Chuck the Chili. A New Era of Dining (and Drinking) Has Arrived in Banff

BANFF, Alberta — Foods that are synonymous with skiing generally come from high peaks with low nutritional value. Think: Swiss fondue, French onion soup, Canadian poutine. But in Banff — one of the most revered ski towns in North America — a new wave of dining and drinking is meeting the modern traveler’s desire for cuisine that is plant-forward, locally sourced, and sustainably crafted.

Anyone searching for traditional après in this Rocky Mountain town can find hot cheese and frothy beers. But why bother when you have options like fresh Brussels sprouts drizzled with balsam syrup or a cocktail made with locally foraged saskatoon berries, one of Alberta's seven signature foods?

The charming town of Banff is within Banff National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the early 19th century, Canadian Pacific Railway workers happened upon the area’s natural hot springs and decided this could be more than a place to lay iron. The Railway’s president named the area after his birthplace of Banffshire in Scotland, built a a grand hotel for tourists, and the rest is history.

That sprawling hotel is Fairmont Banff Springs, aptly called “the castle” with 724 rooms and 12 restaurants and bars. Travelers here should beeline to Rundle Bar, recently renovated with a charming cocktail hour and small-bites menu. Named for nearby Mt. Rundle and constructed with some of its stone, the bar’s custom Rundle Bar Gin is crafted in partnership with Wild Life Distillery in nearby Canmore. (Juniper is plentiful in this area, so gin flows freely.)

“We take juniper, balsam, and incredible botanicals from our local area and distill them down,” the property’s beverage director Sam Clark explained. “We have this essence of Banff and of the Rocky Mountains right there in the glass. Our Rundle Bar Gin is made with our butterfly tea, a flower tea that turns into an indigo color as you add lemon or acid. It's a beautiful eye catcher, but it's also a subtle nod to the Scottish heather that's symbolic of our hotel as a Scottish baronial castle.”

The buzzy Park Distillery is an official stop on the Banff Cocktail Trail. Here, more gin-based cocktails like Tea’s Knees are made with their own gin, ginger, chamomile tea, lemon, and honey. Zero-proof options — like a saskatoon lemonade or the Glacier Lily mocktail with grapefruit and basil — are plentiful.

For a break from spirits, I went to Three Bears Brewery on Bear Street. They pride themselves on small-batch beers made with pure glacier water, but their Alberta bison ribs with pomegranate glaze were one of the best dishes I had in town.

Journeying deeper (or should I say, higher?) into the area’s history at 7,200 feet elevation at the Banff Sunshine Village ski resort is Mad Trapper’s. Opened in 1928, this two-floor restaurant is where diners stomp around in heavy boots and plunk helmets down on well-worn tables. Twentysomethings working their seasonal gigs joke around behind the bar while handing rosy-cheeked adventurers pitchers of draft beers and bowls of bison chili.

Indeed, bison (another signature Alberta food) abound in Banff, as do game like venison and elk. After a day in the snow, the hungriest outdoors person can tuck into a hearty Alpine Italian lunch at The Fat Ox. I had my doubts that I’d be served a good Italian meal in Alberta, but every dish was excellent. I’d be happy to slalom my way down a black diamond to get my hands on their venison carpaccio or elk meatballs again.

Away from downtown is a special spot worth the drive or local bus ride: Juniper Bistro. The restaurant has the best view in town and operates under the loving eye of head chef Sergio Gómez. Though he was born in Durango, Mexico, he loves the Canadian winter and fell in love with Banff after working at restaurants all over the world.

His inspired tasting menu is a journey into hyper-local foraging, with items like braised bison short rib with a haskap demi-glace and potato pavé crisps with saskatoon berry dust. (Haskaps are like the heartier cousin of the blueberry. Saskatoon berries are a sweet and nutty member of rose family.)

Chef Sergio dives deep into Banff’s heritage while taking a cue from Copenhagen. “How do we showcase the transition of winter to spring, with techniques of storytelling and ingredients of the region, flavors of the forest?” he thought, before unveiling the late winter menu. “I was trying to take the philosophy of Noma, of zero kilometers, that you find and harvest around where you are.”

My Juniper Bistro dinner included a digestive course called The Essence of the Wild, which was Douglas fir tea with agave-cardamom syrup — “pure forest in a cup” and a perfect example of this local foraging philosophy.

“I was experimenting with infusions made with water or milk, but I rediscovered something that the elders and the Native Americans were doing long, long ago. Douglas fir has a lot of properties of vitamin C and helps the immune system. I was like, ‘Wow, this was lost, and now that is back again, people will be talking.’”

Our table certainly was, and continued to reminisce about this special meal throughout the trip.

But the hands-down-most-fun spot in town is Grizzly House, a place “for lovers and hedonists” since “1967 or '68.” The exterior looks like a narrow Alpine chalet; the interior feels like a sultry love nest. Once a nightclub that served aphrodisiacal melted cheese, it was the go-to spot for skiers looking for a different type of vertical drop. A phone installed at each table offered ravenous diners the chance to dial someone for a proposition. The phones remain today, but barely work and are more often used for a fun hello or innocent prank call across the restaurant.

Grizzy House’s quintessential dish is Emmentaler and gruyère fondue, delivered to your table along with 600-degree hot stones to cook nearly any kind of game you’d like: bison, wild boar, venison, elk, alligator, kangaroo, rattlesnake.

Today, there may be more health-conscious and sober-curious travelers than trappers or swingers around Banff, but there is no shortage of dining and drinking options for every kind of adventurer.