Bistro Alma, Calgary

Hotel Alma is located directly on U of C campus, but it's attempting to market itself equally outside the bounds of academia. Since you'd be hard-pressed to find a non-university traveler that's willing to tolerate university "food", it was in their best interest to open a restaurant that isn't in the familiar (and derided) cafeteria idiom. In fact, this shape-shifting café-bistro-wine bar is -- brace yourself -- a real restaurant.

Bistro Alma's occupies a bright but unpretentious 40-seat space on the bottom floor of the building and keeps eye-rubbingly early hours for the hotel set. Beginning at 6:00 am, the complimentary (for guests) continental breakfast buffet runs the familiar gamut from breads and farm-fresh eggs, to fresher fare like local cheese and smoked fish/cured meat platters. Coffee is an important staple anywhere on a university campus, and Bistro Alma has obliged by installing an Elektra espresso machine and offering more than your usual thoughtless filter cup of joe.

Although the lunch and dinner options are in the "lighter fare" category, they're still more focused than you might expect. The focus is on local, season ingredients, and these are paraded out in options like Panini (including Alma's Special Grilled Cheese, which includes Creamy Brie, Smoked Rosemary Ham, and Roasted Red Pepper), Beef Chili, a range of Flatbreads, and, impressively Emmenthal and Gruyere Cheese Fondue. It's more of a wine bar menu than a bistro menu (Calgary is well familiar with wine bar menus), so there are also some charcuterie and cheese plate options, again with a focus on local and seasonal fare.