Food Roundup
July 14, 2026

Openings

• Valleyview IGA is hiring ahead of its apparent reopening at 9106 142 Street NW. L'OCA Quality Market had replaced Andy's IGA at that location after longtime owner Andy Taschuk retired, but L'OCA closed the store and its Sherwood Park location in March. Sobeys, which owns IGA, has not commented.
• Zwick's Pretzels has found a new location for customers to pick up orders at 14811 134 Avenue NW. The co-located South Island Pie Co. is no longer operating at the 124 Street outpost and is instead available for delivery and via Uproot Food Collective.
• Daily Hive profiled summer restaurant openings, including Shooby's Gelato at 4513 101 Street NW, Mochido at 9450 137 Avenue NW, Live Bowl'd on Whyte Avenue, Dosa Glory at 9316 34 Avenue NW, and Sushi Bar Goshen at 2846 James Mowatt Trail SW. New locations of chains Sip Soda Co. and Marugame Udon are still to come.

Closings

• Pho Tàu Bay will be closed until further notice starting July 20 due to family health matters.

Headlines

• Taste of Edmonton will feature 98 new menu items and 12 new restaurants, executive director Donovan Vienneau told Global News Edmonton. The festival runs from July 16 to 26 at Churchill Square. Some new dishes include a birria quesadilla from Paraiso Tropical and gluten-free chicken tenders from Joanne's BBQ House, while newcomers with all-new items include Flipside BBQ and Chennai Super Kitchen, among others.
• The Fairmont Hotel Macdonald's Royal Queen Bee Afternoon Tea events caught the eye of The Tomato. The events include a tour of the Fairmont's bee hives and a chance to taste their honey on select Sundays through Sept. 27.
• Bistro Praha is among the beloved neighbourhood restaurants highlighted in The Globe and Mail. Liane Faulder's ode to the nearly 50-year-old Czech restaurant recounts its popularity with the performers of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and Citadel Theatre, as well as its survival after a fire forced it to move. Faulder recommended the smoked salmon, wiener schnitzel, and crêpes.
• After completing a two-year, 50-restaurant Butter Chicken Odyssey, Ramneek Singh has launched a Donair Odyssey. "I'm a masochist," Singh joked with Radio Active host Min Dhariwal, saying his goal is to try every donair shop in Edmonton, which he estimates at around 120 businesses. His most recent good experience was at Simon King Donair & Submarine, where he rated a spicy take on the dish 4.5 out of 5. Singh also spoke to Tom Murray from Postmedia about the history of donair enthusiasm, posing with a donair costume loaned to him by PrimeTime Donair & Poutine.
• Calgary Herald food writer Elizabeth Chorney-Booth recommended several Edmonton restaurants worth the drive north, singling out Bernadette's, RGE RD, Fu's Repair Shop, Spilt Zero Proof, and the new Lift Me Up on the Lake at William Hawrelak Park — operated by the team behind Tiramisu Bistro.
• Curtis Comeau's photo essay for The Tomato explores the love of burgers and those who make them. Comeau shone a light on Backstairs Burger, Popowich Meat Company, Flat Boy Burgers, Woodshed Burgers, and The Butchery. Of Ribeye Butcher Shop, he noted that the chain's smashburgers are ground to order.
• Edify profiled Hong Chew for its Summer Faves series. Chew, NAIT's Culinary Arts program chair, recommends the pesto sauces from Pasta Delight as a must-try for pasta lovers. Pasta Delight has locations at Bountiful Farmers' Market and the Old Strathcona Farmers' Market.
• Office occupancy is improving downtown while restaurants and retailers flee, Mark Anderson of CBRE Edmonton told Postmedia. While employers such as National Bank of Canada, ATCO, ATB, and AIMCo have pledged to bring workers back downtown, restaurants such as PlayWright and Khazana Restaurant have closed their sole locations, while chains such as KB&Co and Sunterra Market have closed downtown outposts. "The problem is our Downtown is so gosh darn big," he said, noting the relative health of the areas near the ICE District and Edmonton City Centre.
• Above Average Drinks co-founder Warren Johnston questioned what local means in food and beverage, calling it "one of the most overused and under-defined words" in the industry." He argued that a collaboration between his company and Delavoye Chocolate Maker uses a byproduct of imported cacao, but their liqueur is a distinctly Edmonton product due to its creators' thoughtful work to process it.
• The Tomato highlighted specials at Filipino restaurant LaMesa.
• Edify's summer steak series turns to the hanger steak, with tips from Acme Meat Market's Corey Meyer. The cut — once known as "the butcher's steak" — yields only about 1.5 pounds per animal.
• Both The Tomato and CBC Edmonton's Radio Active shared tips for road trip eats. The Tomato sourced recipes for trail mix, cake, and power balls from hotel chefs in Banff; Doreen Prei told Radio Active about budget-friendly bites such as sandwiches and orzo.
• New Harvest has launched a Knowledge Stewardship Initiative to preserve data from cultivated meat companies if they must shut down. Netherlands-based Meatable became the first to donate its technical, business, and operational records before winding down.
• Energy-bar maker 7 Summits Snacks earned some ink from Postmedia after getting $10,000 grant from Mastercard. Co-founder Kristyn Carriere was also highlighted by the University of Alberta as an alumna building a proudly local company with international potential.
• The Colombian's Confluence Podcast explored the trap of over-commitment, urging entrepreneurs to identify what they're truly exceptional at and audit their commitments before spreading their focus too thin. "There is always another wall to paint," the episode notes. "But just because you can paint it doesn't mean you should."
• The Alberta government unveiled a new logo to promote the province's whisky industry, emphasizing the regional quality and international potential of locally produced spirits.
• The Italian Centre Shop is opening its second Calgary location at Northland Village Mall on July 16. The 22,000-square-foot store features Roman-inspired architecture and is expected to create about 150 jobs.

Happenings

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

• July 16: First Responders Appreciation BBQ starting at 11am at Southgate Mall
• July 16-26: Taste of Edmonton at Churchill Square
• July 17: KDays Premier's Breakfast starting at 9am at Klondike Park
• July 18: The Presidential Brunch, featuring Veuve Clicquot starting at 11am at JW Marriott (Edmonton ICE District)
• July 18: Tales & Taste 2.0: Tell It To Me Like I'm 5 Years Old starting at 12pm at Edmonton Public Library (Stanley A. Milner)
• July 18: Summer Block Party starting at 1pm at Rice Howard Way
• July 18: Chardy Party starting at 3pm at City Cellars
• July 18: Zoobrew Vol. 2 starting at 5pm at Edmonton Valley Zoo
• July 19: Sundays at the 124 Grand Market starting at 11am at 124 Grand Market
• July 19: Brunch in Bloom starting at 11am at Lamberry Ranch
• July 19: Ukay-Ukay Market: Shop & Scoop starting at 11am at Station Park
• July 19: The Craft of: Chocolate Mixology starting at 7:15pm at Delavoye Chocolate Maker

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• Aug. 1-4: Edmonton Heritage Festival at William Hawrelak Park
• Aug. 7: Bikes & Beverages x Grow Together YEG at The Buckingham Pub
• Aug. 7-16: Alberta on the Plate

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