Details
Information
Reviews
Location
Details & Description

Restaurant type

  • Wine Bar,

Cuisine type

  • Canadian,

Features

  • Restaurant With Terrace,

Products and Services

  • Dinner,
  • Drinks,
  • Small Plates,
  • Share Plates,
  • Patio,
  • Reservations,
    • Dessert,
    • Open Late,
    • 17th Avenue,
  • more...
  • less...

Languages Spoken

  • English,
Location
304 17 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2S 0A8
Useful Information

Opening Hours *Holiday hours

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Monday To Saturday 4pm Till Late
Monday To Saturday 4pm Till Late
Verify with Merchant

Rates:

  • $11 To $25,

Methods of Payment:

Meet the owner

Following the success of his restaurant Model Milk, chef Justin Leboe noticed Calgarians had taken a particular liking to the concept of share plate dining. So he decided to open up a second venture named Pigeonhole to specialize in just that. “Part of the concept came about through Model Milk. The servers would indicate to the chef if people were sharing a dish. And it just became more and more – you started seeing all this sharing amongst people,” explains Pigeonhole general manager Heather Wighton. “People don’t always want to be stuck with just eating their one appetizer and one entrée – they want to try them all.”

In May 2015, Justin opened Pigeonhole as Model Milk’s neighbouring sister restaurant and wine bar. And in November 2016, he brought chef Douglas King (formerly of Kissa Tanto in Vancouver) on board as the restaurant’s Chef de Cuisine. The menu features a range of experimental dishes, made with seasonal, regionally sourced ingredients and culinary influence from all across the globe. “The idea behind Pigeonhole was that we knew we wanted a sharing, appetizer-sized plates concept, and we didn’t want to pigeonhole ourselves to one type of cuisine,” Heather says.

A seasoned restauranteur with a passion for the business side of the industry, Heather started working in restaurants after graduating from university with a degree in anthropology and sociology. “I just really fell in love with the business side of a restaurant because it is so different than any other industry,” she says. After working at the now closed Home Tasting Room as well as Rouge in Inglewood, she went on to purchase Muse in Kensington as her own restaurant when she was only 27 years old. She eventually sold her shares and the restaurant became Modern Steak. After a short stint as manager at the now shuttered Il Sogno restaurant in Bridgeland, Heather was approached by Justin to come on board as Pigeonhole’s general manager. “I like opening restaurants. You kind of get to mould it and you get to pick the people you work with,” she says. “We have an amazing team here and a lot of them have been here since we've opened."

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Appears in 4 Smart Lists

Editor’s Pick
Get cozy at these intimate eateries in Calgary

Get cozy at these intimate eateries in Calgary

Be sure to reserve early – not only is Pigeonhole one of Calgary’s most celebrated restaurants, it’s also small. With mismatched vintage plates and an open kitchen, the room feels both luxurious and relaxed, despite the fact that it’s serving some of the most upscale and innovative small plates in the city.

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Think pink: Where to drink rosé wine in Calgary

Think pink: Where to drink rosé wine in Calgary

Billed as a wine and snack bar, Pigeonhole has garnered significant attention for chef Justin Leboe’s innovative and often surprising small plates, and the restaurant also features a stellar wine list. Choose from rosés from France, the U.S. and Canada, including Bella sparkling rosé, which is becoming one of the Okanagan’s most buzzed-about wines.

View this Smart List
Fall finds: New and notable restaurants in Calgary

Fall finds: New and notable restaurants in Calgary

Plated and decorated like a mid-century Russian tearoom, Pigeon Hole is the next-door neighbour of critically acclaimed sister restaurant Model Milk. Chef Justin Leboe serves wine and small-plate fare – much of it cooked on a Japanese charcoal grill – that combines Asian and European cooking techniques and ingredients. Making superb use of the old Victoria’s space, the Pigeon Hole menu features dishes such as charred cabbage (highly recommended!), ricotta dumplings and spaghetti squash with mussels. For those in a celebratory mood, try the Russian caviar service.

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