Saturday, March 4, 2006
Hello from Calgary: A Delicious Dinner at
Il Giardino and an Encounter with One of Calgary's Most Successful
Entrepreneurs
After catching a lovely and much needed rest at the historic
Twin Gables Bed and Breakfast we set off to explore the immediate
neighbourhood, the restaurant area on 4th Street. We were going
to walk, but considering I had been really sick with an aweful chest
cold in the last few days, venturing out into the cold evening air
had me a little leery. Henry from the Twin Gables was really kind
to offer us a drive a few blocks up to a restaurant called Il Giardino,
one of the places that had come highly recommended for this area
from Tourism
Calgary.
Dorothy, Mike and moi
We entered a Mediterranean-looking restaurant that was just packed
with people. We sat down at a cozy table and had a chance to spend
some time with the owner, Mike Ciccaglione, and his restaurant manager
Dorothy, to find out more about this establishment. Wherever I go
I try to get the human stories, and boy, was I in for an interesting
one here. I did not realize that I had connected with one of Calgary's
most successful entrepreneurs, a real immigrant success story.
Mike was born in the Italian region of Molise and left Italy when
he was 16 years old to study business administration and restaurant
and hotel management in Switzerland. He came to Canada in 1962 following
which he worked in a variety of hotels and restaurants in Calgary
and Banff. He also studied English as a second language. In 1967
he opened his first restaurant called the Prairie Dog Inn which
initially specialized in Mexican food.
It's a cozy spot
As if that wasn't enough, Mike went on to open the Mexican Village
chain of fast food restaurants in several shopping malls and in
1980 he opened the "Pied Pickle" chain.
Logically he decided to expand his business to encompass the supply
and distribution of tortillas and other Mexican foods: El Molino
food manufacturing was born. This company manufacturers Mexican
food products as well as pizzas and Italian pasta dishes and distributes
its products to warehouses in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg,
Toronto and Montreal.
In 1998 Mike opened "Il Giardino" (the ultimate in Italian
food and fun), a restaurant where all the dishes were home-cooked
had always been his big dream.
Il Giardino is a popular spot with the locals
When we walked into this restaurant I had no idea that we we would
meet such a successful Canadian entrepreneur. At the same time,
you’d never know it – Mike walks around in casual clothing,
laughs and smiles a lot and always keeps his eyes open to check
on his guests’ enjoyment. During our conversation he got up
several times to greet or say goodbye to guests and Dorothy referred
to him as a “big flirt”. It is plainly obvious that
even at 65 years of age, Mike loves what he is doing and Dorothy
told us that he does the rounds throughout his various Calgary businesses
on a daily basis. Mike is one of those people who loves his work
and always has a twinkle in his eyes.
Dorothy has an interesting story herself: she is originally from
Montreal and her husband, an engineer in the oil industry, hails
from England. Before Calgary they have lived in Montreal, St. John's
/ Newfoundland, as well as Jakarta where they ended up as refugees
in Singapore for a month during President Suharto's coup. Now they
settled into a calmer life in Calgary.
The busy kitchen of Il Giardino's - everything is freshly made
Mike attributes his success to a strong commitment to quality ingredients
and preparation, and he credits great support from his wife Lucy,
his daughter Judy and his son Michael Jr. for much of his fortune
and he hopes that one day his children will take over. He also recognizes
the importance of his employees as a critical success factor. He
told us that he feels it’s very important to reward his employees
and many of the staff at the Il Giardino Restaurant have been there
10 and more years. A young couple, the evening manager and the hostess,
have 15 years of service (5 years at Il Giardino and 10 years at
the Pied Pickel) between them and Dorothy confirmed that people
really enjoy the work here. Mike says "You're nobody until
people make you somebody", that's why treats his employees
well and appreciates his winning team.
The construction of Il Giardino is a story in itself: Mike designed
the restaurant and one of his long-time friends, Walter Petrin,
did all the brickwork while his other great friend Vic Finot was
the general contractor. Every Friday he and these two special friends
get together to solve the problems of the world. Strangely enough,
the next day the problems start all over again.
Outside of work Mike loves to spend time with friends, some of
whom he has known for 40 years now. His family is very supportive
of him and his wife dedicates a lot of her time to charitable work.
Mike also supports the United Way and various fundraising drives
for breast cancer and the Calgary Children's Hospital.
He still goes back to Italy every once in a while although he says
he’s seen almost everything in his home country. So now he
is thinking of traveling to places like Asia, Africa and Latin America
as long as it is safe and reasonably clean. Mike loves soccer and
he even used to own a local soccer team that was called the El Molinos
Dinos. Another one of Mike's big passions is his Ferrari and he
said that every once in a while he puts it on sale just to see the
interest on the part of potential purchasers. But when it comes
down to it he really has no intention of selling it.
But that's not all: Mike is a movie star as well! He has had roles
in "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" as well as in "Cool
Runnings". It seems Mike is always up to something, and when
you listen to his list of endeavours it seems incredible that one
person can get all this done.
Mike embodies hospitality and while we were there he insisted
that we get a real taste of what his kitchen is capable of. For
starters we got to sample Il Giardino's soups: I tasted a Stracchiatelle
egg drop soup while my husband got the "Brodo con Polpettine
e Pasta" (chicken broth with tiny meatballs and pasta). Then
I got to sample a taste of Il Giardino’s famous Calamari (extremely
tasty and tender) while Nigel had their Bruschetta bread. We also
received a sampler plate of appetizers - Antipasto Italiano (prosciutto
with melon).
Our delicious main course
That wasn’t all: we also got a taste of Il Giardino’s
home-made Gnocchi della Nonna which, by the way, are home-made by
Mike’s 70 year old sister. Then, we couldn’t believe
it, the main course arrived: a sampler plate of three of Il Giardino’s
specialties: Pollo ai Funghi (chicken breast in a white wine sauce
topped with mushrooms), Piccata al Limone (veal in lemon and white
wine sauce), and Agnello al Rosmarino (rack of lamb in a rosemary,
mint and red wine sauce). I am not usually a huge meat eater, but
these dishes were phenomenal, the meat was tender, the sauces very
tasty without being overpowering. Mike topped a fabulous meal off
with a tasting of the most famous Italian desert: tira misu.
Without exaggeration, our culinary experience at Il Giardino ranks
right up there as one of my best restaurant experiences of a life-time,
the food was that delicious. I love Italian food, and the folks
at Il Giardino certainly know how to prepare Italian delicacies.
We had to take a doggy bag back to our bed and breakfast, there
was no way we could actually eat all this delicious food. There
is no doubt that Il Giardino serves great, freshly made food. And
even more so, it was a pleasure to meet the creator behind this
welcoming neighbourhood institution.
Related Articles:
An overview of our discovery of the
Canadian Rockies
Arrival in Calgary and our
whirlwind tour of the city
Discovering Canada Olympic Park,
one of Calgary's most visited attractions
Our fabulous dinner at Il Giardino's
and a connection with one of Calgary's most successful entrepreneurs
- an Italian-Canadian immigrant success story
Comfort, luxury and our celebrity
breakfast at the Historic Twin Gables B&B
Calgary's Kensington area and a
meeting with a local entrepeneur who went from Vietnamese boat person
to successful restauranteur
Arrival in Banff & exploring
a local landmark: the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
Our first skiing experience: perfectly
groomed trails at Norquay
High altitude skiing on the
Continental Divide: Sunshine Village
Exploring Canadian history: the
Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
Skiing in the largest ski resort in
the Canadian Rockies at Lake Louise
A real adventure: dogsledding in
the Canadian Rockies
A gondola trip to the top of
Sulphur Mountain and discoveries of Banff
Our final walk through downtown
Calgary - discoveries of downtown
An interview with Tourism Calgary:
what to see and do in Calgary
An interview with
Tourism Banff Lake Louise
Useful Websites:
Tourism
Calgary
Tourism
Banff Lake Louise
Canada
Olympic Park
Ski the Big 3:
Banff, Lake Louise and Sunshine
Banff
National Park of Canada
Useful books about Calgary and the Canadian Rockies:
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