Openings

• Hanjan has opened up in the west end at 10401 Mayfield Road. It is the restaurant’s fourth location in Edmonton.
• Similarly, Siam Thai Kitchen has added its fourth location to the Edmonton region. Find them in Sherwood Park at 205 Festival Way.
• Koselig by Alberta Ale Works will be opening in Ritchie Hub this summer, at 9643 82 Avenue.
• It turns out The Colombian’s seventh location is not in the Edmonton region at all, but will be in Saskatoon. They’re continuing on their ambitious path to open in 75 communities in 10 years.

Closures

• Cafe Rista has closed.

Upcoming Events

• For the month of July, a dozen restaurants are serving up a feature burger where for the YEG Burger Battle. $1 from each burger sold will be donated to KidSport.
• Feed the Soul is hosting a Caribbean cooking class with The Bajan Chef on July 11. Tickets are $35 plus service fees.

Local News

• KDays has partnered with 24 food businesses in the Edmonton area who will be serving up KDays-themed treats. Each menu item will come with 2 free admission tickets to KDays.
• It’s definitely the year of matcha in Edmonton, so a matcha pop-up was inevitable. Whisked is all about small-batch matcha and popped-up at Kommune over the weekend.
• Duchess has launched a small batch ice cream line.
• Edify checked out Sip Soda Co., which serves up dirty sodas in Sherwood Park.
• Feed the Soul created an Indigenous Dining Guide for reference.
• King Noodle House is celebrating 30 years in business.
• Little Bon Bon and Shiddy’s Rumpus Room have commemorated their first birthdays.
• Colleen Heidecker, of Colleen’s Chocolates, is caring for her partner Jason full-time after he suffered his second stroke in 9 years. Family have created a crowdfunding campaign to support the couple through recovery.
• The River Cree Resort and Casino announced that their liquor service on their gaming floor will now be available 24/7.

What I Ate

• I am a creature of habit, but I deviated from my usual Dorinku Osaka order with one of their lunch sets. I thought $20 was a pretty good deal for a salad (or rice), miso soup, and chicken karaage.

Chicken karaage lunch set from Dorinku Osaka

• Before a visit to the 124 Street Grand Market, Mack, Ellie, and I wandered over the nearby Urban Diner to have lunch. The breakfast menu was the only option at that time, and we were reasonably satisfied with our hash and savoury waffle picks. Ellie definitely won out with her poffertjes, though.

Our Urban Diner brunch order

• I also had to have a belated birthday brunch at Rosewood Foods. I always dream about their lemon pancakes, and they didn’t disappoint. We’re so lucky to have them downtown!

All smiles at Rosewood

Openings

• The third Made by Marcus location in Edmonton is now open. Find it in Mill Creek at 9853 89 Avenue.
• I missed the March opening of Lunar in the Crawford Block building in Old Strathcona, at 8222 Gateway Blvd, a sister restaurant to Boxcar.

Upcoming Events

• Downtown YEG Burgerfest is returning for a second year, running from July 2-6. Participating restaurants, including Jack’s Burger Shack, The Common, and Let’s Smash, are returning with burger specials. Check the Instagram account for the menus.
• The sixth annual Culinaire Edmonton Hunt returns later this year; early birds can send an e-mail to get on the list before registration opens in August.

Local News

• Epcor’s Glass of the Sask campaign is back, highlighting the high quality tap water available in Edmonton. Five restaurants have created dishes that use tap water as a key ingredient, including High Dough’s pizza. Check out the menus available from June to August.
• Edify checked out Ester’s Ukrainian sushi, and presents a listicle of globally-inspired ice creams.
• Taproot learned that the City’s entertainment districts are exempt from the single-use item reduction bylaw.

What I Ate

• It is an age-old decision for Mack and I whether our infrequent date nights are spent at a new restaurant or at a tried-and-true. For my birthday, we decided on the former. We were curious about Nero, which opened after a lengthy renovation of the historic Molson Brewery building. The room has a sense of grandeur, and makes the most of its high ceilings and brick. Service was great, and we found a lot to like in the lengthy cocktail menu. The mushroom toast was fine, but I wished for more char on the flank steak.

Our spread at Nero

• We also popped into Kin, which felt like the polar opposite of Nero. Kin leans into its subterranean location, dim and inscrutable. The menu is short and approachable. We loved the smoked chili emulsion served with the long tots, but the namesake burger was the standout, decadent and wholly satisfying.

Kin burger

• Our family spent some time at Blatchford on Saturday. In the company of Drift, it was giving me flashbacks to the What the Truck?! we hosted there nine years ago(!), not long after they had just broken ground on the development.

Poutine from Drift

• I have mentioned that Cinnzeo is very high on my guilty pleasures list, and it seemed fitting for me in lieu of a birthday cake this year.

Cinnzeo

Openings

• Filipino chain Kukuruku Chicken has opened its first location in Edmonton at 10023 170 Street.
• Buldak is the newest Korean fried chicken joint to open in Edmonton, at 8613 109 Street. It appears they also offer grilled chicken.
• It is always great seeing more diverse food options available, especially in the form of food trucks! Yella Kunafa is now open at 12607 148 Avenue currently, serving up kunafa, a traditional Arab dessert made with spun pastry dough.
• Calgary-based Thé Moon bubble tea cafe has opened a location in Edmonton at 3559 Gateway Blvd.
• Ben’s Meats and Deli has re-opened in their new location at 10516 184 Street.
• Drift will be opening up a retail shop this year! Location to be announced.

Upcoming Events

• In the Weeds, a group that supports positive mental health in the Edmonton hospitality community, is hosting The Restaurant Roast fundraiser on June 19 at Meuwly’s. Attendees will share their stories, fails, and read “mean reviews” on stage. Tickets are $10 and include a drink and snacks. Proceeds support subsidized counselling for hospitality workers.
• The next Chinatown After Dark runs June 21 from 6-11pm. We checked out the last event and had a great time.

Local News

• Edify checked out Cilantro Kittchen and Bar and offers a Father’s Day guide to restaurants for kids in various stages.
• CBC Radioactive beer columnist Jason Foster featured The Den by The Growlery, Analog Brewing, and Dog Island Brewing.
• Linda offers a list of her prettiest patios in Edmonton.
• One way or another, the Oilers’ postseason is coming to an end this week. So the hockey-adjacent media campaigns will come to an end as well – like Old Strathcona branding itself as an area to watch the playoffs “without the chaos”.

What I Ate

• We enjoyed our last order from Carne Asada so wanted to try it again with my parents. Our original plan was to order the taco family pack as advertised on their website, but unfortunately, the staff were not aware of it. We opted for the taco tray instead. The toppings and salsas were all packed separately so the tacos wouldn’t be soggy, but something was still lacking this time around. The meat just wasn’t as flavourful. We’ll give it some time before our next order.

Carne Asada’s taco tray

• Farrow’s grick middle will always have my heart, but I picked up a couple of their feature sandwiches over the weekend for Mack and me (and a couple of doughnuts for the kids!). The sandwich did not disappoint: the combination of porchetta, swiss, pickled sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts was so good. Get one before its gone!

Porchetta ‘Bout It from Farrow

Openings

• Canada’s first location of Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen will open at the River Cree Resort & Casino in early 2026.
• Bar Trove, the restaurant from Lauren Kyle-McDavid, opened on June 6 at 10126 100 Street. The Score had an article about Kyle-McDavid’s ambitions from an early age.
• Candid Coffee Roasters opened their second café, located in Highlands, over the weekend. Find it at 6419 112 Avenue (the former Mandolin Books).
• The Growlery’s Downtown location opened last week in the basement of the Mercer Warehouse. The Growlery was one of the three recipients of the Downtown Retail Project grant back in 2023.
• Mr. Waffle celebrated their kiosk grand opening at West Edmonton Mall on June 7.
• Toronto-based Kinton Ramen will be opening its first Edmonton location in Terra Losa this summer.

Closures

• Woodshed Burgers announced the closure of their Ellerslie location. The last day of operations is June 29. Woodshed’s three other locations remain open in Cameron Heights, 124 Street, and in Sherwood Park.
• Shumka’s Kingsway Mall location has closed after 37 years. It’s Namao Centre location remains open.

Upcoming Events

• The next Friends of the Royal Alberta Museum event is Dining with Artists on June 19th for a conversation about Juneteenth with poet, playwright, and performer Titilope Sonuga. Tickets are $125.62 per person.
• Save the date for this year’s Alberta on a Plate, a province-wide dine around festival that runs August 8-17. So far, 11 Edmonton and area restaurants are participating.

Local News

• Tu Le of Jack’s Burger Shack and winner of the Big Burger Battle on Flavour Network, shared that he is “getting ready to retire from cooking professionally” in order to spend more time with his family in the future.
• Happy Beer Street brewers consider setting up an entertainment district of their own on 78 Avenue (following in the footsteps of Rice Howard Way and 104 Street Downtown).
• The latest issue of Modern Luxuria highlights Bernadette’s, and has a photo gallery of Bar Trove’s media opening.
• Edify lists 20 meals for under $20.
• Don’ya Ukraine’s Kitchen is serving up fun rainbow-themed perogies for Pride Month.
• Even this late into the playoffs, Oilers-themed merchandise is still being introduced – such as these orange and blue caramels from Jacek.
• I love that the Edmonton Riverhawks adopted an alternate identity jersey as the Green Onion Cakes, a tribute to Siu To who introduced green onion cakes to Edmonton.
• CBC Radioactive interviewed a co-owner of The Common about the tenth anniversary of the Streetcar Cask Series and two women involved in Migrante Alberta’s new cookbook with recipes from migrant women called the Hands to Table Cookbook.

What I Ate

• • Mack and I finally tried Chick-Fil-A for the first time before a movie nearby on the weekend. It was underwhelming to say the least, and neither of us really understood the reason for the extreme hype when they first opened in Edmonton last year. But the fanfare never seems to match the product quality with these American chains.

Chick-Fil-A meal

• • Our family headed out to the Van bLoc party on Sunday. We loved all of the kid-specific activities they brought in this year, such as the EPL2Go van, and Emily and Ellie loved the sand pile. It was distracting enough so I could really dig into my favourite noodles from Gui Lin.

Instant noodles with minced pork from Gui Lin

Openings

• Spruce Grove’s Great North Cookie Co. will be opening a second location in West Edmonton Mall! I love their cookies, so it is great to see they’ll have a location in the city. Their expected opening date is July 2025.
• Gratitude Coffee will be shifting to a bigger location in Sherwood Park, but will maintain their existing location until they are ready to move.

Upcoming Events

• Africanival runs June 6-8, 2025 in Churchill Square, celebrating Afro-Caribbean culture with food, music and dancing.
• The Van bLoc Party returns to Chinatown again, but over two days this year on June 7-8, 2025. The owners of Van Loc also did an interview about the story behind their sister cafe/cocktail bar, Boa and Hare.
• Taste of Edmonton runs from July 17-27, 2025. Discounted early bird tickets are available from now until July 16, with savings of $10 per sheet.

Local News

• Big congrats to Tu Le of Jack’s Burger Shack for winning Flavour Network’s Big Burger Battle! He did Edmonton (and St. Albert) proud!
• Also on the burger front, Taproot featured the story behind Shortees, Goat Track Social Club’s foray into smashburgers at the Rundle Park Golf Course.
• Taproot followed up with Meuwly’s on their transition to hosting local food brands since closing their retail shop at the end of 2024.
• Boyle McCauley News interviewed Michael Kalmanovitch, founder of Earth’s General Store, who is aiming to open Earth’s Refillery Co-op in Little Italy in July.
• Congratulations to the winners of the annual Th3rd Wave Coffee Awards, including Common Ground as Best New Cafe, Take Care Café as the Coffee Shop of the Year, and Roasti and Rogue Wave recognized as outstanding roasters.
• 104 Street is the latest “Entertainment District”, joining Rice Howard Way with that designation. It means patrons are allowed to order alcohol from adjacent restaurants to enjoy on the street. This applies during Downtown Farmers’ Market hours on Saturday, but of course, arcane laws prohibit cracking open alcoholic products purchased from vendors on the same street.
• Edify has a story on what to expect at Ritchie Market’s Relish.
• Also from Edify – visits to Aura Cocktails and Saigon Taste, and a fun Edmonton coffee/food/bookshop tour.
• Too many Oilers-themed products to keep track of: I missed the return of the Orange Crush Creamsicle from Yelo’d and the Playoff Roast from Gratitude Coffee. One round to go, boys!
• While Moneris data from the Oilers’ second round tracked an increase in game-day spending, some warn that discretionary spending may decrease after the playoffs conclude.
• Congratulations to Edmonton-based Bodega for opening their first Calgary location last week!
• Also south of Edmonton, Edify provides a road trip guide to small-batch spirits from breweries and distilleries down Highway 2.

What I Ate

• It’s been a while since I’ve dined in at Coliseum Steak & Pizza (my go-to restaurant by my office), but I appreciate how reliable and consistent they are.

Pepperoni and mushroom pizza from Coliseum

• We celebrated my Mom’s birthday at one of her favourite restaurants, Padmanadi, last week. The kitchen was lightning quick – the appetizers appeared at our table less than five minutes after we ordered them – and helped us manage our hangry kids (it was our first time trying the crispy chicken strips and they ended up being a table favourite).

We can’t leave Padmanadi without ginger beef

• Emily and I had a blast volunteering at the Edmonton International Cat Fest this weekend, and were satiated by generous portions of pasta from Takam Market.

Chicken alfredo from Takam Market

• We were so fortunate to obtain the last two orders of Tu’s winning Big Burger Challenge entry today, the Jen Le Burger: a triple smash burger with Sot Vang Dip. It was as amazing as we thought it would be. For those that missed out, don’t worry – Tu said he will be rolling a once weekly special, featuring items he prepared on the show.

Jen Le Burger