After getting lost while solo touring the streets of Italy in search of a 300-year-old cheese shop (amongst other food destinations), University of Calgary student Joanna Pariseau wondered if there was a better way for individuals to have fun, self-guided dining experiences. That experience, as well as a class project on how to revitalize Calgary’s downtown, prompted Pariseau to develop the concept for Taste the City, which offers self-guided, curated dining tours. “That’s the thing I personally like doing when I’m travelling,” says Pariseau. “I appreciate a little bit of time to eat, even wit ..read more

New life has taken root in the former space of the iconic Golden Inn Restaurant in Chinatown. A bright red and yellow sign beckons all into the newly opened Prosperity Bar, which brings a mixture of classic tiki-style cocktails and fun, fusion-style Chinese dishes to the Calgary dining scene. This new tiki-bar/fusion-restaurant is the latest from Nhi Tran and Tanner Ennis, owners of the ever-popular basement bar a few doors down, Paper Lantern. When they saw the much-loved Golden Inn restaurant was closing its doors, they saw an opportunity to continue a legacy for the space, and bring a vibra ..read more

Italian restaurateur Tony Migliarese (D.O.P.) started the retro-Brooklyn-inspired pizzeria Pizzaface with his former partner, Mike Garth, more than five years ago as a pop-up. They were operating out of Diner Deluxe when Garth’s idea for a pickle pizza was born. The pizza was an instant hit and has been on the menu ever since, following Pizzaface into its current bricks-and-mortar space on 17th Avenue S.W. We caught up with Migliarese to learn the “knead-to-know” details about the beloved pickle pie.   The Dough “[The dough] is something we’ve been working on for the last five years,” say ..read more

Assorted dishes from Raw Japanese Hand Roll Bar. Photo by Chris Landry. There’s a new dining destination in Calgary’s East Village neighbourhood completely dedicated to Japanese hand rolls. Hand rolls are a type of sushi where rice, fish and other ingredients are loosely wrapped in nori, then eaten immediately while the rice is still warm and the seaweed is still crispy. Raw Japanese Hand Roll Bar is run by Cindy Tran and Sharon Huynh, who decided to fill the hand roll-shaped hole in Calgary’s dining landscape. The pair met while working as nurses, and quickly developed a friendship based arou ..read more

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Village Brewery Photo by Chris Landry. Village Brewery re-launched its new taproom designed by Sarah Ward Interiors in May 2023. Featuring humble materials like concrete and plywood to emulate a hand-crafted feel, the taproom’s focal light fixtures use fluorescent tubes surrounding warm, incandescent bulbs for an industrial vibe. 500 12A St. S.E., 403-243-3327, villagebrewery.com, @villagebrewery   Orchard Photo by Chris Landry. At Orchard, the gorgeous mix of chandeliers hanging from the roof are complemented by dozens of plants weaving in and around them. The result is a luxurious, Inst ..read more

Smashed apple pie dumplings, wagyu beef dumplings and the crispy shrimp chop chop bowl. Photo by Chris Landry. Picture it: You walk into a restaurant to order lunch, grab it from a locker-style pick-up window and leave with hot, fresh dumplings, all with minimal human interaction. That’s exactly what happens at Brooklyn Dumpling Shop. The New York-based restaurant franchise recently opened its first Calgary location in Inglewood, with another location coming soon on 17th Avenue S.W. Brooklyn Dumpling Shop’s business model is based on the automat, a food service technology originally born in th ..read more

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Photo by Jared Sych. Matthew Batey is an incredibly accomplished chef — anyone who has had the pleasure of eating at Mission Hill Family Estate in Kelowna or at The Nash in Calgary during his respective tenures knows the man can cook. But, in more recent years, as chief operating officer and director of culinary for the Teatro Group, he has shown that he also has a considerable knack for leadership and mentorship. While Batey continues to use those skills in overseeing Teatro’s culinary programs, he has also extended them towards a new, younger generation of budding chefs. This new role kicked ..read more

Photo by Jared Sych. When Said M’Dahoma moved to Calgary from France in 2015, it was not as a pastry chef, but as a neuroscientist to take a postdoc research gig at the University of Calgary. As M’Dahoma dug into his work there, he experienced a very specific kind of homesickness — a yearning for the plethora of French pastries he took for granted while living in Paris. Unable to find the selection he sought in local pastry shops at the time, M’Dahoma did what any good academic would do: he hit the books and taught himself how to make croissants, macarons, mousse cakes and other sweet delights ..read more