Co-owner, Rouge Restaurant, Calgary
Age: 45
Hails from: Calgary, Alberta
Being one of Calgary's top chefs and the co-owner of Rouge Restaurant, which placed on the San Pellegrino World's 100 Best Restaurants list in 2010. He battled Iron Chef Bobby Flay on the hit reality show Iron Chef America, and he was one of the managing chefs at the Athletes' Village in Whistler during the 2010 Olympic Games.
Working as a chef at top restaurants around the world, including Singapore, the Cayman Islands, Kuala Lumpur.
I’m super honoured and really excited,” Rogalski says. "I'm just going to go with the flow. One thing I've always enjoyed doing is being impromptu. I like preparing a meal based on what I have. My focus will be doing my part to ensure the guests have a fabulous time."
Cayman Cookout will be held Jan. 12 to 15 2012. Rogalski will appear alongside some of the world's finest chefs, including Eric Ripert, April Bloomfield, Gail Simmons and Anthony Bourdain:
Participating in a culinary demonstration, hosting a Paul Rogalski dinner at Abacus, a local restaurant, and contributing to the gala, which is themed The Best Thing I Ever Ate. “The first day, I’ll be meeting and greeting the guests alongside Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain. The next day, I’m on stage, first up, doing some sort of impromptu surprise black box dish,” he says. “Then I’ll be contributing one course, a soup course to the gala. “I think I’m going to make my foie gras mulligatawny. I’ve had such great success with that soup. It took me to the Canadian Culinary Championships.”
“Crabapple gastrique,” he says, referring to a popular in-house sauce at Rouge, made from the restaurant’s own crabapple trees. “I’ll bring a taste of Canada down to the Caribbean."
“It’s been great for a very long time. We’re so lucky; we have phenomenal chefs across the country. Canada’s growing up and we’re starting to get a bit more attention.”
For more information on the Cayman Cookout, click here.
Photo: Jared Sych
Turning water into wine? That’s so 2,000 years ago. In 2011, Alberta wine enthusiasts can do the reverse, and help change vino into H2O.
For the month of June, $1 from each bottle of Durbanville Hills wine sold at Calgary Co-op Wines & Spirits stores will go to a non-profit organization that works to provide clean water for those in need.
Claire Biddiscombe is the Editorial Assistant with Wine Access magazine and Managing Editor on the Canadian Wine Annual. Her work has appeared in print and on community radio stations across the country. She is the magazine’s resident science nut.
The holiday rush in the beverage business started with a bang almost two weeks ago — suppliers, winemakers, agents and media types wake up from their summer hiatus to attend luncheons and spend hours in exhibitor booths at wine shows.
Tom Firth is a writer, wine consultant, judge and a member of the Wine Access National Tasting Panel. He loves to chat about all things wine and blogs for wineaccess.ca, tweets as @cowtownwine and is a general nuisance.
No question about it, Vin Room is a great place for a stylish, intimate evening.
Last night, Claire, the Wine Access Editorial Assistant and I went to Vin Room on 4th Street SW in Calgary for their customer appreciation night. Celebrating their new menu and new chef, co-owner Phoebe Fung told me, "I like an excuse to have a party."
Allison McNeely is the web editor of Wine Access. Her work has appeared on websites, blogs and in print. She loves running and is the magazine's resident web nerd.
I finally got the chance to go to Vine and Dine the other night and was suitably impressed. For those that might not be familiar with Vine and Dine, this is a series of year-round Calgary dinner events hosted by CBC Radio’s Linda Garson. Vine and Dine puts together an evening centered around a multi-course meal that is paired with appropriate wines.
Tom Firth is a writer, wine consultant, judge and a member of the Wine Access National Tasting Panel. He loves to chat about all things wine and blogs for wineaccess.ca, tweets as @cowtownwine and is a general nuisance.
I had the opportunity to attend a tasting of Austrian wines hosted by Christian Finz, formerly with the Austrian Wine group, who is based in Calgary with the beverage importer Delancy Direct.
In my last blog post, I highlighted a couple of wines that I enjoyed from the evening. Here are a few more to round out the list.
Loimer Grüner-Veltliner Reserve Terrassen-Kamptal DAC 2008
Tom Firth is a writer, wine consultant, judge and a member of the Wine Access National Tasting Panel. He loves to chat about all things wine and blogs for wineaccess.ca, tweets as @cowtownwine and is a general nuisance.
In late May, I was able to enjoy yet another fantastic wine tasting that rarely comes along. On May 20, I was the guest of the Calgary Wine Meetup Group, which is a social group that gets together to taste and enjoy wine. With over 256 members, it is one of the largest of its kind in Canada. The wines tasted that evening were a number of interesting and rare Austrian wines.
Tom Firth is a writer, wine consultant, judge and a member of the Wine Access National Tasting Panel. He loves to chat about all things wine and blogs for wineaccess.ca, tweets as @cowtownwine and is a general nuisance.
On Wednesday night, the IVWA crowd headed to the Kensington neighbourhood in Calgary to have dinner at the Kensington Riverside Inn. And it was a truly great evening.
On Tuesday night, the judges and Wine Access staff headed over to Q Haute Cuisine, right on the Bow River next to Eau Claire Park in Calgary.
Chef and Proprietor Michele Aurigemma put together this menu:
First course: Heirloom tomato terrine with watercress purée, seared jumbo scallop with boar bacon salad
Second course: Coquille filled with duck confit, fois gras and apricot, red wine gastrique
One of the best perks of being involved in the wine industry is all the great food. At competitions and festivals, everyone shows up for the wine, but the food is often as enjoyable as the wine, if not more. Well, at least in the opinion of this editor, who is not a sommelier.
At Teatro, we enjoyed a lovely three course meal with dessert.
First Course: Asparagus Velouté with white truffle foam
Second Course: Miso Sablefish with potato pancake and grapefruit salsa
Allison McNeely is the web editor of Wine Access. Her work has appeared on websites, blogs and in print. She loves running and is the magazine's resident web nerd.
