Fine Dining: Quarry Bistro and Wine Bar

In Canmore with my family this weekend I was looking to indulge in what makes for a good vacation in our family: physical activity followed by a lot of delicious food, because we work up an appetite. It rained on Saturday, so my "physical activity" was wandering around Canmore and through some shops before the previously mentioned pizza.

But on Sunday, we got lucky and there was some sunshine and plenty of "not raining" to go around. We hiked about 15 km at Lake Minnewanka (or Lake Willy Wonka if you're eating chocolate, which I was). Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich, an orange, and some chocolate along the trail. I took some pictures of the scenery, so here's one since I didn't take pictures of restaurant food:

Okay, so I saw some pretty mountains and worked up a monster appetite for dinner. As a result, I was the only member of my family to complete three courses.

We went to a really nice local restaurant called Quarry Bistro. It features local and organic ingredients much like the pizza place, except more formal and upscale. Of course, it never gets too formal in the mountains. Anyways, they say they specialize in French and Italian cooking, which I'd agree with.

To start with, we all shared PEI Mussels and Frites. The mussels were huge and tasty in their white wine, butter and capers. The frites were cut thin and featured some sweet potato fries, which I thought was a nice touch. I've never really discussed my love of sweet potatoes, but I really like them. The fries were topped with aioli, I'm pretty sure. That was rich and tasty and perfect for my very hungry stomach. My sister started with the soup of the day, which I think was tomato and bread. She loved the tomatoes and thought the bread was good. She also claimed the soup filled her up so she could barely eat her pasta entree. The soup did appear very thick to me.

After the mussels, we were brought some foccacia bread. I only ate a little, wanting to save room for other things, but it was really tasty with plenty of olive oil and salt on top. Anyways, they have good bread, which really I would expect.

Next up were the entrees. Before they arrived, I noticed the spectacular red Mohawk of one of the cooks through the pass. It was pretty sweet. My mom had the special which was lobster, duck confit, and (white?) beans. She ate it all I think, so it must have been good. My father and sister had Penne all'Amatriciana. It was penne with a spicy tomato sauce and bacon. My sister once again loved the tomatoes. I tried a piece of pasta and a bit of bacon and it was indeed quite tasty. Neither of them could finish the pasta, I would have expected more from my dad.

My entree gets its own paragraph, because I'm important, kidding. I had the Sooke Hills Rainbow Trout served with almond risotto and green beans. I was trying to branch out and I believe it was my first risotto and my first trout. The green beans were lightly cooked so they were still crisp and sprinkled with balsamic vinegar. The vinegar was a nice touch and I would have been sorely disappointed if the beans were overcooked. The trout, was served with the skin and was seasoned with plenty of pepper and some butter. It was really tender and tasty. I wouldn't hesitate to have rainbow trout again. The best part of my entree was the risotto. It was really soft and creamy. . . I thought it was supposed to have a bit, but like I said I've never had it before. Anyways, it was really delicious and creamy and had plenty of delicious almonds mixed in. It will not be my last risotto.

I had a glass of Italian red wine that my parents ordered with my food. It was drinkable and good and apparently from grapes grown of vineyards sloping towards the sea in Abruzzo. Anyways, as a result I was slightly drunk by the end of the meal, lightweight that I am.

So, after devouring my entire entree, I wanted a sweet treat. I knew that there was a single scoop of homemade semifreddo (ice cream) available. So I ordered that in chocolate, for a little something. This is the course I was alone in eating. Anyways, texture-wise it wasn't too spectacular. It was good but nothing like the smooth creaminess of gelato. Where it really shone was in the flavour, which was given a twist with some cinnamon. Of course I ate the whole scoop, loving it all. They're really smart to have such a small dessert on offer. I wouldn't have gone for anything larger.

Anyways, the Quarry Bistro has good food and a nice atmosphere right on Main Street in Canmore. Incidentally, I found this video on You Tube of Chef David Wyse from Quarry telling Kelly Hrudey how to make carbonara. It's kind of fun, maybe you should watch it.

Pizza!!! From a Wood Burning Oven

I'm a fan of pizza, and last Satuday I hadn't eaten it for a while. My parents suggested that we go to Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company for pizza. I was psyched, even more so when I saw the big woodburning oven in the corner of the restaurant. It was a crowded place and I figured the wait would be worth it. I'd say we waited half an hour or 45 minutes for a table with me staring at the oven hungrily. The restaurant is pretty casual, as you'd expect a pizza place to be. There is a big emphasis on organic food and revealing the source of ingredients. Although, the special pizza that night featured Atlantic salmon, which to my knowledge is almost exclusively farmed and contains an order of magnitude more contaminants than wild Pacific salmon. Anyways, it was a pretty cool place.

I should get to the food. I was with just my mom and dad since my sister foolishly opted out of this meal and ate Quizno's instead. For the 3 of us we ordered 2 regular pizzas, the Nemo and the Naturally Meaty (I think, it's not listed on the website). I started out drinking just water, but my dad said his beer--a local pilsner--was really good and "European" in style. So, I ordered a half pint, because I'm a lightweight, and enjoyed it with my pizza. It was not sweet and not heavy; it's too late to describe it now but it's worth a try if you like beer. The Nemo came first, you might guess that it featured seafood, and you'd be right. The website describes it as "Brushed with pesto and tomato sauce and topped with king prawns, artichokes, red onion, cilantro and asiago cheese." This is not quite right as the shrimp weren't that big, there were crayfish (or something like that), and I don't think there was cilantro or asiago. Anyways, it was as described on the menu in the restaurant. The crayfish things were especially tasty as was the very strongly tomatoey sauce. I also quite like artichoke. Anyways, it was freaking tasty. The crust was thin as expected, but less crisp and more limp than I might have guessed coming from that oven. I ate some pizza with a knife and fork, which is a sacrilege for me. But I repeat it tasted really good.

Next up was the "Naturally Meaty" featuring the same crust and delicious sauce. It also had green peppers, fresh tomato, ground beef, and sweet Italian sausage. It was also really tasty, with a particular emphasis on that spectacular pizza sauce. That sauce was really important to me as a big tomato fan.

As a final comment, the pizza is not inexpensive at up to $20 for a regular. But it is really tasty and the larges might be more economical. All I can say about the pizza is that it's tasty because there was so much good flavour going on. And it goes with beer. My mom almost didn't want to wait for this pizza experience, but I insisted and it was sooooo worth it!