Muse Restaurant and Lounge

Muse, the restaurant in Kensington, sits prominently in the neighbourhood and is hard to miss. The menu itself is laid out like a typical Italian restaurant with First, Second, Third and Fourth course.

The restaurant itself is quite rustic, but hardly new. It has decent ambiance for romantic occasions and all the tables were evenly spaced out providing plenty of room. The lower level, where we sat, has booths and tables for smaller group of parties, while the room upstairs is designed to house private party.

The food. It was good. We skipped the First and ordered a couple of Second's. The French Escagagots were decent -- it was tender and firm, and good-sized, but nothing extraordinary. The Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts were hit and miss. Someone loved it but most of us at the table disliked it (for no other reason than because we dislike Brussel Sprouts).

Items ate:
Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Dark Organic Maple Syrup, Toasted Pine Nuts, Maldon salt $13
French Escargots, Organic Shemeji Mushrooms, House Made Brioche, Tarragon Beurre Blanc $16

Thankfully, the entrees were much better. The Duck Breast was decent but again was not anything extraordinary. I still think nobody prepares duck as well as the Asian and their Peking Duck.

The Veal Tenderloin was fantastic, however. It was tender, well seasoned and grilled and cooked to my request (medium rare). The Rosoti and sauce were good complement to the veal. It was simply delicious. More so when the server came to our table to briefly summarize how each of our meals was prepared.

For dessert, I couldn't resist anything with creme brulee. And while carrot and honey does not sound at all appealing in a creme brulee, my curiosity got the better of me.

And it tasted exactly like its name suggests. Creme brulee with some influence of carrot and honey. It was average as far as creme brulee was concerned.

I also had a bite of the Olive Oil Ice Cream with the almond cake and it was decent. The vanilla ice cream had a hint of olive oil in it, but it was mostly vanilla and the cake was dry and tasted like a typical store-bought lime cake.

Items ate:

“Noble Farm” Duck Breast, Sun Dried Cherry Polenta, Chestnut & Butternut Squash, Anise Jus $36
Pan Roasted Milk Fed Veal Tenderloin, Parsnip Rösti, Corn & Salsify Sauté, Foie Gras Emulsion $39

Carrot & Honey Crème Brulée, Cinnamon Shortbread, Fresh Berries $9Warm Almond Cake, House Made Olive Oil Ice Cream, Caramel Sauce, Orange Tuile $9

River Cafe

Dine Out Calgary Lunch Menu at the River Cafe for $25 dollars.

Cannellini Bean & Sunworks Farm Chicken SoupRoasted Tomato
• 2008 SAUVIGNON BLANC FROG’S LEAP RUTHERFORD

Comments: The soup was nothing special and tasted like something I could prepare on my own, and everyone knows I can't cook. It was light and suitable as a start, but it was too watery and didn't even have much chicken in it, or much chicken essence.

Slow Roasted Broek Acres PorchettaPoplar Bluff Purple PotatoSmoked Honeycrisp Apple Purée
• 2007 MORELLINO DI SCANSANO CASTELLO ROMITORIO TUSCANY

Comments: The main is a hit and miss. The hit... it tasted absolutely fantastic and the pork positively melts in your mouth when you eat it just a tinge of fat. However, the pork itself was TOO fatty even for me and those were cut out. So the the miss... when you cut out the fat, what was left of the pork was TOO dry and tasted like eating sandpaper. (Rough, dry and tasteless -- not that I would know what sandpaper taste like).

Maple Créme CaramelHazelnut-Orange Biscotti, BC Huckleberries
• 2006 SAUTERNES CHATEAU ROUMIEU BORDEAUX

Comments: OMG. This was the saving grace and the delight of the whole Dine Out menu. I have never tasted any creme caramel quite so good. It was so light and so smooth that it literally melted like snow in your mouth. The taste was light and sweet, but not overpowering sweet. It had a taste of light caramel and a tinge of orange, served chilled. Just recalling its taste is enough to heighten my delight with this dessert. I had hope to go back to try this again and see whether it was a fluke or truly a dessert marvel but unfortunately, it is no longer on their menu.

Moxie's Classic Grill

Entrees

spinach salad | warm bacon dressing, sweet red onions, chopped hard boiled eggs, mushrooms and crisp bacon, served with asiago crisps

steak oscar with jumbo prawns | atlantic crab and a skewered trio of jumbo prawns crown our 8 oz top sirloin drizzled with a creamy béarnaise sauce

Dessert

bite of brownie | smaller version of the ultimate dessert encounter, white and dark chocolate folded into a white chocolate brownie, finishe with french vanilla ice cream, real whipped cream and warm chocolate sauce

Moxie's Classic Grill
Address: 888 7 Ave SW Calgary

Thomsons Restaurant

Complimentary:

Dine out Calgary Menu 25

Salad | Mache greens, friscee, crumbled goat cheese, dried  cherries, toasted walnuts, air-dreid biscon, honey truffle vinaigrette
Soup | Fennel and spinach soup, rock shrimp

Entree | House smoked Alberta beef tenderloin, caramelized carrots, green onion, parsnips, porcini and truffle butter, merlot wine reduction

Lunch Menu

Grilled Seafood Salad | Grilled wild Sockeye salmon, sea scallops, tiger prawns. Served on mache greens, creamy lemon poppy seed dressing, Full size 17

Scallops were nicely seared to perfection. The seared scallops and tiger prawns were grilled to the right texture. The size of these tiger prawns - well, the name of tiger prawns does not fail here. Unfortunately, this dish is not perfect. The sockeye salmon was either grilled too long or it was not fresh at the time of grilling. The finished product of this fish was way too dry. For someone that would only eat seafood like myself, this salmon was not acceptable. The bed of mache greens was very fresh and crisp. I guess overall, this dish was saved by its scallops and TIGER prawns.

Thomsons Restaurant
Address: 112 8 Ave SE Calgary

Escoba Bistro & Wine Bar

Dine out Calgary Menu 35

Escoba Signature Sampler | Calabrese wrapped prawn, Spinach feta and almond spring roll, Shrimp and asiago stuffed mushroom

New York Striploin | Medium Rare with roasted garlic and shallot marinade, peppercorn demi-glaze, confit potato, seasonal vegetabes

White chocolate & espresso crème brulée with poached pear

Salad

Poached Pear Salad | Poached pear & golden beet, pickled red onion, manchengo cheese with rhum rosemary vinaigrette & crispy proscuitto 16

Overall, nice presentation with overwhelming flavours. This dish is heavily seasoned with marinade sauce by itself without the need of using its featured rhym rosemary vinaigrette dressing. Proscuitto was very crisp but salty.

Service
Our whole meal took about 1.45 hours, from the minute we sat down to the minute we stepped out. However, it is worth noting that the dining room had a large group of 16 guests at the same time. But at the same time, this is no excuse for our glasses of tap water to take 15 minutes to arrive.

Menu
Selection of entrees is minimal compared to its 4 pages of wine selection out of its 6 page menu.

Escoba Bistro & Wine Bar
Address: 624 8 Ave SW Calgary