Tekarra Restaurant — Restaurant in Municipality of Jasper

We used Tekarra lodge as a nice little buried in nature rest stop on our road trip and ended up met with possibly our best dinner of the whole trip. Dinner: The Wild Boar Buschetta and Smoked Salmon Flat bread were a hearty start to our meal. The bruschetta boasted a perfect balance of dry and moist, salty and sweet; while the smoked salmon had delightfully crunchy fried capers and a hearty serving of peppery refreshing arugula. (Took to dipping the arugula in the balsamic glaze of the bruschetta...chefs kiss) The duck was okay.....but the REAL STAR was the Truffled Gnocchi ! Never in my life would I think the veg option would be the thing I write home about. INCREDIBLY creamy but still light due to the lemon heart of it. The balance in this dish was off the charts! The acid pop from the tomatos perfectly countered the creamy lemon sauce while the salty crisped kale enveloped the tongue in a flavor bomb of preparation for the crunchy roasted chick peas. 10/10 would drive to Jasper JUST to have this Gnocchi dish again. Dessert was the Lemon Tartlet and the Triple Chocolate Tort. Lemon tartlet could have had a little more custard, but I like a lot. The shortbread crust was perfect, and the cute perfectly cooked little meringue melted in the mouth. The 3C Tort would have been best with a reduced cake layer, as that exquisite chocolate mousse + chocolate ganache simply did not deserve the interloper. But as ever, all things are personal preference. Drinks: Maple old fashioned was smooth af. And they do mean maple. Dark and stormy Brought the ginger beer Hard.

Breakfast: all I will say is the espresso with a dash of cream was divine, and the Belgian waffle was perfection. Poached eggs are done in vinegar water.

Vibe: Total old timey cabin. Very Oregon Trail Canteena. Chill... Dark... Cozy... And sweet...

This is our second time having dinner at Takarra. A fantastic family owned eatery. Our server was Sierra (if I am not mistaken), wonderful lady who was willing to put up with all of my menu questions. What kind of salmon, what kind of venison? Of course Sierra asked the kitchen, it was Atlantic salmon, venison, red???? Given that we are in Alberta I am guessing Mule or Whit Tail deer. Antelope are not native to Western Alberta. I digress! My wife had the Elk Stroganoff and I had the Crepe Supreme. The Elk Stroganoff was fantastic, tender meat portions with a great sauce. I would have liked a few wild mushrooms, then again it wasn't my meal. My wife loved it. As for the Crepe Supreme, excellent! Just the right portion. The mix of smoked chicken, wild boar with the forest mushrooms and the cream fraiche was just right. A nice light meal. Really enjoyed learning a little more about Tekarra and supporting a family business. We...

Slow service and expensive as if it's a culinary experience, but neither the food quality nor ambiance fit that description.

Overall experience was 2.5 hours to get an appetizer and 2 entrees delivered, where we were graciously blessed with a single water refill through the muggy experience. Even requesting the water refill had a 25 minute wait, despite there being 3 waitresses for the 15 patrons.

Our only theory on the slow pace is that they had to catch the quail from the wild prior to serving it, which must have required the full staff given the pace of water refills. However, the quail was dry to the point that it had to be under a heat lamp for most of the 2 hours wait, and at that point I wished the quail had escaped to live a full life in the forest while we ate elsewhere. I felt like apologizing to the dish.

There are so many wonderful locations to eat in Jasper with great things to do in the evening, don't waste...