Openings

• The newest pizzeria to open in Edmonton is Fn’za, offering California-style pizza. It is located at 11939 Jasper Avenue.
• Okinawa Onigiri Cafe, located at 10011 102 Avenue (a space vacant since The Sequel Cafe closed during the pandemic) is now open. They serve up Japanese rice sandwiches and artisanal coffees.
• One01 Bistro is a new Asian restaurant located at 10508 101 Street.
• Little Bear’s summer location in Garneau at Eleanor and Laurent opens on May 10 at 10926 88 Avenue.
• Diced, the board game restaurant from the folks behind Waffle Bird and Table Top Cafe, held its grand opening on May 4.
• Twice Cream is opening up its second location in Sherwood Park, to be located at #120, 75 Salisbury Way.

Upcoming Events

• St. Albert Rib Fest is taking place June 7-9 at the Century Casino in St. Albert.

Local News

• Restaurant Yarrow abruptly closed last month, allegedly not refunding guests who had already pre-paid for their meals. Ben Staley, the chef who helped open the restaurant in 2020, left the venture in 2022, but was getting messages from people on social media blaming him for Restaurant Yarrow’s end. He clarified his involvement, and distanced himself from the owners in this blog post: “What is currently happening is a disgrace.”
• News that the newly-revamped Downtown Farmers’ Market would be returning this summer was released earlier this year, but it was confirmed this week that the market will have a delayed start of June 15 and run until October 12. Vendors returning to 104 Street include Riverbend Gardens, Sundog Organic Farm, and Ocean Odyssey.
• Top One’s all-you-can-eat dim sum, the first restaurant to offer this in Edmonton starting in February, was short-lived. May 12 will be the final day to partake in AYCE, though a la carte dim sum will still be available.
• Flying Dragon, offering noodles, rice bowls, and skewers in Old Strathcona, is under new management with a new menu.
• Mexican restaurant Anejo is featured in the latest edition of Modern Luxuria.
• Edify checked out Diced and Mokha Coffee House.
• Co-founder of Feed the Soul Dining Week Rochelle Ignacio put together a list of Black-owned businesses to visit for Explore Edmonton, including spots to eat and drink.
• Happy ninth birthday to Nongbu!
• Mother, the sister bakery to Chartier located in Leduc, commemorated its first birthday last week.
• Die Pie celebrated its first anniversary in its current location.
• Imported cheese from Ukraine is now available at The Italian Centre Shop.
• Rice Howard Way may become a designated entertainment district after unanimous support from City Council’s community and public services committee. Council will need to approve this measure before it moves forward.
• Congratulations to Omar Mouallem, whose documentary The Lebanese Burger Mafia is nominated for a James Beard Award under the Documentary Visual Media category.

What I Ate

• Mack and I were able to get away for a date at Darling. We’d been meaning to check out the wine bar for some time, but hadn’t yet had the opportunity. We unintentionally lined it up well, with their spring menu on offer – we really enjoyed the beef carpaccio, and loved the freshness of the green bean salad. Great service, and vibe.

Our meal at Darling

• We love that Good Goods has been bringing in fresh baked goods on the weekend (including Bagel Bar goodies on Saturdays). We picked up some items to try from Eats by Cole on Sunday. The cinnamon buns were a great value, and the sourdough bagels had a nice chew. It is dangerous knowledge to know these are just a pre-order click away.

Our order from Eats by Cole

• Mack and I were invited to attend the opening of L’OCA Quality Market’s flagship store in Sherwood Park on Friday. It is no doubt an ambitious project. They have transformed the shell of a former Rona into a 45,000 square foot grocery store and two restaurants. L’OCA is led by Paul Moran, a Top Chef Canada winner who relocated here from Tofino to oversee its culinary aspects. Oro, an Italian restaurant, will probably be a welcome addition to a community without many finer dining establishments. Pyro, L’OCA’s other sit down restaurant, will likely also be well-received with its airy, spacious interior and approachable menu.
  

  What is less certain is how the grocery side of L’OCA will fare. L’OCA emphasized their gourmet take-home meals and premium products (including a full-service butchery and bread made with flour ground in-house). But given the current conversations about grocery store prices (including some who have decided – privileged or not – to boycott Loblaws this month), how will shoppers react to higher costs?

  
  Sherwood Park was chosen due to its proximity to the city and its resident make-up. However, given L’OCA has also shared that they are opening two additional locations in Edmonton in 2025 (including one rumoured in the neighbourhood of Parkview), it seems to suggest that the owners are aware that the idea of a destination grocery store may not be all that appealing. Time will tell. L’OCA Quality Market opens to the public on May 10 at 340 Baseline Road.

Openings

• Corpuz Bakeshop has opened up a brick and mortar storefront on Alberta Avenue, at 11812 86 Street. It has actually been their commissary kitchen for the last year. Corpuz will also continue with their Bountiful Market booth.
• Little Bear Gelato will be opening a summer location in Gameau in May, inside Eleanor and Laurent. At present, Little Bear is stocked all over the city, but fresh scoops are available at their booths at the Old Strathcona and Bountiful Farmers’ Markets.
• Also in Garneau, Aloha Poke and Grill has announced its second location to be located in that neighbourhood.

Upcoming Events

• Yelo’d is hosting the kick-off to a series of Asian Heritage Month events on May 1. They are also hosting an Asian Food Truck night on May 18 at Sosyal Scoops.
• Meuwly’s is hosting a hands-on sausage-making workshop on June 2. Tickets are $119 and include the workshop led by Peter Keith, two packages of Meuwly’s sausage, and snacks during the class.

Local News

• Scott Downey and Jillian Fonteyne, the owners of The Butternut Tree, have purchased The Marc. They promise to continue “The Marc as you know it in the same grandeur”.
• Carmela’s Whisk Bakery & Cafe in St. Albert was sold earlier this month. The name has changed to Whisk Bakeshop and Coffeehouse, and is under new management, but the pastry chef and desserts will remain the same.
• Cerdo Tacos announced they are moving. The previous location closed on April 20. They will be relocating to #220, 1115 St. Albert Trail.
• Phil Wilson and I were guests on the latest This is Edmonton podcast episode in a conversation all about the local food scene, as well as our picks for the “ultimate Edmonton food”.
• It’s always great to see local products available at Rogers Place since the exposure is priceless – you can find Zwick’s Gluten Wagen serving up Zwick’s Pretzels.
• Speaking of Rogers, they made headlines when they shot “DonAirs” out of t-shirt cannons at a home game last week.
• Many Oilers-themed products are available from local businesses, commemorating the team’s current playoff run. They include themed macarons from Duchess, blue and orange buns from Jack’s Burger Shack, the Connor McDoughnut from Doughnut Party, and team colour ice cream from Annie Rue.
• Edify featured Daniel Costa’s latest establishment, Bar Henry.
• Also from Edify, they checked out Firefly and Yang’s Braised Chicken Rice.
• SoDo Bar is temporarily closed after a fire in the same building. They expect to re-open next week.
• Model and actress Ashley Callingbull put together her “One Perfect Meal” for a Travel Alberta video. She featured 5 local restaurants: Pip, Pei Pei Chei Ow, Farrow, RGE RD, and Fu’s Repair Shop.
• So great to see Linda’s collaboration with Zen Lion Design has returned with some great food-related designs released for Asian Heritage Month. I gifted my sister the “Always Craving Asian Food” sweater last year, and she loved it.
• Food Bike Tours have returned, with tours running May to October. Tickets range from $64-$119 depending on the number of stops and amount of food included in the tour.

What I Ate

• I had lunch at Coliseum Steak & Pizza last week – although it was just a random Wednesday, they were pretty busy. Their clientele is so loyal! But there is also something to be said for their consistency and no-frills menu. It was my first time trying their Coliseum loaf and it hit the spot!

Coliseum loaf from Coliseum Steak & Pizza

• It’s a little dangerous to have the Corpuz Bakeshop within walking distance of my office. I tried a couple of their brioche donuts and was impressed at how fluffy the dough was. I will definitely be back.

Donuts from Corpuz Bakeshop

• It’s become a bit of a tradition for a friend and I to have a coffee date on Saturdays. Our last few outings have brought us to Bar Oro. We really love their service and expansive, bright seating area.

Bar Oro

Bernadette’s Aims to Raise Profile of Indigenous Cuisine in Edmonton

The owners of the forthcoming restaurant Bernadette’s say their previous success with Pei Pei Chei Ow has allowed them to pursue their larger goal of increasing Indigenous representation within Edmonton’s food scene — and to do it right in the core.

“It is revolutionary to have an Indigenous restaurant in downtown Edmonton,” Svitlana Kravchuk said about Bernadette’s, to be located at 10114 104 Street NW. “It does a lot for representation and reclaiming space.” The restaurant, set to open in early May, will seat 23 inside, with up to 30 total when the patio is open later in the summer.

Kravchuk and Scott Jonathan Iserhoff, her business partner as well as spouse, closed Pei Pei Chei Ow in January. The kitchen and catering business was located in Whiskyjack Art House, just north of downtown.

Pei Pei Chei Ow garnered accolades after opening in 2022, including being long-listed for enRoute’s Best New Restaurant that same year, as well as being identified as one of Edify’s best new restaurants in 2023.

But that success meant the operation outgrew the space. “The demand for catering has been so huge,” Kravchuk said. “However, being in a heritage building, the kitchen had a lot of infrastructure challenges. We couldn’t install equipment that would be efficient for us to use — we were using a residential oven.”

Other limitations at Whiskyjack Art House included a small amount of foot traffic that was less than ideal for a take-out business and a small dining area. “We enjoy serving tasting menus, engaging with customers, and talking about food with them,” Kravchuk said. “We love hospitality and realized we had no growth in that location. We wanted to move on to something that we had worked towards and open a full restaurant.”

The two scouted locations starting in April 2023. “This place popped up and I thought it was the perfect location,” Iserhoff said of the future 104 Street spot. “Beautiful street, prominent area.”

Iserhoff is Mushkego Cree. As he rose through the ranks, he said he longed to work under another Indigenous chef. He said he hopes Bernadette’s can be that place for young Indigenous staff, noting that his kitchen team currently includes Indigenous people from amiskwacîwâskahikan and Haida Gwaii. “I want to inspire other Indigenous folks, even seeing it walking by,” he said. “Growing up in Toronto, there was never that representation. Here we are doing everything I dreamt of as a young chef. My younger self would be so proud.”

In addition, Bernadette’s seeks to change perceptions about Indigenous food and ingredients. “It’s not your fry-bread tacos or burgers,” Iserhoff said. “It’s different. It’s going to showcase my style of cooking through what I’ve learned working in restaurants for close to 20 years. I always talk about diversity in Indigenous food because we get lumped into one group. I focus on (the) region that I’m from — Northern Ontario — but with the slight incorporation of ingredients that I’ve learned from here like bison and Saskatoon berries.”

Added Kravchuk: “We will be breaking a lot of barriers and showcasing Indigenous food on a fine dining level. A lot of restaurants are serving Indigenous ingredients and they don’t acknowledge it — oysters, lobsters, wild meats, bison.”

Scott Jonathan Iserhoff and Svitlana Kravcuk at Bernadette’s

In mid-April, Iserhoff was invited to cook for a dining series called Embers in Toronto, hosted at Michelin-starred restaurant Quetzal. The series intends to reimagine the Canadian culinary landscape and dispel ideas that only certain cuisines are esteemed. “People paid a certain price per ticket,” Kravchuk said. “They paid that price for Indigenous food. That really shows that value is dictated subjectively. There is a lot of racism in food and politics.”

While Bernadette’s is proud to represent the possibilities of Indigenous fine dining, Kravchuk said it should not have taken this long. “It is 2024 and we are only now celebrating the first Indigenous restaurant in Edmonton. It should have happened earlier on. It’s a testament to how behind the culinary scene is.”

Iserhoff also pointed out that he shoulders a larger burden. “Failure is not an option because we are this representation of Indigenous culture and food,” he said. “People will automatically assume every other Indigenous business is like that. We have to set the bar really high and be consistent. It’s a huge responsibility.”

At Bernadette’s, the pair will aim to serve higher-end food for dinner service. The menu isn’t finalized but will be driven somewhat by seasonal ingredients. “The farmers’ market will be back to 104 Street on Saturdays. We can walk around and see what the land has to offer,” Iserhoff said. “But we might serve bison tartare with pickled wild apple, duck and dumplings, fresh salads, or handmade pastas with duck or rabbit. We have a small charcoal grill and a gas grill for fire-roasted scallops and grilled whole fish.”

Fans of Pei Pei Chei Ow will be happy to know that Bernadette’s will also open for lunch, and its popular breakfast and berry barbecue brisket sandwiches will be on the menu, along with rotating specials such as a daily stew.

Bernadette’s is named after Iserhoff’s grandmother. “I have designed the restaurant based on her energy. It is inspired by my time spent with her before she passed,” Kravchuk said.

The mural wall, painted by St. Albert-based artist Kayla Bellerose, reflects a connection to nature. “Every plant on the mural is edible, and has a specific use in medicine or cooking,” Kravchuk said. “Every person, no matter where they come from, can find a plant that they have a memory of. Some are local to Alberta, or where Scott is from [in Northern Ontario].”

The mural also represents the past, present, and future, bookended with a dragonfly and a bee. “The dragonfly signifies Scott’s grandmother and all grandparents and ancestors, and the bee signifies our daughter and future generations. The middle is all of us, all of our team, and our current generation that is growing to learn and provide.”

In spite of the weight of what Bernadette’s could be for the community, Iserhoff and Kravchuk are both looking forward to serving people again.

“I’m excited to host people in our space, share our food with them and make them feel special,” Kravchuk said. “We want to share stories and connect with them.”

Openings

• District Café announced that they will be opening a second location at the University of Alberta campus.

Upcoming Events

• The Common kicks off their popular Street Car Cask Parties on May 16. Tickets are $59.77 and include pours from two limited casks and two small food items from The Common.

Local News

• Ukraine’s Kitchen, which sells food made by newcomers who have fled Ukraine, has renamed as Don’ya Ukraine’s Kitchen. Don’ya’s co-founder Jorgia Moore explains, “Don’ya means daughter (and actually a favourite daughter). We want to bring that young, modern twist to the Ukrainian food here – every woman is a daughter. Being a mother-daughter duo, we are excited to carry this name and logo forward.”
• Brio is jumping on the viral band wagon and offering crookies (a croissant fused with a cookie).
• CBC Radioactive interviewed Yvonne Ho of Banh Mi Diddy about travelling to Vietnam to make the baguettes for their sandwiches.
• Edify checked out Banh Mi Diddy and La Boca Loca.
• Happy first birthday to Darling, celebrating year one in their permanent space.
• CBC’s This is Edmonton podcast explores the potential of an entertainment district on Rice Howard Way.
• Three businesses in Beaumont, including Chartier and Jef’s Cafe, had their windows broken by a vandal.
• Julio’s Barrio in Old Strathcona was damaged due to a fire in a neighbouring building. They remain closed due to smoke damage.

What I Ate

• Mack was craving Asian food on Friday, so we hit up our neighbourhood spot Bao Bao for some take-out soup dumplings, chili oil wontons, and noodles (Emily and Ellie can’t get enough of their dry noodles).

Our Bao Bao order

Openings

• Lobster Mobsters, a seafood purveyor, has opened their Edmonton location at 17011 100 Avenue. The business also has locations in Nisku and Brooks.
• Yemeni café Mokha Coffee House is now open in Griesbach at 5344 Admiral Girouard Street.
• Tupi Bowls opened their new location in Sherwood Park on the weekend, located at the Savona Centre, 200 Festival Lane.
• JMT Korean Cuisine closed their downtown location earlier this month, and are working on opening up their new, larger Whyte Avenue digs soon.

Closures

• Apparently Restaurant Yarrow has abruptly closed, and will allegedly not honour or refund any pre-paid reservations made prior to the announcement.
• After eight years of business, Gravy Burgers and Fries announced their closure last week. Their last day of business was April 13.

Upcoming Events

• Four restaurants, including Highlevel Dinner, Otto, The Common, and Biera are participating in this year’s Taste for Life on April 17, where proceeds support HIV Edmonton.
• I personally think our food truck festival had the better name, but it’s still great to see Ice District round up vendors for their forthcoming Tasty Truck Food Festival, May 25-26, 2024.
• Mark your calendar for Taco Week, running May 31-June 9, 2024. The event will benefit Edmonton’s Food Bank and the Leftovers Foundation.

Local News

• King Noodle House will be temporarily closed while Hoa Sen Dao (aka Linda’s Mom!) recovers from her knee injury.
• Great to see Bloom Cookie Co. expand their menu to include a savoury grilled cheese sandwich!
• Edify checked out Lore Pizza and lunch at Shoyu Sushi.
• Chef Eric Hanson has joined The Marc as their new executive chef.
• Chef Kayla Dhaliwall, who has competed on Top Chef Canada, is the new chef leading Preston’s at the Coast Edmonton Plaza.
• Siu To, the man who brought the green onion cake to Edmonton, has created his own golf club.
• Happy first birthday to Ale Architect!

What I Ate

• I met up with a friend for lunch last week at Dorinku Osaka. It was great to see a busy lunch rush downtown! The cream truffle udon is decadent, and oh so good.

Cream truffle udon from Dorinku Osaka

• Mack and I satisfied our ramen craving with some kits from Kasey Ramen (now renamed Menya Mori). They always hit the spot!

Tonkotsu Shoyu from Kasey Ramen

• We also finally picked up some pizza from Pizza Garage’s downtown location (it was super convenient to get off the train at Central Station on my commute home; I eventually got back on for one stop so I didn’t have to awkwardly carry the boxes to the condo). We tried both a Detroit Style Pizza and their Bar Pie varieties, and really enjoyed both types. The DSP was a bit on the greasy side, but we loved the topping combination on the Nice 2 Meat You.

DSP Nice 2 Meat You and Via 313 Bar Pie

Openings

• Edmonton has its first location of BeaverTails, a chain serving up deep fried dough served with a variety of sweet or savoury toppings. Find BeaverTails at 10534 82 Avenue.
• Boba InfiniTEA is now open at 8115 Gateway Blvd, Unit 106, and offers “traditional Taiwanese bubble tea infused with Filipino and Japanese tastes”.
• The folks behind Mockups Mocktails and Token Bitters are teaming up to open Edmonton’s first fully zero-proof cocktail bar called Split. In addition to the bar, Split will also offer mocktail classes and curated retail offerings including mocktail kits.
• Jinya Ramen Bar, a chain with locations across the US as well as Calgary and Vancouver, is coming to Edmonton (10037 109 Street).
• L’OCA Quality Market, a grocery store which will also feature two full-service restaurants, has announced an opening date of May 10, 2024. It is located at 340 Baseline Road in Sherwood Park.
• Kasey Ramen, which has been rebranded as Menya Mori, a name that better represents the team now operating the business, has announced that they are also opening a restaurant.
• Slap Shot Restaurant and Bar will replace the former Northern Chicken location on 104 Street…just in time for the Oilers playoff run.
• Another location of the bubble tea chain Tiger Sugar is coming to West Edmonton Mall this summer.

Closures

• Gaya, a Korean restaurant that has operated near the University of Alberta campus for over 20 years, will be closing after the owners decided to retire. Their final day of business will be April 26, 2024.

Local News

• Pazzo Pazzo is re-opening on April 8 after a closure since January to repair the damage from a fire. They are also celebrating their 20th anniversary, and are offering a 20% discount this week.
• Happy second birthday to Fu’s Repair Shop!
• Dolly’s is now serving up brunch on Sundays.
• The current issue of Modern Luxuria profiles the flavours of Lil’ Wolf.
• There are so few people writing food reviews in Edmonton right now that it was a breath of fresh air to stumble upon Allan Suddaby’s blog. In a past life, we volunteered together on food-related endeavours, and Allan’s knowledge on food has always surpassed mine. His approach to capturing the essence of and his experience at local restaurants is vivid, articulate, and memorable. Check out his most recent piece about Steel Wheels.
• Edify checked out several establishments, including NV Restaurant and Bar, Rob’s Famous Fried Chicken, and CQ Noodle.
• The owners of Gratitude Coffee in Sherwood Park have enjoyed the process of welcoming customers since opening back in November.
• Malina Bakery shared a raw post about how they reacted to a Google review criticizing their prices.
• The Edmonton Urban Farm will be tentatively relocated east of Borden Park, as its current area will be redeveloped into housing.

What I Ate

• I ate really well this last week, including a catch-up with a friend at Happy and Olive. The place was absolutely hopping on Friday night. I heartily enjoyed the burger (that tomato jam!) and fries.

Happy burger from Happy and Olive

• We had a work lunch at Padmanadi. It’s been a while since I’ve had their ginger beef, but it always hits the spot.

Ginger beef lunch set from Padmanadi

• We also brought some sweet and savoury treats to family who welcomed a new baby recently – the Farrow donuts were irresistible (we also brought heartier freezer meals from Culina, too).

Donuts from Farrow

Openings

• Dining Car Cafe, opened by the team behind Old Strathcona’s Waffle Bird, is now open in the ground floor of the CN Tower (10004 104 Avenue). Their menu includes coffee, sandwiches, soups, and baked goods.
• Also from the Waffle Bird team, they’ve announced that they are collaborating with Table Top Cafe to open Diced, the new board game eatery located in the former Northern Chicken spot on 124 Street: “Craft cocktails, local brews, banging food, and competitive cardboard are sure to make this snazzy new spot a date night staple!”
• Good Goods has opened downtown at 10250 106 Street.
• KB & Co’s eighth franchise location is now open at 12322 102 Avenue. This location also offers their house-made salad dressings and dips to go.
• Banh Mi Diddy, a Vietnamese sandwich and coffee shop, will be opening behind MacEwan this month, located at 10548 110 Street.
• A new restaurant called 3 Poms is coming soon to the west end, and will feature “creative, locally sourced plates, cocktails, wines and craft beer”.
• It’s so great to see this spark of new energy in Chinatown, continued with the announcement from Yelo’d that they will be opening an ice cream outpost called Little Bon Bon in the neighbourhood.
• The Taco Shop is opening on BRBN st this spring in West Edmonton Mall. It is helmed by Dani Braun, formerly of Tres Carnales and Rostizado, which closed in January 2023.

Upcoming Events

• April sees the return of Filipino Restaurant Month in Canada, which serves to “promote and mainstream the Filipino cuisine in Canada”. In Edmonton, three restaurants are participating: Cebuchon & BBQ, Filistix Downtown, and Manila Grill Express.
• Sorrentino’s annual Garlic Fest returns for its 32nd year. In addition to a special garlic fest menu at all of their locations, Sorrentino’s is also hosting a number of fundraising dinners to support a facility to support lung transplant patients.

Local News

• Ramneek Singh, who reviews restaurants on Facebook, alleges that The Tomato’s Top 100 Best Things To Eat or Drink list is a pay-to-play list. Some have come to The Tomato’s defence, including Peter Keith of Meuwly’s. April 3, 2024 Update: Singh has since significantly edited his post and removed his allegation of pay-to-play, and Keith’s post is no longer publicly available.
• Lydia shared that Let’s Grill Sushi Downtown has come under new ownership, and now features all-you-can-eat and conveyor belt sushi.
• CBC Radioactive featured Carne Asada Mexican Taqueria.
• Linda put together a guide to fun sampler flights available in Edmonton, including coffee, drinks, cheese, tacos, poutine, and ice cream.

What I Ate

• Before we left on our trip, I had lunch at my favourite go-to spot near work, El Fogon. Their arepas are so good.

Beef and cheese arepa from El Fogon

• Mack and I were also able to steal away for a lunch date for our only Downtown Dining Week meal at Bundok. They had a great deal, featuring their delicious parmigiano soup and gnocchi parisienne.

Gnocchi parisienne from Bundok

• We had a great time in San Jose visiting my sister. While I did not enjoy how car-centric the community is, it’s hard not to love their weather, and a visit to a farmers’ market there made me realize how starved I feel for freshly-grown produce (the citrus were fantastic). I also didn’t know that San Jose was home to the largest Vietnamese population in the US – in certain areas of the city, signs were posted in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Needless to say, we had our share of pho and banh mi during our visit!

Banh mi from Duc Huong in San Jose

• We also spent a few days in San Francisco, and did not regret choosing the very chill, non-touristy Outer Sunset neighbourhood to stay. DamnFine Pizza and Polly’s Ice Cream were within walking distance and were both fantastic. We did pay between 5-10% more per meal, guised as everything from a “cost of living” surcharge, to a fee tacked on to pay for employee health benefits. It definitely added up, and was pervasive most places we went (including picking up a salad from an airport kiosk). We were fine to pay more to support a living wage, but it was interesting how the California culture has evolved to to “hide” the fee in plain sight as opposed to outright raising the menu prices.

DamnFine Pizza

Steve Brochu is reinvigorating the Citadel with a restaurant that aims to challenge

The chef who owns and operates MilkCrate, a café in EPCOR Tower, and GhostLight, a coffee kiosk in the Citadel Theatre, is set to open PlayWright in the space in the Citadel that formerly housed the second Normand’s location.

Steve Brochu said he’s aiming for a late April launch for the 128-seat space.

“I was just driving by in March 2023 and saw the vacancy,” Brochu said. “The Citadel presented a great opportunity. Our company, the people I have, have been with me for over a year. And if I didn’t grow or throw a new challenge at them, they would move on. Some of them want health care or more money. An expansion creates more stability.”

GhostLight, just steps from where PlayWright will open, launched in June 2023, and Brochu said it has been a slow start. “People are still finding us,” he said. “Canada Place is also at the whims of a hybrid (work) schedule.” But he said he’s been buoyed by the brisk business on theatre nights and is positive things will pick up during the day.

That optimism informs his plans for PlayWright. Brochu knows his primary clientele will be theatregoers, and is planning the menu around that audience.

“One of the challenges for us is a large group of our people will be coming in before a show starts in 90 minutes,” Brochu said. “So things will be braised, hot-held, juicy, and yummy, and filled with sauce and flavour. When people are leaving we want them to be as blown away as much as the show they are going to see.”

While many businesses consolidated to reduce costs during the pandemic, Brochu expanded. MilkCrate became the preferred caterer for Arbor Memorial Homes, which supplies food to its three funeral homes in Edmonton up to six days per week.

“The lesson we learned is that if we are only generating revenue out of one thing, we’re going to lose,” Brochu said. “It’s not going to work if you’re only relying on Uber Eats and the dining room. People are eating out less or not at all.”

Steve Brochu inside the Citadel

But despite the theatregoear focus, Brochu hopes to appeal to other members of those who live and visit downtown, too. “We are aware that there are people who live around here, and want to be available for late-night bites or after-work drinks. Once people go into the theatre, we can fill up with more people.”

Brochu said the restaurant plans to add lunch service in the future. He doesn’t yet have the menu finalized but added he wants to use PlayWright as a vehicle to expose diners to a broad array of dishes.

“PlayWright is going to be a celebration of Edmonton’s food. We will try and elevate delicious food in the heart of creativity downtown and have fun with our food. I like the notion that the Citadel has put faith in our experiment here and that it’s the local kid getting the restaurant and not a chain or conglomerate. I want this to work. It doesn’t have to be beef tenderloin and chicken supreme.”

Brochu helmed the kitchen at Chartier when it opened in 2016 until he left in 2019 to start MilkCrate.

He said Edmonton can do better when it comes to unique offerings.

“We need people to invest in new ideas,” Brochu said. “There are eight pasta restaurants between here and the Convention Centre. We have a problem. People love pasta, but there’s so much other food. It’s a very big step to change your menu and see what happens, and there were restaurants that pushed the envelope and had to move it back. We want PlayWright to have tasty food and to challenge people.”

PlayWright also marks a career shift for Brochu, who will step away from the kitchen for this project. Eric Forbes, whom Brochu has known since his Chartier days, will take on the head chef role. This will enable Brochu to focus more on the broader operation.

“It’s a little strange because I can’t do both,” Brochu said. “I will be ‘Steve Brochu, restaurateur’. Young people will be bringing the energy. But I am excited to get back into a sit-down, full-service restaurant, and for the new role that it brings me.”

Openings

• New cafe Liberta Coffee Lab soft launched last week. It is located at 6547 99 Street.
• The Brazilian Grocery Store had its grand opening on March 16 at 8715 53 Avenue.
• Good Goods Co, which was one of three businesses who received a grant from the Downtown Business Association to open up shop Downtown, has announced their grand opening on March 22-23. Good Goods is located at 10250 106 Street.
• Chain bakery Uncle Tetsu is opening its first Edmonton location in West Edmonton Mall this spring.
• Tupi Bowls is opening a new location in April in Sherwood Park at Savona Centre (200 Festival Lane).
• It will be another banner year for ice cream in Edmonton, with Little Bear Gelato announcing a location in Garneau in May 2024.
• DRTY Ice Cream announced that their new storefront location will be in Station Park, 8125 Gateway Blvd. in Old Strathcona.
• The new Freson Bros. location in Glenora (10720 142 Street) will host its grand opening on April 12.

Closures

• Fleisch announced its closure last week: “This decision didn’t come easy. Opening a restaurant amid a global pandemic was not the greatest twist of fate we could have imagined for ourselves. That coupled with the skyrocketing costs of *gestures broadly at everything* it’s not tenable for us to continue on.” Fleisch has not yet shared a final closing date.

Local News

• Edify checked out Benaras Vegan Restaurant and 4Monsters Diner.
• Ryan Jespersen invited representatives of three restaurants featured on Edify’s Best Restaurants to talk about the business of food in Edmonton: Dorinku Osaka’s Ben Staley, The Lingnan’s Miles Quon, Barbacoa’s Tyler Sorochan.
• Tech Life Today updated their guide to food businesses owned or staffed by NAIT grads.

This will be the last Food Notes for the month; our family will be away visiting my sister in California next week. Enjoy the spring!

Openings

• Nabi, serving Korean-inspired small plates and cocktails opened on March 8. Find Nabi at 10145 104 Street.
• Congratulations to Backstairs Burger who opened up a third location at 11998 109A Avenue.

Upcoming Events

• Polyrhythm Brewing has organized a Sip and Sign event on March 27; attendees can learn about sign language and beer. Tickets start at $5.

Local News

• CBC Radioactive interviewed Roderick Almonte about his Filipino restaurant, Karinderya.
• Edify checked out the brunch at Socrates Restaurant in St. Albert.
• Also from Edify, they interviewed the filmmaker behind Brewing Under Northern Skies, a docuseries about microbrewing in Alberta. The first episode features an interview with the co-founder of Asymmetrical Brewing, which closed last year.
• Riverbend Gardens compared the price of their Community Supported Agriculture with the prices of the equivalent items at two big box grocery stores. The result was that their CSA price was cheaper.
• The Sherwood Park Farmers’ Market relocated from the Strathcona County Community Centre to the Emerald Hills shopping area in January.
• Oonie, an online market featuring local producers, has rebranded as Forage Market.

What I Ate

• It was time to reacquaint ourselves with Carne Asada, as it has been some months since our last order. They’ve since added birria tacos to their menus (offered on Fridays), and they were delicious!

Our spread from Carne Asada

• I was encouraged by social media to try Ayco Cafe’s flat croissants. There are a surprisingly small number of cafes open Downtown on Sundays, and it was great to see how busy they were even early on in the day. While I enjoyed the texture of the flat croissant better than their supreme croissants, maybe the moral of the story is to avoid viral treats.

Flat croissant from Ayco Cafe

Openings

• Rob’s Famous Fried Chicken is now open at 8540 Jasper Avenue, brought to you by the folks behind Panini’s. It shouldn’t be confused with Ralph’s Fried Chicken, opened by the family who operated Ralph’s Handi Mart for 35 years in Strathearn.
• Bernadette’s is a forthcoming restaurant on 104 Street from Scott Iserhoff (who announced the closure of Pei Pei Chei Ow back in January).
• Also to open on 104 Street, watch for Nabi’s, a cocktail bar offering “new-Korean eats”.
• Diced, which bills itself as a “board game restaurant” is coming soon to 10704 124 Street (which formerly housed Northern Chicken).
• Guac Mexi Grill is a Canadian chain that just opened up two locations in Edmonton: 5094 Windermere Blvd and 5208 Ellerslie Road SW.

Upcoming Events

• Edmonton Cocktail Week is underway, and runs March 4-10, 2024.
• The menus for the upcoming Downtown Dining Week are now up. The event runs March 20-31, and features multi-course $15, $25, $35, $50, $65 menus.

Local News

• Edify’s annual Best Restaurants issue was released last week. Happy and Olive, Ralph’s Fried Chicken, Mai Mai Viet Street Kitchen, and Tansen Izakaya were recognized as Best New Restaurants.
• The Tomato released their Top 100 Best Things to Eat or Drink in Edmonton. Bar Bricco’s poached leeks are #1, RGE RD’s Road Trip is #2, and the ravioli at Uccellino is #3. In case you missed it – I wrote a story last year on the impact Edify and The Tomato have on the businesses it features.
• Arbour is highlighted in the latest issue of Modern Luxuria.
• Daniel Costa provided Taproot with more details about his forthcoming The Lobby Bar project.
• Baijiu now has a cocktail cart that operates in Rogers Place during hockey games and events.
• Happy tenth birthday to District!
• On a similar note, Milk Crate commemorated their fifth birthday.
• Explore Edmonton talked to Seble Isaac of Tiramisu Bistro about the restaurant’s origins.
• Doughnut Party is now open in Calgary.
• Brad Smoliak has joined the Fuge Sausage ownership team, and for the month of March, Fuge will be donating 20% of their retail sales to the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute. Brad underwent a life-saving operation at the Heart Institute back in 2019.
• Local charity Sikhs for Humanity opened a food bank on the south side. They serve between 400-500 families a week.

Urban Agriculture and Farming

• The City is surveying residents about urban farming in Edmonton, as it is “considering developing a program and/or process to support the permitting of urban farming within the city.” The survey closes March 10.