Food Roundup
March 31, 2026
Brunch is among the most common dine-out meals for Easter, and it's hard to argue with the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald. The hotel is offering specialty crêpes, carving stations, seafood displays, and other items with a focus on sustainability on April 5. Tickets cost $115 per adult. Other brunch options include all Sawmill Prime Rib & Steak House locations on April 4 and 5, with a mix of carving stations, made-to-order omelettes, and more for $45 per adult; and Hayloft Steak & Fish on April 5, with a gluten-free menu priced at $59 per adult. Not quite-brunch options include afternoon tea at Fort Edmonton Park from April 4 to 6, with ticket pairs sold for between $65 and $130, and an Easter breakfast at Prairie Gardens in Bon Accord on April 4 and 6, priced at $49 per adult.
For a culturally specific dining option, Chartier is hosting a sugar shack experience on April 3 in Beaumont. The menu includes a lox station, ham by Meuwly's, challah French toast bites, tourtière croissant bites, and more, for $65 per adult. Over at the Jamaican Association of Northern Alberta, there's a fish fry with à la carte items such as fried snapper and pepper shrimp on April 3.
Feel like staying in? Some catering options are sold out, but Three Vikings has a take-and-bake turkey or ham dinner for $37 per person, with orders due on April 1 for pickup on April 4. Meanwhile, Freson Bros. has turkey dinners that feed four for $100, with orders due by April 9.
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Openings
- District Café and Fox Burger are both opening new locations at Rice Howard Place. Such openings stimulate downtown vibrancy, CBRE's Ryan O'Shaughnessy said. "Convenient, high-quality amenities play a big role in how people feel about coming to the office, meeting clients, and spending time downtown," he posted.
- New Korean fried chicken spot Bonchon has opened at 10418 124 Street NW.
- Ararat Cafe & Bakery, serving up Turkish coffee, tea, and pastries, has opened at 4460 Calgary Trail NW.
- Turkish bakery and cafe Kahve has opened recently at 16652 109 Avenue NW.
- Walker Lake Meat Shop has opened a restaurant called Ghazal at 957 Tamarack Way.
- The former MilkCrate space in the Epcor Tower will become another location of Hearth and Hive, which took over the Dining Car Cafe in the CN Tower last year.
- American-based Filipino chain Valerio's Tropical Bakeshop is opening a location in Edmonton on April 5 at 17522 100 Avenue NW.
- Calgary-based Deville Coffee will be opening another Edmonton location, at Southgate Centre, this fall.
Closings
- Spruce Grove-based El Taco Loco has closed the Edmonton location it opened in November, citing an issue with the building manager.
Headlines
- Paper Birch Books owners Benjamin Hertwig and Céline Chuang received a $500 donation to their Good Neighbour Fund, which goes towards coffee, books, and treats for low-income and unhoused people in the area near The Piazza in Little Italy. "We had one guy I'm thinking of who was living rough on the street, and he came in and saw our Greek and Roman classics section, and he just started quoting Horace to us and other Roman poets," Hertwig told CBC Edmonton's Radio Active. "He couldn't afford a book, but this man needs a book because this is a person who loves books, who loves literature, so why shouldn't he have a book?"
- Five restaurants are raising funds for HIV Edmonton as part of A Taste for Life on April 15. Highlevel Diner, Acajutla, Evolution Wonderlounge, O2's Taphouse & Grill on 156 Street, and the flagship Padmanadi on 101 Street will all donate a portion of their sales to a food-security program run by HIV Edmonton. Donations can also be made online.
- Habesha Cravings is receiving more than $10,000 and a membership in Restaurants Canada from DoorDash Canada. It's part of more than $300,000 split among 30 Black-owned and Black-led restaurants across Canada in partnership with the Black Opportunity Fund."Habesha Cravings is a place where friends can come together over the incredible flavours of authentic food from Ethiopia and Eritrea," said Nunu Deslange, owner of Habesha. "We are incredibly lucky that we were able to turn our passion into our life's work."
- Three staff from the Sinkunia Community Development Organization discussed how they use a community garden and shared meals to build belonging for newcomers from Africa on Episode 2 of the Bosco Neighbourhood Podcast, part of a series exploring community connection in Balwin and Belvedere.
- Patricia Street Deli is among the businesses taking the province up on its offer of up to $7,500 to hire and train young Albertans through the Alberta Youth Employment Incentive. The program is expected to support around 3,500 employers and hire up to 8,750 youth between the ages of 15 and 24 across Alberta.
- NAIT alumnus Alex Kim, culinary director of Vancouver's Five Sails restaurant, discussed mentoring future culinary talent as the 2026 Hokanson Chef in Residence. "This is the place that played a really significant role in shaping my foundations in the field, so coming back here, I feel really stoked," Kim told CBC Edmonton's Radio Active.
- Prelude Speakeasy will pop up at Golden Sparrow on Fridays until May 15 (except for Good Friday on April 3). The events are ticketed and each week has a different themed menu of cocktails and small plates. The April 10 menu is inspired by dance floors.
- Chartier's new executive chef, Crystal Higgins, spoke to Edify about developing her first menu for the Beaumont restaurant. She promised the popular French onion soup and poutine are safe, but she is developing new dishes that lean more French than Québécois, with plans to add a new steak dish, a new burger, and more veggies. "I want to bring it back to more classic stuff," Higgins said, citing Julia Child as an influence.
- Influencer Filip Nowak got an early taste of the Poulet & Cuvée dinner feature coming up at The Marc on April 10. Nowak called the menu elevated and delicious, noting the blend of French flavours with a food associated with the American South is unlike any fried chicken he's tried before.
- Poulet Rouge is giving away free grilled chicken bowls to the first 100 customers at its West Edmonton Mall location on April 3 and 4. The chicken counter opens at 11am.
- Dorinku Osaka has extended its three Downtown Dining Week deals until April 5. The $25 lunch set includes salmon pressed sushi, sashimi, and tuna tataki; the $35 dinner set also includes salmon pressed sushi, plus takoyaki, shaka shaka fries, and chicken karaage; and the $65 dinner sushi bridge features five kinds of pressed sushi.
- The St. Albert Gazette profiled afternoon tea options, highlighting Café Bel Air, Lady Bea's English Tea House, and The Art of Cake. "I truly believe we have the best high tea in town, our longevity and popularity speaks to that," said Art of Cake co-owner Gloria Bednarz. "People want to slow down, have good food and conversation. But they definitely like to dress up too."
- Alan Schietzsch of the Boyle McCauley News highlighted dishes such as the braised black pepper pork and banana bread served with a strawberry-ginger purée in a review of Boa and Hare, the café, restaurant, and cocktail bar inside Pacific Mall in Chinatown.
- Chef Daniel Costa of Olia, Bar Henry, Bar Bricco, and other restaurants shared his recipe for a Tuscan chicken liver pâté with The Tomato.
- Juanita Gnanapragasam of Converse and Cook highlighted Edmonton-born restaurant chains on CBC's Edmonton AM, noting the city's food industry influence spans pizza, smoothies, and stir-fry across Canada. A few chains she mentioned are Boston Pizza, Earls, Wok Box, Booster Juice, and Famoso.
- Birdog is among the businesses to raise concerns about the impact of the resumed construction of the Valley Line West LRT. Its general manager, Flavius Iulian, told CBC's Adrienne Lamb that the restaurant has seen a 50% decline in walk-in customers since the latest construction began.
- Real estate lawyer Darren Richards of Richard + Company explained to CTV News the different types of exclusivity agreements, such as restrictive covenants, used by grocery stores to limit competition. Richards said there are some instances of restrictive covenants for Edmonton grocery stores that prevent another operator from opening long after a store has closed, but many agreements last only for the duration of a lease. Edmonton city council voted on March 17 to direct Mayor Andrew Knack to advocate to the provincial government for a ban on grocery store restrictive covenants.
- January was a record month for restaurants and bars in Alberta, with sales reaching over $1.1 billion, ATB reported. That's a 9.5% increase over January 2025, which was also a strong year.
Happenings
Here are some events coming up over the next seven days:
- April 1: Garlic Fest Wine Dinner: Sorrentino's Century Park starting at 6:30pm at Sorrentino's (Century Park)
- April 3: Good Friday Sugar Shack Experience starting at 12:30pm at Chartier
- April 3: Jamaica Fish Fry starting at 1pm at Jamaica Association of Northern Alberta
- April 3-5: Breakfast with the Easter Rabbit at Prairie Garden and Adventure Farm
- April 4: Ice Cream 101 starting at 2:30pm at Made by Marcus
- April 4-5: Easter Weekend Carvery Brunch Buffet at Sawmill Prime Rib & Steakhouse (three Edmonton region locations)
- April 4-6: Easter Afternoon Tea at Fort Edmonton Park
- April 5: Gluten Free Brunch Buffet starting at 10am at Hayloft Steak & Fish
- April 5: Easter Sunday Brunch starting at 10am at Fairmont Hotel Macdonald
- April 7: Spilt Spring Series - Fresh Herbs starting at 6:15pm at Spilt
And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:
- April 17: Wine Wars III - Round 3 at Halo Bar and Bistro
- April 18: Culinary Arts Cook-Off: Cookie-Off Edition at Highlands School
- April 23: Hot Chefs Cool bEATS 2026 at Royal Glenora Club
Visit the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.