RESTAURANT REVIEW: Vegan Vietnamese delights at Veggie Garden
Right next door to where Oriental Veggie House once hung out its cruelty-free shingle as pioneer purveyors of mock meat cuisine in a Chinese style, the Veggie Garden Restaurant (10582 100 Street, 780.757.9060) has now set up shop. The place vends Vietnamese and Chinese delights in which the feature roles are assayed by stunt doubles […]
BOOKS: All the Dirt on organic farming: not for everyone, says Heather Stretch
When Edmonton expat Heather Stretch comes to town this week to promote All the Dirt, the book she co-wrote about organic farming, she’ll obviously be keen to share her knowledge with folks passionate about sustainable local agriculture who might want to follow in her muddy footsteps. But she has another audience in mind as well […]
REVIEW: Five guys, two dishes, one hell of a burger
FIVE GUYS BURGERS AND FRIES 993 Fir Street, Strathcona County, AB 780. 416.7710 Many years ago, a hamburger was different than today. Today, no matter where you go, you get something else that is supposed to be “special.” You get chopped sirloin, or you get “grade a beef” but the patty is prefrozen; or […]
REVIEW: Wildflower Grill pretentious, overrated
When one blows $300 on a dinner for four (including wine), it’s the little things that matter. It was a once-a-year dinner with friends from out of town, so we decided to go to the Wildflower Grill – where the first portent of impending culinary doom was something called a “amuse bouche.” The complimentary amusement […]
REVIEW: Consistently underwhelmingly, quintessentially Canadian
Hap’s Hungry House 16060 Stony Plain Road 780. 483.2288 Hap’s Hungry House on a Sunday is like the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange – if everyone had been sedated by over-sized portions of pancakes and French toast. The Stony Plain Road Diner is so busy on weekends, there’s usually a healthy […]
REVIEW: Food so good, it’s almost rare
Safron’s Caribbean 8307 118 Avenue 780.474.9005 At 2:30 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon, just two blocks from the infamously sleazy old Cromdale Hotel, 118 Avenue feels about as far from the Caribbean as you could get. In the middle of March, of the sun, the surf and the poverty, the adjacent neighbourhood offers only the […]
REVIEW: Blue bayou
Dadeo New Orleans Diner and Bar 10548 82 Ave. (780) 433-0930 Edmonton’s foodie community, it has been noted, can be somewhat fervent. I’d like to think this is a natural extension of their shared passion for all things gastronomic. But the reality is that communities tend to just be fervent. Sometimes, the focus of that […]
REVIEW: Mexican bland-off
Mucho Burrito Fresh Mexican Grill Restaurant 9406 – 137 Ave (And four other city locations) 780.478.4269 There’s nothing more irritating to me than someone who can’t be irritated — and worse yet, will take any kind of culinary abuse with smiling grace because “oh well, it’s still better than staying home.” I remember vividly watching […]
