A national spotlight is shining on Calgary’s food scene this week as two major Food Network Canada shows will start airing episodes starring some of this city’s favoured establishments and food trucks.

Both You Gotta Eat Here — a show that features some of the country’s best hidden gems — and Eat St., which profiles food trucks from across the continent, filmed in Calgary and area in the fall, and those episodes are ready to air. (For a full list of restaurants and air dates, see below.)

As local restaurants and food trucks prepare for their moment in the limelight, they are also welcoming the additional attention the shows will bring to the city’s entire culinary scene.

“They will elevate the view of Calgary,” says Rita Tripathy, co-owner of Jelly Modern Doughnuts. “It’s going to be good for Calgary for people to realize what a great food scene we have here.”

Jelly, which just celebrated its one-year anniversary of dishing up delicious doughnuts with a fresh, local and organic focus, went through two days of filming for You Gotta Eat Here last year. The shop’s episode airs May 25.

Among the doughnuts that will be featured are the popular maple bacon and s’more versions, plus red velvet cake doughnuts.

“People travel for food,” says Jelly’s executive pastry chef Grayson Sherman. “It’s a testament to Calgary; it legitimizes us.”

But neither Sherman nor Tripathy (nor her sister, co-owner Rosanne) can overlook the benefits the show will bring to Jelly specifically.

“It adds value to what your business is about,” says Rosanne.

For the owners of Fat City Franks, the call from You Gotta Eat Here producers was a blessing.

Jane and Bob Steckle started dishing dogs back at the Calgary Farmers’ Market in the Currie Barracks, but moved their hotdog joint to Mission several years ago. (They recently changed their name from Le Chien Chaud.)

The retro-feel and creative toppings — some of which have just come to them in the middle of the night, while others arise from customer suggestions — have earned the Steckles plenty of regulars.

Romances started in the shop have led to weddings and the subsequent arrival of children who have dined on their first hotdog at Fat City.

But the Steckles are eager to see what the exposure on You Gotta Eat Here will do.

“You couldn’t give a small business a better gift,” says Jane. “It’s a pinch-me moment.”

Even though filming went about 12 hours per day for two days, Jane and Bob said they barely noticed the time.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had so much fun,” Jane says.

Meanwhile, Calgary’s food trucks had only been rolling for a few months when Eat St. came to Cowtown.

Although a Canadian production, most of the filming for Eat St. has been done in the States, where food trucks have a longer history. Still, the host of the show, comedian James Cunningham, says he was impressed with the quality of food and concepts in the Calgary trucks, which were still in their infancy when the television crew arrived for filming last year.