Food Notes for January 12, 2026

Happy New Year! I took an additional week off due to personal and work commitments, so there is a lot to catch up on.

Openings

• The folks behind Dagu have opened a hot pot restaurant called Boiling Hot Pot at 2848 James Mowatt Trail SW.
• Chianti’s has opened a second location in Riverbend, at 500 Riverbend Square NW.
• King of Tarts has re-opened a brick and mortar shop at 10334 82 Avenue NW (the former Sugared and Spiced location).
• Cocktail bar Plume Bar opened on Boxing Day at 10145 104 Street NW.
• After a ten year break, The Druid opened in the Mercer Warehouse on December 30.
• Calgary-based Gogi Korean BBQ has opened in Edmonton, at 4112 Calgary Trail.
• Sam’s Whyte Ave closed to make way for the owners to pivot to Banh Mi Nghia.
• Yelo’d announced that they will be opening a new location in Terwillegar/Riverbend.
• Flat Boy Burgers will be expanding to Beaumont.
• DRTY Ice Cream will be opening an indoor location downtown.
• Tarboosh Market, a Lebanese grocery store, is now open at 6873 Astra Boulevard NW.
• Calgary-based Perfect Meat Bowl, offering build-your-own hot pot, opened in December at 3316 Gateway Blvd. NW.
• Korean bubble tea chain Palgong Tea is now open in NorQuest College.
• UK-based dessert restaurant Heavenly Desserts will be opening a location in Edmonton, their first Canadian branch outside of Ontario and BC.
• I can’t believe the restaurant name is real, but it is: American chain Bag O’Crab is now open at West Edmonton Mall.
• H & W opened a new store in St. Albert, at 90 McKenney Avenue.

Closures

• The Moth Cafe announced a planned closing date of November 2026. The reason is connected to plans to “revitalize this corner of the city.”
• After 50 years, Red Diamond House Restaurant will be closing at the end of January.
• Langano Skies announced their closure of their operations out of Barb & Ernie’s, with their last day being January 17. Langano Skies closed their brick and mortar shop in 2022.
• The owners behind vegetarian restaurant Loma House announced their retirement after 16 years in business. Their last day was January 10, 2026.
• Dosti is now closed, but hint that a “new Dosti experience is on the way.”

Upcoming Events

• Wyrd Bier Adventure is returning from January 7-February 1, featuring creative beers from 19 breweries. The Journal covered what to expect.
• Vagabond Pop-up is returning with Alpine Express “Express” at Little Wolf on January 17-18.
• Chinatown Dining Week returns January 29-February 8, 2026.

Local News

• It looks like CoffeePass has a direct competitor in Cafe Quest. Created by the folks behind Felice Cafe, they differentiate themselves with a minimum $5 value at each cafe, including food among what can be enjoyed, and that “profits are shared with our café partners – plus, a portion of every map goes to the Edmonton Food Bank.”
• Edify checked out Atrium and featured the story behind Hatch’d.
• The Tomato had a story about seven places for donairs in Edmonton – let the great debate continue.
• Modern Luxuria’s latest issue highlighted Fu’s Repair Shop and Mokha Coffee House.
• Evo Wonder Lounge posted that they could use more regular visits from folks to support being open for food and drinks seven days a week.
• Don’ya Ukraine’s Kitchen pitched for investment at CBC’s Dragon’s Den earlier this year, and the episode finally aired in December. They were unsuccessful.
• Steve and Dan’s Fruit also pitched at Dragon’s Den, for investment for their Pomme MD electrolyte apple juice drink. They were unsuccessful.
• The competition TV series Come Dine With Me is returning to Canada, and among its episodes, will feature five Edmonton amateur chefs.

Urban Agriculture and Farming

• The Strathcona Rail Community Garden has been added to the City’s inventory of historic resources.

What I Ate

• I met up with a friend at Sofra for dinner, a restaurant I haven’t been to in years. We enjoyed the food – the beef meatballs were the standout.

Beef meatballs from Sofra

• We returned to A Cappella’s take-and-bake turkey dinner for the holidays. Long live turkey leftovers!

A Cappella take-and-bake provisions

• We had many pizzas to commemorate Mack’s birthday (his annual request). This year included a stop at Leopard. The kids approved.

Pizzas from Leopard (plus Ellie)

• Our family satisfied a soup craving over the holidays with dinner at King Noodle House. We love #photogo, but there’s nothing like not doing the dishes, too.

Happy to say my kids love bun bo hue just as much as I do!

• I spent some time in Calgary for work, and had dinner at Park by Sidewalk Citizen. The solarium probably feels much different when bathed in natural light; on a winter evening, the room was too dim and bleak for my liking. That said, the food made up somewhat for the surroundings – the watercress salad was bright and wonderfully textured.

Watercress salad and gnocchi from Park by Sidewalk Citizen

• Our family continued our annual tradition of adopting a Holiday Hamper family. Emily has reached the age where she asks about the hamper as we approach Christmas; we look forward to Ellie doing the same in the years to come.

On our way to delivering holiday cheer!