The Top 25 Places to Eat Near Major Tom
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- Air Canada 2022 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
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Rank 2. Eight
Japanese
You start with a phone call from a white handset in a hotel lobby, then follow someone through a maintenance corridor to a gilded parlour for cocktails, then slip through a hidden door to eight counter seats facing an open kitchen. That is the whole restaurant. Darren MacLean runs a Japanese-influenced tasting menu of around twenty courses built on hyper-seasonal Canadian ingredients, and photographs are forbidden. It holds a spot on North America's 50 Best Restaurants list.
- 50 Best #2 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best #9 · Best Restaurants
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · Canada's Best Restaurant
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Rank 3. Gatsby's
Fine-dining French
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Rank 5. River Café
New American
Sitting on a small island in the middle of the Bow River, surrounded by Prince's Island Park, this rustic dining room feels like a cabin that wandered into the city and decided to stay. Exposed wood, stone, and vintage fishing gear set the mood, and fireplace tables are fought over in winter with quiet desperation. The kitchen commits to Canadian and Albertan ingredients only, landing on Canada's 100 Best list. The patio, when weather allows, is the whole argument.
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Rank 7. Nupo
Omakase Japanese
Six seats wrap an omakase bar where 17 to 20 courses lean on sustainably sourced, mostly Canadian fish and produce some of it grown on the chef's own farm. Darren MacLean runs Japanese technique through an unmistakably Canadian larder, and the daikon "steak" alone makes a case for taking vegetables seriously. The sake list is long and thoughtful, the cocktails herbaceous. Canada's 100 Best puts it at number 75 in the country.
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Rank 9. Francine’s
French
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Rank 12. DOPO
Tuscan
A below-ground Tuscan tavern where the kitchen leans into luxe ingredients without losing the rustic soul. The team behind it comes from fine-dining stock, and the pasta is made in-house, sauced simply. Grilled bread with whipped ricotta and pickled green tomatoes show up early and are hard to argue with. The wine list tilts Italian, and the room has a warmth that makes a two-hour dinner feel like a reasonable Tuesday. It landed on Canada's 100 Best list.
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Rank 13. Pizza Culture
Neapolitan Pizza
Neapolitan pizza from a chef who spent fifteen years in someone else's kitchen before opening his own casual spot on Edmonton Trail. The dough is certified by one of Italy's leading associations, and the wood-fired results show it. Ranked 81st on the 50 Top Pizza World list, which for a Calgary neighborhood pizzeria is a fairly extraordinary number. The staff has the easy warmth of people who are genuinely glad you showed up.
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Rank 19. Penny Crown
American
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