Canada’s best new restaurants of 2011, chosen by the editors of Where
Where Canada‘s Best New Restaurants is an annual award program dedicated to recognizing the country’s top chefs and innovative restaurateurs. (more…)
Canada’s best new restaurants of 2011, chosen by the editors of Where
Where Canada‘s Best New Restaurants is an annual award program dedicated to recognizing the country’s top chefs and innovative restaurateurs. (more…)
This stretch of downtown is in the thick of it: skyscrapers obscure the skyline, and the lunch hour is a mad rush. Not surprisingly, it has a high concentration of quality restaurants, but there are also retail gems and access to the picturesque Bow River Pathway.
Royal India's expansive buffet, available seven days a week from 11 am - 2 pm. Photographer: Blair Hill.
A TASTE OF ASIA
Lunch crowds flock to two of the best Indian buffets in Calgary: Glory of India and Royal India Cuisine. Glory is owned and operated by Jassie Bakhshi, a chef with more than 25 years experience and a Delhi-style menu. Royal India’s lunch buffet is known for its size, with 12 entrees to choose from—including some of the city’s yummiest butter chicken. Over at Zen 8, high-end Japanese cuisine is the specialty; standard choices are augmented by novelties such as seafood cakes wrapped in noori and a Fujiyama steak.
SHARP DRESSED MEN
Supreme Men’s Wear excels at customer service: attentive staff, roomy dressing rooms, complimentary parking, personal appointments, tailoring and delivery. Brands include designer names such as Versace, Belstaff, Savile Row Co. and Biedermann, and for women there’s a small area with items from Hale Bob.
Hemp soap from The EcoStore, which unveiled its newly renovated store in October.
ECO SHOPPING
The EcoStore is a labour of love for the Clean Calgary Association, which has been promoting the eco-friendly lifestyle since 1978. The store itself is much younger, but benefits from the association’s expertise. Items range from necessities such as rain barrels and compost bins to jewellery and greeting cards. Many of their brands are made locally—look for body products by All Things Jill and laundry powder from Claudia’s Choices.
CANADIAN DIAMONDS
J. Vair Anderson Jewellers is a family run business that has been selling jewellery since 1925. Their specialty is Canadian diamonds, and the selection boasts “ideal” cuts—a certification that can be applied to less than one per cent of the world’s diamonds. Coloured stones are also on hand, as well as pieces from Bulgari, Wellendorff and Georg Jensen and watches by Rolex, Omega and Tag Heuer.
The interior of Caesar's Steakhouse, in business for more than 30 years. Photographer: Jason Dziver.
STEAK PALACE
Caesar’s Steakhouse is a Calgary institution. They’ve been serving Alberta beef for 37 years, and their décor maintains an old-world charm with dark woods, crimson leather, Ionic columns and white tablecloths. Charbroiled steak is their mainstay, served with stuffed potato, baked potato, french fries, rice or cottage cheese. Inside the Westin, The Keg offers dishes such as AAA steak and proscuitto-wrapped shrimp. Their lounge is a trendy spot to sip and be seen, with fireplaces and a central wraparound bar.
PUB HUB
Fans of comfortable, worn-in pubs head to the intersection of 4th Avenue and 4th Street, where Fourth & 4th Restaurant & Pub has made its home for four years. The restaurant serves favourites such as roast beef and fish & chips, while the bar offers ten beers on tap (503 – 4 Ave SW).
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Forest Lawn, a community east of downtown Calgary, offers a treasure trove of cuisine and culture from around the world
By Sally MacKinnon
A public mural on International Avenue by Martinho Correia. Photographer: Ryan Krochko.
Ask a Calgarian about Forest Lawn, a residential community southeast of the downtown core, and you’ll inevitably hear one response: avoid.
But, like most stereotypes, the ones that surround Forest Lawn paint in black and white. While the rest of city wasn’t looking, Forest Lawn has become a vibrant, multicultural neighbourhood with a budding real estate market—a fact London’s Financial Times recognized in 2007. It also contains one of the last hidden gems in Calgary: International Avenue, also known as 17 Avenue SE.
To judge by appearance alone, International Avenue is easy to overlook. This 5.4 km stretch, along 17 Ave SE from 26 St to 61 St, is a chaotic collection of 400 businesses, with a large percentage of ethnic restaurants, automobile shops and beauty salons. Most of the buildings have that familiar architecture of the 1960s: functional, modernist and bland.
International Avenue’s appeal takes closer inspection to see. The easiest way is to visit when you’re hungry: in the two blocks between 52 St and 54 St, for example, there are Caribbean, Indian, Vietnamese, Filipino and Middle Eastern eateries.
“It’s a unique area, with products you can’t find anywhere,” says Alison Karim-McSwiney, the executive director of the area’s business revitalization zone (BRZ). “You walk into our stores, and you are literally transported somewhere else.”
Ethnic Restaurants
Many establishments are small enterprises, owned and operated by immigrant families. Ken and Dana Meissinger are the second generation to run Illichman’s Sausage Shop; Rekiya Desta and Moges Aman, immigrants from Africa, give an authentic charm to Fassil Ethiopian Restaurant; and owner Tung Nguyen personally greets you as you walk into Mekong Vietnamese.
These are no-frills businesses, held together with elbow grease. If there’s any décor, it was brought from the home country, and the food is effortlessly authentic. At Fassil Ethiopian the mineral water is imported from Africa, and at Mimo the owners’ daughter can give you a history lesson on the port wine of Portugal. International Avenue’s restaurants also have an added bonus: their offerings are extremely affordable.
Photographer: Ryan Krochko
Forest Lawn Reborn
This multicultural mixture has even inspired the BRZ to hold tours of select markets and restaurants, aptly named Around the World in 35 Blocks Food Tour.
The BRZ has been busy in recent years, planting trees, commissioning public art, and installing park benches and solar-powered streetlights. Many of these projects have an international flair: their 16-foot-high street clock chimes Arabic music during Eid, and the public murals have multicultural themes.
They have also worked hard to reduce crime in the area, and in 2008 the City awarded them the Jim Gray Safer Calgary Award for their efforts. In 2004 the BRZ collaborated with the University of Calgary’s Environmental Design Faculty to create a new vision for the area, and The City of Calgary is currently doing a study and will unveil their own plan this year. With its proximity to downtown and views of the Rockies, a little investment could go a long way. In 2007, the Financial Times wrote a feature on the area, labelling it an up-and-coming neighbourhood.
The challenge for International Avenue will be to retain its unadorned charm as investment comes in. It’s hard to imagine Mekong with leather-bound menus, cloth napkins and décor from Pottery Barn. But, as long as their phò remains the same, customers will be flooding in.
Highlights
More than 30 per cent of International Avenue’s businesses are centered on food. Here’s a sampling, by continent.
The meat counter at Illichmann’s Sausage Shop. Photographer: Ryan Krochko.
Europe
Germany: Illichmann’s Sausage Shop and Gunther’s Fine Baking
Portugal: Mimo
Asia
India: Skylark (5315 – 17 Ave SE) and Baba Ka Dhaba (3504 – 17 Ave SE)
Vietnam: Mekong (2885 – 17 Ave SE)
The Middle East
Lebanon: Green Cedar’s Food Market (4710 – 17 Ave SE)
Africa
Ethiopia: Fassil Ethiopian Cuisine
South America
La Casa Latina (3503 – 17 Ave SE)
North America
A Tasty Menu (gluten free) (4202 – 17 Ave SE)
The Caribbean: Green Grato (3229 – 17 Ave SE)
Discover dishes for every palate, whether you like sour, sweet, salty, bitter or umami
By Sally MacKinnon
Without the aid of our noses, human beings can taste five different flavours: sour, sweet, salty, bitter and umami. We’ve scoured the city and found dishes that celebrate each sensation, but be forewarned: these are picks for true connoisseurs.
The lemon curd tart at Brûlée Patisserie. Photographer: Amanda Wouterse.
SOUR
Taste buds that detect sour are in fact measuring acidity; lemons, for example, are five per cent citric acid. Sour suckers and Cry Babies are beloved childhood candies, but sour also has a bad rap thanks to its presence in expired foods—milk is a typical example. For a sour sensation that is nothing but pleasant, we recommend the lemon curd tart at Brûlée Patisserie, made with a shortbread crust and topped with fresh fruit.
SWEET
It doesn’t take a sweet tooth to appreciate a good dose of sugar; evolutionary biologists tell us that human beings are hard-wired to love sweetness because glucose (sugar in its most basic form) is high energy. The most common sources of sweet are refined sugar and fruit, so we’ve found an entree that combines the two: honey-roasted cashews and sautéed diced fruit served in a golden nest, from Chinatown’s Silver Dragon Restaurant.
SALTY
Salt is another taste that humans crave, and for good reason: sodium and chloride (the basic components of salt) are vital electrolytes. Nutritionists recommend no more than 2,300 mg of salt per day, but the Canadian average is more than one-third above that, at 3,092 mg. To get a good dose of salt without inviting hypertension, we’ve chosen the bacon-wrapped bison at Bistro Twenty Two Ten, served with gravy, roasted baby potatoes and seasonal vegetables. If you prefer your salt unadulterated, we have yet to find a dish more intense than the salt & pepper chicken wings at Aussie Rules Foodhouse + Bar.
BITTER
Bitter is a taste that is often relegated to the sidelines. Its most common examples are olives, coffee, cocoa, beer and greens such as a radicchio, but these ingredients are usually combined with (and overpowered by) other flavours. But, bitter is back in vogue; just look at the popularity of espresso, dark chocolate and India Pale Ale. We’ve picked two dishes that prominently feature bitter ingredients: Newport Grill’s spiced coffee-crusted tenderloin with pan-seared sea prawns, and the 72 per cent Valrhona chocolate and organic peanut butter torte from Raw Bar.
UMAMI
Umami is the new taste on the block. It is a Japanese word that roughly means “meaty,” but savoury would be a better descriptor. It is best experienced in meat, vegetables like mushrooms and truffles, and fermented and aged foods—Parmesan cheese and red wine are prime examples. The taste comes from glutamate, and scientists think we have evolved to crave umami because it helps us identify protein-heavy foods. In keeping with umami’s Japanese roots, we’ve chosen miso ramen with pork from Shikiji Japanese Noodle House.
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