Un dîner d'affaires à Calgary, AB

A pedestrian-friendly stretch of Eighth Avenue Southwest, Stephen Avenue Walk is a popular downtown destination for shoppers and restaurant goers. The area’s mix of upscale dining rooms, casual fine dining restaurants and quick-service eateries also makes it a favourite haunt of downtown office workers. Naturally, a lot of business is conducted over lunch at area restaurants such as the ones listed here.

The bento box – a Japanese lunch consisting of numerous food items placed into a box divided into compartments – is arguably the perfect lunch for anyone looking for variety and a (relatively) low price. These Calgary restaurants have mastered the art of the bento. [Image credit: iStock.com/R9_RoNaLdO]

Once exclusively the domain of ultra-fancy French restaurants, tartare is in! With casual pubs and creative high-concept restaurants all adding it to the menu, tartare is no longer a rare delicacy in Calgary. Here are some recommended spots to sample this “It” dish.

The Caesar was invented in 1969 by bar manager Walter Chell as a signature cocktail for an Italian restaurant in the Calgary Inn, now The Westin Calgary. Any city bar worth its salt features this concoction of vodka, Clamato, Worcestershire sauce and spices with celery salt-and-peppered rim. Here are some great places to hit to quaff this quintessential Calgary cocktail. [Image credit: iStock.com/Lauri Patterson.

You and your lunch mates never have to face traffic or the elements when you choose to dine at a restaurant on the Plus 15. As well, the downtown’s second-level, indoor walkway system will take you directly to a variety of eateries, such as those listed here, that are suitable for takeaway as well as sit-down casual meals with colleagues and business-lunches.

For those who are new to sushi, the thought of eating raw fish on rice can be a little intimidating. Sushi rolls are a great “gateway” to more traditional nigiri, and thanks to some of the whimsical and creative dishes prepared by local sushi chefs, they are becoming a cuisine unto itself.

When Calgarians want healthy, tasty restaurant food that’s priced to move, they choose Vietnamese. While there are many, many Vietnamese restaurants in the city, they’re not so plentiful in the central core. The following Vietnamese restaurants are located between the Bow River and 17th Avenue Southwest.

What do you do when there’s little time for lunch but you have no desire for fast food? Your quest for a fast and fabulous midday meal isn’t so hard to satisfy. Here are some great ideas for a delicious, but quick, lunch.

Steak may be the city’s signature dish, but vegetarian and vegan eating is easier to come by than ever in Calgary. Though few restaurants purport to be veg-only, many, including a few on this list, take care to serve their veg-lovin’ clientele very well.

Something like Cantonese tapas, if you haven’t done dim sum lunch, you are missing out. Calgary’s dim sum spots serve an excellent array of these hot and fresh small plates and steamer baskets that rivals the dim sum scene in any other Canadian city.

It may be the default choice of the salad world, but the Caesar salad can and does rise above at a number of Calgary restaurants. These Caesars are real crowd pleasers and will wow you with their fresh and sometimes inventive greens, croutons and add-ons.

Calgary is steak-central and there’s no sign the city’s hunger for great grilled beef is ever going to diminish. In fact, this beefy obsession always seems to take on new dimensions as top restaurants attempt to outdo each other with bigger, better and more beautiful cuts of meat.