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CHARCUT Roast House – Calgary, Alberta

I love food, and I love watching Food Network. I was so excited to see on Top Chef Canada that we had chefs that represent Calgary on the show! Connie DeSousa who is the Co-Executive Chef and Co-Owner of CHARCUT Roast House in Calgary, who was 1 of 16 chefs that go to compete in this season of Top Chef, then watching her success on the show really gave me a lot of interest to try CHARCUT.

I went on my birthday, and it’s definitely a place you need to make reservations before you go. We went on a Tuesday evening, and the place was full! Our waiter advised us that they do a showing of the Top Chef on Mondays and the place is packed then, as it sparked so much local interest. I can totally see why! I am definitely planning to make reservations to join in the fun on a Monday evening.

We started my birthday dinner with Kielbasa “Spragg Farm’s pork sausage flavoured with mustard and black pepper” which was an item prepared by Connie on Top Chef. It is also a house-made sausage, and CHARCUT which was something I really wanted to try.

My main dish was Spring Creek Butcher Steak – Chimichurri, arugula, fried matchstick potatoes.

We also had Spragg Farms’ Roasted Pork Belly – Mascarpone polenta, stinging nettle pistou, fava beans.

For dessert, which was the highlight of the meal, I had an preserved pink lady apple in a jar – cheesecake layered with graham crackers and preserves.

We didn’t stop there, we also ordered the chocolate and peanut trifle – peanut butter mousse layered valrhona chocolate cake and chantilly cream.

CHARCUT Roast House

899 Centre St S
Calgary, AB
(403) 984-2180

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Divine Cravings – Canmore, Alberta

Divine Cravings is a little crepe place in downtown Canmore that offers gluten-free options as their savory crepes are made with organic gluten-free buckwheat.

The crepes that you get are really large in size, and because they are made with buckwheat, it is brown which is kind of odd at first – if you didn’t know. I ordered the Western crepe which was filled with chicken, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese and bechamel sauce! It was really savory and delicious.

We also had a skier crepe, which was a crepe stuffed with ham and bacon, sausage, lettuce, tomatoes and cheddar cheese.

I normally do take information of the food of whoever I’m with, but I recall not feeling too good, and needing something in my tummy right away, so I ate right away – without any other worries. I felt a lot better afterwards, which makes divine cravings a good choice for that day since it wasn’t greasy!

Divine Cravings

101 – 822 Main Steet
Canmore, Alberta
Canada T1W 2B7
(403)678-2800

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Caffe Beano – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve heard great things about Caffe Beano, and it’s be on my “to try” list for awhile now. I arrived at Caffe Beano hoping for a nice relaxing cup of coffee for a Saturday afternoon. We arrived around 2:30pm, and it was packed with thirsty guests. The entrance way was little, but there was a large seating area packed with customers. The nice thing about the day we choose to go, it was a great afternoon, and lots of people were outside enjoying the weather and their coffee! It made it really inviting.

I ordered a normal latte, as I’ve heard Caffe Bean does great foam art on their lattes. I think I got some fancy swirls, or a heart gone wrong or something!! Regardless, the latte was very strong in taste and it was nice!!

We also ordered a London Fog but somehow it got lost in translation and we got an Indian Tea instead. It was alright, it was a very flavourful Chai Latte which we enjoy anyway!

On the side, we decided to get a little something as we were planning to relax here for awhile — we got a croissant and a chocolate chip cookie. The Croissant was very flaky and soft, which was quite lovely, and the cookie… well, it was a little hard. It was a very brittle and flat chocolate chip cookie, which I prefer the soft gooey ones!

We found a little table right near the entrance way, but found that we were blocking the entrance for the customers to receive their drinks/products. Maybe the lay out could have been better… I don’t know. Regardless, do to the lack of space, it made me feel a little tense, so it wasn’t my type of environment inside. We ended up leaving right after we finished off our goodies. To conclude this journey to Caffe Bean, I was a little disappointed as it wasn’t my type of environment. Sadly, I don’t think I will be returning.

Caffe Beano

1613 9 St SW
Calgary, AB T2R
(403) 229-1232

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Jean Philippe Patisserie – Las Vegas, Nevada

Walking through ARIA Resort, we were greeted by Jean Philippe Patisserie each time we went to and from the casino to the elevators to get to our suite. Seeing the delicate cakes, chocolates, gelato, mini wedding cakes and much much more, I knew I would have to stop by and enjoy some of his treats.

We tried a Vanilla Flan as well as Tiramisu, with iced coffee and we fell in love with the desserts from Jean Philippe. We couldn’t stop thinking about the desserts we have purchased, and we decided to get more the following evening.

The next round, we had a strawberry tart as well as a carrot cake, with chai tea latte. Again, it was really tasty. The strawberries here at home are far from sweet, red and ripe but the strawberries on the strawberry tart was sweet and tasty! The pastry from the tart was really flaky, and it had a hint of almond and pistachios taste to it. It was really delicate, and flavorful, yet not overwhelmed by sweetness.

The carrot cake was one of my favorites. The carrot cake itself was embedded in cheesecake, which was light, soft, creamy and smooth. The carrot cake was excellent as well. The delicate decorations on top of the cake really topped it off. These were one of the best desserts we have had in awhile! I have nothing but great things to say about it.

The neatest part, all the little fine details on the cakes and pastries itself… they’re actually edible! I thought the bottom of the carrot cake was a wrap or something, but it was a really delicate piece of chocolate!

Sure, upfront, $6.00 for a pastry/cake could seem like a lot, but to taste such impressive french pastries and mini cakes really made it worth while!!