Bonterra Trattoria
Fairly simple, "can't miss" sort of dish. The lamb pancetta is really good.
Pasta cooked perfectly, sauce just heavy enough. As you'd expect.
The gnocchi might have been the highlight of the whole meal. The sauce was interesting but not at all overpowering. Didn't strike me as a very "Bonterra" dish though.
This is coming from someone who rates their Osso Bucco as one of the best dishes in Calgary.
Again, nothing here blew me away, but it was very tasty. Just rather safe.
The walnut provided some texture to the whole thing but really it was just a well executed, standard panna cotta.
Overall, very good meal. This is the only $25 dinner I have scheduled and I have difficulty imagining any of the other $25 options would be better. Still, it was a very safe offering and nothing super memorable, so there's not a whole ton to say. Given that it seems to me the point of Big Taste is to get people in the door and show them something that will make them come back, I'm not sure the menu really did much on that front. Instead they put together dishes designed to please basically everyone, which is a reasonable tack. But it didn't represent Bonterra to me; the main in particular was sort of outside their normal wheelhouse.
Next up: Sunday at River Cafe.