Restaurant Review: Rouge
Address: 1240 8 Avenue SE; Website: https://rougecalgary.com/; Instagram: @rougerestaurant
Having lived in Calgary all my life and having recently moved to Inglewood (I say recently but it’s been almost 2 years), I’ve known about Rouge for a very long time. However, despite hearing about how good it is as a restaurant, the price has prevented me from going until now.
From March 19-30, Calgary hosts the YYC Food and Drink Experience. Last year we tried Roy’s Kitchen and this year we chose Rouge. I love YYC Food and Drink Experience because it gives restaurants a chance to showcase the best they have to offer while giving diners an affordable chance to try.
For those who don’t know, the YYC Food and Drink Experience has several tiers. This year, they’ve added brunch (with 2 price points) and happy hours, but in the past, it was lunch, dinner, and gourmet dinner. This year, they’ve also added 2 price points for lunch, so now there are 7 different categories that diners can experience.
The Rouge’s offerings fell under Gourmet dinner, which is priced at $75/person and is five courses.
Before we started, we were served a complimentary starter: house made baguette with a honey lemon butter and a beet and goat cheese tartlet. The butter was out of this world. The honey had been sourced from their own beehives and there was just the right amount of lemon so that it was fragrant and fresh without it becoming too sour. The baguette had the right amount of crunch on the crust and softness on the inside. The beet and goat cheese tartlet was good, but next to the simple (but extremely well made) bread and butter, it didn’t stand out as much. The goat cheese was creamy and not to gamey in flavour, the beets were sweet and fresh. Overall, a great start that set very high expectations for the meal to come.
First course - Pork Hock Terrine, Pickled Autumn Beets
I was only half excited for this course. Normally I’m not big on Pork Hock and given how gelatinous it is, I had an inkling that the terrine was going to be more texturally like headcheese. To be clear, I don’t have an issue with headcheese, but that’s because it’s usually sliced thin. The beet salad had a nice acidity to counterbalance the richness and texture of the terrine. It was good but I was not blown away by this course.
Second Course - Russet Gnocchi, House Ricotta, Beurre Blanc
Things ramped up with this course. So Rouge is known for its farm to table menu. A lot of the ingredients they use are grown in the garden behind the restaurant, but for everything else, they are sourced locally.
This Gnocchi is the best gnocchi I’ve ever had in my life. Oftentimes, I find that the store bought or even some restaurant made gnocchi is a little hard and dense, but these were pillowy soft and just melted in your mouth. Despite the pairing with the beurre blanc and the sprinkle of house made ricotta, I didn’t feel overwhelmed by the richness, due, in large part, to the addition of pickled onions as a garnish. The pickling was also very well done. It was acidic but again, balanced with sweetness and the slight spiciness of the onion.
My husband also really enjoyed this course and remarked that he could have done with a larger portion. If I had ordered this as a main, I would’ve agreed, but given that this is a tasting menu with five courses, I think it was perfectly portioned given that there were still three courses coming and gnocchi is typically very filling.
Third Course - Apple Assiette
The third course was listed online, but did not appear on the menu. It could be argued that that was because it was a palate cleanser and that isn’t necessarily counted as a course.
Assiette, for those who don’t know, is a dish that showcases different preparations of one ingredient. Normally I’m pretty well versed on different preparations of food, but assiette is a new one for me, and I really appreciated our server for explaining that.
The Apple Assiette consisted of apple prepared in four ways. There was a kind of cookie/sable-esque base, topped with apple sorbet, draped with an apple gel, and topped with fresh julienned apple. The palate cleanser is meant to be eaten in one bite. However, it was slightly bigger than what was comfortable for one bite for me and I found myself struggling to shift the sorbet into a more comfortable position in mouth to bite down on without triggering my teeth’s sensitivity. That is my only “complaint” because it was very refreshing and texturally interesting. It was also served on some very interesting looking spoons.
Fourth Course - Braised Short Rib, Pommes Puree, Bordelaise Sauce
The palate cleanser was followed by this wonderful “main” course. The short rib was not braised to the point it was fork tender and it was served sliced rather than on the bone. I, personally, think that there is a time and place for meat to be served on the bone and this is not one of them, so I was rather pleased to see it had been removed, sliced, and nicely arranged on the plate.
It was served with a Pommes Puree which was closer to the texture of a mashed potato than a puree. For an excellent puree, I would recommend the one from Major Tom. That said, I did prefer that it was closer to a mashed potato rather than a puree as it gave the impression of a more hearty, comfort meal while still being fairly elevated. It was rich and buttery and delicious.
We were also served a vanilla parsnip puree that was definitely more puree than the pomme puree. As strange as a vanilla parsnip puree sounds, it actually worked very well with the dish. I enjoyed that there was parsnip prepared in two ways on the plate as it provided a nice contrast in textures.
The dish was brought together through the use of the Bordelaise sauce. Bordelaise is a classic French sauce made from a dry red wine (usually a Bordeaux, as that is the region the Bordelaise sauce originates), caramelized shallots, demi-glace, and herbs. The sauce had a good balance of sweet to savoury. The only thing is that I wish that there had been just a touch more. Having taken a steak making class where we made a red wine sauce, I know that there is a fine line between the right amount of sauce and making my plate look like a bloody, swimming pool.
Again, I think if this is all I had ordered, I would have expected more, but again, I think the portioning of the dish was perfect given the number of courses in the meal.
Fifth Course - Carrot & Dandelion Root Cake
Our fifth and final course was, of course, dessert. I was curious about the dandelion root in the cake, but upon tasting, I could not pick the flavour out. I have been told that dandelion root can be quite bitter and is often used in salads so I was looking out for that flavour, which I never got, but honestly, not mad about that.
The cake tasted basically just like a carrot cake. It was topped with a vanilla ice cream, Chantilly cream, carrot coulis, and some kind of alcoholic cream that I can’t recall what it is now. It was also garnished with a carrot tuile (that looks like a sun chip) and basil. I think with the basil and dandelion root, they were attempting to play with some slightly savoury notes in the dessert to kind of ground it and keep it from becoming overly sweet. I wasn’t a fan of the tuile. I wish it had been crunchier but it was just kind of chewy.
As it was part of the tasting menu, it was a smallish slice. I only know this because one of the tables next to us ordered the full sized one as their dessert and it was more like a square slice of cake. Given that on the regular menu, that probably would’ve costed about $14, I think that’s fair. After all the food we ate, I think this was the perfect portion size. I think even if I had ordered from the regular menu and gotten the full sized cake, it would’ve been too much for me to finish on my own.
Once the meal was over, we were presented with the bill and a complimentary madeleine with earl grey cream. In comparison to the rest of the food, I found this to be somewhat underwhelming, but I still think that it was a very nice gesture.
Overall, I had a really great experience here. I’m still torn about whether I would dine from here for their regular menu, given the price, but in terms of quality, I would say this was absolutely worth it.
My rating is as follows:
Atmosphere and Accessibility: 3.75/5
Like the Deane House and Noble Teahouse, the Rouge is situated in an old house. As such, the dining areas are laid out differently from a traditional restaurant with what appeared to be two seater tables upstairs and the larger tables on the main level. The decor is fairly plain and I wish they had decided to do something more exciting with the decor in the way the Noble Teahouse has with its themed rooms.
Since the restaurant is in an old house, there are no elevators to the second floor so it’s not really accessible. The stairs aren’t as steep as some of the other house to restaurant restaurants. There is seating on the main level, as I’ve mentioned above so it’s not that the place isn’t accessible at all but it is somewhat narrow and cramped, being a house and all.
Service: 4/5
We had a fantastic group of wait staff who served us for the experience. All of them were very knowledgeable about the food and menu being served to us.
Food: 4.5/5
As I’ve mentioned above, I was thoroughly impressed with the food. It was some of the best food I’ve ever had in my life and I do like their farm to table approach.
Price: 4/5
Given that we were trying the YYC Food and Drink Experience menu, it was priced a little more affordably than if we had ordered a la carte from the menu. That said, it is one of the more expensive gourmet menus, being priced at $75 per person, but with most entrees on their menu being priced at around $50 each and their six course tasting menu being $120, I think $75 for the five courses is extremely reasonable.
Overall Rating: 4.063/5