Food Notes for October 6, 2025

Iconoclast Owner Expands with Restaurant and Cheese Shop Rooted in Community

The owner of Iconoclast is betting on the neighbourhood to support the addition of a restaurant and retail cheese shop in Wîhkwêntôwin to his business portfolio. “It’s insane to open a restaurant in this economy,” said Ryan Arcand. “But we have probably the best customer base in the city and I’m hoping that our long-standing customers will appreciate something in this space that is similar to our aesthetic and philosophy.”

Iconoclast, Arcand’s coffee roastery and café, has been located in the Oliver Exchange Building at 120 Street and 102 Avenue since 2019. In August, he opened restaurant Lovesong in an adjacent building, a reclaimed Epcor substation, at 12015 102 Avenue NW. Then in September, along with RGE RD and The Butchery owner Blair Lebsack, Arcand launched Tiny’s Cheese Shop across the courtyard from Lovesong in the OEX2 building at #103, 12017 102 Avenue NW.

For Arcand, operating a year-round farming installation was a part of his original business plan before he opened Iconoclast. The farming aspect of Arcand’s vision had to be shelved as he focused on gaining business experience through roasting coffee and then operating a café. But when his landlord Beljan Developments shared that they would be purchasing the substation building next to Iconoclast, Arcand jumped on the opportunity. “The property came along at the right time,” said Arcand. “But real estate is expensive, and I could not afford to only use the property to grow and sell produce. So it became an extension of the business to have a restaurant where we could feature what we’ve grown.”

At present, Arcand has a 600 square foot grow room in the basement of the substation where they are focusing primarily on microgreens. “The idea of doing microgreens is pragmatic,” said Arcand. “They have a really short grow period. Germination to harvest is 10 to 14 days. The turnaround is really easy, margins are good, and the nutritional value is high.”

Arcand shared that the microgreens will be available for purchase in the cheese shop. Lovesong serves the microgreens fresh as a garnish, dehydrates them for salads, and blends them into a slurry for steak marinade.

The building also has a rooftop garden with raised beds that Arcand intends to ramp up next year, with covered planting to start as early as April.

Arcand describes Lovesong’s menu as vegetable-forward. He is trying to source ingredients they are not able to grow on their own from local producers. Four Whistle Farms supplies much of their meat proteins, and their staff are shopping at the nearby 124 Grand Market on Sundays.

Arcand’s overall approach to food has strongly influenced the menu. “My food philosophy has been clean food with nutritional value that makes you feel good,” said Arcand. “A lot of restaurant menus are rich and salty, and an hour and a half later, you don’t feel great, you feel heavy.”

As a result, Lovesong is also focusing on fermenting vegetables, butter, and dairy products. “With our yogurt, for example, we’re targeting certain species of probiotics that have proven impacts on things like inflammation in the body and the body’s abilities to produce hormones like oxytocin that are good for our body and health,” said Arcand.

His healthy eating philosophy is also guiding some of what will be on the shelves at Tiny’s Cheese Shop. “Blair’s daughter and my daughter are best friends,” said Arcand. “As parents, feeding your kids is a daily responsibility. The idea of picking up a kit speaks to me. As parents we can stop into Tiny’s on the way home, pick up a tetra pack of microgreens for a salad or smoothies, a kit with fresh dough, sauce, cheese, sausage or pepperoni from The Butchery, or a nacho kit with locally-made tortilla chips. Food that’s nutritionally rich and the kids will eat.”

Arcand is optimistic that meal kits, charcuterie from The Butchery, and their forthcoming takeaway cheese boards are a safer bet given the current climate. “Especially as the economy turns downward the 1980s house party style of socializing will become popular again instead of people eating out multiple times a week,” said Arcand. “We will feed people in a different way through our businesses.”

Tiny’s Cheese Shop Manager Pam Kossowan

On the cheese side, Tiny’s will offer a rotating selection of fresh cheeses from Canada, the United States, and Europe. The shop will have 40 on hand at a given time, and Arcand promises that Tiny’s will have cheese that others in Edmonton are not able to offer. “One of the biggest challenges for people who want to sell fresh cheese is that it is a fresh commodity, and the clock is ticking the moment it leaves the farm,” said Arcand. “For instance, three hundred dollars of premium goat cheese that you have to sell within ten to fourteen days of arrival. You could potentially lose a lot of money if you can’t sell it that week. We’re able to take the fresh cheese and offer it on our restaurant menus to mitigate the risk.”

Arcand believes the area is particularly ready for Tiny’s given the closure of Paddy’s Cheese last year. He shared that he was really impressed by Everything Cheese, a cheese shop that opened in Riverbend back in 2010. It closed four years later, something Arcand primarily attributed to its location. “The reality is that in Edmonton, the success of your model in the independent landscape depends on the location,” said Arcand. “Out there [in Riverbend] everyone is used to getting in their car and travelling to a store, getting everything once and going back home. I’ve felt that this neighbourhood [Wîhkwêntôwin], people have the routine, habit, and appreciation that it’s better to go get your bread at a bakery, meat at a butcher shop, cheese at a cheese store.”

So far, Arcand has been happy with the response to Tiny’s. “Edmonton doesn’t have a shop like this since Paddy’s closed,” said Arcand. “We’ve had nothing but positive feedback. People are happy there’s a cheese shop back in the area.”

Openings

• Jacek Chocolate announced they will be opening a new store in St. Albert.
• Bakenary’s brick and mortar shop opens October 12 at 5732 75 Street NW.
• There’s a new Moroccan bakery in Edmonton called Richbond Bakery & Patisserie at 8111 160 Avenue NW.
• Chai Sutta Bar, India’s biggest chai chain, is now open in Edmonton at #2, 3779 17 Street NW.
• Indian restaurant Bahubali is opening October 10, at 4208 Calgary Trail NW.
• Food truck season is winding down, so hopefully Pupuseria Hailey, will return next year so I can also try their pupusas.
• The Unity Square Brewsters location is now open in the former Beer Revolution space at 11736 104 Avenue NW.
• Italian restaurant Felicita Pasta House opened back in July at 765 Daniels Way SW.

Closures

• River Cree’s Italia is closing on October 11 to make way for another concept.
• Bestie, Kind Ice Cream’s seasonal Crestwood operation, is closed until next summer.

Upcoming Events

• Twenty-two restaurants are participating in the second annual Stony Plain Road Dining Week, running October 2-12.
• The second NAIT Alumni Series Dinner features upcoming Top Chef Canada contestant Holly Holt on October 17. Tickets are $104.76.
• Save the date for Feed the Soul’s Dining Week as it returns October 17-26. They have expanded their mandate to include Black, Indigenous, and other racialized restaurants.
• Culina Famiglia’s second Pranzo will take place on October 19. Tickets for the family-style meal are $47.25 for adults and $18.90 for kids 5-10.

Local News

• It’s always great to see businesses such as Balay Coffee and Made by Marcus, who choose to remain open on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, donate proceeds to local Indigenous organizations.
• Congratulations to the winning chefs of this year’s Great Kitchen Party: gold to Tyson Wright of the Old Red Barn Leduc, silver to Jason Greene of Braven, and bronze to Rose Colangelo from Tulip. Tyson will represent Edmonton in the Canadian Culinary Championships in January 2026.
• The first Modern Luxuria Awards of Excellence were announced, and recognize Sabor, The Colombian, Sea Change Brewing, Anohka Distillery, chef Peter Zukiwski of Pitt Country BBQ, and bartender Jordan Clemens of Leopard.
• Edify had a great interview with Jesse Gado of Rosewood Foods about their success and potential growth.
• Also from Edify, they checked out El Jardin, now under new ownership and featuring a menu focused on cuisine from Oaxaca.
• Confetti Sweets announced they have landed a partnership with Rogers Place. Unrelated, Confetti Sweets is offering a fun “sweet” turkey dinner tray for Thanksgiving.
• Congratulations to Bridges Catering for 30 years in business.
• Edmonton AM chatted with local Great Canadian Baking Show contestant Margaret Bose-Johnson.
• Mai Mai is partnering with Edmonton’s Food Bank for a spicy challenge for a good cause – if you can finish their Bun Bo Hue in 30 minutes, the bowl is free and Mai Mai will donate $10 to the Food Bank.

What I Ate

Our family is out of town for the long weekend, so no Food Notes next week. Happy Thanksgiving!

• Our family had Friday night dinner at Buok, and so appreciated their hospitality (Emily may or may not have had a couple helpings of pickled daikon). I’m also a fan of their ginseng chicken soup. Their daily specials are also pretty value oriented – the japchae plate was just $12.99.

Just japchae with Bulgogi beef from Buok

• I am admittedly not a fan of pumpkin spice-everything, but I am totally down with Thanksgiving dinner-everything. We went to La Poutine over the weekend for the first time in ages for their Thanksgiving turkey poutine. It was indulgent and delicious.

Thanksgiving poutine from La Poutine