Avenue Calgary Blogs | Avenue Magazine

Tables for Two

Posted 3 days 15 hours ago | By Jennifer Hamilton | The Food Files

It’s an annual ritual for many men — scramble around at the last minute to find a restaurant still taking dinner reservations for Valentine’s Day so as not to look like the schmutz who had to take his date to Swiss Chalet. This year, why not try something different by planning ahead? Score points with your special someone at these 10 romantic restaurants offering special Valentine’s Day dinners and still taking reservations … for now. Big Fish Oyster Bar and Lounge...

17 Best Chocolate Fixes

Posted 4 days 9 hours ago | By Jennifer Hamilton | The Food Files

How do we love thee, chocolate? Let us count the ways. According to you, the readers, there are 17 favourite ways to enjoy chocolate, from truffles and baked goods to hot and cold beverages. With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, everyone’s got sweets on the brain so don’t waste time on substandard chocolate. Take our — and your — advice and indulge in tried and true decadent delights. Bling pops — chocolate lollipops covered in edible glitter from Choklat. (1327A 9 Ave. S.E...

Meat Loaf: Classic Comfort

Posted 1 week 4 days ago | By Jennifer Hamilton | The Food Files

Ah, meat loaf — so humble, so delicious. The mere mention of this soul-satisfying basic takes me back to the carpeted kitchen of my childhood. (Incidentally, who thought carpet in the kitchen was a good idea?) A quick office poll revealed that Mom’s meat loaf fell into one of two camps: smothered in ketchup or smothered in Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, that ubiquitous “sauce” of the ’70s. I’d still eat either in a pinch, but as my taste in beverages has graduated from milk to wine, so has my appreciation for new-school shaped-meat...

CharPOP's Secret Dinner Event a Big Success

Posted 2 weeks 3 days ago | By Jennifer Hamilton | The Food Files

Last night I attended the second installment of CharPOP, Charcut’s much ballyhooed pop-up restaurant held at the Sidewalk Citizen Bakery and, like most things Connie DeSousa and John Jackson do, it was a smashing success. The three-day dining experience, which began on Sunday is a collaborative effort between Jackson, Desousa, Toronto chef Grant van Gameren and Aviv Fried, Calgary’s citizen baker. ...

Calgary’s Best Soup

Posted 3 weeks 4 days ago | By Jennifer Hamilton | The Food Files

Last week, I put a call out on Twitter asking people to name their favourite soup in the city, looking for a little help with my research. I expected a sprinkling of responses, but what I got was a deluge. It turns out us Calgarians are soup superfans, and opinions run strong and plentiful. Soup season has barely started and runs a long time so why not branch out and try some of the great suggestions put forward by the soup aficionados? Pho – Vietnamese noodle soup — is a huge fan favourite, the wor wonton at King’s got many mentions and Caffe Rosso seems to...

Food Trucks: Now Open for Brunch

Posted 3 weeks 4 days ago | By Jennifer Hamilton | The Food Files

Breakfast for lunch? Eating outside in January? It’s a world gone mad but you won’t hear me complaining. On a warm, sunny day last week I invited the Avenue team to join me on a lunch mission to Central Memorial Park to taste the goods from the Mighty Skillet, one of Calgary’s newer food trucks and one that I hadn’t yet eaten at. Choose from 10 items on the Mighty Skillet menu, all $8 or less. Right off the bat I was...

6 Hidden Sushi Gems

Posted 4 weeks 3 days ago | By Jennifer Hamilton | The Food Files

Goodbye gravy. So long cheese. Farewell bourbon and egg nog. It’s time to start eating lighter, cleaner food to start the year off right. And for me that means sushi. Fish is a lean source of high-quality protein and omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for your heart. Nori, the thin sheets of seaweed rolls are wrapped in, are rich with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals (vegans can especially benefit from the high quantities of B12). Cucumber, carrots, avocado and asparagus are frequently found in sushi, as is egg and tufo — all of which are good for you. ...

15 Best Bets for Gluten-Free Dining

Posted 4 weeks 4 days ago | By Jennifer Hamilton | The Food Files

Eating out can be unnerving for people with food sensitivities but fortunately for people with celiac disease, gluten-free eating has become a popular mainstream trend as more and more people discover in themselves an intolerance to wheat. As such, there are a growing number of restaurants offering gluten-free options to accommodate those who can’t tolerate wheat or who believe gluten-free to be a healthier way of eating. Check out this list of 15 Calgary restaurants whose gluten-free menu items are not only easier to digest but nutritious and tasty as well. ...

Teatro: Best 8-Course Tasting Menu in Calgary

Posted 6 weeks 4 days ago | By Jennifer Hamilton | The Food Files

The first thing you notice when you walk into Teatro is its grandness. Housed in the historic Dominion Bank building built in 1911, this classic downtown restaurant is elegant, sophisticated and not the least bit stuffy. With not a bad table in the house and perhaps the most comfortable seating in the city, what’s a person to do but order an eight-course dinner? And so I did, along with three friends including food blogger Dan Clapson, who...

Best Bets for New Year’s Eve

Posted 7 weeks 3 days ago | By Jennifer Hamilton | The Food Files

To many people, New Year’s Eve is a night to get sloppy drunk while scarfing back mini quiches from Costco and spilling cheap bubbly. We are not those people. We spill Champagne. And we don't scarf, we savour. For us connoisseurey types who prefer a more sophisticated New Year’s Eve experience, an elegant dinner out is the ideal way to bid adieu to 2011 and say hello to 2012. So behold, a list of restaurants hosting celebratory New Year’s dinners. Stylish and innovative, Alloy is...