SA LUTE S & S H O UT O UT S Congratulations to the Italian Centre Shop on their fifth location, at 8005 Emerald Drive in Sherwood Park. It’s the biggest store yet for Alberta's largest, family-owned specialty grocer, and features a licensed 50-seat cafe, 30-seat patio, 70 ft. deli counter, a Tavola Calda (hot table) of ready-to-eat Italian comfort foods, a full-service pizza bar, and an in-house gelateria! Staying in Sherwood Park, Bodega Tapas & Wine Bar by Sabor have now opened another location here, at 410 Baseline Road! Excellent tapas and large plates, and meat and cheese boards - and like traditional tapas bars, no reservations - walk-in only. From 4 pm, closed Mondays. We featured cookbook, One Loaf at a Time/One Bowl at a Time, earlier this year in our March issue, and now we congratulate Saskatchewan TV chef and author, CJ Katz, on winning Best Cookbook at the 2021 San Francisco International Book Festival! And more congrats go Edmonton’s Northern Chicken owners, Andrew Cowan and Matt Phillips, who recently won $10,000 from Telus, in their national contest to support small businesses through the pandemic! The sign says it all, “a Banff sushi, Japanese BBQ, karaoke joint.” The latest restaurant from Banff Hospitality Collective, Hello Sunshine is retro, funky, and groovy, with two karaoke rooms, “The Disco Den” and “The Lava Lounge”, and a 6-seat “Tiny Bar” for Japanese whisky, cocktails, and small bites. Chef Kaede Hirooka has a big following after heading up many kitchens in Calgary, most recently with his fusion pop-up, Respect The Technique, and with chef Yuki Koyama (ex-Calgary’s Sukiyaki House) preparing the sushi, we know we’re in good hands for this super delicious menu! Open seven days from 5 pm, at 208 Wolf Street. Staying in Banff, be sure to visit Buffalo Mountain Lodge’s beautiful, new, refurbished restaurant, The Prow, and enjoy Chef Lance Montero’s (formerly 6 Culinaire | September 2021
chef at Calgary long-time fave, Cilantro restaurant) Rocky Mountain cuisine, with his lip-smacking, upscale menu of game meat from CRMR’s own ranch in the Calgary foothills, sustainable seafood dishes, his much-loved pastas, and local veggies. Unlock the secrets of Bar Déjà Vu to reveal the location and password when you make your reservation for a cocktail experience at this Canmore speakeasy, and enjoy elevated bar snacks by Chef Blake Flann. exploretock.com/4296. New York’s The Halal Guys, are celebrating 21 years – and now with the key to the door, Calgary’s Youssef El Sweify has opened his first of five Alberta locations, at 923 17 Avenue SW. El Sweify travels to eat, and discovered The Halal Guys in San Francisco – eating there six times in one week! Healthy food bowls are on trend, and platters of chicken, beef gyro, falafel, or a combo, served over rice, with lettuce, tomato, pita, come with The Halal Guys’ famous (and delicious) secret white sauce, and optional ‘explosive’ hot sauce! Or try them as a pita bread wrap. Sides include hummus, baba ghanoush, and fries, with baklava and cookies for dessert. Look for new menu items every few months too. Open seven days, 11 am-late.
We’re all about good food delicious, creative, and exciting food - and every dish we tried at Calgary’s Sensei Bar fits that description (and we tried a lot!). Executive Chef Ryan Blackwell’s menu shows expertise in all manner of flavours and techniques, drawing on French, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, and Thai influences, without any pretence at authenticity, just beautifully prepared and presented plates from Chef de Cuisine, Erin Massolin. We’re definitely coming back for more potatoes in coconut yellow curry with spinach and burrata, chicken rillette bao with peanuts and kimchi serrano mayo, albacore tuna with fois gras and yuzu truffle, and wagyu tataki… paired with an impressive cocktail or premium sake. Open seven days from 4:30 pm at 1520 14 Street SW. There’s a lot of highs at Calgary’s new Major Tom– spectacular views from the 40th floor of Stephen Avenue Place; a high quality, high end, dry aged, prime and wagyu beef program; a highly anticipated opening, well deserved high fives to chefs Garrett Martin and Garrett Rotes… along with filtered sparkling and still water at no charge, wonderful crispy and creamy potato doughnuts, super delicious crispy hen egg with pepperoni jam, the cheesiest
