Witek Wojaczek of Bar Ocelli: ‘We’ll start with Canada’s 50 Best, then North America’s 50 Best and then we’ll see where it’s going to grow.’
Published Jun 21, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 4 minute read
Bar Ocelli owner/bartender Witek Wojaczek has his work cut out for him in putting the spotlight on the Ottawa-area cocktail scene. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia
Ottawa-Gatineau was shut out of this year’s list of Canada’s 50 Best Bars for the third time in seven years, but, if things continue to pour smoothly for one award-winning mixologist in the ByWard Market, next year will be different.
“Obviously the goal is to make the lists,” said Witek Wojaczek, who opened an elegant cocktail lounge, Bar Ocelli, on William Street about two months ago. “We’ll start with Canada’s 50 Best, then North America’s 50 Best and then we’ll see where it’s going to grow.”
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The Polish-born bartender has big ambitions, but he also has the experience to make it happen. Wojaczek, 33, made his name in the highly competitive cocktail scene in London, including a stint at the swanky Beaufort Bar at the Savoy Hotel. He was also a finalist or winner in several U.K. bartending competitions.
What’s more, as the original bar manager of Sidecar, located in the basement of the Preston Street restaurant Mati, Wojaczek was largely responsible for that intimate speakeasy showing up at No. 32 on Canada’s top-50 list last year, in its first year of operation.
That achievement caught the eye of list editor Alexandra Gill, who believes the cocktail scene in the Ottawa area is due for a breakthrough. The city’s recent hiring of a nightlife commissioner, Mathieu Grondin, is a move that’s also expected to help elevate the sector.
“You do have an exciting bar scene in Ottawa,” Gill, a former newspaper reporter who has been in charge of the best-bar list since 2019, said in an interview from her Vancouver office. “It seems there’s a lot of energy happening there right now, so it’s definitely on my radar.”
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She said judges had been voting for Ottawa-area establishments, although not yet in the numbers needed to rise to the top half of the list. Five local businesses were ranked in the second 50, she noted, including two-time winner Soif Bar au Vin in Gatineau (No. 14 in 2018, No. 38 in 2019), Stolen Goods on Sparks Street, Preston Street’s Moonroom, Zoe’s at the Château Laurier, and Buyers and Cellars, a retail shop on Somerset Street with a tasting room.
Published by the same organization that puts out Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants, the bar list is determined by the votes of invited judges representing regions across Canada and divided evenly between genders.
This year’s total of 101 judges marked a significant jump from last year’s pool of 64.
“I’m always looking to see if we have a good mix of discerning drinkers and people who are in the industry,” Gill said.
Judges are asked to vote for their top-five bar experiences in the past 16 months, including at least one from out of town. The findings are weighted, giving more value to each judge’s top-ranked bars.
You do have an exciting bar scene in Ottawa. It seems there’s a lot of energy happening there right now so it’s definitely on my radar.
Alexandra Gil, editor Canada’s Best Bars
Gill said she had been making efforts to increase the representation of judges from smaller markets, including Ottawa, Saskatoon and Winnipeg, so the list wasn’t dominated by bars in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver every year. “I do try to increase representation, but there’s no guarantee the judges will vote for their hometown,” she said.
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Back in the ByWard Market, Wojaczek feels he has his work cut out for him in putting the spotlight on the Ottawa-area cocktail scene. After all, the city has been long known for cookie-cutter pubs on every corner.
“The scene is growing, the potential is there, but there is a lot of catching up to do,” he said. “There’s no way for now to compare ourselves to Montreal or Toronto, but it’s getting there.”
Witek Wojaczek, owner/bartender of Bar Ocelli, in the ByWard Market. Photo by Staff /Postmedia
Born in the small town of Szczecin, Poland, Wojaczek quit university and struck out for London to pursue bartending, despite the objections of his parents, who wanted him to stay in school.
“They were saying, ‘You cannot do it for 20 or 30 years,’” he recalled. “But I just loved it. When I started working behind the bar, I loved the environment, I loved how social it was. I loved how it felt like you’re on stage at the centre of the room.”
Wojaczek left London when COVID-19 hit there and headed for Gatineau, hometown of his now ex-wife. He says Ottawa reminds him of the Polish town he grew up in.
“London is massive and it’s very high-paced, very competitive, and everybody is very focused on their lives. It’s difficult to make genuine friends,” he said. “I like living here a lot. It has the same vibe as my hometown; it’s kind of a small town encased in a big city.”
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Wojaczek has spent months developing his vision for Bar Ocelli, a conceptual cocktail bar that draws inspiration from its ByWard Market location. He’s keenly interested in the broader impact of markets on global development, including the increased availability of exotic ingredients, new recipes and the fusion of cultures.
One of Ocelli’s most popular signature cocktails, for example, is the Passiflora, a rum-based drink that combines South American passionfruit with European flavours of absinthe and cava, plus a touch of sugar and a twist of lemon. His approach is to combine ingredients in a way that prompts conversations with guests.
One thing you won’t find at Ocelli is an overly complex mixture with an endless list of flavours.
“I just don’t like going over the top,” he said. “I’d rather have a delicious drink in an elegant glass rather than create fruit salads and smoke and mirrors and all that stuff. I want it to be drinkable. I like to keep things simple and streamlined, but still interesting.”
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Do you have a favourite bar you’d like to see make the list in 2025? Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned for our restaurant critic Peter Hum’s list of Ottawa’s best bars.
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