“…nearly 10% of Calgary’s entire force will be British.” Interesting stuff on CPS and foreign recruitment.

This one sounds sort of like Act 1 of Hot Fuzz. Yarp!

It may be boring but even the villains are polite - British bobbies head for Alberta

OMG oishii desu: A memorable (in a good way) lunch at Blowfish Sushi Lounge

(photo courtesy of netcandi)

It’s Wednesday, and normally I’d have had lunch downtown (likely Artigiano these days) before heading to the U for my “office hours,” but as I explained to my students yesterday, I canceled them so I could get their test marked by tomorrow. Looking for someplace reasonably chill for lunch with enough table space to do my marking, I went someplace I had not been in over a year: Blowfish Sushi Lounge, 625 11th Ave SW, 403-237-8588. I had actually attempted this place on Good Friday, but it was closed for lunch.

I’d only been to Blowfish once before, and extolled it like this on chowhound:

In a space that was once a dive bar called Bar Fly, a heavy-metal-night sort of place that was one of the last vestiges of 11th Ave’s “Electric Avenue” days (the other being TA Vern’s, which is now the salubrious Broken City) is a new sushi place called Blowfish (not to be confused with Globefish on 14th St NW- in fact Blowfish isn’t affiliated with any other restaurant in Calgary, which seems not to be the case for a lot of “new” sushi joints). Bar Fly was a dive, and the transformation it’s undergone is incredible. Its design reminded me immediately of Goldfish (NOT a sushi place!) in the Annex in Toronto: polished dark concrete, pashelberg-ish chrome and wood seating, cool tunes. The dimensions of the room, a smaller space with very high ceilings, took me back to the late and lamented Florentine in Calgary, but with much more modern chairs, tables, and soundtrack. It’s a beautiful, contemporary space.

I went for lunch, which offers a number of interesting looking fusion combos (wasabi-accented teriyaki chicken with an assortment of nigiri on the side) at around $17.50 each, but I wanted to try the sushi. The menu is still pretty spare (many things can be ordered off it, but for now you’re limited to a relatively small number of printed options, including a complete lack, to my eyes, of vegetarian sushi). I ordered unagi nigiri (2 fairly generous pieces for $7.99) and one spicy tuna roll (8 pieces, $12). The unagi was not the best I’ve had, with a too-sweet sauce and a somewhat fishy taste (I’ve had far better at Towa and Uptown), but it was perfectly edible. The spicy tuna roll was however really outstanding. It’s a maki with the buttery, fresh tuna draped on the outside, each piece topped with a thin slice of Thai bird chili, and the inside of the roll comprises perfect avocado, shredded cuke, and crispy spicy fried tempura (there’s chili sauce in the batter- a lovely touch); a rich spicy mayo (which might have cream cheese in it, it’s that rrrrich) and a garnish of one fried strip of sweet potato make this a beautiful dish, which I ate with gusto. Fantastic.

But problem: I wanted another order, because the pieces are MUCH smaller than places like Towa or Globefish, and at $12 a roll, this would turn out to be a very expensive lunch ($33 before tip). If I had one wish for this place it would be for them to re-price. This is maybe an $8 roll, despite its deliciousness.

I’d still give this place a strong recommendation. I have to add that it is stunning to see how 11th Ave (and the “design district” in general) is developing.

That was on January 27, 2007, a couple of weeks after its opening, and thankfully, the place is still open. I’m “thankful” because the lunch I had today was completely spectacular, and because it doesn’t seem to get the business it deserves.

I arrived right around noon and there were maybe 6 other customers there; not bad for a small space but it could have been a lot fuller. Still, I received a cheery greeting from hostess and server and plopped down into a very comfy seat (nothing the like torture chair I had at Hapa Izakaya in Vancouver, but no matter now) next to the sushi bar. Tunes were quiet trip-hoppy, perfectly suited to the dark modern lounge-y space and also perfect to both eat and mark tests to.

Today I had three items: one order of hamachi nigiri, one spicy tuna roll, and one yam tempura-avocado roll. Just water to drink. The sushi came seriatim, dish by dish, well spaced. First, the hamachi. Blowfish serves two pieces per nigiri (or sashimi, your choice) order, one naked and one with a little dressing up. My duded-up piece of hamachi had a little pile of a finely diced chili and onion salsa. I’d have liked both pieces done this way because it complemented the bland hamachi (bland but buttery good) nicely. Next the same spicy tuna roll that I raved about on chowhound, except it’s come down in price 50 cents (hey, I’ll take it) and it seemed a little bigger, but no sweet potato chip garnish. No bother- it was outstanding, with interesting contrasts in texture and really, really easy to eat. This might be the single best maki I’ve ever had, anywhere.

Then came my avocado-yam roll. I was expecting something like I had at a Ma and Pa sushi place in Vancouver with this one, that is, a roll with the sliced yam tempura and sliced avocado in a roll as the filling. Blowfish doesn’t do anything that prosaically. It had the finely-sliced tempura on the inside, but the avocado was draped over the top as with my tuna in the first roll; then the whole roll was adorned with a sort of peach-coloured sauce; in fact it looked bit like a fruit-flavoured yogurt. Nope: it it’s mango mayonnaise. Rich and sweet and little savoury too, you can (I hope) imagine how well it accompanies the veggies in the sushi. Tremendous, and in the end, very filling.

Lunch for me was $30 plus tip (I’m a good tipper incidentally- just throwin’ that out there). Expensive lunch, yes, but the day’s big indulgence too (since we still have a fridge full of the incredible ropa vieja Brian made the other day, so it’s tacos al Cubano for dinner tonight). I wouldn’t eat there every day, but I can, and will, eat there more often than I have.

A few last words (I hope) about McNally-Robinson

Here’s a nice apple-art cappuccino for ya before the venting starts anew:

And now back to this situation. I’ve been getting a fair number of responses (not all posted because I am only posting comments with what appear to be valid email addresses- you know who I am; I want to at least trust that I can know who you are) to my rant about McNally Robinson, and so I think the issue and my stand on it merits some qualification. I want mostly that readers understand why I’m angry, and what I’m not angry about.

First, I’m sad that McNally-Robinson is closing. This does not mean that I don’t recognise their right to run a business as they see fit. By the same token I’m not angry at Clover Equipment for selling their company to Starbucks, which will, from now on and forever, not sell Clovers to any independent coffeehouse, ever ever. It sucks, it makes me sad and angry, but that doesn’t mean I’m claiming, as one commenter said, that M-R shouldn’t be allowed to do what they want to do to make money. That’s not the point. This isn’t about a company being avaricious; ALL companies exist, at least in part, to make money.

The reason I’m so upset is about how this closing is being sold to us, and the recurring theme in it is, “tough shit, Calgary, this is all YOUR FAULT.” It’s our fault because of the increased costs of doing business here; it’s our fault because the value of M-R’s building was too much for them to resist selling; it’s our fault because rents are too high (and as you can read in earlier comments, Balboa was going to charge M-R $1 million a year), and it’s our fault because our downtown is, as one of my commenters put it, “a ghost town after 6pm.” Actually he didn’t even stipulate “downtown” but you get it.

The problem with all of these excuses, aside from being monstrously and (to me) unforgivably insulting, is that none hold up, unless you just accept the fact that M-R are hypocritical, liars, or both.

First, yes, business costs are high. Labour costs are high. But they’re high in Saskatoon, high in Toronto, and really, really, REALLY high in NYC. This has to be put into perspective.

Second, yes, you made a killing on the sale of your building. Why not be frank about this? You want us to feel sorry for you? We feel sorry for your employees. We feel sorry for ourselves for the loss of a cultural institution here. Do you really expect anybody to feel sorry for you? Well, yes, apparently, given the tone of letters to the editor and whatnot- you’re being depicted as a poor independent business chased from downtown. You aren’t and you weren’t. Stop misrepresenting yourselves.

Third, rents are too high?! This is laughable- you OWNED your building, you SOLD it for a huge profit and now you’re claiming there was something unbearable in the lease terms? Didn’t you discuss this with your new landlord? Did Balboa not expect you’d stay? I’d say it’s shocking that you expect the public to believe this pity party, but again, your PR efforts have paid off. All I’ve heard is “poor M-R, rents are too high for businesses like them to survive.” Amazing spin job there. Shameful, but impressive.

Finally, the “business was slow at night.” You had at your fingertips 120,000 downtown workers every weekday, the biggest downtown workforce, per capita, of any city in North America. You were also mere steps from two huge hotels, the  Hyatt and the Marriot, which house hundreds of potential customers every night of the week. These people shop, eat, and after work pack downtown bars and restaurants. Downtown is not a “ghost town” any more and the outstanding success of theatre and restaurants downtown are testament to this- hell, I commented earlier on how Caffe Artigiano is packing them in on Saturdays and Sundays, and they’re not even on Stephen Ave. Holt-Renfrew is expanding. Fashion Central will be open in 2009. We’ll soon see ground broken a new Eau Claire Market with hundreds of new housing units to accompany the thousands in the Beltline under construction right now. I never saw M-R less than brisk, sometimes incredibly busy, on weekends. If evening traffic was so bad, why not close at 6? And for that matter, if the core sucked so much for you, why not do what you did in Winnipeg and move out of it but to another location in Calgary? You could have adapted. You chose not to.

I’m still angry. I’m angry not only because my favourite bookstore (well, my former favourite bookstore) is closing. I’m angry because of how the owners and the store’s reps, like that manager interviewed in last week’s Fast Forward, keep bashing Calgary and Calgarians with this “you didn’t support us, so we can’t afford to stay” nonsense. Tell the damn truth. You closed the Calgary store because it’s the one you COULD sell off, and at a huge profit, so that you could open new stores elsewhere, in Winnipeg and Toronto and New York City. Godspeed, there, but for the Christ’s sake STOP INSULTING US.

Graffiti flowers rule! And one helluva sandwich.

This semester I have office hours (contact hours for students) Wednesdays 1:00-3:00, so unless I have to be on campus earlier I take this opportunity to walk downtown, weather permitting (and for the last month or so it’s been very permitting, gorgeous springlike weather), have lunch somewhere and then hop on the C-Train to get to my office. En route today, I spotted some heart-warming (really!) graffiti on the side of a dumpster- this is one off 11 St by Kalamata Grocery:

Painting flowers? Who’s doing what now? THIS is what the thankful person is referring to:

These are all over town, maybe 3″ in diameter and they’re cuter than hell. They’re painted, as the note of gratitude says, not done with a vulgar Sharpie or with less-vulgar but not as … artistic spray paint. I’ve seen these flowers everywhere and to spruce up the side of a smelly dumpster, it’s just sweet beyond words. I thank you too, flower person.

And so that was a nice little surprise, a little humanity in the cold urban realm. Anyway, I made it downtown ahead of the lunch rush, around 11:15, and headed to Caffe Artigiano (see “places I like” for location and hours) for what I hoped would be a leg-of-lamb panino. But they had none in the case today, so I opted for a roast chicken one instead. And WOW what a fantastic sandwich! Big chunks of real, sliced off the bone roast chicken, lots of steamed (or sauteed?), not raw and distracting, veggies (zucchini, spinach and bell peppers I think) and a schmeer of ricotta with something aromatic and garlicky in there too (garlic, I guess), on big slices of sourdough and finished in a panini press as only Artigiano seems able to do- warmed and a little crispy but not burnt and brittle. It was delightful. $8.25 and worth every penny.

After that repast I got a macchiato made by assistant manager and barista extraordinaire Zane- at his recommendation, a “single Artigiano macchiato in an espresso cup.” Poured not scooped. It was outstanding.

Office hours start in two minutes- perfect blog timing, eh?

Ain’t no panic like a moral panic: The Calgary Herald, LRT crime, and how to misrepresent crime stats

When I moved to Calgary in the summer of 2000, I remember anticipating what I freak I would be for having to rely on public transit, Calgary being, I was lead to believe, a city that was so car-centred that I’d be like the old housecleaners who were the only people consigned to take what passed for “transit” in Mobile, Alabama, where I lived from ‘95 to ‘97. That entailed a 90 minute service for buses, only until 6pm, and only on weekdays. But I lived downtown, didn’t have my car (which was with Brian until he followed me a few months later), and it seemed that I had a convenient commute on the C-Train, so why not try car-free for a while?

And it wasn’t bad. Off-peak service, which was when usually rode because my schedule permitted me not to have to ride during rush hours, was an unbearable 15 minutes back then (it’s 10 now, even on weekends) versus the 5 or fewer during peak. I also learned that it was not only the poor or whatever other American stereotype exemplifies transit users on that train. Everybody uses transit, at least some of the time, here. According to a report by StatCan that will be released on April 2 (I saw the data tables even though the report itself has been delayed), 16% of all Calgary work commutes are with public transit. This is very healthy- well above the national average of 11% and behind only Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver (just barely); ahead of Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec City. But the real jewel in the crown of Calgary’s transit system is the success of its light rail (LRT), the aforementioned C-Train. With 270,000 riders per weekday, it’s the most successful LRT in North America, with more than twice the ridership of the oft-lauded MAX system in Portland, a city that’s more than double the size of Calgary, metro-wise. So being a transit user doesn’t make me deviant here, and I’m proud (and relieved) to say that.

In the midst of justified complaints about overcrowding on the LRT (and some buses too- I won’t even bother with the #2), there has also been a lot of hand-wringing lately about crime, especially since the horrific murder of a woman, a hard-working Filipina mother of five, near the Franklin station on the Northeast line a few weeks ago. Yes, this event was sickening and a despicable, unforgivable crime, committed (probably) by a subhuman dirtbag who has (probably) also raped several women in the Beltline. But is the system unsafe? One murder, with its hapless victim, shocking and disturbing though it is, doesn’t necessarily mark a community as “dangerous.” What about the transit system and its “community”?

Enter the Calgary Herald and its hard-hitting expose on crime on Calgary Transit.

When I spotted yesterday’s headline (”Crime Up at LRT Stations,” or something like that), I hoped this wasn’t just overstating, misrepresentation, or just plain innumeracy that would naturally contribute to the public’s sense of siege about LRT crime. Check out this map:

lrtmap.pdf

The report is crap. Yes, “crime” is “up,” but only if they consider a comparison between 2000 (why?) and 2007 (why?). It’s only “up” if they assume that ridership has remained static over that period (which it hasn’t even remotely done). It’s only “up” if you ignore the fact that it went DOWN between 2003 and 2007. And the stats only make sense of they’re STANDARDIZED, taking into account huge (20% in seven years) increases in transit usage during the studied period and the different numbers of riders at different stations. This report did none of that. It reported raw numbers, which is a terrible way to relate crime info- it’s like those idiots who say, for example, that New York City has the “most murder” of any US city but fail to take into account the fact that NYC has more than 8 million inhabitants. Finally, as you can see in the PDF above, the Herald decided to report its numbers in unreadable bar graphs that only clearly report the total numbers of “crimes.” The specific crime categories cannot be read- what does a “big” versus a “small” swath of red mean? Ten crimes against persons versus two, or a hundred versus ten? It’s impossible to tell; there’s no specificity or clarity to it at all. And the bottom line: There was, over the seven years studied, a 23% increase in crime and a 20% increase in ridership. The headline should be, “Crime on LRT Not Increasing,” but if it don’t bleed, it don’t lead, right, Herald?

(Incidentally, LRT crime went down a lot in 2001 because that was the year of the strike- and the decrease in crime coincided perfectly with a reduction in ridership that year.)