1886 Buffalo Cafe – Permanently Closed
You’ll find 1886 Buffalo Cafe downtown, just beside Eau Claire Market. This unassuming little building that has been there for well over 100 years, starting out as a Eau Claire and Bow River Lumber Company property founded by Peter Anthony Prince, whom Prince’s Island Park is named after. Peter Prince has quite a lot of ties to Calgary history, owning the first gas powered vehicle, he started the Calgary Water Power Company (which later became TransAlta Utilities) and he was the first person to string up electricity poles to provide people with power. He even owned a ranch in Brooks called Prince-Kerr Ranch. Peter was up to all kinds of stuff. 1886 Buffalo Cafe hasn’t really changed much since those days, they still have mostly the same interior, even the same floorboards. The basement, in addition to being where the bathrooms are, has also been converted into a mini local history museum. Lastly, 1886 Buffalo Cafe, being such a vintage building, is not wheelchair friendly.
Note: 1886 Buffalo Cafe permanently closed in 2020 🙁
Today they serve up some really good breakfasty/brunchy food.
- Website: https://www.1886buffalocafe.com
- Address: Eau Claire – 187 Barclay Parade SW, Calgary, AB T2P 4R5
- Phone: (403) 269-9255
- Facebook: @1886-Buffalo-Cafe
- Instagram: @1886buffalocafe
- Hours: Closed
1886 Buffalo Cafe Menu
- Saturdays: $6 Mimosas
- Sundays: $5 Caesars
Lite Bites
Under the Tuscan Sun
Two eggs scrambled with spinach and sundried tomato, topped with sliced avocado & crumbled feta. Served on a toasty fresh croissant with a side of fruit
Breakfast Sundae
Layers of plain or blueberry yogurt with granola and fruit. Served with whole wheat toast
Fresh Fruit with Toast
A bowl of fresh fruit served with whole wheat toast
Just the Basics
Your choice of yogurt, granola or a both! Served with whole wheat toast
Breakfast Plates
Steak & Eggs
8 oz. Angus Rib eye with your choice of eggs. Served with toast and hashbrowns
Breakfast Burritos
Two flour tortillas filled with scrambled eggs, cheese, tomato, onion & green pepper. Served with sour cream, salsa, whole wheat toast and hashbrowns
The Blaisey Boy Sandwich
The works! Sausage, ham, bacon, mushrooms, onions, hot peppers, mayo, mustard & melted cheese. Topped with an egg any style. Served with hashbrowns
Kenny’s Special
Three eggs scrambled with cheese, tomato, green pepper & onion. Served with whole wheat toast and hasbrowns
The Blaisey Boy Burrito
Two flour tortillas with mayo and mustard, filled with scrambled eggs, cheese, sausage, ham, bacon, mushrooms, hot peppers & onions. Served with hashbrowns
Baxey Sandwich
Choose any 6 of the following items on whole wheat toast. Served with hashbrowns. – cheese – ham – bacon – tomato – mushroom – onion – hot pepper – feta cheese – cucmber – sausage – sprouts – avocado
Ed’s Benedict
Two eggs any style on whole wheat toast, topped with grilled tomatoes and melted cheese. It’s so ‘gouda’ that there’s no sauce needed for this dish! Served with whole wheat toast and hashbrowns
Huevos Rancheros
One flour tortilla topped with medium salsa, two eggs of your choice, melted cheese, tomato & onion. Served with whole wheat toast and hashbrowns
Two Eggs Any Style
Served with whole wheat toast and hashbrowns
Fluffy Omelettes + Sides
Build Your Own
Made with your selection of two fresh ingredients listed below. Served with whole wheat toast. cheese, onion, ham, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, sprouts, peaches, pineapple, hot pepper, green pepper, tomatoes, avocado, spinach, cucumber, feta cheese
Vegetarian Chili Omelette
Stuffed full of our delicious home made vegetarian chili. Served with whole wheat toast
+ Sides
An’extra egg, hashbrowns, melted gouda cheese, bacon, ham, sausage, sauteed mushrooms, sliced avocado, bowl of peaches, fresh fruit, grilled or fresh tomatoes, whole wheat toast, gluten free toast
The Blaisey Boy Omelette
Made with mayo, mustard, hot peppers, sausage, ham, onion, mushrooms, bacon & cheese. Served with whole wheat toast
Skinny Jo Omelette
Made with egg whites, mushrooms, onion, spinach, sprouts, green pepper, hot peppers, tomatoes & feta cheese. Served with a side of salsa and whole wheat toast
Drinks
Juice
10 oz of apple, orange, pink grapefruit, tomato juice or iced tea
Milk
Regular or chocolate
Coffee
tea or hot chocolate
Simple Ceaser
Vodka, clamato, worcestershire, tobasco and pickled asparagus
Someone Spiked My Juice!
Vodka & Oj
Bailey’s N Coffee
1.5 oz of Baileys
Madame Mimosa!
200 mL Personal Prosecco with orange juice & raspberries
Local Brew
Village Blonde, Steam whistle, Mill Street Organic
What We’ve Had
When we visited 1886 Buffalo Cafe, we had no idea what to expect, so we didn’t know what to order. Even though the menu selection isn’t huge, everything on it sounded great. The prices were a little more than we expected to be honest, but not totally unreasonable. About $16 average. Steak was $22. Drinks run about $4-7.
For being a cafe, their selection of coffees is limited to regular drip coffee. It was good don’t get me wrong, but there’s no cappuccinos or mochachinos.
Above: 2x breakfast burritos and homemade hashbrowns with toast and salsa/sour cream on the side.
Below: All-in Poutine. Very good, very cheesey.
Inside 1886 Buffalo Cafe
As soon as you walk inside the building you’ll realize how old it is, and why people like going there for brunch. It’s small but cozy, warm and friendly. The staff are great too. Prompt and polite. As you walk inside you’ll be in the main room of the restaurant. There’s a smaller room on the north side of the building. There’s also fun old timey stuff on the walls throughout the joint.
Fun fact: all of their clocks are set to 4:20.
Downstairs
If you need to use the washroom, they’re downstairs. It’s not wheelchair friendly. Well, I guess you’d be able to get down the stairs in a wheelchair but getting back up won’t be so simple.
Their basement has been converted into a local history museum with all sorts of photos and information on the walls to checkout.
Theres’s an old timey office, including an old timey window, has been converted into.. an office. Lots of stuff to read on it’s historic walls too. There was actually a dude working in the office while I was down there taking photos. Classic!
Being that the building is ancient, it’s not very big and there aren’t many places to store things. The basement also had some cafe supplies and tools stored down there, which made checking out the photographs/info on the walls a little difficult.
Conclusion
Even though we’ve walked by it a million times, we’ve only been to 1886 Buffalo Cafe once. It left a good impressions, we’ll certainly be back!
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What a rip off joint