Family Friendly Dining
It’s not often we enjoy a dining experience in which the noise level in the restaurant is created not by an energetic adult-only crown but rather a family friendly one. But in the case of Rocky Mountain flatbread in Canmore, Alberta the food was enough to win us over. And it really was the food. The decor is not much to write about; a bunch of wooden tables and chairs in a large open room. And the service was average. But the large wood fire pizza oven and the handmade flatbread pizzas are worth the visit.

How can you not enjoy watching as your flatbread is tossed, topped and cooked by a wood stoked fire right before your eyes?  The open kitchen is part of the atmosphere and the location of the wood-fired oven right inside the main dining area of the restaurant is very unique. At the Canmore location lunch is served daily starting at 11:30 with dinner starting at 4:00. There is a separate menu for each with appetizers, soups, salads and pastas but the pizzas are the star of the show.


Another reason to visit Rocky Mountain Flatbread is their commitment to using local and organic produce, free range organic meats and Ocean Wise seafood and the fact that the “carbon footprint” of every meal is zero. When writing this blog I also found out that there are locations in Kitsilano and on Main Street in Vancouver. There is also a list of the local farms that they buy from on their website. We will be trying out one of the Vancouver locations to see if the pizza is just as good and maybe if the service is better.

My mom loves her greens so we decided to share a salad to start. The menu includes 3 or 4 options, depending on the season, that are made with local ingredients and are available in small ($8 – $9.50) and large ($12.50 – $14.50) sizes. All salads are topped with a house made vinaigrette (ours was basil and blackberry),  seasonal sprouts (ours was pea shoots) and yummy organic garlic flatbread. This was a large with assorted greens, crimini mushrooms, red bell peppers and mango.

Flatbread pizzas bases are made with a blend of organic unbleached white flour and whole wheat flour. They are sweetened with a touch of maple syrup. Flatbreads are available in two sizes Regular ($13.95 – $17.95) and Large ($22.95 – $27.95) and all are available on a gluten free base for an up-charge of $4.00. There is a daily Flatbread special (large size only) that we ordered. It included chorizo sausage, roasted red bell peppers, onion, mango and basil. The flavors were great and the crust was perfect.

 For the rest of those non-veggie loves at our table the Create Your Own Option (Large pizza for $15.25 plus $1.75 to $4.00 per topping) was a good choice. Genoa salami, ground beef and mozzarella was a winner. 

We had two very different dining experiences on our visit to Canmore and both were better than we had expected. The Trough delivered a fine dining experience with fabulous food and service and Rocky Mountain Flatbread served one of the best pizza crusts we have found. Both places were not ones that we would likely have tried out on our own. Neither had great ‘curb appeal’ to us. But thanks to my sister for making reservations and teaching us that you never know what you’re going to get, so just try.

 

Jeff & Tara Ciecko of CK Golf Solutions write two blogs on their website, one is their 19th Hole Blog where they share personal experiences and the Biz Blog where they share business best practices and golf industry related opinions. They have owned CK Golf Solutions for 5 years and provide marketing, social media and business services to the golf and other industries. 

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