Rouge is set to celebrate Canadian cuisine from coast to coast in honour of the country’s 150th birthday.
The iconic Inglewood restaurant is running month-long features for lunch and dinner that are inspired by ingredients and dishes from nine regions across the country – Atlantic Canada to the West Coast and the northern territories. Wine, beer or cocktail pairings will also be drawn from those areas.
Co-owner and chef Paul Rogalski said the idea is designed to celebrate Canada’s local fare, bounty and the diversity of producers here.
Each of the dishes will be unveiled on the first of the month.
For March, the Coast to Coast Plate reflects the Maritimes with a hand-made Atlantic lobster tortellini, dulce beurre blanc, sauce Americaine roe, dentelle and lobster foam. It has been paired with a 2008 brut from Nova Scotia’s Benjamin Bridge winery.
The special dishes will be the restaurant’s Mealshare item for the promotion, which means ordering it will ensure a meal for a hungry child.
Mealshare will also be on the receiving end of $10 from every ticket sold to Brasserie Kensington’s upcoming “Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen” – an event described as a “down and dirty” evening that takes all the pomp out of dining and focuses on good food and a good time.
There will be no microgreens or fancy plating here, just nine courses of, well, “straight-up effing delicious food and brown liquor.”
Amen.
The dinner is on March 13th at Brasserie Kensington and kicks off at 6:15 p.m.
A collaborative effort, food will be cooked up by Brasserie chef Jorel Zielke, along with owner Cam Dobranski, Charcut and Charbar’s John Jackson and Jessica Pelland, Ryan O’Flynn of The Guild, Bridgette Bar’s JP Pedhirney, Darren MacLean of Shokunin, Evan Robertson who is now leading the kitchen at Market and more.
Mixing drinks and pouring pintes will be Stephen Phipps of Bourbon Room and Ricardo’s Hideaway fame, Last Best’s Socrates Korogonas, Brasserie’s Bill Bonar, Saralyn Leopatra and Sara Corbeil, and Shaun Hicks.
The $100 tickets include that $10 donation to Mealshare and can be purchased here. Tickets do not include tax nor gratuity.
Gwendolyn Richards is a Calgary-based food writer and the author of Pucker: A Cookbook for Citrus Lovers. She regularly contributes to Avenue magazine, the Calgary Herald and is the restaurant writer for Where Calgary.
