Text 26890, 105 rader
Skriven 2012-07-04 20:02:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
Ärende: I wasn't invited! Wah!
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Where the oil barons eat during Calgary Stampede

While the pop-up restaurant is a relatively new trend, the Calgary
Stampede has been running its exclusive version since 2001. Open for
only 10 days in July, Ranahan's is corporate Calgary's private
clubhouse, a unique mix of fine dining and western hospitality.
"Someone once said to me, Ranahan's is like an urban myth," says Mike
Friesen, the Calgary Stampede's premier seating/restaurant food and
beverage manager. "A lot of people have heard about it but few
people get to experience it."

Of the estimated 1.26 million people who will visit the Stampede
during its centennial celebration, taking place July 6 to 15, only
6,000 guests will get to ride the discreetly hidden elevator up to
the 300-seat restaurant on the third floor of the Grandstand. As a
sign of the west's economic exuberance, Ranahan's has been sold out
since late spring, with oil companies, banks, law firms and
developers scooping up tables for four that start at $7,950 for five
days.

While the staff is professionally tight-lipped and declines to name
names, the invite list includes gold-plated members of Calgary's
Petroleum and Ranchmen's clubs, as well as visiting directors on the
boards of the country's blue-chip companies. Power brokers make as
many deals as they do friendly bets for toonies over the course of
the nightly chuckwagon races.

"It's all about corporate Calgary and being responsive to the
community," Mr. Friesen says. "The need was there and so we built
it."

Two weeks before Stampede starts, the restaurant's rustic-modern
trappings come out of storage, then are packed up after the last
guest leaves on the final Sunday.

The room was recently renovated for the Stampede's 100-year
anniversary, including the addition of a wine bar and walk-in
cooler, as well as two new fireplaces. But it's the view that's the
real scene stealer. Ranahan's hosts two seatings every day, for the
rodeo in the afternoon and the "chucks" and Grandstand Show in the
evening. After meal service, guests move, along with their servers,
outside to a secluded deck, where they can continue to sample
Ranahan's 400,000-bottle wine list (not included in the "membership"
fee) while watching the action in the infield. And yes, there's also
a secret wine list for those commemorating particularly promising
deals.

Table rights also bring access privileges to the restaurant's
250-seat lounge, as well as on-site parking for 10 days, which Mr.
Friesen describes as "worth its weight in gold." A team of "cowboy
concierges" will meet guests at their cars with bottled water if the
fickle Calgary weather is co-operating, and umbrellas if it isn't,
then help them find their way through the midway to the private
elevator. "We've got a phenomenal catering department that does
catering year-round. They've cooked for the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge. They've cooked for the Queen and presidents."

The menu, which is refreshed every year by chef Rene Jaurin, is
reminiscent of a top-notch steakhouse, with a growing emphasis on
local products. While slow-food aficionados might appreciate the
addition of Noble Meadows Farm's goat cheese, Ewe-nique Farms' lamb
and Valta bison, it's still very much about Alberta beef. Calgary is
the heart of unpretentious ranching country, and few folks come to
Ranahan's for the salads.

In fact, the pop-up pioneer's biggest draw is its service. Up to 90
per cent of the 65-person wait staff, who are hand-picked from the
best restaurants in Calgary and come from as far away as Vancouver
and Singapore, book off from their day jobs to return each year for
the 10-day stint. They are retrained every July to walk the fine
line between discretion and enthusiasm, with an emphasis on
providing an authentically western experience. How many waiters in
Toronto or Vancouver can help visiting CEOs and celebrities navigate
cowboy hat etiquette - real cowboys always take off their Smithbilts
at the table - or set up a betting pool on the bulls? (Insider's
tip: listen to the servers, who know the best beef on the field as
well as on the plate.)

George Hatajlo is about to notch his seventh year at Ranahan's,
where guests continually ask for him by name. Even a heart attack
less than two months before the 2011 Stampede couldn't keep the
58-year-old fine-dining veteran, who is normally the maitre d' and
sommelier at the Bears Den in Springbank, Alta., away from
overseeing the 12-seat private wine room ($5,450 per show). "You
know their life a little bit, but it goes nowhere but the table," he
says. "To know someone is a comfortable thing for them because they
are usually invited by someone else."

And for 10 days, it's the best invite in town. "There's Stampede,"
Mr. Hatajlo says, "and there's Stampede. At Ranahan's, you're rubbing
shoulders with CEOs of companies and you'd never know. Everyone is
in western gear and everyone is having a great time. It's just so
friendly and not pompous."

                            

Cheers

YK Jim
                                                
... What good is wealth if it can't inspire envy in your fellow man?

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