The Belvedere

The binary system (1/0, ie Spit/Sawllow) is right up my alley since I work as a soft dev... In fact, I used the binary rating system to rate chix (1 == yes [or "I would"], 0 == no [or I wouldn't]) since we all know there is only one thing that matters. Right?! Right. When I start rating places we've been to, I'm only concerned with the food. I'll mention the service and ambiance only if it is particularly good or bad, and also if it actually affects your eating experience in a significant way. For example, Vogglio D' Pizza has the best Pizza in Calgary, but I would certainly not recommend eating there. I'd recommend picking it up or getting it delivered as their on-site location is pretty poor. Likewise, the downtown (Calgary) Redwater location had great food - however since I saw something skitter quickly accross the floor (either a small rat or a large bug), I can't recommend it. Also, don't expect number ratings. My reviews will be similar to Kotaku reviews, minus the nice good/bad highlighting. You'll actually have to read (yeah, all 0 of you). Now that that is outta the way...

My first "review" will be of Belvedere. It has a dress code: smart casual (whatever the fuck that means), but the guy on the phone said "no ripped jeans" which means they could be pretty easy going. Regardless, I felt under dressed (dark jeans, button down shirt, not tucked in) since all the guys there had jackets. I was going to say something about my companion and weight, but I don't think I'd get my point across. Anyway, before I get into how my meal tasted, I guess I should let everyone (all 0 of you) know my preferences: I hate onions. A lot. My biggest fear is being raped in public by an onion. First, everyone hates being raped, second I don't really like being around (or in front of) people, and I definitely despise onions. Also, I like my meat medium or medium well. It depends on the meat and the place. I started with well done, but Smiling Vandal brought me down half-way to her level (ie, still twitching). One of these days when I'm really not lazy, I'll put our "profiles" up somewhere on either side of this thing, so when we "review" something, you have an immediate context and can relate it to our tastes.

Finally, the food: I had their Elk. It came with some veggies (I don't care about veggies). Never having tried Elk before, all I can say is that it is good. It had a very unique taste (even though it was cooked less than "medium") and I enjoyed my meal. Perhaps the portion could have been larger, but the taste was excellent. The veggies were...veggies. There was like a mutant veggie, and some carrots, asparagus, and puree. The meat came in 3 "strips" of roughly equal thickness. The sauce (dunno what it was) for the meat was also good, complimented the taste nicely. We had Wolfberger ‘Steingrubler’ Grand Cru Gewurztraminer (Alsace 2003) to drink. From here on out, that type of wine will be referred to as the "G" wine. We usually get Riesling (I'm not the alcy, but Smiling Vandal is and she blackmailed me into drinking wine). I thought the wine had a very unique taste (at least for me since I don't really drink), and it reminded me slightly of this Icewine I tried a few months back. It was very good, either way. You'll notice that I don't have a good mastery of the English language and I reuse the same adjectives over and over. After that, we both had dessert. Some chocolate thingy with ice cream, and one strawberry (and a gooseberry). I liked it, it was better than I expected. It was filling for a dessert from a "fancy" place. When I go to "fancy" places, I expect the dessert to be small. This portion was not small, not large, but just right. Not that both of us could not have had more... The Belvedere is definitely a "fancy" restaurant. It has a bunch of awards, and a pretty big wine list (though their Riesling selection is lacking, considering the number of wines they have). All in all, a good meal, and we're definitely going back. Swallow.