Alberta Restaurants

Players duck behind the husks of one-storey huts, towers, and abandoned cars as they navigate a grassy labyrinth. Others dart between industrial concrete walls, firing at the enemy from behind padded barriers. On seven more outdoor fields, teams advance in tandem between towering spruce trees or over hills and valleys, seeking the refuge of wooden fortresses and the coziness of trenches. Whether competing on the Okotoks location's 80,000-square-foot outdoor field, the Calgary location's 28,000-square-foot indoor arena, or Millarville's 55 acres, visitors to Rampage City Paintball immerse themselves in a range of capture-the-flag scenarios. Experienced staff oversees each 15-minute game, and outfits players with Tippmann gear and protective bodysuits. They also supply gear upgrades such as semiautomatic Tippmann guns, goggles, and temporary-invisibility dust.

A talented cast of stylists, nail technicians, and aestheticians stands at the ready beside the salon chairs and treatment stations that fill Turning Heads Hair & Skin Studio’s chic and elegant space. Soft blues and greys cover nearly every wall in the airy studio, evoking a natural setting somewhat at odds with the hyper-contemporary geometries of several diamond-shaped salon mirrors. This peculiar confluence of nature and cutting-edge fashion finds its reflection in the stylists themselves, all of whom call upon advanced Paul Mitchell formulas to cut locks into styles that stay in place but look effortless.

Sitting just outside the circles of cropped hair that surround the salon chairs, nail technicians pamper hands with manicures and feet with four types of pedicures, each designed to soften skin roughened from walking around in stilettos or hopping around in sandbags. In the salon's secluded spa room, a licensed aesthetician employs hard wax to gently remove hair and treats skin concerns such as acne or aging with eight types of facials.

At small, café-style tables, visitors of The Clayground Ceramic Painting Studio let their creativity bloom and imbue blank ceramics with their personal touches. More than 300 pieces line the wooden shelves, including plates, mugs, figurines, and jewelry boxes. Use of the studio’s brushes and paints is included with each piece, letting budding artists avoid the hassle of making a brush from a clump of one’s own hair. Should a visitor not complete their project, they are welcome to leave it with the studio and return within 90 days to finish it, free of charge.

At be Hot Yoga, yogis of all levels practice 26 Hatha-inspired poses designed to pump fresh oxygen through the body. During each 90-minute class, certified instructors channel more than 500 hours of training from the Bikram method’s creator, yoga master Bikram Choudhury. To build strength and flexibility, poses are taught in a progressive sequence that’s as clear and logical as a window scrubbed with geometry proofs. In addition to complementing the poses, two deep-breathing techniques melt stress by purging mental clutter. Balmy temperatures—typically about 40.5 degrees Celsius—infuse the practice space throughout the workout, promoting litheness and drawing toxins to the skin’s surface. Impurities can then exit through beads of sweat, making the body feel energized and refreshed.

As Justin Lussier traveled through Naples in 2005, he decided to stop for the city's famous pizza at a small street-side eatery bearing the sign Pizzeria Sorbillo. He loved his traditional thin-crust pie so much that he rushed to a pay phone and called his friends Christian Bullock and Jason Allard to tell them that he wanted to make that same pizza. When Justin returned to Canada, the trio travelled to confer with the culinary experts at Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) in order to uncover what truly makes a pizza Neapolitan. Two years later, the friends set out to open Famoso.

Famoso's chefs all follow strict guidelines set by the AVPN—they only use OO Caputo flour imported from Naples, and they hand crush tomatoes imported from the foot of Mount Vesuvius, where each crop is grown in soil enriched by volcanic ash and sung to daily by volcanologists. Chefs top the crust with local fior di latte mozzarella, fresh basil leaves, and pecorino romano cheese. They then spread dough into wafer-thin disks, which they blast-fire at 900 degrees for 90 seconds inside imported Italian bell-shaped ovens. Pizzas are also topped with ingredients such as soppressata, oven-roasted Italian sausage, kalamata olives, and truffle oil.

Famoso Baristas can pair many of these pies, some of which are reinvented twice each year, with a mix of local and international wines—including vintages from Italy and Canada—and hand-crafted gelato. At each restaurant, they ferry dishes and drinks through rustic and inviting interiors, each of which reflects the unique style of its neighbourhood, though all are united by accents of exposed brick and wood, wine-bottle art, and sculptural pizza-box displays.

The plane's metal door slides open to the sound of pounding wind. A skydiving instructor and his student step to the edge. At the signal, they plunge into nothingness, more than 12,500 feet above mountains and rolling country landscape. For one exhilarating minute, the earth approaches at 200 kilometres per hour. Then, the instructor pulls the cord and the two begin floating together toward the ground, enjoying a fantastic view that satellites often take for granted.

It's all part of a day's work for the instructors at Edmonton Skydive Centre. Building on a 25-year legacy, they prep students for first-jump courses or help them through the eight levels of Accelerated Free Fall programs, which cover a blend of CSPA requirements, technical basics, and hand signals for making small talk with eagles. They and their students then gather up the proper TSO-approved gear, board a DHC-6 Super Twin Otter, and hit the skies for hands-on solo training.