Bearded, Pleasant Fellow In Plaid Shirt And Adidas Sneakers To Open Trendy Restaurant

Ken Geddes, bearded owner of the trendy new 'Plank' restaurant

Ottawa  - The trendy, laid-back eccentric restaurant scene in Ottawa got a little more crowded this week when the easy-going bearded Ken Geddes, 36, opened his hip new one word restaurant "Plank" in the gentrifying slum of Mechanicsville. The untucked plaid shirt wearing Geddes hopes that his unique casual dining restaurant will meet the dining needs of today's hipster and foodie crowds by offering meals in an eccentric environment that features exposed brick walls, a giant chalkboard menu, Edison filament lights hanging in Mason jars, and menus presented in reclaimed asphalt shingles from a nearby crackhouse. 

Geddes hopes to join the 675 other trendy Ottawa restaurants that offer the laid-back dining experience by offering something different to his patrons, which he says are becoming more discriminating in their dining expectations. "Most people eating out these days are 20-35 year olds who work in the start-up or website development industry who want to be entertained by whimsical presentations during their dining experience," says Geddes, "They need to feel that the $30 macaroni and cheese dish is justified by having it served in a unique format, such as in an ashtray or upside down pylon."

"Plank" whimsically serves meals on manhole covers or in a toolbox.

"Plank" will offer customers a unique dining experience as soon as you enter the restaurant. "We wanted customers to feel they are immediately in a trendy place." explained Geddes. "As soon as you come in you are greeted by our host that tells you they are booked solid and you need a reservation." Customers are then told to wait up to an hour for their reserved seating. The recent trend in 'communal seating' is enhanced by having customers sit on each others laps at tables made out of reclaimed hospital gurneys. Local micro-brewed beer is also served with tap handles being made out of parts from a 1984 K-car.

Geddes new restaurant features cuisine from local sources and offers food that has been cleverly name-changed to seem more unique, such as chicken being called "stockbird" and a steak being called a "meateor". Other menu items are whimsically presented to diners on manhole covers or in a toolbox.  "We really wanted to step-up the casual dining experience," says Geddes, who is already booked into 2013. "At the end of your meal, when we bring you your receipt in a caulking gun, we want you to leave entertained, if not confused."

-story idea courtesy of Colin Cronin