Vacation Post: Alberta 2017

Every year, we take an annual vacation (farther and longer) usually end of April or beginning of May.  Reason for this timing is we try to get some nice weather, but also have it early enough so that we are still paying low season pricing.  The last few years, we've been venturing around Europe.  And then during the summer, we'll do a shorter getaway either within Canada, or to the nearby United States.  This year, we decided to do it differently.  This May, we decided to take a short vacation in Alberta.

We flew into Calgary, and drove towards Banff.  To avoid the high costs of accommodation, we stayed in the hamlet of Harvie Heights.  Compared to Toronto, food seems to cost a bit more in Alberta.  But because taxes are less there, it seems to even out a bit in the end that way.  We did a bit of 'home cooking' just because it was more convenient for some breakfasts, and dinners.  Here's a list of where we ate.

Canmore:
Rave Coffee
Le Fournil Bakery

Banff:

Wild Flour Bakery

Lake Louise:

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

Calgary:

Naina's Kitchen

Calgary Farmers Market - Analog Coffee, Simple Simons Pies

Market on McCleod - Fresh-a-dilla Fresh Tortilla

Mercato

Sidewalk Citizen Bakery

Crossroads Market - Alaturka

Philosafy Coffee

Pigeonhole

Still need to do the write up for Piegonhole.  Need to find the photos as well....but definitely a must go to when in Calgary.

Sidewalk Citizen Bakery

One of my favourite places to eat at in Calgary.  Everything was delicious.  We went for brunch on the weekend, and it was packed in there.  There's a few tables for people that want to eat in, and a few tables on the patio if it's warm enough to eat out.  The lineup to order and pay was out the door!  Lineups are usually good signs.

That particular morning I just wanted something simple, I ordered bread, butter and a fried egg.  The bread was fresh sourdough bread that they bake.  Crispy crust and chewy sour inside, topped with butter, delicious! Hubby ordered a breakfast sandwich.  That came with fried egg, bacon, avocado and arugula all on a brioche type bun.  Great combination ingredients, but super messy to eat with the sunny side up egg.

Brunch 

After enjoying breakfast, we grabbed a scone (chocolate pear), and fruit topped danish (theres a better name for it, I just don't remember) to go.  So glad I was feeling like a glutton that morning.  The scone and danish were delicious.  The scone had just enough chocolate to make it a sweet treat without it being overly sweet and dense.  I liked the combination as well, not a common one, or at least not that I've noticed, elsewhere.  The danish, pastry part of it, buttery, flakey deliciousness.  One of the best danishes I've ever had.

Chocolate Pear Scone, Fruit Danish

The plan was to go back the morning that we were to fly back to Toronto.  That plan failed when we ran late.  I was so disappointed.....  If I'm ever back in Calgary, I'm going there for breakfast every single morning.

Sidewalk Citizen Bakery

618 Confluence Way SE

Calgary Alberta

T2G 0G1

Phone:  (403) 457-2245

Hours:  Monday - Thursday 800a - 300p

             Friday - Sunday 800a -400p

http://sidewalkcitizenbakery.com

Philosafy Coffee

Interesting name for a coffee shop.  And even more interesting how it's spelled.  I hate to label this place, but it's definitely hipster.  I can't put my finger on it as to why....but it just totally screamed hipster when I walked into it.  I ordered a latte, and holy geez it was expensive.  I forgot to take a picture of the latte itself, but I did snap a picture of the menu because I was in shock as to how expensive my drink was.  Deep down I was telling myself, it's this expensive because it must be a good latte.  And while it wasn't bad, it wasn't good either.  In my opinion, definitely not worth the hefty price tag considering theres other coffee shops nearby that serve delicious coffee.

Menu at Philosafy

Philosophy Coffee
632 17 Ave SW,
Calgary, AB
T2S 0B4

Hours:  Monday - Friday 700a -1100p
             Saturday - Sunday 800a - 1100p

https://www.philosafy.com

Mercato - Mission

I wanted to find a restaurant where would could sit and chat since we were meeting with my husband's cousins for dinner.  After doing some Googling for a place nearby the apartment, I found Mercato (Mission location).  My friend also mentioned Mercato, saying they make the best pasta.  So I knew I wanted to try this place.  But of course, due to me not doing enough homework before the trip, I never made a reservation.  In the end it worked out due to Calgary being 2 hours later than Toronto, means for an early dinner, we lucked out and got a table during the first seating.

It was so busy there, even though we walked in at 530pm, which is when they open.  We snagged a table because there just so happened to be a last minute cancellation, otherwise we would have had to sit at the bar.  I hate sitting at bars, because it's hard to have actual conversation, and plus i'm short, so getting up and down on the stools is quite a pain.  We quickly ordered because I was hungry.  We ordered a mushroom pasta, octopus pasta, the bistecca with a side of mixed mushrooms.  The pastas were great!  Even though pastas tend to me heavy, both these pastas were light and flavourful.  I guess its because it was a oil based sauce instead of a heavy cream or tomato sauce.   From both these pastas, the octopus was my favourite.  Very tender!

Mushroom Pasta

Octopus Pasta

The main was the steak.  It took FOREVER to come.  I know people like to sit and chat and enjoy their meals slowly.  But I was hungry, borderline getting to be HANGRY.  I just wanted my steak damn it.  We kept asking them how much longer, and they kept saying soon, it's just resting etc.  It finally arrived, and unfortunately I don't think it was worth waiting for.  I find the steaks I have in Toronto are much better.  There just wasn't much flavour.  Alberta is known for their beef, but yet, the beef I've had in Alberta, is well just meh.  Do they ship out all their beef to other parts of Canada instead?

Bistecca

The pasta was good, so good I would come back just for the pasta if i'm in Calgary again.  And I will make sure to make reservations next time, because I definitely don't want to sit at bar.

Mercato - Mission
2224 4th Street SW
Calgary, AB
T2S 4W9

Phone:  (403) 263-5535

Hours:  Monday - Sunday Lunch 1130a, Dinner 530p

http://www.mercatogourmet.com/main.html

Calgary - Markets

I'm a sucker for markets.  At home, I buy my produce from local farmers markets whenever possible. Yes, this doesn't mean that I am necessarily getting the best price possible, but I believe that it's important to support local.  Supporting local would mean keeping smaller farms alive, and also your produce would be more likely to ripen on the vine/plant (more flavour!), versus on a truck somewhere.  But when you shop at local farmers markets, you still have to be careful what you're buying.  I have been to some markets, where I noticed produce had stickers on them saying product of the USA.  So sneaky!

When I'm about to go on vacation, I spend all my planning energy, in this particular order, restaurants, accommodations, markets, and tourist attractions.  I always try and book my accommodations through AirBnB so I have a kitchen to cook some meals with the fresh produce I pick up while browsing the markets.  I was surprised to find Calgary to have so many markets as I was told Calgary is quite small.  I'm sure there's even more weekly/seasonal/summer pop up markets, but I only went to the year round ones.

Crossroads Market
This market was I think the biggest market out of the three that we visited.  The layout of the market was very strange, but I think its because the market is pretty much a couple of separate buildings connected together to form the market.  There is a flea market section where you can buy random used items.  And there is a fresh produce area where you can buy fresh meats, fruits, veggies, breads, cheeses, and cooked foods area (food court-ish, but it was pretty spread out due to the strange layout of the market).  I didn't end up buying any fresh produce from this market, we just bought a snack because we were hungry, and we couldn't find any food that we wanted for lunch.  We picked up some pastries from Alaturka.  Both items had had spinach and cheese.  One of them is similar to spanakoptia, and the other is like a pide that is filled with spinach and cheese.  Both were delicious!

Alaturka - Snacks

Crossroads Market
1235 26 Avenue SE

Calgary, AB 

T2G 1R7

Phone:  (403) 291-5208

Hours:  Monday - Thursday CLOSED
             Friday - Sunday 900a - 500p

http://crossroadsmarket.ca

Market on Macleod
This market was the smallest of the three markets.  There were booths/stalls that sold new random items, limited produce, and were actually mostly prepared/hot food items.  This is where we picked up some delicious home made Mexican food.  The vendor that we purchased our lunch from was Fresh-adilla Fresh Tortilla.  They make their tortillas when you order!  They're not the super thin tortillas that I'm used to eating, they were thicker, they were delicious!  I've never eaten food from a Mexican home, but this is what I would imagine it would taste like.   We ordered a gordita, and a quesadilla.  I've never had a gordita before, but to describe it, it's similar to an arepa, but deep fried.  The quesadilla wasn't what I imagined, normally its pan fried or grilled or something, but this one was deep fried.  Both items were deep fried, deep fried anything is delicious as long as it's not greasy.  Fillings were both pretty much the same, we chose pork for both I believe, and was topped with lettuce, tomatoes and queso fresco.

Fresh-adilla Tortilla - Lunch

Market on Macleod
7711 Macleod Trail SE
Calgary, AB
T2H 0M1

Phone:  (587) 354-1120

Hours:  Monday - Wednesday CLOSED
             Thursday - Sunday 900a - 500p

http://marketonmacleod.com/index.html

Calgary Farmers Market
This was my favourite market to visit.  So much so that we actually went twice!  There were different vendors that sold a variety of things ranging from up cycled bags, to olive oil, to nut butters, plenty of hot prepared foods, and of course, plenty of fresh produce.  Why I liked Calgary Farmers Market so much was that it's open, clean, and easy to navigate around.  Plus it doesn't hurt to have a well known coffee shop, Analog Coffee, right by the door so I can grab a coffee and stroll around.  We loved their coffee so much, the second time around, we bought some beans to bring back to Toronto!  Back to the first visit, I ended up picking up lots of fresh tomatoes, basil, pasta, olive oil, and some pork chops to make dinner at the apartment that night.  For dessert, we also grabbed a saskatoon berry pie from Simple Simons Pies.  I'm still not sure what a saskatoon berry is supposed to taste like, but to me it tastes like a blueberry crossed with a currant.

Analog Coffee - Latte

Saskatoon Berry Pie

Calgary Farmers Market
510 77th Avenue SE

Calgary, AB 

T2H 1C3

Phone: (403) 240-9113

Hours:  Monday - Wednesday CLOSED
             Thursday - Sunday 900a - 500p

http://www.calgaryfarmersmarket.ca

Naina's Kitchen

I was looking for something close to the apartment we rented for a somewhat quick meal, but have it hearty enough because it was going to be a late lunch after driving from Canmore.  I found Naina's Kitchen after doing some Googling, and Yelping.  And no I didn't decide to come here because it was on an episode of You Gotta Eat Here.  To be honest, I have gone to some of the restaurants that have been on the show, but I found that it wasn't really worth it.  Makes me wonder if some of the restaurants just pay the show so they can be featured.

We arrived at Naina's kitchen on a Friday, while it wasn't filled, it was quite busy.  We ordered a mac and cheese grilled cheese and a ramen stuffed burger.  If you know my hubby, if there's fried chicken or any sort of ramen, he will order that.  I realized after we placed our order this was not going to be a quick meal.  Here, they specialize in stuffed burgers.  Stuffed anything takes longer to cook through.  Which made me wonder, do people in Calgary have really lax lunch breaks?  I saw many people dressed in business attire who stayed a very long time for lunch.

As expected, it took a while for the burger to cook. We were getting so hungry!  Finally the food arrive and we dug in.  My mac and cheese grilled cheese was exactly how you would imagine it.  A thick slab of mac and cheese put in between 2 slices of bread and put on the flat top.  Carb overload!  It was cheesy enough, but a bit bland (even for me!), so I dipped it in ketchup.  I chose a caesar salad as my side instead of fries because didn't want carbs, carbs, and more carbs!  Although I have to admit I ate some of the hubby's fries.  The salad was fresh romaine lettuce, with homemade croutons and real bacon pieces.  Dressing I think was bought and not made in house.

Mac and Cheese & Caesar Salad

Hubby's ramen burger was exactly what you would expect.  A burger patty stuff with ramen in it.  It had ramen flavour, I'm sure ramen powder packet was added into either the burger meat or the ramen noodles was tossed with it.  What was disappointing was that the burger meat was dry.  Most likely had to do with how long the burger had to be cooked for in order to make sure everything was cooked through.  Maybe they could freeze some ramen stock and stuff it inside with the noodles to keep some sort of moisture?  I have to say though, the fries were pretty good, good portion and were fresh cut.

Ramen Burger & Fries

Ramen Burger Insides

I'm not sure I would come back here again, tried it once, understand the novelty of these kinds of burgers, but it's just novelty.  I think I would prefer a regular good old fashioned burger any day.

Naina's Kitchen
121 17 Ave. SE,
Calgary, AB
T2G 1H3

Phone:  (403) 263-6355

Hours:  Monday - Saturday 1100a - 1100p
             Sunday 1100a - 800p

http://nainaskitchen.com

Fairmont Lake Louise - Afternoon Tea

Whats there to do at Lake Louise when the trails are too slushy, and icy for hiking?  Sit back and admire the beautiful view of the lake while sipping afternoon tea inside the Fairmont!  I guess I could have tried to hike the trails, but I'm not sure I want to sit in the car in wet socks and shoes for the drive back to the apartment.  Plus, since my hiking shoes quit on me in Banff, I was left to wearing my winter runners......so we decided to take the option of enjoying the view.

We arrived at the Fairmont about 15 minutes before afternoon tea service was to begin so we had to wait a bit before we could be seated.  Lucky for us, because we didn't have a reservation, they still had a table by the window available.  And because our table was the first window table people walk by, I'm pretty sure we were in a lot of people's pictures.  I guess that's what it feels like to be a celeb hahaha.

While the view was beautiful, I found the service to be not as great as other places I've had afternoon/high tea before.  It wasn't that the service was bad, but it wasn't what I was expecting.  Usually I get offered teas to choose from by both looking at the menu, and also by smell.  Here at the Fairmont Lake Louise, I had to ask to smell the teas.  They didn't have a small 'sample' box of teas for me to smell, they just brought the big jar of teas over.  The hubby chose a strawberry green tea, and I chose a maple syrup black tea.  Hubby's tea smelled and tasted quite fruity.  Very light.  My maple syrup black tea I found a bit weak.  I let it steep in there for quite a long time, and it was finally to  my liking, although by then it got a bit cold.

Food wise, we started off with berries and fresh cream, tasted exactly how it sounds.

Berries with Fresh Cream

Then our sweet and savoury tower appeared.  The hubby was impressed with how it looked, he's never been to tea before.

Afternoon Tea Tower

Our savouries included shrimp on croissant, cucumber sandwich, curried egg salad sandwich, and some smoked salmon.  I tried them all, and really they were nothing special.  They weren't horrible, and they weren't great either.

Finger Sandwiches

The next thing I tried was the scone.  By look already, they weren't the fluffy airy scones that I love to eat.  Also, they weren't warm.  So it felt like they have been sitting around.  The scones came with some Devonshire cream (aka clotted cream), berry preserve, and lemon curd. I love love love clotted cream.  I could eat that on everything.  But so glad that I don't have that often because it's super fattening!  If you don't know what clotted cream is, it's like butter, but way lighter, almost like the consistency of mascarpone I'd say.  The preserves I doubt were made in house, tasted like any jam out of a jar.  I liked the lemon curd, but that probably because I like lemon.

Scones

And finally, the sweets.  There were 2 macarons, one raspberry, and one pistachio (from what I could guess).  They're nothing like Laudree, no where even close.  I would eat them if I was craving a macaron really badly....  The cakes, and what I think was panna cotta (or something similar to that), and fruit tart was passable.  It was similar to desserts that you would find at a buffet.

Sweets

Overall, the afternoon tea at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise was not as good as the other high teas/afternoon teas that I've had before.  But I have to say that it is one of the nicest views I've ever had while having tea.  So probably the first time ever, I'll say it's definitely worth it to come here despite the mediocre food.  Oh also, if you have afternoon tea here, your parking can get validated and you can park for free!

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
111 Lake Louise Drive,
Lake Louise, AB
T0L 1E0

Phone:  (403) 522-3511

http://www.fairmont.com/lake-louise/

Wild Flour Bakery

Banff, there's so much talk about it.  I thought it would be some beautiful glamorous place.  But maybe because I didn't get a chance to hike that much, I didn't feel it. If anything the town of Banff actually felt more like a tourist trap than anything.  Yes, the scenery there was beautiful, because theres the mountains wherever you look, but I don't know if it's because I went to Iceland first, it can't compare to the beauty of Iceland.  It also didn't feel like any locals live there, I felt like I walked the streets with tourists surrounding me.  The people that work in the retail shops, most of them had Australian accents!  It just felt weird.

Embarrassing story time.  Because I knew we would be hiking on this trip, I wore my running shoes, and brought along my hiking boots.  Now I've had my hiking boots for many many years, probably since undergrad.  And i'll pull them out to wear to shovel the snow, or go snowboarding.  About 5 minutes of walking around Banff, I felt something funny, I thought I stepped on some gum.  I look down, and the right sole of my hiking boot has become loose!  It's flapping around like a flip flop.  I made the hubby chew on some gum to see if that will hold, and no it doesn't!  Bought some contact cement at the Home Hardware to see if it will stick.  That stuff apparently takes 24 hours to set.  Ughhhhh.  So we would have to drive back to the apt for me to change into my runners. But of course, before that, we needed to eat.

Food wise, there's a lot of chains, like Earls, the Keg, McDonalds, etc.  I avoid those like the plague.  For lunch we popped into a bakery named Wild Flour Bakery.  Even though we were there for a late lunch, it was busy.  All the tables were taken and there was a small line up.  The bakery sells bread of course, sandwiches, soup, croissants, cookies etc.  All made in house with local organic ingredients.  Even though we were there for lunch, I ordered a breakfast sandwich & latte, and the hubby ordered a combo with a veggie sandwich, soup, cookie & flat white.  My breakfast sandwich was just ok.  The bread was great (they make a great sourdough).  The 'breakfast' filling was a egg frittata and cheese.  I have a feeling they prep the sandwich ahead of time and just warm it on the panini press, because the insides was still a bit cold.  If something is supposed to be hot, I like it piping hot.

Breakfast Sandwich

The hubby's veggie sandwich, there was some miscommunication when he ordered thats why he got a veggie sandwich instead of a meat one, was actually pretty good.  There were roasted peppers, tomato, spinach, and some pesto type spread.  The soup was so good!  Curry lentil soup.  Cookie that he got was a spicy chocolate cookie.  Reminds me of Soma's mayan hot chocolate.  The cookie texture was a bit crumbly, didn't hold that well, but still good.

Veggie Sandwich, Curry Lentil Soup, Spicy Chocolate Cookie

Coffees were good, a little bit weaker than what I would like but still good.  If i wasn't so full I wanted to buy a croissant and focaccia to try because they looked so good, but we said we would come back the next morning for breakfast on route to Lake Louise.  That never happened.  So if you ever come to Banff, skip the chains and check out this bakery, while it's not necessarily cheap, it's most likely more affordable than the other places around.

Latte and Flat White

Wild Flour Bakery
101-211 Bear Street,
Banff, Alberta,
T1L 1B4

Phone:  (403) 760-5074

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 700a - 400p

http://www.wildflourbakery.ca

Le Fournil Bakery

Popped into this little bakery to grab some dessert.  By the time I got there, there was maybe an hour left to close, and selection was starting to run a bit thin.  Breads were practically non existent, there were a few croissants, and a few individual cake slices available.  I picked up a butter croissant, and a slice of carrot cake.  No picture of the croissant because I inhaled it in the car because I was hungry.  It was nice and flakey on the outside (I was covered in croissant crumbs), inside was a bit bready for my liking, and also it missing that rich buttery fatty taste.  I think missing the buttery taste is probably because the milk/butter in Alberta isn't the greatest from what I've discovered.

The carrot cake was done well, could have had more cinnamon in my opinion.  But that's probably because I love cinnamon.  But it was nice and moist, with lots of carrot shreds it in, and had a nice cream cheese frosting on top.

Carrot Cake

Pricing wise, I found to be higher than in Toronto.  But as I've mentioned before in another post, food in Alberta seems to be higher than in Toronto in general.

Le Fournil Bakery
1205 Bow Valley Trail,
Canmore, AB
T1W 1P5

Phone:  (403) 675-5005

Hours:  Monday CLOSED
             Tuesday - Sunday 800a - 600p

http://fournil.ca

Rave Coffee

After a long-ish flight, and a drive from Calgary to Canmore, plus a time difference.  I needed some coffee.  And as always, I try and avoid Starbucks unless I have no other choice.  So I'm super glad I found Rave Coffee.  Finding Rave was a bit difficult.  It's tucked in a corner of a small plaza.  If you weren't looking for them, you really wouldn't know they exist.

Rave not only makes coffee, they also roast their own beans.  Kinda surprised to find that in a small town like Canmore.  But glad that they do do it!  I ordered a latte and a flat white.  It was nice and smooth, but I found my latte a bit weak, drowned out by the milk.  The hubby's flat white was better, probably because there was less milk.  And because I was tired and in a rush, I forgot to take a picture.

Side note, milk in Alberta doesn't taste very good.  Not rich and creamy at all.  Of course, I bought only regular milk, didn't try the organic milk.  Not sure if that makes a difference, but I find organic milk usually tastes a bit better.

Rave Coffee
113-703 Bow Valley Trail
Canmore, AB
T1W 2H4

Phone: (403) 675-7777

Hours: Monday - Sunday 800a - 600p

https://ravecoffee.ca

The Green Wood

I'm not that familiar to the south east end of toronto, or more specifically the Leslieville/Beaches area.  I honestly don't remember how I stumbled across the Green Wood.  But I was so glad I did.  We went for a very late brunch, technically it could have been considered a late lunch if anything.  Surprisingly, even though it was so late, the restaurant was full, no lineup but full.  We got the last table that was available.  But there was still bar seating.

We ordered, a fried chicken sandwich with fries, and the classic shakshuka.  The fried chicken sandwich of course was the hubby's order.  The chicken had a crispy outside and juicy inside, topped with a lightly dressed creamy coleslaw, all sitting on a brioche type bun.  I found the bun to be a bit too light to hold up to such a dense filling, but taste wise it worked.  Fries were great, thicker cut than normal, but not thick to the point of it being wedges.  House made ketchup had a slightly smokey flavour, not too sweet like store bought ketchup can be.  The shakshuka, my new favourite brunch dish.  It was so good (although I don't really have other comparisons), that I attempted to make it at home for dinner the same week.  Of course, mine didn't match up quite as well.  I loved the tanginess of the tomatoes, the softly cooked eggs, and the homemade bread (honey oat I think) that was served alongside.

Fried Chicken Sandwich

Classic Shakshuka

Too bad the Green Wood is so far from home, otherwise, I would be eating here way more often.  I love how their restaurant uses all local ingredients and chooses sustainable food items.  If you would like to see what they get their ingredients from, check them out on their webpage.

The Green Wood
1402 Queen St E.,
Toronto, ON
M4L 1C9

Phone:  (416) 778-4343

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 900a - 400p

http://eatgreenwood.com