So, when it came to him and his wife, Dr. Susan Daftary, to open another dental practice in the city, he knew exactly which neighbourhood they wanted to go to – Westboro Village.

Westboro Village is one of Ottawa's most diverse neighbourhoods. Its tree-lined showcase one-of-a-kind boutiques, businesses and trendy restaurants. The area is also known for its natural beauty and welcoming outdoor spaces, particularly Westboro Beach.

"We just always just gravitated to the area, its walkable, it's close to the beach, just the lifestyle," says Dr. Al Khalili. "And we're trying to be a compliment to the neighborhood."

An Ottawa Dentist Office with a "Spa-like" Feel

W Dental Studio brings a spa-like experience to going to the dentist. Spread over 4 levels, W Dental Studio combines cutting-edge dental care with all the amenities you need to make your appointment as relaxing as possible.

The office features a "comfort menu" complementary to patients both before and during their appointments. Before their appointment, patients can take advantage of a hot or cold beverages and lip balm to moisturize their lips before their appointment. There's also an iPad available for kids to use to keep themselves busy before they head to the dentist's chair.

During their appointment, W Dental Studio offers heated/massage dental chairs, neck pillows, weighted blankets and wireless noise-cancelling earphones so patients can enjoy Netflix, Disney+ and Spotify during procedures.

W-Dental Studio is also paperless and aims to be as environmentally friendly as possible in their operations, even down to the bamboo toothbrushes they give patients after their appointment.

The best part? None of these costs extra to patients.

"We've been received well by residents. Anybody who's come in has been wowed by how it has a calming, calming spa-like atmosphere. Why not have that along with your dental work?" says Dr. Al Khalili.

"There's no extra cost. The fees in Ontario are pretty much standardized, but we're offering all these amenities with your dental treatment. There's no upcharge because we gave you a bamboo toothbrush. There's not an upcharge because we have a massage chair for you while you get your dental work, it's just part of the whole experience."

Westboro Village Offers an Active Urban Lifestyle

Dr. Al Khalili says Westboro is a unique neighbourhood in Ottawa because of its closeness to local amenities. Residents can walk down the street and experience different local shops, restaurants, and other businesses.

"There's a lot of these unique 'mom and pop' restaurants or unique yoga studios and spas," he says. "Every little business is somewhat unique. It's not your traditional box stores. There's no Home Depot or Michaels or stores like that."

Westboro Village provides a lifestyle that's hard to find elsewhere in the city.

"Where we live there's not much walkability, just your normal suburb, like Mississauga or something." says Dr. Al Khalili. "In this neighbourhood everybody's walking, there are little cafes and little ice cream shops, it's close to the river, so that's how Westboro Village presents itself.

Discover Local at Westboro Connection

W Dental Studio is one of Westboro Connection’sDiscover local partners. Discover Local is an exclusive program to familiarize Westboro Connection residents, with the neighbourhood and the many local businesses and services. It's all about revealing what makes Westboro Village so vibrant, inspiring and livable. From cafes and restaurants to retailers, gyms and beyond, we invite you to discover local. There's a whole neighbourhood waiting to be discovered!

Looking to make Westboro your new home? Westboro Connection offers you a home in the heart of the community. It’s a mixed-use community that includes modern rental apartments, quality office space, a great mix of service-oriented retailers like Bridgehead coffee, and Farm Boy grocery. Westboro Connection apartments are smartly designed to enrich your life, free up your time, and help you connect with the people and places that matter most to you.

Ready to move in?

The post Why W Dental Studio Makes Westboro Village Its Home appeared first on Westboro 2 (Scott Street) Blog.

Two Beets Farm makes healthy eating easy for residents in Westboro and Hintonburg Connection. Two Beets Farm is an online vegetable farm-stand initiative, founded by Diana Beirnes and Nic Gosselin. They offer completely customizable fresh vegetable baskets, which can be ordered online and picked up at your convenience. Diana and Nic understand the struggle of being health-conscious and occupied with busy jobs. They aim to make the association people have with food special through their work.

The genesis of Two Beets Farm is a story of adventure. One day, Diana and Nic decided to take a few months off from their corporate jobs to explore the outdoors. As enthusiastic nature lovers, they wanted to take time to bike, hike and travel, camping in their trailer along the way. Little did they know that the trip would lead them to a career switch, relocation and opening their own business.

They’d considered visiting various farms while travelling to make the trip more affordable and to gain more of a local experience. While doing so, they became interested in learning the fundamentals of farming and the origin of food. Finally, they chose to stop at a farm in Quebec for a whole season to try their hand at farming. “The lifestyle, food, the opportunity to share the experience with other people inspired us to start our endeavour,” added Diana. “What helped was that Quebec provides resources to burgeoning farmers – renting land to those starting their own business.”

The challenges faced by Two Beats Farm on the road to success

There were many small roadblocks along the way. They realized that there would be various unknowns to unravel and many hats to wear as entrepreneurs. Yet their passion for food and strong partnership triumphed over it all. Their love for farming and serving people organic and fresh vegetables fueled their pursuit. It made them confident to follow their calling and take the risk. The name Two Beets Farm is inspired by the idea that they both are two beats to a tune – music being another hobby that brings them together.

Two Beets Farm’s mission is to not only serve people fresh variety but also educate them about their food, the nutritional value and how it’s grown. Nic and Diana want to meet people and build relationships with them while impacting their lives in a positive way. That is also the reason why they joined the Discover Local program. Nic and Diana feel it is a great way to support and contribute to the community in Westboro and further support other local ventures.
 

About Discover Local

Discover Local is an exclusive program for our residents, created to better acquaint them with their neighbourhood and the many local businesses and services therein. It’s all about discovering what makes their local community so vibrant, inspiring, and livable. From cafes and restaurants to retailers, gyms and beyond, we invite you to discover local – there’s a whole neighbourhood waiting to be discovered!

The post Fresh from the farm to Westboro Connection appeared first on Westboro 2 (Scott Street) Blog.

Bridgehead Coffee, a renowned fair-trade coffeehouse chain, is a local favourite for the residents of Westboro and Hintonburg. The first company to offer consumers fairly-traded coffee in Canada has a special relationship with the Westboro neighbourhood. The first Bridgehead Coffeehouse opened at 362 Richmond Road in Westboro back on June 17, 2000. Gradually, it expanded to twenty outlets and now includes a line of organic teas and food products as well.

What makes Bridgehead unique is not just the fact that they provide high-quality coffees but also how warm and generous their team is. The staff makes an effort to engage with every customer and make a positive impact on their day. They love helping to create great memories over cups of coffee. “We wish to utilize every interaction as an opportunity to make someone’s day,” says Blair Amyotte, Director of Marketing and Brand at Bridgehead.

To make every experience worthwhile, they strive to ensure that everything they serve meets the highest standards. They go the extra mile, starting with meeting with the farmers responsible for growing the beans and plucking the tea leaves. Bridgehead gives the farmers a helping hand when they need it, including collaborating on environmental and sustainability policies. Blair says Bridgehead wants to eventually introduce their customers to these local farmers and show them where their coffee comes from.

The pandemic posed huge challenges to community-building and collaboration opportunities – the values Bridgehead is defined by. Due to travel restrictions, the team hasn’t been able to meet with their farmers over the past year, and they realized that some have been hit really hard. One farmer partner, for instance, wasn’t able to prepare enough harvest for commercial sale. Yet, Bridgehead still bought several bags to keep the partnership going. Although that coffee did not reach customers, the beans were turned into thank-you coffees for the staff, along with a note telling the story of the farmer who grew them.

Bridgehead also believes in building community close to home. On March 15th, 2020, when the first positive case of COVID-19 had just been identified and assessment centers were preparing to be opened, the Bridgehead team planned a special surprise for the staff. The team visited Assessment Centre with coffee for all the nurses and other staff. They were greeted with tears of joy and gratitude and an unforgettable heartwarming response. Touched by the reaction, Bridgehead has delivered coffees to those frontline workers every single day since then. They have also offered their thank you coffees to different local health care worker groups including The Ottawa Hospital, CHEO, EORLA and community health clinics like Centretown Community Health Clinic – to name a few.

These stories exemplify the extraordinariness of Bridgehead’s community service initiatives. Bridgehead knows the impact that kindness can make on someone’s day – so they work hard to delight their customers, support the farmers, rewarding their employees, and celebrate the healthcare workers who are protecting our community.

About Discover Local

Discover Local is an exclusive program for our residents, created to better acquaint them with their neighbourhood and the many local businesses and services therein. It’s all about discovering what makes their local community so vibrant, inspiring, and livable. From cafes and restaurants to retailers, gyms and beyond, we invite you to discover local – there’s a whole neighbourhood waiting to be discovered!

The post Westboro’s Bridgehead Coffee nourishes the community with its caring spirit – and its amazing coffee appeared first on Westboro 2 (Scott Street) Blog.

Before you step inside Strawberry Blonde Bakery, the warm and inviting specialty bake shop in the heart of Westboro, there’s one thing you should know: it’s very, very difficult to resist the temptation of their freshly made donuts.

This is something that the many fans of this popular destination for vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free baked goods and desserts know quite well. But for those skeptical of this style of baking, their first experience isn’t usually their last.

“I think there’s definitely a stigma around vegan and gluten-free food, and people may come in here expecting things to not taste as good,” says Strawberry Blonde founder Jacqui Okum. “But when they have a donut or a cinnamon bun, they’re surprised.”

It’s this kind of positive response that keeps Okum baking high-quality, delicious vegan, gluten-free and nut-free goods – even if it means winning over one culinary skeptic at a time.

Passion for Vegan Baking

Strawberry Blonde reflects Okum’s passion for vegan baking – something she decided to turn into a career after living in Toronto a decade ago, where she noticed a lack of vegan dessert options. “I decided to open my own vegan bakery. I wanted to do it right, so I enrolled in the baking program at George Brown College.”

Meet the owner of this renowned Westboro Bakery

After moving to Ottawa with her husband, Okum began selling her baked goods at a market stall. “There wasn’t much of a choice for vegan desserts in Ottawa at the time,” she explains, “and a lot of people were asking if I had anything gluten-free or nut-free.” The response from her customers was so positive that, within a year, Okum’s business evolved to wholesale supply before finally opening up shop in Westboro.
 

Wide range of baking to choose from

Today, Strawberry Blonde Bakery offers an impressive range of baked goods – everything from Nanaimo bars and more than a dozen cupcake flavours to cookies, cinnamon buns, and even heat-at-home pizzas and Tourtières. And that’s just scratching the surface.

Eye-popping selection aside, at the end of the day it all comes down to taste. Strawberry Blonde Bakery certainly isn’t lacking in that department either – according to Okum, she just wants to make products that taste and look as good as their traditional counterparts. Most would agree that she’s accomplished that and then some.

About Westboro Discover Local

Time and time again, residents are drawn to Westboro Connection because of the thriving Westboro community. In the spirit of helping to maintain this community, our Discover Local program introduces Westboro Connection tenants to local business like Strawberry Blonde Bakery. We’re proud of our commitment to supporting local business and excited to bring the very best that Westboro has to offer to our residents.

The post Not Your Everyday Dessert at this Westboro Bakery appeared first on Westboro 2 (Scott Street) Blog.