A TALE OF THREE CITIES

[stovetop]

A TALE OF THREE CITIES

Part one of Tale One

Canmore

I just finished a week in Alberta, I flew into Calgary from Comox on Vancouver Island, I was picked up from a friend of mine from Calgary, we immediately went to Canmore, he had gotten a place there recently, we got our bike gear together and then we went mountain biking, I had forgotten how beautiful Alberta Rockies are, not the over log out forest that BC has, the beauty of the Canmore Valley is breathtaking, the Three Sisters mountain range rips out from the earth and juts into the sky with such fury and energy, the ride was amazing, the whole valley bellow us the whole time, hard to keep the eyes on the trail, I found it to be very distracting, but this is a site about food, but the ride was the highlight of my whole trip.

Canmore food scene is quit amazing, it can stand up to Whistler in a heart beat, it has about four really good high end dinning places and from what press I read they all seem to be good places, it is a well laid out town site with old and new character weaved together with great planning; to me Whistler has just become Disney Land and a place for the rich and elite, Whistlers whole life was spent in planning not to become Vail, but for me the more it tried not to become Vail the closer it become Vail, Whistler is so lucky that it has some amazing ski terrain, because if it did not it would not be at the level it is on the world ski market, Whistler really needs to evaluate its whole development if it wants to keep competing on the world market, Canmore in years to come is going to be a very accessible place, at the moment it is cheaper then Whistler and the whole ski package can compare to whistler but the beauty is ten time better then any terrain that the Interwest site( Whistler –Blackcomb) has to offer.

The restaurants and cafes are very good and Banff is so close that you can go and dine there as well, between the two towns it is soon to compete with Whistlers somewhat Non Changing and boring dinning Scene

Edited September 20, 2004 by stovetop (log)

[barolo]

Stovetop:

I look forward to hearing more about your trip.

I agree that Canmore has a far more interesting ambiance than Whistler. I would like to see Whistler deposed so that it could regain some personality.

Unfortunately more and more BC "resorts" are taking on the Disneyland look. My visit to Poet's Cove on Pender Island provided another example.

[stovetop]

Canmore Restaurants

Sage Bistro--> Bow Valley Trail, Chef Jason Rennie 1-403-678-4778

Quarry Bistro and Wine Bar --> 718 Main Street, Chef David Wyse 1-250-6786088 The Quarry web site

Murrieta's West coast Grill--> 200- 737 Main Street Murrieta's Web Site

Musashi Japanese Restaurant--> 1306-Bow Valley Trail

Vic’s Steakhouse & Bar--> Radisson Hotel, Chef Don Tomie,

Renzo’s at the Sheraton--> Chef Peter McDiarmid Renzo's Web Site

Copper Door--> 729 9th street ,1-403-678-5233

Des Alpes--> 702 10 Street, Chef Xavier Schurtenberger, fine Swiss cuisine

Chez Francois--> Best Western Green Gables Inn, Chef Jean Francoise Gouin, 1604 Bow Valley Tr.

Mélange--> 721 main streets, The Georgetown Inn Melange web site

Crazyweed Kitchen-->Main Street, 1-403-609-2530, Chef: Jan Hrabec

The Village Bistro

The French Quarter Café --> #4 - 102 Boulder Crescent French Quarter Web Site

The Grizzly Paw Brew Pub and Restaurant

Luna Blue

The Valbella Deli

The Drake Inn

Gasthaus Alphorn

Bow Valley Catering

[stovetop]

Unfortunately more and more BC "resorts" are taking on the Disneyland look. My visit to Poet's Cove on Pender Island provided another example.

BC Tourism is a very fractured industry, it is all the small operators working their buts off with out much help of the government, we need to get our shit together here in BC, we have to start harmonizing our industry, stop fighting and become one industry, spend some money on marketing and get the Tourist back.

The Olympics must be more then just Whistler and the profit off of real-estate, it must be about the long term sustainability of the facilities and how the lower mainland can work together not fight and all those self interested &^&&*% people who are running things, Tourism is the # 1 Industry in BC, we Must start behaving like we are.

[stovetop]

Part Two of Tale One

Calgary

After a great day of biking, we washed off the bikes and put them in storage, on the way out of town we dropped by a cafe and I grabbed a great blueberry and peach muffin and a double espresso, I was having dinner in Calgary at a birthday party so I did not want to stuff my face.

I have to say the drive from Canmore to Calgary is very beautiful, on this day it had to be the warmest and sunniest day of the week in Alberta. The other thing about Calgary is that it is a city of freeways, so little time is spent in traffic; I really like this about Calgary.

Calgary is really picking up in the food scene as well, there are some great restaurants and bakeries and some great nebourhood are developing into some great drives with so many cool stores, it beats the hell out of suburban malls, they are getting so bad all over Alberta suburbs, almost as bad as Nanaimo, mall land.

There are so many great restaurants such as Catch, Teatro and Centini all of which are on Stephens’s ave which in itself is a great nebourhood. Just this one area has so many good places, I found it to be a great nebourhood with lots of character and a far cry from mall land.

Edited September 23, 2004 by stovetop (log)

[stovetop]

Part Two of Tale One

Calgary

Who is going to fill the hole left by two great Calgary chefs?

I was a little late in catching two Vancouver imports to Calgary; Michael Allemeier, Michael Noble, both it seems have moved on to other projects, Michael Allemeier has a great gig as Winery Chef at British Columbia’s Mission Hill Family Estate, I am not sure what Michael Noble is up to; both will be very missed in the Calgary scene, it is going to be hard to replace chefs of that calibar.

These two chefs had a huge influence on the Calgary dinning scene, they both moved the bar up a few notches,and we shall see which cooks will fill in the huge gaps both these chefs left when they moved on.

Fat guy eats Alberta

Mountain biking in Canmore

Edited September 24, 2004 by stovetop (log)

[stovetop]

What makes a good restaurant? ; Why do some restaurants last for years and why do some restaurants go out of business within the first year. My trip to Edmonton once again showed me some of those answers, the Edmonton restaurant scene is a very healthy and a viable business environment, many restaurants in Edmonton have been in business for many years, the economy in Edmonton has stabilized over the last few years so there is a very vibrant dinning scene in the Edmonton market.

One restaurant that I went to in Edmonton has been around for 27 years and is one of the only business left in the downtown core of Edmonton which has seen a complete name face change over the last ten years, every tower in downtown has a new tenant, it is hard to find many business that existed in the 80’s let alone the 90’s.

BISTRO PRAHA is an Oasis in Edmonton, it is a very unique and comfortable space, back in the 80’s, it was a late night stomping ground fro many of us in the food business, we would meet up and have a few drinks and some chow after work.

Every trip over the years in my reentry to Edmonton, I always stop at Bistro Praha, this time around was my first place I went to in Edmonton, just getting off the bus from Calgary, I needed a place to get my bearings together and get some good food in me, walking around downtown I realized very soon how so many things had changed since I was last there which was in 2000, four years had produced a very different landscape for downtown, so I ducked into the Praha and had a very familiar space to chill out in, “Ah a beer”, that was the first priority in order, tomato salad, and a couple of open faced sandwiches which I love so much, a desperately needed fuel stop from the bus ride from Calgary.

The Bistro space has not changed much in 20 years; it has a varied selection of wooden tables spread out evenly, each having its own space, not infringing open each other, it is a true bistro, very good service and a menu that has much Eastern European foods on it.

I enjoyed my visit very much to the bistro and remembered the many occasions that I visited with friends and work mates on days past, it has a history in the city and I enjoy that aspect of the restaurant very much. I went to the bistro one more time before I left Edmonton, the second time I had the smoked hock, the pickled herring, and a pate platter, it was a nice compliment to a couple of beers and some nice conversation with a friends.

It to me is a great restaurant to socialize and catch up on life events with friends or family, a must visit for a restaurant in Edmonton and touch a piece of living history in the Edmonton dinning scene.

Another long time downtown restaurant is café select, which I did not get to go to, but hear it is still around but seems it is not up to the standards it once lived up to, the husband and wife team I hear are no longer together so I could see that affecting the restaurants style.

Another long time place that is still around is the Russian Tea Room, it is also a Eastern European place, in this day and age it is hard to find long term food establishments, each of this places have been around for over twenty years, for me if you can last that long you must be doing something right

http://www.ualberta.ca/EDMONTON/RESTAURANT...ta/rest.76.html

http://www.chowhound.com/canada/boards/can...sages/9493.html

http://www.chowhound.com/canada/boards/can...sages/9152.html

Bistro Praha Gourmet Café

(780) 424-4218

10168 100A St NW

Edmonton, AB

CAFÉ SELECT

Reservations recommended.

Lunch Mon to Fri 11:30 am; dinner Sun to Wed 5 pm to 12 am; Thu to Sat 5 pm to 2 am.

10018-106 St. Edmonton, Alberta

RUSSIAN TEA ROOM

11 am - 10 pm. Open daily 9 am to 11 pm.

Address: 10312 Jasper Ave Edmonton Alberta

[Coop]

Oh My God! it's the name never to be spoken! C#@$h&*)d.

[Daddy-A]

Oh My God! it's the name never to be spoken! C#@$h&*)d.

←

That stovetop ... he's a rebel.

A.

[nwyles]

That stovetop ... he's a rebel. 

A.

←

Am I missing something here ? I am just a simple man new to this so what is the deal ??

Edited October 9, 2004 by nwyles (log)

[Daddy-A]

Am I missing something here ? I am just a simple man new to this so what is the deal ??

←

Neil,

Steve mentioned the chowhound website ... verboten in these parts!

A.

[nwyles]

Neil,

Steve mentioned the chowhound website ... verboten in these parts!

A.

←

I checked it out to see what all the hub-bub was about.

It looks just this side of caveman drawings ! Very low-tech indeed.

How is it that these people have not discovered the awesome power of the egullet.

Someone should enlighten them , or we just let them wallow in their own ignorance.

I think the latter.

Thanks for the explanation.

[Coop]

Here is the odd thing. Some people prefer it to this place because of the low tech more casual feel. It's a good place for recomendations like this:

Japanese Tojo's, Meat Memphis Blues, Fish The Cannery.

Real out of the box stuff.

[merlin]

Here is the odd thing. Some people prefer it to this place because of the low tech more casual feel. It's a good place for recomendations like this:

I "resemble" that remark

Before Daddy-A's explanation I too was perplexed. Had to chuckle since two of those posts Steve/Stovetop linked were/are mine.

With that mea culpa...can I still "play" here?

[stovetop]

Ya, what is the big deal, whatever happened to freedom of expression, I was just giving reference points for people to see different opinions on Edmonton, are we all so full of ourselves that we are afraid of someone else’s opinion, that is the best aspect of the internet, is the access to information, it is not controlled by the media; Yet!

Although, the media does not seem to grasp the scope and the depth of the internet, the whole idea of interactive media scares the big corporations, they do not know how to isolate the audience, it is such a infinite market, but where do you track your audience and where do you pay, and who do you pay??

The Food media business is huge and the Canadian media companies have a hard time with such infinite markets and all the resources to cover that market, they have to start recycling content like American media and learn how to use the internet to connect to their audience, like children, let go and let the market move within the Nets scope, the advertisers and supporters will line up and we will benefit finally from the Content we will have access to, build it they will come. They just do not have a clue on what to build, they can not get by the stumbling block on how will they make money, so many papers are free and how does a free paper make Money????

steve

[mb7o]

I'll guess that Coop's comment above is a joke. You can mention ch as much as you want on egullet. However, the converse is not true.