Finally... Spring! I

t’s a time for optimism, renewal, and regrowth – and not knowing whether to wear your sandals or ski boots.

April 22 is Earth Day, so what does that mean for us earthlings? Well, it’s now in its 53rd year and marked by more than one billion people in 193 countries, and it’s up to us honour it the best way we can.

So in this issue we asked our chefs for their suggestions and tips on cooking sustainably, and what that means to them. And we weighed in on the totally controversial topic of delivery apps, guaranteed to raise the hackles of most restaurateurs and fair labour advocates. We’re also taking a deep dive into bread in Alberta – the one food that sustains not only us but our farmers too, with their crops of wheat, rye, and cereal grains. We have an increasing amount of passionate bakers in our province (and not all because of nothing else to do for three years!) and such a diverse variety of traditional breads depending on where you grew up. Can anything beat the smell of freshly baked bread? Thanks to all who have already registered for our Simply the West! Calgary World Taste Tour. Places are going fast and we’re sure to sell out again like the last eight Calgary treasure hunts, so don’t delay in reserving your spots at culinairemagazine.ca/treasure-hunt.

My big news, and arriving too late to announce in last month's issue, is that the 24-part television show that I worked hard on during the pandemic, is now released and available to watch (streaming currently on Tubi)!

It’s called “Mixology Masters”, and it’s a competition-style show with bartenders/mixologists and cocktails, featuring some of the brightest talents behind the bars. I was excited and honoured to be one of the hosts and judges for the entire season. You may well see your local bartender competing on the show, and I’m so happy that we could showcase their amazing skills.

Linda, Editor-in-Chief

Alberta / Food & Drink / Recipes

Editor-in-Chief/Publisher

Linda Garson linda@culinairemagazine.ca

Managing Editor

Tom Firth tom@culinairemagazine.ca

Multimedia Editor

Keane Straub keane@culinairemagazine.ca

Sales

Tara Zenon 403-472-1345 tara@culinairemagazine.ca

Design

Kendra Design Inc

Contributors

Shelley Boettcher

Elizabeth Chorney-Booth

Natalie Findlay, Dong Kim

Renée Kohlman, David Nuttall

Keane Straub

To read about our talented team of contributors, please visit us online at culinairemagazine.ca

Our contributors

Natalie Findlay

After a brief period with an Easy Bake Oven, Natalie’s mom allowed her to use the big girl’s oven and set her on the course for a life filled with delicious outcomes. Since graduating from Le Cordon Bleu, Natalie has worked in restaurants, hotels, bakeries, and her own business. Currently, Natalie is a freelance writer, recipe developer, photographer, and health coach, and is loving every minute of it.

Tom Firth

Tom has been travelling the world and pulling corks for over 25 years. He is the Managing Editor for Culinaire Magazine, the Competition Director for the Alberta Beverage Awards, and the president of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers Alberta Chapter. He has no qualms about tasting first thing in the morning, and his desk is constantly covered in paper and bottlessomewhere under all that, a corkscrew might be found.

Elizabeth Chorney-Booth

2

Guided private visits to wineries of the famous regions of Rioja, Penedes, and Catalonia

Guided walking tours of:

• Essential Madrid Highlights

• Historical Laguardia

Contact us at:

Culinaire Magazine

#1203, 804–3rd Avenue SW

Calgary, AB T2P 0G9 403.870.9802 info@culinairemagazine.ca

@culinairemag

@culinairemag facebook.com/CulinaireMagazine

For subscriptions, competitions and to read Culinaire online: culinairemagazine.ca

Busy freelance writer and broadcaster, Elizabeth writes about food, travel, and many other topics. In addition to contributing to Culinaire, national and international publications, she is a Globe and Mail bestselling cookbook author and a regular contributor to CBC Radio and the Calgary Herald. A lover of food, travel, music, and community, when Elizabeth isn't out searching for something delicious, she’s likely to be found curled up with a good book.

Culinaire Magazine acknowledges that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut'ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, the Métis Nation (Region 3), and all people who make their home in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.

• Bilbao – private Pintxo Safari Walking Food Tour

• Barcelona – Gaudi experience and Barcelona Highlights

• Private Barcelona Cultural Immersion Food and Wine Walking Dinner Tour

• Private Montserrat walking tour and scenic nature walk

• Classic Spanish paella lunch in the fields

Congratulations to Sam Clark who, as I write, has just placed #2 in Canada at the World Class Canada competition, one of world’s most difficult and prestigious cocktail competitions. As Regional Manager of Bars and Mixology at Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise and Fairmont Banff Springs, Clark was busy before, and now he’s going to be even more in demand!

Filipino Restaurant Month is back! Throughout April, Filipino restaurants across the country are offering fixed price menus to showcase the variety of Filipino food and the talent of our Filipino chefs. The inaugural event included 40 restaurants in 18 cities, across 7 provinces, and this year we’re expecting even more!

Calgary’s Marda Loop has a new speakeasy – but we won’t tell you where to find La Hacienda! Text to make a reservation and they’ll reply with the day’s password, which you’ll confirm using a phone on the wall. Choose a signature tequila cocktail, a non-tequila cocktail, or from their extensive Sipping Menu of tequilas, mezcals, and other spirits, while you nibble on charcuterie, hummus, and other tapas. lahaciendayyc.ca

And there’s a new wine bar too in Marda Loop! Two French guys and a Belgian: Yann, Francois, and Moussa have opened Avitus Wine Bar, as authentic a French wine bar as it comes. This small, 27-seat space is a place to discover new wines and snack on charcuterie – one of the owners may join you to explain the origin of the products as there’s no menu or wine list. At very affordable by-the-glass and bottle prices, 80 percent of the wines are French and 20 percent from the rest of world. There are no TVs, and be warned - you may stay for hours at this little gem! 1934 34th Avenue SW, Calgary.

Edmonton’s Arpa Farm Fresh Butchery is a new butcher’s shop from Sofra and Zula Kitchen and Wine Bar, and it’s right next door at 14055 West Block Drive NW, with two hours free parking too. Pick up your pork, lamb, bison, chicken, butter, and cheese – and your choice of 35 different cuts of beef! Closed Sundays. arpafarmfreshbutchery.com

Calgary has a new butcher too! Niall Towey is from Ireland, and worked at MacEwans Meats making traditional UK and Irish goodies. Now he’s opened MacTowey Artisan Butchery. Starting with haggis (600 lbs of it a day!) he’s expanded to include black puddings, and meaty pies – lots of different ones, as well as Scotch eggs, sausage rolls, and sausages etc. 331-3750 46 Avenue SE, closed SundayMonday. mactowey.com

And while we’re talking Ireland… Edmonton has a new Irish gastropub. Husband and wife team, Kristina and John, settled in Edmonton and wanted to create an authentic pub that is part of the community, like back in Ireland. With like-minded friends, they’ve opened Ashford House Pub and Kitchen, named after the village in County Wicklow where John grew up. The menu is pure comfort food with an Irish flair, and celebrates local Alberts producers too. Time for Wine Thursdays has half-price weekly wines and shareables. 12026 107 Avenue NW, ashfordhousepub.com

It’s just a bar that serves hot dogs… After 16 years slinging dogs on Calgary’s 17 Avenue SW, Tubby Dog is now ‘Tubby’s’, in the Petrowest Building. Jon Truch was a bar owner, and with GM Charlie Hinton, of Broken City, has gone back to his roots as a lounge with terrific bar snacks; mostly local beers and traditional cocktails, and a seasonal wine list curated by Vine Arts’ Andrew MacLeod. The small menu includes three fan fave dogs and two new (with beef, turkey, veggie, and Ukey dog options), as well as pickled eggs, Ukey sausage slices with dips, and a chili bowl. Patio soon! 1210 8 Street SW. tubbybar.com

Edmonton’s The Glass Café, has opened across from MacEwan University, at 10345 107 Street. It’s in the loft; bright and beautiful, with lots of natural light from the two-storey windows, and a stunning spiral staircase. Come for a sweet or savoury pastry, and coffee from Catfish Coffee Roasters.

We’re so happy to see Calgary’s El Chefe open his own restaurant at 1438 17 Avenue SW. It’s a great space for Chef Giovanni Vazquez, with his cousin’s murals on the walls, and a whole menu for his famous birria dishes, including the generous quesadilla that we never want to stop eating. But don’t stop there, Vazquez is the real deal with Mexican street food dishes, excellent tacos, really good margaritas and micheladas, pollo asado, and a whole tilapia deep-fried to crispy outside. Tequila Thursdays, Latin DJ nights, daily drink specials, and late-night parties are here!

Edmonton’s Fairmont Hotel Macdonald has reopened Confederation Lounge after an extended renovation. But don’t worry, the beautiful fireplace is still there along with plenty of dark wood, and no TVs! Executive Chef Jiju Paul and Executive Restaurant Chef Brett Van Allen have created an upscale, local menu of shareable dishes, large plates, and vegetable dishes, matched by an elevated beverage menu that includes a rare Dalmore collection, as well as a Graham’s port from 1950. fairmont.com/macdonald-edmonton

Passion is evident at Calgary’s brand new Primary Colours Café. Chef Matthias Fong (ex-River Café) has been planning his café and bakery for three years, and it’s apparent in every detail, from sourcing local base ingredients (the primary colours) and mixing them to create new brunch and dinner dishes, as well as standout cocktails. Fong’s dryaged Broek Acres pork becomes bacon and sausages; pastries, butter, yogurt, and preserves, are all made in-house and you can pick up some to go, or enjoy dishes from Fong’s superb seasonal menu of all the things he likes (us too – the Ginger Beets are unmissable!) in the 12-seat café or 45-seat dining room. Wash it all down with co-owners’ Monogram coffee, or choose from the 100 percent Canadian drinks list. 802 49 Avenue SW, primarycolours.cafe

Prestons Restaurant + Lounge, in Edmonton’s Coast Hotel has re-opened, and is managed by A Capella Catering, so we know the menu of scratchmade, comfort food classics of bennies and burgers, beer-battered fish & chippies, steak frites, banana split, and much more, is going to be good! prestonsedmonton.ca

Lina’s Italian Piazza is fully open in Calgary’s Inglewood, and as well as the market of Italian and European products, deli, bakery, butcher, grab & go with hot and cold prepared dishes, there’s a new restaurant, Sapore (‘Taste’ in Italian). Executive Chef Christopher Hyde has created a delicious, modern Italian menu and there’s a small, well-curated drinks list. The superb Pizza & Destroy pizzas are here, as well as pasta master, Chef Hyde’s pop-up, Pastaboy from Oz. A great addition to the burgeoning Inglewood food scene. 1023 9th Ave SE. linasmarket.com

Que Chivo Salvadoran Street Food is sharing with The British Chippy! We love to see two small businesses getting creative to benefit both, and now at their Okotoks location, you’ll find The British Chippy from Wednesday to Saturday, and Que Chivo, who has a permanent location at Fresh & Local Market & Kitchens, taking over Sunday to Tuesday. 94 Elizabeth St, Okotoks. thebritishchippy.com

Do you have a notable achievement we should know about? A new opening, launch, or accolade? Email us at info@culinairemagazine.ca!