Dinner at CharCut
I’m sorry I didn’t report immediately back about our dinner at CharCut last night – the truth is we passed a crime scene on the way to our car, then had a particularly unsettling experience immediately upon our arrival home (W was across the street, sleeping over), which necessitated calling the police, double checking for locked doors, and subsequently barely sleeping. I spent until the wee hours trying to mellow out by flipping through recipes, with not much fortitude left to upload photos and rave about the bone marrow gratin and mortadella and tiny Yorkshire puds with warm puddles of gravy we had for dinner. But I will now.
Mortadella: hand-mixed pork studded with pistachios and truffles – they stuff this inside a whole pig’s head, then slice it thinner than paper.
There was bone marrow gratin! (top) with garlic brioche toast, and a charcuterie platter with the aforementioned mortadella, house-cured meats (like shaved heritage duck ham with cave aged Gruyère) and sausage (Winters turkey chorizo with pickled saffron tomatoes):
and duck fat poutine with truffle gravy, a wee pot of Raclette with sweet, soft pull-apart brioche rolls, and the crispy chicken skin salad (it isn’t just crisp-roasted chicken skin stripped off the bird, but more intensely crispified by way of a light mahogany batter and additional frying) with tender baby romaine lettuce leaves and a peppery buttermilk dressing that reminded me of my Grandma in a way I still can’t decipher.
When we found ourselves with plates still covered with gravy and a dish of the buttermilk dressing (I could have eaten with a spoon) we requested a bit more bread and they brought a plate of wee Yorkshire puds and a little pot of chicken gravy to douse them in.
Also: Beer I Actually Liked (trust me: this is earth-shattering. I’m not a beer drinker. But I actually liked this stuff. Perhaps I’m just a beer snob?)
For dessert, chocolate chip cookies and a wee vanilla shake and a skillet of warm bombolone; Italian doughnuts filled with homemade (do I detect booze in there?) Nutella.
This morning: oatmeal for breakfast. Perhaps a run. (Or a waddle.)
March 03 2010 09:22 am | eating out
Pam on 03 Mar 2010 at 9:32 am #
This all looks amazing! Thanks for sharing these mouthwatering photos. I’ll be sure to visit soon for that crispy chicken skin salad!
And I hope everything is okay on the home front.
Tyler on 03 Mar 2010 at 9:37 am #
I’m still full.
Amanda on 03 Mar 2010 at 9:39 am #
OMG, it all looks so good. I think Charcut will be my Dine Out Calgary choice for this year… Hope everything is alright on the homefront.
Dana McCauley on 03 Mar 2010 at 10:23 am #
Mmm! I can’t wait to come to Calgary and try Charcut. Mortadella and donuts – how can you beat that!
Barb on 03 Mar 2010 at 10:25 am #
I really appreciate the report as a I am not likely to get there ever. (Too far away and I porbably couldn’t find it anyway) Looks awesome.
Now, back to those puddle cookies…. sorry if I seem a little dense but I want to clarify that the egg whites are just stirred into the mixture and not beaten first? Thanks.
JulieVR on 03 Mar 2010 at 10:28 am #
Barb – yep, just stirred in. No beating required! A huge selling point for me.
Terri on 03 Mar 2010 at 10:39 am #
DIVINE!
Natalie B on 03 Mar 2010 at 11:02 am #
yeah, think I gained some weight just looking at those photos
but it looks like it was all beyond worth it!
Laurie in Burnaby BC on 03 Mar 2010 at 11:26 am #
Simply divine! If ever I’m in Calgary, I’ll definitely look that place up.
Here I am trying to lose weight, and you’re posting photos and descriptions like that. I’m with Natalie B – I think I gained weight reading it and looking at the pictures.
Erica B. on 03 Mar 2010 at 11:29 am #
Dinner at Charcut looks fantastic. Hope everything is alright in terms of th after dinner goings on.
the other Al on 03 Mar 2010 at 1:37 pm #
OH MY FRICKEN GOD!
Heather on 03 Mar 2010 at 2:55 pm #
Hi Julie,
Sounds delish. Regarding the beer, I too used to dislike beer; it was what I ordered if I didn’t want to get drunk, because I could nurse one for an hour, unlike wine, which went down a lot faster!
But then I met my husband, who is quite a beer connoisseur, and he really opened my eyes to the world of microbrews. If you’re interested in expanding your beer horizons, I would highly recommend Kensington Wine Market’s beer & cheese tastings (full disclosure, I used to work there, but I don’t any more, so that’s not influencing my recommendation).
Also, if you liked the Rogue Hazelnut Brown, I would really recommend the Naramata Nut Brown from Cannery Brewing; it’s delicious, and Canadian! Cannery also does a blackberry porter that is soooo good with either chocolate or cheese (try it with the mac & cheese at Farm for a to-die-for pairing).
You might also really like some of the Belgian Lambic beers, which are made with a strain of wild yeast that is apparently unique to that part of the world, and they’re very sweet and sour (a combo I love), and don’t taste “beery” at all. The most common one you’ll find around town is Gueuze, but if you can find Lindemans lambic fruit beers, they are so good (particularly the peach, raspberry, and cassis). They are sporadically available at places like Kensington Wine Market and Willow Park. Expensive, but worth it!
Jen Sorenson on 03 Mar 2010 at 3:46 pm #
Fabulous. I am afraid of marrow, but it is all the rage and I will have to dive in someday. Maybe that nutella was laced with frangelico – hazelnut liqueur?
angiebean on 03 Mar 2010 at 6:17 pm #
Wow! That mortadella looked fabulous! It’s one of my weaknesses. This picture make me want to run out and get some. YUM!
Aimee on 03 Mar 2010 at 9:28 pm #
Oh MAN I’m hungry now. This sounds like it would be my favorite place in town.
Reminds me of Au Pied du Cochon, here in Montreal. It IS my favorite place in town.
Bob McInnis on 04 Mar 2010 at 10:29 am #
Great review CharCut is on my list now. Thanks for your work on the Blog Aid Haiti Cookbook, it looks fabulous and I have tried a couple recipes. btw, is it really still beer if it has hazelnuts and chocolate in it?
Dianne on 04 Mar 2010 at 8:37 pm #
Hey Julie? We’re heading to CharCut next Saturday. We’re going with a friend who’s a cardiologist so we should be okay! Tell me please – do they serve wine as well as beer?
JulieVR on 04 Mar 2010 at 9:29 pm #
Dianne – absolutely! great wine list.
Erin M on 04 Mar 2010 at 10:50 pm #
Lol apparently I’m not the only one who gained a few pounds reading that. I can’t say it appealed to me, I’m not much of a meat eater so things like stuffed pork head and bone marrow/skin dishes kind of make it all too real for me haha. Although my mouth was watering at the poutine and the nutella filled desserts. I need to get a tissue
Erin M on 04 Mar 2010 at 10:51 pm #
Oh and sorry to hear you had a scary experience…hope everything and everyone is okay.
Kirk Bodnar on 05 Mar 2010 at 4:28 pm #
If you liked the Hazelnut Brown, then have I got some beer for you! We’ll have to chat! Wait until you try some beer with the Bombolone – or the cheesecake! Get ready for a beer epiphany!
Cheers,
Kirk
JulieVR on 05 Mar 2010 at 4:33 pm #
I missed out on the cheesecake! Should have grabbed one on the way in last night. Boo. I’ve been thinking about it all day.
CenterStreet on 07 Mar 2010 at 8:27 pm #
Had dinner there last Friday Night (March 5)
General impression is the place is okay. The room is beautiful and the chairs are very comfortable.
Overall impressions are the room is better than the food. The menu is still a Calgary Boom menu and the prices should be lower or the portions bigger. We also had the bone marrow – but one spoon did not fit into the hole. Typically this dish is served with the bone cut lenghtwise.
The wine list is limited and the reds by the glass too pricey. $11 for a Chianti that was too warm. Are they not using the enoteca machines? And for $11 I expect the wine to be at proper temperature.
For mains we had steak and 1/2 chicken and shared an order of poutine. There were no vegetables other than rocket on the steak. The 6 ounce is a bit skimpy, and the chicken comes with chicken. Chicken was tasty as was the poutine.
Overall $135 including 4 glasses of wine and one beer. Went to the Hyatt for desert. Nothing about Charcut, but it was time for a walk.
Nice place and will return, but nothing special either.