When I was driving the other day I looked at the Calgary downtown skyline and commented to my fiancé at how different our skyline looks now compared to 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. It now stretches from Princess Island Park all the way to Macleod Trail and is growing width wise as well with the new developments in East Village that’s coming through (aside from the lonely Arriva tower). It makes you think back to a time when Calgary was literally nothing more than a little small cow town, with the main areas being Crescent Heights, Bridgeland, Downtown and Inglewood. Now all those areas have been transformed in to the new hip inner city communities that all lie within a stone’s throw away from our hustling and bustling downtown core (although we need to do something about how quiet it gets after 6pm). With the new transformations in all those communities it’s often hard to find an older piece of Calgary and what it was like back in the good ol days, unless you step in to Jacqueline Suzanne’s and let them take you away.
Atmosphere: You’ll immediately notice the décor when you first walk in to Jacqueline Suzanne’s in Inglewood. It immediate brings you back to the flapper era, when both people and food were stylish, great place for a romantic and cozy dinner, plus if you wanted you can sit in the bay window table at the front!
Price Range: Mid 20s-30s
Food and Wine: After seeing the setting in Jacqueline Suzanne’s, I couldn’t wait to try the food. I could only imagine that it would be as unique as the surroundings of the restaurant. There were a wide variety of foods to choose from off the menu and the server made our choices even harder by presenting us with the daily specials, which was the Herb crusted full rack of lamb with roasted potatoes, veggies over a sweet chutney sauce, how could we refuse? After I heard the herb crusted part I forgot what the rest of the daily specials were. The rack of lamb was cooked perfectly medium rare and the chutney gave it just the right amount of sweetness to accompany the gamey taste of the lamb. Of course I couldn’t leave without trying something off of their main menu as well, so I ordered the Jambalaya - a more southern dish, which isn’t seen too often in restaurants around Calgary. The dish was a good hefty portion loaded with seafood, so if you’re a seafood lover and got a healthy appetite, this would be the dish for you, jumbo prawns and mussels but don’t forget the chicken and Spolumbo’s Italian sausage all mixed together over a bed of slightly spicy rice. To top off our meal, the server mentioned that they make their desserts fresh daily and it’s a can’t miss, so we had to order the Apple Crumble, topped with lots of creamy vanilla ice cream (they even gave us seconds on the ice cream because we couldn’t portion out the sizing correctly).
A meal in this nature wouldn’t be complete without the accompaniment of a great glass of wine. The selection was good, but we decided on the house wine (Folonari Valpolicella, Italy) which came in a ½ litre which is perfect for sharing between two people, plus the carafes that it arrived in reminded me of how wine is served in Europe!
My Picks: It would be the Herb Crusted Full Rack of Lamb, although it’s a daily special there is an Oven Roasted Rack of Lamb on their menu.
Overall: I really enjoyed how I was brought back in time for a little while at Jacqueline Suzanne’s, but the delicious food and the healthy portion sizes definitely is a plus. Who doesn’t enjoy to step out of their normal daily lives once in a while and enjoy a different setting?
Jacqueline Suzanne’s Bistro
1219 9th Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 266-1005
Website: http://www.jacquelinesuzannes.ca/
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