[troutman]

John Gilchrist's reviews:

http://www.cbc.ca/eyeopener/johngilchrist.html

Mrs troutman and I love Raw Bar.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/...bca9d0&k=29221

In 2002, the first year that enRoute delivered its verdict, Calgary's Catch received top national honours. It was a huge boost for them and a perfect notice to the rest of the country that Calgary's food scene was hot stuff.

We haven't placed a local restaurant in the gold-medal position since, but with the bumper crop of new restaurants arriving in the past year, we have two in enRoute's 2006 top 10 announced yesterday in Montreal -- including Capo at No. 2. The singular focus of chef Giuseppe Di Gennaro, the tiny Inglewood restaurant excels with rich flavours and precise service. (Note: I've also dined at Nu, this year's Vancouver-based winner, and I'd say the two restaurants are very close in quality.) Capo is well deserving of its ranking.

Placing 10th on this year's list is Saint Germain, the earnest and creative Canadian-French restaurant attached to the Hotel Arts. The food I've had here has been excellent, and if there are better dessert chefs than Karine Moulin in our area, I don't know who they are.

The four Calgary places to make the Next 25 (in alphabetical order) are:
- Alexis Bistro (4824 16th St. S.W., 214-3616), a creative, contemporary French restaurant tucked into an Altadore strip mall.

- Mercato (2224 4th St. S.W., 263-5535), a lively, noisy, contemporary Italian restaurant that has quickly overtaken the market it resides within.

- The Tribune (118 Stephen Avenue Walk S.W., 269-3160), featuring Chef Andrew Keen's "forgotten food," including pressed duck and house-cured ham in a historic, exposed sandstone building.

- Velvet at The Grand (608 1st St. S.W., 244-8400), the revitalized lobby of the Grand Theatre providing a contrasting backdrop to chef Shane Swiss's contemporary Canadian cuisine.