Canoe (Atlanta, GA)

First, I must start by saying the food at Canoe was… wait for it… superb!  I don’t know why I waited so long to make a reservation.  I just assumed it was an overrated restaurant that did not deserve the fanfare.  It definitely lives up to its reputation.  The food, the view, the service, nothing was lacking.  We went for dinner but I will be back for brunch in order to get a better view of the grounds at daylight.

We started with a few glasses of wine and a few appetizers.  First was the house smoked salmon, crispy potato cake, and goat cheese.  According to the waiter, this is one of the few dishes left on the original menu.  At first, I was wondering if I should even spend my time (and money) on smoked salmon.  After the first bite, I understood why it remains on the menu.  The flavors all blended so well and the potato cake was like shoe string potatoes but they were actually crispy!  Almost like a cracker.  I knew if the smoked salmon was that good, I was in for a treat.  Next, we had the jumbo lump crab cake and the peppercorn crusted kangaroo. 

The crab cake was actually a LUMP crab cake.  It was amazing the crab pieces were huge and it had just the amount of crust.  Out of all the appetizers I had I would have to say hands down the peppercorn kangaroo was the best.  Don’t get me wrong, the others were outstanding but the kangaroo won the gold (notice the Olympics reference).  I had never had kangaroo before it tasted to me like a mix of beef and chicken.  It had great flavor but was very light.  It’s always amazing to me to taste meat that looks like beef. I  had whale in Norway.  It looked like beef but tasted like a mix of beef and fish (not in a good way).  Back to the kangaroo, very flavorful the snap peas were cooked perfectly and when they bring it to the table they pour the sauce over the top.  I could have just had that for dinner.

For dinner, I had the scallop special.  The scallops were perfectly cooked over a crispy rice cake with julienne cut carrots and sugar snap peas.  I did not even finish the dinner because I was stuffed from the appetizers and I wanted to save a tiny bit of room for dessert.  I’m so glad I did.

Dessert was a hard decision.  I was trying to decide between the Popcorn Cracker Jack Sundae or the Chocolate Grotto.  I decided to opt for the Chocolate Grotto.  It’s basically a chocolate dome with caramel and a flourless chocolate cake inside.  It can with pretzel dust on the plate.  Upon arriving at the table it looked very interesting.  Our waiter instructed us to break the dome to get to the cake and caramel.  As he walked off I grabbed my fork and proceed to tap and then stab the dome…nothing.  I told my husband “you’re going to have to take a whack at it”.  He taps it as well and before he was about to stab it.  Another waiter comes by and says use the back of your spoon and “beat it like it stole your money”.  I kid you not.  It worked though.  The dessert was well worth the aggression.  The caramel and chocolate cake paired nicely with the saltiness of the pretzel dust.

 

All in all the meal was fabulous.  Afterwards, we went for a walk along the grounds.  It was gorgeous.  I will definitely be back!