We heard many good things about Calgary before venturing north. Our expectations for grassland meat were high. We also had high hopes for the coffee scene that we read so much about. Spoiler alert, all of it was great! Keeping reading to see where we went and what we'd recommend.This former oil town, the Wild West of Canada if you will, is known for its cattle and farming industry. Similar to Texas in so many ways, we were excited to see if Calgary would be like Austin. The food scene was definitely coming close (clearly biased, but Austin has BOMB food, people)! Below is our “don’t miss list” for all things food and beverage in Calgary. Bakeries: Alforno bakery and café This place is raved about for brunch. Every blog site we looked at said to not miss it. Well, we were about 10 minutes too late to get a seat for brunch... Bummer! But since we were there and the food looked so yummy, we decided to stay for lunch. The coffee was my least favorite and our sandwiches were fine. They were sold out of the turkey so my experience was based on alternative choices. Chase really enjoyed his meal and couldn't get over how good the tiramisu was. I’d definitely go back for a second chance, and hopefully make it in time for brunch! Sidewalk citizen bakery Chase found this gem and it’s something he won’t let me forget (I almost always chose the better dining options). Sidewalk Citizen is in the Simmons building which is essentially a food hall! They had a few other dining options in the main level as well as the basement and a roasting area for Phil & Sebastian coffee. We ordered a few pastries but the almond croissant was the best we had ever had! We were blown away! Who knew the best almond croissant would be in Canada? Do not skip this place! Drinks: Proof cocktail bar A super cute craft cocktail bar in the Mission neighborhood. Their menu was organized by spirit and it was so hard to narrow down our choices! We each got two cocktails and all four of them were scrumptious and well created. Rose & Crown Pub The exact opposite of Proof, Rose & Crown is an old school pub. Imagine your favorite hole in the wall with Jim Bean and Tito’s, this place was all about well drinks and live music! They also had a huge variety of local Calgary and Alberta breweries on tap. We ordered a couple beers and sang along to some of our favorite covers the band played. The Rose & Crown was loud, full of energy and the available local breweries just added to a great experience. Dinner: Pigeonhole This place popped up on a few “best food” lists and Chase was pretty excited about the veggie options, they were doing some of our favorites in unique ways! So we made reservations and we were thrilled with the small plate options. We ordered way too much but shared everything (small plates, after all). I think our favorite thing was the charred Bok Choy. Incredible! Cleaver Unlike Pigeonhole, this place made no lists. I stumbled upon it because a bunch of the Calgary restaurants I started following on instagram were also following this Cleaver place. The concept looked intriguing and when I showed it to Chase, he had a feeling about it so we took a chance and got late reservations, after our day on the slopes. Because our reservations were so late, we were there during reverse happy hour. Possibly the best coincidence over! They had $3 sliders and $6 cocktails. When I say sliders, think duck with Asian peanut slaw, tare glaze, and crunchy noodles on a baked in house roll! Or soft shell crab with yuzu aioli and cilantro. So so good! The drinks were also incredible and the place was adorable. We’d 100% have to go back to Cleaver if we ever visited again! Coffee: Phil & Sebastian Quite possibly the best coffee shop in Calgary. They were well known, roasted their own beans, had won many awards, and just seemed like the pride of Calgary! We went three times during the four days in the city... they have a few locations around town (we made it to two different spots) but our favorite was at the Simmons building because of Sidewalk citizen being just down the hall! Analog on 17th This place was slammed the Sunday morning we ventured over. The atmosphere was a bit much for us considering majority of the other coffee shops we had visited were less crowded/rushed. Analog was on a different side of town and we're assuming, the best choice for coffee in that area. People were lined up and willing to wait so we joined in. It was a well crafted cup of coffee, definitely a solid choice but with all the options in Calgary, we would have rather gone somewhere less packed. Maybe it was just bad timing. Monogram This was our first coffee stop in Calgary. We were downtown being touristy and Monogram has a location in an office building right by the river so we ran in to warm up a bit. Monogram, like Phil & Sebastian, is well known around town and has won several awards for their roasts. We got a couple cappuccinos and some no-bake cookie balls to snack on before dinner. The favor of their coffee was well balanced and we'd most definitely recommend this place if you happen to be downtown. We know not everyone researches like us before a trip so if you want to be more spontaneous, we'd recommend a local, on tap beer and poutine! Just order the poutine everywhere you go! SO GOOD! Until Next Time, C+D
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