Bar Von Der Fels

WHAT MUST BE Calgary’s smallest restaurant kitchen has proven to be a force to be reckoned with in the Alberta food scene since it opened last year.

Located in a brick heritage building, Bar Von Der Fels is co-owned by Will Trow, Thomas Dahlgren and chef Eric Hendry. The first two seamlessly run the front of house in a space not more than 12 feet wide between its unadorned grey brick walls. Total seating accommodates only 28, with but a single table suited for a group of four; they are all coveted. Stationed in the back, Hendry and one other cook produce a variety of dynamic dishes in a kitchen that isn’t much larger than the restaurant’s entranceway. They make the most of it.

Among some eight to 10 items on offer—excluding charcuterie, cheese and olives—the stuffed chicken wings and grilled whole broccoli have become signatures, with the flavours that complement their standard execution changing as the months go by. If available, try the truffled ricotta gnocchi or the whey-poached Hasselback potatoes with bagna cauda. But the real winners who dine at Bar Von Der Fels are wine nerds, who can sit up at the bar and ogle the impressive wine list as well as the by-the-pour bottles that sit resting in vintage steel ice bins on either end of the bar.

Monday to Sunday
5:00 PM until 1:00 PM