Lifestyle Essentials

Food, Wine and Finer Things

by Mifi Purvis

Alberta Finery

There’s no shortage of high-end restaurants boasting local foods. It begs the question: are we ready for an Alberta cuisine?

“I think so,” says Scott Pohorelic of Calgary’s River Café. “Anywhere chefs cook with flavours of place, there’s regional cuisine.” In terms of dollar value, Pohorelic estimates that between 80% and 90% of River Café’s food budget goes to local ingredients. “The most expensive things are the proteins,” he says. Almost all of River Café’s meats are from Alberta farms; the same holds true for grains. Produce is trickier. Between greenhouse production and organic imports, patrons of River Café can get a fresh, mostly local salad all year.

Alberta cuisine incorporates bison, and Pohorelic is a huge fan. Grass-fed bison is native to the prairie, requiring little management. A herd of bison can help return a previously overgrazed field to its natural state, Pohorelic says. “After the bison have been in for a while, native grasses come back,” he says. But diners embrace quality over do-goodism. “If it didn’t taste better, people wouldn’t be buying local,” Pohorelic says.

“Albertans are also a little more sophisticated now,” he adds. “It’s not just about the big steak and potato.”

And in the quest for a longer shelf life, food loses something. High-quality local produce is heralded by asparagus in May. “I call it the gateway vegetable,” Pohorelic says with a laugh. Grown mainly around Innisfail, it hardly resembles the tasteless stalks from Peru. Seems we’re getting hip to our own backyard.

Outside the dining room, Albertans are taking to heart the hunger for fine things and thirst for knowledge. With new wine and tapas bars opening everywhere, patrons can expect a light, often locally sourced dish and an education in food and wine pairing from a knowledgeable server armed with a huge wine list. In retail, Satesh Narine, owner of Edmonton’s Crestwood Fine Wines & Spirits, is likewise taking seriously his customers’ quest to learn more.

“We’ve started running monthly courses for customers called Wine, Food and Conversation,” Narine says. “This is in response to our customers who want to learn more about food and wine pairing.” For $10, 18 customers can spend 90 minutes snacking on small bites and sipping wines matched to the food by a local chef or sommelier. In May, Robert Dziurman, food and beverage director from Creations Dining Room & Lounge, will be leading the group. It’s an approachable introduction to great wines and Alberta-inspired chefs.

The Feeling of Play

Pamper yourself (or a loved one) with silver – freestyle skier Jennifer Heil’s silver, to be exact. It’s not her potato-chip shaped Olympic accolade, but you can take home a piece of silver jewelry from the line that she designed with Birks & Mayors. The earrings, bracelets and necklaces feature five circles, surfaced with different textures, hanging from lengths of silver chain. For most of us, it’s the closest we’ll come to taking home the silver.
Cost of a Jennifer Heil multi-strand bracelet: $395

Masters of Beauty

If you’ve been to Calgary’s downtown Fashion Central or Southcentre Mall in the last few months, you’ll have noticed a new spot for luxury. Owned by Shoppers Drug Mart, Murale is a full-service beauty destination that stocks a variety of cosmetics, fragrances and skincare from Smashbox, Hanae Mori and 3Lab. Have some time? Stop into Murale’s Dermatological Skincare Centre for a consultation with a “beauty master” or drop by Murale’s Benefit Brow Bar to have yours shaped while your prescription is being filled.
Cost of a brow tweeze: $19

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