New digs planned for Colonel Mustard’s
Fans of the popular local restaurant, Colonel Mustard’s Canteen, will be thrilled to hear that owners Carla and Brad Pipella have decided to knock down the restaurant, badly damaged in a flood more than a year ago, and build a new eatery on the same site. The building, shuttered since the flood, is set to be demolished within a month or so. Construction of the new digs should begin by late summer or early fall.
The Pipellas spent some 18 years building Colonel Mustard’s into a key player on the now-burgeoning 124th Street scene, and it’s heartening to hear they will be back cooking great food at 10802 124th St. before too long. Keep tabs on the progress at colonelmustards.ca.
Oscar Lopez of Pampa, the Brazilian barbecue steak house, is launching a food truck. It will feature the same deep, charcoal flavour as the downtown restaurant, care of a mini-barbecue imported from Brazil. Lopez hopes to have it on the street for the May long weekend. The truck will feature charcoalgrilled beef, chicken and pork, along with the popular Brazilian soda, Guarana (made from berries grown in the Amazon).
Pampa Food Truck will be downtown at lunch some days, but will also visit industrial areas in Edmonton, and be available for corporate and residential catering. The truck’s location will be tracked by the Edmonton Street Food app, a free download available from iTunes. Find out more at pampabraziliansteakhouse.com.
In chef news, Ryan O’Flynn has joined the Westin Hotel as its executive chef, leading a team of roughly 50 chefs in the hotel’s kitchen. A NAIT grad, O’Flynn worked in the United Kingdom at a number of prestigious restaurants before coming home in 2012. He worked at Bistro La Persaud for a spell, and then moved to Calgary’s Laurier Lounge before taking the Westin post.
Plus, chef Jasmin Kobajica (formerly of the Chateau Lacombe) has come on board at Fort Edmonton as its culinary director.
The hotly anticipated new restaurant, Meat for Dinner, is scheduled to open for full, smoked-meat production on Tuesday, May 20, says coowner Saylish Haas. The new restaurant, located right next door to The Next Act in Old Strathcona at 8216 104th St., will be open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. with Red Seal chef and NAIT grad, Nathan McLaughlin, stoking the smoker. More at meatfordinner.com
Next time you are at Drift, the popular Edmonton food truck found Tuesday to Friday during lunch hours at Jasper and 107th Street, check out their cookbook exchange. Co-owners Nevin and Kara Fenske, with the help of two friends who are artists, have created a decorative cookbook shelf outside of the truck. If you like any of the cookbooks on the shelf, you are free to take one. Or leave a pre-loved cookbook behind if you have one to share. More
at driftfoodtruck.ca.
May is Celiac Awareness Month. This year the Edmonton chapter of the Canadian Celiac Association has planned two events that flow into June, including a spring dinner on June 7 at Hundred Bar and Kitchen, and the Gluten Free Cravings event in Sherwood Park on June 8. For further details, visit celiac.ca.
Chef Brad Smoliak is putting on a couple of cooking classes to celebrate Mother’s Day, with a focus on summer entertaining with easy, quick dishes for the patio. Sign up yourself and your mom for a class, or give mom a gift certificate if you think she’d rather go solo. A wine and Prosecco tasting accompanies the classes, which run on Saturday, May 24, from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., and on Wednesday, May 28, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Classes are $135 per person plus GST and are held at Smoliak’s studio at 101,10130-105 Street, 780-757-7704. To register, email info@kitchenbybrad. ca. kitchenbybrad.ca
Edmonton’s new direct flight from Reykjavik has many benefits, including a steady supply of fresh, wild fish. Pat Batten, owner of Ocean Odyssey Inland — the small, west-end purveyor of sustainable seafood — has a connection to a small fishing collective that has the fish in Edmonton two days after it is pulled from the Atlantic. Batten says quality is excellent, and price comparable to other similar quality fish. Call 780930-1901 for details. Ocean Odyssey Inland is located at 10027 167th St. Details at oceanodysseyinland.ca.