The executive chef at FinePrint, Francis Martinez has become a big name in Calgary’s food scene since he moved to Calgary from Toronto three years ago. At FinePrint, Martinez crafts a menu of fine-dining dishes drawing inspiration from French to Japanese cuisine.
“For me being from Toronto, I’m trying to figure out the food scene here and what people like — I know it’s still a meat-and-potatoes kind of city and I try to embody that [at FinePrint], but still kind of put my own twist on it,” says Martinez.
Outside of FinePrint, Martinez recently collaborated with chef Leroy Borrega at Maven on the Hapunan dinner series, which reimagines Filipino cuisine in a fine-dining, multi-course context.
As a recent Calgary transplant, Martinez has a unique perspective on the city’s dining scene. We caught up with him to find out which local restaurants he loves.
Ten Foot Henry
One of Martinez’s favourite things to eat at Ten Foot Henry is the charred cabbage dish, which features a walnut vinaigrette, manchego cheese and a brittle for crunch. “I just love the vibe there. It’s nothing too crazy, and the menu is very shareable and vegetable-forward, like their cabbage dish. I mean, you can’t not like cabbage when they do it that way,” says Martinez.
Paper Lantern
“If I get off early enough at work, I’ll go just for their Mai Tais and their little bites. Me and my family try to go to Hawaii every year, so whenever I go somewhere [in Calgary], if they have a Mai Tai, I’m trying that out.”
Pat & Betty
“Pat & Betty is another place I love to go. The restaurant just has such a cool vibe, and it’s definitely one of my go-to spots. I really like their pork belly and scallop dish with the truffle [and foie gras] potato puree on it.”
Maven
“One of my favourite breakfast places I like to go to is Maven. There’s a lot of story in the way that they create the menu — [owner] Michelle Hobbs is amazing in the way she talks about the food and her travels in different countries. And now since Leroy [Borrega] has taken over as head chef, he’s bringing his Filipino background and putting that into the menu and doing a Filipino omakase every Friday and Saturday, which is amazing because there’s not really anything like that in Calgary.”
Love Damian
“One pop-up that just opened up inside Meat & Bread, called Love Damian. Chef Kyle [Opel] brings that kind of classic Northern Italian cuisine there — there’s no hiding anything, it’s just straight up good flavours. It’s a must try, I think, in Calgary.”