Calgary Eats: Charcut Roast House

I was in Calgary last month for a quick business trip, and had time to head out with a friend in the evening to play tourist. When asked where I should go to eat if I only had a short amount of time, and wanted to eat steak, I was told to visit Charcut.

Located in downtown Calgary, near the base of the Calgary Tower, Charcut is co-owned by Connie Desousa, a Top Chef Canada finalist on the Food Network, and John Jackson. The restaurant offers urban-rustic fare and is reflected in the name of the restaurant: CHAR for the custom built rotisserie and charbroiler and CUT for the featured vintage-style slicer and hand-crafted charcuterie eating bar. Chef Desousa and Chef Jackson are also well known for offering $5 gourmet burgers in the back alley, thus creating the food truck Alley Burger.

It was a Thursday night and the restaurant was packed. They had very rustic style decorations, which I really liked! They had a wide variety of items to choose from, ranging from salads and cheese to beef and fish. I really had my eye on any beef so I chose the only steak on the menu: Chimichurri butcher steak with wild arugula. There were options to add sides but I wasn't too hungry so I thought just the meat was good enough!

The steak was cooked to perfection and very juicy. I don't eat steak much, but I was quite impressed with this one. The chimichurri, (the green sauce on top, generally made of parsley, garlic, oregano, olive oil and white vinegar) was slightly bitter but complemented the steak well, along with the arugula and what I think were pickled vegetable and apple cubes. 

My friend, who already had dinner, went for something small so he ordered the Escarole salad. It came with a soft egg, boar bacon and smothered in parmesan cheese. He said it was delicious!

The food took quite a while to arrive (it was almost 9pm!) but it was definitely worth the wait. A nice touch was when Chef Desousa came by our table to introduce herself as one of the chefs at the restaurant and ask us if everything was good. I love that she takes the time to connect with the diners at the restaurant! Charcut is definitely a must-try if you are passing through Calgary!