Adam G.'s Profile

The Hop is one of the top tier pizza places in Calgary and one of my personal favourite spots to meet up with friends.

So far we've had every TEDxYYC 2012 meeting at this local pub and I've been to quite a few Pixel and Pints meet-ups here too.

I'm a huge fan of these old converted 19th century houses. There's an air of history with a "lived-in" vibe, which makes it feel like it's made for conversation.

Their pizza is absolutely epic (especially with a great beer). My personal favourite is the Chernobyl, which carries a bit of spice with the Chorizo sausage and banana peppers.

There are also plenty of options for anyone that isn't as fond of hot food.

Check out their full pizza menu: http://hopinbrew.com/p...

I also love their focus on local craft microbreweries. The Hop In Brew supports western Canadian breweries by only carrying certain beers on tap like Alley Kat (Edmonton), Big Rock (Calgary), Shaftebury (Vancouver), Tree (Kelowna), WildRose (Calgary) and a few others operating in Western Canada.  

Beers: http://hopinbrew.com/b...

I've been to CRAFT a bunch of times now and I personally love it.

It's got an upscale pub vibe with an amazing beer selection. Even when the place is packed, the extreme ceiling height doesn't make it feel like it's crowded.

I've only been there for lunch or drinks, so I haven't tried a ton of the food. Although I have tried the Baja fish tacos and they were amazing. I wish that I could buy the CRAFT signature hot sauce.

At some point I'm going to have to try the 20 napkin burger, which is actually four 4oz patties topped with bacon and beer infused cheese. It sounds epic (read: giant). It even has a mini burger as a garnish..

I'm also interested to try the Crave seasonal beer infused cupcake for dessert. I have no idea what this would taste like, but it sounds interesting.

Here's the full menu: http://www.craftbeerma...

They also have a beer club that I can't tell you about... It's the first rule of beer club.

http://www.craftbeerma...

I love the history behind this building and I think that this is a brilliant incarnation of the space.

My GF and I went for our four year anniversary dinner and loved it. She had "The Burger" with morel mushroom ragout & cheese curds and I had the Spring Creek "Bavette" steak with a cheddar crust and onion gravy.

Because we always share at least a bite of each other's dishes, I can say that they were both amazing. The burger was extremely juicy and the morels and curds added a really unique flavour. The steak was cooked perfectly and the cheddar crust wasn't overpowering. In fact, the dish had really subtle flavours that all worked well together, which is a bit of a feat when you are dealing with cheddar, spinach and onions.

We finished off the meal with peach cobbler and two espressos. The dessert wasn't crazy big which was nice because we didn't walk out feeling stuffed.

Have a look at their full menu here: http://www.modelmilk.c...

We had a couple of glasses of wine with dinner and the bill came to about $100, which is a great price for an amazing meal.

I've heard that they also have a great selection of drinks and a unique family style Sunday dinner with a new menu every week. I'll definitely be back to check out both.

Here's the info on their family-style Sunday dinner: http://www.modelmilk.c...

I've also heard that the Model Milk building is haunted - although I cannot confirm or deny that. :)

Below is an interesting round-up of the history of the building:
Taken from here: http://www.calgaryheri...

- In 1932 rancher James Colpitts started a company to market milk from his dairy farm in Springbank.
- In 1934 he moved into this building and established a modern processing plant.
- Installed a high temperature pasteurization system developed in England.
- Set up on three floors for production methods using gravity to their advantage.
- No wood was used in the construction of this building - sanitation reasons.
- Made entirely of brick, very expensive during the depression.
- Milk bottles decorate the building - the idea of contractor Fred Jones. Tombstone masons probably made these.
- First dairy to use trucks for distribution. In the 1930s 5 trucks delivered milk, at the peak of business they had 85 trucks.
- In the 1960s, it was the largest producing dairy in Alberta.
- Sold to Palm Dairies in 1965
- For many years the dairy served milkshakes and 5 cent ice cream cones from its own milk bar

This is a one star petition for @WURSTCalgary to add Curry Wurst to the menu.

My actual rating for Wurst is easily a 5 (it's amazing), but when I heard the name and the concept I was REALLY, REALLY hoping that they had one of my favourite German dishes. Especially since I can't find it anywhere else in Calgary..

If you don't know, curry wurst is a very simple quick-food type of dish that is typically only sold in Berlin. But it's the curry sauce on top that is just absolutely amazing.

http://en.wikipedia.or...

I had it while I was on vacation there last year and it blew my effin mind.

If someone at Wurst actually sees this and adds it to the menu, just send me an @reply and I will tell all of my friends. Seriously, I am that into this dish. My Twitter handle is: @alfgoetz

Once again (for the record), I love Wurst and I've been there a TON. If you go sit in the beer hall downstairs and order the Bavarian Wings. You only get three, but that is all you need. Trust me.

This place is always packed and for good reason.

A group of 5 of us stopped in after work for a couple bottles of wine, some amazing tapas, and a pie or two. It has a perfect atmosphere for good lively conversation.

I highly recommend the stuffed persian dates and the veal & pork meatballs for starters and either the mushroom, bianca or prosciutto pies. Amazing.

Here is the full menu: http://unapizzeria.tum...

If you're looking for the biggest schnitzel sandwiches that you've had in your life, you've found 'em. I had the chicken schnitzel for lunch and I couldn't even finish it. It was extremely good though.

The sandwiches are made on a freshly baked bun and all of the schnitzel's (wiener, chicken or pork) have their homemade tomato sauce and either medium or hot peppers. They also serve a great beef sandwich, a "Blue Danube" (pork, ham, cheese) and a fried eggplant sandwich.

At only $6.95 each (with a ton of toppings included), it's well worth it.  

Here's the full menu: http://www.viennalux.ca/

I love the fact that this place is right around the corner from my apartment. The location is only a few months old and has a laid-back modern design. They serve up a wide variety of (relatively) healthy Asian dishes at a decent price. It doesn't hurt that they also have a good selection of beer and if you get take out, they even use the Chinese food containers "like they do in the movies". Nice.

I haven't tried all of the dishes yet (I will), but so far I am a fan of the Pad Thai, Szechwan Pepper, Korean beef bulgogi, and if you like hot food you should try the "Dan Dan" - I love hot and this one was about as hot as they come.  

The full menu is here: http://www.wokbox.ca/m...

So we were in Vancouver this past weekend (I live in Calgary) and my girlfriend's sister mentioned that King Crab was in season. This is the same stuff that they risk their lives for on that "deadliest catch" show, so we all thought that it must be good and said let's do it. I did a quick search on my iPhone for "King Crab" on yelp (FTW) and we picked this place. And it turned out to be amazing.

For the King Crab you can pick either a 2 course dinner or a 3 course dinner. Of course we picked the 3 course because that's how we roll. Although afterwards we realized that it was WAY too much food for 5 people. When you get the full meal deal, they even bring out the live crab (they are HUGE) and if you're brave enough, they let you take pictures holding it. Why not?

As I mentioned earlier, the ONE 9.5lb crab easily fed 5 of us and made 3 courses. The first was my favourite with the crab legs cut in half and cooked perfectly. It didn't hurt that there was a ton of fresh garlic and butter on them either. The second course was a plate of deep fried legs and the claws in a lightly coated spiced batter. This took a bit of work, since they didn't crack them for you (but that's what we were there for). You had to pay a bit extra for the third and final course ($18), but it was well worth it. They cleaned out the shell and inside it they baked some steamed rice with shrimp and crab, all topped with a coconut curry sauce that blew me away. And of course we didn't have room for dessert.

All in all it was a great experience. It ended up being about $250 +tip for the five of us with the 3 course crab dinner, a bottle of wine, won ton soup to start, and a creamy/cheesy asparagus dish to go with the third course. I'd highly recommend it, at least once in your life. Make sure that you check if King Crab is in season though. We were told that it can get up as high as $40/Ib in the off-season, which would put our crab dinner in the $500 range.

The Legal Seafoods chain is a staple in the Boston, MA area and this is the testing ground. The restaurant was nicely decorated and very busy when we were there on a Saturday night in September. If you can make a reservation on their Open Table profile: http://www.opentable.c...

If you are a seafood lover, this is a great place to go for a reasonably priced dining experience. Make sure you try the chowder and that you say it right. :)

You pretty much HAVE to try a Beard Papa's cream puff if you are in Vancouver. I'm not really a cream puff connoisseur or anything, but of the limited amount that I have had in my life, this has been by far the best.

There are a number of flavours to choose, start with the Original Vanilla, and move on to Chocolate, Strawberry, Coffee, Green Tea, Pumpkin, Earl Grey Tea, or Eclair. A six pack o'puffs will help you cover the bases.

http://www.muginohousa...

They also have Mochi Ice Cream, Fondant Au Chocolate, Mango Ice Showers, Cheesecake and Mont-Blanc - all of which I haven't tried, but they look amazing.