Good restaurants in Calgary

[tete]

Originally Posted by Pizza

BUMP

so it looks like the exec chef from Rouge is now the exec chef in Muse as well as Rouge's staff transitioning over to Muse.

still a nice meal at Muse, but whatever made Muse better than Rouge is now a thing of the past

Interesting! Rouge lost one of their best (IMHO) somelliers to Muse a while ago - he is amazing - I think his name is Angus. His pairings with tasting menus are great.

Speaking of tasting menus, any recommendations for a good tasting menu paired with wine that isn't Rouge or Muse? We've been there, done that at both places and are looking for something different for a change.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by nomad

. Really liked Sugo for Italian.

Originally Posted by AR_Six

. Calgary generally has plenty of good Italian spots... Sugo is fantastic.

Originally Posted by karl262

IMO:
Best Italian is sugo

</p>

Did Sugo for my wife's birthday based on recommendations in this thread. 4 course tasting menu is $59, we had mozzarela wrapped prosciutto, a gnocci with chicken/mushrooms, prosciutto wrapped wild boar tenderloan with roasted vegetables, and panchetta with raspberry glaze for dessert. It was all excellent, and they were very willing to accomodate requests. (My wife doesn't like seafood, in general, and I think mussels were substituted out somewhere). Anyway, the service/food was excellent, we'll definitely be back.

[Table 5]

My wife and I went to Teatro yesterday to celebrate her birthday. For anyone who goes, make sure you order their Marscapone risotto. It's extremely rich and creamy, topped with lobster tail and shaved truffles (not oil), and a bone-marrow sauce. Mind-blowingly good. It was by far the best risotto I've ever had, and probably one of the top 10 things I've ever eaten period.

[troutman]

Boxwood has a great patio in the park. Impress your guests. No reservations, but we were told the wait list is not too bad, and they bring you drinks while you wait.

http://www.boxwoodcafe.ca/

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Table 5

My wife and I went to Teatro yesterday to celebrate her birthday. For anyone who goes, make sure you order their Marscapone risotto. It's extremely rich and creamy, topped with lobster tail and shaved truffles (not oil), and a bone-marrow sauce. Mind-blowingly good. It was by far the best risotto I've ever had, and probably one of the top 10 things I've ever eaten period.

Interesting. Our wives must have the same birthday. I actually had teatro reservations for last night, but cancelled at the last minute to try Sugo, where we haven't been before. Will definitley get the risotto next time, thanks for the recommendation!

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Interesting. Our wives must have the same birthday. I actually had teatro reservations for last night, but cancelled at the last minute to try Sugo, where we haven't been before. Will definitley get the risotto next time, thanks for the recommendation!

Nice, did she turn 30 too? That would be even better, ha.

What was actually a really nice touch is that we shared the risotto as one of our appetizers, and they prepared it in two separate dishes. It's probably a little too rich to eat all of it on your own, but sharing it between 2 people was the perfect amount. It might be the best dish I've ever had in Calgary.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Nice, did she turn 30 too? That would be even better, ha.

What was actually a really nice touch is that we shared the risotto as one of our appetizers, and they prepared it in two separate dishes. It's probably a little too rich to eat all of it on your own, but sharing it between 2 people was the perfect amount. It might be the best dish I've ever had in Calgary.

Haha. Nope, we're just at 27. Based on some of your previous comments in this thread, if that's edging on best dish ever in Calgary then it must be good. I'll assume your best dishes ever were elsewhere. If you only had 1-2 nights in NYC what restaurants would you do? We're doing another long weekend there next month, and could use a couple of new places. (We always do Maya one night, but wouldn't mind branching out.)

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Haha. Nope, we're just at 27. Based on some of your previous comments in this thread, if that's edging on best dish ever in Calgary then it must be good. I'll assume your best dishes ever were elsewhere. If you only had 1-2 nights in NYC what restaurants would you do? We're doing another long weekend there next month, and could use a couple of new places. (We always do Maya one night, but wouldn't mind branching out.)

Ha, well, my best dishes ever include things like a bag of mozzarella in Padua, a lobster roll from a roadside shack in Maine, and 4-euro pizza in Naples... so it's not always necessarily a fine-dining restaurant. I think my best ever fine-dining experience was in San Sebastian, Spain though...that town has a ridiculous amount of good food.

Keep in mind I've been living outside of NY for over a year now, but some places that come to mind that you could try Ive listed below.

Zenkichi - Williamsburg. The best Japanese food I've ever had....and none of it was sushi. Did some ridiculous 8-10 course tasting menu, with a sake tasting with every course.

Pylos - Lower East Side. Some really great Greek Food.

Dogmatic - Union Square. Just really awesome fancy-ish hotdogs. Great for on the go, and a location you're always around anyway.

-6th Street between 2nd and 1st Aves has great cheap Indian food. Great lunch specials for cheap.

-If you're there over a weekend, I recommend going to Williamsburg and attending Smorgasburg, a great outdoor food market. It's a little hipstery, but also offers a great view of the Manhattan skyline. Plus you can take the water taxi there, which is a great cheap way to get on the water.

You can always go the high end route of course in NY (ie. Momofuku, La Bernardin, Perse....all fantastic) but I think the magic of the NY dining scene is that you can get really amazing food at reasonable prices. Something that Calgary has not yet achieved, but I'm hoping it will in a few years.

A lot of great restaurants on this list though:
http://nymag.com/restaurants/wheretoeat/2012/

[valo403]

Here's the updated nymag list for 2013 http://nymag.com/restaurants/wheretoeat/2013/

A lot of Brooklyn spots. Battersby is great and not much of a trip.

If you like old school red sauce style italian try Parm for a pretty cheap lunch/dinner or really ball out and hit Carbone (the one on Thompson). Same chefs/owners for both, along with Torrisi, which steps outside of the steroetypical italian flavors a bit more.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Table 5

My wife and I went to Teatro yesterday to celebrate her birthday. For anyone who goes, make sure you order their Marscapone risotto. It's extremely rich and creamy, topped with lobster tail and shaved truffles (not oil), and a bone-marrow sauce. Mind-blowingly good. It was by far the best risotto I've ever had, and probably one of the top 10 things I've ever eaten period.

Just curious, how much does that cost?

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Just curious, how much does that cost?

$29. Not cheap, but with lobster and shaved truffle, I don't think it's unreasonable by any means....especially for Calgary, where you can probably spend close to that on a personal pizza.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by fotze

When I eat at NY italian restaurants and then the older ones in Calgary, I wonder what boat came to Calgary way back when?

Italian is kind of funny in that places, particularly those that started out family run, are more restaurants with people from Italy in the kitchen than they are "Italian restaurants". It's such a varied cuisine, most people default to pasta but that's really such a minute portion of it. Even tomatoes aren't really a huge part of Italian cuisine, but we tend to think they are. Italian-American adds so many weird twists, from combining a bunch of different regional dishes to taking small peasant dishes and packing them with tons of protein and cheese it's really a cuisine all to itself.

The places I listed above embrace that concept but give it more of a refined treatment, for instance the veal marsala at Carbone comes on the bone and uses those fancy mushrooms you're always afraid to buy at the store. They also copied the flooring for the restaurant directly from a scene in The Godfather.

Anyways, back to Calgary. What's La Brezza like these days? Is it even around? I remember eating there a good 10 years ago when the grandmother was still in the kitchen and it was phenomenal.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Yellow Door Bistro in Hotel Arts is fairly new. Good food and interesting decor.

[mariners_fever]

Originally Posted by tete

Interesting! Rouge lost one of their best (IMHO) somelliers to Muse a while ago - he is amazing - I think his name is Angus. His pairings with tasting menus are great.

Speaking of tasting menus, any recommendations for a good tasting menu paired with wine that isn't Rouge or Muse? We've been there, done that at both places and are looking for something different for a change.

I worked at Muse for three years and left about 6 months before the transfer of ownership. In actuality it's the owner of Escoba that assumed ownership.

His name is Fergus, he's an amazing sommelier. Sadly, I've heard he's since moved on to Rush.

As for tasting menu recommendations, I know that the old chef from Muse, Xavier Lacaze (who was on Top Chef last year) is at Home Tasting Room now. He does a killer tasting menu.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by valo403

Italian is kind of funny in that places, particularly those that started out family run, are more restaurants with people from Italy in the kitchen than they are "Italian restaurants". It's such a varied cuisine, most people default to pasta but that's really such a minute portion of it. Even tomatoes aren't really a huge part of Italian cuisine, but we tend to think they are. Italian-American adds so many weird twists, from combining a bunch of different regional dishes to taking small peasant dishes and packing them with tons of protein and cheese it's really a cuisine all to itself.

This. A million times this.

Most people don't realize tomatoes came from the new world, so Europeans haven't even had them as part of their cuisine for all that long (relatively speaking), yet somehow tomato sauce, pasta, and pizza are all people think Italian food is. They're thinking Italian-American, not Italian.

[Table 5]

I think Calgary has a lot of good "Italian-Italian, not American-Italian" restaurants. In fact, if I have one complain, it's that it seems like almost every new restaurant is based off of Italian in some fashion. We could use a little more variety.

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I think Calgary has a lot of good "Italian-Italian, not American-Italian" restaurants. In fact, if I have one complain, it's that it seems like almost every new restaurant is based off of Italian in some fashion. We could use a little more variety.

You mean like a steakhouse?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by valo403

Here's the updated nymag list for 2013 http://nymag.com/restaurants/wheretoeat/2013/

A lot of Brooklyn spots. Battersby is great and not much of a trip.

If you like old school red sauce style italian try Parm for a pretty cheap lunch/dinner or really ball out and hit Carbone (the one on Thompson). Same chefs/owners for both, along with Torrisi, which steps outside of the steroetypical italian flavors a bit more.

Sapori D'Ischia Restaurant


This place formerly in Queens moved to midtown. Have you tried it?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sapor...t/166662166521

[valo403]

Originally Posted by troutman

Sapori D'Ischia Restaurant


This place formerly in Queens moved to midtown. Have you tried it?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sapor...t/166662166521

It doesn't appear that a midtown location ever opened, or if it did was never publicized as the food press loved that place and would have been all over it. Definitely looks like it was worth the trip.

[MarchHare]

As for tasting menu recommendations, I know that the old chef from Muse, Xavier Lacaze (who was on Top Chef last year) is at Home Tasting Room now. He does a killer tasting menu.

Not anymore.