Earlier this year my husband turned the big 3-0 and due to his hectic work schedule we couldn’t travel somewhere special to celebrate his milestone day. I was slightly disappointed at first because I wanted it to be truly special (since we only ever get to celebrate these birthdays once in our lifetime) and was already planning his surprise trip, which had to be cancelled. However, I soon realized that it’d still be special even though we weren’t leaving the country to celebrate it because we’d be together (have I made anybody feel nauseous yet?). Plus, we live in this great part of the country where we’re literally 1 hour away from the gorgeous Rocky Mountains. So after a few quick searches, we were headed out to Canmore for his surprise birthday weekend, which started with a dinner the famous Trough restaurant.
Atmosphere: Cozy and welcoming with a perfect cabin setting, great for a special intimate dinner, catching up with friends or just warming up from the cold with some lovely vino.
Price: Mid $30s
Price: Mid $30s
Food and Wine: After being sat down by the friendly waiter / owner of the restaurant. We were offered a nice amuse bouche to start the evening. It consisted of a creamed goat cheese spread served a top a crunchy housemade chip with mint and raspberries. Definitely a nice surprise, especially when they brought out the complimentary housemade flatbread shortly afterwards. The bread was warm, chewy and served with a citrusy olive oil dip.
Without much deliberation, we knew what we wanted from the menu and shortly afterwards our appetizer arrived. The Pan Seared East Coast Organic Scallops were crusted with toasted white and black sesame seeds, served with a carrot ginger puree and a nice carrot slaw. The sweet chili sauce was a nice addition, adding a depth of flavour to the delicate scallops. However, we did both agree that the sesame seeds were a bit powerful for the subtle flavours of the scallop.
Up next were our mains. I had the AAA Alberta Beef Tenderloin, seared rare with an herb verde sauce, a huge panko crusted truffle potato cake and greens. I barely had to cut in to my tenderloin it was so perfectly cooked and when I had my first bite, the meat literally melted in my mouth. I was truly amazed at how well flavoured it was. The panko crusted potato cake was crunchy on the outside, yet creamy on the inside with a nice aroma of truffles. My husband was in awe of the caperberries that they served along side the herb verde sauce since he loves capers and anything to do with them. I thought the herb verde sauce complimented the steak well.
My husband ordered the Kalamata Olive Crusted Rack “O” Lamb. He thought it was cooked perfectly however he did enjoy my tenderloin more than his lamb. I had a few bites of his plate and decided on the same. However I really enjoyed the creamy mashed potatoes that came with his meal.
When the server asked if we wanted dessert, it really didn’t take me long to respond since Sticky Toffee Pudding was on the menu (I believe I can start blogging purely on all the places where I’ve had sticky toffee pudding, I wonder if anybody would read it? Although it would make me very hungry all the time, but I digress…). Between our main course and my anticipation of dessert came a complimentary palate cleanser consisting of a light passionfruit sorbet. It was refreshing and if it wasn’t for the sticky toffee pudding, probably would have been enough for me to call it a lovely evening and head off, but of course I could never do that.
Soon enough appeared my lovely pudding and how quickly I dug right in. The cake was moist and sweet without being overly so and always goes well a la mode. There really isn’t anything I could say that’s bad about sticky toffee puddings so I’ll just leave it at that.
We stayed a bit longer to finish off our lovely bottle of wine, which I wanted to highlight since they have a very nice list of wines featured at the restaurant. We ordered a bottle of the La Posta Malbec, which accompanied our meal well without overwhelming the scallop appetizer dish. What intrigued me about my vino experience at the Trough was the fact that they aerated our wine by passing it through a wine aerator and in to a decanter. It was a very nice touch and definitely helped “open up” the wine and helped it “breathe”. This made the malbec very velvety and smooth, pairing nicely to our meal from beginning to lovely end.
My Picks: Flatbread, AAA Alberta Beef Tenderloin
Overall: The food, wine and personable servers helped launch our weekend of to a great start. Everything was memorable and special. Who said we had to look far for something different and exceptional?
TroUgh Dining Co.
725 9 St
Canmore, AB
(403) 678-2820
Website: http://www.thetrough.ca/
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