Charpop, is yet another ingenious idea from the folks that brought us the Alley Burger. The idea is to create a restaurant that has limited space, limited seating, and is for a limited time, which will obviously create massive demand for the 60 seats available.

The Charpop website reads,

Calgary, AB, January 5, 2012:  Masterful Canadian chefs Connie DeSousa, John Jackson and Grant Van Gameren, at work with baker extraordinaire Aviv Fried, are creating CHARPOP, a stealthy new restaurant at a secret locale that will be open in Calgary for a mere three days from January 15-17, 2012..

Bookings are limited to the first 60 people.

We like the idea, however have been hearing some rumblings of discontent with the idea both from local foodies and local restaurant owners. One comment that stands out is from another local restauranteur, who questions whether or not the temporary restaurant is anything more than a publicity stunt designed to garner media attention, while at the same time creating a super elite dinner party for nobody other than the restaurants family, friends, and media.

In Calgary Foodies fashion, we will reserve judgement. However, we would like to know what you think. Do you think the Charpop idea is a good one for Calgary’s food scene?

While Petite made Gilchrist’s list, we are going to omit them as a new restaurant seeing as the took the top spot for our favorites anyways, and were around in a previous location before last year. Here are our top 5 favorite new restaurants for 2011. Can’t wait to see what 2012 brings!

1. Model Milk
2. Double Zero
3. Ox & Angela
4. Wurst
5. Jelly Modern Donuts

What were your favorites for 2011?

This year we also ranked our top three favorite food trucks, as well as added a “best…” category. Enjoy.

2011 Top Ten Restaurants

1. Petite – amazing new location, even more amazing food
2. The Catch – phenomenal new menu and renovation
3. Notable – most amazing wood burning grill
4. Taste – tasty creations from Calgary’s best small restaurant
5. The District – yet again, best food for the money & great beer
6. Without Papers – Inglewood’s trendy little pizza place
7. Sushi Haru – best sushi in Calgary, in Airdrie
8. Tango Bistro – amazing lunch menu
9. Charcut – home of Top Chef’s Connie
10. Model Milk – coolest table in the city

Top Three Food Trucks

1. Fries & Dolls
2. Perogy Boyz
3. Fiasco Gelato

Best Burger – Five Guys

Best Poutine – Fries & Dolls

Best Steak – Petite

Best Tapas Menu – Taste

Best Mexican Food – Ox & Angela

Best Venue – Charcut

Best Service – Double Zero

Biggest Wow Factor – Notable’s wood burning grill

Best Food for the Money – The District

Best Lunch Menu – Tango Bistro

Best Furniture – Model Milk’s steel beam expandable table

Best New Menu – The Catch

Petite’s New Years Eve celebration will have two seatings, the first a four course menu at 5:30 for $80, the second a five course menu at 8:00 for $100. We hear that the menu may feature Wagyu (Kobe) beef.

Charcut is having two seatings as well, 5:00 and 8:30, and will feature a 5 course menu as well. Their menu features Spring Creek Prime Rib and Spragg Farm double cut pork chops.

We personally will be dining at 8pm at Petite, we have already reserved seats at the kitchen bar. We fully expect to be blown away by another great set menu, Jared Alvey’s specialty.

You can also check out other New Years Eve dinners via Opentable:

Alloy
Celebrate New Year’s Eve at Alloy! 5-course tasting menu for $100 – includes champagne. Two seatings 5:30 and 9pm

Brava Bistro
The Eve at Brava Bistro – We will be offering our standard dinner menu, along with a feature New Year’s Eve menu. Three-courses $55 With optional wine pairings $75

Catch Oyster Bar
Come out of your shell & experience our Crustacean Sensation. Enjoy our 3 course lobster menu or join us for a la carte service.

Gaucho Brazilian Barbecue
Join us for Brazilian New Year’s Carnival featuring a live Samba show! Enjoy appetizers, Rodizio dinner, dessert & Prosecco at midnight for $100/person: doors open @ 9pm.

Mango Shiva
Celebrate NYE 2012 at Mango Shiva. Enjoy a 4 course dinner for $55. Late seatings at 8 enjoy dinner, champagne, and a late night appetizer and dessert buffet for $75.

Ox and Angela Restaurant
O&A is offering a 3 course family style menu for our early seating, and a 5 course family style menu for our late seatings. 3 course menu is $55 and 5 course is $85.

Q Haute Cuisine (formerly La Caille)
Chef inspired course dinner, party favors and bring 2012 toasting with champagne $89.00 Per Person & Live Music.

Tango Bistro
NYE @TangoBistro get the full treatment…dips to start, dessert to finish and all our tango favorites in between including a glass of bubbly! $45

WURST
Restaurant – 5:00-6:30 4 Course $65. 8:00-9:30 5 Course $95.|Beer Hall – 5:00-9:00 Bavarian Buffet $75. 9:00-Close Entrance $25. LIVE Oompah & DJ

Calgary restaurants – if you are having a New Years Eve party, consider this an open invitation (we don’t allow this often) to post your event details in the comments of this post.

Happy Holidays & Eating,

Calgary Foodies.

If you don’t have a paypal account, you can select the pay with credit card option.

Date & Time:
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 – 6 am to 6 pm

Location:
Turkeys can be dropped off at The Mustard Seed, 106 11 Ave. SW

Drop off a turkey and be entered in a draw for a chance to win a 42-inch Samsung TV with a home theatre package from South West Visions Electronics! One turkey = one ballot, so the more you bring, the better your chances! The Mustard Seed is committed not only to meeting physical needs but also encouraging a spirit of celebration and a sense of community. On the day of the Turkey Drive, we will be collecting turkeys to give away as part of the Christmas food hampers to individuals and families in need. Our goal is 100 turkeys in one day but we need many more. This Christmas, The Mustard Seed will distribute more than 400 food hampers to individuals and families, including more than 200 individuals who have recently moved out of the shelter system and into their own homes. Call 403-269-1319 for more information.

Since that day we have:

• had 51,456 visits to our website from 37,809 unique visitors
• 111,585 pageviews
• 1386 facebook fans
• 896 twitter followers (we have never pursued twitter as a medium)
• 707 email subscribers (this is what makes Calgary Foodies so succesful0
• ranked #1 in Alberta on urbanspoon
• ranked #1 in Calgary on urbanspoon
• successfully helped 25 foodies get great mortgages (and a free meal at a restaurant of their choosing, the biggest bill $475)
• fed 200 homeless people
• given away 300 pies
• raised a bunch of money for charity

To reflect on these accomplishments, it seems only fitting that our 100th review feature a restaurant that holds a little piece of our hearts, Petite.

The little restaurant that the foodie community fell in love with has officially reopened in a brand new, slightly larger location on 17th avenue and 4th street SW. While it is not quite as petite as it once was, it is still a cozy little restaurant with amazing food from Chef Jared Alvey.

The new room is significantly more modern with both an upscale dining room and a lounge area. The open kitchen concept remains, however in a much larger form. On Sunday night there were no less than 7 cooks working the line where Jared, and one or two trusty assistants, once cranked out entrees to no more than 26 diners at a time. The new Petite holds a still small – as far as restaurants go – 140 people at capacity, although expect the numbers on a typical evening to be less as the experience will surely take precedence over filling the room.

The menu is inspired by the pre-fire Petite, although with some additional new items. The larger kitchen allows Petite to prepare a larger menu with items that would have once been difficult in the smaller kitchen. The escargot & muscle fondue and the chicken three ways (breast, leg, and sausage) are prime examples.

The menu also features an array of amazing proteins paired with creative sides. For example, there is elk steak served with sweet potato (not yams which are orange) chips. They are also serving duck, arctic char, and of course their famous beef tenderloin (you won’t find a better steak in the city).

The appetizer menu is equally well prepared, with the above mentioned fondu, steak tartare, seared scallops, and lobster ravioli all being highlights. For an evening glass of wine in the lounge, the classic charcuterie and cheese boards remain on the menu.

The lunch menu features a flank steak, tuna melt, burger, and crab cakes, all that are out of this world creations based on classic favorites.

Sunday nights will feature a set menu for $39.95 with bin ends (wine) for $29.95 a bottle. The Sunday night will of course be hence forward known as Calgary Foodies Set Menu Sundays.

We highly recommend Petite, and we can honestly say that we believe Jared Alvey is by far the best chef Calgary has to offer. We don’t take this comment lightly either.

Happy eating,

Nolan & Jen

Starting on Sunday November 27th, the all new Petite and Calgary Foodies will bring you Calgary Foodies Set Menu Sundays, featuring a new 3 course menu every week. The set menu will be designed exclusively by one of Calgary’s best chefs Jared Alvey. The CIA trained boy wonder will tantalize your taste buds with his out of the world creations.

If you haven’t tried Alvey’s food, this is the perfect opportunity to give it a taste without breaking the bank. Furthermore, with a new menu every Sunday night Alvey gets the chance to do what he does best, create and cook on the fly. You will never know what you will get on a Calgary Foodies Set Menu Sunday, however you will always get something absolutely amazing.

With amazing food comes an amazing experience. Set menus are our favorite way to dine out. For a true foodie it is an opportunity to try foods that they may not otherwise try. It is also an opportunity to experience a chef’s food in a live environment where they are cooking in the moment; a set menu give a chef an opportunity to mix it up, which encourages creativity and just that little extra bit of care and attention.

Many of the best meals we have ever had were from set chef’s tasting menus, and we guarantee that in the months to come, our Calgary Foodies community is going to experience some of the best meals they have ever had at the all new Petite.

• Ice carving demonstrations
• Hot chocolate & cookies
• Christmas tree hunt
• Hay rides
• Carolers
• Santa
• Shopping deals

It appears most of the shops in the area will be open and participating with some killer deals to be had.

There will also be free samples at Nine Cafe – Calgary’s newest cafe.

Head down between 10 and 5 to see what it is all about

Located in Inglewood, this great little pizza joint serves up Neapolitan style pizza that is charred to perfection, and after 10pm it is half price! In our opinion, this is the best deal on gourmet pizza in the city. Even if you aren’t a pizza fan (we can’t live Without Pizza, lol), there are some great alternatives to choose from as well. We recommend the olives, the meatballs, and the Hog Wild!

Oh, and they deliver for free after 6pm if you are local (we unfortunately are not). Why only local? Because the pizza is delivered by bike!

You can follow their twitter feed at https://twitter.com/wopizza

Happy eating,

We hear the lineups are expected to be huge so get there early. Doors open at 10am, close at 2pm.

From their events listing:

Our annual Remembrance Day Sale has been an important event at WPWS for 16 years. We work all year to find you the best buys in value wines and offer them starting at $1 per bottle (but you had better get here early if you hope to score one of those!). We do remember our Veterans and ask for silence at 11am. This year for the third year running we will donate to The Poppy Fund and Veteran’s Food Bank.

Willow Park Wine & Spirits
10801 Bonaventure Drive Southeast
Calgary, AB T2J 6Z8
(403) 296-1640