Alberta beef gets cowboy treatment at Chuck's Steakhouse

For the past 36 years, the glassy upper level on the corner of Buffalo Street and Banff Avenue has been the iconic Le Beaujolais.

On New Year's Eve in 1981, the first year they were open, they hosted both Premier Peter Lougheed and former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau in two separate seatings.

This past August, the space transformed from fine French dining room to cowboy-themed steakhouse by Mike Mendelman, CEO of the Banff Hospitality Collective.

He recently turned Giorgio's into Park Distillery and opened High Rollers, a hip, new beer hall with 48 craft beers on tap, bowling lanes and New York-style pizza, in the Clocktower Mall.

Chef Sal Polizzi has been with the collective for the past 16 years, and has been executive chef at virtually all their restaurants: The Maple Leaf, The Bison and Magpie & Stump to Eddie Burger Bar, Park Distillery Restaurant and Bar and High Rollers.

He typically launches new restaurants, coming up with the menu and getting it underway before handing over the reins and starting a new project.

"It's easy to do," he says.

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"I know what I like to eat."

The theme at Chuck's, named for Mike Mendelman's Calgary-born dad, who remembers the old-school, leather-adorned steakhouses of generations ago, is classy cowboy. The menu is classic steakhouse.

"It's steakhouse meets Stampede," says Polizzi, who grew up in southern Ontario and moved to Lake Louise about 20 years ago, doing his apprenticeship at the Chateau.

"It's all done with a bit of fun."

There are fancy corndogs and a classic wedge salad with blue cheese and ranch dressing, tableside Caesar salad service, buttery escargot and oysters Rockefeller with chimichurri, all designed for sharing.

As many ingredients as possible are sourced along the Cowboy Trail, a stretch of Highway 22 between the Rockies and Canadian prairie, the heart of Alberta ranch country, where Mendelman grew up.

"People come to Banff for two reasons, for the mountains and for the beef," Polizzi said.

"Alberta is beef country, so we wanted to give people that experience."

They dry age their own, with offerings that include in-house wet and dry-aged Alberta prime, Brant Lake wagyu, Hirsch Fraser ribeye and Black Apron grass-fed Angus steaks.

Chef Polizzi and his team start it all on the mesquite wood grill to develop a nice crust, rest, then blast in an 1800 broiler before finishing in copper pans, basting with browned butter and fresh thyme.

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"It's a time-honoured process that gives each steak respect as it's cooked," Polizzi explained.

"I would say it's an awesome, awesome steak."

Servers are well educated on the variety of sources and beef cuts, helping visitors make a more educated decision.

Those who aren't into beef can opt for vegan gnocchi, CFC (Chuck's Fried Chicken), or wood fired Kuterra salmon, which is sustainably raised in Alert Bay, B.C. by the 'Namgis First Nation.

There's even a great kids' menu.

On New Year's Eve, Chuck's offered a five-course dinner featuring a 95-day, dry-aged, bone-in striploin to ring in 2017. It's the longest dry-age Polizzi has ever done.

For Banff's Big Taste, the town's newly-expanded culinary feature of their annual SnowDays Festival, they're offering a fun, family-style private dinner with Chuck on Saturday, Jan. 21.

They will also be a part of the Grand Tasting Hall on Thursday and Friday at the Fairmont Banff Springs.

That festival runs Jan. 18 to 22.