Food Notes for October 7, 2024

Openings

• Daniel Costa’s newest venture in the Citizen Jasper, an Italian restaurant called Olia, is now open. Find it at 12016 Jasper Avenue.
• Waffle Bird opened its new location, featuring a dine-in option, last week at 10347 80 Avenue (the former Ohana Donuterie).
• Sushi Wave has opened in the the 124 Street area, offering “West coast styled sushi”. It is located at 10812 124 Street.
• Woodshed Burgers will be opening up a location in Sherwood Park.
• Café Versailles is opening up a sister bakery in the west end called Café Aria, located at 20023 Lessard Road. It will open in mid-October.
• Thanks to a reader, Anna, for the heads up about a new coffee shop called Nuestra to open across the street from Borden Park at 7601 112 Avenue. It’s always great to see mature neighbourhoods gain an independent!
• New Indian restaurant Shree Restaurant and Bakery opened this past weekend at 2838 James Mowatt Trail SW.
• The Tap Room has replaced the short-lived Slap Shot on 104 Street, and is now open at 10184 104 Street.

Upcoming Events

• The Italian Centre Shop’s Festival of Cheese returns for its second year on November 13. The vent features cheese and food stations alongside wine and beer pairings. Proceeds support the University Hospital Foundation.

Local News

• Edify captured their experience with another interactive dining series currently running in Edmonton, Le Petit Chef, at the JW Marriott.
• Also from Edify, a visit to new Pakistani restaurant KohSarr Grill.
• The duo behind Bernadette’s talked about “Indigenous cuisine” on the latest episode of CBC’s This is Edmonton podcast.
• The October issue of Modern Luxuria highlights Monsoon Bistro & Bar.
• Happy 15th birthday, Duchess!
• Season 11 of Top Chef Canada, featuring Edmonton’s Shane Chartrand, debuts October 14 on Food Network Canada. The Journal interviewed Chartrand about his experience.
• The Alberta government decided against letting grocers and corner stores sell liquor.

What I Ate

No Food Notes next week, as our family is heading out of town for the long weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!

• Had a quick trip to Calgary for work last week, and revisited JinBar with a few colleagues. The Korean fried chicken and brussels sprouts were the table favourites.

KFC from JinBar

• Our family had dinner at PlayWright on Friday, and learned just how busy the restaurant gets on a show night. The kitchen was quick though, and our hungry kids were fed in a timely way. The mac and cheese was a hit, and I enjoyed the very crispy fried chicken sandwich.

Fried chicken sandwich from PlayWright

• While we won’t be eating it just yet, we’re thrilled with our pumpkin harvest from our community garden plot, our first time planting this crop. We will end up with eight sugar pie pumpkins in total!

Emily is excited for pumpkins!