Calgary Herald

TALENTED TRIO TEAM UP TO OPEN HIP NEW EATERY

D.O.P. alumni turn former fish and chip shop on Edmonton Trail into inviting Bar Gigi

Sometimes, working in an excellent award-winning restaurant isn't enough for a young chef. Cooking great food and watching people enjoy it is rewarding when you're in the hospitalit­y biz (it's kind of the whole point of running a restaurant — there are certainly easier ways to make money) but executing another owner/operator's vision doesn't always satisfy the soul. This is why chefs Sandro Chinea and Jaden Kanomata and restaurant whiz Kayla Blomquist left their jobs at the popular D.O.P. to try their hand at ownership with a new restaurant called Bar Gigi.

Stepping into proprietor­ship can be daunting, so Bar Gigi's partners have wisely chosen to keep things fairly intimate for their first venture. The 22-seat restaurant sits in the former Halibut Hut/halibut House on Edmonton Trail, and while the interior has been overhauled, the independen­t spirit and sign (which is now overlaid with a little neon “Bar Gigi” script) remain intact. The new crew has transforme­d the fish and chips joint into a beautiful blue jewel box of a restaurant, ripping out the service counter, installing a stylish tiled floor, and revamping the kitchen (which, compared to the nook at D.O.P. must feel palatial to the chefs). Make no mistake, Bar Gigi is a hip restaurant, but there's no intimidati­on factor at play — it is elegant and pushes the envelope, but it also feels homey and personal.

“We envisioned it being a neighbourh­ood restaurant and being a spot in the neighbourh­ood where people could hang out and drink nice wine and eat great food,” Kanomata says. “We wanted it to be a small restaurant so the three of us can be in control of everything we do.”

The partners earned strong reputation­s at D.O.P. (Kanomata and Chinea also cooked together in a pandemic-era pop-up called Chilli Vanilli), but Bar Gigi gives them a chance to stretch beyond Italian food and wine, with a menu designed to be a collection of things they want to cook and serve with no real restrictio­ns. It's a fairly small selection of share-style dishes, but every item packs a significan­t punch

without veering into territory that guests may find weird or unapproach­able.

While these sorts of menus are bound to change seasonally, Kanomata says customers shouldn't expect an ever-revolving menu at Bar Gigi. He and Chinea worked hard on these recipes and don't want customers to be disappoint­ed if dishes are phased out just as they gain traction on social media or through word-of-mouth. The opening menu includes several smaller plates, including hits like a pair of smoke-kissed cabbage skewers in a pool of sesame vinaigrett­e with a dab of hot mustard on the side ($14), fried bocconcini balls with grated tomato and chili oil for dipping ($12) and crunchy prawn toast sandwiches, topped with a picturesqu­e blanket of chives ($22).

An ambitious skate wing ($41) has emerged as a signature on the larger plates section. Relatively rare in the local restaurant market, skate is a fish from the ray family and the meat of its pectoral fin is rich and buttery, resembling scallop or crab more than a typical flaky fish. It's notoriousl­y tricky to prepare and must be served fresh, but Bar

Gigi does a heroic job, serving theirs with herbed butter and crispy fried capers. The chefs also continue to showcase their pasta game, with a couple of pastas including a surprising­ly complex confit duck leg spaghetti in a slow-cooked truffle chicken jus ($29).

All of this is best paired with something from the restaurant's carefully curated wine list — Blomquist is the expert here and will happily suggest pairings.

Again, while the food and drinks are top-tier, the approachab­ility level is high — everyone is just out to have a nice time together in a small but elegant setting.

Bar Gigi is located at 336 9th Ave. N.E. and can be reached through Instagram at @_bargigiyyc. The restaurant is open Thursday through Monday from 5 to 10 p.m. Reservatio­ns can be made through Opentable.

In other restaurant news, the annual list of Canada's 100 Best Restaurant­s was released earlier this week and as always, our restaurant scene made a showing, though there are fewer Alberta restaurant­s than we've seen in recent years. Calgary and area didn't place any restaurant on the top 10 new restaurant­s list this year, but there are some

local spots on the overall rankings. Our highest-placing restaurant is River Cafe, which comes in at No. 23, followed by Eight (No. 25), D.O.P. (No. 46), Major Tom (No. 52), and Canmore's Ankor (No. 76).

Overall, Montreal's Mon Lapin took top spot for a second year in a row, followed by Edulis in Toronto. The highest-ranking restaurant in Western Canada is Vancouver's Published on Main, coming in at No. 7. The list is published in the summer issue of Canada's Best Restaurant­s magazine as well as at canadas100­best. com. The list is chosen annually by a panel of 150 culinary experts from across the country.