Ottawa restaurant offers dinners to residents who stood up to convoy protesters

The co-owner of a downtown Ottawa restaurant says he'd love to treat some local residents who made headlines standing up to “Freedom Convoy” protesters.

North & Navy on Nepean Street, still behind police checkpoints in the "secure area" downtown, said on social media it plans to reopen Wednesday, and offered free dinner to several local heroes.

"We would like to invite Blue Jacket guy, Balcony Man, Pot & Ladle man, 3 grannies and of course Zexi Li to dinner on us any time," the restaurant said on Twitter.

Zexi Li is the Centretown resident who filed a class action lawsuit against the protesters, which included an injunction blocking the constant honking that residents had been enduring.

Blue Jacket Guy, Balcony Man, and Pot & Ladle Man are people who were recorded standing up to the protesters at different times over the last three weeks, from telling them to take their fight against provincial health mandates up with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, to shouting expletives at protesters from a balcony, to simply banging a pot with a ladle in the face of demonstrators on a street corner. (n.b. some of these links include videos with foul language.)

The three grannies are Marika Morris and her neighbours, who were photographed standing in the street giving a thumbs down to a truck driver as he attempted to drive through their neighbourhood.

Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA's Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron, North and Navy chef and co-owner Adam Vettorel said he’d love to have these individuals over for dinner.

"They're just people that went viral through the occupation expressing their feelings toward the protesters, I guess I would say," he said. "And Zexi Li, obviously, the most effective unelected public official we have in Ottawa."

Vettorel says he's heard from customers and residents who know the individuals in question and they're working on getting in touch.

"Hopefully, within the next couple of days, we can pick a day when they want to come and we'll feed them dinner and get them a nice bottle of wine and show them our appreciation," he said.

Vettorel says he's excited about reopening.

"I don't want to jinx myself but it feels like things are better," he said. "I'm excited. By Wednesday, hopefully, we'll be as close to back to normal as we can and we can start getting back to business."

He says the occupation coming after two years of COVID-19 pandemic measures was awful but he's looking forward to welcoming customers back to his dining room.

"So far, the online reservations are coming in fast and I think there's a real desire for people to get out and enjoy some restaurants that they've been missing and some other businesses in Centretown that they've been missing," Vettorel said.