3.14 – Celebrate Pi Day with Pie Junkie
Pie Junkie is at it again, expanding its product list by adding soups and salad dressings, of course all of them made from scratch! Soup choices include tomato basil, mushroom and curry vegetable and butternut squash and apple. Salad choices include roasted vegetable with a balsamic agave vinaigrette, and a kale Caesar. For the vegetarians in the crowd, try the new veggie pie – cauliflower potato with leek and cheddar. Pie Junkie has partnered with Canmore Brewery for its steak, stout and gruyere pie. Visit the website for all of menu items and enjoy door delivery with Skip the Dishes or Door Dash.
A Fond Farewell
Willow Park Wines & Spirits recently announced that resident scotch expert, David Michiels is retiring after more than 20 years at its flagship store. Michiels curated exclusive single malts for customers, lead tastings and taught classes about the fine art of Scotch whisky. Michiels’ was inducted into The Keepers of the Quaich at the Blair Castle in 2011. The Keepers of the Quaich are a society formed by Scotland’s whisky distillers in 1988 to advance the industry and raise funds for charitable causes in Scotland. Membership is by invitation only and is reserved for individuals that have made a significant contribution to the Scotch whisky industry. David is also the only buyer in the world granted the privilege of buying four exclusive Glenfiddich barrels. Congratulations and Slàinte, David!
Did you know…
We’ve all enjoyed latte at Higher Ground’s Kensington location (not yet? Get there! It’s a Calgary classic!) but did you know there’s a second location in Capitol Hill? Right on the doorstep of the University of Calgary, the second location is a hub for students enjoying the same great house-made menu including mac and cheese, vegan chili and paninis.
Higher Ground opens second location
Are you a Locavore?
Make it official and go on Alberta Food Tours’ fun Calgary Farmers’ Market tour this spring. The tour kicks off March 1, 2020 and runs every Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. through to Nov. 29. Tickets are available at albertafoodtours.ca for $65/person plus GST and $3 ticket fee. Enjoy a light brunch and a dozen tastings, parting gift and recipes. Come hungry and leave a certified Alberta Locavore.
Alberta Food Tours – CFM Market Tour
Back at the Burner
Chef Jamie Harling (Rouge, Deane House, Teatro) is back at it again with his own personal chef company. After stepping back from the restaurant industry in 2018 to join the ranks of the Calgary Fire Department, Jamie’s burning desire (get it?) to work with local producers to create beautiful, delicious food has led him back to the kitchen. Harling Food Co. is available for private parties, large (and small) events, catering, menu planning and private cooking lessons. Follow the adventures of Harling Food Co. on Instagram @harlingfoodco.
Jamie Harling of Harling Food Co.
Fine Wine, Online
J. Webb Wine Merchant, founded in 1985, is the oldest independently owned and operated wine shop in Alberta. The shop sources wines from all over the world, primarily focusing on small, family-run producers that match their philosophy – namely wines that have authenticity, character and quality. Now you can purchase J. Webb’s exceptional offerings through its new online shop!
Viva La Rioja
Oxbow, together with renowned sommelier and Spanish wine enthusiast, Toni Batet, are bringing Northern Spain to Kensington April 21, 2020 from 6-10 p.m. Wines from the La Rioja region will be paired with a stunning four-course menu by Hotel Arts Group executive chef Quinn Staple and Alex Dechavez. Tickets, sold through Eventbrite, are $100/person.
Oxbow Restaurant wines from the La Rioja region
Can you tell me how to get to Vegan Street?
Diners who dig plant-based plates will be headed to Calgary’s Beltline for the brand-new Vegan Street Kitchen and Lounge. What started as a food truck by Laine Fedrau and Darian Gustafson in 2018, Vegan Street finds a brick-and-mortar home in the George Stanley House. Vegan Street says it’s Calgary’s first full-service vegan restaurant and specializes in the comfort food we all crave in a completely plant-based context.
Eat Alberta First
Join Alberta Food Tours for a four-day / three-night jam-packed road trip to all the best places in Southern Alberta to Eat Alberta First, September 10-13, 2020. This stay-and-play Alberta “eatcation” will find you discovering the makers behind some of the province’s most delicious foods. You’ll meet cheesemakers, charcuteries, farmers, ranchers, chefs and tourism’s most creative entrepreneurs. Tastings include long-table dinners, farmstead cheeses, cured meats and prosciutto delicacies, Alberta’s signature foods, Hungarian and Japanese heritage foods and of course craft beverages made with the best of Alberta grains. Tickets start at $1,859 and are available at indus.travel/tour/eat-alberta-first-road-trip.
Slicing Pricing at Spring “Garage Sale”
Looking for your next kitchen knife? Knifewear has handmade blades and kitchen tools from all over Japan. The Spring Garage Sale, May 11-18, features a huge array of unique, one-off, prototype and bargain knives from Japanese blacksmiths, plus a wide array of kitchen tools.
A Fresh Face for a Calgary Favourite
Re-opening in April, Vendome will retain all of its historic charm but with expanded offerings. The renovations include an expanded kitchen to accommodate this grab and go, breakfast, lunch, brunch and dinner – now offered seven days a week. Vendome’s simple good food, with expanded coffee and beverage program will be joined by brand new concept next door: with a gelato shop offering a fresh take on a timeless sweet treat.
Rolling Out a Revamp
Royale introduces Brian McVicar as its new chef de cuisine. McVicar brings a culinary pedigree that is strong and in-line with the current and future state of the food program at Royale. Having spent time at Bridgette Bar, Model Milk and Pigeonhole, as well as Starbelly when he first came to Calgary in 2014. Royale’s new menu will roll out in March, and guests can expect a more veggie focused offering to accompany the current eclectic cuisine.
Mini-golf, Munchies and the Masters
Taiko introduces a weekly Lucky Putt mini-golf league! The season starts March 12 and the cost is $10/person/week (or about $40 for the season). Players can win prizes and the finals will be on Masters Sunday, April 12 – when golfers vie for the green jacket and trophy.
Fill Your Own Jar
Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters has officially launched the Bring Your Own Jar program in its cafés. Simply bring a sealable container and the café team will fill it with fresh-roasted bulk coffee to take home or back to the office. Bean options include the coffee currently brewing in the café. We love this idea of reusing what we already have at home. Available at all locations.
Family Values Flavour Local Pasta
Using Nonna’s recipes with local Ingredients, owners of Let’s Pasta, Rocco Suriano, his father Andy and cousin Tony Rose, have been making authentic fresh pastas and sauces since 1994. After selling their restaurant, Coco Pazzo, in 2014, they gambled on a bigger wholesale stage. Let’s Pasta can be found at the Italian Centre Shop and The Italian Store in Calgary. Choose from 23 flavours of ravioli, a variety of tortellini, gnocchi or simple fresh pasta.
Let’s Pasta, fresh pasta
Benvenuto Chef!
A warm welcome to Chef Christopher Hyde joining the Bonterra Trattoria/Posto Pizzeria and Bar famiglia. With more 15 years of experience and a passion for Italian cuisine, we can’t wait to see the amazing dishes he plans for each restaurant. We already love the changes he’s making with a switch to fresh pasta made in-house.
Chef Christopher Hyde of Bonterra Trattoria
Plants, Pinot & Potions
Planted3 is the third installment in the Planted series created by executive chef Liana Robberecht that celebrates and pushes the limits of vegan and vegetarian cuisine. Plants, Pinot & Potions, the kick-off event, launches March 27 at WinSport, followed by a month-long series of lunches and dinners featuring some of Calgary’s finest restaurants. The wrap-up gala, called The Planted Kingdom, takes place at the Calgary Zoo on April 30. Watch the website for more details.
Char-News
Charcut turns 10 this year and it plans on holding a bash in May to celebrate the occasion. In attendance will be current and previous employees, chefs and mentors from John Jackson and Connie DeSousa’s culinary careers. Throughout March, Charcut will be offering a new breakfast, serving up signatures and all your favourite classics with a Charcut twist. Connie & John’s Pizza pop-ups were announced in February with details still in the works at time of printing. For the third year in a row, Jackson will be participating in ChefsCycle to support No Kid Hungry. He will be attempting to ride almost 1,300 km to Bend, Oregon to join more than 200 other chefs supporting the cause.
Casual Conscious Eats
kb & co., founded by Kristina Botelho, is a plant-based, modern and quick-service restaurant with three locations currently in Northern Alberta. kb & co. features carefully-crafted, nutritiously-centered food and products on its menu which offers breakfast, snacks, lunch or dinner options. Set to open in Mount Royal in April with another location opening in Kelowna in March, kb & co. will be featuring a full-service vegan espresso bar, and a plant-based menu free of meat, dairy, egg and soy products using organic and local ingredients.
kb & co plant-based restaurant
Student Culinary Program
Teatro Group executive chef Matt Batey has launched a one-of-a-kind culinary program with the Calgary Board of Education and the Educational Partnership Foundation for students age 16 and older. This course for high-school students allows them to earn credits and experience in the culinary industry. Offsite apprenticeship and training at various Teatro Group properties will include baking and pastry, product and batch cooking, butchery, hot side and garde manager. Once completed, students will earn high-school work-experience credits with the potential to become a registered apprentice cook. More information can be found on the CBE website.
Jazz up your Brunch
In January, Alvin’s Jazz Club launched a new post-modern jazz brunch from 11-2 on Sundays. Popular songs will be done in a jazz style by the talented Justine Tyrell Duo. Alvin’s Jazz Club offers a throwback to the quintessential New York City dining experience of the 1930s and ’40s, with a modern-day approach. Check out the website for additional event information.
Harvesting the Wild
There’s been chatter around town about executive chef Paul Rogalski (Rouge) filming a television series called Wild Harvest with Les Stroud (Survivor Man) and filmmaker Kevin Kossowan (From the Wild). Filmed in exotic locations, the premise has Stroud teaching Rogalski about wild ingredients by taking him into the wild and guiding him through local plants. Rogalski then takes the ingredients and turns them into a delightful meal. Each episode will feature a new location and new seasonal culinary opportunities. Wild Harvest is set to air on PBS this fall.
A Not-So-Guilty Pleasure
Burwood Distillery and Choklat have joined forces to produce a special-edition chocolate vodka. Master chocolate maker Brad Churchill of Choklat and Burwood chef Matthew Filson-Lau select four unique varieties of cocoa beans for the two-row Alberta-malted-barley Burwood Vodka. Each variety of bean offers a complex flavour profile and roast. The finished spirit is a complicated sip with a rich nose from the beans and a sweet initial taste from the malted barley. Try this chocolate vodka in your after-dinner cocktails, it’s the ultimate grown-up sweet treat.
Sunterra Bankers Hall gets a face lift
With an already-established location in Bankers Hall, Sunterra Market capitalized on an opportunity when a space came available right next door and decided to expand its current market and café by giving it a complete makeover of the space. Now doubled in size, Sunterra offers more options for customers, including a fresh new salad bar, new forno pizza oven from Italy, handcrafted Lavazza espresso-based drinks in the coffee bar, pasta made from scratch using local ingredients, rotisserie meats and piadina thin-crust sandwiches. The new fresh look comes on the heels of Sunterra Market celebrating its 50th anniversary in farming and 30th anniversary of the downtown location at Bankers Hall.
Sunterra Market gets a face lift
Calgary’s first Urban Winery opens
City & Country, an urban winery and tasting bar, opened its doors in Calgary’s southeast in February. Chris Fordo, the brains behind City & Country started making wine in 2017. He and his wife Karen Fordo wanted to create small batches of wine without added sugars or colours that were gluten-free and vegan creating wine in the old way. The current offering includes Okanagan white, Okanagan pinot noir, Californian zinfandel rose, Similkameen rose and an Okanagan red blend. The tasting bar offers flights and their wines by the glass as well as a charcuterie plate for when the munchies hit. City
& Country is open Friday through Sunday.
Calgary’s first Urban Winery
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