DQ Studios

a wonderful event and some Quinspired Ceramics

is Calgary's newest Mexican small plates and cocktail bar brought to us by Chef Elia Herrera. We were lucky enough to snag a table on a busy weekend for their late night taco specials.

Before even seeing the food we were blown away by the stunning space featuring grand colonial archways that truly made you feel like you were on a magical Mexican adventure. Kudos to local architectural Designer BOLD workshop for making this vision happen.

We started off with the salsa tasting and even though they had run out of plantain and taro chips, the variety of interesting salsas were still delicious.

I was looking forward to trying mixologist John Fairholm's creative cocktails many of which incorporate the smoky layers of mezcal. I had the Tomatillo Martini, and Dave really enjoyed the not too sweet zero-proof Apple cucumber Spritz.

For tacos, we ordered the Birria, Carnitas and Baja Fish. Loved the house made corn tortillas. All the flavours were so bright, fresh and layered. Unfortunately our order of the mushroom and chicken tacos mistakenly went to another table, but Dave was happy we got to skip straight to dessert.

My second cocktail was the Fire & Flora, a spin on the negroni, which was beautifully balanced and thoughtfully delicious.

Dessert was the Peanut Horchata Paletta.... a horchata ice cream bar dipped in white and dark chocolate with a grape Kool-Aid marshmallow and an amaranth puff. This delightful ender spoke to our adult inner-child and solidified our curiosity to come back and explore what else Chef Elia has in store for us to try.

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