Some Food-based Businesses Will Continue to Require Masking After July 1

With the Province’s Stage 3 set to launch on Canada Day, Edmonton City Council voted to deactivate the mask bylaw to align with that date. As a result, face coverings will no longer be required indoors (there are some exceptions with public transit, vehicle-for-hire, and long-term care facilities). The Old Strathcona Business Association had sent a letter on behalf of its 500 businesses to urge Council to extend the bylaw, but to no avail.

In response, a couple of food-based businesses will continue to require patrons mask up, even after July 1, 2021. Kind Ice Cream will require masks until at least mid-July in order to protect their staff:

“While we’re eager to see the eventual return to normal, we plan on taking extra precautions while we see how things evolve following reopening and in order to give our team a bit of extra time to get their second doses…Our staff feeling safe at work is our biggest priority as we roll into these next several weeks.”

Earth’s General Store will also be asking customers to continue masking, regardless of vaccination status:

“This means that acceptable well-fitting cloth masks are required by everyone entering the store. There is NO exception for people older than 5 years of age. This extra period of time will allow all of our staff to be fully vaccinated AND the full two-week period after vaccination is observed…If you are fully vaccinated – good for you, and thank you – but you will still need to wear a mask while being in the store and practice social distancing.”

Earlier this month, Fleisch tied its indoor dining opening to the date at which their staff have acquired full immunity.

COVID-19-related News

• The owner of the Whistle Stop Cafe in Mirror, Alberta, which earlier this year defied public health orders by keeping his restaurant open to in-person dining, was found guilty of contempt.

Openings

• Awn Kitchen is now open at 104, 5124 122 Street.
• Namaste India has added a third location to their roster, having opened in Old Strathcona at 10354 82 Avenue.
• Browns Crafthouse’s first Edmonton location is now open at 10141 124 Street.

Upcoming Events

• The Backyard’s opening night is taking place on July 2, 2021. They’ll have food trucks on hand, live painting and performances. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12.
• MilkCrate is hosting Feast in the Field on July 24, 2021. Expect a family-style meal featuring a whole hog and ice cream cookie troughs for dessert. Tickets are $85 per person.

Local News

• Chef Table Living’s Food Bike Tours are back every weekend from July 3-September 5. 2021. Tickets (excluding bike rental) start at $129 per person, and include 3 stops over the course of 3.5 hours. They’re also continuing to offer Chef Kits in partnership with local chefs, and Linda is offering a discount code for those interested.
• Alternate Route Coffee opened its roastery and distribution centre at the Edmonton International Airport’s Sustainability Campus.
• Northern Chicken has set up a water station available to anyone to access during this heat wave.
• EDify’s latest Best Things to Eat highlights the vermicelli special bowl from An Chay and the cookies and sour cream ice cream from Kind Ice Cream.
• Also from EDify is a profile of Au Chocolat, a Morinville-based business that features bars and bonbons made from cacao sourced from ten different regions.
• Twyla Campbell’s latest series with Edmonton AM will focus on different seasonal ingredient sourced from farmers’ markets. Her most recent story focused on asparagus, coinciding with the last week Edgar Farms’ spears were available at local markets.
• Perhaps during this heat wave, what can get us through are thoughts of Christmas – Duchess is soliciting votes on what they should tackle for their annual gingerbread project this holiday season. The choices are Whoville from The Grinch, Arendelle Castle from Frozen, or the Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto.
• The Real Success podcast for entrepreneurs featured an interview with Colleen Heidecker of Colleen’s Chocolates.
• Expect some changes to Taste of Edmonton and the Heritage Festival this summer.
• Jennifer Cockrall is hosting a 5-week food writing lab from July 20-August 18, 2021 through Pandemic University. Registration is $339.
• Since the start of the City of Edmonton’s pilot project for alcohol consumption at certain park sites, over 30 tickets have been issued at parks where alcohol consumption is not permitted.

Beyond Edmonton

• Based on a new report looking at Canadian perceptions of tipping, even with the ups and downs of the pandemic, it looks like the practice of tipping isn’t going anywhere.

Urban Agriculture and Farming

• The Old Red Barn will be resuming their farm dinners and picnic experiences in July. It is located south of Leduc on a dairy and grain farm.
• Freson Bros. and Bonnie Doon Mall are both hosting urban hives.
• The Lakeside Farmstead Cheese retail store opens on June 30, 2021 at 57225 RGE RD 242 in Sturgeon County.

What I Ate

• It’s been some time since we indulged in Bagel Bar, so we picked up an order of bagels and bialys last weekend. It was as good as I remembered; the texture of the bagels is something worth seeking out if you haven’t tried it already!

Bagels and bialys from Bagel Bar

• For my birthday last week, Mack picked up the pasta trio from Cafe Amore, and it was enough food for a couple of days! I’m looking forward to getting onto their patio when we feel more comfortable, but in the meantime, we enjoyed the meal on our balcony!

Pasta trio from Cafe Amore

• We had an impromptu picnic with Fat Franks take-out after running some errands over the weekend. It certainly feels more like summer weather-wise, but the grilled dogs help, too!

Fat Franks picnic

• We were doing our best to keep cool on Saturday; it was handy to have soft serve from Coffee Bureau in the #yegdt ‘hood to turn to!

Mack and Emily with their soft serve from Coffee Bureau

Restaurants and Events Prepare for Stage 3

Premier Jason Kenney announced that Alberta would be moving forward with Stage 3 of its Open for Summer Plan on July 1, 2021. Stage 3 will see all restrictions lifted, including the general indoor provincial mask mandate. Edmonton City Council will be voting on potentially repealing its temporary mandatory face coverings bylaw on June 22.

In preparation for this phase, some restaurants are scrambling to staff their establishments in order to meet the anticipated demand. Many business owners are finding that candidates are hard to come by, with many choosing to leave the service industry altogether.

Fleisch co-owner Katy Ingraham, and spokesperson for the Canadian Restaurant Workers Coalition, isn’t surprised that some restaurants are struggling to fill positions due to low wages and the potential for unsafe working conditions.

“Restaurant work is work that needs to be valued and respected with a living wage…Frankly, many of them are leaving the industry because they don’t see that change happening fast enough, or at all,” said Ingraham.

Meanwhile, some Edmonton summer festivals are preparing to move ahead with their large scale outdoor events. Pre-sale tickets for the Taste of Edmonton are available until the event begins. Running July 22-August 1, 2021 at Churchill Square, the event will feature 33 restaurants and 12 food trucks.

The Heritage Festival also confirmed it will be taking place in Hawrelak Park from July 31-August 2, 2021. Free timed-entry passes are now available to be booked, and this year, no food tickets will be sold. Instead, food and goods can only be purchased directly from pavilions by credit or debit.

COVID-19-related News

• NongBu and The Local Omnivore have since reopened their indoor dining.

Openings

• Phoenix Diner is now open in the former Doppio Zero space, at 10803 Jasper Avenue.
• There is now another ramen option in town called Ramen House, located at 10430 61 Avenue.

Closures

• It looks like Maria has completely taken over Haweli’s space on the Boardwalk, at 10220 103 Street. Haweli’s South Edmonton Common location remains open.

Upcoming Events

• Kingsway Mall is hosting another Food Truck Fest on June 25, 2021 from 3-8pm.
• MLA Rakhi Pancholi is hosting a virtual Taste of Edmonton-Whitemud on June 27, 2021. Those who purchase tickets will receive a delivery of a sampling from area restaurants for the event. Tickets are $75.
• Awn Kitchen is organizing farm tours on July 17 to Rosy Farms and on July 24 to Lazuli and Grey Arrow Farms. Tickets range from $55-75.
• The Edmonton Craft Beer Festival has been rescheduled again to October 22-23, 2021.

Local News

• Grandin Fish ‘N’ Chips, which committed to rebranding on May 31, has chosen a new name: Prairie Fish ‘N’ Chips.
• EDify continued their Best Things to Eat posts with the brussels sprouts at DOSC and the churro ice cream sandwich at El Beso.
• If you’re looking to take advantage of the weather this week, check out NAIT’s guide to patio dining, featuring restaurants staffed by NAIT graduates.
• A “random act of life threatening violence” occurred outside of the Black Dog, resulting in one of their staff becoming hospitalized. The bar chose to close for the day to provide staff with the opportunity to process the trauma.
• Restaurants, including RGE RD, have noticed a significant increase in food costs. Lobby group Restaurants Canada, citing a survey of its members, indicates that food costs are among the top three challenges restaurants are facing.
• Fleisch celebrated their first birthday over the weekend.
• Several Edmonton-based food business owners have been nominated for an Alberta Women Entrepreneurs award, including Cat Lee-Hannley of Nai Nai Mie, Chrysta Morkeberg of Food In The Nud, and Colleen Heidecker of Colleen’s Chocolates.
• The Journal covered Uproot Food Collective’s partnership with the Edmonton International Airport to expand their food processing capacity.
• While the first issue of Hungry Zine is in the process of being printed, they’re also accepting submissions for their next issue. They’re looking for art and writing on the theme of “preserve”: “How do we continue to preserve our cultures, traditions, and relationships to food? What do you preserve? What does your harvest include? How is preservation linked to power?”
• Food4Good is expanding their free delivery service.

Urban Agriculture and Farming

• Taproot Edmonton published a story about those in Edmonton spurned on by the pandemic to grow more of their own food.

What I Ate

• Summer just isn’t the same without mini donuts! We returned to #Root107 on Friday to kick off the weekend with Jackie O’s Street Treats.

Cinnamon sugar mini donuts from Jackie O’s

• It’s been dangerous to have pho at my fingertips with Tau Bay now available via delivery. #patiopho is something I can get used to.

Steak and brisket pho from Pho Tau Bay

• With my parents now fully vaccinated, Mack and I were able to get away for a brunch date at Chartier over the weekend! It was a beautiful day to enjoy a patio, and though we will continue to support restaurants primarily via take-out, it sure was nice to enjoy a fully-serviced meal with real dinnerware and cutlery.

Breakfast poutine from Chartier

Edmonton Riverfront Patio Is Now Licensed

River Valley Adventure Co. has been operating for nearly a decade in Louise McKinney Park, offering Segway tours and equipment rentals year-round. This year, their patio is now licensed, and can now offer Edmontonians another place to enjoy alcoholic beverages.

Chad Murphy, a Hospitality Consultant working with River Valley Adventure Co., is hopeful that more people will take advantage of what he calls, “the only riverfront patio in Edmonton offering craft Alberta beer, wine and seltzers.” He is particularly proud of their choice to source drinks locally. “[You] will see a rotation in our craft beer, but it will always be Alberta produced craft brews only,” said Murphy. At present, their current offerings include cans from Medicine Hat Brewing Co., Bent Stick Brewing Co., Last Best Brewing & Distilling, Blindman Brewing, and Sea Change Brewing Co.

In addition to alcoholic drinks, River Valley Adventure Co. also brews Sherwood Park-based Roasti Coffee.

Food-wise, they have partnered with The Greenhouse to serve their prepared meat and vegetarian sandwiches. The Greenhouse, led by owner Paul Shufelt, operates restaurants at three city-owned golf courses.

Currently, the patio seats 16, but when restrictions are lifted, they will be able to accommodate up to 28 people. Their hours are also limited at the moment, as they are open 10am-4pm on Monday and Thursday, and from 10am-6pm on the weekends. Murphy indicated that they hope to extend their hours as conditions allow. City-run restrooms are open and available in the adjacent building.

While Segway Tours continue to be their most popularly booked activity, River Valley Adventure Co. has also expanded their rental options to include 5-person inflatable rafts, e-bikes, and side-by-side Surrey Bikes. “We feel that with the introduction of our liquor license and enhanced offerings, that we will open ourselves up to a wider customer base,” said Murphy.

COVID-19-related News

• Fleisch will remain closed to indoor dining until all of their staff have received their second dose and have acquired full immunity.
• Barb & Ernie’s was looking forward to Stage 2 that ushered in indoor dining again.
• Bar Bricco and Uccelino will re-open this week.

Openings

• Wilfred’s will be re-opening this summer with a refreshed menu with a Southern twist. They will also be partnering with Made By Marcus for a dual concept storefront.
• Evario Kitchen + Bar is now open at 950 Parsons Road SW.
• Another location of Joey’s Fish Shack is opening on June 17, 2021 at 2571 17 Street.

Closures

• Food business Nai Nai Mie has decided to close down the business by June 30, 2021. Orders will be accepted until then or when they sell out.

Upcoming Events

• Another Ritchie Food Court is taking place on June 19, 2021 from 11am-3pm at Ritchie Hall (7727 98 Street). Drift, Calle Mexico, Sosyal Scoops, Fox Burger and Go Nuts 4 Donuts.
• Campio Brewing is once again hosting their Campio Summer Markets, every other Saturday until September. The next market runs June 26, 2021 from 11am-4pm.

Local News

• Phil’s latest Best Dishes column focuses on Saint Lucian Squeeze, located at 10140 117 Street (the former Elm Cafe space).
• The latest contributions to EDify’s Best Things to Eat are Izakaya Tomo’s oysters ponzu and aburi saba (recommended by AJA Louden), and the chicken suqaar and sabaayad from Mama Asha Cafe (recommended by MLA Janis Irwin).
• CTV did a story about The Lot, located at 12320 107 Avenue, which features four anchor food tenants alongside a rotating roster of food trucks. It is inspired by similar lots in Portland.
• Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday, and many restaurants are offering barbecue grill packs, including RGE RD, Workshop Eatery, and Pampa.
• Al Fresco on 104 Street has returned for a second summer, featuring vendors, food trucks, and extended patios on 104 Street on Saturdays from 10am-3pm.
• Chef Shane Chartrand, who is The Carrot’s Executive Chef, will be cooking up a BBQ “chef’s table” on Fridays and Saturdays starting at 4:30pm until quantities last.
• Sea Change Brewing is raising funds for the ALS Society of Alberta with Adam’s Pale Ale, donating $1 from each four-pack sold. The beer honours the legacy of Adam Rombough, who passed away from ALS at age 34, and spent the last year of his life raising funds for the ALS Society.
• The Journal highlighted MilkCrate’s mental health initiatives.
• Kind Ice Cream celebrated their second birthday.
• Chop Steakhouse has adopted certification that recognizes sustainable beef practices on all its beef menu items.
• The new Alberta Cares Package from Alberta Food Tours highlights the tastes of Alberta’s forests, fields, and farms. 10% of the profits supports the development of Indigenous tourism in Alberta.
• Former Edmonton Journal food writer Liane Faulder is hosting a culinary tour of Whistler in September through New West Travel.

What I Ate

• We had a great virtual lunch gathering this week with the Taproot Edmonton team. We enjoyed food from Tiffin Fresh Kitchen, perhaps the most efficient fast casual player in #yegdt.

Tiffin take-out

• We satisfied an Ono Poke craving for our Friday night picnic.

Ono Poke picnic

• Emily has had prior exposure to bubble tea, but a venture over the weekend to CoCo may have sealed the deal – she couldn’t get enough of the tapioca pearls!

Drinks from CoCo

• After rescheduling several times, we finally made it to the University of Alberta Botanic Garden to enjoy their Brunch Box offerings alongside my parents. The Freson Bros. mushroom and asiago quiche was tasty, and would have definitely been even better warm, but our favourite was the Chocorrant gruyere and ham croissant. We finished our morning off with a stroll through the gardens. It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday!

Brunch Box at the Botanic Garden

Stump Kitchen’s Alexis Hillyard featured by Google

This week, local YouTube star Alexis Hillyard was featured by Google in a new YouTube video:

“Alexis, an LGBTQ+ and disabled chef, uses YouTube and Google Meet to help pursue her passion for vegan cooking. At the same time, she creates a safe space to celebrate the unique ways we move through the world. http://goo.gle/3fOYOxt”

Hillyard, known for her popular Stump Kitchen series, has been producing videos on her YouTube channel for five years. Her videos highlight vegan and gluten-free recipes, often assembled using her stump as a kitchen tool. She uses her platform to celebrate limb differences, and more recently, after having a baby, focus on parenting with one hand.

The video came together quickly over the last few months. “Google googled me and said they were looking for creators to feature and they were looking for disabled or queer creators that were having a good impact,” said Hillyard. “They found my page and loved it and knew they wanted to feature me right away.”

Filming occurred over two days in April with strict COVID-19 protocols in place with Google staff in town from Toronto and Vancouver. Hillyard had a strong say in what content was filmed, including scenes with her partner and child. “I was called a creative consultant on the ground because I got to shape what they caught on camera,” said Hillyard. “It was not artificial.”

Stump Kitchen started as a side project but has morphed into a nearly full-time job for Hillyard, who, as a trained teacher, still teaches one half day a week at a junior high school. The rest of her time is spent hosting classes and workshops, conducting speaking invitations and social media gigs, and being a Canadian ambassador for the Lucky Fin Project. She also relies on her Patreon page for support.

The channel has grown its audience over the years, and while she has a significant fan base in the Prairie provinces, her reach is international including the US, South America, and Australia. “[My audience] ranges from people who are amputees themselves, to families who have members with limb differences, and random people who like cooking shows or have found a different way in – I burp and swear and don’t wear a bra,” laughs Hillyard. When restrictions lift, she hopes to resume travelling to continue to meet and highlight others with limb differences.

While Hillyard isn’t the planning type – she much prefers the joy of living in the moment – she does have one dream that she would love to fulfill one day. “I could open a small café or restaurant called ‘Stump Kitchen’ made up of staff with limb differences and we would sit on tree stumps,” said Hillyard. “It would be great to have a space to celebrate my local community.”

Hillyard credits a lot of her success to the city she is proud to call home. “The community here is so vibrant,” said Hillyard. “It’s so small but it’s so big; we have incredible local businesses and creators that I can learn from, and it’s the kind of city where you can have an impact and be known and not get lost in the rumble of a big city.”

COVID-19-related News

• Stage 2 of Alberta’s Open for Summer Plan is expected to start on June 10, 2021, and will increase outdoor dining to tables of 6, and will re-introduce indoor dining for the first time since April 9.
• After a lengthy hiatus, Bundok will be re-opening on June 10, 2021.
• Red Star’s patio is now open.

Openings

• Black Box Hospitality has launched a new concept called Young & Restless Pizza, operating out of District Wednesday to Sunday. They have first come, first served picnic tables available. It’ll be great to see District bustling again after it’s been closed since January.
• Italia Mia (operating out of the former Il Forno space at 14981 Stony Plain Road) is now open.
• Cafe La Reine will be opening later in June at 8927D 82 Avenue, in the space formerly occupied by Amandine Cafe.
• Downtown is getting another southern BBQ restaurant called Coals and Cleavers, set to open June 26, 2021 at 10318 100 Avenue. The restaurant is from the folks at the Alberta BBQ Collective and the team behind Pitt County BBQ.

Upcoming Events

• The Al Fresco #on4th market with extended patios kicks off on June 12 and runs every Saturday from 10am-3pm until September 18, 2021. The closure of the street will also extend into Sundays to accommodate the extended patios throughout the weekend.
• The Black Owned Market YEG is hosting a Dance and Coffee Cultural Experience on June 19, 2021. Tickets for the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony, to be held at the Habesha African Market, are pay-what-you-can.
• Noodle company Nai Nai Mie is hosting its first pop-up with Chef Doreen Prei on June 30, 2021. Guests will be treated to a 2-course dinner and the event promises to be ”hot, saucy and more than a little noodly. Maybe even a little naughty.” Tickets are $35 with location TBD.

Local News

• The Journal has more details behind Calle Mexico’s taco carts and their connection to the godfather of Edmonton’s food carts – Fat Franks. The carts may debut on city streets as soon as this week.
• CRAFT Beer Market will be debuting their new rooftop patio on Rice Howard Way on June 21, 2021.
• Kitchen by Brad is open for “Meatball Madness” this summer, offering take-out on Fridays over lunch through their take-out window.
• The Butchery made the Canada’s 100 Best list of  “things to savour right now” across Canada. It’s also worth noting that Chef Shane Chartrand also made the list, but in a composite item that included several Indigenous chefs that the list creators didn’t feel warranted their own individual features.
• EDify released their 2021 patio guide. The Downtown Business Association (DBA) created a Google map of patios in the neighbourhood.
• Also from EDify – they will be sharing Best Things To Eat as chosen by prominent Edmontonians throughout the summer. First up – the DBA’s Puneeta McBryan highlights the chocolate olive oil cake from Rosewood Foods, and Oilers play-by-play announcer Jack Michaels selected the chorizo tacos from La Patrona.
• Uproot Food Collective will be the first long-term tenant of the new Ag-celerator at the Edmonton International Airport, a new federally-certified food production and contract packing facility. Also from Uproot, they now offer frozen bulgogi from Edmonton favourite NongBu.
• The accommodation and food services sector continues to be the hardest hit in Alberta with a loss of 57,000 jobs from February 2020 to May 2021, based on analysis of Statistics Canada data.
• Home-based bakery Söta Saker YEG that started early this year has continued to gain patronage.
• Malaysian-style jerky business Dai-Lou has started a crowdfunding campaign to raise $35,000 to help launch a food truck and increase stockists in Edmonton.
• Luxe picnic experiences continue to crop up; the latest from YEG Picnic and YEG Scoot combines a boho picnic experience with scooter transportation, and costs $130 for two.
• That’s Food, a food-focused podcast from CJSR, returned in May with new episodes. Their latest this week features a blind taste test of $5, $12, and homemade cake, and an interview with The Art of Cake’s Gloria Bednarz.
• Congratulations to Tamara Vineberg, the chair of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization bagels fundraiser, who helped to raise over $14,000 this year with the sale of 17,280 bagels.
• Some people are hopeful that the bigger bees that have been spotted around the city might mean a more healthy population this year.

What I Ate

• • I finally felt ready to sit on a patio for the first time this year – mostly because we were the only ones on it! Mack and I had a quick breakfast date at DOSC as we had been meaning to try their combo deal for some time: a bacon, egg, and cheese cruffle sandwich + a coffee for $8. I liked the sweet and savoury flavours of the sandwich, and it was a nice way to start the day.

Cruffle date at DOSC

• • Our day trip out to Wabuman Lake required some sustenance from Farrow – namely, some sweet treats and sandwiches!

Treats from Farrow

• • Our summer of picnics continued after we picked up some pastries from Shan Shan Bakery in Chinatown after some other errands in the area. We enjoyed them in Little Italy – there were no excuses not to eat outside this weekend!

Shan Shan pastries in the park

• • Though Popeyes has been in Edmonton for some time, we’d only had take-out once before. Now that it’s in #yegdt, it seemed like a good excuse as any to try it again for a picnic! The food held up pretty well on our walk over to the Leg Grounds, and I ended up enjoying the chicken sandwich more than I expected. While it won’t be a regular stop for us, I’m sure it will be a popular spot in the ‘hood.

Popeyes picnic