Chorney-Booth: Greta is all about games, street food and grown-up fun
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There’s no question: nostalgia for the classic video game era is running high in 2018. Who among us doesn’t smile when we hear the beep-beep-boop of a classic Pacman game or the digital Russian tune coming out of a Tetris machine? Whether you were born pre-1980 and lived through the arcade era first-hand or want to experience what you were too young to see the first time around, retro video and pinball games are hard to resist.
Which is why Calgary has seen an undeniable explosion of arcade game-themed restaurants over the last few years — we’ve got Pin-Bar, Boogie’s Burgers, Revival Brewcade, and family-oriented complexes like the Rec Room — but few are as ambitious or all-encompassing as the brand new Greta, which opened last month in a two-storey space on 10th Avenue S.W., most recently occupied by the Nite Owl rock club.
Walking into Greta is kind of like walking into an adults-only version of Chuck E. Cheese, minus the animatronic rodents. Aside from an ample bar and comfortable seating room up front, the place is packed with games like Mario Kart, Tetris, Space Invaders and Basketball Pro, with old-school arcade cabinets, pinball machines and a bubble hockey table downstairs. There is a modern element though, in that customers pre-load cards with money and simply swipe to play, eliminating the need to fumble around for quarters or tokens to play the games.
At its heart, Greta is more of a bar than a restaurant — patrons must be 18+ and the drink list is massive, with a lengthy selection of mostly local beers on tap (including two signature Greta brews) and cheekily-named cocktails that can be ordered by the punch bowl to be shared among friends. While there are somewhere in the neighbourhood of 170 seats scattered around the room, the entire place is set up to encourage socializing and roaming about — the games are fitted with drink holders big enough to hold a pint glass and the food is largely designed to be hand-held so that game play doesn’t have to be interrupted when it’s time to eat.
“This is somewhere for grown-ups to feel like a kid again,” says general manager Chris Jamieson. “We’re bringing a huge sociability element into going out.”
About that food: Greta’s street food concept doesn’t come secondary to the games or the drinks — the back wall of the upper floor features a full-sized food truck facade, behind which the kitchen team led by chef Marc Sidhom whip up international street food favourites. Sidhom, who insisted on a “no tacos” policy (though, he states it more emphatically, shall we say) and prides himself on going as authentic as possible, refusing to dumb down classic global dishes. Throughout a night of gaming, guests can nibble on ginger beef bao buns with bok choy salad ($12), a Hawaiian plate lunch featuring garlic shrimp, rice, macaroni salad, kimchee and spam ($16), Egyptian kushari made with basmati rice, lentils chickpeas and a spicy tomato gravy ($11) or a good ‘ol Montreal-style hotdog made with an Empire Provisions frank ($8). For dessert, Sidhom turns to his own Greek heritage to fry up hot and crispy Greek doughnuts, coated with local honey and the sauce-of-the-day ($4).
The food is purposely fun, but it’s also tasty and Sidhom does his best to use seasonal ingredients and partner with local food producers. To further push the community vibe, every Wednesday Greta brings in a team from another Calgary food truck to make a signature dish in the kitchen, donating a portion of the sales of that dish to the Mustard Seed.
Greta is located at 213 10th Ave. S.W. and is open Tuesday through Sunday from 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. The bar can be reached at 403-479-7842 or gretasbar.com.
Speaking of street food, hotdogs are continuing to find a place at trendy restaurants — the newest players in Calgary’s robust hotdog scene is Gorilla Whale in Inglewood. The “Japanese-ish” restaurant has launched its “Dawg Days,” offering a special dressed-up hotdog on Mondays only. The special will change every week — a couple of weeks ago it was a “Bougie Dog” topped with shaved truffles, caviar foie gras torchon, champagne gelée and, to really take it over the top, gold leaf. Check out Gorilla Whale (located at 1214 9th Ave. S.E.) to see what kind of frankfurter chef Dirk McCabe dreams up each week. Savvy hotdog fans can also turn to the restaurant’s Instagram account at @gorillawhaleyyc to suss out the weekly dog.
For a more elegant take on comfort food, Brasserie Kensington just started offering fondue, in homage to chef/owner Cam Dobranski’s time living in Switzerland while he did his chef training. The restaurant will be doing strictly traditional Swiss-style cheese fondue with fresh baguette as a winter warm-up for $28 per person, only available on Mondays. Brasserie Kensington is located at 1131 Kensington Rd N.W.
Elizabeth Chorney-Booth can be reached at elizabooth@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter at @elizaboothy or Instagram at @elizabooth.
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