Starters include a frenetically busy house salad (Mesclun greens with Chevre cheese, toasted hazelnuts and air dried blueberries) and an almost-as-busy Lobster Bisque, which was devoid of any real verve or flavour. While this seemed to suit the tourists from Seattle seated next to us, you'd fare better to try the Grilled Baby Brie, the Vine-Ripened Tomato Salad in basil leaves or the Grande Prairie bison carpaccio.

Among the best entrées is a divinely moist Alberta Prime Rib ($25.99) with a side of Yukon Gold, and unusually sweet creamed corn. Another must-try is the Grilled Lamb Trio ($33.95), served with fried mint gnocci and roasted tomatoes, and the Cornish hen, flanked by an Okanogan Merlot emulsion. While grilled red meat is clearly the chef's forté, another particularly good route to go is the Seared Atlantic Sea Scallops, served with a little mound of butternut squash-filled rotolo to add a touch of brightness.

Servers have been well-trained, although are obviously still not quite comfortable in the space. One dinner excursion featured a server so eccentric in his habits that it felt as if we were being filmed for some Candid Camera-esque reality show – he initially spent no less than 20 minutes skimming past the table avoiding our gazes, but when he did at last approach, he was breathless and was clearly in the weeds (paranoia perhaps?). Subsequent visits showed increasing increments of finesse.

All in all, the restaurant is immensely appealing. It adds something priceless, rare, awesome, and historic to our city—namely our unbelievable railway station redesigned in such a way that allows us to appreciate it in not just a historical, but now modern context. Those that may need stronger persuasion to buy into TransContinental's magic should peruse local TV listings for Shiny Time Station reruns (Thomas the Tank will also do), and let Conductor Ringo Starr show you the light. -R.L.