There’s nothing more satisfying, as a Calgary food blogger, than discovering hole-in-the-wall gems in industrial parks. Old Fashioned Meat & Deli, tucked away near Blackfoot Trail SE, certainly fits the bill.
It’s principally a deli, serving mainly the Polish community with an array of sausages, cold cuts and groceries. But it also makes to order fine sandwiches such as my pork loin, stacked high in a crusty loaf along with cheese, pickles and other fixings.
It’s a meal for two, at $10 one of the best sandwich deals in the city.
A giant $10 sandwich
Old Fashioned Meat & Deli 532 Cleveland Crescent SE, Calgary Tuesday to Thursday 10 am-6 pm, Friday-Saturday opens at 9 am. Closed Sunday and Monday 403-287-1511
A big data dump on my favourite Calgary eats and drinks that are independent and “reasonably priced”. Save this list for your dining out pleasure. Organized by category.
Coffee roasters: Devil’s Head Coffee, Sought X Found Coffee Roasters, Chronicle Coffee
Devil’s Head Coffee
Coffee shops: Q.lab, Sought X Found, Sierra Cafe,Rosso Ramsay, MobSquad Cafe, Qamaria Yemeni Coffee
Vegetarian/Vegan: Hearts Choices, Padmanadi, Nan’s Noodle House, Vegan Street
Hearts Choices
Happy Hour: Native Tongues Taqueria, National Westhills, Buchanan’s Chop House, JinBar, Lonely Mouth Bar, Last Best Brewing, Vegan Street, Citizen Brewing
Pizza: Una Pizza, Coco Brooks, Noble Pie Pizza, Azzurri Pizzeria, Pizza Culture Napoletana, Italian Super Market
Beer and Pizza: Two House Brewing, Last Best Brewing, Eighty-Eight Brewing, The Mash, Tailgunner Brewing, Cold Beer & Pizza, Trolley 5
Pita Pies: Village Pita Bakery, Azar Bakery, Doughlicious,
Freo is a fine, new addition to the Killarney morning eats scene, such as it is. Located next door to the equally newish Millo Millo Bake Shop, this narrow space serves up breakfast standards like omelettes, bennies and pancakes.
Pulled pork breakfast bowl
But I’m here for the house-made, pulled-pork bowl ($22), a lovely concoction featuring poached eggs, hash, caramelized onion, hollandaise, sourdough toast and micro greens. Breakfast in a bowl.
Best mac and cheese in Calgary… the known universe?
If you’re expecting an ode to KD getting me through university, you’re sadly mistaken. Instead, here’s a tribute to an epic mac and cheese from the brilliant hands of Krooked Provisions, at Avenida market. This version recently earned owners Leanna and Lyndon an award for Calgary’s best mac and cheese. How about the world?
The winning formula is a magic mix of Scooby noodles, four-cheese sauce, kimchi, cheese curds, aioli and an inspired topping of grated Dorito chips. The $20-price tag might seem a little high, until you consider it’s a two-meal deal… except you can’t stop taking delicious bites until it’s all gone.
The magic mix
My only suggestion: Put this outstanding Mac Kim Cheese on the full-time menu. Otherwise, rush down soonest.
While you’re at the market, stop at Bee the BanhMi for a fabulous, enormous chicken Vietnamese sub, a definite two mealer for only $15 ($2 more for beef).
Fresh & Local Market and Kitchens 12445 Lake Fraser Drive SE, Calgary Thursday to Sunday, opens at 11 am
This may be the most colourful lunch experience in Calgary. Also, one of the cheapest and fastest. With business mostly conducted in Chinese.
At tiny BBQ Express, in north-central Calgary, you line up in front of a display case of hanging ducks and other meats. If you’re following the standard of ordering the lunch combo, you’re asked to choose two meats (roast pork, barbecue pork, duck etc.).
And now the colourful really begins: a cleaver-wielding worker starts hacking your chosen meats into bite-sized pieces. These are all stacked atop a mountain of white rice in a takeout container now weighing 29 ounces. And costing $11, cash only.
Because there’s no seating, you’re quickly out the door, with the choice of messily eating with a little fork in your vehicle or waiting till you get home, where it will easily provide two meals.
A little fatty? Sure. But still one of the best lunch deals in the city.
BBQ Express 1403 Centre Street North, Calgary Daily 10 am-6 pm, except closed Tuesdays
Here’s my big idea: Have an Olympic Games every year.
This means, say, a Winter Olympics one year, a Summer Olympics the next year, a Winter Games the year after and a Summer Games the year after that. In other words, there would be an Olympics of some kind every year. This would replace the current, longtime practice of a Winter Olympics every four years and a Summer Olympics the same.
But why change?
First, there’s an insatiable appetite for televised sports, especially for an immensely popular, iconic event like the Olympics. It nicely fills in “dead” space in the sporting calendar, like the depths of winter or the dog days of summer. What would you rather watch in mid February: the Olympic hockey final (with its 10 million Canadian viewers) or two irrelevant NHL teams going through the motions? Even if you have to get up at 6 am for the former.
But, you might argue, the Olympics are already horrendously expensive for host countries to stage. Wouldn’t a doubling of Games just exacerbate that. Especially when many freshly built facilities are torn down or repurposed right after the closing ceremonies.
Here’s my solution: Have three permanent hosts for each of the Summer and Winter Games, plus a rotating fourth for one-time hosts. So for the Winter Games, your three permanent hosts could include Salt Lake City, the French Alps and Beijing, with Toronto snaring a one-time fourth. For Summer Games, how about London, Los Angeles, Tokyo and a one-time Brazil? Permanent hosts could reuse their facilities, plus maintain a large pool of professional managers and trained volunteers.
Double-down Olympics would also be a tremendous boon for competing athletes, who spend year years training, developing skills and gaining experience. Under the current format, athletes must wait four years between Games. But what if, on the appointed day/s, they’re too injured or sick to compete? Or get run over by a Korean speed skater or forced to ski in a sudden blizzard? Too bad. Just four more wasted years of their prime,
But under my two-year cycle, they might squeeze in four or five shots at Olympic glory.
Currently, fans quickly form attachments to their nation’s athletes and keenly follow their successes or failures. But once the Olympic lights go out, the fans don’t see, or think about, these athletes for another four long years.
Shorten that wait to two years and stronger bonds are formed. Being in the spotlight every two years could also help these athletes make more money, attract more sponsors and perhaps form professional leagues, like women’s hockey.
Under my two-year Olympic formula, sponsors, advertisers and television networks could conceivably make twice as much money, while higher licensing revenues could help organizers defray costs. Alas, it would also probably lead to more money going to the venal IOC, which frankly should be abolished.
A higher profile could perhaps also prompt national governments to increase spending on their Olympic athletes, who bear the brunt of entertaining we fans. The Canadian government hasn’t increased funding for Olympic athletes since 2005, athletes who often spend $100,000 out of pocket per year. Shameful!
Marathon Mouth 