For more than 11 years, 11th Avenue’s Vicious Circle has provided an alternative and unique atmosphere for Calgary’s downtown community. Sporting a casual atmosphere with comfortable couches, local artwork (which is for sale), pool tables and creative lighting, Vicious Circle has become a popular meeting place for gay and straight people alike.

You know that you are in a different place when you walk in the door and are handed your menu, which is a large metal sheet with menu items printed on both sides. After perusing the available selections, we settled on the "Killer" Nachos and the swammi chicken.

The Nacho’s come with either a tangy salsa or topped with homemade chili. The dish is very colourful, consisting of blue and yellow corn chips with big chunks of tomato, ample peppers and green onions. The cheese is layered, which is a sign of truly great Nacho’s, as opposed to the more common topping of cheese and nothing but dry chips by the time you reach the middle. The chili is very thick and hearty; you can scoop it up with the chips. The chili can also be ordered on its own to warm you up!

The swammi chicken is cooked in a sweet Indonesian soy sauce and comes with peanut dip and garlic bread. The two flavors blend well to create a unique taste sensation. The swammi chicken can also be ordered as topping for salad, which is a healthy and tasty way to enjoy it.

In addition, Vicious Circle has a number of other appetizers such as the highly recommended Spinach and Artichoke Dip, Perogies, Shrimp cocktail, Potstickers and many other snacks.

For the main course, we selected one representative of each of the main choices: Melts, Pizza, and Pasta.

The Steak Melt, consisting of large slices of sirloin steak, onions, tomatoes and mushrooms with a touch of BBQ sauce and covered in cheese, is served open-faced on herb bread. It requires a fork and knife to eat it, but it is worth the effort. There is just enough BBQ sauce to enhance the flavor, but it doesn’t overpower the rest of the food or make the sandwich overly sloppy. You can also order melts with chicken or Spolumbo’s sausage. There are a couple of choices of sides, and I choose the French Onion Soup. It was an amazing choice, as the soup is very flavourful and lacks the overly salty taste that this type of soup sometimes has. The red onion and sherry broth is topped with lots of gooey provolone, mozza and cheddar and served in a classic soup bowl. I especially liked the blend of cheeses, which was a very tasty touch.

The Pepperoni Pizza, on a flatbread "coyote" crust is crunchy and has ample toppings. Rather then the traditional round pie, all of the pizza’s are served on square flatbread with tomato sauce and mozzarella. It’s a tasty treat to either share or have for yourself. Check out the variety of different pizzas – three of them are chicken.

The jambalaya comes in a large serving and is quite tasty. Vicious Circle mixes cajun spices, tomatoes, onions, green peppers and Spolumbo’s sausage and tosses it with cavatelli pasta spirals. Although it doesn’t have the addition of shrimp and chicken like many jambalayas, the delicious sausage compensates for it. If jambalaya isn’t your cup of tea, try the Linguini, Shrimp and Pesto Pasta, or Kung-pow Chicken. Also highly recommended is the Super Macaroni and Cheese, which is a different twist on the traditional dish and sounds quite appealing.

Vicious Circle has 140 different varieties of Martini’s. You could spend quite a bit of time trying to decide between drinks like "Captain America", "Bloody Mess", "Jennifer Love Hewitt", "Naked Boy", "Christmas", "Dirty Girl", "Disco Stu", "Caramilk", "Windex" or the "Peanut Butter and Jelly." If those seem a little unique for your tastes, Vicious Circle also has mainstream martini’s like Bellinis, Fuzzy Navels and the traditional style.

We capped off the meal with Cupid’s Chocolate Cheesecake and the Double-chocolate Banana Cake. The cheesecake is a chocolate lovers dream: chocolate crust, chocolate cheesecake and a thin layer of chocolate ice cream. It is like velvet, with a smooth creamy taste with the strawberry tawny port sauce enhancing the flavor. The banana cake is evil, and should come with a warning for consumers about how addictive it is. Imagine your mom’s banana bread, add chunks of white and dark chocolate, and butter crème icing, topped with dark chocolate icing and caramel sauce, and you have this treat. A unique dessert for a unique café. You can also try their apple crisp, berry cheesecake, and their famous monster chocolate chip cookie.

Vicious Circle is a bit pricier then some other establishments, but the food quality is second to none. The ambiance is very unique and ideal to bring a date to or hang out with friends. Whether for coffee and dessert or a full on meal, Vicious Circle is worth a visit.

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Contributor Jason Clevett |

Locale Calgary |

Topic Food |