Rouge celebrates Canada's 150th by feeding guests coast to coast

At Rouge Restaurant in Inglewood, they're celebrating Canada's 150th anniversary of confederation the way they do it best — by highlighting ingredients and techniques from provinces and regions across the country.

Every month, the chefs at Rouge will offer a new regional plate inspired by the terroir, local fare, First Nations heritage and conventions of nine distinct regions coast to coast. The dishes will be offered at lunch and dinner, with an optional beverage pairing.

The idea came from general manager Mike Burns and chef de cuisine Brian Diamond.

"We thought since we're a very Canada-focused restaurant that we should be participating in some way," says Diamond. "It was Mike's idea to do a feature that focuses on provinces across Canada. There's so much that comes from here."

March's dish focused on the Atlantic provinces: hand-made Atlantic lobster tortellini, dulce beurre blanc, sauce Americaine roe, dentelle and lobster foam, with a 2008 Brut from Nova Scotia's Benjamin Bridge.

In April they visit Quebec, where, as they say on their Facebook page, you might find yourself in a smoky little cabin in the sugar bush for the maple water run.

Inspired by this iconic Canadian tradition, their monthly menu offering is Cabane à sucre: vanilla-sugar cake doughnuts, crystallized maple sugar, salted pecans and smoked rye whiskey ice cream, all doused in maple caramel.

"It's exciting — it gets all the chefs and kitchen staff involved," says Diamond. "They get a chance to break away from what we're doing from day to day. Because we focus so much on Alberta as a region, to get to break away from that and get the chance to focus on other provinces throughout the year is super cool."

In May, look for Manitoba — and pickerel on the menu. Alberta will come in July, with ingredients from around here — and a special nod to chef Paul Rogalski, who helped put the city on the culinary map when he opened Rouge with partner Olivier Reynaud back in 2003.

"We're going to focus on Alberta and the Calgary area, but it's also going to be about Paul," says Diamond in a hushed voice, looking toward the kitchen to make sure he doesn't hear. "We're going to try to do something that's his style."

Fall will bring B.C. and Saskatchewan with the Northwest Territories coming to the table this winter. The coast-to-coast plates are also Mealshare menu items, which means with every purchase, a meal will be provided to someone in need.

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