Salutes and Shout Outs

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 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

cheese toast, the brisket cheeseburger, those crunchy fries with steak-seasoning and garlic aioli, excellent cocktails – we could go on! 5-11 pm, closed Mondays.

With patties of Springvale beef and Winters Turkey from Community Natural Foods, and buns from Good Bread and Care Bakery, a burger from Calgary’s new Saucy Burger, supports three local businesses. And another good thing that comes in threes? They’ve succeeded in fast, really good, and incredibly inexpensive – which we were always told wasn’t possible! We love Chef Michael Dekker’s vision, and we love his small menu of burgers on toasted potato rolls. Oh, and those Kennebec fries and the chili topper… Watch for new menu items coming soon too! Seven days, from 7 am. 1001 17 Avenue SW.

Further west, Ronnie Mupambwa has opened Candy Shop Café at 1324 17 Avenue SW, so after eating at his popular Chakalaka tapas restaurant, hop next door for an indulgent menu of cakes, tarts and desserts, alongside a menu of bubbles and custom cocktails! Open 3 pm weekends, 5 pm weekdays, closed Mondays. style, and now Block Hospitality have opened South Block Barbecue and Brewery, in the ex-Wurst spot on 4 Street SW, bringing North Carolinastyle barbecue to Calgary. We tried 12 of Chef Craig Ramsey‘s meat, seafood and veggie dishes, all paired with South Block’s draught beer, brewed in-house by head brewer Ryan Placktiff. We were very impressed with the blackened Pork Hock, moist and flavourful, and perfect with the dilly potato salad; Dirty Chips with brisket, jalapeño, and pimento dip; Smoked Shrimp and creamy and cheesy grits, Blueberry Burnt Ends, crispy Bacon Wrapped Peppers stuffed with brisket, and so much more – and there were rich desserts too. Bring your appetite here upstairs; downstairs is the brewery and music venue for 225 people, with live music every weekend. Seven days, 11 am-late.

Talking of Tennessee, Very Good Entertainment, the group that’s brought Chemical Steve’s, Scuba Jay’s, and Top Notch to Calgary, has opened Flirty Bird - a new Nashville hot chicken sandwich shop in the ex-Shiki Menya spot in Bridgeland at 827 1st Avenue SE. Choose your heat level from “no flirt” to “scorchin’ flirt,” the hottest in town, they say. 11 am-3 pm, closed Sundays and Mondays. flirtybirdchicken.com. And while we’re talking sandwiches... the new Mixtape, from the team at Donna Mac, is serving up a tiny menu of four big flavour buns and huge bagels from Chef Nick Kennedy at Eighty-Eight Brewing Co. Ice cream sandwiches too! 1070 - 2600 Portland Street SE, Thursdays to Saturdays 4-9 pm, bagels 11-2 pm. on Sundays.

We’re excited for Kamado Izakaya ghost kitchen, a collab between Thank You Hospitality and Itamae Naoki Kimura, whom we know from his time at Calgary’s Ki Modern Japanese, Ichizen, Shikiji, and Anju. From Hokkaido, Naoki began as a fishmonger, where he honed his sushi skills, and has since travelled the world, always with a dream of opening his own Izakaya. kamadoyyc.ca to order, Wednesday-Saturday, 4-9:30 pm.

Meanwhile, back in Edmonton, familyrun Tentador Latin Cuisine has opened at 15184 127 Street NW, with a tempting menu (as the name suggests – Tentador is ‘tempting’ in Spanish!) of South American dishes, including 12 baked and deep fried empanadas (one is a dessert empanada), as well as handhelds (tacos and sandwiches), starters and mains, and traditional cachaça and pisco cocktails. Open seven days for lunch and dinner. tentador.ca.

Edmonton also has a new wine bar at 9621 82 Avenue, called Darling, “where Natural Wine flows to old school beats”. Thursday-Sunday 7-11 pm, @darlingwinebar. No reservations.

Founded in Taiwan in 2013, premium bubble tea chain, The Alley, is known for their signature tapioca pearls and pure sugar cane syrup. Five years after launching in Canada and 27 locations later, the third Edmonton store is now open at 11966 104 Avenue, in the Brewery District. the-alley.ca.

Following the success of their Edmonton launch, Pablo Cheese Tart is now open in Calgary at 602B 16 Avenue NW, serving up their premium, family-size cheese tarts and fruit-topped minis, as well as smoothies and soft-serve ice cream. Open seven days noon-8 pm.