Going into its fourth decade of existence, Calgary’s original Portuguese restaurant has seen a lot of changes. What remains the same are the robust flavours in the gourmet home cooking of the Da Costa family who opened Mimo in 1984. Owners Isabel and Joao (John) are like godparents to International Avenue’s east side ethnic food scene. “There’s a homey feeling here,” explains their daughter and Mimo manager Carla Da Costa about why the family has never relocated the eatery to a larger location despite the its popularity. “My parents don’t know if they can get that anywhere else. They love that feeling of welcoming everybody and having people share their stories. It’s kind of like history making itself. It’s important to them.”
When Mimo opened its doors in what is now the Little Saigon Centre, the shopping centre was a sort of little Portugal filled with many businesses catering to Calgary’s then flourishing Portuguese community. With the recession of the late 1980s, most of that community migrated to eastern Canada, but Mimo held its ground and expanded from a small back room into what is now a large, bright dining room.
