Food Notes for June 22, 2020

Five Edmonton Restaurants Close Due to COVID-19 Cases

Just over one month after Edmonton hospitality businesses were permitted to re-open for dine-in services, five local restaurants have voluntarily chosen to close due to positive COVID-19 cases of staff or customers.

Earls (Tin Palace location), Greta, MKT, Round Two, and The Pint (Downtown location) have all temporarily shut down, and with some encouraging customers who dined at the restaurants to get tested.

DOSC, who had only re-opened to dine-in service on June 5, has chosen to self-impose a closure for their indoor dine-in services as a “precautionary measure”. None of their staff have tested positive or shown any symptoms, and their patio remains open.

These closures come on the heels of a provincial industry lobby group, the Alberta Hospitality Association (AHA), calling for a reduction to the two meter spacing rule between tables. They cite a recent study published in a medical journal that suggests one meter of spacing may be sufficient to lower the risk of catching the virus. The AHA argues that lowering the requirement would increase consumer capacity and help businesses become more financially sustainable.

The Edmonton Independent Hospitality Community (EIHC) remains in favour of the two meter restriction. Chris Sills of Rostizado, a member of the EIHC who is quoted in the above article, said, “Regardless of what the science says, we’re here to make customers feel comfortable and they’re not comfortable with less than two metres.”

COVID-19-related News

• Rostizado will be known as Tres Carnales Rostizado moving forward, and the restaurant will be redesigned to accommodate a bigger bar with seating in favour of communal tables.
• Food businesses continue to open-up to in-person service or dining, including Duchess’ 124 Street location, District for weekend brunch, Otto, Three Vikings, and Tzin.
• Prairie Noodle has re-opened for take-out and delivery.

Openings

• Fleisch, the sister delicatessen to Cartago, is now open in Forest Heights.
• Woodshed Burgers has confirmed that they will be opening up a new permanent Woodshed South location to meet the demand.
• Square One Coffee hopes to open their Glenora location (Unit 140, 14055 West Block Drive) in June.
• An Italian restaurant Del Posto will be opening up in the former Pho Langs spot Downtown, at 10056 107 Street.

Upcoming Events

• Linda Hoang is hosting another of her popular Instagrammable Walls walks on June 27-28, 2020 in the Alberta Avenue neighbourhood. Tickets are $25 and include three food/drink stops, with 20% of sales donated to Black Lives Matter Edmonton Chapter.
• The Plant Protein Alliance of Alberta is hosting a free virtual cooking demonstration on June 30, 2020. Chef Maynard Kolskog of NAIT’s Centre for Culinary Innovation will be preparing plant-based burgers.

Local News

• Congratulations to Bundok and Biera, two Edmonton restaurants who made it onto Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list.
• St. Viateur bagels are now available at Coffee Bureau.
• Chef Scott Iserhoff of Pei Pei Chei Ow hosted a pop-up at Get Cooking featuring an Indigenous menu earlier this week; he will also be hosting a virtual cooking class focused on duck on July 4, 2020.
• Popeyes’ famous chicken sandwich is now available in Edmonton (along with Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Lloydminster, and Fort Saskatchewan). The sandwich available in Alberta is not an exact replica of the American version; with the exception of the chicken, the rest of the ingredients are Canadian-sourced.
• What’s The Deal is a local start-up that seeks to increase restaurant sales by driving customers in during off-peak hours.

Urban Agriculture and Farming

• The City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Food Council are piloting a campaign called Veg Instead! that encourages Edmontonians to grow food in non-traditional areas of their properties.

What I Ate

• Mack, Emily, and I were out of town last week for a staycation at our favourite Alberta getaway, Prairie Creek Inn, near Rocky Mountain House. We had our own kitchen, and brought along a number of frozen entrees to lessen the time spent cooking – ramen from Dorinku, chicken pot pie from Duchess, and this comforting chicken alfredo lasagna from Milk Crate.

Chicken lasagna from Milk Crate

• It is hard to beat Prairie Creek’s breakfasts though, and we opted to have them delivered to our room so we could savour this view from our suite (and for the time being, continue to avoid indoor dining).

Breakfast with a view