Stable Palms Club brings midcentury California style to Calgary’s dining scene

Calgary’s Kensington district has a new destination for design-minded diners. Stable Palms Club, a restaurant from Block Hospitality in collaboration with local studio Way of Normal, transforms a 3,600 sq ft former pub into a space that channels midcentury California modernism through sunken lounges, Populuxe detailing and a year-long development process for its furniture.

The site, previously home to Molly Malone’s and later Free House, now reads as a sequence of intimate rooms rather than a single dining hall. Way of Normal approached the project by treating each area as a room in a private home, with changes in floor height, mirrored surfaces and sculptural archways that reveal the plan gradually from the entrance.

Por que importa

At the centre stands a stainless-steel and red-oak bar fitted with bespoke metal stools and small counter-mounted lamps. Beyond a sculptural archway lies a partially concealed sunken lounge, recalling the conversation pits that defined midcentury residential entertaining. Red oak wraps ceilings, beams, walls and joinery, creating the amber density of a well-preserved 1960s house. The material palette also includes deep-green zellige tiles, aluminium and stone, with steel cladding on the upper dining tier introducing a cooler, sharper surface.

The design language draws on Populuxe and Googie architecture — the expressive roadside style of midcentury motels and coffee shops — with swooping openings, circular cut-outs and broad timber planes. Custom joinery, commissioned lighting and furniture establish a consistent scale across the rooms. Dining tables took a year to develop; several bespoke lights required over 18 months. Where possible, production was kept local, using reclaimed timber and aluminium alongside reworked vintage furniture.

Contexto

Key facts
| Element | Detail |
|———|——–|
| Location | 1153 Kensington Crescent NW #001, Calgary, AB T2N 1X7 |
| Size | 3,600 sq ft |
| Design studio | Way of Normal |
| Operator | Block Hospitality |
| Chef | Jordan Mayo |
| Bar programme | Zachary Fox and Justin Dysiak |

The adaptive reuse of a former Irish pub into a midcentury-inspired restaurant reflects a broader interest in preserving Calgary’s architectural layers. While the city is known for bold contemporary statements such as Santiago Calatrava’s Peace Bridge and Foster + Partners’ The Bow, Stable Palms Club makes a case for the dynamism of working with existing structures rather than replacing them.

Chef Jordan Mayo’s menu balances familiar smaller plates with inventive turns. Raw oysters come with classic mignonette and rhubarb hot sauce; bluefin tuna zuke is paired with fresh wasabi; Southern-fried chicken thighs are marinated in koji and dill pickle. Mains include slow-cooked duck breast with brown-butter parsnip purée and apple jam, sea bass with fregola and asparagus, and a 45-day dry-aged T-bone with black garlic and veal consommé. Mayo recommends the house-made beef burger with Gruyère, soubise onion and pickles, and notes the ricotta gnocchi with lobster and fried focaccia croutons as a growing favourite.

Desserts include a brown-butter caramel tart with malt ice cream and sea salt, and a Black Forest sundae with kirsch ice cream and macerated cherries. The cocktail programme, led by Zachary Fox and Justin Dysiak, leans toward bright, irreverent combinations. The ‘Et-Tu Brute?’ is a clarified Caesar in which frozen cherry tomatoes replace ice cubes; ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ combines Italian tomato gin and balsamic vermouth for a caprese-inspired Negroni.

The project was covered by Wallpaper* travel editor Sofia de la Cruz, who noted the restaurant’s role in highlighting Calgary’s midcentury architectural heritage. For readers interested in adaptive reuse, hospitality design and the intersection of midcentury aesthetics with contemporary dining, Stable Palms Club offers a case study in how a former pub can become a carefully crafted environment without erasing the neighbourhood’s memory.

Source: Wallpaper – Stable Palms Club gives midcentury design a new restaurant in Calgary (https://www.wallpaper.com/travel/restaurants/stable-palms-club-calgary-review)

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