| What’s The Verve? Is it the British rock band? A new night club? No, it’s Calgary’s newest fine-dining restaurant – and I use the term "fine dining" loosely.
But let’s start on a positive note. The Verve (512 - 23rd Ave. S.W.; phone 229-9366) opened in mid-September in the house formerly occupied by Blue Rock Wine and Cigar Bar behind Starbucks. The restaurant is beautiful with its stained glass windows, Grecian urns overflowing with flora and vinery entwined around the fireplace, ceiling lamp and wrought-iron railings. There are two romantic and intimately-sized dining rooms separated by a few steps on the main floor as well as an upstairs reserved for overflow and private parties.
The menu is lengthy and unfocused – there’s seafood, Mexican, Italian and Greek – and lots of salad (I’ll explain that later). But when asked what type of cuisine the restaurant specializes in, our waiter explained that the menu would be abbreviated once they find out what’s popular. I found this quite strange. The Verve should have this established, what with having two established sister restaurants in Vernon and Kelowna. (An October opening is scheduled for The Verve in Kensington.)
For an appetizer, my friend and I shared the jumbo tiger prawns ($14) pan-fried in Creole butter and Crown Royal. The prawns were meaty and Cajun-flavoured and served over a great mixed organic salad of grilled red peppers, jalapenos, mushrooms and okra with Creole vinaigrette.
For his main course, my friend selected the pan-fried Jamaican calamari ($13) and the Sicilian salad ($18). When the calamari arrived, in a salad, it was disappointing that the waiter hadn’t advised him to choose another salad-less dish to accompany his salad entrée. In sum, my friend had three salads for dinner that night.
The pan-fried calamari, sautéed in a spicy lemon Caribbean sauce with Jamaican rum and capers, was tasty but would have been better alone, sans salad. The Sicilian salad consisted of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, pumpkin seeds, artichoke hearts, grilled Sicilian sausage and bufala mozzarella in a basil and Parmesan vinaigrette. A vegetarian version is available with chickpeas instead of sausage ($15). The salad was good, though not particularly special. The bufala cheese looks like and tastes similar to bocconcini but it’s more spreadable, and certainly not "out of this world" as touted by the menu.
During our meal, the waiter never came by with the pepper shaker nor did he pour the beer into the glass he placed before me. It’s not that I have princess needs but fine dining implies a certain level of service, which we didn’t receive.
For my entrée, I ordered the butternut squash cannelloni (full order $22; half order $17) with the accompanying Verve salad of chickpeas, pumpkin seeds, Romano beans, sun-dried tomatoes, shredded beets and carrots topped with feta. The pasta arrived steaming hot in a lovely white cream and herb sauce; the Frangelico and crushed walnuts were omitted from the sauce as I have a nut allergy.
I was enjoying my meal, with its subtle hint of curry, until the worst thing that could happen to a restaurant did. The food reviewer found a long piece of plastic wrapper in her meal. The waiter was extremely apologetic, deducted my meal from the bill and offered us a complimentary dessert, which we decided to decline. We thought it best to get going while the going was good. |
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