This week's restaurant comes to Calgary straight from the shores of Brittany, France. We'll be honest, we thought we were pretty good with geography, but couldn't exactly point our finger to where Brittany is in France, so we googled it. From our 'research', we learned that it's a peninsula on the West coast, basically surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. Quite a unique region made for a pretty unique little restaurant in Calgary's Mission district. The decor is exactly what you would expect from a sea side region like Brittany, with bright white and blue colours and nautical imagery throughout.
Brittany is well known for its galettes. Now, this isn't the kind of galette you might be thinking of, which more closely resembles a pie (though V loves those and was a tad bit disappointed there's multiple types of galettes). A Brittany galette is a savory crepe, often made from buckwheat and filled with all sorts of delicious French goodness. The first one decided on was the Morocaine, which was topped with Merguez sausage, roasted potato, and mustard and tarragon cream sauce. Every component of this dish is worthy of praise. The galette was flat and crispy on the edges, and delicious in its own right. The merguez (V's favourite aspect of this dish) was flavourfully spiced with the sweet heat you would expect from Morocco. The potatoes were nicely "al dente" cooked. The mustard and tarragon cream sauce (P's favourite aspect of this dish) had delicious earthy notes that blended with the spices in the sausage perfectly, while still having that delicateness French cooking is famous for. Simple, yet complex, this dish was overall yum!
Our second galette was the Forestière, and unlike the Morocaine, where the toppings came on top of the galette, here they were stuffed! The stuffing consisted of an array of wild mushrooms, potatoes, garlic, and tarragon. Our server asked us if we wanted to add some gruyere cheese. How could we resist?! We're so glad we decided to make this addition because the cheese really brought it all together. The combination of cheese and wild mushrooms is a match made in heaven. We were fans!
For dessert, we got... you guessed it... a crêpe! This treat is what gave this restaurant it's name - Suzette! Naturally, we had to try it. It's simple, yet deadly with 3 main ingredients: a crêpe, orange juice and Grand Marnier. They flambé it table side quite quickly, so we weren't able to get a good photo. You know what else happens when booze is flambéed quickly? It remains boozy. If this is your thing (we must admit that is it ours), you'll love this dessert! Suzette Brittany Bistro goes the extra mile with candied bits of orange and powdered sugar.This dessert is bitter, sweet and packed full of flavour. We'll be back for this one!
V's Final Word: Like we have said before, the decor is perfectly suited to a breezy coastal cuisine. This really stood out for me. Suzette Brittany Bistro has big bright windows, light walls, white table settings, sand coloured accents and small mementos to remind you of the ocean. It makes me want to travel!
P's Final Word: Possibly my favourite thing about Suzette Brittany Bistro is that it focuses on the cuisine of a specific region. Calgary's food scene is blossoming, and the all of the new fusion 'small plates' restaurants are fantastic, but I hope to see more of these specialized places, too!
Price Range: $70 for two galettes, a dessert crêpe, and a few sodas.
Website: http://www.bistrosuzette.ca
Address: 2210 4 St SW, Calgary, AB T2S 1W9