bringing my grandfather all sorts of stuff from the shop, and he built this crazy kind of wonderland in the woods. I kept a mishmash of things from the museums.”
Meanwhile, the plan for Natural History is evolving and could include DJ nights, music events and daytime hours for families to check out the premises. Anisman is also contemplating the appeal of spelling bees as an alternative to trivia nights or karaoke, which, as a kick-ass speller, is an idea I fully endorse.
Another part of the mission is to provide a more robust menu than Ward 14’s limited hotdog options, although we found it’s still a work in progress. On the night of my visit, we sampled the potato latkes and a smoked salmon plate. The smoked salmon served with Ritz crackers, capers, cream cheese and beet horseradish, was fresh and tasty.
Less enjoyable were the overly salty, dry latkes, which needed the sour cream and applesauce they came with to add flavour and texture. A server told us the latke recipe was being tweaked to be gluten-free and apologized if they hadn’t quite nailed it yet. Anisman promised a better dish the next time I stop by.
We had no quibbles with the drink offerings. I savoured every drop of the El Burro cocktail of spiced rum and ginger beer, served cold in a copper mug adorned with fresh mint leaves and a wedge of lime, while my friend was impressed at the selection of O-town beer, including brews from his three favourite local brewers: Beyond the Pale, Tooth and Nail and Bicycle. A good selection of non-alcoholic drinks was also available.
On our weeknight excursion, patrons sat at each table, most of them representing the millennial demographic, with women outnumbering men, and a tasteful soundtrack of 70s soft rock on the stereo. The defining feature of the room is a bar built to showcase dozens of National Geographic magazine covers embedded in its surface, and one of the seats in the spacious room is a high-backed loveseat, perfect for couple selfies.
As for the potential of this west edge of Centretown, its population density expands with every new, high-rise condominium project, generating hundreds of residents who need places to hang out. Natural History joins a clump of newish businesses popping up in the area, including the bistro Corner Peach, the vegan wine bar St. Elsewhere, and Ten Toes coffeehouse and laundromat.
Plus, with Ward 14 and Pubwell’s located a stone’s throw away, it makes for a hip and walkable zone of establishments that are open later, serve food and offer things to do, such as trivia and karaoke, on a random weeknight. Mind you, as a non-singer with little patience for trivia, the thing I’m most looking forward to is a good spelling challenge.
