The only silver lining on the horizon was a booking we had for a table at Charcut Roast House in the evening. We also met Nicole and her husband Jeff there - Simone knows Nicole through Supernatural.
Speaking of supernatural, there were some weird things going on at the restaurant. But firstly let me explain why we went to this particular one. I've been watching Top Chef in all its variations, and Top Chef Canada was one of the latest ones I got into. Connie DeSousa was one of the contestants in season one and she did very well, and I liked her style and approach to food. So when it was clear that we would be in Calgary I looked up her restaurant and I booked a table.
So, remember when I said something supernatural was happening? Ok there were two things:
After Nicole and Jeff joined us and we had spent some time chatting, and I had seen that Connie was actually working in the kitchen (!!), a waiter came to our table and asked for me by name. He then said "this is for you" and gave us a plate of sample cold cuts on bread. First I thought that they give this to all the tables, but after watching the other tables, this was not the case. Then I also thought that if they indeed give this to all tables, why not just serve it? There was no need to ask for me specifically. I was dumbfounded!
A little while later after explaining to Nicole and Jeff how I came across Connie etc etc, Connie actually made her way out of the kitchen and walked around the restaurant, she came to our table, introduced herself and asked if we had any questions about the menu. Being still partly stunned about the fact she actually came out and talked to us, I frantically tried to come up with a question but the one I did ask was really lame. Of course later on I came up with much better questions!! Duh.
So again, I believe from what I saw we were the only ones she talked to. What is this sorcery???? Not that I'm complaining :)
She was very nice and signed my menu:
This is the first restaurant of a celebrity chef we went to where the chef was actually there and in the kitchen. But now onto the food! The menu was very appealing to me, there was almost nothing on there that I would not like to order. We decided to share most of our food around the table, so we started with the raclette cheese:
followed by the Charcut board, which is a selection of the house cured meats with various other goodies, like the pork croquettes with piri piri aioli. I could have had 10 of those croquettes, they were outstanding.
The duck galantine (in the jar in the middle) was also a winner, in fact everything on the plate was very pleasing.
For my entree I had the pork belly (big surprise there) and Simone had the Butcher Steak.
The pork belly with aged cheddar grits, arugula pesto and fresh peas was extremely tender with a nice crispy char. The crackling was a bit tough in bits, but overall nice and crunchy. Simone's steak also hit the spot. We also shared a duck fat fried poutine with cheese curds and truffle gravy. The photo came out blurry so you have to let your imagination do the work. Suffice to say it was as tasty as it sounds.
For dessert Simone had the milk chocolate parfait with sea salt caramel, ovaltine crunch and dark chocolate crumb.
The bill came with a postcard and pork paperclip :)
What a nice evening, spent with lovely company and scrumptious food to fill our tummies and make the day end on a high. Thanks Charcut!
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