Featured Local Artist:
MEGHAN ANNETT
Featuring Wiarton based artist, Meghan Annett. After living in Pike Bay on the Bruce Peninsula for six years she moved to Owen Sound. Drawing and painting have always been a steady part of her life. After graduating from St.Mary's High School in Owen Sound, Meghan traveled across Canada with the volunteer program Katimavik. While deliberating which career path she would take, Meghan decided to follow her love of art making. As a Fanshawe College Fine Art graduate, Meghan persued furthur education in art at NSCAD University in Halifax. Meghan has recently returned to her home town of Owen Sound to concentrate on her artistic development and take in the surroundings that have always inspired her. Come on In to - See our Artist of the Month!
Date to be Announced
Jasjit K Singh
"Chef Instructor of Kitchenpunjabi"
A Short History of The Rocky Raccoon as you know it…
The story of Owen Sound’s Robin Pradhan and the Owen Sound restaurant based Rocky Raccoon Café actually begins in Amsterdam in the early 1990's. After nearly a decade working there as a waiter at 5-star restaurants and hotels, Robin perchance met Shelley Bentz, an adventurous Canadian lady who would become his wife. Fast forward to 1996, when Robin and Shelley had moved to the Bentz’s family cottage near Dyer’s Bay, on the Bruce Peninsula. They had been working as a waitress and dishwasher at a small, summers-only restaurant there, the original Rocky Raccoon Café, when the chance came up to buy the restaurant and name. After customizing the fare to reflect Robin’s native Asian and global cuisine, it didn’t take long for them to start acquiring fans from near and far. Robin’s brother, Suman, a curry chef who had trained in India and Nepal, joined them, adding additional flair to the menu. A second location in Gore Bay on Manitoulin Island followed before both were closed to focus on a new location in Wiarton. With the opportunity to purchase their own building in Owen Sound, Robin and Shelley were on the move once again, opening the current Rocky Raccoon Café on February 16, 2008 at its more central location on 2nd Avenue East in Owen Sound.
The menu brings the “100 Mile Diet” to life through a large network of local farmers and food producers, allowing Owen Sound restaurant, Rocky Raccoon Café to serve some of the freshest and best foods available in Grey and Bruce Counties. Local fish, elk, bison, beef, lamb, and chicken, plus organic vegetables, cheeses, wines, and many others provide endless inspiration. The intention behind every dish served at Rocky Raccoon Café is ‘local and living’, a combined effort with local food producers to fill a desire to nourish both body and spirit.
“When you come to eat in my place, I see your life, literally”, says Robin. “You are handing it over to me and saying, ‘Here I am. Here is my body, here is my mind’ … and I am feeding you this meal and telling you that it is good and that it is going to benefit you and you are believing me.
“It doesn’t take much to cook good food. Pots and pans are my canvas, vegetables are my paints and, as an artist, what I try to do is find a balance. Compassion for appetite is the greatest meditation at Owen Sound Restaurant, Rocky Raccoon Café.”
This philosophy is part of what has won Rocky Raccoon Café critical acclaim, earning them a place in Anne Hardy’s “Where to Eat in Canada” guide each year since 2003. 2008 marked the addition of a coveted “One Star” rating to accompany their review, a distinction that Anne admits is extremely difficult to achieve. Her 2008 review raves, “Pradhan is Nepalese and the momos (dumplings with pork, beef, elk, or veggies steamed in rice pastry) he makes … are better than anything you’ll get in Nepal, or in Tibet for that matter.”
Combine the food with an Asian-inspired ambiance; quiet, warm, relaxed and inviting, yet professional and upscale, and you’ve got a great dining event you’ve just got experience at Owen Sound restaurant, Rocky Raccoon Cafe!
Appetizers… Soup of the Evening $4.99 Indian Maple Spice Bread $2.99 Indian Na’an Bread $2.99 Classic Caesar Salad $7.99 Thai Mango Smoked Whitefish Salad $11.99
Entrees… Georgian Bay Whitefish with Dill Mango Tartar Sauce $18.99 Venison Striplion Steak ~ Thai Style $24.99 Tilapia with Winey Pear Cream Sauce $22.99 Chicken Tandoori $19.99 Certified Angus Beef ~Thai Style $24.99 Ocean Fish of the Evening $24.99
Desserts… Williamsford Freshly Baked Pie $6.99 Cheesecake with Berry Compote $9.99
