I’m doing my best to keep to my weekly posting, but the reality is the return to having a newborn in our house has been a steeper curve than I expected! I know some of you missed my Food Notes last week, so here is a super-sized version to catch you up.
Openings
- Vintage Fork’s tea shop in the historic Barto Residence is now open at 11425 95A Street.
- Asymmetrical Brewing is opening their new space on November 9, 2022. They are located in part of the storefront that formerly housed Two Sergeants Brewing, 11821 105 Avenue.
- Rigoletto’s is moving to the CKUA Building (9802 Jasper Avenue), aiming to re-open in mid-November.
- Bodega is opening their sixth location in Ellerslie in mid-December, located at 916 103A Street SW.
- After closing their Downtown pop-up, Fawkes Coffee & Doughnuts has shifted their pop-up across the river to 10507 Saskatchewan Drive.
- Bubble tea shop Boba Bar opens in Sherwood Park on November 8, 2022 at 540, 3850 Sherwood Drive.
- Taiwan-based bubble tea chain Kung Fu Tea has opened in Edmonton at 14250 23 Avenue.
- Loblaws City market in Ice District officially opens on November 9, 2022. It is located at 10324 103 Avenue.
- A new “dessert experience” is coming soon to Old Strathcona, called Phat Bar Bakery, located at 101, 10813 82 Avenue.
Upcoming Events
- The inaugural ICE District Chili Cook-Off will be hosted at the Molson Hockey house on November 10 from 5-8pm. The entrance fee is a $10 donation to the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation and includes 8 sampling tickets and a vote for the People’s Choice Award.
- The Butchery is hosting a Christmas Market on November 27, 2022. $15 tickets include food and wine samples, and a $5 credit towards any purchase at The Butchery.
Local News
- Alberta Health Services ordered that Tres Carnales Taqueria close on October 31 after their inspection found numerous health violations, including pest infestations. The owners indicated that they have rectified the issues, and that they stemmed from the building.
- At the end of October, the downtown location of Jack’s Burger Shack was vandalized and broken into.
- Edify released their 2022 Top 40 Under 40 list, and a number of #yegfood folks were included: Peter Keith of Meuwly’s, bartender James Grant, The Old Red Barn’s Matthew Schur,
- Congratulations to Serge Belair of the Edmonton Convention Centre for winning the Great Kitchen Party Regional Qualifier. Lindsay Porter of The Common and Holly Holt of She Cooks rounded out the podium. Serge will go on to compete at the Canadian Culinary Championship in February 2023.
- Air Canada’s short list of Canada’s Best New Restaurants came out last week, and unfortunately, it’s no surprise that Edmonton was left out again. It was great for Pei Pei Chei Ow to be recognized in two sub-categories (Best Trailblazer and Best New Take-Out), but why couldn’t the restaurant be a part of the top ten?
- Linda has a great post highlighting all of the Edmonton-made advent calendars available, including the Italian Centre’s popular version that goes on sale next week.
- Also from Linda in a partnered post, she blogged about 10 bites under $10 in Edmonton’s Chinatown.
- A reminder that the deadline to participate in the Food Faves contest is November 16. Tag us when you visit one of the businesses to be entered for your chance to win $25 gift cards to one of our favourite places – winner’s choice!
- Edify checked out Fuzed Kitchen + Bar, The Lunch Box Diner, Miss Korea, and The Moth.
- Odd Company Brewing is the latest to be selected for the Best Dish column.
- Twyla featured Transit Smokehouse and BBQ on Edmonton AM.
- Also from Twyla – she put together a weekend getaway guide to Edmonton for Afar Magazine.
- Edmonton AM’s remaining Halloween Snackchecker segments showcased Canadian Dollar Store, Ben’s Meats and Deli, Sugared and Spiced, and Confections Cake Co.
- Congratulations to Teresa Spinelli of Italian Centre Shop for receiving the Order of the Star of Italy (similar to the Order of Canada) for her work on promoting Italian foodstuffs and gastronomy.
- Happy sixth birthday to Northern Chicken!
- Alberta
will be home to Chick-fil-A restaurants “in the coming years”. While no
cities were confirmed in the announcement, given Edmonton has successfully bred
so many chain concepts in the past, it would be surprising if the city doesn’t
end up with a location. - During the World Cup, Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis will permit bars to serve alcohol in the morning.
- Three additional 7-Eleven stores are now
also licensed to sell alcohol. The first 7-Eleven to begin selling alcohol
opened back in December 2021. - A man has been charged with the molotov cocktail incidents that occurred in the summer at Mann Meats and Indian Cuisine.
Urban Agriculture and Farming
- Has the City’s food and urban agriculture strategy moved the needle at in the decade since coming into being? Not much, some urban farmers told Taproot.
What I Ate
- Leopard finally began offering take-out, so we finally were able to try their pizza! I’m sure the pie would have definitely been better eaten hot out of the oven, but I loved the chew in the crust. We’ll definitely have to go back in person one day.
Paulie’s from Leopard (we appreciated that they honoured our request to put olives on only half the pizza, too)
- We’re always grateful to have Tiffin so close – to be able to walk out with a meal in minutes definitely helps on some of those extra busy nights.
Take-out from Tiffin (I especially love their mango paneer!)
Only Here for the Food 