James Hughes worked at Earls for more than two decades, but he always planned to open up his own restaurant. He started off as a chef in his hometown Vancouver and eventually worked his way up to the company's regional director for southern Alberta. But when a prime piece of real estate came available on 17th Avenue, James jumped at the opportunity to finally have a restaurant to call his own. He got in touch with former Earls employee Mandy Alston and asked her to come on board as his general manager. And on Sept. 9, 2017, he finally opened the doors to his very first restaurant, Run Pig Run.
“He’s a chef, he’s a leader – he’s everything. And it was forever his dream to open a restaurant,” Mandy explains. “With his love for cooking and us being in Alberta he thought, what’s better than opening an Albertan bistro style restaurant for everyone to enjoy here on 17th Avenue?”
As its name implies, Run Pig Run specializes in piggy culinary creations that range from crispy pork cracklings to a sumptuous reinvented “grown up” pork chop. While Calgary is best known for Alberta beef, Mandy believes Alberta pork is unfairly overlooked. “Let’s switch it up a little, right? Pork is highly underrated,” she explains. “Pork has so many different areas you can cook it in and enjoy it with. I’m really excited we’re able to bring this here to Calgary.”
