Graeme F.
Yelp
My wife and I have had some nice meals out. Candlelight, good service, fine food. We have a couple of memorable dining experiences: The Point (Wickaninnish Inn) for the ambiance and service, The Cannery (now, sadly, gone) for the seafood. Before our main course was finished, I had told Jason (our FANTASIC server) that Rimrock was going on the list.
I like food. OK, I really like food. I love to cook, the taste the flavor combinations and try new things. But I'm often fueled through the week with breakroom coffee and stale doughnuts. On the weekend, I need something good, that makes me smile and leaves me satisfied. Date night has been a big part of our marriage for years and often centers around food. Celebrating 21 years of marriage, we wanted something special.
We decided to spend a night in Whistler and my wife had previously had a working dinner at Rimrock, so that's what we settled on. Here's my take...
The ambiance: Quaint, comfortable, and refined. Like high-end business casual. Fancy enough to know you are at a quality establishment that takes itself seriously, but also not so formal that you're not comfortable. A perfect setting for my wife and I to celebrate our anniversary.
The service: From being greeted at the front door, to being served by Jason and the rest of the team, not a beat was missed. My water glass was always filled with a smile. Jason knew the menu like no one I've ever encountered. He took pride in knowing what each dish consisted of, how it was prepared and what it would go well with. Right down to asking if we were sharing appetizers and then recommending we stagger them so they would be served hot and fresh so we could enjoy the full experience of each dish. And with such a catalog of wines, he was able to talk about our selection with the insight only someone with 15 years' experience could.
The food: "Life is short, start with dessert first." We didn't start with dessert first, but I will here. EVERY SINGLE BITE of the sticky toffee pudding made me giggle. I'm a grown man and I could not contain myself. If I had a magic wand and could change anything about the dish, I'd have nothing. And that was what is so funny. Even in the best dish I can find something, no matter how minor, that I would tweak. A pinch more salt, a bit less arugula, etc, there's always something. But this dish broke me. Nothing, there was not a thing to change. From the sauce that was smooth and rich and sweet with a hint of bitter caramelization, to the perfectly sized portion.
Venison can go either way. Once it's overcooked, forget it. But I took a chance and was rewarded. Succulent and balanced with complimenting flavors of the sauce and texture of the spaetzle. Lobster is usually good, this was great. Highlighted with lobster mashed potatoes and just the right about of butter.
I'm a huge fan of mussels. These melted in my mouth. The heavy cream sauce soaked into fresh-baked bread, complimenting the dish. Foie gras, delicate and tender, with a pop of sour cherries was a pleasant harbinger of things to come.
I'm not a big spender, so I go with the second cheapest bottle of wine (after all, I'm not THAT cheap). In this case, the Petit Rouge. But even this complimented the food, providing a mild background to the variety of smells and flavors we experienced over the evening.
There is no good way to sum up this experience. To condense it into a sentence or two would be to cheapen it. Like freeze-dried ice cream or a TV dinner, it would be a mere shadow of its former self. This experience needs just that, to be experienced.