Chorney-Booth: Fantastically fine dining and glamour abound at the new Gatsby's
When it came time for the Vintage Group to tweak the lineup of its restaurants in the Oliver Building, it was faced with the choice to go high or go low. The restaurant group was already operating several brands within the building (collectively known as 'The Fleetwood Group'), including Luca, Fleetwood Lounge and Pazzi Pizza. The closure of the Treno coffee and prosecco bar left a gap within the building's culinary offerings and a prime space to fill.
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To fill that gap, management could have taken the easier route with a casual Italian eatery, but Calgary already has plenty of those. But to go higher-end than the already opulent Luca, they'd have to reach into an echelon of fussier food and service rarely seen in the relaxed dining rooms of Western Canada. Sensing a gap in that market, Vintage decided to take the gamble with Gatsby's, the newly opened, jazz-age style restaurant hidden behind a curtain next to Luca's hostess stand.
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Let's get this out of the way: Gatsby's is an incredibly fancy joint. While Calgary has its fair share of luxurious and expensive restaurants, most of us aren't used to a European-style degustation menu in these parts. Sure, you absolutely could happily drop hundreds of dollars per person on a lavish dinner with fine wines at a place like Teatro or Rouge (and, of course, we also have an excellent but more modern tasting menu-only restaurant with the impossible to get into Eight), but Gatsby's takes the concept of fine dining to a more formal level. And it's a level worth experiencing if you're up for the splurge.
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The restaurant is a two-level golden jewel box, with chef de cuisine Asher Wilson's kitchen gleaming from the back of the room. Even though there are only 36 seats, there are always multiple staff members buzzing around the room, meticulously attending to each guest's needs.
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The rock star treatment is certainly a hallmark of this style of fine dining, but it's all wasted if the food isn't up to snuff. After more than a decade as an instructor at SAIT, last year, much-celebrated local chef Michael Dekker became the culinary director for the Fleetwood Group restaurants, and he and Wilson have intentionally set up Gatsby's as one of the city's premier culinary experiences. This is a set menu-only affair with both six-course (priced at $180 or $165 for the vegetarian version) and nine-course ($240) options, plus the opportunity to add items like Acadian emerald sturgeon caviar service ($240) or a selection of Canadian cheese (market price), as well as two different levels of wine pairings and exclusive Scotch flights from House of Hazelwood. It might all feel like a bit much, but ultimately, the price tag is comparable to coveted concert or hockey tickets.
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