Top Chef Canada: Curtain Closing at Charcut

Dan    Calgary & Area, Restaurants, Thoughts     awesome, calgary, CHARCUT, chefs, Connie Desousa, cooking, Top Chef Canada

Call me crazy, but I’ve come to really look forward to Mondays. No, it’s not because it’s finally summer. No, it’s not because I can catch a rerun of Ghost Whisperer before going to bed…

It is, in fact, because, for the past thirteen weeks, I’ve spent my Monday evenings at Charcut, watching co-owner Connie Desousa rock it out on screen throughout the inaugural season of Top Chef Canada. From week one, her restaurant has been packed full of friends, family, and countless fans, all there sharing a common hope – to see Connie make it all the way to the end. Yes, she managed to do that, and, yes, she has officially become Calgary’s culinary sweetheart.

The mood was nothing short of Vancouver/Boston Stanley Cup final game-esque energy (minus that ‘potential rioting’ feeling, of course) at Charcut this Monday night. The evening marked the 13th and final week of their Top Chef Canada episode screenings.

For the past 13 weeks, I’ve seen Connie give her all on the show, presenting successful dish after successful dish with, admittedly, some misses along the way, but, hey, we all have our off days, right? The Charcut dinner menu has always been lightly ‘peppered’ with Connie’s competition creations throughout the duration of the series, but for the finale it was purely Top Chef. Favourites like her Smoked Trout Salad, Ackroyd-favoured Kielbasa, and Pork Croquettes all graced this evening’s menu, as well as many more.

Seeing as Connie was one of three chefs remaining in the competition, the restaurant was packed with ‘Team Connie’ supporters (a term which did end up trending nationally on Twitter during the finale). I, myself, had been a loyal attendee of Top Chef Canada evenings at Charcut, and I knew that no matter what the results were, it would be a fantastic night. My aforementioned loyal attendance had resulted in a group of my friends attending the screenings frequently as well, which then resulted in a set of fan shirts being made.

Yes, not only would ‘#teamconnie’ become a trending social media saying, but it would also be printed across our chests. For the record, this is my equivalent of being a hardcore sports fan (sans rioting)…

Throughout the finale episode there were cheers, hoots and hollers coming from various groups of diners. It didn’t seem to matter what Connie said/did on screen, her presence was…

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