First off, I must confess I am not a knowledgeable foodie guy. I like the carrots from Safeway as much as the organic carrots from a farmers’ market. That said, I do love food and I have a big sweet tooth (maybe more than one), so when I am traveling I am always on the lookout for an off-the-beaten place to sample the local cuisine.

Recently deciding we needed to “get out of town” (i.e. Calgary), a road trip to Edmonton became the destination – meet up with friends, check out the thrift stores and see what fun, off-the-beaten-path places we could find. I am happy to say we were very successful when it came to food fun.

Fifendekel Pie Shop Café

A Fifendekel on Edmonton’s south side was our first find. Located at 9114 - 51st Ave (they have several locations), in a small strip mall, it was conveniently was across the street from Value Village, our designated first stop.

Thought it won’t win any awards for its décor or ambience (think cafeteria), Fifendekel gets high praise for efficient service, price and quality of the food.

The name is bit misleading as it serves more than just pies - it is a great sandwich spot. They custom build your sandwich like at Subway, with lots of choices.

I had the Montreal smoked meat, with sprouts, mustard, tomatoes, cukes, onion and pickles, on multigrain bread.

Unfortunately, they were out of their sunflower bread, which I would have loved to try as I love bread, almost as much as sweets. Fifendekel sandwiches are like your mother used to make for you when you were a kid. At $7.79, it was a good deal

Given this is a pie shop (I love pie too), we had to sample the crumble berry and saskatoon rhubarb cream pie. Both were very good and at $4.99 and $3.75 respectfully, were good value.

We probably should have taken a couple of their famous butter tarts for the road, but we resisted. Value Village was waiting.

Wamo Zamu Cafe

After visiting a couple of thrift stores on the south side, we checked into our Airbnb in the City Centre’s Queen Mary neighbourhood, before heading out to find a place for dinner. Discovering we were in Edmonton’s African community, we thought why not try their cuisine. Wamo Zamu Café (11120 - 107 Ave) an easy walk, won’t win any awards for décor or ambience, but the staff were super friendly. There didn’t appear to be a menu, so we told them to look after us – and they did. We had a flavourful broth soup, a fresh green salad with a tangy lemon creamy dressing and a “goat stew” entrée. (Goat meat was a first for us). The stew with vegetables was amazing – the meat fell off the bone. It was served with a whole banana. Yes, a banana. We had to ask, “what do we do with the banana?” Turns out you put a little on your fork full of rice for a “sweet & spicy” mouthful. It was quite wonderful!

We were also surprised that our entrée plates looked remarkably similar to Medalta china. The royal-looking initials “BLH” we intriguing. Sure enough, when we finished eating, we checked on the bottom and they were indeed a 1951 Medalta pattern.

We had fun trying to decipher if the letters were -B, L & H - or some other letters, even speculating they may have been from the Banff Lodge Hotel. When we informed our server the plates were from Medicine hat and vintage, he was nicely surprised.

He said he bought an entire box of them in an auction, not knowing what they were. He gave me his email and I promised to send him some information on Medalta.

Wamo Zamu Cafe was truly a unique experience, and definitely an off-the-beaten-path location. The total bill was $33 for the two of us.

Biera

Before we headed to Edmonton we contacted a few old friends to see if they were going to be in town and had time to meet up. One couple suggested dinner at Biera, a gastro/brew pub in a new infill development in the Ritchie neighbourhood at the corner of 76th Ave and 96th St. I was impressed on this trip to Edmonton, to see how many mixed-use, infill projects were happening across Edmonton’s inner-city communities.

WOW…every neighbourhood could use a Biera-like pub. It offers great pizzas for the everyday patron, as well as a fun innovative sharing menu for special occasions. We shared a Wedge Salad, literally a head of lettuce cut in four wedges, with bacon, jalapeno kefir dressing and sunflower seeds ($18). This was accompanied by a Grilled Albacore Tuna Tataki ($24), with apple pear, serrano, lime leaf and cucumber and a plate of small scallops ($22). Of course we had to try the Fleur Jaune Fromage Blanc Dumplings aka perogies ($21). For dessert we chose the Tomme de Brebis cheese with Beer Fermented Honey ($12).

While the ladies had wine, the boys sampled the in-house ZUS and OKT beers ($4/250ml and $8/500 ml). I won’t bore you with the tasting notes, suffice to say we both enjoyed our beers which change seasonally. We all agreed, the food, service and ambience was great.

Tasty Tomato

Another couple, offered to take us to their favourite local Italian restaurant – Tasty Tomato – in the tony Glenora neighbourhood.

Located at the corner of Stony Plain Road and 143 St. for decades, new mixed-use infills buildings are now are popping up all around it. This is your classic neighbourhood Italian restaurant with a long list of traditional pasta dishes.

I had the Penne Rustici aka penne with Italian sausage in pepper sauce, which was very good – spicy but not so hot you can’t taste your food for the next day.

The servings are large, the wine list is small and the service is very friendly – think the TV show Cheers.

Our friends invited us back to their house for dessert, which was a homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing, sprinkled with orange peel shavings – definitely the highlight of the night.

The Woodrack Café

After a trip to Finds, a funky thrift store on the southside that specializes in furniture, we decided to explore Whyte Avenue thinking it would be good place to have lunch. While on our way back from the Goodwill on Whyte Ave, I noticed a sign for a café in the historic Dominion Hotel.

Behind door #1 was nothing but set of stairs and behind door #2, was a long hallway with no sign of life. The space next to the street was empty, so we thought perhaps the Cafe was closed, like so many of the storefronts in Edmonton these days (that is subject for another blog).

We could see the sign, but had trouble finding the cafe.

My travelling companion was ready to walk away, but I was convinced there was a café to be found.

The sign looked new and had been place on the sidewalk, so I decided to wander down the hall and sure enough there was a café at the back of the hotel facing the alley – definitely off-the-beaten-path.

The café has a very limited lunch menu, but we were hungry and the grill cheese and soup sounded good. And it was. The tomato bisque soup was delicious and the three-cheese, grill cheese melted in your mouth. But the big hit were the oatmeal lavender cookies, that were so good we had to take some home.

By the way, the coffee was bold but not bitter, just the way I like it. My travel companion ordered a regular filtered coffee with hot milk - the barista smiled as he steamed her milk, noting this was a clever way get a café late for half the price.

Turns out The Woodrack Café has two other locations and Dolly Coffee Trailer, which is a café on wheels and an interesting history. Link: The Wood Rack Café https://www.thewoodrackcafe.com/

Russian Tea Room

Another day, after walking around downtown for a couple of hours it was time for lunch. You would think we’d have lots of options, but in reality there are not a lot of sit down, sidewalk restaurants in downtown Edmonton anymore. We explored 104th Street which I recalled used to have a nice bakery/restaurant, but everything was more takeout oriented (partly due to COVID, but not entirely). Then I remembered the Russian Tea Room on Jasper Avenue where we use to go back in the early ‘80s. To our surprise it was still there and we were quickly welcomed in by the owner and invited to take a seat in the empty restaurant.

We chose a window seat so we could do some people watching while we enjoyed our borsht and perogies. Unfortunately while we were there she had to lock the front door as a man high on something tried to get into the restaurant. Even more unfortunate, was the number of times while flaneuring downtown Edmonton we encountered one or more individuals yelling and screaming seemingly at no one. Several times we had to walk on the road, to keep our distance and avoid confrontation. In one case the individual was pounding on a car and yelling. I consider myself to be very tolerate and street savvy, but it was scary even for me a couple of times.

We also had to try the cheese cakes, a Russian Tea Room speciality, unfortunately the crust was very soggy, I expect as a result of sitting too long, due to lack of customers. We had a lovely chat with the owner about how difficult it is to operate a restaurant in downtown Edmonton these days. When she learned we had been coming to the Tea Room for 40 years, she gave us a gift – a notebook and pen.

FYI: If you wondered why it is called a Tea Room, there are tables in the back where you can have your tea leaves read and your fortune told. While we were there two young women came in to have their fortunes read. I couldn’t help but wonder what is the future holds for the restaurant and Edmonton’s downtown.

The Art Of Cake

While surfing Google Maps to see what fun things might be within walking distance of our Airbnb I noticed a place called The Art of Cake located on a back street facing the St. Joachim Catholic Cemetery along 105 Ave at 119th St. I love art and I love cake; how could I not go.

Along the way we stumbled upon the quirky 115th Street block between 105th and 106th Street, that is transitioning from an tired industrial block, to a hipster street with Southern Alberta Printmakers Gallery, Brew and Bloom Café, fitness and dance studios.

You could easily miss The Art of Cake, especially if there are cars parked in front of the window and doorway.

However, once inside you are quickly immersed into a decadent speakeasy-like space that looks a bit like a late 19th early 20th century living room. The lighting is dim, the seating is dominated by plush red and pink velvet seating, vintage china cabinets full of retro china and old photos on the wall. Unfortunately due to COVID there is no sit down service.

The bake shop is bright and modern, with a display case full of sweets including a chocolate pecan square ($4.75), which I had to taste. There were several cakes that were indeed works of art.

As we has some more exploring to do we decided not to take anything with us, but promised to return the next day to load up.

We did stop by the next day and loaded up with some more sweets (lemon raspberry square, a sample pack of cookies and two muffins ($3 each) for the breakfast the next day.

We also met one of the owners who was super friendly and learned they have a brother location “The Bakers Son” located in the Allin Clinic at 10155 120 St. NW, just a few blocks away.

After visiting The Art of Cake, we headed to Norma’s Cafe i.e. friends condo overlooking Edmonton’s spectacular river valley for coffee and sweets.

Uncle Ed’s Ukrainian Restaurant.

It has been a tradition for us to visit Uncle Ed’s Ukrainian Restaurant in the Beverly neighbourhood on Edmonton’s east side for 10+ years. Not only do we love the family food ambience, but it is where we discovered the Jam Lady’s Curry Mustard that we love. Unfortunately on this trip we found out they no longer carry her mustard.

Uncle Ed’s began back in 1959, in the back of Anna and Woytko Stawiczy’s general store in Mundare, Alberta when they added a small sausage smoker so they could offer savoury meats to customers.

Fast forward to 1965, and Woytko’s son Edward (Uncle Ed) and his high school sweetheart Jane Stefanyk (Auntie Jane) teamed up to run Stawnichy’s Mundare Sausage which grew into a full sausage processing facility.

In 1986, they decided to open the Stawnichy’s Mundare Sausage House in Edmonton, which included Uncle Ed’s restaurant.

We both had “The Real Deal #8.” I had the full plate, which included 4 perogies, 4 cabbage rolls, 2 baked cheese rolls and 2 cheese crepes for $14, but if you like you can add and subtract items as long as they add up to 12. My companion had the half plate option for $11.

We loved everything. We shared the three berry pie for dessert. Life is good.

Secret Pizza

While walking home from our 124th Street (gallery row) walk, we stumbled upon Secret Pizza and decided we would try it on our last night in Edmonton (which also happened to be a Friday and an Oiler’s game).

Secret Pizza is located on 11998 - 109a Street, a side street just a few blocks east of Edmonton’s trendy 124th Street which is full of art galleries, shops, cafes and restaurants.

Like Biera, it is located in new infill building that includes Duchess Atelier (cooking classes), Modern Gravity Float Studio, Time Escape and The Local Omnivore (love the name, will try next time).

What was once a warehouse, light industrial area (Acorn Welding, Stevens & Associate millwork) is gradually becoming an off-the-beaten path hipster destination, including Kinnikinnick Foods headquarters.

We had the Santa Fe salad ($16) which was large enough for three maybe even four people. The mixed greens, corn, black beans, avocado, feta cheese, dates and fried tortilla chips, with peanut lime vinaigrette was outstanding. We then shared the 10” Trentina (ricotta, arugula and prosciutto) thick crust pizza ($19). The crust was nice and chewy, just the way I like it. I paired my dinner with Edmonton’s Sea Change Brewery’s Turbo Stout beer that includes 10 different malts.

Secret Pizza is not only a great pizza parlor but also a fun sports bar with big screen TVs lining the walls, so you get a great view of the game from every seat. In the summer they have a large, sunny outdoor patio, with a huge garage door that opens to the indoor restaurant creating what I expect is a perfect hipster hangout space. I am not sure how long this place can remain a secret.

Last Stop

We couldn’t make it all the way home without stopping at one more thrift store. We tried the Bibles for Mission in Red Deer, but it didn’t open until noon and we arrived at 11. I wasn’t waiting. As we got closer to Calgary, we decided to take a quick side trip into Airdrie for some last minute thrifting. Given it was now lunch time we also needed to find a place to eat.

A quick scan of Google Maps (I should get Google Maps to sponsor this blog) identified “Flavours of Montreal” just a block away from the Salvation Army – perfect. I went to check it out, while my companion headed to do some advance scouting at Sally Anne’s.

WOW…the place had a great buzz (everyone seemed happy) with people picking-up orders (no seating) and a busy open kitchen. I immediately noticed the large display of sweets – cookies, squares, cinnamon buns etc. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Above it was a huge menu board offering everything from Montreal smoked meat sandwiches and poutine, to burgers and subs.

With my mouth salivating, I headed back to Sally Anne’s for some quick thrifting then back to pick up some lunch to eat in the car.

We decided to share a Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich ($12.95), as we could see from the open kitchen, they are generous with the meat. We also picked up some rye bread ($6.95, which ironically was from the Skyefire Bakery across the street) and two large cookies. Back in the car, we devoured the sandwiches (which included two crunchy pickles) and saved the cookies for later. How is it that we didn’t know about this place?

FYI: The cookies were delicious and huge ( 5 inches in diameter) and the rye bread was perfect for toasting and sandwiches. I think I might have found Canada’s best ginger cookies.