March 4, 2026
Welcome to Issue 121 of Elizabeth Chorney-Booth's local food and bev newsletter
The calamari at Luca is a real treat
Hello and welcome to Issue 121 of Who’s Hungry, Calgary?, a little local food and drink newsletter written by me, Elizabeth Chorney-Booth. If you’re new to the newsletter, every other week I write about some local food news as well as my own dining shenanigans, all in the hope of helping to build a stronger food community here in Calgary. In the in-between weeks I offer some extra content for supporters who have made the leap to the paid subscription tier (it’s only $5/month!).
We, my friends, are officially entering dining season! Yes, it’s that special time where people’s new years’ resolutions are a distant memory, no one is off on summer vacation yet, and people want to go out and have some fun. The food festivals will soon start, maybe some new restaurants will open, and events and pop-ups will be filling everyone’s calendars. So, let’s get into it!
Visiting chef Zach Keeshig at a YYC Food Exp dinner at Deane House last year
YYC EXP starts next week
This year’s YYC Food and Drink Experience (YYC EXP) starts next week, running from March 13 to 29. I always like to say there are two ways to enjoy this thing: buy tickets to the signature event dinners or start making your reservations for the prix fixe meals (brunches, lunches, dinners, and gourmet dinners) being offered for the entire run of the festival at over 115 restaurants.
If I may wax on for a second about the prix fixes: these go for $30 to $80 depending on where you book and you get at the bare minimum a three-course meal (the gourmet tasting menus are usually bigger). The value here is substantial, particularly if you go for the $80 option at a place like Teatro or Rouge (the cost is less than their regular tasting menus). I would also like to highlight that River Café a $50 three-course dinner, which is s steal. It’s such a great way to try a new-to-you restaurant, especially if you have no idea what to order. Since this is a fixed menu situation they’ve posted all the menus online to ensure you don’t go to a restaurant that looks good only to be served a meal that is a no-go for you.
But if you’re a real foodie, the signature events can be pretty compelling and tickets are selling quickly (sorry, the Good Thief collab at Francine’s is already totally sold out!). If you’ve had it with me posting about all of these fancy dinners and want to get in on the action, here’s your chance. Penny Crown and Teatro cooking at River Cafe! And old school Italian dinner at Charcut! An Indigenous dinner at Maisie! There’s so much fun to to get in on and you’ll be dining with other food lovers, which is always a good time. Maybe I’ll even see you there!
Start thinking about Terroir too
This year’s Terroir Symposium doesn’t take place until the end of May, but you know that’s going to come up more quickly than you can imagine, so mark that one one your calendar too. This year they’re doing a couple of days in Edmonton (exciting!) before heading back here to Calgary for some signature dinners, a symposium day, workshops, and much more. Buy your tickets now — the symposium itself does have a bit of shop talk, but there’s plenty for keen foodies to learn even if you aren’t part of the restaurant industry.
New restaurant alert: Good Cheer Brewing
I love being a food nerd, but my nerd-dom will never ever touch that of Nathan Vadeboncoeur, the guy behind Good Cheer Brewing. I love this place not only because it’s in the same space as my very first journalism job was (shout out, Calgary Straight homies!) but because Nathan — who is a scientist by training — is on a mission to painstakingly recreate historic beers dating back decades or even centuries.
I’m going to cover this all at length in the Herald, but if you go in the staff will explain it all to you, but you should absolutely try a flight: even if the beers aren’t to your taste, you’ll have fun trying them out, perhaps trying to picture the original drinkers of each brew. They also serve food, mostly in the “good with beer” category, including some Nordic specialties like the worldwide sensation that is the Icelandic hot dog (yes, this is a thing). They also seem to be hosting a ton of fun community events and offer a friendly third space, which we could all use more of in our lives.
Why have I been sleeping on Luca?
I dined at Luca last night for the first time since shortly after they opened and I feel bad for sleeping on this place because it was excellent. Full disclosure: they invited me in as a hosted guest and pulled out all the stops, but I paid close attention to what was going on at other tables and the service seemed consistent. They have an amaro/grappa cart and iron the white tablecloths between guests, for goodness sake. I don’t get the impression management lets the servers call it in here.
I try to assess restaurants not according to my own tastes but on how well they execute what they are designed to do. My impression is that Luca is trying to put out luxurious plates of high-end Italian food that appeal to Canadian palates in a fine dining setting. And they’re succeeding at that swimmingly. Are they reaching for the stars with innovative forward-thinking combinations? No. But they do make lovely and luxurious pastas, flawless large-format meats, and have an excellent wine and cocktail list, which is exactly how it should be. Think of this as an Italian version of Chairman’s (they’re run by the same group): it’s a place you’d go for a special occasion, when you have an expense account to burn through, or if you just want to treat yourself to a fancy experience with a snack and cocktail at the bar.
Here’s what I ate and would recommend: exceedingly tender semolina-dusted calamari strips on top of artichoke lemon tartar sauce; scallop crudo with cucumber (seemed to be a feature, but it was super refreshing); and the bistecca (they put together a steak platter for us that is a little different than the one on the menu, but anything in the steak category here is going to be killer). Again, if you’re looking for weird, super challenging food, this ain’t it. But if impeccable service, an elegant atmosphere, and really tasty well-prepared food is what you’re after, Luca is really going to deliver. I’m glad I made it back in.
New menu at The Derrick
I’m going to be totally honest: I’ve never given much thought to The Derrick. Its sister business, the Untitled Champagne Lounge? That’s more my thing, even though I do like gin, which is The Derrick’s specialty. I’ve popped in for a drink before going to a movie at The Globe before, but I’ve never really considered it as a restaurant (though, a decade-old story on the Avenue website reports that Darren MacLean helped develop their original menu, so what do I know?)
Well, both The Derrick and the Champagne Lounge have a new(ish) chef, Dan Jiricka who I remember meeting a few years ago as a chef at Brazen in Banff where he made me a plate of fancied-up ginger beef I absolutely swooned over. Dan used to work with The Derrick crew years ago and is back and I can securely say that this guy’s food is really good.
They’re hinging their menu on an Alberta products concept (good move) and partnerships with Noble Bison, Brant Lake Wagyu, and Say Cheese. I tried the following: a little pot of paté that looks like chicken liver but is actually a deep and earthy mushroom affair; maple mustard smoked baby back ribs (solid!); porchetta with fennel and arugula slaw; bison short rib with yam puree; and my fave of the bunch, swordfish with pancetta basil cream. They also do something called “The Alberta Experience,” which is a Brant Lake beef dinner. All in all, I would call what they’re doing akin to a modern steakhouse kind of affair, but served in an oil derrick and gin themed bar decorated with taxidermy, which makes it a bit more casual and down ’n’ dirty. I think this would be a super fun place to bring an out-of-town visitor who wants to feel “wow, I’m in Calgary!”
Oh, and the gin part of the equation is solid. I love a martini and they do that well, along with negronis, original cocktails, and of course, a zillion options for gin and tonic fans.
Stampede Cellar Showdown/Uncorked
Speaking of “wow, I’m in Calgary,” this weekend I got to do one of my favourite annual tasks in judging the Stampede Cellar Showdown International Wine Competition. This meant tasting 70 different wines, all double blind, and swished and spat in the professional way. I only got my lips on a fraction of the competing wines, but we did taste some pretty good ones and I’m excited for the moment when they reveal the winners, which will be served at Stampede this year.
If you can’t wait that long, they’ll be serving winning wines and tasty bites from (also competing) restaurants at the Stampede Cellar Uncorked event on April 11 at the BMO Centre. This is an unlimited food station/wine samples thing — it’s a lot of fun and gives you an opportunity to dust off your hat and boots in April, should you choose to dress the part.
Booze Corner
I know that Alberta Distillers is a big brand owned by Suntory, but I still consider it a hometown hero. I got to try two of their new (and rather premium) releases this week.
First up: they sent over a sample of their Alberta Premium Cask Strength 10 year old, named Best Canadian Rye at the 2026 World Whiskies Awards. This is a 67% ABV and if you’re not a fan of cask strength this isn’t going to change your mind. I get that serious whisky lovers like to experience the intensity and then adjust with water/ice as needed, but it’s just too much for a lot of people, myself included. That said, once I got this one diluted to my desired intensity level (one ice cube did the trick) I really enjoyed it. It’s got a bit of the spice of rye, along with a lot of caramel and toffee notes, which, as a person who will always go for bourbon, I appreciated. It retails for about $75.
But my true love (I do have expensive taste) is the new Alberta Distillers Rare Batch No. 2, which is just an absolute beauty. It’s 21 years old, aged in Canadian whisky, bourbon, and new white oak barrels, and just a real showpiece of a whisky. It’s a very easy drinker, with lots of vanilla and sweet molasses notes and a distinctive hit of pepper. I really loved it and was sad to see my sample go (I was nice and shared with my husband) because this baby retails in the neighbourhood of $150. If it’s someone’s milestone birthday and they love whisky, this would be a very generous gift.
And that’s it for me this week! If you want more from me I have a bunch of new work out in the world: you can read my latest columns for the Calgary Herald; I also just wrote this travel story about everything I ate on my recent trip to Dublin for the Toronto Star; and of course, Avenue’s new Best Restaurants issue is out and I have a bunch of stuff in there! You can, of course, also follow me over on Instagram.
Talk to you soon,
Elizabeth