| The golden tones, hand-tooled leather columns, flattering lighting, soft chairs and lofty ceilings of the Fairmont Palliser’s Rimrock Room (133 Ninth Ave. S.W.; phone 260-1219) make you feel you're someplace special. Which, in turn, prompts the gastric juices to tell you they'd like something special.
Narrowing down the list of starters wasn't easy, as my companion and I found on a recent dinner visit. However, we eventually decided on the roasted yellow tomato soup with Oka cheese and pine nut gyoza ($8), and the tower of avocado and locally-smoked ahi tuna ($12).
This is where the meal turned a little sad – the initial mouthful of the superb soup was the taste of harvesting tomatoes, the smell of the plants and the fruits perfuming the air. The first taste of – gulp! – autumn. The soup was a rich gold, with a centred swirl of finely chopped red tomato curled around a deep-fried gyoza. The gyoza's crunch gave way to the creaminess of the cheese until the pleasant pop of the whole pine nuts changed the texture again.
A greenish glass plate, sprinkled with minced red pepper, laid a cool, summery foundation for the delicate avocado and tuna stack. Flavour and a charming show were the core here, with all the ingredients – including four lovely thin rounds of tuna – receiving added oomph from a drizzle of mustard oil and the garlic potato tuille.
Our main dishes more than lived up to the promise of the starters. The herb-basted free-range chicken ($27) was tender and buttery. The roasted red and yellow peppers, zucchini, eggplant and asparagus were just so, and the heady porcini mushroom risotto underlying it all was lusciously creamy. But the best part of this dish was the sum of the parts. Often the meat-and-two-veg mentality means you get three neighbours on a plate, not necessarily happy to be sharing the real estate. But here, all were intimately acquainted. Chicken, vegetable and risotto worked together as a united flavour.
The beautifully-presented plate of Alberta pork tenderloin wrapped in wild boar bacon ($28) was even better than the chicken, and for the same reasons. The perfectly-cooked tenderloin was seared top and bottom and wrapped with a meltingly smoky piece of bacon. Paired with a zingy chutney of raisins and apples and chased by a mellow mouthful of mashed potatoes (the only weak point of the dish, as they were lukewarm), this dish was excellent. Flavourful yellow pepper, mushroom and fresh broccoli rabe rounded out the dish.
Saving our chocolate receptors for the Rimrock's Death by Chocolate buffet (Tuesday and Thursday evenings, $15) we chose to share the apple quartet ($12), a dessert for lovers of low sugar, texture and subtlety. Served on a long white platter, the little row of apple treats starts with a pleasant apple jelly candy. Next, a pretty stack of half-sautéed and half-raw, finely-minced apples. Third, an apple "cake" – simply baked apple slices formed into a square. Fourth, a little wafer topped with melon-balled apple bites and topped with an upside-down-cake type glaze. A light and playful end to our meal.
Three courses, three hours. Our bill for two (including tax; without drinks) came to just over $100.
Should you happen to have $1,499 (plus tax) lying around, try the Palliser’s Sizzle in the City package. The comprehensive offering allows guests to be chef-for-a-day. According to the hotel’s website, participants will "Consult with the hotel's own Executive Chef Shaun Desaulniers to plan a personalized menu, then get hands-on with an epicurean shopping adventure to exclusive specialty food and wine retailers. Don your whites and join Desaulniers in the kitchen to prepare a customized feast, then sit fireside in the elegant Rimrock Room and enjoy the fruits of your labour. In addition to this exclusive culinary experience, the package includes one-night accommodation in a grand Heritage suite and private limousine service to and from the hotel."
There's plenty of great cheap chow in Calgary, but the Rimrock Room is definitely a place to consider for a bit of a splash-out evening, or full-out cooking adventure. |
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