Food Notes for August 31, 2026

Openings

• Edmonton’s newest pizza joint is Lazzarone Pizza at 10358 82 Avenue NW.
• Jill commented about a new new coffee and sandwich spot called Whtrabit at 14574 116 Avenue NW, featuring naturally leavened sourdough made with flour from Bentley, Alberta.
• Simply Chops, offering modern Nigerian cuisine, is now open in Edmonton at 9671 102A Avenue NW. Simply Chops also has two other locations in the greater Toronto area.
• Cafe Seoul Grove is a new Korean cafe offering coffee, bingsu, and board games inside the Wyndham Hotel at 4440 Gateway Blvd NW.
• Station Park has added a new vendor to the mix, called Pebre & Co. They serve Chilean empanadas.
• Ralph’s Fried Chicken’s southside location has been delayed to September 15. It will open at 9204 23 Avenue NW.
• Mr. Halal Burger is opening its fifth location in the Edmonton area, this time in Sherwood Park (220 Lakeland Drive, Unit 240).
• On September 2, Splattr Noodle Bar joins Takam Market’s concepts inside the Robbins Health Learning Centre at MacEwan University.
• Mullet’s Billiards & Bar is opening at 10314 100 Avenue NW in September.
• Taste of Hakka and Thakali Kitchen & Bar opened at 9563 118 Avenue NW back in July. Rat Creek Press profiled the restaurant and the owner who wanted to share Indo-Chinese and Himalayan flavours.

Closures

• The Moth has announced their upcoming closure back in January, but did not commit to a date at that time. They have now announced a date of September 13.
• Prestigio Bakery has closed its Clearwater location at 15333 97 Street NW. Its other Edmonton location, the Portuguese Canadian Bakery, remains open at 5304 118 Avenue NW.
• Vegan and vegetarian market Orii is now closed, but some of their products will still be available to be picked up and delivered through a new venture called BYW Life.

Upcoming Events

• Balay Coffee is returning with pop-up events at Silly Billy Market on September 12 and 13.
• Ernest’s at NAIT continues their Alumni Series dinners this fall, starting with Christine Sandford and Roger Letourneau on September 18. Tickets are $117.14.
• Kaleido Festival returns to Alberta Avenue from September 18-20. There will be over a dozen food trucks participating alongside the entertainment and other activities.
• Save the date for the second Food Truck Frenzy event, returning to the Expo Centre grounds on September 27. We went to the first event in August and had a blast!

Local News

• Arcadia Brewing Co. shared that they will be reducing the cost of their pints by $1, in response to some of the current narratives about supporting local businesses: “One thing that really stuck out to us was that a lot of the conversations were about why people need to support local businesses, rather than why they aren’t. It doesn’t take too many conversations to realize that it’s gotten really expensive to go out these days, let alone support local small businesses.”
• Nomiya has rebranded to Nom, and will be serving up fresh handmade udon.
• Mr. Halal Burger is the latest to add a $10 pay it forward option for those to buy a meal for someone who needs one.
• Patricia Street Deli’s similar Kindness Sandwich Program has distributed 250 sandwiches to those who needed one.
• The new owners of Ark Cafe have re-branded the business to The Quiet Cafe.
• The Citadel Theatre is inviting proposals for a cafe operator on their main floor (since vacated by Ghostlight).
• In case you missed it, Brad Smoliak’s celebration of life can be viewed online here.

What I Ate

• I met a friend for lunch at Menya Mori. It was absolutely packed, with a line-up out the door during our time there. Their tonkotsu always hits the spot for me, and my friend enjoyed the vegan ramen.

Shoyu tonkotsu from Menya Mori

• I also popped next door to satisfy my Chocorrant craving – it’s been too long since my last visit. The cookies and cream croissant was so tasty.

Sweet treats from Chocorrant

• It’s not summer until I’ve enjoyed the rare beef salad from Xu Hue on the streets of Edmonton’s Chinatown. I got it in just under the wire at Chinatown After Dark this weekend.

Rare beef salad from Xue Hue

• Our family teamed up with some friends to host our third lemonade stand to raise funds for the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Thanks to the generosity of those who stopped by, we bested our $750 goal. Here’s to next year!

Happy Lemonade Stand Day!