From Buena Vista to Aspirational Aspen

Lovely Arkansas River near Buena Vista, Colorado

Like many of the area towns, Buena Vista (pronounced Beeyoona by locals) combines the holy trinity of mountain biking and river running or fly fishing the upper Arkansas River. Locals and visitors can also develop an appetite by running up one of the nearby 14,000-foot mountains.

I generally research my road-food stops in advance, to maximize the odds of hitting the best eateries. But occasionally, I like to wing it, which often means following the old formula of looking for the most parked vehicles. This leads me to Evergreen Cafe just as the rush for the $5 breakfast special is ending. That gives me room to find a counter seat near the grill, which provides added entertainment as a new cook is being schooled by the exacting owner. On the second try, my over-easy eggs pass approval and arrive perfectly cooked, along with a pancake and sausage patty. The sharp-eyed owner notices me watching the action and asks, “Who are you?” “Just a traveller,” I say, as I furtively slide my notebook into my briefcase.

Evergreen Cafe
418 Highway 24, Buena Vista
Daily 6:30 am-2 pm

For such a small place, Buena Vista is a serious coffee centre. At the south end of town, there’s Brown Dog Coffee Company (713 South Highway 24, daily 6:30 am-9 pm), where you can get a nice in-house-roasted coffee, a slice of coffee cake or a sandwich. You can also drive down historic Main Street to *Buena Vista Roastery (409 East Main Street, daily 7 am-6 pm). There, you can pick up a pound of Kenyan to go or sit in a comfortable cafe and enjoy a pour-over coffee along with a house-baked bagel or cheesy hot pocket. Not content with running a vibrant business, co-owner Joel Benson is also the town’s mayor.

Buena Vista Roastery is a great place for a java and a snack

Heading north of Buena Vista on Highway 24, you can continue to the historic mining town of Leadville. Or you can hang a left on the twisting Highway 82 that climbs all the way to Independence Pass, at a lofty 12,100 feet, before plunging down to Aspen.

Wonder why it’s called Aspen.

Aspen is one of those aspirational places that perfectly fits the line “the billionaires are pushing out the millionaires.” It’s a beautiful but highfalutin, spotless resort town, where the coiffed regulars wear down sweaters and are pulled down sidewalks by well-bred dogs. (One waitress who also looks after a number of properties for seasonal residents tells me she has to run out and FedEx a forgotten sweater to an absentee owner.) Still, amongst the high-end galleries and clothing stores are a surprising number of excellent, affordable eateries. After all, the help have to eat somewhere.

I make a beeline to Poppycock’s Café for just one reason. “Would you like to see a menu?” the waitress asks. “No thanks. Just an order of oatmeal buttermilk pancakes, please.” Apparently, I’m not alone. The signature oatcakes are so popular, they ship some 50 two-pound packages of the mix every week, more around Christmas. I can see why. Unlike normal hotcakes, these are moist and dense, like hot oatmeal. The corn griddle cakes also sell like, pardon me, hotcakes; you can buy that mix, too. In house, the latter come with Poppycock’s pistachio sausage patties.

The oatmeal buttermilk pancakes are a hot seller at Poppycock’s Cafe

Poppycock’s Cafe
665 East Cooper Avenue, Aspen
Monday to Saturday 7 am-2:30 pm, Sunday 7 am-2 pm

Make sure you get a counter seat when you eat at *Johnny McGuire’s Deli. At lunch, most people are standing, waiting for their food to take out or to eat at a sunny, outdoor table. But what you want is a front-row seat to watch short-order cooking at its finest. The Spanish-speaking cooks I observe are a blur of coordinated action. As one guy flips grilled steak slices and onion onto half a toasted sub, the other is simultaneously putting greens and sauce on the other side and then quickly cutting the sandwich with a big knife. Despite what looks like a time-consuming line, half a dozen sandwiches are ready in a couple of well-orchestrated minutes. Soon, I’m biting into a Marley, a hot, juicy combination of grilled steak, onions, barbecue sauce, cheddar and veggies that dribbles down my chin. The cold subs—such as one loaded with turkey, ham and bacon—are equally good. Johnny McGuire’s makes things easy by charging the same price for all the subs, the cost varying only by size; the $7.50 eight-incher is plenty for most appetites, especially if accompanied by some hand-cut fries.

Short-order cooking at its finest at Johnny McGuire’s Deli

Johnny McGuire’s Deli
730 East Cooper Avenue, Aspen
Daily 9 am-9 pm

Big, delicious wraps come out of this tiny Aspen place.

It’s called *The Big Wrap, but it could well be the definition of hole in the wall. Walk by too quickly, and you might miss its location, down a few stairs from street level and not much wider than the front door. Walk a few steps inside and you’ve reached the back counter. Needless to say, there’s no bathroom and only a handful of stools. Given what Aspen’s sky-high rents must be, I’m sure this tradeoff in size allows Big Wraps to deliver just that: hefty, delicious wraps that are a steal at under $7, especially in a resort town. The creative concoctions include my choice of a To Thai For—grilled chicken or tofu, peanut sauce, jasmine rice, black beans and crunchy confetti slaw stuffed into a chili tortilla. It’s a two-napkin explosion of flavour. Other inventive combinations are mashed potato and grilled steak or grilled chicken and couscous; they’re what co-owner Babs calls her science experiments.

Here, for instance, is my To Thai For

The Big Wrap
#101, 520 East Durant Avenue, Aspen
Monday to Saturday 10 am-6 pm. Cash only

Another lower-level eatery, 520 Grill also offers some good, affordable lunch and dinner fare. Try the seared ahi tuna or grilled Portobello mushroom sandwiches or the kale and quinoa salad (520 East Cooper Avenue. Monday to Friday 11 am-9 pm, weekends 11 am-5 pm). If you need a beverage to go with all this eating, Victoria’s Espresso and Wine Bar has some potent French Press coffee in their pump pot and offers a range of breakfast baked goods, salads and curries. 510 East Durant Avenue. Daily 7 am-9 pm, except 10 pm Friday and Saturday.

Margarita’s Marvellous Dishes

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Danny and Evgeny show off the fabulously creamy, fruity oatmeal at Margarita’s Dishes in the Calgary Farmers’ Market

In honour of Easter, here’s a short post on a terrific family-run operation at the Calgary Farmers’ Market. With its counter service, Styrofoam plates and plastic utensils in a small food court, Margarita’s Dishes may look like fast food, but everything from the sausages and cottage cheese to the jam and sauerkraut is homemade eastern European cuisine. Mother Margarita is supposed to be retired, but she can often be seen wearing an apron in back of son Danny Korduner, who always makes you feel welcome.

My brother-in-law and sister have been eating breakfast here for years, but it took my good friends and frequent customers Nancy and Dennis Stefani to prompt this post. Here’s their report:

“There are many excellent culinary delights at the Calgary Farmers’ Market, but it is hard to beat a comforting bowl of hot oatmeal from Margarita’s—luxuriously creamy and topped with loads of fresh fruits. They make it to order, so you’ll have several minutes to get your espresso from nearby Fratello Analog Cafe. By the time you return, your oatmeal will be hot and ready.

“Margarita’s makes the best sauerkraut we’ve ever tasted. If you think you don’t like sauerkraut, then you haven’t had Margarita’s. And there’s the incredible blintz with homemade cottage cheese filling – mmmmm! Also, they make pyrogies, latkes, schnitzel, bratwurst, and cabbage rolls made with Silver Sage beef. They make delicious borscht, too. All these can be taken home for later and some items can be purchased frozen. Enjoy!”

Great capos, pour overs and even cold-brewed coffee at Fratello Analog Cafe in the Calgary Farmers’ Market

Calgary Farmers’ Market and all its vendors
510 77 Avenue SE
Thursday to Sunday 9 am- 5 pm

Hey, I’m heading off on an extended road trip to New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Any suggestions for some great independent, affordable eateries I should check out on my trip?

American Versus Canadian Restaurants

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Americans wear their colours more proudly than Canadians

What distinguishes American from Canadian restaurants? That is, besides the lower prices in the former, a lot of the time.

Aside from Canadian, or back, bacon—which you don’t actually see that much in Canadian restaurants—we Canucks don’t have much to offer in distinct regional cuisine. Even with the one solid entry of poutine, many Canadians outside Quebec used to look aghast at this artery-choking combination of fries, gravy and cheese curds before it became trendy.

Americans, particularly in the south, can counter with grits, collards, beignets, biscuits and gravy, barbecue, pulled pork, chicken-fried steak, Philly cheesesteak and that odd combination of fried chicken and waffles. Indeed, Mexican cuisine, or its Tex-Mex or New Mexican offshoots, has made far greater inroads on restaurant menus than anything Canada has to offer.

At a lot of U.S. diners and cafes, I’ve noticed, the bill is presented almost as soon as you’ve told the server you don’t want anything else. It’s done in a matter-of-fact way that I don’t mind, sometimes with the comment “Pay whenever you’re ready.” I prefer this casual efficiency to the more common situation in Canada of having to catch the server’s eye and ask for the bill. Speaking of this, I’ve heard a number of U.S. servers use the term “ticket” instead of “bill” or “check” (“cheque” if you’re Canadian).

It seems odd to me that Canada is ahead of the U.S. in anything regarding technology. But so it is with credit cards. We have followed the European example of using credit (and debit) cards with embedded chips, whereby you punch a four-digit code into a portable machine instead of signing a slip of paper. But in the U.S., using this same chip credit card, I’m never asked for anything more than a signature.

In the U.S., signs always direct you to the “restroom”. In Canada, it’s more commonly called “bathroom” or “washroom”.

At U.S. places where you order at the counter, I’m often asked “Here or to go?” My intuitive response is to say, “to stay” instead of “here.”

Canadians say “cinnamon bun”, Americans almost invariably “cinnamon roll.”

Finally, we Canadians don’t say “eh” nearly as much as is rumoured (“rumored” for you American spellers). Just like y’all don’t say “uh-huh”.

Any other dining Americanisms or Canadianisms I’m missing?

From Pueblo To My Favourite Colorado Town: Salida

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Gorgeous Arkansas River flowing through Salida, Colorado

A half-hour’s drive south of Colorado Springs on the I-25, Pueblo is a much quieter, more Latino-based town with nice brick buildings and a river walk in the historic downtown. While strolling these streets, drop into The Daily Grind Cafe for a coffee and maybe a breakfast burrito in this cozy café. You might even want to sit in the distinctive red “hand” chair.

Be careful not to sit on the middle finger, Daily Grind, Pueblo

The Daily Grind
209 South Union Avenue, Pueblo
Monday to Friday 6:30 am-11 pm, Saturday 7 am-11 pm, Sunday 7am-9pm

(Note: I’m repeating this pick from my Best of 2012 road trip eats, but it’s well worth it). When I walk into *Bingo Burger, the very helpful, friendly server tells me my lamb burger will take 10 minutes to prepare—somewhat surprising since there’s only two other customers in the restaurant. But then I see why. All burgers and fries are cooked to order, and from a counter seat I can watch my thick, hand-formed patty grilled and then finished under a lid. Next come the twice-cooked fries—from San Luis Valley potatoes—hot out of the fryer and tossed with a little salt. My God, these are easily the best fries on the trip, good enough I don’t want to sully them with the roasted garlic dipping sauce. The Goat Hill burger (Colorado-raised lamb with goat cheese, mushrooms and a lemon-rosemary aioli) is right up there with it, cooked slightly pink as requested and requiring a well-hinged mouth to bite into. The most popular menu item is the basic Bingo Burger, with pueblo chilis worked into the beef patty. Owner Richard Warner gets about 75% of his meat and produce from area farmers, and it shows, easily justifying the slight premium charged for these superior products.

I wouldn’t blame if you bit your computer screen, Bingo Burger, Pueblo

Bingo Burger
101 Central Plaza, Pueblo
Monday to Thursday 11 am-8 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am-9 pm. Closed Sunday

A hop and a skip away, Richard’s wife, Mary Oreskovich, runs the killer *Hopscotch Bakery, which turns out artisan breads, daily sandwiches and to-die-for sweets. The sweet treats include an “orange beast” (croissant dough, orange zest and sugar); a kitchen sink cookie with chocolate chunks, almonds and pecans; cream cheese brownies and honeymoon bars. The challenge here is restraining myself.

How about a cookie or three at delectable Hopscotch Bakery in Pueblo

How about a delectable cookie or three at Hopscotch Bakery in Pueblo?

Hopscotch Bakery
333 South Union Avenue, Pueblo
Tuesday to Friday 7 am-4 pm, Saturday 8 am-4 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday

If you want to experience a longstanding Pueblo tradition, drop into Pass Key Restaurant and order a Super Pass Key Special. It’s a house-made, slightly spicy Italian patty that’s grilled and stuffed inside a mini-loaf along with three cheeses. Puebloans have been eating these sandwiches for more than half a century. The story goes that when former residents return to Pueblo, they stop at Pass Key before visiting their families. As an outsider with no emotional attachment, I find this sandwich a decent change from the regular roadside fare and not nearly as artery clogging as described by some online commentators.

Pass Key Restaurant
1901 US Highway 50 West and two other Pueblo locations
Opens daily at 11 am. Closed Sunday

The nice thing about road tripping without deadlines is making spontaneous decisions, which invariably lead to interesting encounters. So it is when a highway sign inspires me to take a detour into sleepy Florence, located along the Arkansas River and sustained by antique shops and a high density of area prisons, so I’m told. I walk down the main drag and into Pour House Coffee Roasters, intrigued by the presence of an in-house organic coffee roaster in such a small place. So while I sip a nice French Press coffee (only $1.95), I chat with young owner Ken Paul, who’s up every morning at four, baking breakfast treats as well as later roasting coffee and making quiches, quesadillas and chicken salad sandwiches.

Pour Coffee House Roaster owner Ken Paul no doubt needs a few coffee shots for all his roasting and cooking

Pour House Coffee Roasters
202 West Main Street, Florence
Monday-Tuesday 6 am-8 pm, Wednesday-Friday 6 am- 5 pm, Saturday 7 am-5 pm, Sunday 7 am-1 pm

Just down the street, you can get a nice slice of quiche or pie at Aspen Leaf Bakery and Café. I’ve already eaten two lunches by the time I get here, but Colorado Springs reader Kay Williams Johnson calls it a hidden treasure, well worth the drive for the “fabulous sandwiches” and “best pastries in the area.”

Aspen Leaf Bakery and Cafe
113 West Main Street, Florence
Monday 11 am-3 pm, Tuesday-Thursday 8 am-4 pm, Friday-Saturday 8 am-5 pm

Salida (pronounced Sal-eye-da by locals), is my favourite Colorado town. It’s a nice mix of vibrant arts community (check out the local sculptures) and a lot of young folk playing on the Arkansas River and hills around the leafy town. The historic brick downtown buildings also contain interesting galleries, eateries and drinking establishments. “It’s a great place to be broke,” says a guy who holds down three jobs to make ends meet. But I spot a new condo project along the river, perhaps a sign that Salida will not long remain a relatively undiscovered gem of a mountain town. (By the way, props to Mike Ryan of Mike’s Automotive for quickly fixing my jammed back seat, which wouldn’t fold down, and not charging me.)

Even the kayaks are turned into art in Salida, Colorado

Close to the Arkansas River, *The Fritz is a cozy, local bar/restaurant that serves sandwiches by day and excellent small and larger plates by night. To me, the atmosphere is more intimate and exuberant at night, when the beer taps really get running. The burger plates (heavy, slightly rare patty) with sweet potato fries are great as are smaller dishes of beet, pear and gorgonzola salad (a bargain at $3.50) and sliced, medium-rare steaks with dijon cream ($6), all washed down with local microbrews. The thick-crust mac and cheese is also very popular.

The Fritz, in Salida, has some fabulous food

The Fritz
113 East Sackett Street
Daily 11 am-2 am

Here’s how things work in small Colorado towns. Sitting in The Fritz, we start talking to a couple at the next table, Kim and Scott, who happen to own Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub. We don’t make it there that trip, but a year later I make a point of visiting their small corner eatery, fronted by several mini kayaks. The fine pizzas start with a chewy, made-daily crust, topped by layers of meat in my Caveman, which the menu describes as having turned “yoga instructors into snarling savages.” Moonlight—which donates 10 per cent of its Monday proceeds to local projects—also brews some flavourful ales, along with house-made sodas such as limeade, vanilla cream and root beer.

A Caveman pizza and a house-made ale hit the spot at Moonlight Pizza

Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub
242 F. Street
Opens daily at 11 am for lunch and dinner

It’s enough that a place the size of Salida would have one pizza joint with a brewery. But within two blocks of Moonlight is another fine pizza place, Amica’s Pizza, which also doubles as a brewery. I’m not sure if it’s the water or just a place where people want to live… and make pizza, and beer.

Amica’s Pizza
136 East 2 Street
Daily 11:30 am-9ish

Cafe dawn (named in part for co-owner Dawn Heigele) is a cozy hangout for a good, strong early morning coffee or a late afternoon Colorado craft beer or wine (weekday happy-hour specials). I don’t usually order outsourced breakfast treats, but the local Flour Girl make a tasty quiche baked in a brioche pastry; if need be, you can even heat it yourself in a microwave.

Early morning patrons at Cafe Dawn in Salida

Cafe dawn
203 West First Street
Daily 6 am-6 pm. Cash only

Calgary and Area Bargain Eats: Part 2

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A ceremony of white hats at the SAIT Culinary Campus in downtown Calgary

The bargain eats in Calgary keep coming. Here’s a second list of good city places to eat at for less than $10. Enjoy the delicious savings. I’m actually starting with an outstanding spot just outside the city, in Bragg Creek. And at the bottom of this post, reader Lynn Martel shares a favourite road dining experience in Terrace, way up in northwest British Columbia.

If you’re heading southwest of Calgary for a hike or bike near Bragg Creek, be sure to stop at *Creekers. My new go-to spot in the hamlet, it’s a deli/market/bistro where the food is both delicious and, for now, inexpensive. At breakfast, owner John Czarnojan whips me up an outstanding, steaming omelette stuffed with Valbella ham and portabella mushrooms and accompanied by crispy hash browns and nice toast ($10). Lunch features include an Italian flat bread Reuben ($7) and my choice of a fire-roasted turkey meatball and provolone cheese sandwich ($8) on a perfectly toasted ciabatta bun; both come with a scoop of potato salad. But the best deals are at supper. Where else can you get a half, oven-roasted chicken dinner—with yam mash, veggies and corn bread—for $12, sesame-crusted salmon for $13 or a Friday night prime rib dinner with Yorkshire pudding for $16? Not surprisingly, you have to arrive early for the latter, which quickly runs out.

An outstanding omelette at Creekers in Bragg Creek

Creekers
20 White Avenue (second entrance to Bragg Creek if arriving from Highway 22 North)
Daily from 8 am

It’s 11:30 am midweek, and I’m driving in circles trying to find an obscure spot in an office park near Deerfoot Trail in northeast Calgary. So imagine my surprise when I enter Scarpone’s Italian Store Café and find a lineup of people waiting to order. The reason is simple. Most Italian fare, I find, is fairly pricy, but this place is cheap. Dirt cheap. How about $4 for a large, thick rectangle of pizza, $7 for a slab of lasagna or $4 for a big bowl of soup laden with chicken? At $8, my calzone-like panzarotti is a substantial meal, with slices of Italian meat and cheese in a tomato sauce, all tucked inside a slightly too-doughy pastry. While not gourmet Italian food—it’s cafeteria style, with many items kept warm in fast-emptying steamer trays—it’s good quality, it’s efficient and (did I mention?), it’s cheap. The bargain prices are a reflection of the family Scarpone business, which produces a wide variety of Italian foodstuffs next door. The Salumeria Groceria, attached to the café, is a great place to stock up on cans of tomatoes, olive oils, cheeses and the like, at much lower prices than most Italian groceries in the city.

Great Italian grocery and meal deals at Scarpone’s, Calgary

Scarpone’s Italian Store Café
5130 Skyline Way NE, Calgary
Monday to Saturday 9 am-5 pm

It’s not often I want an apprentice preparing my lunch. But at The Market at the Culinary Campus in a downtown Calgary office tower, it’s students in SAIT Polytechnic’s highly regarded professional cooking program producing the meals. Albeit, it’s under the watchful eye of flinty instructors; in my case, said supervisor even shows the callow cook how to load and slice the sandwich. Opened last September, the cafeteria is a gleaming, open space, with hanging cookware worthy of a big-hotel kitchen. You line up at different stations and order one of the day’s two featured items—such as tempura fish or Thai curry chicken (Braise station) Thai pork curry (Saute) or a prime rib sandwich (Rotisserie); the average price for any main is $8.50. My sandwich is a soft, fresh roll filled with a succulent orange-sesame pork belly, though the crackling is a little hard on my teeth. The market is a grab-and-go place, with most customers carrying plastic boxes to a scattering of mezzanine tables or upstairs offices. The servings aren’t as big as at the Sunterra Markets. But it’s good, quick food at reasonable prices for the heart of downtown Calgary.

The Market at the Culinary Campus
226, 230 8 Avenue SW (Stephen Avenue Mall), Calgary
Monday to Friday 8 am-4 pm (hot lunch 11 am-1 pm)

Walk into KOOB, and it’s tempting to think you’re in one of those generic, assembly-line sandwich places; the sub-title “The Kabob Factory” probably doesn’t help. That’s because there’s a couple of guys behind a glassed counter asking a moving line of customers what toppings, from a dozen containers, they want added to their “koobwiches” ($7 to $8.50 for a substantial single). The difference here is the quality of those toppings, mostly house made and piled aboard a large pita. They include hummus, basil tomatoes, a fine corn and bean salsa, onions sprinkled with sumac and a nice red-and-green cabbage slaw. The showstopper is the kebabs—individual skewers of tender beef, chicken, lamb (my choice) or veggies—drippingly grilled over a flame and placed atop all the “toppings”. The last choice is picking a squeezed, hand-crafted sauce or two (say, a smoked chipotle or lemon dill garlic) and then watching the wrapped beast seared in a panini press. Because there’s only one table in this tiny, unadorned place, the final task is dashing to your car and scarfing down this juicy, tasty meal while it’s still warm.

I have to devour this delicious KOOB sandwich in my car

KOOB
5, 2015 4 Street SW, Calgary
Monday to Saturday 11 am-11 pm, Sunday noon-8 pm

How’s this for devotion? An Edmonton restaurant worker tells me he hopped on his motorcycle one day, rode 300 kilometres to Calgary for a Tubby Dog and then promptly headed home. My odyssey is only a few clicks to traffic-choked 17^th Avenue SW, where I join a short line of aficionados in the delightfully shabby, retro joint, decked out in bold red and yellow colours, with Tubby posters on one wall and video games and a pinball machine along another. So why the cult following, especially for those seeking a post-midnight tube steak fix? It starts with good dogs, steamed and then grilled and plopped into fresh buns. But what puts Tubby’s over the top is the generous, creative toppings—ranging from mounds of cheese, bacon and potato chips in the signature A-Bomb to peanut butter, jelly and Cap’n Crunch cereal (yikes!) in the Cap’ns Dog. My Sumo features a refreshing mix of crunchy seaweed, pickled ginger and mild wasabi; the heat could be kicked up a notch. Nearly all the dogs are $7, so throw in a half order of yam fries and you’ve got a satisfying, distinctive meal for just over nine bucks. On Tuesdays after 8 pm, Tubby turns to exclusively tacos and tostados, at bargain prices.

Honest, there’s a dog under all those Japanese toppings at Tubby’s

Tubby Dog
1022 17 Avenue SW
Sunday to Thursday 11:30 am till late, Friday-Saturday 11:30 am-1 am, with window service till 4 am. Cash only

A lot of active outdoor folks who pass through Calgary make a pilgrimage to the city’s Mountain Equipment Co-op outlet, near downtown, to pick up affordable outdoor clothing and gear. To fuel up for the day’s hike or mountain bike ride, head straight across the street to the bustling Holy Grill for breakfast—try the bacon avocado crisp, featuring a fried egg—or a lunch panini (the bountiful Mr. Chicken also includes bacon) or double burger. Just about everything on the lunch menu is around $8, though a near-mandatory $4 side order of beet chips will put you over $10.

Tasty breakfast panini at Holy Grill, but what’s with the insipid tomatoes?

Holy Grill
827 10 Avenue SW
Monday to Friday 7:30 am-4 pm, Saturday 10 am-4 pm. Closed Sunday

Don’t go to Puspa if you’re seeking ambience or trendy dining. Located in a nondescript brick strip mall in northwest Calgary, the Indian restaurant is dim and rosy-hued inside and appears untouched since the two Datta brothers opened it 20 years ago. But that means the focus is squarely on the food. As a result, you’re getting some delicious Bengal-style meal deals, especially from the short lunch menu (a nearby couple say they’ve been regulars for 15 years, and it’s always good). My chicken curry thali has big chunks of tender chicken breast in a nicely spiced sauce. Served on a compartmentalized steel plate (hence the term thali), it comes with hot, soft slices of naan bread, saffron rice, and an undistinguished salad—all for $9, including a rice pudding. I think I can forego ambience for that kind of value.

Good Bengali thali at Puspa Restaurant in Calgary

Puspa Restaurant
1051 40 Avenue NW, Calgary
Lunch Monday to Friday 11:30 am-2 pm, dinner Monday to Saturday 5 pm-9:30 pm. Closed Sunday

Now for a recommendation from Lynn Martel of Golden, British Columbia:

Haryana’s Indian (of the eastern variety) restaurant in Terrace, B.C. is in a roadside motel on the edge of town and the service is unforgettably slow, but TOTALLY worth the wait because every delectable morsel is made from scratch. The guys who work for highway avalanche control reportedly call in their order from the helipad, go home, shower, have a beer, then go to the restaurant and order another beer before their food comes. Legend is that the genius in the kitchen is someone’s grandmother, she speaks no English, but she is a virtuoso of Indian food. All dining should be this relaxed, and this good. Exquisite, nondescript hole in the wall.

Haryana’s Restaurant
5522 Highway 16 West, Terrace, B.C.

Got a Calgary bargain gem I’ve missesd? Want to share a great road-trip dining experience, even if it’s not in western U.S./Canada? Send it to me at info@billcorbett.ca and I’ll try to post it.

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Marathon Mouth

Great road trip eats in western U.S. and Canada

From Buena Vista to Aspirational Aspen

Margarita’s Marvellous Dishes

American Versus Canadian Restaurants

From Pueblo To My Favourite Colorado Town: Salida

Calgary and Area Bargain Eats: Part 2

Colorado Springs

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