El Mero Mero Expands from Food Trucks to Restaurant

Mexican food truck El Mero Mero is readying for its expansion to a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Opening on June 30 at 12223 156 St., the storefront is the culmination of two years of continuous growth for a business that opened near the beginning of the pandemic.

Owner Arturo Ramirez said it was fortuitous for El Mero Mero (which in Spanish means “the best of the best”) to have started in April 2020.

“Looking back now, we discovered that it was a great time to open a food truck because it was a takeout business,” said Ramirez. “It was the only thing open during that time, and it was something to offer people to get out of their houses because restaurants were closed at that time. We were lucky people really enjoyed our food and supported us.”

The food truck did so well that in May 2021, El Mero Mero added a second mobile operation to its roster. During that time, Ramirez began searching for a commissary space that would enable his team to prepare the food to be served through two trucks.

“We found this space, and it was really big, so we thought, why not open a restaurant since we have the square footage for it,” said Ramirez. “We created a really big kitchen where we can produce food for both trucks and the restaurant.”

Ramirez, who is originally from Mexico City, hopes El Mero Mero Taquería will provide diners with an authentic Mexican dining experience.

“We want people to take a little trip to Mexico,” said Ramirez. “The handmade and hand-painted tile on the bar was brought in from Mexico, and the glassware is handmade in Mexico. A lot of the restaurant is from Mexico.”

Although the space offers sit-down tables, Ramirez is also excited about the shelves along the wall that will allow diners to eat standing up, something typically found at taquerías in Mexico.

The menu at the Taquería will serve the food trucks’ most popular items, including the top-selling birria, slow-cooked beef accompanied by a dipping broth. But the restaurant will also showcase other types of dishes that would not have the space or time to be prepared on a food truck.

“Canastas, or basket tacos, are a typical breakfast in Mexico,” said Ramirez. “We put the tacos in these little baskets and cover it with parchment paper and put really hot oil on them. All the heat evaporates and sweats the tacos.”

While diners can expect El Mero Mero’s signature made-to-order churros at the Taquería, several new desserts, such as a caramel flan, will debut as well. “We will also have platanos fritos where we deep-fry the plantain and cover it with sweet sauce and sour cream. It sounds simple but combines flavours that are really good,” said Ramirez.

Ramirez is aware that his restaurant is joining a host of Mexican establishments that have opened in Edmonton over the past decade, but he believes the focus on authenticity and scratch cooking sets El Mero Mero apart. For instance, its flour tortillas are handmade, while its corn tortillas are all homemade.

“One of the things that we have that other restaurants don’t is a vertical broiler. It is like a rotisserie and cooks meat in a real way like in Mexico City,” said Ramirez. “We also cook our carnitas in a copper pot. The reason is that it gives more sweetness to the meat, and provides the actual flavour you should be expecting.”

Lastly, Ramirez believes that his charitable philosophy has been a key factor in customer loyalty. El Mero Mero chooses a different charity every month and donates a portion of sales in order to give back. In May, for instance, the company donated $1,200 to the Paralympic Sports Association. “People want to support us because we support the community,” said Ramirez.

Although the past two years have been a whirlwind, Ramirez said that the time leading up to the restaurant opening has been the most taxing. “I have grown so many white hairs in the last two months,” laughed Ramirez. “But it will pay off.”

Openings

• The first of two anticipated Fuwa Fuwa locations in Edmonton is now open at 8103 104 Street. Fuwa Fuwa is a soufflé pancake franchise with other locations in Canada. The second location is set to open on July 16, 2022 at 1217 Windermere Way SW.

Closures

• Pho Boy announced that they will be closing on July 24, 2022.
• Bloom Cookie has closed their booth at the Bountiful Farmers’ Market. Bloom’s 124 Street shop continues to be open and they will also be at the Currents farmers’ market.

Upcoming Events

• Save the date for the Alberta on the Plate festival, from August 12-21, 2022. So far, four Edmonton area establishments have signed on to be a part of the event.

Local News

• Evoolution’s 104 Street location is moving to the Brewery District after 10 years downtown. They will be opening their new shop in late June at 120 Street and 104 Avenue.
• Twyla highlighted local business Golomein.
• Culina has put together an Indigenous Box, featuring a variety of products including Untamed Feast Chaga Tea, Preserved Foods Boutique Saskatoon Berry Gin Jam, and Culina Fry Bread Mix.
• Edify profiled On the Edge’s Bellwether Coffee roasting process and sampled the picnic box from Under the High Wheel.
• CBC Radioactive featured segments with Northern Chicken and Jack’s Burger Shack about their expansion Downtown, and Devon-based Dragonball Kitchen.
• Socrates Restaurant was chosen by readers of the St. Albert Gazette as the best server/place of business.
• Local butchers Corey Meyer and Elyse Chatterton are preparing to compete in the World Butchers Challenge in September in Sacremento.
• Small grocers in Edmonton, including Habesha African Market and The Spice Centre, are struggling to manage rising costs amidst Statistics Canada numbers that grocery prices have increased 9.7% over the past year.
• Last week, as a part of documentary project, two artisans from Mexico demonstrated how to make sugar skulls at The Kitchen at the Milner Library.
• Congratulations to Phil and Robyn on winning Jack’s Burger Shack’s first ever Burger Kumite competition.
• A local student from St. Joseph Catholic High School won gold in cooking at a Skills Canada competition in May.

What I Ate

• I had a great birthday brunch at Rosewood Foods on Saturday. Their lemony buttermilk pancakes are like a dream, and even at that hour, we had a great people watching vantage point on the patio. It’s so great to have them in our ‘hood.

Patio brunch at Rosewood

Oonnie Aims to Connect Consumers with Local Producers

Oonnie, a website that aims to assist consumers who are looking for more convenient ways to shop locally, is set to officially launch on June 25, bringing to life the vision of a Métis entrepreneur who has spent the past 13 years in the commercial construction business.

Oonnie is the brainchild of Nicole Matos, who founded Rivet Construction in Sherwood Park in 2009 and served as its CEO until March of this year.

Matos grew up in rural Alberta on a small cattle farm but eventually ended up relocating to the Edmonton area. During the pandemic, faced with empty shelves at grocery stores, she was reminded of her roots of sourcing food more directly, but she realized she had been away from farms for 20 years, and no longer had those connections with producers. Farmers’ markets also weren’t ideal for Matos based on their limited operation times. She saw this gap as an opportunity to create a portal to bridge consumers with local producers.

The name Oonnie was the result of bingeing Korean dramas during the pandemic. “Unnie” is Korean for “older sister,” which describes the role she believes she will play for many of the entrepreneurs she is onboarding onto her platform.

“I have so many skills, having founded and run a successful business,” said Matos. “So it will be like having an older sister to help guide you.”

Matos has been working with Courtney Hanak, Oonnie’s business manager and owner of William Rae Designs, on building up the number of vendors on the site. So far, they’ve signed on over 20 merchants, including beef and honey producers, as well as established brands such as Confetti Sweets and Roasti Coffee. But Matos intends to broaden the directory even further.

“We’re hoping to have everything,” said Matos. “Our goal is to cover every food department that you would find in a traditional grocery store. I want to have a lot of different cultural foods.”

Matos has heard from conversations with immigrant women in particular that they have found it challenging to break into the market. “It’s so hard if you don’t have something established already,” Matos said. “The hope with this is that people could start from home, and within a day they could have an online presence.”

Matos also sees Oonnie as a way to promote Indigenous-owned businesses. “There’s a huge divide between Indigenous communities and people in urban centres, and COVID created a bigger divide,” she said. “What if people could live on reserve and notify people about when they are coming to town again with their products?”

Matos is aware of other similar sites that have sprung up in recent years, such as Good Goods, Uproot Food Collective, or The Public Food Hub, but she believes the demand can support all of these initiatives.

“We’re about community over competition,” said Matos. “There are many huge grocery stores, so there is room for many.”

The first 100 vendors who sign up on Oonnie will only pay for the credit card processing fees for the first year; vendors who join after this initial group should expect to pay a 12% fee on sales made. Matos is also planning learning sessions for vendors on topics such as Alberta Health Services standards, permitting, and packaging options, to ensure the businesses are set up for success.

Oonnie’s model is similar to Etsy, in that each vendor is responsible for delivering their own products. Matos has arranged with some local small businesses to act as pick-up points, but it is up to each individual vendor to list different fulfillment options.

“You’re dealing directly with that producer through our site,” said Matos. “It’s going from an oven to you – it’s not sitting in a warehouse for a long time.”

Oonnie’s June 25 launch coincides with a scavenger hunt in the Sherwood Park area. Participants will have the chance to win prizes, while all proceeds from food and drinks served at the event will benefit the Strathcona Food Bank.

Openings

• RGE RD’s long-awaited Downtown pop-up, RGE RD LARDER, is now open as a part of the Vignettes Brick and Mortar Festival. They will be open Thursdays to Saturdays from 4:30-10pm at 10043 108 Street for walk-ins until mid-July and possibly longer. A sample menu is here.
• Antonio Bilotta, of Da Capo and Al Centro fame, will be opening up Bar Oro Roastery downtown at 106 Street and Jasper Avenue.
• Northern Chicken will be opening up a second location downtown.
• Hummus bar Vish is now open at 10326 124 Street. It is the first Canadian location for the franchise.
• Basil Pasta Bar’s second Edmonton location is now open at #80, 10014 104 Street.
• Small batch ice cream maker called Twice Cream will be opening soon at 10983 127 Street.
• SoDo downtown launched a concept called Sammies by SoDo.
• Century Hospitality Group has taken over the concession at ReMax field.
• Vegan fast food chain Odd Burger will be opening a location in Edmonton.

Closures

• Noodle Bar by Nomiya is closing on June 26, 2022 because the owner’s family’s dad is retiring.
• Say Uncle is closing the first week of July.

Upcoming Events

• Al Fresco on 104 returns June 25 – August 27, 2022 and will feature outdoor vendors, extended patios, and other festivities.
• Campio’s outdoor Summer Markets are back once a month until September. They had to postpone their kick-off date due to weather, but mark your calendars for the other events.

Local News

• Great to see that the patio at Fu’s Repair Shop is now open!
• The Nook is taking a few months off to “rest, recoup, and regroup”.
• Last week’s Best Dish column highlights Mama Asha.
• Cafe Bel-Air is the first establishment to offer Mauritian food in Alberta.
• Edify stops by Birch + Bear Pizza, Swiss 2 Go, and Spring Roll Kitchen.
• Modern Luxuria spotlights Buco Pizzeria + Vino Bar in their latest issue.
• Happy first birthday to Awn Kitchen!
• The Backyard also commemorated their first birthday over the weekend.
• Congratulations to Sugared and Spiced on reaching their tenth milestone.
• Sofra celebrated their sweet sixteen birthday.
• Some businesses, including Ayco Cafe and Brew and Bloom, are using Instagrammable features to as a means of increasing traffic.
• Local chefs Brad Lazarenko, Shane Chartrand, and Scott Iserhoff were listed on Cottage Life’s 11 Indigenous chefs causing a stir.
• Jacek Chocolate  Couture was featured in Canada Post’s E-Commerce Insider on how they adapted to consumer requests.
• Edmonton-based butcher Elyse Chatterton was the guest on the Eat More Barbecue podcast last week.
• Restaurants are affected by the high cost of inflation, including Transit Smokehouse & BBQ.
• John Williams of Blue Plate Diner will be departing the business to begin a role with the Italian Centre.
• The fifth edition of the Edmonton Filipino Fiesta took place at Borden Park this past weekend after a two year break.
• Jason Foster covers how Alberta breweries fared in this year’s Canadian Brewing Awards.
• Edify profiled Detention Brewing, located in a decommissioned school in Rosalind.

Urban Agriculture and Farming

• Health Canada is proposing that ground beef and pork will have front-of-package nutrition labelling, joining products high in sodium, sugar, and saturated fat.

What I Ate

• • We were away in Jasper last week, and enjoyed many of our meals outdoors. As I’ve mentioned during previous staycations, we always use it as an opportunity to try out different meal kits (something I do hope sticks around even as the pandemic fades). We tried the frozen Alberta Donair kits on this trip, and found them to be quite satisfying! We added our own vegetables, but there was definitely enough meat and sweet sauce to go around!

Alberta Donair with a view

• • We did make an exception to have lunch at Sunhouse Cafe. The mascarpone French toast was such a treat (I loved their citrus curd), and was even better enjoyed on their sunny second floor patio.

Mascarpone French toast from Sunhouse Cafe in Jasper

• • Mack, Emily, and I returned to Langano Skies for one last meal before their closure, and was graciously and unexpected hosted by Amsale and Paul. We loved the lunch combination platters (Emily particularly enjoyed the siga tibs, and Mack and I were partial to the ater kik aletcha wot). The couple will be announcing their future plans later this summer, so stay tuned!

Combination platters from Langano Skies

• • I tried the Too Good to Go app for the first time, and picked up a box of goodies from Ayco Cafe. It was a pretty decent deal, with three savoury croissants for $5.99. Heated up in the oven, they were great.

Too Good to Go box from Ayco Cafe

• • Over the weekend, we visited some of our favourite businesses in Chinatown, and used it as an excuse to grab take-out from Gui Lin Noodle House. Their fried instant noodles with minced pork is hard to beat.

Fried macaroni and instant noodles from Gui Lin Noodle House

• • We also walked over to the 124 Street Market for the first time this season, and grabbed lunch from one of our favourite food trucks, Coast Lunch Box.

Buttermilk fried chicken sandwich from Coast Lunch Box

Langano Skies Leaves a Legacy of Awareness About Ethiopian Cuisine

Longtime Ethiopian restaurant Langano Skies will host its last meal on June 19. After more than 18 years in business, owners Paul and Amsale Sumamo have decided it’s time to close this chapter in their lives.

“We are older, and it is a 24-hour job,” said Amsale. “Even if we aren’t here, we are always thinking about it. Everything is cooked from scratch, and it takes a lot of time – 14 hours a day, six days a week. We have three grandchildren and want to spend time with them. Time is too short, and the more we get older, the more we want to spend time together outside of the kitchen.”

Still, it was a bittersweet decision to close the restaurant. “It’s been emotional,” she said. “It’s been very hard. I couldn’t smile during the announcement, I was so sad. If I was younger I would keep going.”

The couple’s four adult children have been involved in the restaurant, but have other full-time careers and weren’t interested in taking over the business. The Sumamos were also adamant that the brand will remain with them. “Langano Skies will retire with us. It has a lot of meaning for us. The place, the lake(Lake Langano in Ethiopia), how we started,” Amsale said.

The Sumamos acknowledge that they were not the first Ethiopian restaurant in Edmonton when they opened in 2004. But they still had to educate non-Ethiopian diners about the cuisine. In those early years, they participated in festivals such as the Taste of Edmonton and the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, where they worked hard to make people aware of Ethiopian food and how to eat with injera.

“People had no clue about the taste, the texture, how to eat it,” Amsale said of the flatbread made of teff flour. “In the beginning, we had to teach people about the food and how to eat it with their hands. We had people who took forks out of their purse! But we guided them – make sure the injera is flat, scoop your food, and put it in your mouth. It’s that easy.”

Amsale believes her high standard is the primary reason diners have become loyal fans. “The quality didn’t change from Day 1,” she said. “The time I put in, no one else will put. We bring the spices from Ethiopia and I need to know what’s in it. I am very proud of (everything from) the appetizers to the dessert.”

Their ability to adapt to different dietary needs also broadened their reach, Paul added. “We are available for everyone, vegetarians and meat-eaters. We are for both, and we stretched ourselves that way.”

Amsale’s greatest joy in running the restaurant has been sharing their culture and food with the people of Edmonton. In many cases, that has resulted in seeing generations of customers come through the door.

“I was able to see people dating and get engaged. And then they would bring their baby! I have tears I am so happy,” she said. “I was happy I was able to do it for 18 years. I will miss that.”

The Sumamos are planning to operate food booths at both the Edmonton Folk Fest and the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival this summer. They will also share another announcement about what’s next in late August or early September on their Instagram page.

Since their announcement, the Sumamos have been inundated with calls from people eager to have one last meal at the restaurant (they are strongly recommending reservations to avoid disappointment). And though they wouldn’t share the details of how they intend to continue Langano Skies after the summer, they know it will be impossible to replicate the restaurant.

“We make it very cozy with the art, the decor, the paint,” Amsale said. “If we do anything else it won’t be this kind of atmosphere. But you will see us somewhere. As long as we can do it, we will do something.”

The couple is grateful for the community support that has enabled the restaurant to operate all these years. “Thank you to our customers, we wouldn’t be here without them,” she said. “We are very humbled by Edmontonians and love them back.”

Openings

• Roasti’s Old Strathcona cafe will be changing hands and will be run by the roasters behind Sorellina Coffee.
• Yanna’s Kitchen, serving up birria tacos, is a ghost kitchen now open at 8717 53 Avenue.
• New ice cream truck My Scoop is scheduled to open June 15, 2022.
• Food truck El Mero Mero’s brick and mortar location is poised to open at 12223 156 Street.
• Love Pizza is coming to Heritage Valley in August 2022.

Upcoming Events

• Tickets for Linda’s Instagrammable Edmonton E-Bike Tours, which feature 4 food stops, are still available for June 8 and 9, 2022. Tickets are $75 per person.
• Chef Table Living is offering a new series of Brewery and Distillery Bike Tours, running Friday evenings from June 17 – September 2, 2022. Tickets are $89, and include tastings from two local breweries and distillery, as well as a small snack and sandwich.
• DOSC, Evolution Wonderlounge, and Say Uncle are hosting Pride on 104th event on June 18, 2022, featuring a Drag Brunch and Beer Garden.
• The Taste of Edmonton returns to Churchill Square July 21-31, 2022. Advance tickets are now available until July 20.

Local News

• Gui Lin Noodle House had their windows smashed last week; please consider supporting them.
• Cafe Bicyclette has re-opened after repairing the damage sustained in a recent storm.
• Congratulations to Linda and Carmen that their #AdoptAShopAB initiative brought over $13,400 in business to 100 restaurants in Edmonton and Calgary.
• Phil’s latest Best Dish column highlights Co Chin Saigon.
• Edify checked out Felice Cafe.
• Also from Edify, they profile Barbacoa in Spruce Grove and Hayloft Steak + Fish.
• A butterfly garden in Boyle Street called kamâmak nihtâwikihcikan is back up for a second year, and will feature medicinal plants and plants for pollinators.

Beyond Edmonton

• Canada’s 100 Best List was released last week, without a single Edmonton restaurant represented. It’s always been a list heavily focused on businesses in Toronto and Montreal. While I believe Edmonton has the goods to stack up against national heavy hitters, I am reminded of the excellent piece Jen Agg wrote for the Globe a few weeks ago about the Michelin Guide’s first ever Canadian venture into Toronto, exposing the city’s “desperate hunger for outside praise.”

What I Ate

We’re away next week, so there won’t be a new edition of Food Notes until June 20, 2022. Have a great week!

• • We’re certainly going to miss Downtown Spark, which has brought such vibrancy to our neighbourhood Alex Decoteau Park. It’s been great having a series of rotating food trucks available, alongside music and the art installations! On Friday, we dined on tacos and churros from El Mero Mero.

Vanilla churros from El Mero Mero

• • We snuck in one last Downtown Spark visit on Sunday, and indulged in some Sosyal Scoops while they were in the neighbourhood.

Strawberry milk tea ice cream from Sosyal Scoops

• • Edmonton’s playoff fever might be coming to an end next week, but until then, we couldn’t resist picking up some Oilers-themed bagels from Bagel Bar.

#LetsGoOilers bagels

• • We also took in the family-friendly viewing party at Churchill Square on Saturday, and enjoyed some food from Ukrainian House Smachno during the game.

Hearty dinner from Ukrainian House Smatchno