We’ve all seen restaurants with names having nothing to do with the type of food served. Calgarians contemplating local favourites like Model Milk, Ten Foot Henry, or Donna Mac, for example, have to do some legwork to get a handle on those places’ cuisine. A new restaurant in the Beltline eliminates this issue with a name that could truly not be more literal.
It’s called Cold Beer and Pizza. That’s it. That’s the name.
Cold Beer and Pizza serves exactly what you’d think — beer and pizza — but it goes beyond the typical hole-in-the-wall bar slinging greasy slices and bottles of Bud. The room, designed by Way of Normal (Class Clown, Buon Giorno) does telegraph a bit of a dive bar spirit, but it’s a curated look, with a checkered tile floor, intentionally worn-in banquettes and retro signage, all amplified by a well-chosen punk rock playlist. The designers’ pièce de résistance is a curtained-off, free photo booth that patrons must walk through to access the bathrooms, resulting in many laughs and good-natured photo bombs.
The fun spills out onto an expansive wrap-around patio with lively table, booth and counter seating. Cold Beer and Pizza looks cool and the actual pizza and beer lives up to the atmosphere. Owner-operator Tom Vitolianos took the assignment of adhering to the business’s name seriously.
The first part — the beer — was easy. Vitolianos and his team filled the taps at the front entrance counter (the back counter is where pizza is order.
