River Café

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Restaurant Rooted in Place

River Café's story begins in the summer of 1991, when founder and proprietor Sal Howell set about transforming an aging park concession on Calgary's Prince's Island into something altogether different. What started as a small, summer-only café – little more than a roof over a handful of tables – gradually took shape as a year-round destination. By 1995, the open-air space had been enclosed with windows and walls, a fieldstone fireplace built, an open kitchen fitted with a wood-fired oven and grill, and a bar fashioned from a real boat. The outdoor terrace, landscaped with native plants that need no irrigation, overlooks the lagoon along the Bow River.

The setting is remarkable. The intention behind it is just as deliberate.

The Philosophy: How Local Can We Be?

From the beginning, Sal Howell's vision was to serve a cuisine drawn from ingredients indigenous to the region – a "taste of place" in the most literal sense. When few local ingredients were accessible through conventional restaurant distribution in the early 1990s, the team went looking: to farms, rural farmers' markets, and a steady stream of producers willing to sell direct. Today, River Café buys directly from a network of over 60 producers, grows its own edible garden on the property – herbs, berries, and edible flowers – and identifies the provenance of ingredients on the menu.

That commitment has earned Sal recognition well beyond Calgary. She was named Independent Restaurateur of the Year at the Food Service & Hospitality Pinnacle Awards, Best Restaurateur at the Terroir Symposium, and has received sustainability honours from the City of Calgary and Earth Day Canada, among others. River Café itself has appeared on Canada's 100 Best Restaurants list – most recently ranked #42 for 2026 – and is included in the international publication 1001 Restaurants You Must Experience Before You Die.

The Kitchen and the Cellar

Executive Chef Kristen Livingston leads the kitchen with a focus on seasonal Canadian cuisine that is, in her own words, "unconventionally artistic." Her menus highlight local organic produce, Ocean Wise seafood, and free-range animals raised without antibiotics, while regularly drawing on what's growing in River Café's own culinary garden. A five-course Chef's Tasting Menu offers the fullest expression of this approach.

The wine program, stewarded by sommelier Bruce Soley since 1999, has been recognised with Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence – a reflection of a list that champions small artisanal producers, terroir-driven wines, and sustainability in the vineyard.

Beyond the Dining Room

River Café extends its character well beyond dinner service. Picnic baskets – packed with locally sourced sandwiches, charcuterie, house-made flaxseed lavosh, and baked goods – can be ordered for next-day collection and enjoyed in the park just outside. The space also hosts weddings, private parties, and events, with the island setting providing a backdrop that few Calgary venues can match.