Food Roundup

Openings

• Tiramisu Bistro's location at Hawrelak Park, called Lift Me Up on the Lake, is now open.
• Pop-up Big Bear Matcha has moved into a brick-and-mortar storefront at The Hub at 10345 Whyte Avenue NW.
• AYCO Cafe teased that it is opening a second location, with a precise address and opening date yet to be announced.
• St. Albert's first Denny's has opened in the Jensen Lakes area. Co-owner Alap Jain, a 14-year Denny's veteran, operates the 112-seat restaurant near the Jensen Lakes library.
• Egg Club has opened its first Edmonton location at 10115 100A Street NW. The restaurant specializes in Japanese milk bread sandwiches.
• Chenab is a new Pakistani restaurant that opened recently at 3927 106 Street NW.

Closings

• Italian restaurant Farina in Beaumont will be closing after more than two years on May 15.

Headlines

• Little Wolf's monthly dinners in support of Edmonton's Food Bank are a "complete community food chain," restaurant owner Shaun Hicks told Taproot. Hicks takes the last Monday of each month to buy local, work with guest chefs, serve inclusive food, and raise money. The next dinner is on May 25, and spots fill up quickly. Reservations typically open during the first week of the month, as announced on Instagram.
• New foods for the NHL playoffs at Rogers Place include hot dogs with barbecue sauce and jalapeños, as well as a "hat trick" dish with three variations of grilled cheese sandwiches. Fans consume an average total of 350,000 ounces of popcorn per game, Postmedia reported, which is roughly the weight of a school bus. More than 1,300 hot dogs go down the gullet during each game, yet pizza — for which stats are not provided — is the most popular game-night eat.
• Campio Brewing, The Common, Dolly's Cocktails, Fu's Repair Shop, and The Druid Irish Pub are all recommended by Edify as places to watch Oilers playoff games, though it's possible the run will end soon as the Anaheim Ducks hold a 3-1 lead going into Game 5 on April 28.
• Third places such as neighbourhood cafés, pubs, and bookstores are returning to Edmonton as infill development brings more residents within walking distance of local businesses, wrote Ranon Soans of the Infill Development in Edmonton Association, or IDEA. Soans cited places such as Stopgap Coffee and Iconoclast Coffee Roasters as examples. "There is something that happens to a city when enough of this accumulates," Soans wrote. "It is difficult to describe precisely but easy to recognize — a sense that the street belongs to the people on it, that you care about your city's future, and that something worth sticking around for is happening."
• The Edmonton Riverboat is preparing to open for the 2026 season on May 7. Owner Eric Warnke said annual attendance has grown from 15,000 to roughly 35,000 since he took over two years ago. Executive chef Shane Loiselle told CTV the season features new menus emphasizing local produce and producers.
• Edify published a guide to 20 Edmonton restaurants where a full meal costs less than $20. Writers pointed to Catch of the Week's fish and chips, Farrow's sandwiches, Paraiso Tropical's taco combos, and Ralph's Fried Chicken's eponymous fare as wallet-friendly options.
• Punchcard Systems shared its work on Arvo, a digital platform that connects local farmers' market producers with consumers. Sam Jenkins of Punchcard and Whitney Shaw of Arvo sat down with RealAgriculture to explain the need the service can fill.
• Ordr, a payment platform for live events that started in Edmonton as a way to deliver food to seats, has signed a payments partnership with Resorts World Las Vegas for Zouk Nightclub and Ayu Dayclub.
• Peter Keith of Meuwly's, The Hub, and Scale Kitchens is launching a food and beverage entrepreneurship course at the University of Alberta through the eHUB Entrepreneurship Centre, where he is the director.
• Students at MacEwan University have reopened the school's rooftop beehives as the urban beekeeping program turns 10. Beekeeper Troy Donovan said the spring check identifies surviving colonies, with new bees added to boost diversity. The program produces honey sold on campus. Edmonton has more than 200 licensed beekeepers, CTV reported. The City of Edmonton will allow up to two hives per residence starting May 19.
• The Leave Your Leaves campaign is encouraging Edmontonians to refrain from raking leaves until the temperature is consistently above 10C to give bees and other pollinators time to wake up. "It helps our flowers, it helps our nature, it helps our birds — it's all around a very good thing," organizer Troy Pavlek told Global News Edmonton.
• NAIT Applied Research has partnered with the Alberta Food Processors Association for its Food and Beverage Awards. The post-secondary will host the judging for the most innovative product award in its research kitchen. Nominations for the awards are open until May 4, and they will be handed out on June 5.
• Next of Kin made the top 10 new international cocktail bars list at the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation's Spirit Awards. It was the sole entity from the Edmonton region to be recognized.
• Blind Enthusiasm won a bronze medal in the Belgian-Style Spontaneous Sour Ale category at the 2026 World Beer Cup for its Spontaneous Manifesto 2024.
• The Risky Restaurants project conducted by the Edmonton Journal and MacEwan University is shortlisted for a Canadian Association of Journalists award in the data journalism category. The October 2025 series found that more than 250 food establishments across Edmonton had gone without inspection for at least two years. The awards will be presented on June 13.
• Explore Edmonton has appointed Teresa Spinelli, president of the Italian Centre Shop, to its board of directors. Spinelli is known for growing the family business into a multi-location organization and for championing inner-city revitalization and cultural initiatives.
• The Taste of Place Summit comes to The Westin Edmonton from June 15 to 16. "This national gathering brings together leaders in culinary tourism, destination development and agritourism to explore how food, place and storytelling can drive sustainable growth and meaningful visitor experiences," posted economic development specialist Lorie Watson.
• Edify published a guide to starting a cookbook club, with tips on assembling members, preparing food, and entertaining. The magazine suggests starting with Eat Alberta First by Karen Anderson of Alberta Food Tours; Prairie by Dan Clapson and Twyla Campbell; tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine by Shane Chartrand; and The Atelier Table by Lauren Kyle McDavid. (Here's a recipe from the latter.)
• Chef Doreen Prei shared her cooking tips for deconstructing comfort classics during colder weather. A summery Caesar salad or a fish and chips with simple modifications are ways to escape the cold through food, she told CBC Edmonton's Radio Active.
• Awn Kitchen chef Kaelin Whittaker shared a recipe for fusilli with lemon, ricotta, and spinach with The Tomato.
• Students at Strathcona High School raised $257,000 through their 18th annual bike-a-thon and donated it to Edmonton's Food Bank. The funds were used to purchase a walk-in industrial cooler.
• The Bon Accord & Gibbons Food Bank Society has distributed more than twice as many hampers in 2025 as in 2020, with an increasing share of households in rural Sturgeon County.
• Embodied RD dietitian Selene Yan said she treats clients with an individualized approach when they consider using GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic. "Some people may find these medications to be helpful tools, but others may have a hard time with some of the side effects," she told CBC's Edmonton AM. "There is also a concern with how some of these medications may contribute to disordered eating concerns. Even though they are popular in the news, they're certainly not appropriate for everyone."
• Converse and Cook's Juanita Gnanapragasam explored the future of meat with CBC's Edmonton AM. She covered a time when "meat fell from the sky" to modern lab-grown alternatives in a discussion of how meat is defined.

Happenings

Here are some events coming up over the next seven days:

• April 28: Ken Forrester Wine Dinner starting at 6pm at RGE RD
• April 30: Julia Child's French Favourites starting at 6pm at Caffè Sorrentino Head Office
• May 1: Best of Brunch YEG opening day
• May 2: Bun Bo Hue: Exploring Vietnamese Flavours starting at 3pm at Get Cooking
• May 2: Pop-up Pie Shop: Mom's Basement starting at 4pm at Evolution Wonderlounge
• May 2: The Renaissance After Dark Presents: The 2nd Annual Tequila Festival starting at 7pm at Halo Bar and Bistro
• May 3: Brunchin' with the Bonus Moms starting at 12pm at Mother by Chartier

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• May 7: The Taste & Silent Auction at Devon Community Centre
• May 21: Blindman x Dandy Brewing - Cask Beer Streetcar at High Level Streetcar (Jasper Plaza Terminal)
• May 25: Reading Between the Barcode Lines: Queuing Up Customers at Magpie Books

Visit the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.