It’s Not Loud, It’s Lively

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Is Trolley 5 the best, liveliest brewpub in Calgary?

Recently, my sister and I were gushing about the wildly popular happy hour at Canmore’s Bridgette Bar. Our one complaint: It was loud and crowded, especially for a Wednesday afternoon.

When I mentioned this to a friend and equally ardent fan of Bridgette’s daily half-price pizzas, he replied (somewhat disdainfully) “It’s not loud, it’s lively!”

Memo to self: 1) I’m old. 2) I need to get out more.

So when said friend suggested going to the “best, liveliest” brewpub in Calgary, I was all in.

As we strolled down 17th Avenue, on a wintery late Saturday afternoon, I was struck by the pulsing scene—eats and drinks places jammed with, yes, young people who I assume live, perhaps carless, in the surrounding Beltline neighbourhood.

Our destination was Trolley 5, a brewpub so hopping that, at 5:45 pm, we had to squeeze into seats at the bar… and there wasn’t even a Flames game on. Of course, we almost had to shout to be heard over the din, amplified by a couple of drunken seat mates.

You can’t beat sitting at the bar

But it was a lot of fun, even for me, a Marathon Mouth diner and drinker who goes out of his way to avoid crowded peak hours.Most important, the beer was tasty; in our case pints of High Five IPA at happy-hour pricing. And the food, often a taproom afterthought, was exceptional—an expansive menu ranging from charred romaine hearts to duck confit banh mi. Our smoking hot wings were among the best I’ve had, and the house-smoked brisket sandwiches divine.

Some of the best wings I’ve devoured

I can see myself working through the menu on subsequent visits. Hail the noise.

P.S. Our bar seats gave us a front-row view of two fast-moving bartenders. I’m guessing keeping up with the beer orders trumped careful pours, judging by the amount of precious suds flowing down the drain.

P.S.S. Trolley 5 refers to the commuter line that once rolled through the Beltline.

Trolley 5 Brewpub
728 17 Avenue SW, Calgary
Opens 11:30 am weekdays and 10 am weekends
403-454-3731

Great Canmore Crepes and Breads

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EPI is a funky, fine Canmore bakery and cafe

In all my years of road-trip dining across western North America, I can only remember ordering crepes a handful of times. The most memorable occasion was Crepes of Brittany in Monterey, California, followed by Amazing Crepes in Whitefish, Montana.

Crepes of Brittany, in Monterey California, is my crepe gold standard

Well, I think I’ve discovered a third fabulous crepe stop: EPI, in an industrial district of Canmore, Alberta. It’s a charming bakery and café that specializes in organic sourdough breads, pastries, and sweet and savoury crepes, using locally grown and milled grains and ancient methods of fermentation.

EPI’s superb sourdough breads

Before ordering food, I snagged a Viking sourdough loaf; the breads tend to disappear by early afternoon. Then it was on to the main attraction— a fine pork loin galette, served open faced and best tackled with a knife and fork—washed down with a nice coffee and a fruit brioche.

An elegant pork loin galette

Yes, it was truly EPIc.

EPI Canmore
4, 102 Boulder Crescent, Canmore, Alberta
Tuesday to Saturday 7:30 am-4 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday
825-909-0815

Soup’s On in Calgary

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Primal Grounds has a fine soup and sandwich combo

I don’t order soup much at lunch, other than at my Calgary favourite Primal Grounds Cafe, a few blocks down the road. A bowl of soup is generally not enough food for me, and I seem to encounter fewer places that offer the old standby soup and sandwich combo.

But I recently travelled to Cadence Coffee, a longtime hangout in Calgary’s Bowness neighbourhood, for a bowl of its Friday soup special Manhattan clam chowder ($9). It was a nice-sized, tasty serving, along with four slices of buttered sourdough toast. I’d also recommend the oversized breakfast bagel ($9.95).

Cadence Coffee offers a nice Manhattan chowder Fridays

The other reason for my visit was to support Bowness establishments hammered by months-long street closures and detours because of a major water main break. All of Calgary was affected by the resulting water-use restrictions, but none felt it more than the residents and businesses of Bowness.

Cadence Coffee
6407 Bowness Road NW, Calgary
Weekdays 7 am-3 pm, weekends 8 am-4 pm
403-247-9955

Fire Bloom Calgary Lager

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It’s not fire water. It’s Fire Bloom beer

It’s not often that me drinking beer is good for the world. Most of the time, I’m not even sure if I’m drinking to forget or forgetting to drink.

It’s an infinitesimally small step, but every time I sip a Fire Bloom lager from Calgary’s Best of Kin brewery, a portion of the sale goes to help regenerate wildfire-ravaged landscapes like the recent mountains around Jasper. Indeed, flowers from colourful fireweed that emerges from wildfire ashes were used to produce the honey that goes into the seasonal Fire Bloom beer.

Of course, this unique lager tastes pretty damn good, too. We enjoyed a couple of pints, along with a Big Hat hazy IPA, at Best of Kin’s taproom in the close-to-downtown neighbourhood of Sunalta.

It’s liquid honey, not fiery, going down the hatch

Unbeknownst to us, the Best of Kin owners (featuring brothers Ryan and Collin), staff and friends were celebrating the brewery’s second birthday when we visited. It was also happy hour, so a couple of tasty snacks—triple-cooked Kennebec fries and spicy parmesan popcorn—didn’t add much to our already reasonable tab.

The Fire Bloom pairs nicely with triple-cooked Kennebec potato fries

In all, a rather festive way to help the planet.

Best of Kin
1059 14 Street SW, Calgary
Tuesday to Sunday, most days 11:30 am to 11 pm
825-413-4233

Happy in Canmore

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There’s nothing like sharing Happy Hour appetizers

There’s one thing residents and visitors can agree on: Canmore is seriously overcrowded.

For a mountain town of 17,000 residents, that means traffic jams, wandering pedestrians, bewildering parking fees and lineups pretty much any time of day, any season of the year. God forbid if you head into town on a sunny summer weekend.

The good news is there’s a commensurate number of first-class, diversified places to eat and drink. Indeed, I would argue Canmore boasts more such places, on a per capita basis, than any town or city in Alberta.

Of course, most of these establishments charge mountain tourist prices for their fare. But there’s one way residents and visitors can snag a deal: Happy hour.

Big deal, you might argue. Happy hours are a dime a dozen in almost every municipality, big and small, in North America.

But here’s where Canmore is different. Given the large number of eateries, there’s a lot of competition amongst them, especially during the dead, late afternoon dining hours of happy hour. And that’s when a growing number of Canmorites (Canmorons?) venture out for a bargain burger and pint or pizza.

Here are a few to get you started.

Bridgette Bar is a mini, chef-driven chain (also Calgary and Toronto locations) that seems to have jumpstarted the recent interest in Canmore’s happy-hour scene. On a recent mid-week afternoon, more than 50 patrons were enjoying the fine subsidized fares. Its so-called matinee happy hour starts at 2 pm and offers generous deals of half off on all beverages and excellent pizzas, including wild mushroom ($13) and fennel salami ($12).

Fabulous chicken pizza at Bridgette’s happy hour

The nearby Mineshaft Tavern is a unique setup, sharing a kitchen with an attached seniors’ living facility in the newish, rundle-rock community of Spring Creek. When I saw residents, in comfy chairs, sipping happy hour glasses of red wine, I wondered where do I sign up for my own sunset years?

Mineshaft Tavern offers good pub fare, including a diversity of happy hour deals: $6 drinks 2-6 pm and daily specials such as $3 tacos Monday and $13 burger and fries Thursday. Plus there’s a daily $10 soup and sandwich deal.

An immense, delicious happy-hour burger and fries at Mineshaft Tavern

Elsewhere Crazy Weed and its sophisticated, casual menu offers 50% off “doughs” daily from 2-5 pm. Tavern 1883 boasts Canmore’s biggest “mountain” hour, with 40% off all food and drink from 2-5 pm every day. Finally, The Georgetown Inn has weekly pub specials, highlighted by fish and chips deals ($15 for one piece of cod) every Tuesday.

Mineshaft Tavern
808 Spring Creek Drive
Daily 11:30 am-9 pm
403-678-2288

Bridgette Bar Canmore
1030 Spring Creek Drive
Happy Hour 2-5 pm
Text 403-493-5643 “We don’t have a telephone”

Give It Up

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After railing last week about unhealthy restaurant breakfasts, I wondered what food and drink “vices” would be the toughest for me to give up.

Coffee jumpstarts my every morning

Number one, with a bullet, is coffee. A super-sized, super intense black coffee, produced with an Aeropress, jumpstarts my every morning, usually while I’m perusing the online news. Green tea would never be a replacement. And, it turns out, coffee is pretty good for you.

Number two is a tall can of beer, specifically a hoppy India Pale Ale, especially towards the end of a hot summer’s afternoon and most enjoyably shared on a patio with good friends. But I’ve discovered I can go several weeks without a brew. Just don’t see myself ever giving it up entirely.

The cure for whatever ales me

There’s nothing like a health scare to motivate a change in dietary habits. I used to polish off two or three bowls of ice cream in a single sitting, no problem. But when I was diagnosed with type two diabetes, I almost immediately dumped that binging habit. Haven’t had more than a few tastes of ice cream in the 20-plus years since. Same with desserts, chocolate, anything sweet. Don’t miss them.

Could you give up ice cream?

Enough about me. What would be the hardest “unhealthy” things for you to give up? A venti caramel macchiato? A pint of lager? A bottle of red? Two fingers of single malt? Dark chocolate? Eggs benedict?

Or artery-clogging eggs benedict?

Poutine? A Double Whopper? BBQ potato chips? THC gummies?  Pepperoni sticks? A can of Pepsi? Peach pie with a scoop of vanilla? A stack of pancakes, dusted in icing sugar and swimming in butter and maple syrup?

Or a slab of mile-high pie?

Or maybe you have no intention of giving up these simple pleasures.

Either way, let me know.