Calgary, Canada - Page 2

The ONLY good thing about Calgary is the road out of it to the Rockies.


I'm in Vankonghover - an although it's lovely to look at - IT"S FUCKING BORING!!


Over and out.

I live about 6 hrs to the east of Calgary, down the #1.

Few things I know about Calgary:
1) They are a resouce city, that has nearly trippled in size since the 80's. With that, you have really terrible urban planning. As mentioned, Urban sprawl to the MAX. In area it is a little under half the size of New York, with a little over a million people. Driving there absolutely blows in some parts. They are getting better, and have developed a fairly extensive public transit system.

2) Lots of money. I know guys who have gone out there straight out of undergrad and made very good money. These guys also spent the vast majority of that on housing, booze, and coke. Those oil/gas guys, whether in the field or in the office love to party.

3) You might want to send a pm to sf user "Man of Wealth and Taste" (http://www.styleforum.net/member.php?u=31325). He moved out there to work, so he may have some insight into what it's like to move into that city.

4) I make a few trips a year to Calgary, so if you want some more info from an "outsider" pm me.

You will have to be a bit more specific - since you tell me that you live downtown I am guessing you are interested in bar and restaurant scene?

In my opinion there are number of great places you can dine at - I will give you some of my favourites - you can easily find their address by googling them:

Sushi Hiro (Japanese - the owner, Hiro-san, is a great sushi chef - one of my favourite places in Calgary - go on thursdays and fridays for the freshest fish). Wa's, Shibuya's, Towa's and Globefish are also good places but are not in downtown.

Capo's - Previous chef from Il Sogno started his own place in Inglewood - while not in downtown it is very closely located - they have one of the best gnocchi I've ever tried. Other good italian influenced eateries include Mercato's, Il Sogno's and Sugo Cafe.

Rush - a bit more upscale but if you are not shy about spending the dough on a special occasion this is a good place. Try their caesar salad - it comes with really good anchovies (not the salty gross kind but the really tasty kind) and half-poached eggs. yum. Teatro's, Riverside Cafe and Bonterra are also my favs for special occasion.

Caesar's steakhouse - Calgary - known for beef - this is, in my opinion, the best place to try it. Try the steak and lobster combo - the tenderloin will melt in your mouth. Supposedly the original caeser cocktail was invested here but its a little hard to believe. Vintage Steakhouse and Ruth's Chris are also both very good. Avoid Chicago Chophouse and Quincy's.

I could go on with restaurants but there are just too many and am feeling lazy. If you want something different, Thai Sa-on and Chili house both have good thai food. Dae-Jang-Geum and Seoul House are both good for Korean food. Seoul House isn't downtown though - its near Chinook mall.

For Coffee, try Cafe Artegiano (downtown) and Higher Grounds (Kensington). First one is more upscale, business crow (fancy lattes) and the latter gives you that university cafe feel.

In terms of lounges, you will pretty much only find your typical downtown lounges with business crowd - the Met, V-bar, Seven Restrolounge, Earl's and West are the popular ones in downtown. West is probably the most popular one now, just because it opened not too long ago. Looking forward to West opening its rooftop patio - should be good during summer and stampede. If you goto 17th Ave, there are bunch of lounges with dance floor. Decent ones are the Melrose, Bungalow and Lucky's.

As for pubs, there is James Joyce, Unicorn, Bear and Kilt and Ceili's - all irish pubs - good food and friendly waitress - good place to go on friday after work to unwind.

For clubs, there is HiFi, the Back Alley, the Mansion, Amsterdam Rhino and Mercury etc.

Good luck and have fun

Oh, if you are into Jazz, check out Beatniq - they have live jazz on Thurs, Fri and Sat. The food at its sister establishment (on the ground floor) is quite good too.

Dear OP, I have lived in Calgary for almost 4 years.

If one or both of these two are the absolut priorities in your life, you should move here:

1. The outdoors (as in skiing, climbing, mountaineering, etc.)
2. Making money

If not, for the love of god, DO NOT move here. I understand you would be moving from NYC. Calgary is much smaller and punches way below its weight. It has the urbanity of a city maybe a quarter the size.

Please consider this carefully.

Bow River runs through downtown, I think. Pretty good fishing...

I second this. I've visited for extended periods since my brother lives there and it's nothing to write home about. He and my parents have been trying to convince me to go there for work but I'd rather be poor than move there.

If you're not white, watch this clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plQpLPy1eao).

No. It's not something you have to worry about.

I don't know about Calgary, but I am amazed at how diverse Toronto and winnipeg are.

Calgary is not as diverse as Toronto or Vancouver, but not being white should not be an issue.

Moving from NYC you will cry yourself to sleep for a year. As far as Canada goes it's second to Vancouver for work/life balance, in my mind. Toronto is what it is but isn't somewhere I'd want to be. There will be money in Calgary for a long time. A number of NYC IB firms are in the city now. Mercato in Mission for Italian. Zipang in Bridgeland for sushi. Rouge in Inglewood for French was on the Pellegrino list. Phil & Sebastian's in Marda Loop for coffee. These are also all neighbourhoods I would consider living in. Open Range in Renfrew for meat, but not a great neighbourhood in my opinion. Leos on 17th has stuff for the SW&D crowd. MC is a wasteland, buy stuff when you go home. The proximity to the mountains is huge, whether you want to waste money in Banff or do something constructive like ski a glacier. I wouldn't discount the city out of hand if the offer seems decent.

i have a love/hate relationship with calgary. every time i go there with the intention of having fun, i end up going out and realizing that their night scene kind of sucks. i don't know what it is, but i haven't managed to find a place i consistently have a good time at. the hi-fi club is probably the closest i've come to that, since 17th is obnoxious for the most part. there are a lot of meatheads there, too. big orange meatheads.

other than that, it's alright.

You've done well to have fun at HiFi. If that's your scene though, Sled Island is happening right now. For something completely different, try West, which is new and contains more plastic than a PET plant.

i'm apparently super predictable because i just went to sled island this past weekend.