As you must all know by now, last week was The Big Taste, Calgary’s dining festival. I spent the week sampling some of the best cuisine this city has to offer. I concluded the event on Sunday evening, with a nice dinner at a small winebar on Eighth Avenue: Escoba.
The chef, Brad O’leary, came up with a simple selection of some of the house favourites. I started the meal with a selection of tapas. Tender stuffed mushrooms, flavorful homemade spinach, almond & feta spring rolls, and a southwest style crab cake with guacamole. I loved the idea of tapas, it was great to be able to try more than one of their delicious appetizers.
The entrees were flavourful and cooked perfectly. The salmon was medium rare, just the way we asked for it. The chicken was juicy and tender. Both dishes were accompanied by crisp, succulent vegetables. Whoever was working that night really knew what they were doing.
The real star of the show was the dessert: duo of tiramisu & chocolate espresso truffle with raspberry coulis; and raspberry & passion fruit frozen parfait with mango coulis. We enjoyed dessert with a luxurious glass of white port. What a nice way to end a great week.
This week has been so much fun. Next year, I might take the entire week off work! I want to thank all the participating restaurants, the Wines of BC, the Calgary Downtown Association, and all of the other people that helped make this event happen. I think that The Big Taste is a great way to showcase all of the skilled, local restauranteurs in our fair city.
Bravo Calgary.
