wine tastings happenings and events
At Three Vikings (10713 124 Street) this winter: the Torskeklubben (Norwegian Club) is having a smørbrød (open-faced sandwich) dinner on Tuesday, January 14. Love beer? Enjoy Happy Beer Street’s takeover, For The Love of Beer on Valentine’s Day, and the Dead Vinyl Society has a buy-sell-trade on Sunday, March 2 from 3-6pm.
The Marc’s first Sunday Supper of the year is on January 26. The theme is Iberian—three courses plus reception and dessert, paired with five tasty Spanish and Portuguese wines. Call 780-429-2828 or book at themarc.ca.
product news
From January 2-January 14, Christmas is 50 per cent off Heart of the Home. Le Creuset is on sale at 20 per cent off from January 14-19, in-store only. February’s promo is 15 per cent off fondues and raclette sets.
Isabelle Ortiz Martinez, owner of Olive Me and producer of those delicious stuffed olives, celebrates 25 years in business. Find them at Bibo, Community Natural Foods, Euro Deli (Bountiful Market) all Italian Centre Shops, Mercato, the Old Strathcona and St Albert Farmers’ Markets, all Ribeye Butchers and Tesoro.
Amaranth Whole Foods has introduced new ground chicken, turkey bison, beef, and elk called Primal Blends. Each frozen 500-gram packet contains up to 20 per cent organ meat. “This is an easy way to get the nutritional benefits of organs—essential minerals like selenium, magnesium, iron and vitamins like B12 and niacin,” says Tim Wong, marketing manager at Amaranth. Suppliers include Winter’s Turkey in Dalemead, Alberta beef, plus chicken, elk and bison from farms in Western Canada.
restaurant buzz
Out of Bounds (24427 Township Rd 542, outofboundsrestaurant.ca) has a new menu featuring sturdy winter dishes such as a Hungarian goulash as well as the harvest chicken salad, winter beet salad and salmon potato cakes. Check it out!
Think of the Riverbank Bistro in St. Albert for Valentine’s Day. Menus and bookings available soon at riverbankbistro.ca
openings
Frank’s Community Pub (8815 99 Street) opened in December, serving beers and grilled cheese sandwiches. Bodega’s seventh location is opening soon at 10314 Whyte Avenue. Fox Burger now has a third location in Westmount (11003 124 Street). New to Old Strathcona is Taqueria El Chingon (8116 101 Street), a sister resto to Three Amigos, haven’t checked it out yet, but will soon. We love tacos! There is a new member of Happy Beer Street, Southbound Brewing (9943 69 Avenue) helmed by Sue Kiernan, who many will remember from the Empress Ale House on Whyte Ave. Congrats! Johnny’s Namao (24400 AB-37, #9), an over 100-year-old neighbourhood grocery store in Namao has been brought back to life by a fourth-generation member of the same family. Check it out! Nuestra Coffee Shop (7601 112 Avenue) across from Borden Park, is now open daily 7am-4pm. Candid Coffee has opened in the Highlands (6752 75 Street). We’re especially excited about Candid because they will serve Beb’s Bagels. Open daily. Paper Birch Books in the Piazza (10825 95 Street) now has a coffee bar, open 10am-6pm every day except Sunday, when it will close at 5pm. Transcend Coffee (12332 106 Avenue) is open from 8am-3pm every day.
closings
Three significant pillars of the YEG food scene closed in 2024. Meuwly’s has shuttered the Secret Meat Club subscription service along with the store and daily food service. They remain open for catering, special events and pop-ups. Filistix’s downtown location closed at the end of the year. The campus location in SUB (8900 114 Street) as well as Takam Market at MacEwan University are still going strong. Biera and the onsite brewery in the Ritchie Market (99570 76 Avenue), have ceased operations. Other parts of Blind Enthusiasm thrive—Biera Market plans expansion and the Monolith (9919 78 Avenue) continues with its barreled beer
program.