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Bumpers Beef House – Banff, Alberta

Bumpers Beef House is tucked away near the highway as you enter into Banff National Park – and it’s tucked away inside Bumpers Inn, by the gas station. We use to go here a lot for beef, as they always made it quite perfect for us! We’re not too interested in the unlimited salad bar, but we do take a few veggies and a dinner roll.

I ordered the ladies cut of prime rib, and it was large! I could barely finish it, but I stuffed myself and left extremely satisfied before we left Banff and headed back home. I blame the unlimited salad bar that stuffed me a little over the edge!

We also tried the 10oz Spencer Steak, and that was really good. Not only did they get perfect grill marks on the steak, it was cooked to perfection!

Bumpers Beef House

603 Banff Avenue
Banff, AB

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Chachi’s – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve seen Chaichi’s Sandwich Bar a few times now, before I actually got a chance to go in. I always see it when I’m at Tim Hortons, but by then — I’ve already got some delicious food in my hand. However, I finally made it over to Chachi’s for a birthday lunch, and it was okay. It’s actually nothing special… and for the amount you pay, I may as well go over to the grocery store and order a deli sandwich.

The sandwich itself wasn’t bad, but I must say it’s nothing special. I ordered a Chicken & Havarti sandwich, and that only had one size option, long – which was fine for me. It was jammed packed with chicken breast, havarti cheese, basil pesto, Dijon, red onions, lettuce and tomatoes on Italian bread.

We also had the New York Style Smoked Meat Sandwich, and that was alright as well. It was much softer, and basically consisted only of smoked meat, and mustard also on Italian bread.

Chachi’s

#35 South Trail Crossing
4307 – 130th Ave SE
Calgary, AB (403) 457-5397

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Divine Cravings – Canmore, Alberta

Divine Cravings is a little crepe place in downtown Canmore that offers gluten-free options as their savory crepes are made with organic gluten-free buckwheat.

The crepes that you get are really large in size, and because they are made with buckwheat, it is brown which is kind of odd at first – if you didn’t know. I ordered the Western crepe which was filled with chicken, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese and bechamel sauce! It was really savory and delicious.

We also had a skier crepe, which was a crepe stuffed with ham and bacon, sausage, lettuce, tomatoes and cheddar cheese.

I normally do take information of the food of whoever I’m with, but I recall not feeling too good, and needing something in my tummy right away, so I ate right away – without any other worries. I felt a lot better afterwards, which makes divine cravings a good choice for that day since it wasn’t greasy!

Divine Cravings

101 – 822 Main Steet
Canmore, Alberta
Canada T1W 2B7
(403)678-2800

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Cruffs, The House of Cream Puffs – Calgary, Alberta

I went to Cruffs at the end of 2010, and I remember telling all my friends about it… and they gave me the funniest look ever — they said “only I would find a cream puff place and enjoy it”. To my delight, it’s like one of the talk of the town!! 🙂 I think Calgary has phased into little sweets, to sweeten up the day!! Cream puffs, cupcakes, cookies and pies are becoming quite popular now!

I really LOVED Cruffs, and I will go back in a heart beat! They have great flavors of cream that they squirt into the cream puff when you order it — that way the cream puffs stay very crispy on the outside, and creamy in the inside.

We went on a quiet weekday, and they seem to not have all the flavors advertised, but that was fine with us! We had vanilla, strawberry, banana, coconut and hazelnut chocolate, all in regular sized cream puffs!

They also have Panekoek which looks like crepes, but it wasn’t the item that they are branded for, so we’ll probably go try it next time!

Overall, if you’re looking for the perfect snack that is quite light, a cream puff from Cruff’s is an excellent idea!

Cruffs, The House of Cream Puffs

2312 4 St SW
Calgary, AB

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Chianti Cafe – Calgary, Alberta

I went to try Chianti Cafe after picking up a good friend from the airport. She wanted to try a good Italian place, and I was here a few years ago, and it seemed to have gone downhill…

We ordered Calamari to share, and it was decent. It was quite crispy and breaded nicely.

I had penne al pacifico – which was basically smoked salmon with sun dried tomatoes on penne pasta. It was an interested texture of smoked salmon and the pasta was less than al dente, as it had quite a bit of crunch in the centre of the pasta. It wasn’t unbearable, but it wasn’t preferred.

We also had a Piatto Combinato Veal medallions with peaches, mangos in a cream sauce served with penne in fresh spinach & tomato sauce. That I heard was quite tasty.

Our last dish that we ordered was the linguini Kitsilano which was Italian sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, tomato sauce with linguini. It was a decent dish.

Overall, I think it was just the texture of the smoked salmon which probably made my dish seem to fail, and made the rest of my dish seem to be a disappointment, especially considering the other 2 entrees were fine. The calamari was really good too, and they only used the body of the squid, so it was all in ring forms. It was deep fried in oil that seemed to be quite dirty, but the overall taste was good.

Chianti Cafe

2805 32 Ave NE
Calgary, AB