CALGARY HAS LONG LACKED AN AUDACIOUS SEE-AND-BE-SEEN HIGH-END HOT SPOT, but the Concorde Group filled that void last summer with the long-awaited arrival of Major Tom, an expansive restaurant on the 40th floor of Stephen Avenue Place.

Guests arrive via an ear-popping elevator ride to find a swingin’ mid-century-inspired room with floor-to-ceiling windows, offering an extraordinary view of Calgary’s glittering downtown core. The menu — developed by Concorde Entertainment Group’s culinary director, Garrett Martin, in conjunction with chef de cuisine Garrett Rotel — features a winning combination of contemporary dishes and classic steak-house fare. The crispy hen’s eggs appetizer comes with a spoonful of sweet and savoury pepperoni jam, and the grilled radicchio salad is spiked with quince. Steaks in various cuts run from basic AAA Alberta and dry-aged Angus from Benchmark Farms in Lethbridge to ultra-luxe A5 wagyu from Miyazaki Prefecture. All are charbroiled in a Montague broiler and marinated in koji to tease out the natural flavours of the meat. Robust pastas, grilled chicken, slow-roasted duck and posh shellfish dishes (hello, lobster thermidor) round out the offer. The luxe room and million-dollar view deserves some proper drinks, which Major Tom delivers via a bold, slightly quirky wine list curated by Brad Royale — the affable sommelier is on-site two nights a week to walk diners through unfamiliar bottles from relatively obscure regions — and a list of cocktails that match the food in their “classics with a twist” style, including an ice-cold martini pulled directly from the freezer and poured tableside from mini bottles.