Wildcraft

Last night, we went with friends, Kathryn and Dave, to a newly opened restaurant in Waterloo called Wildcraft. It is owned by the same people who run Charcoal Steakhouse, Del Dente and Martini's so given our experiences at these restaurants we did expect that Wildcraft would be good. And it was!

It is in a new building with extremely high ceilings showing the duct work and a two story glass walled wine room as you enter. The decor has an uptown boutique hotel feel. I should have brought my camera for some pictures(next time!).

I had an Asian salad, that was fresh and not overwhelmed by dressing followed by beef n blue,a bacon wrapped tenderloin topped by blue cheese served on mashed potatoes with sauteed broccolini. While I did ask for my tenderloin medium well, I think it came out medium rare, which was actually OK. I know chefs do not like to overcook beef so I gave the rarest pieces to Steve. He had short rib quesadillas and one of the specials, trout. He did comment that he doesn't like trout unless it is cooked well(sometimes it tends to be overcooked) and this was cooked properly! For dessert we shared the platter for two that included a small creme brulee, flourless chocolate torte and twice baked white chocolate cheese cake. By far our favourites were the cheesecake and the creme brulee although the creme brulee had a bit too much sugar on top that was carmelized for just a bit too long. I also had a passable cosmopolitan, a good Gerwertzaminer, and a yummy B52 coffee.

Kathryn and Dave also enjoyed their dinners, Boston Bibb salad, Turkey BLT soup(yep, turkey, bacon and tomatoes!), shrimp stir fry with a unique presentation and fillet of salmon. They had creme brulee for dessert that was served in large teacups and as a result was a larger portion that some other restaurants may serve. Kathryn also quite enjoyed her dessert coffee, I forget the name(was it Raspberry Truffle?), but is was coffee, raspberry liqueur and chocolate liqueur and it was gone in a flash!

Before we went the restaurant, I looked for the menu online which I did find with the following link:
http://www.charcoalsteakhouse.ca/wcgallery.html

I also found a blog, SapphireMartini, that reviews restaurants in the area and is actually quite interesting. I've added to my list of blogs on the left.