This is Chianti Willow Park on MacLeod
Trail South in Calgary. We didn’t know
it at the time, (I hadn’t checked this restaurant on Trip Advisor), but Chianti
is one of a chain of five restaurants of the same name in Alberta and
Saskatchewan. It was nice that the patio
dining area was surrounded with small evergreen trees…providing some privacy and a little
barrier between the parking lot and MacLeod Trail.
The interior of Chianti is
simple and straightforward…nothing fancy.
A bit of brick, the hanging lights and a few framed items completed the
décor.
Of course, as long as a restaurant is
clean and the service is satisfactory, our real focus is always on the
food!
We started out with an order of
Calamari. ($9.00) We were surprised when these large calamari ‘rings’ were
served. We’d never seen anything like
these before! The marinara sauce was
good and we enjoyed this version of fried calamari…
Well…we were on our summer trip...we would call it a vacation if we weren't retired...and we’d spent
most of a very good but long day at Calgary’s Heritage Park. We felt that we’d ‘earned’ a
little pre-dinner alcoholic beverage.
Laurie went for this summer special martini. She said it was yummy!
Cold appetizers on the menu include an
Antipasto Platter for 2 ($19.99), and an Italian Salad for 2 ($10.99). There are also 5 different soups ranging from
Zuppa Stracciatella, (whipped egg and chicken broth), to Zuppa di Cipolla,
(baked onion soup with mozzarella cheese) Soup prices ranged from $4.99 to $5.50.
I’m not much of a drinker but I do enjoy
an occasional glass of Scotch, Jack Daniels, white wine…or just a beer. I’m not adventurous when it comes to beer, so
I went with a mild Canadian lager.
Chianti offers a wide range of hot
appetizers. The more imaginative
offerings include Lumache al Cognac…snails sautéed in a cognac garlic sauce ($7.50),
and; Portabello al Limone, sliced portabello mushrooms sautéed in a lemon
garlic wine sauce. ($8.99) There are 14 hot appetizers on the menu!
Laurie’s entrée was the Veal Apino…veal
medallions with capers, mushrooms and onions in a Dijon cream sauce. ($14.99)
She enjoyed her dinner with the roasted potatoes and other vegetables added to
her positive experience.
Chianti offers 3 pasta and veal
combinations, 9 seafood dishes, 8 veal dishes and 6 chicken entrees. The most expensive items in these groupings
are the Ciopino al Chianti…calamari, prawns, scallops, clams, mussels and pesto
tomato sauce served over lingquini, and Modigliani…scampi, prawns, scallops,
mussels, peas and fresh tomatoes in a spicy curry cream sauce served over
linguini. (Both of these offerings are $20.99)
For my dinner, I went with the Spaghetti
alla Carbonara. ($12.00) This consisted of bacon, eggs, butter and parmesan
with spaghetti noodles. One could choose
between a ‘dry’ or ‘creamy’ version and I went with the creamy one. There was lots of flavor and I found this
meal to be very satisfying!
There are no less than 25 pasta creations
listed on Chianti’s menu. The price
range is quite narrow with pasta entrees ranging from $10.50 to $11.99. This restaurant also offers 10 ‘filled pasta’
entrees. These include tortellini,
cannelloni, ravioli and lasagna. As with
the other pasta offerings, none of these ‘filled pastas’ cost more than $11.99.
Chianti has a casual friendly atmosphere,
service is very competent and the food is better than average with decent
quantities served at a fair price. This
location of Chianti is located at #444, 10816 McLeod Trail South in
Calgary. Phone: 403- 225-0010. Chianti’s website is at http://www.chianticafe.ca/.
Our next blog will focus on the Gasoline
Alley Museum at Heritage Park and the museum’s collection of vintage autos, trucks
and related materials…
Just click on any of the photos to
enlarge them…
Thanks for stopping by for an Italian
dinner!
Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
I love Italian food! and especially love Laurie's entrée David:))
ReplyDeleteLooks like you went into the right place.
ReplyDeleteCarbonara? Good choice Dave! All the food looks appetizing, I love fried calamaris. What a charming place!
ReplyDeleteDear Dave, I am glad that you and Laurie found the food enjoyable. I love fried calamari myself.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Catherine