Chorney-Booth: Normal Road Designs Calgary's Best New Restaurants

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Calgary has a long history of celebrating fine design restaurants. While restaurant design has come a long way globally in the past decade, our city has long been home to visionaries like Sal Howell (River Cafe, Dean House) and the late Witold Twardowski (Mescachero, Divino and many others). others), created restaurants with appetizing rooms, such as food from the dining room. Recently, new restaurants in Calgary have been created by Concorde Entertainment Group and its regular design partner Frank Architecture (Major Tom, Bridget Bar, etc.) Now there is a new firm in the city called Way of Normal, which is trying to reflect the look and feel of restaurants.

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Normal Road has only been around for a year, but head designer Landon Anholt spent years designing local restaurants with Fort Architecture and McKinley Burkart before branching off to form his own company with designers Joel Riep and Adrienne Cunningham. join the team. The idea was to create a firm that not only catered to restaurant clients, but also deliberately specialized in food and beverage design.

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Anholt says that when he was in high school, he dreamed of becoming both a designer and a chef, and was fascinated by the energy of restaurants. In addition to designing the overall look of the room, Way of Normal and its sister company Good Spoils take care of the small details (furniture, uniforms, playlists) that make sitting in a restaurant more than just a place, but a complete and even emotional experience. food consumption.

While some local designers have built their reputation on visual elements, Anholt and Co. It tries not to create a normal “style” path, although very careful observers may begin to recognize the company's work because of its unrecognizability.

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“Our ethos is that our style should be in the operation of the restaurant, not as an appearance,” says Anholt. “We want to design the space for the restaurateurs, not for us. If you give them something that doesn't fit, their restaurant won't work.”

So what does a Landon Anholt/Way of Normal design look like? In addition to local taprooms like Pat and Betty, Ol' Beautiful and Central Taps, here are some of the designer's greatest hits:

Buon Giorno
Visit the new Buon Giorno and you'll find an authentic interpretation of the original version of the decades-old restaurant – now demolished to make way for a new building – which is exactly the point. Anholt and his team worked on Buon Giorno's property to recreate the slightly awkward entrance and hostess stand, checkered tablecloth aesthetic, and 1980s woodwork and tile that made the landmark restaurant so beloved. New construction looks like it's been around for 40 years, in the best way.

Primary colors
One of the most muted designs in the Normal Way portfolio, Britannia's primary colors are a soothing oasis of whimsical, light wood and neutral tones. The large and airy multi-purpose space serves as a breakfast and dinner restaurant, as well as a café and shopping store, and features a central kitchen.

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Clown
One of the best restaurants to open in the past year, Class Clown stands out for its burgers as well as its detailed retro style. According to Anholt, the design creates some dissonance as the 1970s lounge look contrasts with the modern soundtrack and takes the decor from slightly cheesy to very cool.

South block
A traditional barbecue joint with an in-house brewery and live music venue, South Block exudes a southern courtyard feel even from its interior. Communal tables and a whiskey bar mean this is a place to sit back and enjoy life while enjoying a drink and a plate of smoked meats.

Anholt said Way of Normal has many other projects in the pipeline and is following trends to keep Calgary on the same playing field as cities like Toronto and Los Angeles. For more information about Way of Normal, visit wayofnormal.com.

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In other restaurant news, the city's dining plans are disappointing as many holiday restaurants break the tradition of not opening on Monday evenings. With that in mind, Shokunin will open on Mondays for the first time since 2020, a wise move given the restaurant's popularity and appeal to travelers who might be in town for a night or two. The restaurant remains closed on Tuesday evenings, but now opens every night of the week at 5pm. Shokunin 2016 4th St. Located at SW and can be reached at shokuninyyc.ca.

Elizabeth Chorney-Booth can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram @elizabooth or sign up for her newsletter at hungrycalgary.substack.com.

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