A UKRAINIAN FEAST
Uncle Ed’s serves old-time favourites
Ukrainian food has such a long and entrenched history in Edmonton, it can hardly be considered ethnic cuisine anymore. Perogies and cabbage rolls are about as exotic in these parts as green onion cakes and spring rolls. Yet while there are countless restaurants featuring the many varieties of Asian food, there are few local spots that celebrate the Ukrainian staples we’ve come to know and love.
Uncle Ed’s is one such place — a veritable mecca of all things Ukrainian, from borscht to accordion music. If you’ve never tried the humble restaurant attached to the Mundare Sausage House, it’s worth the trip to northeast Edmonton. The restaurant, deli and store has been a fixture in the neighbourhood for almost 25 years — first on 50th Street, then around the corner at its current, larger digs on 118 Avenue. Stawnichy’s Meat Processing, the source of the acclaimed Mundare sausage in its many forms, has been around (in Mundare) since 1959.
A 42-foot sausage statue in the town is testament to the Stawnichys’ impact.
The family’s history in Alberta is celebrated in the decor at Uncle Ed’s, which features framed, black-and-white photos of the farm, the business and its growth. The restaurant’s namesake is Ed Stawnichy, the family patriarch who died in 2009.
Customers at the restaurant appear to be mostly regulars, many of them middle-aged plus. That explains the special menu of smaller, less-expensive portions for “juniors and seniors” (younger than 12 and older than 55). As you might expect, this is not a late-night place. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., getting folks home from dinner in plenty of time to watch Jeopardy.
Takeout seems to be a popular choice at Uncle Ed’s, for those who want something more authentic than tearing open a bag of Cheemos from the grocery store. While perogies (pyrohy) are the universal side dish here (as they should be), you’ll also find plenty of sausage, cabbage rolls (golubtsi), borscht, cheese buns (perishke) and cheese crepes (nalysnyky).
In fact, pretty much everything on the menu is some combination of the above, with or without a pork product in sausage, patty or chop form. Sure, there are some sandwiches and a hamburger on the menu, but I can’t imagine anyone comes to Uncle Ed’s for their grilled cheese.
While Stawnichy’s does make a gluten-free sausage (and sells many varieties of sausage in the deli including andouille, chorizo and red Thai curry), this is not the place for restricting carbs, dairy or calories in general.
Sour cream, butter, bacon, potato, cheese and creamy dill sauce are pretty much essential to the experience. While it doesn’t make for a very colourful plate, it most definitely makes for a delicious one.
We started with the one pop of colour in our otherwise beige culinary experience — a beautiful, ruby-red cup of borscht, rich with beets and cabbage. Add a dollop of sour cream, swirl and enjoy. I wished I had ordered a bowl, but I needed to save room for my “combo plate.”
The combos include four perogies, four cabbage rolls, two cheese buns and two cheese crepes, each with some form of pork. I had mine with a classic Stawnichy’s sausage for $12.50; my partner opted for the smoked pork chop ($12.75). The cabbage rolls were small and unadorned, stuffed with plain rice. While tasty, I prefer mine in tomato sauce. The perogies were, well, perogies — homemade and satisfying, topped with bacon and onions. The cheese buns/perishke and the crepes/nalysnyky were both stuffed with cottage cheese and covered in a creamy dill sauce.
The buns were just OK — a little dry and bland. The crepes reminded me of a more savoury version of blintzes, which I love.
Service, while friendly, is bare bones at Uncle Ed’s. The bill is delivered with the food, and the plates remain on the table until you leave, paying at the front counter as you go. To get a piece of pie for dessert, we had to get up and ask our server for it.
The pie options were pretty sweet — apple, raisin, appleraisin, blackberry, peach-mango and cherry on the night we were there. The cherry pie we had
(à la mode, with two big scoops of ice cream) was fine, with a nice crust that was homemade, but filling that sadly wasn’t.
The restaurant has a small selection of beer, and an extensive, fun selection of specialty pops.
Added entertainment comes from a tour around the deli, with its spread of sausages, jerky and frozen foods including pyrohy, cabbage rolls and borscht. There are all sorts of cool candies and licorice, Ukrainian textiles and quite a few cookbooks of traditional foods. My favourite was the racks of Ukrainian music CDs, including one called Stawnichy’s Meat Processing Ukrainian Party Music.
Keep it in mind for your next party, along with a feast of Ukrainian delights from Uncle Ed’s.