“Urban rustic” Charcut to grace Le Germain

By Chris McGregor

CALGARY—Four partners have returned from California to start up Charcut Roast House in the new luxury Le Germain hotel, which opens this summer. However, restaurant customers will have to wait until December to get a seat.

The restaurant’s owners are chefs Connie DeSousa and John Jackson, service director Jean Francois Beeroo and Carrie Jackson, who plan to bring a “value-driven, sustainable approach” to Charcut.

They looked at New York City, San Francisco and Vancouver before settling on Calgary as the location for the new operation, which has been in the works for two years.

Le Germain combines a 150-room boutique hotel, offices and private condos, which are already sold out. The hotel is designed to be green energy efficient, with a geothermal heating system and a green rooftop garden. Groupe Germain has similar hotel projects in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City.

John Jackson, one of the four partners in the restaurant, said he’s worked on other hotel/restaurant projects before and decided to keep this one for himself. 

He wouldn’t reveal too much about the menu, except to say it would be “heavy on the meat. I would classify it as a more back to basics approach.” Jackson stopped short of calling it a steakhouse, preferring the term urban-rustic.

The four partners have been touring local B.C. farms to create personal relationships with suppliers to eliminate the middleman and to ensure the quality of the product.

Coming from San Francisco, Jackson said they were spoiled with the easy access to fresh local produce, fruit and vegetables, and they didn’t want to lose that.

“Everything is so fresh. That’s the nature of the dining culture there and we wanted to bring a part of that concept to Calgary,” Jackson said.

The chefs will use “unique cooking equipment” but Jackson would not reveal what he meant. The owners are be sourcing whole animals, organic milk products and organic and sustainable wines from British Columbia for the menu.

Combined, the four partners have opened and run some of the finest restaurants in San Francisco, New York and around the world, including AME, Jean Georges, Alice Waters' Chez Panisse, Vitrine, Boulevard and Lagoon, located in Bora Bora.  This is their first independent outing.

Designed by the firm Lemay Michaud Architecture of Montreal, the 140-seat, 3,300 square foot restaurant features a 10-seat communal table crafted from a reclaimed Douglas fir taken from a restaurant in Berkeley, California, a six-seat eating bar in the kitchen and a sidewalk patio with room for 30.

Jackson said the kitchen bar would be a special experience where diners can interact with the chefs and watch them at work.

In the 10 years since he’s lived in Calgary, Jackson said the influx of residents from other parts of the world have changed the city. 

“There’s so many foodies here now that I think its great for us. It’s more about the quality. Calgary is such a well-travelled city, the incomes are high and people are more educated about food. It’s come a long way since I was living here. It’s evolved so much,” Jackson said.