Vue Café

We stumbled into Vue Café more or less by accident on a recent trip to Calgary and left very, very happy! Steel-​head trout burger with garam masala and watermelon chutney. Lamb burgers with beet/​orange chutney — great salads, a nice selection of wine — this is a really terrific lunch place and we are looking forward to returning.

I love eating here when I have no qualms about dropping $ 25 on lunch just for me. That might not seem like a lot to some, but when I was 13; $ 25 a week was my allowance. That was the full amount if I didn’t get docked for things like not washing dishes or whaling on my little brother. When I started earning my own money, I tried living on a lunch budget of $ 25 a week and that doesn’t stretch very far when even fast food places get you for $ 8 per visit. Hello, learning to be a decent cook!
Never mind the price. Sitting in the middle of an art gallery while eating a panini you watched the chef lovingly prepare for you (and come up with on the spot, since they don’t have vegan paninis on the menu), sipping on an Italian soda and watching foot traffic go by the window just makes you feel fancy as hell. Even if you rolled in wearing a white t-​shirt, jeans and scrubby Chucks that have seen better days. The great thing about the menu is that a lot of it is organic and/​or locally sourced. A couple of years ago, I went here for a friend’s wedding reception and the buffet they offered was impeccable. Something amazing and delicious for everyone!
So if you’re having a bad day, or feel like being swank for no reason at all, or just want to shove an amazing panini in your face; come to the Vue Café.

Epicurean delights in the midst of an art gallery? Sign me up! I like the vivid way they describe the personalities of the wines on offer. Some of the best lunches I’ve had in the Beltline district. Don’t forget dessert.

Do you want to whisk yourself to the New York City Soho district for an afternoon?
Then drive downtown and visit the Vue Café. This is right door to Nood and right across the Safeway on 11^th Avenue SW. You’ll swear you were literally in the Big Apple!
This is an incredible gallery resonating café with abstract and surreal art work and amazing food choices. The menu although limited to a lunch menu offers tantalizing selections at super affordable prices.
Check out some of the dishes here: Organic Chicken Breast with Brie, roasted peppers and basil mayo at 14, Local Buffalo burger with smoked cheddar and apple sage onion relish at 15, and Crab and Baby Shrimp Burger with havarti, dill Dion and baby pea shoots also at 15. They also have a cheese bar that you can order in varying amounts of 3 to 7 oz.
My waiter admitted he was only working his second day that day so ordering and service was a bit green but I was so totally enthralled with the whole dining experience I didn’t even care to notice.
Calgary continues to surprise me with what I consider to be another 5 star hotspot.