Eating Around the World in Calgary

There are nine of us, if we all attend.  We are former broadcasters, news hounds, photographers and writers who all worked for CFAC radio and Television under the charismatic Ed Whalen when CFAC was an independent station and at the beginning of the Global network days in the 1970's and '80's.   

This quest to eat ourselves around the world in our own city started slowly..  Four of us met soon after I moved back to Calgary at a great little Mexican Restaurant in Bowness called Salt and Pepper.  It was just a casual get together, no pressure and good Margarita's.  But it was fun, so much fun we started to think about who we could invite and where we could go next time, and it has now evolved into a solid group of nine of us and counting, on a quest to try different foods from different countries represented by restaurants and bistros in pretty much every district of our city. 

We have had excellent Italian food in Bridgeland, authentic Chinese on the North Hill, German Schnitzel and Indian food in the downtown core, Vietnamese cuisine in the southwest , Peruvian rotisserie chicken in the industrial district, Mediterranean food in the gallery district, Greek food out in Midnapore and gone back for seconds at the Salt and Pepper Mexican restaurante.

So, in the interest of fair play, we decided to bring it on home to Alberta this past week for some homegrown beef and lamb. We picked the Model Milk Bistro because it is known for its Alberta menu (here)

The photograph is courtesy of one of our intrepid photographers - Russell Moore, who does some magical shots with his I-phone.
It's a fascinating story, the story of the Model Milk Dairy.  It sits on the corner of 17th avenue and 3rd street SW and was a thriving dairy, apparently with a steam room in the basement that catered to an alternative clientele.  Both Blake and Russell remember having ice cream there when they were kids.  Luckily the building survived, and sat empty until the present owners of the Bistro came along, saw the potential, followed their dream, did an amazing restoration, and turned the old dairy into a thriving bistro full of noise and great food.  The place really rocks when the Flames play a home game at the Saddle Dome down the street.
We were treated like minor royalty the night we visited, given a private dining room, our very own waiter, and our very own menu of local appetizers and entrees, created especially to reflect our quest of eating authentic food from the region we are visiting. 
We reminisced, told funny stories, complained about the weather, and veteran news junkies that we are, hacked through the coverage of some of the top news stories while eating our way through some delicious steak medallions, lamb dishes and sharing some wicked ice cream deserts.  I'm now a fan of lemon ice cream.
By the way - it is still snowing.  When it will stop is anybody's guess at this point.