Rated in the Top 123 Places To Eat in Canada / by Anne Hardy | Owen Sound Restaurant & Cafe

 Rocky Raccoon's Cafe - Owen Sound
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/633981  (Jul 04, 2009)

There have been references to Rocky's scattered through various threads. I have also heard good things locally about it. Today we finally had lunch at Rocky's, four of us, and will gladly return.

The room seats just over thirty with no crowding whatsoever and there are a few additional spots at the bar. Casual - for lunch at least. The owner/chef is Nepalese, his partner local, and both very engaging and humorous I'm told.

The room is very, very comfortable - there is a full sense of complete fun and relaxation. There were tables with kids - no problem - very child friendly.

Decor. Is there such a thing as Buddhist funky? Very entertaining prints and decorative Eastern items.

Now the funky: there must be hundreds, if not thousands, of salt and pepper shakers on display shelves lining pretty well every available wall in the place. Amazing.

Today the establishment was stretched. 2nd Ave (Owen Sound's main street) was closed off for a sidewalk sale. The restaurant had a serving station in front of the shop and it was super busy. The inside menu was cut back and the buffet was cancelled. No big deal.

A single waitress served a half full house for lunch including several four-seaters or better and newbies like ourselves with questions. She had to explain the truncated menu and the items to most of us and we never noticed her absence. Our water, refills, silly requests and questions were answered with grace on a "bad" shift. Full tip with great pleasure.

Normally there is a buffet @ $15 per. Items I recall were: rice; samosas; spring rolls; vegetarian curry; beef curry; curried cabbage; butter chicken, and venison vindaloo. Plus a few others i can't recall.

Our "emergency" a la carte choices included: samosas; "momos (sp?)"; vegatarian curry; beef curry; various salads &tc. Beer was also on short supply. Two of us opted for "Headstrong", an English style bitter brewed in Guelph - very robust and a fine counterpoint to the heat - no better pairing than beer and curry.

A round of samosas, one for each (2 per order.) I was surprised by the potato mixture. Rather than cubed the potatoes were a mash. The peas were there but less heat than I'm used to in a vegetarian samosa. Very tasty filling, but the sauce made it - I would like to say tamarind but it carried a good deal of heat that made a nice nibble.

One order of momos(sp?), which I was told by staff, was the "fast food" equivalent of a hamburger in Nepal. Eight steamed dumplings containing a seasoned, spicy (not hot) beef filling. These are served with a mildly hot, spicy tamarind(?) dip and a chutney of coriander and chili pepper. The momos were for me the best part of the meal because their flavour came back to me hours later on the drive home. Crude as it is, that's my test.

Mains. My wife and I are small lunch eaters. We had some apps and split the vegetarian curry. Green and red peppers, zucchini tomatoes. The kids opted each for beef curry.

The curries. They came with: choice of curry; basmati with toasted coconut and (?) - oh, very good - and cabbage, probably braised in creamed coconut or coconut milk (use your spoon for the sauce) and also very good.

Guests had beef curry with same sides as the veggie stuff. Rocky's doesn't play games with heat. There is ranking of one to ten - your server will ask you. Max at our table was eight and some agreed that 10 would be fine.

Lunch for 4 was $73 with tip and items above.

I studied the dinner menus and the mains are int he $22 range. Now, there you have a choice of curries and each has a sub-listing: Nepalese; Vietnamese; Iindan, or Thai.

Allservings including apps are very generous.

http://www.rockyraccooncafe.com/


There have been references to Rocky's scattered through various threads. I have also heard good things locally about it. Today we finally had lunch at Rocky's, four of us, and will gladly return.

The room seats just over thirty with no crowding whatsoever and there are a few additional spots at the bar. Casual - for lunch at least. The owner/chef is Nepalese, his partner local, and both very engaging and humorous I'm told.

The room is very, very comfortable - there is a full sense of complete fun and relaxation. There were tables with kids - no problem - very child friendly.

Decor. Is there such a thing as Buddhist funky? Very entertaining prints and decorative Eastern items.

Now the funky: there must be hundreds, if not thousands, of salt and pepper shakers on display shelves lining pretty well every available wall in the place. Amazing.

Today the establishment was stretched. 2nd Ave (Owen Sound's main street) was closed off for a sidewalk sale. The restaurant had a serving station in front of the shop and it was super busy. The inside menu was cut back and the buffet was cancelled. No big deal.

A single waitress served a half full house for lunch including several four-seaters or better and newbies like ourselves with questions. She had to explain the truncated menu and the items to most of us and we never noticed her absence. Our water, refills, silly requests and questions were answered with grace on a "bad" shift. Full tip with great pleasure.

Normally there is a buffet @ $15 per. Items I recall were: rice; samosas; spring rolls; vegetarian curry; beef curry; curried cabbage; butter chicken, and venison vindaloo. Plus a few others i can't recall.

Our "emergency" a la carte choices included: samosas; "momos (sp?)"; vegatarian curry; beef curry; various salads &tc. Beer was also on short supply. Two of us opted for "Headstrong", an English style bitter brewed in Guelph - very robust and a fine counterpoint to the heat - no better pairing than beer and curry.

A round of samosas, one for each (2 per order.) I was surprised by the potato mixture. Rather than cubed the potatoes were a mash. The peas were there but less heat than I'm used to in a vegetarian samosa. Very tasty filling, but the sauce made it - I would like to say tamarind but it carried a good deal of heat that made a nice nibble.

One order of momos(sp?), which I was told by staff, was the "fast food" equivalent of a hamburger in Nepal. Eight steamed dumplings containing a seasoned, spicy (not hot) beef filling. These are served with a mildly hot, spicy tamarind(?) dip and a chutney of coriander and chili pepper. The momos were for me the best part of the meal because their flavour came back to me hours later on the drive home. Crude as it is, that's my test.

Mains. My wife and I are small lunch eaters. We had some apps and split the vegetarian curry. Green and red peppers, zucchini tomatoes. The kids opted each for beef curry.

The curries. They came with: choice of curry; basmati with toasted coconut and (?) - oh, very good - and cabbage, probably braised in creamed coconut or coconut milk (use your spoon for the sauce) and also very good.

Guests had beef curry with same sides as the veggie stuff. Rocky's doesn't play games with heat. There is ranking of one to ten - your server will ask you. Max at our table was eight and some agreed that 10 would be fine.

Lunch for 4 was $73 with tip and items above.

I studied the dinner menus and the mains are int he $22 range. Now, there you have a choice of curries and each has a sub-listing: Nepalese; Vietnamese; Iindan, or Thai.

Allservings including apps are very generous.

http://www.rockyraccooncafe.com/