...Parc Brasserie (Calgary)

Overall - 8.5/10
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Food - 8.5/10
Service - 8.5/10
Ambiance - 9/10

Ten years ago if you wanted a good French meal, your only choices were La Chaumiere on 18th Ave or flying to France. Nowadays we are spoiled for choice with a number of restaurants that proudly serve classic French fare (check out our article for Food Trekkers). Parc Brasserie is another new option which has recently opened and is challenging for our favourite French spot in town. For those who don't know, a brasserie is a more upscale type of eatery that slots in somewhere between the laid back bistro and the high end French fine dining options.

Kir royale

Their menu includes an 'apertif' section of small bites that go great with a cocktail. They are reasonably priced and great for a snack or as a way to kick start your appetite for the delicious dishes to come. We chose the croquettes filled with emmenthal cheese and ham and the rillette de lapin (rabbit terrine - note that a lot of the menu was in French without English translation so review your old high school French notes or ask the friendly wait staff). The croquettes were expertly fried and lusciously cheesy on the inside while the rabbit terrine was the perfect meaty spread for the toasted crostini that accompanied.

Croquettes

Rillette de lapin

The hor d'ouevres section of the menu include your traditional appetizer type dishes and this evening we went with the escargot and squid. The snails were served in a non traditional portobello mushroom tart as opposed to swimming in small pools of butter.   The escargot was chopped up along with the mushrooms and hidden below salad greens on a tart.  I did not care for the tart which had a hard and dry texture and wished the escargot was highlighted rather than mixed with chopped mushrooms.  The squid was quite tender cooked in its own ink and served alongside a delicious olive tapenade, reminiscent of the dishes we had in Southern France.  The Merguez (spiced Moroccan beef sausage) was not served in 'chip' form as advertised and we felt this dish could have benefited from a crispy element to contrast and balance the soft textures of the squid.

Squid

Escargot tart

The 'Plats principal' are your main dishes. The canard was a perfectly seared breast of duck served with a savoury orange sauce on a generous bed of Puy lentils.  The veau was a tender veal striploin with wild mushrooms, pearl onions and wild rice was expertly done in a cream sauce and very satisfying.

Duck

Veal

 Then came the desserts, from which we chose the profiteroles and the baba au rhum.  The profiteroles looked stunning on the wooden board and tasted as profiteroles should- creamy and smothered with an expresso chocolate sauce.  The baba au rhum, a typical French dessert was a bit of a disappointment.  We had no complaints about the cake and chantilly cream which was pretty standard, but the rum was barely detectable and did not saturate the cake.  This is unlike the rum babas served in France where often times a shot of straight rum is poured table side onto your cake for a liquor infused aroma and taste.  Upon talking to the server, she informed us their rum baba indeed gets mixed reviews.

Profiteroles 

Rum Baba

Overall, we enjoyed our experience at Parc, especially the ambiance of the decor which took us back to our days in France.  We wouldn't hesitate to go back again and experience other offerings on the extensive menu.

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...Mercato West (Calgary)

Overall - 9/10
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Food - 9.5/10
Service - 9/10
Ambiance - 9/10

Ever since having our daughter we have made it a point to try and explore the culinary options in the Westsprings/Aspen area due to its close proximity. We have already tackled Vin Room West and were pleasantly surprised to find such high quality food out in the suburbs. We were hoping that our luck would hold out when we tried Mercato West.

We have seen the Mercato location change from a small and lonely farmers market to its current chic, trendy Italian restaurant and gourmet market. We were told by our server that the menu is different from their Mission location and sure enough we found it to be a unique dining experience that still channels the spirit of the original- fresh, high quality ingredients and careful preparation. If anything, we actually preferred the menu here at the west location.

We started our meal with a shared seafood linguini which was full of large succulent shrimp and scallops. The creamy tomato sauce was in perfect proportion to the al denté pasta. It was very well seasoned and a great way to start our family style dinner.

Seeing the amazing assortment of meats, we went a bit overboard and ordered both the veal and the lamb (in retrospect even one of these would have been enough for the two of us). The lamb sirloin was perfectly roasted and seasoned and served with a delicious creamy sweet potato pureé. Little roasted mushrooms were a great earthy element that complimented the not to gamey meat. The veal loin was also perfectly done and served with a balsamic reduction and over a generous bed of mascarpone laced polenta. If you have not tried veal, I would best describe it as the most tender beef you've ever had, but with a more mild flavour.

Lamb sirloin with sweet potato puree

Veal with mascarpone polenta

The portions of each protein were very generous but perfectly proportioned for a family style meal. Serving them both on a big cutting board added a nice rustic touch to this upscale dining experience. We have often heard that the meals at Mercato can be over salted but we wonder if people are accidentally mixing in the small pile of grey sea salt provided on the edge of the plate. We quite liked this little touch since the two of us sometimes don't see eye to eye on the level of saltiness.

To this day we are still thinking about the delicious meal we had that night and are happy to know that there is another great restaurant to add to our list of 'must revisit'. 

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