More Hospitality Businesses Voluntarily Close to Indoor Dining
The number of COVID-19 cases in Alberta continue to rise. Numbers released on April 5, 2021 point to a provincial positivity rate of 9.9%, with 39% of active cases being variants of concern.
Some in the medical community continue to advocate for a return of restrictions. In an open letter to the Premier dated April 1, 2021, the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association recommends an immediate lockdown or circuit breaker, “advising people to only leave their homes for essential services or outdoor exercise.” In an interview with Global Edmonton, University of Alberta infectious diseases expert Dr. Lynora Saxinger expressed her concern about “places where, for example, people have to unmask to eat like in restaurants, food services and things like that.”
With escalating cases, some hospitality businesses are voluntarily and proactively closing indoor dining, mirroring the shift that took place back in November before the Alberta Government mandated in-person dining restrictions in December.
Arcadia, which opened their Manchester Square location in late November, suspended their indoor service on April 1, 2021. They remain open for patio service and take-out:
“This is a very difficult decision, especially being such a new business & still trying to get off the ground. But, the safety of our staff & you the customers is much more important.”
Similarly, Chartier in Beaumont closed to indoor dining as of April 5, 2021, but will continue to offer curbside pick-up and patio service:
“We understand that everyone may not agree with this move. And that’s ok. At the end of the day, we’d rather be remembered as the jerks who cancelled meemaw’s birthday vs. the jerks who played a part in meemaw’s COVID-19 infection.”
Some restaurants have remained closed to indoor dining since November, including Fleisch, NongBu, Northern Chicken, The Local Omnivore, and Jack’s Burger Shack in St. Albert.
COVID-19-related News
- Sabor’s Downtown location is temporarily closed due a staff testing positive for COVID-19.
- Transparency is so important for diner trust, so this example from Calgary’s Ship & Anchor Pub is perhaps one to follow in terms of notifying the public of possible transmission even when not required by Alberta Health Services.
- Cerdo in St. Albert and Spinelli Bar Italia locations have re-opened for dine-in service.
- Eat North rounded up responses from restaurant operators in the Prairies reflecting back on the year that was, including Chris Sills from Tres Carnales Taqueria and Tres Carnales Rostizado.
- Alberta Loblaws and Sobeys stores are reporting new COVID-19 cases.
Openings
- After some delays, Bandits is now open, just downstairs from and by the same folks behind Smokey Bear (8223 104 Street). They serve up fried chicken sandwiches.
- Green Ash Cafe opened last week in Bonnie Doon in a converted house, located at 8903 83 Avenue.
- Wild Rose Cakes was open for its first storefront sales on Saturday. Find them in Pleasantview at 6017 104 Street.
- There’s another new izakaya in town called Sakura Izakaya that’s now open at 4436 Calgary Trail.
- Pür & Simple delayed their opening in Kingsway Mall to April 2, 2021.
- Rossonero Trattoria & Bar is now open at 10051 109 Street.
- Sherbrooke Liquor is opening a second location at 9271 50 Street.
- Candid Coffee Roasters is a small-batch roaster opening a tasting bar soon in south Edmonton.
- Although the Muttart Conservatory remains closed, the Culina to Go inside opened up in early March. Their current hours are 10am-5pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Upcoming Events
- Sorrentino’s is hosting its 29th annual Garlic Fest, with cooking classes and wine dinners running throughout the month of April.
- A free webinar called Restaurant Possible will be hosted on April 14, 2021 to provide information about mental health as well as strategies and tools for moving forward beyond the pandemic.
Local News
- The #StopAsianHateAlberta campaign continues, and was featured on Global Edmonton and CityTV.
- Sepps is now offering in-house delivery.
- Also on the pizza-front, the latest Best Dishes column from CBC Radioactive focuses on the Italian, Detroit-style and Chicago tavern-style pizzas from Big Bite Pizza.
- Pampa is now offering café colonial brunch, a tradition that began through the influence of German immigrants in Southern Brazil: “An authentic café colonial gathers flavours from charcuterie, sweets, salads, hot dishes, meats, coffee, and specialty beverages, all to the same table to be enjoyed as a morning or afternoon affair.” Café colonial will be available at Pampa (as dine-in) starting on April 18, 2021.
- The Journal has more about what to expect from the Pablo Cheese Tart franchise coming to Edmonton this spring.
- EDify profiles the owner/pastry chef behind Mood Cafe, Ahmed Daoud.
- Also from EDify, a delectable Filipino meat platter from Cebuchon & BBQ and photogenic charcuterie boxes from Cheycuterie.
- Linda wrote a sponsored post about some of the best ice cream shops in Alberta.
- Fish Griwkowsky reminisces about “The Strat”, and visits Leopold’s Tavern to compare.
- Zwick’s is now offering hand-crafted, hard pretzel Cheddar Zwicksticks!
- Edmonton bartender James Grant will be representing Canada at an international competition after winning the Diageo World Class Canada Finals last week. He was hosting “last call” events into March as he would be relocating to a new city soon.
- JoAnne Pearce published a recipe collection called Mock-Ups: Mocktails for Grown-Ups that features sophisticated recipes for those who are “sober curious”.
- The winners of Edmonton’s NextGen March Meaet were Majesty and Friends and Golomein, who will be receiving $2500 and $1000 respectively for their businesses.
- Restaurant Dil-E-Punjab has provided 32,000 meals for those in need since last April.
- The family behind Salisbury Greenhouse will be taking over the Enjoy Centre, to be known as Salisbury at Enjoy, and have scheduled a grand opening for the fall.
Beyond Edmonton
- Joveena Holmes alerted me to a free cookbook download from Ikea called The Scraps Book, which features recipes to decrease household food waste.
What I Ate
- Last week during a particularly sunny day I decided to treat myself to another #Eatson118 picnic. This time, I tried Jasmine Belle Cafe, which serves up Colombian cuisine. The patacon piaso was a delicious surprise – light and crispy fried plantain topped with fresh guacamole and chicken, it’s something I’d definitely order again.
Patacon piaso from Jasmine Belle Cafe
- Over the weekend, we enjoyed some eats from Culina On the Lake, including this tasty breakfast burrito.
Breakfast burrito from Culina on the Lake
- It’ll be hard to go back to a scratch-prepped meal after this – the A Capella Catering turkey feast was convenient and delicious, and for our family of three, will be enough for the week.
Turkey dinner from A Capella Catering
Only Here for the Food 