Anniversary dinner at Navarra

Thursday was my 4th wedding anniversary so I suggested to the hubs that we try Navarra. There are a TON of restaurants on my to-try list (this city has an unbelievable amount of awesome restaurants) and I thought Navarra was perfect for this speical night. The chef/owner is Rene Rodriguez who won this past season of Top Chef Canada....so we assumed he knew what he was doing. And we were SO right. I had read several bad reviews on Urban Spoon and was worried but I frankly have no idea what the hell those people were talking about. We loved it, ate tons, drank lots, laughed with staff and other patrons and had a great time. (And it turns out the girl at the bar above is my sister's friend Crystal LOL).

Jeff ordered a Tequila Sour and I had a Mojito. Both awesome, especially Jeff's drink. For whatever reason that foam rocked.

The menu consists of tapas/starters and then mains. We opted to each have a starter and then a main. This was my starter. AMAZING. Parmesan Custard - BC crab, fried shallots, pickled kumato relish, black truffle salt. I should have asked for a spoon so I could scrape every bit out of the bowl.

Jeff's start was Chimichurri mushrooms - with fried organic mushrooms, onion sofrito, grana padano and nitro spicy popcorn. He went nuts over the chimichurri sauce. He gave me a piece of potato to try (I detest mushrooms) and I can see why.

I had a glass of yummy red sangria. I also ate all the fruit on and in it. :)

My main was Pan Roasted Rainbow Trout - potato chip crust, tarragon mayo, chantilly beets, rye and radishes. This was divine. Our server told me the crust was Miss Vickie's salt & vinegar chips. YEAH, and it was GOOD. I smashed this.

Jeff's main was Chef's Signature smoked, confit and roasted Quebec Pig Cheek - achiote reduction, brussel sprouts, burnt onion relish, pickled pineapple, cilantro. He smashed this too.

My dessert was Lemon Curd - almond granola, fresh berries, min. I am a big fan of fruity deserts and this was simple but fantastic.

Jeff only eats chocolate desserts so he of course ordered the Dark Chocolate Coulant - Self-saucing caramel center, nitro almond-rosemary granola, strawberry ice-cream, sea salt. Those little crusty rectangles are Captain Crunch cereal! The plate was placed on the table then a shot of Baileys poured over it and the cereal sprinkled on top. I believe Jeff's response to the server about this one was "HOLY SHITBALLS".

So an awesome anniversary dinner thanks to Rene and his crew. I would love to go back and try the Carbonara Pasta because the sweet old dude next to us nearly had a coronary over it. He told the server he wanted to lick the plate so the server brought him a piece of bread. To note: be prepared to spend a bit of $ if you eat and drink as much as we do, and they have a cute little patio too that looked very inviting if the weather is decent.