CALGARY: Sweet Nectar

UPDATE – August 2010: Nectar has closed. “Our lease was up, and owner Rebekah Pearse has made the decision to move on to new opportunities,” said a message on their website.

Too old for clubs that highlight $1 shooters and too young to stay at home all night, it’s sometimes hard for Jason and me to find a decent place to hang out.

We were elated to discover Nectar Desserts, soon to celebrate its one year birthday, on the second-floor of a 100-year-old building on Inglewood’s main drag.

You can pick up some of the beautiful tarts or cakes from the display case at the top of the stairs or stay for a truly indulgent experience when the dessert menu and full (licensed) service kicks in after 5 p.m.

On our first visit, a woman who turned out to be owner/chef Rebekah Pearse greeted us with a big smile and asked, “Will you be joining us this evening?” How can you resist that? She obviously loves what she does and sharing that passion with her customers.

This is a perfect place to go on a first date (or even the 246th), to linger after dinner or a movie, or to catch up with old friends. It’s a very comfortable space with exposed brick walls and comfy oversized armchairs mixed among modern tables and chairs.

Now I’m not usually a dessert person but Nector has a lot of wow factors. Everything is visually stunning and sinfully delicious, but also quite unique.

Jason’s smoky chocolate and sea salt caramel tartlette ($7) is this inexplicably successful combination of sweet and salty in an crunchy chocolate crust. He actually first tried it in a smaller form on a dessert plate with butter valrhona chocolate sorbet and spiced hot chocolate in a mini-mug. Genius.

Nectar’s elaborate dessert plates are a tad pricier ($12) than your run-of-the-mill crème brûlée but you really feel like you’re getting something special.

On this night, I got the cream on cream:

• homemade fromage blanc cheesecake with wild blueberries and currants
• lemon lavender shortbread
• buttermilk ice cream.

For someone like me who normally prefers savoury over sweet, it was nice and light without being knocked out by an overdose of sugar.

Nectar makes a mean latte but it also suggests wine to pair with its desserts (which I have no idea how to do). I was sold on the Domaine de Durban Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2004 ($8) once Rebekah described it as “creamy.” I think I have to re-evaluate dessert wines after a glass of that: soft and refreshing with a bit of pear to it.

Nectar makes its own ice cream and sorbets too — like Mexican vanilla and or single malt scotch — which are available in take-home containers. I’ve seen the labels: I can recognize and pronounce all of the natural ingredients.

Sweet.

Nectar Desserts, 1216-9th Ave. SE (upstairs), Calgary, Alberta, (403) 263-8486. Open Mon-Thurs 10 a.m.-11 p.m., Fri-Sat until 1 a.m. Closed Sunday. Website here.

UPDATE – August 2010: Nectar has closed. “Our lease was up, and owner Rebekah Pearse has made the decision to move on to new opportunities,” said a message on their website.