Rocky Mountain Wine and Food Festival  

I’m super excited as this is something that I’ve been wanting to go to every year, except that I always end up missing it due to projects at work.

This year I was lucky enough to get an extra ticket so I figured why not do Anna’s Appetite first TICKET GIVEWAY!!!!

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I have one extra ticket for one person + their guest to attend this Saturday’s Afternoon Session.

*IMPORTANT*:  Winner and guest must both be over the age of 18 and tickets will only allow for entry into the Grand Tasting Hall.

Tickets are for Saturday, May 11th 2:00pm – 5:00pm session and allow access in the Grand Tasting Hall only.  Sampling coupon can be purchased separately at the festival.  Since I like to have fun, this is going to be a contest.  

HERE ARE THE CONTEST RULES:

1)  Take a picture of your favourite bottle of wine(s) using your Instagram or Twitter.

2)  Message me @annasappetite AND @RockyWineFest

3)  In your message make sure you hashtag #IlovewineintheRockies

Winner will be chosen on Wednesday, May 8th and I’ll private message you regarding where you get your tickets!

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This year I hear the Festival trends are green, organic and kosher wines and tonnes of gluten-free options too!  Along with flavoured vodkas…..  (yup you heard me… ).

For those who haven’t heard of the Rocky Mountain Wine and Food Festival, it’s actually the largest wine and food festival in Banff which is held at the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel!  Attendants get to sample a huge array of wine, scotch, beer, vodkas… (you know, the good stuff) and have it paired with tasty food samples brought to you by local restaurants.  There will also be wine and beverage experts there to help guide you about your food and beverage pairings as you drink and eat your way from booth to booth.   The Grand Tasting Hall will feature the best cuisine that Banff has to offer and will include delicious treats from places such as The Bison Restaurant & Terrance, Rimrock Resort, Bear Hill Brewing Company, and a new restaurant making it’s festival debut Tooloulou… just to name a few.  

If you haven’t gotten any plans for your Mother’s Day weekend (yet)  then this is a good time to maybe plan a little trip to the Rockies and show your mom a great time at this Festival.

Tickets for purchase are available online at rockymountainwine.com.  Sampling coupons are required for sampling and can only be purchased onsite.

Location

The Fairmont Banff Springs – Conference Centre

(Van Horn Ballroom, President’s Hall & Concourse)

406 Spray Avenue, Banff, Alberta

See you there!  

Then came the night where we brain dead, tired and hungry.  We didn’t want to go out for something that required us to be fancy, just something cheap but not fast food, nor did we want to go home and cook/clean/eat/clean.

Then like a lightening strike, Alberta King of Subs came to mind…. and since we weren’t far it seemed like the perfect place to go.

It was a cold night and I remember reading on the internet that this place is very much well known for their Poutine.  Apparently it’s one of the best in Calgary.

Since Ben and I were also tired, we didn’t want to get too much food and then go into a food coma in the restaurant from exhaustion.  So instead we decided to share a large Smoked Meat Sandwich.  

Large Smoked Meat Sandwich (which we shared) $11.75 and a Small Regular Poutine $6.50

First off the portions are huge!  Look at the size of my Small Regular Poutine!

My half off the Smoked Meat Sandwich for $11.75.  Rye bread, Montreal style Smoked Meat, Mustard and a Pickle.

The Smoked Meat Sandwich consisted of your standard Rye bread with a spread of mustard and Montreal style smoked meat and then accompanied with a pickle.  Given that I had Schwartz’s Smoked Meat sandwich in Montreal, I was critical of this sandwich.  Especially the meat because I find the meat at Alberta King of Subs to be a little more chewy and texturally similar to ham where it’s more of that thick, salty, kinda gelatinous.  Whereas at Scwartz’s it was tender, flavourful, and literally the meat was melt in your mouth good.

Small Regular Poutine $6.50

The Poutine on the other hand was very very tasty.  First off, the portions were huge and they did not skimp on the cheese or the gravy.  Their fries were tasty and you can tell they were freshly cut because they did a great potato flavour where it had that earthy and sightly sweet taste to them.  I also noticed as I was going through this mountain of poutine, was that there was always cheese around and that’s because at Alberta King of Subs, they layer the cheese within the fries.  So as you’re digging through and eating your poutine, you’re getting cheese through every layer!  Love this since I hate having places skimp on the cheese by adding a few cheese curds on top and all you really end up eating is fries and gravy.

Overall, we’ll definitely be back to Alberta King of Subs for their Poutine.  I probably would skip the Smoked Meat Sandwiches, but I’ll probably try one of their subs and see if those might be better…

My second experience where I brought a better camera was during Big Taste Calgary.  This time my friend and blogger Miss.Foodie and I decided to check out their tasting menu and for me repeat the experience I had the first time I went.

Downtownfood had a $35.00 set menu for the Big Taste.

Chef Darren’s house-made baguettes. Beware- they’re super tasty.

First off I must say that Chef Darren is probably one of the most craziest, creative and ridiculously dedicated chefs out there.  He’s really focused on making most of the items in house, such as breads, vinegars, charcuterie and even tofu.  It’s a ridiculously amount of commitment and effort one needs to do, and what’s remarkable is that he does it all pretty well.

Beet Tartare

Our first course for the night was a Beet Tartare which came with house-made cumin chips.  This is a beautiful take on the beef tartare.  By no means is he trying to imitate beef with beets, this was a dish that could stand on it’s own.  There was a combination of roasted local beets with capers, garlic aioli and mustard.  It was refreshingly sweet and crunchy and a very subtle hint of that mustard spice.  The cumin chips where delicately thin and crispy with a nice hint of cumin.  A great start to our meal!

Ceviche of Scallop, Mussel, Shrimp and Albacore Tuna

The next dish few dishes were complimentary from Chef Darren and his kitchen.  We got a Ceviche of Scallop, Mussel, Shrimp and Albacore Tuna.   I’ve had this Ceviche during my first visit with friends and it was exactly the same as I remembered when I had it this time around.  This had a sauce comprised of aji amarillo, coconut, and lime with bits of spicy popcorn and paprika oil.   Absolutely  refreshing and I loved the sharpness of flavours in this dish.

Fung Style Kampachi

The next complimentary dish was the Fung Style Kampachi.  This was kampachi that was cured with konbu over some horseradish and edamame puree  and topped with scallions, furikake, and tobiko.  A really nice upgrade on your standard sashimi since I can detect an underlay of konbu flavour in the kampachi.  Well executed and beautifully presented.

The Truffles.

What do you do when you see this plunked down at your table?  You.don’t.touch.it.

First off, when we saw this at the table Miss.Foodie and I were surprised and speechless. I think both of us were questioning “Is it or isn’t it?”, “Could it be truffles?”,  so much speculation in those minutes which felt like hours because you got some truffles in front of you and the only thing that’s seperating you and those truffles was a glass lid………. AHHHH,  I can’t take the suspense!  Finally, our server came by and lifted the lid and proceeded to shave truffles onto our equally exciting dish.

Slow Braised Beef Ravioli

Let me tell you folks, this is a polished, jacked up, sexy ravioli.  If ravioli could be amazing like Bradley Cooper’s character in the movie Limitless, this would be it.  The truffles were shaved into our bowl of Slow Braised Beef Ravioli which consists of handmade ravioli pasta stuffed with beef and chopped truffles, immersed in a miso and foie gras broth.  SERIOUSLY?  Who gives this complimentary to people?  I nearly passed out with all the excitement because little humble me would never imagine eating truffles this soon in my life.  Let alone as a topping for something as equally delicious…. .  The miso foie gras broth was delicate and tasted earthy and creamy.  The ravioli was cooked perfectly al dente and the truffle flavours were just amazing!  This was ridiculously good shit.

Pork Trio

I had this dish the first time I came to Downtownfood with my friends and even after nearly two months of not being at Downtownfood, I still ordered this dish as my main.  It was as equality impressive and delicious the second time around.  The dish I speak of is their Broek Acre Pork Trio.  The Pork Trio consisted of 3 pork elements,  the pork belly confit,  a 48 hour sous vide pork loin, and a sizzling crispy pork rind.  All of this on a bed of kohlrabi puree, shmeji mushrooms, and an Asian BBQ sauce. When our server came out with this dish, you can actually still hear the pork rind crackling.  Again, this dish did not disappoint as the pork belly was so flavourful and decadent, the sous vide pork loin was insanely moist and full of flavour.  How many times in your life have you had moist pork loin?  Hardly ever I’m sure…. but when you do, it’s amazing.  The pork rind was super crispy and crunchy like a chip but it was seasoned just right so you do get a little spice kick out of it.  The kohlrabi puree was light and had an underlaying sweetness and balanced nicely with the savoury flavours of the Asian BBQ sauce.

 -  Definite item to order the when you guys go.

Heath Lemon Tart with a Cassis Sorbetto

Then came dessert,  ahh dessert.  No matter how full your belly is with all this ridiculously delicious food how could you not go for dessert?  Well we were gonna have it one way or another as this was part of our Big Taste menu and we were so excited.  We had a choice between two desserts, but we ended up getting one of each and shared.  The first one we dug into was the Heath Lemon Tart with a Cassis Sorbetto.  The lemon tart was prepared in a style of a brûlée, so the shortcrust pastry was first baked,  then they poured the lemon custard into the crust and baked it again.  The texture of this lemon tart was incredibly creamy but with a nice density to similar to your traditional creme brûlée.  This was full of that lemony tart flavour and wasn’t overly sweet as most lemon desserts are and it came with a side of Chef Darren’s own Cassis Sorbetto which as prepared by Fiasco Gelato but using the Chef’s own personal recipe.

Chocolate Mousse

Ahh,  don’t be fooled by this simple little Chocolate Mousse dessert.  This little devil is deceiving.  I know a lot of people order the chocolate mousse in restaurants and in reality the chocolate mousse from restaurant to restaurant tastes the same, but you’ll be surprised.  Do not underestimate this simple dessert, this was divine.  I would be happy to go and grab me a bowl of this stuff right out of the back kitchen if I wasn’t so polite.  This had such great chocolate flavours and textures,  I couldn’t imagine a better tasting chocolate dessert.   The crunchy chocolate cookie bits taste like an Oreo cookie with a peanut brittle.  The mousse was layered with milk, white and dark chocolate mousse which were creamy and not overly sweet.  Eating this you can taste all the contrasting textures of creamy and crunchy.  A truly delightful way to end a wonderful meal.

Overall, this meal will forever be forged in my memory.  This was a delicious meal from beginning to end and I have to personally thank Chef Darren and his team at Downtownfood for doing such a wonderful job with the meal and service given how busy service was that night.  Regardless of complimentary dishes or not, our main courses were well executed and the taste was spot on amazing.  This night was also a night where Downtownfood actually ran out of food because it was so busy.  I highly suggest giving this place a try, at least once and believe me you’ll be happy you did.

We’ve seen some pics on Twitter of the dishes that Charcut was putting out for their $35.00 Big Taste menu, so we were able to sneak in a last minute reservation to try it out.

Lamb Ham and Gruyere Cheese Crostini

Lamb Ham and Gruyere Cheese Crostini (Instagramed up close and personal– @annasappetite)

We were given a treat prior to our dinner, a Lamb Ham and Gruyere Cheese Crostini.  This was a great little starter as it had a wonderful crunchy crostini, the lamb ham was nicely salty and the slight underlaying sweetness of the gruyere cheese rounded everything out.

This got me more excited for our dinner….

Afterward,  the waitress came by with our next dish.

Lonzino and spicy Romaine and Persian Cucumber Salad.

The next dish was a spicy one!  In a delicious way of course.  :)   On the left of the picture is the Lorzino, an Italian style jerky that’s flavoured with pepper, citrus and fennel.  It was definitely the savoury part of this dual for sure and texture wise, it was one of jerky so it is a little tough and chewy, but tasty.  On the right is the zesty spicy companion, the Spicy Romaine and Persian Cucumber Salad which is romaine lettuce, persian cucumbers, herb yogurt, feta cheese and chillies.   The chillies really shined in this salad.  It was spicy, but not so it made you cry.  The chillies definitely had some zest to them like they were pickled and made this salad ever so refreshing.

From left to right:  Grilled Broccolini,  Roasted Pork Loin, Smashed Poplar Bluff Potatoes.

This platter was for the 2 of us!  Tonnes of food!  The Grilled Broccolini was topped with chillies, lemon, and Padano cheese and tasted pretty good.  In reality grilled veggies with lemon and cheese is always a good combo and I love broccolini.  The Roasted Pork Loin was covered with a paprika chilli rub and topped with chilli oil.  The pork loin was flavourful, the dark meat around the edges were deliciously moist and tender, but the white meat was a little tough and dry, but overall was pretty good.  The best part of this dish was the Smashed Poplar Bluff Potatoes this totally made our dinner.  I could just eat this dish on it’s own.  It’s basically smashed potatoes with sour cream, garden rosemary and house-cured bacon.  It was creamy, rich, tangy, savoury and uber tasty,  it was just damn good.

Preserved Blueberry Cheesecake in a Jar

For dessert we each got a Preserved Blueberry Cheesecake in a Jar.  The presentation is super cute and it wasn’t overly sweet which is what I prefer.  The portion size was just perfect since we totally cleaned up the main entrees.

Overall, my experience at Charcut was wonderful for Big Taste.  For $35.00 you do get a great meal and a super filling one at that.

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The Big Taste was earlier last month (March 1st – 10th) and so to kick start it I wanted to try out was one that was conveniently close to home,  Rasoi Kitchen.

Rasoi Kitchen  is located in the Calgary neighbourhood of Marda Loop.  I’m fortunate enough to live by it, but unfortunately don’t live in it.  It’s a really cute neighbourhood that has few shops and restaurants around and where you find a lot of Calgarians walking about.  Rasoi Kitchen is conveniently located in a little cute strip mall that has parking in the back.  Yes, my readers, free parking in the back.

Upon entering the restaurant is very nicely decorated without being super dim or super bright.  It’s comfortable and very stylish.  Our greeter was also our waitress which was who was great and really nice.

The Big Taste Menu

Just for those who are unaware,  The Big Taste  is a 10-day festival where participating restaurants put out set menus for lunch or dinner at set price points.  I believe lunch was $15 or $25 and dinner had menus for $35 or $85.  You can find a list of restaurants and their menus online at the The Big Taste Calgary website. 

Since Ben had a late lunch,  he decided to order something off the regular menu.  I of course got the 3-course Big Taste menu for $35.00 consisting of Pani Puri, Butter Chicken, and Gulab Jamun.  

After ordering we were served with these

Complimentary crackers…if someone knows the name of these cumin flavour bits of yum, please tell me because for the life of me I can’t remember. All I remember is that they tasted good.

The above were complimentary, they were slightly salty and a nice cumin flavour to them.  Ben and I were really liking this and kinda had a bit of a crumb grab when it was nearly gone.

Pani Puri:  Traditional Indian Water Puffs filled with Marsala Chickpeas & Tomato Coriander.  Drizzled with Yogurt, Tamarind Chutney, and Coriander Mint Chutney.   Regular Menu:  $6.00

My first course came and it was the Pani Puri, it is offered on the regular menu as well for $6.00.   Ben and I both really liked this appetizer.  The puff was delicate and crispy, with a hint of saltiness to it.  Two of the puffs were stuffed with Marsala Chickpeas which were nice and weren’t as spicy as I thought.  The other two were with chopped Tomato and Coriander which was refreshing and not spicy at all.  The tamarind sauce was sweet and sour,  which is what a combo that I love, the Coriander Mint Chutney was alright I do like the taste of coriander with tamarind so it worked really well together.  The yogurt was minimal so it didn’t stand out as much compared to the two chutneys.  Otherwise, the two types of Pani Puri on the plate really worked well together as they had a good balance of flavours.

Fish: Pan Seared, Oven Roasted, Tandoori Marinated Salmon, Vegetable Infused Basmati Rice, Vodka-Chili Tomato Salasa, Wilted Spinach and Black Lentils. Regular Menu: $26.00

Ben’s order came out first,  he order their Fish off the regular menu which was a tandoori marinated filet of salmon that was oven roasted and came with wilted spinach, black lentils and a bed of basmati rice.  The salmon was cooked great, it wasn’t dry, it was actually moist and the outside of the salmon actually had a nice tandoori flavoured crust.  The only thing about this dish was that it was under seasoned.  There was barely any salt on the salmon, spinach or black lentils.  I don’t really recall the vodka-chili tomato salsa being helpful in the overall seasoning of this dish either.  I think both Ben and I were both kinda looking around to see if there was a salt shaker close by.  The spinach was cooked well, and we were able to eat that as we both like sautéed spinach and it did have some spices on it, but the lentils were harder to finish as they were bland.

Butter Chicken:  Traditional Butter Chicken, Tomato Cream Curry, Fresh Ginger, Vegetable infused Basmati Rice and Naan.  Regular Menu:  $20.00

I choose to get the Butter Chicken off the Big Taste menu.  It came with Naan and a bowl of Basmati Rice that was cooked with vegetables.  Compared to most Butter Chicken dishes that I’ve had, I would say that this was mild.  The flavours weren’t as strong as what I’m usually use too when I order this dish.  It definitely had more seasoning than Ben’s fish dish and overall it was just alright.  It didn’t stand out to me as much as I would have liked, but it was alright.  I would say for someone who doesn’t like too strong of spices than this dish would be alright.  Just for me, I would have wished it had a little bit more kick of flavour to it.

Galub Jamun:  Mini Deep Fried Indian Doughnuts served with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Pistachios .   Regular Menu $7.00

I ended up choosing Galub Jamun for my dessert off the Big Taste menu.  Having this dessert before (my East Indian friend calls it the Indian “Timbit”) at a few other East Indian places I expected it to be very sweet and it was.  The doughnut tasted great and the syrup had a nice hint of rose water to it,  the pistachios were alright as it was crushed and sprinkled on to the doughnut,  it didn’t make much of a difference as the sweetness from the syrup definitely stood out.  The Vanilla Bean ice cream was good as it wasn’t so sweet, what surprised me was there was a salty crumble of something like a chocolate cookie was salty and kinda offset the sweetness of the doughnuts and ice cream.  Overall, I thought the dessert was solid.

The experience at Rasoi Kitchen overall was alright.  The interior is nicely decorated and the waitress was attentive and sweet.  The dishes were a little lack lustre for our palates as we tend to like more of a strong flavour when it comes to East Indian cuisine.  With that, I feel that Rasoi Kitchen definitely caters to those with a more mild palate, maybe for those diners who want to experience East Indian cuisine but don’t want to go too far off the spectrum of strong flavours and spices.