What to eat, what to eat? There are no shortage of choices at this year’s Taste of Calgary, now in a new location just south of the Louise Bridge downtown. With 50-ish choices to visit, you’ll have to budget your belly room carefully – fortunately, Savour Calgary Editor Camie Leard spent the morning sampling on your behalf (tough job…but someone has to do it). Here are her recommendations for a delicious weekend.

Small Bites

This just might be the prettiest thing you eat this week. We’re never disappointed with the way Brie & Banquet’s food looks, but how does it taste in a tent downtown? Amazing! We had the canape trio featuring a pink caviar devilled egg, truffle sausage roll and smoked salmon cucumber stack for 7 tickets. Mmmm. Mmmm. Also, check out their (literal) cheese cake. A cake of piled cheese wheels that could keep us occupied all weekend. Fortunately, they come in small pieces on a stick too.

Sammy

If you’re from the East coast, you know no summer is complete without a lobster roll. Here on the prairies, Blowers and Grafton has got you covered. This mini-roll for seven tickets hits the spot with bright, flavourful lobster salad on a soft, chewy roll. You may want to lick the plate!

Salad

Dill is the king of summer for me. It reminds me of Baba’s garden, grandma’s pickles and mom’s potato salad. If crunchy pickles, creamy potatoes and zippy dressing are your jam (they’re definitely mine!) you’ll want to stop at Fraser & Fig Inc. for their dill pickle potato salad. At just 4 tickets, this hearty bite is a great value. Also try the charcutsicles. We didn’t, but we just wanted to say charcutsicles.

Sips

We stopped for a chat and a sip with the folks at Burwood Distillery and got a taste of their aged (Not so) Old Fashioned cocktail mix. Warning: this stuff is smoooooooth. You may forget you’re sipping whisky. It’s really very delicious and comes in Burwood’s beautiful signature packaging. You can’t buy bottles at the festival, but you can online, at the distillery and at the Crossroads Market!

Sweets

Vegans win at V- Burger with the delicious hot fudge shake the gang has brought to this year’s festival. Sweet, thick, chocolatey and delicious, event non-vegans will love this sip.

Savoury Succulence

The most favourite thing I tried at this year’s festival was the lechon and rice at Mia’s Lechon. This Filipino staple is crispy, tender, juicy roasted pork belly and is decadent and delicious. Smartly cut with a vinegar jus to pour over pork and rice, this is a full meal for 7 tickets and may also be the best deal of the festival. Bring a friend to share this with. They’ll thank you for it!