Food Notes for July 20, 2026

Openings

• Afghan and Turkish restaurant Ariana Kitchen opened in early July at 13720 50 Street NW.
• Indian restaurant and bar Sangam Social is now open in Sherwood Park at #42, 975 Broadmoor Blvd.
• Vietnamese fusion bakery and cafe Heo Bake is now open at 9407 98 Avenue NW.
• Sports pub The Gardens opened its second location at 11520 100 Avenue at the end of June.
• Smashburger purveyor Meet the Bun has opened its fourth Edmonton area location in Sherwood Park, 270 Baseline Road #122.
• Jerusalem Shawarma is adding its sixth Edmonton location at 13204 137 Avenue NW.
• Restaurant and brewery Brewco opened in mid-June at West Edmonton Mall.
• Also in West Edmonton Mall, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is now open in the Phase 1 food court. It is the chain’s fourth location in Edmonton.
• Toronto-based Rosie’s Burgers has delayed their opening at the Brewery District until August 1. Find it at 11928 104 Avenue.
• Kanpai, a forthcoming Asian fusion bar to open in the former El Cortez space (8230 Gateway Blvd NW), has been sharing updates about its space since a fire damaged part of the building.
• A food truck serving Egyptian cuisine is opening soon in Edmonton, called Best Moud.
• Turkish restaurant and pastry chain Lokma Dessert Bar & Grill will be opening a location in Edmonton at 3629 Gateway Blvd NW.

Closures

• There were so many closures over the past two weeks (and in the prior month as well). KB and Company has shut down their downtown location after ten years in operation: “The construction, reduced foot traffic, changing work patterns after COVID, safety concerns etc, and every year seemed to bring another obstacle.” It appears on the website that three of the company’s other locations are still open, in Windermere, Sherwood Park, and St. Albert.
• In the same building, Bundok also announced its closure, after nine and a half years in business: “Running a restaurant is tough at the best of times and as things have continued to mount up against us, we’ve decided the best thing to do is move on.”
• Rhubarb Cafe in Manchester Square announced its closure after five years in business – it’s been a tough go for many businesses in that complex.
• After nearly one year, Ukrainian and European restaurant Zymo on Rice Howard Way has closed.
• After ten years, Greta will be closing on July 26, “due to the ongoing challenges of operating in downtown Edmonton”. Greta’s locations in Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto remain open. Its owner, Chris DeCock, wrote a long post about what led to its closure.

Upcoming Events

• YEG Burger Battle runs for the month of July, with 24 burgers to choose from at 19 participating restaurants. $1 from each burger sold will be donated to KidSport.

Local News

• Station Park’s Food Hall has ushered in a new set of vendors after an initial slate of Japanese food operators. This time, a variety of cuisines are represented, including Malaysian, Filipino, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Ukrainian.
• The winners of KDays’ New Foods Competition were announced, and include bao from Flipside BBQ (who also won last year), brownie cake donuts, and a caesar gelato shake.
• Taste of Edmonton is on until July 26; the Journal is currently eating its way through the dishes.
• Zwick’s Pretzels has closed its 124 Street location, but are still offering pick up of their soft and packaged hard pretzels at a new location at 14811 134 Avenue NW.
• Fuge Sausage will be ending their Fuge Friday lunches in order to focus on production.
• The Journal covered Ramneek Singh’s current donair odyssey, on his quest to find the city’s best donair. He has currently reviewed sixteen donairs.
• The Globe and Mail compiled a list of 12 of Canada’s most beloved restaurants (the article is paywalled, unfortunately), and Bistro Praha is Edmonton’s contribution.
• Edify staff did a taste test of five different green onion cakes available in Edmonton.
• Erika reviewed Bar Bricco.
• Meals on Wheels has introduced a Celebrity Chef Series, which features special recipes created by local chefs to be served on their menus. This month, items from Koutouki and Blue Willow will be offered.
• Congratulations to Transcend Coffee on their twentieth birthday, pioneers on ushering in the third wave coffee scene in Edmonton.
• Speaking of coffee, Roasti Coffee Company was voted #1 in Fltr Magazine’s People’s Choice Coffee Awards.
• Always great to see local businesses collaborating, like Fu’s Repair Shop and Sea Change Brewing with the return of its Fu-Tang Tangerine Green Tea Ale.
• CBC RadioActive interviewed the family behind Ying Fat, a tofu factory in Chinatown.
• I really love the idea of mobile grocery stores/markets, especially in food desert areas. ATB Place (while not a food desert) offers a mobile farmers’ market on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Beyond Edmonton

• Italian Centre Shop opened it second Calgary location at Northland Village Mall last week.
• Sea Change Brewing and Flat Boy Burgers have opened Skelly Club in Calgary, at 816 11 Avenue SW.

Urban Agriculture and Farming

• It was heartbreaking to learn about Sundog Organic’s devastation to its crops this year, due to the excessive rain. Their operations are not covered by insurance at their scale, so they are currently raising funds through a crowdfunding campaign. We have been long-time customers and it would be such a loss if they aren’t able to continue operating in the future.

What I Ate

• Before our vacation, I had a work trip that brought me to Red Deer. It was my first time dining at Sprouts Vine Bistro, and after our lunch there, I know it won’t be my last. Their bison burger was juicy and so flavourful, and the service was excellent.

Bison burger from Sprouts Vine Bistro

• In honour of a few birthdays, we shared a beautifully decorated cupcake bouquet from B Bakes – it was almost too pretty to eat!

B Bakes cupcakes

• Our annual tradition of spending Canada Day at the Legislature continued, and meant we could indulge in some of our food truck favourites. We love us some Drift.

Fried chicken sandwich from Drift

Our family’s typical vacation destination of choice is Vancouver Island, so for a change of pace, we decided to visit Canada’s “other” island, Prince Edward Island. It was our first experience of the Maritimes, and it exceeded my expectations. The beaches were gorgeous (our family was partial to Thunder Cove and Brackley), the seafood was delicious, and the pace was exactly what we were hoping for.

• We did not know dairy bars were so prevalent everywhere, but the kids certainly got used to having ice cream almost every day! One of my favourites was enjoying Holman’s ice cream in their garden in Summerside.

Sorbet from Holman’s

• I’m always partial to a baked good, and we came across some fantastic bakeries. The freshly fried cinnamon sugar donuts from Olde Village Bakery in North Rustico were memorable, as was the strawberry flakie from Country Taste in Belfast.

Emily and our box of Country Taste treats

• Of course, there was seafood! The best setting for our meal was at Point Prim Chowder House – while it wasn’t the best chowder I’ve had, nothing beats the seaside setting.

Seafood chowder from Point Prim Chowder House

• As is the case when we’re on Vancouver Island, I was on a mission to find some local fishmongers for our dinners at home. It wasn’t hard, and the fish we had, simply fried in butter, were easily the best thing I ate on vacation. It also didn’t hurt that we hit up several farmers’ markets during our stay too, and were there at the right time for new PEI potatoes and fresh local strawberries.

Easy dinners at home

• The kids also tried their first oysters on this trip – the ones at Brackley Bay Oyster Co. are as fresh as they come.

At Brackley Bay Oyster Co.