Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. One afternoon in early March I found myself digging into a thick slab of the best prime rib I’ve eaten in my life.
The meat was perfectly cooked with well-distributed fat for maximum flavour and served with gravy, horseradish and mashed potatoes. It’s a meal I’ll dream about for years to come. This is where I’d normally name the restaurant where this remarkable piece of beef was served.
But my experience didn’t take place at a restaurant. In true farm-to-table style, I was eating at Belvin Angus, a ranch located north of Calgary near Innisfail. My dozens of dining companions were a mix of ranchers, their families, and curious onlookers gathered in a common room adjacent to a hall where over 100 purebred Angus bulls were about to be auctioned off to the highest bidders.
Many Calgarians have caught a glimpse of picturesque cattle ranches in areas surrounding the city, even if just from the passenger seat of a car. Mostly, those cattle roaming about the rolling hills will be harvested for meat. The March 4 auction at Belvin Angus was a step further back in the journey from cattle ranch to table – Belvin was selling bulls to other ranchers intending to improve the genetic qualities of the buyers’ herds.
My prime rib lunch wasn’t just an act of Western hospitality, though treating customers and .
