When we were kids, getting up at 6am was only ok if it was to get to the ski hill early. Most of the time there was a quick stop at the McDonalds on the way out of town to pick up egg mcmuffins (shamefully) and some juice to fill us up for a full day of skiing. In Fernie, B.C. we found a breakfast snack that takes the “mcmuffin” to a whole new level.

Big Bang Bagels shares a location with the Just Pizza 2 for 1 shop in the heart of historic Fernie. Their speciality is The Big Breakfast Banger, which is a mouth watering combination of a tasty Montreal style bagel with fried egg, cheddar cheese and ham (proper thick slices). Sure you could make it at home, but given the price ($4) and the quality of the ingredients why bother…sleep in an extra 15 minutes and pick one up on the way to the hill.

It’s nice to see a little shop that does something really well and word of mouth does the rest.

Big Bang Bagels is located at:
Just Pizza, 362 2nd Ave
Fernie, BC
Open Wednesday to Sunday 6am to Noon

Apparently there are only two chocolatiers in all of Canada that actually make their own chocolate. (Most companies buy their chocolate in bulk and melt it down.) Fortunately for us, one of the two companies is based in Inglewood, Calgary (the other is based Toronto). Choklat, owned by chocolatier Brad Churchhill, is a gem of a find. He sources his beans directly from a cacau supplier in Brazil, and at the moment he has two “Limited Edition” cacau’s – “an extremely rare Porcelana, and a rare Criollo from the infamous Ocumare district of Venezuela.” The best bit is that they roast their own beans and blend their own chocolate on site. You can buy moulded bars or create your own truffles from their menu (it takes about 15 minutes).

We took home a couple of truffles (for the road) and one of each of their dark chocolate bars. As we had guests coming over we decided to do a bit of a taste test.

Our results:

Ocumare: we all had different responses to the flavour of the ocumare. Smokey, liquor, winey, plums.

Porcelena: strangely we all said roughly the same thing for the porcelena. Fruit, Raisins, Dark cherry.

Brazillian: we didn’t find the flavour of the Brazillian as sophisticated as the others. Fruity, milk chocolate, tough to put a finger on the exact flavour.

The porcelena was by far the group favourite and it didn’t last very long. I’ll have to make another trip down soon before it runs out.

It’s nice to see more shops like this opening in Calgary. Do your tastebuds a favour and get yourself down to Inglewood.

1327A 9th Avenue SE
Calgary Alberta, Canada, T2G 0T2
Phone: 403-457-1419
http://www.sochoklat.com/

803, 24 Ave S.E
Calgary
Tel: 971-1800

Phil and Sebastian Coffee company is located in the Calgary Farmers Market and is a gem of a find. It’s very rare to find people so dedicated to their craft. It was amazing to watch the care and attention that Phil and Sebastian put into each cup of coffee that left their stand. The service was amazingly friendly and the espresso was outstanding. P&S source their beans through direct trade and pay above fair trade prices which makes buying their coffee even better. Go early on a Saturday morning, stand near the espresso machine and enjoy a conversation with someone else enjoying the great coffee. I hope they put a store downtown soon so that I can enjoy it during the week.

Phil & Sebastian Coffee Company
Calgary Farmers’ Market @ Old Currie Barracks
H6, 4421 Quesnay Wood Drive SW
Calgary, AB

The Sultan’s Tent
#107, 4 – 14th Street NW
(403) 244-2333

With all of the positive reviews online we thought that Da Guido was a shoe-in for a great meal. I’m hoping that our meal  experience was a one off, but i’ll have to ask others for their opinions as there is no way i’ll be going back.

Les 5 portes
8 rue de Zürich
1201 Genève
tél. +41(0)22 731 84 38

Marv’s Classic Soda Shop
121 Centre Avenue W,
Black Diamond, AB
T0L 0H0
403-933-7001

My only complaint is that the food just doesn’t seem to agree with the atmosphere. The very clean lines and modern decor just doesn’t seem to match the “interesting” food. The menu seems to suggest a much more cozy restaurant, but I won’t hold it against them as the food more than made up for it. The Crazyweed Kitchen is a great stop for lunch or dinner and I’d recommend bringing a big appetite.

Crazyweed Kichen
1600 Railway Avenue
Canmore, Alberta
T1W 1P6
Canada

telephone: 403-609-2530
fax: 403-609-2501

Talking with one of the servers we discovered that the Restaurant at Mercato was a bit of an accident. In the construction of their location on 4th street they wanted to make a teaching kitchen where they could hold cooking classes to show off how the ingredients from the attached market. As a special occasion they held a lunch, and they’ve been packed ever since changing the direction of what they had originally thought. They’ve now reduced the size of the market and extended the restaurant. The experience is enhanced by sitting at the bar that overlooks the action in the kitchen. It provides both entertainment and inspiration for what you might order.

My wife and I shared the prosciutto starter, she had a fettucini special with tomatoes, olives and capers and I had the cinghiale (boar) ribs which were grilled to perfection. I have to admit that I was faced with a serious case of “order envy” when I saw the size of the steaks on the grill. They were prepared in the Florentine style, at least 2 inches thick and more meat than one person could possibly eat. Our server informed us of the steak for 2 option, which is 4 inches thick…I think we’ll have to take a few friends to give it a try.

What I liked best about Mercato (other than the food) was how the staff encouraged the sharing of dishes, much like in Italy. Order a few pastas, a steak and some veggies on the side and pass them around. If you ignore the snow outside you might just think you’re in Florence.

I’ll definitely be going back. I can almost taste the steak already.

The Restaurant at Mercato
2224 – 4 St SW, Calgary
403-263-5535
http://www.mercatogourmet.com/main.html