Food Notes for August 3, 2026

Openings

• XIX Nineteen is expanding again, with a location in Valleyview, 9112 142 Street, to open in September. This storefront was previously occupied by Rebel Food & Drink (which has since relocated to Crestwood Centre).
• While I’m still sad to see Battista’s Calzones go, it’s always great to have more local businesses close to my office. In this case, Luso’s Bakery takes up the Portuguese mantle left when Handy Bakery closed. Find it at 11745 84 Street NW.
• Allendale has a new cafe called Brisk and Brew, located at 6324 106 Street NW.
• The Emerald is a new Irish-inspired breakfast and lunch spot open at 6604 178 Avenue.
• Masaya is a new Turkish and Syrian restaurant that opened on July 12, at 10425 158 Avenue NW.
• Delhi Social Club & Cafe, offering Indian and Indo-Chinese cuisine, celebrated their grand opening at 3727 99 Street NW.
• Fuzion Donuts will be opening their third location in Edmonton, at 3344 Gateway Blvd.
• A Wild Wing franchise will be opening at 10184 104 Street.
• The Koko Grill is opening a second location in Beaumont, at 5005 50 Street, #102.

Closures

• DRTY Ice Cream (along with their host business, Foosh), have closed their downtown location: “With the crazy rain, it was hard enough to attract folks to make the trek across the river. But add in the heavy construction, random road closures, expensive parking, and little to no foot traffic – our little ice cream window didn’t stand a chance.” DRTY’s Station Park location remains open.

Upcoming Events

• Seven Edmonton and area restaurants are participating in Alberta on the Plate’s Dine Around Festival, offering a special menu from August 7-16.

Local News

• The latest chapter related to the spate of core restaurants closing revolved around a comment posted by a City of Edmonton employee in response to Wilfred’s closure that was perceived as “tone deaf” by the business.
• Zero-proof bar Spilt posted that the most toxic thing about the current discussion of downtown business closures is the narrative: “Last week, as conversations about downtown closures reached a fever pitch, our sales dropped 70% compared to the week before. That’s during a summer where we’re already down about 50% overall. It was our worst week on record in 2026…the stories we tell about downtown matter. Every time we write it off as impossible to visit until the construction is over, we make it a little harder for the people who have chosen to build something right here, right now.”
• Chocolatier Sweet Lollapalooza shared a post about why they have chosen to remain downtown.
• Little Brick and Dogpatch chose Don’ya as the first downtown business they supported by purchasing $2,000 worth of gift cards to give away.
• Many hospitality businesses (as many residents) have been affected by flooding incidents – including Bella, who is closed until August 11.
• Edify checked out breakfast at Norma Dee’s in Devon.
• Green Onion Cake Man is celebrating 45 years of serving up what some call Edmonton’s official dish.
• Square 1 Coffee and sister business Stone and Wheel’s Sherwood Park location commemorated their first birthday.
• With Ramneek Singh’s current Donair Odyssey taking shape, donairs are also on the voting roster of Oilers Nation’s Battle of the Donairs.
• Speaking of Ramneek, his Butter Chicken Odyssey is debuting as a Fringe show this year.
• Congratulations to the food and drink winners at this year’s Heritage Festival (it was an especially tough year given the weather/closures, so all the flowers to these vendors).  

What I Ate

• I grabbed a couple of pastries from the new bakery in my work neighbourhood, Luso’s, to try last week. The pasteis de nata, or Portuguese egg tart, was the stand out. I will be back for more.

Treats from Luso’s

• Our family had dinner with my parents at Chinatown’s Nam Siam (new to them) so I could share my love of their nem nuong tray – the salad rolls that result as so incredibly fresh.

Salad roll platter from Nam Siam

• My kids usually know that dinners in Chinatown are followed by a treat at Little Bon Bon – in this case, they were not wrong.

I always bon bon my ice cream

• We decided to forego haskap picking this summer because my parents shared their Rosy Farms bounty with us this year. As a result, we chose to return to Horse Hill Berry Farm, which we haven’t been to in some years. The mosquitos were a tough go for me, but Ellie was unfazed.

Horse Hill Berry Farm

• We also went to check out the Heritage Festival today after such difficult conditions this year. It was hopping, and I was especially happy for my annual langos from Hungary.

Elephant ears for all