Poppy Brasserie (Lake Louise) 12/2010

We could not resist the temptation to try the Rocky Mountain Game Duet, which is actually a trio offered at this restaurant and I discussed how we like our meat served with the major domo when making our reservation. He assured me that they could prepare it 'blue' and they did. Indeed we got outstanding service which goes to confirm that it's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil. Briana Guliotto, who was in charge that night, took extremely good care of us.
We started with a warm goat cheese souffle with organic greens, pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette and pear chutney. This dish of contrasts, warm and cold, the goat cheese and the sweet pear, the crisp pastry and the smooth cheese was worth having ($11) anytime. Equally the Rock crab and scallion cakes on avocado crush with soy cilantro drizzle was delicate on the inside, crisp on the outside and overall quite delicate, not overwhelmed by the accompaniments. The 'Duet' was thick medallions of bison, elk and venison starting from the left. ($36). They looked much the same
but the bison was the most tender with a very fine grain in the meat. The elk was a little less pink, the meat also very fine grained and exceptionally tender. There was no gamey taste in any of them but the venison was a slightly wider grain meat. Still very tender it was a tiny bit more chewy than the other two. wild mushrooms, shallot roasted fingerling potatoes, poached apple and lingon berry compote and seasonal vegetables, this is a dish not to be missed. Something very special which there are few places in the world where you could get this combination of meats. For contrast we had a 10 oz grilled Alberta rib eye steak.($39). Normally served with buttermilk mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables, the obligingly swapped the potatoes foe a serve of risotto. The accompanying Jack Daniels peppercorn sauce was heavily seasoned and reduced so it had to be used with discretion, if at all, to preserve the very fine taste of the meat. In anticipation of this, thankfully, we asked for it to be served separately from the meat.
Another fine meal. The menu has an interesting range of other dishes including organic red quinoa and zucchini roulade, smoked salt brine chicken, braised venison shank and grilled sturgeon. It would be unfair to rate them on one meal, as good as it was so we offer this mark with reservations.
Score: 16/20