Canada’s Great Kitchen Party Edmonton podium winners, local chefs on TV, Blair Lebsack and Ryan Arcand open Tiny’s Cheese.
Congratulations Kitchen Party Edmonton chefs!
Canada’s Kitchen Party Edmonton podium (L-R): People’s Choice and bronze medallist Rose Colangelo; Tyson Wright, gold; Jason Greene, silver.
A packed ballroom of generous Edmontonians cheered on their favourite chefs at Canada’s Great Kitchen Party in October. Only one will be going to Ottawa to represent Edmonton at the Canadian Culinary Championships at the end of January: Tyson Wright of the Old Red Barn and Strada Artisan Bakery in Camrose. His dish, Heart of the Prairies—hearty, slow-braised local bison cheek with a tuile in the shape of wheat stalks, paired with Dirty Laundry 2022 Kay Syrah—took the gold.
Jason Greene (Braven), garnered silver with a quintessentially perfect pâté en croûte, made with pork and rabbit, paired with Blind Enthusiasm’s 2019 Still Velvet beer.
Rose Colangelo (Tulip) took bronze with a dish that spoke to her Italian and Costa Rican roots; a zesty arancini with black bean and chile chimichurri paired with Bent Stick’s Salinity Now (my fave pairing of the night). Chef Colangelo also took home the People’s Choice Award.
Kudos to all the competitors; you worked hard and gave the people delicious food. Kitchen Party proceeds flow to E4C, MusiCounts and Spirit North charities.
Tiny’s Cheese Shop is now open
Manager Pam Kossowan serves a customer at Tiny’s Cheese Shop
Chef Blair Lebsack (RGE RD) and Ryan Arcand (Iconoclast Coffee) have opened a terrific cheese shop called Tiny’s (12017 102 Avenue) in the Exchange II Building right behind Kind Ice Cream. Walk down the alley between the original Oliver Exchange (which houses Iconoclast and Odd Company Brewing) to a sweet little square that, in the summer, has a ping pong table and seating (are we in Paris?). Look left to discover Tiny’s, a bijou spot filled with high-quality cheese accoutrements and a curated selection of small dairy cheeses from Quebec, Alberta and Europe, for now. The cheeses are chosen by Tiny, who according to chef, is their adventuring cheesemonger—oh, we just missed him. Check it out!
Top Chef features local chef competitors and a guest judge.
Chefs Holly Holt (L) and Tracy Little, local chefs with TV cred
The 2025 Top Chef season features two Alberta chefs, Holly Holt from Edmonton and Canmore’s Tracy Little (Sauvage) and chef Shane Chartrand (Paperbirch by Chartrand) as a guest judge.
Neither Tracy nor Holly are strangers to competition—Holly was a bronze medallist at Kitchen Party in 2022 and Tracy appeared on Chef vs Wild, also in 2022.
“I’ve watched Top Chef since culinary school,” says Holly, “and talk about a dream pantry. It did not disappoint! There was a whole team of people in charge of the pantry. They worked really hard to have ingredients that were exciting and diverse. The other thing was meeting all these people who were as excited about cooking as I was. Yes, it’s a competition, but it was fun, with a lot of camaraderie. Would I do it again? Yes of course! I get anxious about new things, but I love putting myself through that.”
“Be ready for anything,” says Tracy. “It’s hard core. We had very long days, you have to keep your energy up. We were so lucky to have such a great group of people, a good group of humans, everyone was pumping each other up. How exciting to represent Alberta; that was pretty awesome.”
Shane Chartrand, another local chef with TV cred
In November, St. Albert chocolate maven Priya Winsor (Compass Chocolates) appears on Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking. It’s great to see local chefs on national shows. Watch now!
Priya Winsor far right
