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| - Just had dinner at Charcut, on the house, complimentary of chefs Connie and John. What happen was that we had dinner there a few months ago and it was disappointing and I gave Charcut a negative review as a result. To my surprise, I was contacted by someone from their management team and offered a complimentary return visit to make up for our lackluster experience. They said that they want another opportunity to show what they can do.
My first thought was, "Yikes, how did you find me?" My second thought was that if the meal is compted, am I obligated to sugarcoat the review? But they said to write anything I want. Now how many restaurants you know will do this for their guests? Most of the time they'll void the offending dish or buy you a dessert, if you're lucky. Needless to say, I accepted their offer.
So earlier this evening at Charcut, as we were looking over the menu, our waiter informed us that Connie has prepared a series of dishes for us. " Let's do it," I said.
First came a home-made bison sausage, followed by a raclette with house-baked brioche buns. Then came a roasted heirloom beets salad with soft goat cheese, a dish that wowed the judges on Top Chef Canada. It also wowed us cause normally I'd avoid beets if I could but the dish was so delicate, I couldn't get enough of it. After that came the Charcuterie board with house-cured salami, sausage, mortadella, pork crochettes, and a jar of chicken-liver pate. My girlfriend and I struggled with this mountain of food and we ate most of it because it was really, really good. "That was some meal, huh," my girlfriend said. "Honey, that's just the appetizers," I explained. You should have seen the look on her face,lol.
For our entree, Connie sent out a platter with half a roast chicken, a sliced hanger steak with chimichurri sauce, a poutine with fries that were cooked in duckfat and cheese curds that were imported from Quebec, grilled asparagus, and heirloom carrots. And for good measure, a plate of pasta in a spicy tomato sauce followed. Yeah, I hit the wall with the poutine, nevermind my girlfriend who stared at the platter with bewilderment. As good as it was, we barely finished the platter and hardly touched the pasta.
"You think that's it?" my girlfriend asked? "I think there's still dessert." I said. "No,no,no," she cried, "I don't think I can do it!"
The dessert platter came with a couple of icecream sandwiches made with homemade chocolate-chip cookies, a frozen terrine made from a hazelnut mousse, and a mason jar filled with cheescake and rassberry compote.
Yeah, that was a ridicules amount of food. It was enough for four people. Needless to say, we couldn't eat it all. I mean there was just my girlfriend and I. As well, my girlfriend is a light eater and a very picky one at that. But the fact that she ate as much as she did is a testament to the quality of food at Charcut.
For Connie to invite us back after we slagged her shows a high degree of passion and pride in her work. And the food tonight showed a high level of skill in her craft. With such a potent combination, my money is on her winning 'Top Chef Canada.' How can she lose.
On a footnote, althought the service has always been excellent when we visited Charcut, tonight the service from our waiter, Hunt, was exceptional according to my girlfriend. She goes as far as to say that Hunt is the best server that she's ever had in Calgary since coming back from Hong Kong three years ago. She should know cause for the ten years that she was in Hong Kong, she worked as a manager and corporate trainer for a company that has forty-five restaurants, and counting, under its banner.
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