Calgary’s Hottest Chicken Sandwiches

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Does JINBAR produce Calgary’s best hot chicken sandwich?

In recent years, it seems, every other fast-food outlet and casual restaurant started introducing hot fried chicken sandwiches to their menus. A staple of Nashville dining, these spicy creations have migrated north, quickly becoming commonplace in Calgary. Here are three local standouts that, I reckon, could compete with anything south of the border.

First up is Alumni, a combination excellent sandwich shop and cocktail bar on busy 17 Avenue SW. Their hot chicken sandwich ($16) is a dense, moist piece of breast meat topped with slaw, pickles and comeback sauce, tucked inside a sturdy brioche bun. The “half” spice choice is plenty hot enough for most folks.

Hard to beat Alumni’s hot chicken sandwich

I first visited Alumni during Covid, when my packaged meal was handed out the door by a masked server. On subsequent visits, it was nice to dine inside and soak up the evening vibe.

Exhibit two is nearby Cluck n Cleaver, a collaboration of sisters Nicole and Francine Gomes. The former is a top chef Canada winner, the latter a raiser of chickens.

Cluck offers halal rotisserie chicken and a lil’ clucker sandwich. But my go-to fix is the hefty Mother Clucker ($13.75), a quarter pound of fried chicken, coated in house-made chipotle hot sauce, coleslaw, pickles and blue-cheese mayo, all stuffed into an almost overmatched bun.

Cluck n Cleaver: Big production from a tiny space

Other than a few dine-in stools, it’s mostly takeout from this tiny space. I make it as far as the car before hoovering down this sloppy, spicy goodness.

I wasn’t going to include JINBAR on this list, strictly because its hot chicken sandwich costs $23, though it’s the only one of the three contenders that comes with fries. But when I saw the happy-hour (4-5:30 pm) deal of $15—including a pile of confit garlic fries—I had to hustle down to Bridgeland.

JINBAR is located in a historic Bridgeland brick building

Must say, I was blown away by chef Jinhee Lee’s tender, two pieces of chicken breast splashed with medium-hot Korean chile glaze and a layer of mustard slaw. Though with something this succulent, I wasn’t surprised the brioche bun didn’t go the distance.

So at this price, quality and atmosphere—it’s located in an historic brick building—JINBAR is my Calgary hot chicken sandwich champion.

Alumni Sandwiches
725 17 Avenue SW, Calgary
Monday to Saturday 11 am-10 pm, Sunday 11 am-9 pm
403-455-7255

Cluck N Cleaver
1511 14 Street SW and one other Calgary location
Daily 11:30 am-10 pm

JINBAR
24 4 Street NE
Tuesday to Friday and Sunday 4 pm-10 pm, Friday-Saturday 4 pm-11pm. Closed Monday
587-349-9008

Happy With a Lonely Mouth

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A fabulous bowl of Happy Hour curry udon at Lonely Mouth Bar

Marathon Mouth (that’s me), meet Lonely Mouth. The latter is a 17th Avenue SW Calgary bar that offers Japanese-inspired meals and inscrutable reasons for the name: “When you’re not hungry, but you eat because your mouth is lonely.”

I ponder this riddle as I tuck into one of the best happy-hour deals in Calgary (2-5 pm). This includes up to 50% off a long list of cocktails, appetizers (try the bluefin tuna tartare) and sushi rolls

Like my fabulous bowl of curry udon, featuring fall-apart braised beef short rib, soft-cooked egg, transcendent overnight broth and, the highlight, chewy house-made udon noodles. Normally $24, a $12 happy-hour bargain.

There’s enough money left in the budget for two pieces of sublime hamachi (yellow fin tuna) sashimi ($4 h.h.), which slides down my throat.

Lonely Mouth is in an elegant 17th Avenue SW space, with a long bar, open kitchen, wood screens and soft lamp lighting

Lonely Mouth Bar
528 17 Avenue SW, Calgary
Happy hour daily 2 pm-5 pm
Text 403-990-5094

Give Me Mo of Those Nepalese Dumplings

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Ever heard of momo cuisine? Me neither—until I discovered it was Nepalese stuffed dumplings and had to check it out. Still, when I walked into Calgary Momo House, in a distant northwest mall, I was overwhelmed by choices. Would you like those little dumplings steamed or wok fried? In what style: tandoori, Szechuan or chili? And filled with mutton, vegetables or paneer?

Fortunately, there was a compromise—a platter of some 10 chicken dumplings, done in three styles and topped with an artful bit of salad. Better yet, this luncheon special was only $13.

As advertised, it was about a 20-minute wait, a sure sign my little Nepali street-food meal was made to order. I must say, it was delightfully different, with little bites of slightly crunchy dumplings dipped in lovely spicy and milder sauces.

Chef Prakash and wife Pooja Ale Magar opened this second Calgary location 18 months ago. It didn’t hurt to be recently featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. And yet when I subsequently dined on a Monday noon hour, I had the place to myself.

Calgary Momo House
410, 20 Crowfoot Crescent NW and one other Calgary location
Daily noon-9 pm
403-660-7043

Ryuko Rocks

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At Ryuko, fabulous lunchtime Japanese spread for only $18

I’ve never been a big fan of sushi, largely because of the cost and the quality. Well, I’ve found a newish Japanese restaurant in southwest Calgary that blows this argument out of the water. Indeed, a recent meal at Ryuko, in Christie Park, is arguably my best lunch deal and experience of the year to date.

It starts when I walk down the long corridor of this tres-elegante space, with soft jazz creating a calm that belies the bustling staff and steadily arriving customers. I grab a counter seat where I can watch three chefs wielding sharp knives and one using a blow torch to blister a sushi roll.

A quiet, elegant spot for lunch

But the highlight is the arrival of a lunch-set special that Ryuko offers from Monday to Thursday. I choose a sushi menu that, for the criminally low price of $18, delivers me the following: four pieces of nigiri (including yellow fin and B.C. salmon), four pieces of California roll, a warm bowl of miso soup and several pieces of yam tempura. I splurge with a large pot of excellent roasted green tea ($5). Bliss.

Wielding a blow torch just one of a chef’s skills

Beyond the lunch specials is an expansive menu ranging from a 48-hour ramen broth to bibimbap bowls, the latter reflecting the owners’ Korean roots. Of course, there’s plenty of nigiri and sashimi choices, starting at $3.50 a piece and extending to premium fish flown in from Japan and then cured and aged inhouse. Note: nigiri is fish and rice, sashimi just fish.

I’ll be back soon, perhaps to check out other set-lunch menus like udon and katsu.

Ryuko
3150, 40 Christie Park View SW and one other Calgary location
Lunch-set hours Monday to Thursday noon-5 pm
403-991-3208

Calgary’s Creme Cream Puffs Blows Up on TikTok

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Sublime cream puffs at Creme

There’s nothing like TikTok to turbocharge the marketing of a wee Calgary bakery. That’s what Crème Cream Puffs owner Carly Hamilton recently discovered when she posted a video of her little industrial-area shop, just off Macleod Trail.

Two weeks later, sales of her inspired cream puffs and macarons had increased 600 per cent, with 105,000 likes and counting. That’s what the kids call going viral or blowing up.

Of course, I had to hustle down to snag some celebrated cream puffs before they sold out for the day. Luckily, I was in time to grab a six-pack box featuring the following flavours: best-selling crème brulee, salted caramel, blackberry mascarpone and chocolate egg cream. I didn’t realize I could be a cream puff fan till that first blissful bite through burnt sugar and vanilla cream.

The macarons are damn good, too

Also as they say, Crème was an overnight success six years in the making. After writing a food blog in Hong Kong, Carly studied at London’s Le Cordon Bleu and worked in a Michelin-star restaurant before returning home to Calgary.

There, she played with cream puff recipes in her parent’s kitchen, testing her product on friends and relatives before graduating to online and restaurant sales. Eighteen months ago, she expanded to a commercial kitchen and walk-up retail sales.

Hitting the jackpot on TikTok is great but only if the underlying product justifies all the acclaim. So how does Carly and her burgeoning crew maintain the chef standards?

It starts with handmake choux dough, topped with crunchy, cookie-like cracquelin and filled with small-batch pasty creams, citrus curds and esoteric things like marshmallow fluff and carrot cake crumble.

A bustling kitchen just off Macleod Trail

Crème’s cream puff menu changes every month, all the better to prompt repeated visits. Just don’t arrive late in the afternoon, when the display cases may well be empty.

Creme Cream Puffs
Unit 2, 5524 1A Street SW, Calgary
Online orders and walk-in sales Wednesday to Friday 10 am-4 pm and Saturday 10 am-3 pm. Closed Sunday to Tuesday
587-429-5846

Hungry Thaiger is a Thai Ghost Kitchen Winner

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Hungry Thaiger is a fabulous family-run Thai ghost kitchen in southwest Calgary

I’m a sucker for ghost kitchens, pop-up restaurants, micro bakeries and pretty much any home-based food joints. Why? It’s largely because I’ve dispensed with the middleperson and am directly dealing, and chatting, with the owner, who is often the cook. In a lot of cases, I’m picking up the meal at the proprietor’s home or little place of business.

So when I hear about Hungry Thaiger, I hustle down to the Oakridge Community Centre in Calgary’s southwest. That’s where they run a second-floor ghost kitchen, preparing delicious Thai meals for pickup and delivery. It’s a wife-and-husband operation, with Bangkok-raised Somp tending a line of smoking-hot woks and Saskatoon-born Travis assembling everything else.

From this compact commercial kitchen, they produce a plethora of Thai curries, stir-fries and noodle dishes, some 25 in all. These range from the familiar green curries and tom yum soups to the lesser-known bird’s nest noodles.

Directions to Hungry Thaiger’s upstairs kitchen in the Oakridge Community Centre

For a first visit, I stick to the conventional pad Thai. Technically, I’m here for takeout, but I never make it past my parked car, wolfing down the steaming meal with a plastic fork. It’s fabulous stuff, a bargain $17 for the quantity and quality.

Fabulous pad Thai

Hungry Thaiger has been operating in this leafy neighbourhood for about a year, with area residents Somp and Travis hoping it’s a steppingstone to a conventional restaurant nearby. Me, I kinda hope they don’t give up the ghost.

Travis and mother assembling my steaming meal

Hungry Thaiger
9504 Oakfield Drive SW, Calgary (upstairs Oakridge Community Centre)
Wednesday to Friday and Sunday 4-8 pm
587-229-8386