Calgary's creative entrepreneurs are enjoying a renaissance thanks in part to the demise of the oil and gas industries. Creatively stifled employees from Calgary's big businesses are funnelling lucrative salaries (and buyouts) into some brilliantly innovative projects. As one sector declines, another rises — either way, Calgary is benefitting in a big way.
Until recently, Calgary was a city best known for its annual stampede and predictable swath of bland attractions. But Calgary's cultural landscape is on the move, forcing tourism efforts to cater to a new breed of tourist: the culturalist, someone looking for a more authentic experience that goes beyond grilled steaks and the Calgary Tower.
Niche hotels like Le Germain Hotel are helping to redefine accommodations in Calgary — less perfunctory, more curated. Travelers want their hotels to take on a greater role in their overall experience, not serve as just another place to sleep. Le Germain embodies this spirit, being the first hotel chain to bring the boutique concept to Canada.
With geothermal heating, Molton Brown bathroom amenities, local art in every room and a spa featuring luxurious Eminence products, Le Germain's aesthetic and philosophy elegantly reflects Calgary's current cultural evolution.
Elsewhere in the city, the culinary scene is also impressively progressive. Fusion restaurants like Foreign Concept are introducing exotic flavours from across Asia. Chili lemongrass tofu and Vietnamese fisherman's stew, in the hands of Foreign Concept's award-winning chefs, are deeply flavourful, beautifully balanced dishes that belie their landlocked kitchens.
Calgary is also embracing more vegetarian options. Those who feared they'd be condemned to a trip limited to single-note, char-grilled, beef-dominated meals can rejoice. Calgary chefs are showing a deep reverence for vegetables and their packed restaurants reflect diners' delight. Deane House recently received a complete overhaul, turning this iconic -- albeit dated — establishment into a contemporary, relevant, must-try eatery in just a few short years. The menu is solid, but it's the vegetables that truly shine here. Not just afterthoughts or mere sides, Chef Jamie Harling's love for vegetables is clear. The heriloom tomato salad is rightly enhanced with even more tomatoes in the form of green tomato salsa, while the smoky red lentil hummus is beautifully balanced by the bright, pickled carrots.
Newer is Ten Foot Henry, whose spectacular mastery of vegetables will, guaranteed, turn foods you should be eating into foods you want to be eating. Fish and meat are on the menu as well, but they're far outnumbered by vegetables and chances are you won't miss them if you opt for an all-veg meal. The tomatoes with whipped feta and Sidewalk sourdough toast is a deeply satisfying start and the roasted cauliflower and fried potatoes are must haves.
If you're exploring Calgary by bike (and, of course you are), swing by the brand new East Village Junction, a pop-up retail park consisting of vibrantly painted shipping containers-turned-mini stores. The space is sprawling, a mix of retail, food trucks, long tables and large open area devoted to outdoor yoga. The overall effect is joyously collaborative and energizing.
These creative endeavours all start with an individual and Calgary is full of stories about visionaries whose corporate jobs couldn't contain their thirst for innovation and risk.
"I always thought there's a great story in these characters... of corporate business folks-turned-artisan entrepreneurs," says Kristyn Snell of Travel Alberta.
There's Graham Sherman, co-owner of Tool Shed Brewery, former government and military communications expert. He and his business partner, Jeff Orr, were instrumental in changing Alberta liquor laws in 2013 to make craft brewing more friendly (read affordable) for start-ups. Thanks to them, Alberta now has 50 craft breweries. Then there are Phil Robertson and Sebastian Sztabzyb, owners of Phil and Sebastian Coffee Roasters, both engineers-turned-craft coffee roasters and brewers. They applied the tenaciously exacting standards you'd expect from engineers to source, roast, grind and brew what's been referred to as "coffee nirvana."
Perhaps the most well known and beloved profile of techie-turned-craftsman is Aviv Fried. Fried has a background in physics and biomedical engineering, and his entrepreneurial epiphany came the moment he was offered a position as a financial analyst with a major bank in Toronto. He declined the offer and, instead, devoted himself to baking bread.
At first, Fried started by baking 10 loaves a week every Monday and selling them to his friends, donating the profits to the Canadian Organization for Development Through Education, a group that provides books and teaching supplies to developing countries. Word quickly spread and Fried soon needed a bicycle and child carrier to fulfill all his orders. He'd pack the carrier full with his paper-wrapped loaves and personally make deliveries throughout Calgary's inner city neighbourhoods. Today, Fried's baked goods are available in more than a dozen Calgary markets, cafes and restaurants and he's opened up two bread-centric cafes aptly named, Sidewalk Citizen.
There will always be a place in Calgary for stampede lovers, but it's definitely time to make room for craft-coffee-drinking-vegetarians.
Catherine Tse is a Vancouver travel writer. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @tsewords for more pictures of her time in Calgary.
