The District

Categorized | Calgary Restaurants

Posted on 21 July 2010. Tags: Calgary Restaurants

It’s no secret I like food but one of my favorite things about it is… the experience! Planning meals, shopping for ingredients, slicing, sautéing, grilling and plating or picking a restaurant, meeting your server, perusing the menu, ordering, taking in the atmosphere, smelling the food, waiting in anticipation and of course… EATING. Our first trip to “District” embodied all that I love about dining out but scored extra points in the experience department. I had heard from many friends that this was an excellent restaurant that we “must” attend and review for our blog, but wasn’t prepared for just how awesome this restaurant really was.

Whoever came up with the idea for this restaurant is a GENIUS. I can’t fathom how someone could take all that is “District” and make it come to life. If they borrowed the idea from someone else, we applaud you for recognizing it as an excellent and unique restaurant concept and thank you for bringing it here to Calgary for all of us to enjoy. Some of the menu items might not seem to fit together, but that is part of the beautiful of it. Everything that makes up “District” is unique. The menu, that is scribbled on the various chalk boards all around the restaurant, not only forces you to explore the length of the dining area, but if you are lucky you might steal a glimpse (and smell) of the meals on one of the tables, and everything I saw on the various tables around the restaurant both looked and smelled amazing.

This menu changes daily and incorporates locally grown produce, meats and other ingredients. They offer freshly shucked east and west coast oysters with three unique toppings. They make their own bacon, which they serve in a bucket with maple syrup to dip on the side, they make all of their own sauces, ketchup included, and even have a microbrewery offering house brewed beers that are an excellent complimentary beverage to their wide array of culinary delights. And I haven’t even mentioned the Poutine menu yet! Poutine, which appears to be the new “IT” food of the moment is taken to a new level here. “Poutine for the People” offers a wide selection of cheese options from Gruyere, mozza, old cheddar, real and goat cheese curds to interesting toppings like caramelized onion, fried egg, jalapeno, beef, bacon and my personal favorite duck confit. They also had a great list of charcuterie and cheeses with chutneys and pickled local produce, from duck and black truffle pate, elk salami , homemade pickled beets and too many cheeses to mention. Burgers with Brie and cranberry, chicken dishes, local pork chops, salads with unique toppings, duck stuffed Yorkshire pudding appetizers and the list goes on.

The atmosphere and service was also top notch. The restaurant was packed and our server Nathan greeted me with a smile and a handshake and even asked us our names. It’s that kind of personal touch that makes this restaurant unique. We quizzed him on his favorite poutine choice and ordered that and one of our own creations and honestly, although they were both tasty, his was my favorite. Throughout the night we asked him a couple questions about the restaurant and menu and one thing he said really stuck with me, “they hire people that know about food, I am a chef myself”. Likely why his poutine creation was a little more refined in taste then ours was. The owners of this restaurant not only love food and drink but pass that love on to their patrons. That is why this restaurant works. I like to think they took everything they loved and put it together into “District”. Even though fresh oysters, buckets of bacon and designer poutine might not seem like a likely combination, it’s a slam dunk in my books. A dozen of my favorite things in one place on one menu – great beer, wine and atmosphere. PERFECT!