Charbar

September 27, 2017 Gary

North side of the Simmons building at night.

Opened: June 2015
Address: 618 Confluence Way SE
Kid Friendly: w/menu items and highchairs
Brunch: Yes
Website: http://www.charbar.ca
Google Pics: Link

I can’t talk about Charbar without talking about the East Village. I’ll keep my distraction short and return to it another time. The East Village is a 15 block area on the east side of downtown, behind City Hall, Bow Valley College and the Harry Hays Building extending to the Elbow River and Inglewood. When I moved here nearly twenty years ago calling the area a run down lost cause was being polite. Let’s just say a change has come, following a 300 million dollar investment from the city to upgrade the infrastructure of the area private investment has followed. Mixed in with the previous rundown structures and crackling empty lots were several historical structures with great character. These buildings have all been saved, refurbished, modernized and become cornerstones of the area. One such building was the Simmons Mattress warehouse. To say it’s the crown jewel of the area, might be an overstatement after all this area is flourishing with unique and special gems.

Looking west at the Simmons building, June 2015.

A building like this took special vision to revitalize and bring it to where it is today. This came from three local business that came together to bring back this building. They each focus on old world quality, being fresh and sustainable while supporting local suppliers and communities. They are Phil & Sebastian, Charbar, and Sidewalk Citizen.

The Phil & Sebastian coffee bar at the south entrance, with Charbar’s cocktail bar in the foreground.

Phil & Sebastian is one of Calgary’s boutique coffee roasters and true coffee houses. They began at the Calgary Farmers’ Market and now have five locations. I’d like to say that the East Village is their flagship location however the Stephen Ave location is also beautiful. www.philsebastian.com

Sidewalk Citizen’s inside sign, seen when approaching from the north side.

Sidewalk Citizen is an artisan bakery based in Kensington, with the Simmons’ building location being their second. They specialize in traditional baking methods and have delicious baked goods. www.sidewalkcitizenbakery.com

Charbar’sinside signage seen over the host counter. Showing curing meat.

This brings us to Charbar, the second venture from the team behind downtown’s acclaimed Charcut. While Charcut is meat first, with in-house butchery featuring charbroiled and rotisserie meats. Charbar has a range of dishes emphasizing vegetables and seafood, but don’t worry the signature meats cooked with an Argentinian wood-fired tradition blending Spanish and Italian influences is still present.

The Simmons building, visible atop is Charbar’s rooftop patio.

Charbar opened in the summer of 2015 with much anticipation showcasing what is evolving in the East Village. We made our inaugural visit for brunch on the last Sunday that June. We’ve been five or six times now and like a few other spots, it’s simply a crime that we haven’t been for dinner. However as parents who want our daughter to experience and try more at every opportunity, mornings are better for an East Village adventure.

The East Village’s RiverWalk water front.

To hurry our arrival to the East Village we took the C-Train to the other end of downtown, walked to the river, and to the Simmons’ building. At that time I gasped at the progress that had been happening since my last stroll along the river and through the area. A few years before when RiverWalk had reimagined the waterfront we walked along and it was a beautiful concept, but felt almost out of place because there was little else over there. Now with landscaping complete, construction and optimism all around, in the center is a brick structure brought forth from the past.

Ceiling details inside the Simmons building.

Walking inside we were in love, original natural wood timbers, raw steel trusses, and natural light was everywhere. The place felt like a turn of the century warehouse loft, exactly what it was. The center opened up to a glass elevator creating a focal point and primary access to the levels including the rooftop patio. I’d heard about the three separate business using the space and had seen a concept floor plan, but I had to look around and see it.

Looking west to the downtown through the windows of the Simmons building.

This place is a passion project for these businesses, what a phenomenal collaboration to create together. From day one it brings an identity to the East Village.

Sidewalk Citizen’s counter at the south entrance. Always a line of people picking up breads and sweets.

Looking around, Phil & Sebastian is on the south side of the building. While Sidewalk Citizen is on the north side, with a river facing patio next to Charbar’s own. Doors on both sides of the building access these spaces and come together in the middle at Charbar’s cocktail bar and host counter.

Upstairs in the Simmons Building, the glass elevator is just visible to the right.

At that first visit, we were seated in the spacious upstairs with only a few other tables occupied. Despite the large size, I’ve noticed in subsequent visits that the place doesn’t become noisy with conversation white noise like some large or even smaller places. I tribute that to all the aged wood surfaces.

Upstairs in the Simmons Building, stairs visible beside the elevator.

Charbar calls their menu “eclectic and innovative” I can’t argue with that, for brunch you can order bacon and eggs, but you can be having a chicken chimichurri or empanadas. How about a brunch appetizer, as I like to call the deep-fried french toast bites?

Deep-fried french toast bites dulce de leche dipping sauce ($12)

They have a few breakfast salads, one with cabbage, avocado and seeds, the other with kale, gouda and chiles. How about their brunch burger? It’s a “Double stacked gaucho burger, dry-aged provoleta cheese, crush avocado”. Is a western steak and eggs more you style? They have you taken care of with an asadora steak, fried eggs, and fried yucca. Are you asking what’s yucca? I was. It’s a South American root vegetable like a sweet potato, and you need to try it!

To say the food met our expectations is underselling it. I feel that everything we’ve ever eaten there is, intentional. What’s that mean? Is it crisp, hot, dry, saucy, sweet, savory? You are experiencing it exactly as the chef has intended.

Chicken chimichurri sandwich melted mozzarella on fresh baked bread ($17)

On that first visit, I had the chicken chimichurri sandwich. Delicious and I want one now. I’ve had it one other time and it was just as memorable.

You’ve got chicken with melted mozzarella topped with an egg on freshly baked bread. That bread is toasted crispy and compliments the egg and cheese perfectly. The chicken, well flavourful in every way. Looking back now, I should have asked for yucca on the side, they’re just that good.

Crushed whole avocado on toasted sourdough with fried eggs ($14)

That first time and several times since my wife has had the avocado toast with two eggs on top. She has raved about it and on our second trip when we sat outside I think it made her day.

Kid’s breakfast egg, fresh fruit, slice bacon ($10)

On that first visit, my daughter had simple toast, it was two huge slices of amazing bread. Since then she gets the kids breakfast. While she doesn’t rave about it, there’s no stealing any bacon from her.

On our first visit, they had a feature cocktail I wish I could tell you anything about it because it was so amazing and refreshing, but it’s been too long.

Fried eggs and empanadas chimichurri, hot sauce butter ($18)

On another trip, I had the fried eggs with empanadas. The eggs are served with a pesto sauce and there is a hot sauce butter for dipping the empanadas in. Excellent, unique flavors, I really enjoyed it.

EV eggs benedict Spanish ham, savory scone, charred lemon and brown butter hollandaise, fried yucca ($17)

On our most recent trip I had the eggs benedict. Our server warned me that in their traditional style the eggs are runny. I guess they were, not sure, I was too busy enjoying everything to notice. I suppose it’s to be expected considering Charbar’s heritage, but the ham on the benedict is what other ham should aspire to be.

Downstairs dinning area, with seafood counter at the bar.

How is Charbar for kids? They have a kid’s breakfast menu item, and many other sides could be ordered for them. As well they have highchairs, the men’s bathroom had a spacious enough counter for managing a change but no dedicated spot. While I’ve seen a lot of kids there at brunch, their lunch and dinner menu’s don’t have kids sections. Still, I’m sure my daughter and I could share an order of fried squid, and a chorizo pizza, but your mileage may vary.

Finishing details made to the inside of the Simmons building.

Lastly, value. Is it cheap? No. It is at the upper end of the culinary experience and so is their pricing. Regarding my individual experiences, all have been filling and satisfying. However, one more empanada with the brunch serving would help the value.

Charbar’s rooftop patio, the place to enjoy summer.

I certainly do recommend Charbar, but its price makes it more of an outing or an experience rather than soothing routine or regular. The good news is, so does their food.

Looking north from the rooftop patio to the Bow River.

Phil & Sebastian serving coffee from their patio on a summer’s day.

Curious to see the bill of our last visit?

East Village, Festival

Beakerhead & Beaker Night

September 25, 2017 Gary

Beakerhead’s Beakernight at Fort Calgary on Saturday, September the 16th

Beakerhead has its origins in 2011 but began its current festival in 2013.
It is located all over the downtown, this year’s focus was in Fort Calgary
Running from Sept 13th – 17th
Website: https://beakerhead.com/
Google Pics: Link
Beakerhead and Beakernight
Beakerhead returns SEPTEMBER 19-23rd 2018

First of all, I don’t why I haven’t gone to this before. It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait till our daughter is a little older and she can enjoy more aspects of it.

Most of Beakerhead’s exhibits had signage close by. However at some I couldn’t find it.

First of all my daughter and I did go out on opening night so to speak, Wednesday the 13th. We took the car down to Eau Claire and parked underground, cheap and lots of spaces available. CBC was broadcasting the Homestretch from there to promote the first day of Beakerhead.

I would have liked to know how long it took to build The Claw. Not just to assemble it here on site, but the first time.

At Eau Claire was “The Claw”, a giant version of the “arcade game”. Like the regular version, you use a controller to pick up objects and drop them in another area. But that’s where the similarities ended, it was three shipping containers tall and took three players working in unison to control the claw. One person pushes a giant joystick forward and back to move it side to side. Another person pushed giant directional buttons side to side to move it forward and back. The last person had a button to lower the claw, and everyone had a giant button they had to step on all at once to open the claw.

The controllers were styled after the original Nintendo’s controller.

I was surprised that at three and a half my daughter immediately understood what it was, and declared “I wanna do that!”. We partnered up with another father-daughter team and worked to get only one of the giant bags to the finish area. I say only one because the group before us had got five in one scoop. Still, my daughter was no less excited than she had been for the previous people. Everyone who plays gets a prize, and the other little girl let my daughter claim the prize for us. My daughter received a fiber optic light up glow wand that changes colors, which she loves.

Unfortunately, we didn’t stay long as it was cold and windy out. We did a lap of Eau Claire market, but everything was closed so we returned to the car. I drove us over to the East Village to see what else we could see. There was a lot of setup work being done at Fort Calgary, but I saw the giant Teeter-Tooters. I parked the car and said we would check it out. However, when I opened the door, even more wind hit me that at Eau Claire. I told my daughter it was super windy and asked if she still wanted to check it out. Which she did, so off we went in the wind and cold.

“Impulse” in the East Village plaza was the giant Teeter-Tooters

In our night photos you can see Impulse lit up

They were indeed giant, going about 4ft in the air, made sounds and lit up. However, because of our significant difference in weight, I only pushed down on one side instead of riding on it. My daughter wasn’t pleased with my half-hearted “riding”, but she still giggled while going up and down. We braved the winds a little longer to look around the area and then bumped into some friends also checking things out in the cold. Then with our little adventure over, we headed back home.

My daughter thought it was fun, she wanted to ride it longer but it was tough to push here up there.

I hope people were able to get out and enjoy the exhibits of Beakerhead on Thursday and Friday because we just found it too cold out.

However Saturday night we made it out, and it wasn’t as cool in the afternoon/evening. Not much wind but it did get chilly as the night went on.

The James Joyce on Stephen Avenue was enjoying a busy evening. Of note, they don’t allow kids.

I wish we had been able to make it down on Friday or Maybe earlier on Saturday. We were on Stephen Avenue at 4, and there was nothing going on. There were more people out than I would expect and we walked around Olympic Plaza before heading to dinner at Milestones.

Olympic Plaza decked out in it’s Canada 150 decals. I’ve heard talk about an Olympic Plaza redesign being planned, anyone know anything? Contact garygeyer@choosingurban.com

I have no photos from Milestones and I’m not going to go into, but it didn’t reach past experiences and expectations for Milestones or this location.

5,000 white balloons spill out of the #1 Canadian Legion building. The exhibit called “Nucleation” depicts a experiment gone wrong inside.

Large soap bubbles came out of windows in the upper floors, which my daughter chased around. (Maybe next time not right next to C-Train tracks)

My plan for after dinner was to walk up to the river where we could let our daughter walk around without her needing to be anchored to handholding. We’d see what was on the way to the East Village and make it to Fort Calgary in time for the Serpent Mother’s eight o’clock show.

Here at Bowwave an organized tour group was travelling to the exhibits.

These are the buttons to activate the various parts of the music playing at Bowwave

On the east side of the center street bridge we found “Bowwave”. Bowwave was a series of hand sized buttons you could push that would make sounds, and then on the other side of the river, make lights illuminate. At the time we were there it wasn’t that dark and it was hard to see the lights on the other side. Only some of the buttons did anything and it wasn’t holding our attention.

Light show on the north bank of the Bow for Bowwave

At night more aspects of Bowwave’s illumination could be seen

With more signage, I would have understood what I was seeing and appreciated it more. However is/was Bowwave more of an interactive art installation, than a science experiment? I think so. In that case, it needs to be taken in, thought about as a piece of expression, without immediate definition. I saw people reacting like me, they walked along, saw it, stopped for a few seconds, pushed the buttons and kept going. The format of being on an outside walk leads to this sort of interaction, versus being indoors in a slow paced setting. There the intention of finding your impression of a work of art is more understood. Here there is an element of figuring it out, what is it, what does it do, or maybe more important, how do you feel about what you’re seeing, because it is art.

I had this perspective because a guy who was part of the installation came over and spoke to us about it for a few moments. First, it was rather low tech or done with repurposed tech. The large stacked blocks with buttons were touch sensitive and left over from the old science center. They were connected to small modular computers (Raspberry Pi units) which then communicated wirelessly to the lights on the other side of the river. The shoreline where the lights were set up was “new” having been formed by rocks pushed down during the 2013 flood. The sounds being played were in fact music, and each button didn’t make sounds, but unmuted an instrument that made up the song. If enough people pushed and held all the button you would hear the complete song, and see the complete light show.

The “Bowwave” exhibit seen on the east side of the center street bridge

Perhaps signage asking, “Do you hear it all? Do you see?”. Something to drive more experimentation among the people passing by, to lead away from being dismissive. Then again, you find what you see, you can’t make someone see something in art. We returned later on the way home, hence the night photos.

“Hack the Flyer” Check out the team’s who’ve Frankensteined a Radio Flyer for an obstacle course

We continued our walk to Fort Calgary and came to “Hack the Flyer” going on outside the Simmons building. This reminded me of high school, teams were riding in a Radio Flyer red wagon through an obstacle course. The teams had outfitted the wagons whatever way they could to make it through the course. Was it race against the clock? Did the teams have a time limit to create their wagons? I can’t answer these, A) because we arrived late just walking by, B) because the program guide doesn’t have such detail about any exhibits.

We stayed for about ten minutes and saw two of the teams go through the course. My daughter watched the first race with me, it was fun and funny. (Don’t judge my camera work. I was watching the event in person rather than through my screen.)

Again here is “Impulse” now with crowds enjoying

Next stop was the Fort Calgary grounds. There were thousands of people everywhere with more coming. There were stages, dance floors, exhibits, and a dozen food trucks.

There were lots of kids, my daughter wasn’t the youngest we saw, but among the younger side of the kids there. Most were families with ten to fourteen year olds. There wasn’t the dominant presence of older teenagers and young twenty somethings you would see at something like the Stampede. If my daughter was ten I could see us coming with some other families and letting the kids check things out on their own.

Walking from East Village Plaza to Fort Calgary

It looked like anyone could have a ride in this!

Search Google for photos taken from this 200ft crane!

It was a busy environment but not chaotic in the least. I saw a few police officers around but nothing overwhelming. There wasn’t the same quantity of garbage and recycling bins we’d been seeing at other events this summer. I hope the aftermath to Fort Calgary wasn’t too rough.

Visible from far away we made our way to the Serpent Mother. Serpent Mother is a 168-foot metal sculpture with a moving head and extensive flame effects. She starts wrapped around her egg and then is sprawled out along the 168-foot distance. Sadly I did not see the egg open, at which time 40’ plumes of colors flames shoot into the sky. Created by Flaming Lotus Girls an artist group from San Francisco they specialize in pyrotechnic art installations. Their exhibits travel around to events like Beakerhead.

Check out their site for more information flaminglotusgirls.com (Coincidentally their site used the same design platform as Choosing urban) Also, read their blog for tales of their time in Calgary and all about setting up the Serpent Mother.

My daughter loved the fire show and showed no fear at all. I thought she would call it a dragon because she presently has a fascination with them, however she understood it was a snake and wanted to see it again!

Flaming Lotus Girl’s “Serpent Mother”

Walking around there were tents with science presentations going on, games, activities and entertainment everywhere. We left a little after nine, walking back home, it was a late night for our daughter, but she loved it and talked about it extensively the next day. We are absolutely coming back next year, with a better plan. I would recommend anyone with kids to come see it.

Looking from Fort Calgary towards St Patrick’s island

The grounds at Fort Calgary

Food trucks with lots of options

Why yes that it a whale in the sky

AT-AT Walker

“The Beakerhead” my daughter and I said

Jellyfish

Science Demonstrations

“Impulse”

Downtown, Festival

YYC Pizza Week Starts Friday!

September 21, 2017 Gary

For ten days (Sept 22 – Oct 1) nearly 50 restaurants will have a special pizza. Many of these Pizza’s will have outrageous toppings. You’ll be able to pick up a pizza passport from participating restaurants and collect stamps for the opportunity to win prizes.

A few spots that don’t have pizza offering will have pizza-themed items like pizza burgers and pizza poutine. From every $20, $3 will be donated to Calgary Meals on Wheels.

Check out their site for locations and menus http://www.yycpizzaweek.com/

17th Ave, Restaurant

Nando’s

September 15, 2017 Gary

Opened: 2016
Address: 1029 17th Ave SW
Kid Friendly: Kids Menu/High chairs
Website: https://www.nandos.ca/
Google Pics: Link
Menu: Link

Something a little different today, for the most part I want to avoid franchises or corporate restaurants here on Choosing Urban. If that’s the case then why Nando’s? It’s a little different, not quite the regular here in Calgary. At the end of the day it’s just chicken, and they do have fries, so maybe not that different.

When the building that was a TD bank was renovating and expanding, I was hopeful for a clothing retailer, something unique, with men’s and women’s clothes. While we didn’t get that, we got a relocated H&R Block (from down the street) and later Nando’s. I was pleased to see the investment along this block, and the south side of 17th. It’s less true today, but for the longest time it felt like the north side got all the love.

When ever our daughter sees this she says “Red Chicken Daddy” “You wanna go there?”

Nando’s is a restaurant chain originating in Johannesburg South Africa in 1987. Over the years they’ve gone through extensive expansion mostly in Africa, Asia and the UK. However they have a presence here in Canada as well as the US. Their food is Mozambican-Portuguese on account of its peri peri spices. Peri-peri being a Swahili word adopted by the Portuguese for hot peppers. Their signature dish is flame grilled peri peri chicken served in quarters, halves and whole. Traditional sides are rice, corn, macho peas, coleslaw and peri-peri vegetables.

Nando’s round booth, our daughter calls it “sitting in an egg”

Nando’s atmosphere and presentation fall into the fast casual category. Inside are wooden surfaces and lively colors. Their seating has a mix of tables, booths and a single long table at bar height. Seated at your table you can go over everything at your leisure. They have a selection of appetizers, salads, chicken dishes, sandwiches and wraps. All of their chicken dishes can be ordered with one or two sides. As well they have platters to share which we’ll have to try soon. Nando’s is reasonably priced, but it is easy to get carried away with addons. Your biggest decision will be how hot do you go? All dishes can be made with five options for heat and flavouring. And while hot it hot, it’s not coated in hot sauce, it’s not wing night at the pub. Meaning if you enjoy hot food you’ll find the “xtra hot” is easier to make it through. Once you’ve decided take your table number up to the counter to order.

Nando’s here’s a good sense of their decor

At the counter you can order any alcohol you’d like with your meal, they have red and white wines, Sangria and beer. I was surprised to see their beers are on tap and not bottled. With your order placed at the counter you need to make one more stop on the way back to your table. The stop at a side station allows you to pick up additional sauces, cutlery and any fountain drinks you’ve ordered.

Nandos’ has just recently added some new items to their menu, which prompted our most recent trip

We’ve been to Nando’s five or six times since they opened. I always look over their dessert items but in honesty I order to much food to have room for a dessert. Of note they have a Portugese custard tart called “Pasteis de Natas”, as well as a chocolate cake, a cheesecake, ice cream and a bottomless frozen yogurt.

I really enjoy their chicken it’s cooked right, flavourful and spicy. The spiced rice is really nice and on our last visit I had corn on the cob for a side. Our daughter likes the fries and the rice and it depends on the day if she’s up for chicken, but we get the same at home regarding chicken. I know these are showing up in more and more places but we first saw it here, self serve pop machine with flavour mixing options. My wife loves this thing, and I too like getting a lime ginger ale.

Nando’s calls these their “PERi-PERi Chippers, I’ve seen something very similar at a few places now, and they are always very good, with Nando’s being no exception, except here you can dip them in spicy PERi-PERi sauces!

Nando’s ¼ Chicken (Leg + Thigh) $7.95 on it’s own or $12.95 with 2 sides, here shown with PERi-PERi vegetables

Nando’s Kids Chicken Strips with Fries $8.50

Nando’s double skewers shown with spiced rice $9.35 on it’s own or $14.35 with two sides

Is it good for kids? Yes. They have a kids menu, high chairs, and more non pop drinks than water, with apple and orange juice, milk and chocolate milk. I like that there’s some new flavors for our daughter to try and we can skip the fries if we want.

Lastly if you enjoy Nando’s various sauces they had for you to add to your dinner you can buy a bottle to take home for $6.99.

Downtown, East Village, Festival, Mission

Beakerhead starts Wednesday!

September 12, 2017 Gary

or what is Beakerhead?

Since: 2013
Date: 5 Days Wed-Sun, September 13th – 17th
Time: Most events 11am – 8pm
Where: All over see official site for locations
What: 60 events, shows, experiments and workshops
https://beakerhead.com/
Google Pics: Link
Beakerhead 2017 Program Guide DOWNLOAD

BEAKERNIGHT
Saturday 7pm – 11pm
Fort Calgary and East Village River Walk
“Science’s Biggest Street Party”

This video is not my own this is linked from https://beakerhead.com/about

Beakerhead is an outdoor exhibit of art, science and engineering, it takes place over five days and several sites. It is a great chance to see the city come together to experience something unique. From what I understand Beakerhead doesn’t travel, it is a Calgary event. Some of the exhibits do travel to other events. I have to confess, in all my years I’ve only been to one exhibit and that was two years ago. This year our family’s taking in the sights and sounds of Beakerhead. We’ll check out one or two of the exhibits outside the east village area during the week. Then Stephen Ave on Friday night, and the big site’s on Saturday. I want to see my little girl see the “Serpent Mother”, I’m sure she’ll call it a dragon.

Learn more about Beakerhead and it’s past events on the Wiki page with this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beakerhead

Learn more about UofC’s involvement with Beakerhead in UToday with this: http://ucalgary.ca/utoday/issue/2017-09-12/explore-your-science-curiosity-beakerhead-2017

Nearly all the exhibits are free and sound awesome to check out. Will there be food trucks in the area? I don’t know, but seems likely. Will it be cancelled it it rains? They say no way, it will happen rain or shine. I think it’s going to be a great spectacle and I hope to get some awesome pictures.

Come down, check it out, share your stories.

To see information about all the exhibits including times and locations with pictures follow this: https://beakerhead.com/events

Be sure to check out these exhibits
Loop – Interactive Musical Installation Link
Bowwave – Illuminated Art on the banks of the Bow Link
Mars 112 – It’s a showhome, On Mars Link
Serpent Mother – Pyrotechnic Spectacle Link Check it out!
Impulse – Lit up giant motion aware Teeter-Tooters! Link
Scent Bar – Theatrical sensory experiences Link
Engineered Eats – Creative foods and beverages from 25 bars and restaurants Link
Malted Milkshake Madness – Learn the science and create Link
Beakerbar – Cold brews and chemical cocktails are yours for the tasting Link

17th Ave, Restaurant

Golden Bell

September 9, 2017 Gary

Opened: Before 2012
Address: 1112 – 17th Ave SW
Kid Friendly: w/Highchairs, w/Kids Menu
Website: http://www.goldenbell.ca/
Google Pics: Link

I grew up in a B.C. mountain town in the eighties. Restaurant options were, steak, burgers, pizza and pastas. As a result years ago when I was asked if I liked Vietnamese food, I could only say I’d never had it.

My first experience with Vietnamese was a spicy phở. I didn’t like it much, but enough that we went back soon and I tried a vermicelli dish, I loved it! It’s been sixteen years and I should try pho again, but I really just enjoy my vermicelli too much. Maybe soon. I hear you’re less open to new foods the older you get, so I need to push that clock back.

We started going to Golden Bell in 2013, a few years after it opened. It was excellent. I’m not going to say it’s the best in the city, I even have one on my own list that I hold a little higher. However we go here more. Why then? Because it’s good, consistent and at the right price point for frequent visits.

When our daughter was less than a year old we took her here. We both wanted her to be familiar with more flavours and spices at a younger age than either of use were. Well it was a big hit, she ate lemongrass chicken, spring rolls, bean sprouts, rice vermicelli and developed a love for fish sauce.

Deep fried spring rolls (4 rolls) ($6.95)

We frequent Golden Bell about once a month, however we were there last week in addition to this week, and that’s hardly rare. If you need a more accurate count let’s just say 18 times a year. We always get an order of spring rolls for our daughter and cut them up to cool for her. She get’s a little dish of fish sauce for dipping. Honestly she’s all about dipping. If you can dip it, she’ll eat it.

Delicious Grilled Chicken Salad Rolls (3 rolls) ($7.95)

Golden Bell is located on a busy area of 17th ave right next door to the Boston Pizza. They have a small patio out front that holds four tables. Inside is a modest interior with about twelve tables and a bar that seats another three. However I’ve never seen anyone sit at the bar. That being said we are usually there between 5-6, and I have seen the restaurant much busier around 7. Golden Bell is licenced and you can enjoy from a small selection of beer.

My wife and I mostly order the same rice vermicelli dish I’ve been ordering for a decade and a half. At Golden Bell that is number 72B, Charbroiled lemongrass chicken and a single diced spring roll, served on rice vermicelli noodles with bean sprouts, lettuce, shredded cucumber and carrots, topped with ground peanuts and green onion. On the side is a bowl of the beloved fish sauce for you to add to your desired mixture. I’m told that an intention is to preserve the various textures of the food and not let it turn soggy. As a result you should add fish sauce to the dish sparingly, only enough to coat the vermicelli so that they’re not in one big clump. I pour the whole bowl in and look for more.

Charbroiled lemon grass chicken and spring rolls (white meat) ($11.75)

I can’t find where they’ll sell me more of this. However peanut sauce is $0.75 for a dish.

What I love about my rice vermicelli dish is the mix of textures. The rice noodles are so fine and then the chicken and few spring rolls mixed in and bean sprouts, it’s just fun to eat. The flavours of the lemongrass chicken with the fish sauce together is what makes the meal for me. What is fish sauce? Well really it is Nước chắm, this accompanies many vietnamese dishes and is a sweet, spicy, sour and fishy sauce. It’s made with fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, chili peppers and some shredded carrot. There are various of course, but this gives you an idea if you’re not familiar.

Where I do change things up is with appetizers, which I almost always order. At Golden Bell they have a smallish list of appetizers, but all the favorites are here. There are spring rolls, (both pork and vegetable), shrimp salad rolls and chicken salad rolls as well as chicken wings and ginger beef. I haven’t seen canadian style ginger beef at other vietnamese restaurants. However let’s not fool ourselves and call it chinese, so why not have it here too. Afterall our daughter also loves the ginger beef.

When bringing little ones out for vietnamese start with spring rolls. The texture is easy and approachable. Our daughter likes the vermicelli noodles, however has a hard time chewing and breaking them down, she might cough and even choke. I prevent this by cutting them up superfine. Don’t do it to mine, but she needs it. The lemongrass chicken I also cut up small for her, like any other food. Golden Bell uses nice tender cuts of chicken and our daughter has never had difficulty chewing them, neither have I. The ginger beef, also requires cutting up for her and is mildly spicy, so depending on your child’s feeling about spice you may need to consume this one yourself.

One last thing must be mentioned when talking about Vietnamese cuisine. The sauces, hoisin, fish, peanut, shrimp paste, tuong, soy and hot chilli. Try them all, add them to everything, dip everything. Hoisin sauces are nearly the same everywhere, but peanuts sauces can have a lot of variety. Golden Bell’s peanut sauce white it is distinctly peanut, it isn’t overwhelmingly so. I’ve had peanut sauces where it tastes like a thinned down peanut butter. Not necessarily bad, but good to know.

I feel that Vietnamese cuisine is “fresher feeling” without the abundance of deep fried items. There can be a great variety of unique spices and cooking styles in the appetizers at other Vietnamese restaurants and that’s a great way to share and try things out.

I think my revisit to phở is long overdue, maybe a phở soup for me and my daughter to share is in the near future.

Attraction, City Limits

Granary Road

September 7, 2017 Gary

Opened 2017 (Park in July / Market in August)
Located at 226034 112th St W MD of Foothills
Hours: Granary Road Site Link
https://www.granaryroad.com/
Google Pics: Link
Kid Friendly: No High Chairs, No Specific Kids Menu, Large Washrooms include a Change Table
We will be visiting Granary Road further to continue to add to this article.

Granary Road is more than a Farmer’s Market, it’s an attraction.

Situated south of 22X it is outside of the city allowing lots of space for its “Active Learning Park”. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, first it’s a farmer’s market. As a farmer’s market it’s gorgeous, there has been some serious money spent here. It presents its upscale vendors in surroundings with concrete floors and wood finished walls. There are high vaulted ceilings and large windows letting in lots of natural light, as well as roll up doors along the front and back. The building is long with the market extending out to both ends with “The Loft Kitchen” in the center.

This is a fast casual restaurant with soups, sandwiches and pastries. Upstairs is a lounge for local beers and enjoying the view from the 40ft windows looking out over the park.

We visited Granary Road on August 27th, this was the first weekend that the Market, Loft Kitchen and the Park were all open together. We left our comfort zone of downtown and ventured far south past 22X essentially next door to Spruce Meadows. Granary Road makes an impression, it is big with lofty goals and lots of potential.

The parking lot has a separate entrance and exit, which I see as good planning for the days to come. However the parking lot is unpaved, not an issue in August but maybe later, and I don’t think it’s large enough. It was a little chaotic when it was busier and we were leaving. Still when your large parking lot isn’t large enough for all of your guests, it’s a great problem to have.

We arrived at 11am, and were hungry. We intended to look around and take in the park, however food first. Considering how far we were from any other options I thought that expecting to have a breakfast/brunch like meal at 11am wouldn’t be a surprise. However it was, all that was available were sandwiches and soups. Even the variety was limited as many items were marked with “Coming Soon”. There was lots of seating, both inside and out. Given the upscale enviroment I was expecting dishes to take my food to a table. Not so, the three of us took our sandwiches to a table in brown cardboard takeout boxes. We tore them down to make eating easier. It felt odd to sit at a table in such nice surroundings with torn down takeout boxes. However when I looked around it was what everyone was doing. It looked like they were equipped to make something more substantial. I would have loved anything with eggs and ham, however it wasn’t offered yet. The upstairs wasn’t open, and roped off marked “staff only”.

Now the prices. I ordered a latte, in a paper cup ($4.25), a happy planet juice ($4.75) for my daughter, a ham and cheese croissant ($4.75) also for my daughter, lastly a salami and cheese sandwich ($12.75) for myself. The total with taxes $27! Now my sandwich was on a baguette, it was Gruyere cheese and Genoa salami. However the sandwich was not worth $12.75, it was good, but not that good. I don’t have a problem with higher prices, however market appropriate. The latte was fine, the croissant with ham and cheese, even reasonable. Perhaps I’ve lost track of where Happy Planet’s prices are because 4.75 feels high. It’s my large and tasty sandwich which left the impression of high prices. Want to purchase a banana bread to take home for later? Sure $15, not bad. Want a slice now with a coffee, sure $3. Given the math I’d make that $2. I do want to back off on my attack of the pricing and food options. It just opened, and pricing things out isn’t easy.

Let’s run it through my usual criteria, it was good, and the place was wonderful to be in. Let’s give it some months to shake things down. Adjust the menu for what people are asking for. When I make plans to spend a significant part of my day there, I intend for that to include breakfast, but perhaps I’m alone in that.

They have a beautiful patio with tables and umbrellas (and fabric umbrellas make a big impression on me, larger than they should). After shopping in the market, I want an afternoon coffee and cake. I did see an excellent looking cake from one of the market’s vendors, reasonably priced. However I wasn’t about to carry it out and eat from a box. They’re building an experience, I’m trying to have an experience, let’s deliver it all the way. Don’t hear me wrong, we will be back, but it’s early days for Granary Road.

The Market. I’ll get this out of the way, where is the produce? It’s ok, I’ll go else where for vegetables, if it’s not part of Granary Road’s vision. But then I won’t drive all this way and visit them for sausages and cheese. Reason? Well the first place I went for my tomatoes has that as well. Now again, let’s cut them some slack they just opened, and it’s August. Not late in the season, but later than farms may have wanted to commit to something. Again next year will be a better gauge of their total offerings. That being said right now they have some excellent vendors. The one that caught my eye the most was Urban Butcher, yes the very same as in Mission. The walk area did get hard to move in at its busiest, but they are plenty wide enough, it was just busy.

Take a look through our further pictures of the market. For a complete listing follow this LINK to the market’s vendor listing on their own site.

Lastly let’s talk “Active Learning Park”. This is 36 acres of play and learning in themed interactive areas. Everything looks great! This area is wonderful. I’d like some more trees for shade, but again they just opened. What I’d really like to see is a few more interpretive staff. However those we did see were friendly, knowledgeable and really added to the experience.

Once passing through the gates you follow a path to 11 exhibits and themed play areas. Most of these areas have climbing structures with slides and ropes. Everything had great sights to behold. There are interpretive signs detailing the areas and explaining the themes and learning aspects of the play.

My daughter really enjoyed each area and we had to keep reminding her there was more to see and do. I felt there are too many signs saying to not climb on things. Sure the giant mushrooms aren’t meant for climbing, but then don’t have them where you want kids to come and play. The petting zoo was great and again my daughter really enjoyed it. There wasn’t as much “petting” as some may want, but we were fine with that.

At the market building there’s even a gift shop.

Here is a LINK to their site’s listing about the park.

The last element I must bring up because people are all over their Facebook and Google pages talking about it. Admission price. It’s too high.

Children 0-2: FREE
Children 3 – 14: $13.00
Adults 15+: $17.00
Seniors 60+: $15.00

Let’s be clear the park is for kids. Meaning it’s not much for adults, expect to walk your kids around and watch them. To Granary Road, don’t burn the parents goodwill with high prices to watch their kids play. We spent $47 to walk around and watch our daughter play. Then another $40 on food when we arrived. Unfortunately we didn’t spend anything in the market to support the vendors, because our budget was spent and we felt a little burned on $17 admission each.

As far as I’m concerned, $10 per kid with adults being free is what I’m looking for. But if you really want, leave it at $13 for kids and make it $5 for parents. Remember you’re charging me to follow my kid around.

There’s great potential in every area of Granary Road. Everything off-putting isn’t deep rooted in their operation. These are just first impressions of a very new venture and something of this scale has a lot of growing to go through. We will be back, but not this year. We don’t leave downtown often, so we’re not your target audience. However next year I expect pricing to be trimmed up, restaurant food options to be expanded on, and proper dishes.

Blog

Welcome to Choosing Urban

September 4, 2017 Gary

Whenever I made a particularly involved Facebook post I was told I should make a website. A website about living downtown. I’d laugh, and think about it a bit. That’s as far as I ever got.

Yet everyday I’m living potential posts. What’s it like raising a family downtown? How do we have enough space? How can it work with only one car? Where did we just eat out? Where was that picture taken? I’d think about it again. However I set high standards for myself, I’d get overwhelmed at the idea I’d created and never begin.

A few more years went by. Again and again I’d be told, “you should put that on a website”. Again I’d think about it. I could make a blog, talking about downtown life. I’d post about car alarms at 3 am, and street closures for festivals, my wife’s four block commute. Maybe restaurant reviews, and that’s it? Maybe pictures and reviews of city parks, oh that’s already been done. How about a site about current events in our city! Oh I just intimidated myself. I can’t maintain that website.

Still I think about it.

On Wednesday June 21st, I decided to do it. I was going to make a website about “Calgary’s Downtown Experience”. What would it include, what wouldn’t it? Will I have a strict mission statement?

It will be about things that interest me and my family about downtown life. Where does that begin and end? I’m not sure. Do I have to define it? I don’t think so. In time the objective of the website will become obvious, the tone will evolve, and the scope will grow to suit “Calgary’s Downtown Experience”.

This is my telling of our family’s experience living in downtown Calgary. Our choice to live downtown was always our preference. We can’t imagine being anywhere else, we have no ambition to leave, this is ideal for us. We keep our life focused on downtown, for diversity, for convenience and for enjoyment.

We’ve chosen downtown and these are our stories.