Food Notes for August 8, 2022

Openings

• One of the vendors at this weekend’s Cariwest, Cafe Caribbean, will be opening up a brick and mortar shop at 10140 117 Street on August 11, 2022.
• American candy chain It’Sugar’s first Canadian location will open in West Edmonton Mall on August 11, 2022.

Closures

• Canteen announced that they will be closing on September 18, 2022. Owners Frank and Andrea Olson announced however that they will be opening their “last and final restaurant” in Crestwood in early 2023.
• Old Strathcona restaurant Nudoru Ramen announced that they will be closing on August 21, 2022 after six years in business. Their sister restaurant Menjiro Ramen will continue to operate.

Upcoming Events

• It’s the tenth anniversary of Open Farm Days, running August 13-14, 2022. It’s a great opportunity to check out a local farm and meet the folks behind the food!
• 10 Edmonton-area restaurants are participating in the Alberta On The Plate’s Dine Around Festival, which runs August 12-21, 2022. Each restaurant will offer fixed-priced menus highlighting local producers, growers, distillers, and brewers.
• Sustainable Food Edmonton is hosting a Community Garden Bike Tour in Millwoods on August 20, 2022. Tickets are $10 plus feees.
• The second Dinner Club at Awn Kitchen will take place on August 27, 2022. Tickets for the 5-course meal are $75 and will highlight late summer produce.
• Chefs Cyrilles Koppert and Addie Raghavan are teaming up for a night of “Indian-influenced French food” on August 28 and 29, 2022. Tickets are $20 and include a sip and a snack.
• Save the date for the return of Pizza Pigout on October 7, 2022, a fundraiser for KidSport. Tickets are $125 per vehicle.

Local News

• Chartier shared that they were forced to roll out “Crisis Prices” effective August 3, 2022 in order to keep their doors open in the face of inflation, staffing shortages, and supply chain issues, among others.
• Langano Skies, which closed back in June, just finished serving up their food at Folk Fest. For those looking to get their fix, Langano Skies will also be at the Edmonton Fringe Festival from August 11-21, 2022.
• Edmonton AM interviewed Tanya Rumak, the person behind the new ice cream spot Annie Rue in Parkallen.
• Taproot has the story behind The Colombian’s third cafe location and their plans for expansion.
• Edify’s Best Things to Eat continues with the potato salad from Upper Crust and the double vegan from Flat Boy Burgers.
• Edify also highlighted the brunch at Spruce Grove’s Broadway and Grand.
• TechLife featured NAIT graduates Levi Biddlecombe and Neil Royale transitioning to the 5th Street Food Hall.
• 8 Edmonton-area restaurants are participating in Shake, Stir & Strainbow, where they’ve each created Pride-inspired cocktails and will donate partial proceeds to Skipping Stone Foundation in August.
• Mann Meats & Indian Cuisine was targeted with Molotov cocktails last week.
• Chains continue to flood the Edmonton market, but local restaurants can still carve a niche for themselves.
• OpenTable released lists where some Edmonton restaurants were included under categories of best restaurants for a date (Biera, Ruth’s Chris, Tzin), best restaurants for a friend date (Sorrentino’s Downtown), and best restaurants for a business meeting (Ernest’s at NAIT, Sabor, Glass Monkey).
• The Alberta government shelved a report from a panel it asked to review the minimum wage.
• Local indie zine Hungry was featured in Eater.

What I Ate

• Mack and I had a lovely morning at Da Capo and Black Pearl’s pop-up Buongiorno at Vignettes last week. The breakfast pinsa was delicious – a light and airy crust topped with pesto, caramelized onions, scrambled eggs, Montreal smoked meat, and cheese. The pop-up is open Monday to Friday 9am-3pm until August 26, 2022 (menu here), but it was encouraging to hear the pinsas will be available at Bar Oro when it opens later this year.

Breakfast pinsa and coffee from Buongiorno

• Sabor’s popular Fish ‘n’ Chips Fridays has returned on Fridays from 11am-2pm in August. Benefiting the Ronald McDonald House Charities and Santa’s Anonymous, $15 will get you two pieces of fish, fries, and a drink. I headed over early last Friday to beat the line up and did not regret it!

Fish ‘n’ chips from Sabor