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The Canadian track and field team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de janeiro has done well, winning more medals than ever before.
But where was Alberta? None of the athletes, even those born and raised here, trained in the province.
After the 2001 World Championships in Athletics (the 2001 Worlds) were held in this city, the “Edmonton 2001 Athletics Legacy Fund” was set up with a $3 million surplus left over from the games and $5 million in federal government funds.
The fund’s mandate was clear: To assist in the creation and support of the Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre (CACC) at the University of Alberta. The vision was equally clear: Support world-class coaches and facilities, in turn attracting top track and field athletes from Alberta, Canada and abroad.
Here we are, 15 years later.
Despite a half-million dollar annual grant from the Legacy Fund to the CACC, not one athlete on the 2016 Canadian Olympic track and field team came through Alberta. Those who ...
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Uccellino
10349 Jasper Ave.
780-426-0346
www.uccellino.ca
Food: 4.5 of 5 stars
Ambience: 3 of 5 stars
Service: 4 of 5 stars
Wed. to Sun. 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Dinner for two (without tip or beverages): Basic, $40; fully loaded, $75
Between 103 and 104 Streets, at 10345 Jasper Avenue, 10347 Jasper Avenue and 10349 Jasper Avenue are three dining establishments. Corso 32, Bar Bricco and Uccellino sit side-by-side. Each has its own kitchen and staff. All were created by executive chef extraordinaire Daniel Costa.
Alike but different, the trio are inspired by an unwavering commitment to top-quality contemporary, regional Italian dining.
This review is about the latest. Uccellino (little bird in Italian), at 10349 Jasper Avenue, has been open two months.
Uccellino should be placed in the context of its older sisters – Corso 32 (10345 Jasper) and Bar Bricco (10347 Jasper). Corso 32 is intimate and informal, a gourmet Italian dining experience. Reservations must be made months ahead.
Bar Bric ...
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In the 2008 provincial election, then-Premier Ed Stelmach pushed hard for processing more Fort McMurray bitumen in the province, exporting finished refinery products like diesel and gasoline. Steady Eddie likened the export of bitumen to "scraping off the top soil" from Alberta farmland instead of growing crops.
It never happened. A small portion of our total bitumen production is turned into gasoline and diesel fuels at local refineries for the Western Canadian market, but over 90% of the 2.5 million barrels of bitumen produced every day is pipelined to big upgrader/refinery operations in the USA.
Original thinker Ian MacGregor, chair and CEO of the $8.5 billion Sturgeon Refinery now being built north of Fort Saskatchewan, says the entire equation is ready to be turned upside down.
It’s now economically feasible, he says, for Alberta to process and refine its bitumen hydrocarbons here, emission-free to boot.
MacGregor seems to be the only powerful guy in the oil patch who’s incorporat ...
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Coco Deep Fried Chicken
3350 Parsons Rd. (Also 12620E 132 Ave.)
780-990-4304
www.cocochicken.ca
Mon-Tues: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Wed-Sat: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Sun: 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Seoul Fried Chicken
7904-104 St.
780-761-3616
SFC Seoul Fried Chicken
11 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week
It’ dog
8621 109 St.
780-438-4083
It’ dog
11 a.m. to 11 p.m., later on weekends.
Wing Chicx
2912 Ellwood Dr. (off Parsons Road)
780-466-2852
www.wingchicx.com
11:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m (10 p.m. weekends)
Closed Tuesdays
No wonder we love ’em.
Hot, moist, crunchy, garlicky, sweeter than candy … what is there not to like about Korean fried chicken? Other than the 350 calories per drumstick or wing, the off-the-dial cholesterol threat and yet another deep-fried, sugary food contributing to man-made diabetes?
Colonel Sanders is to blame for the original KFC – that paper bucket full of sinfully good Kentucky Fried Chicken, the skin transformed by boi ...
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(Part 2 of a 3-part series)
It’s dawning on us, here in oil-rich Alberta.
If we don’t solve this CO2 emission thing, we could be doomed to go the way of the Maritimes, the way of Detroit and the American “rust belt”, the way of so many once-thriving, now-economically-depressed regions that did not adapt to changing circumstances.
“It’s not complicated,” says Ian MacGregor, the visionary behind the $8.5 billion state-of-the-art Sturgeon Refinery, now being built north of Fort Saskatchewan.
“To produce any oil-based products, we need hydrogen. For every molecule of hydrogen we make, we produce a molecule of CO2.”
“We’re in a hole to begin with,” says MacGregor.
“But a hill can be built in the hole. We have the tools and technology to flip CO2 from an environmental liability to a value-added asset.”
That’s exactly what’s happening today.
Hand-in-hand with construction of the Sturgeon ...
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Chartier
#102, 5012 50 St.
Beaumont
780-737-3633
www.dinechartier.com
Tues to Thurs. 4 p.m. to close
Fri. 11 a.m. to close
Sat. and Sun. 10 a.m. to close
(Bread window, open weekday afternoons)
Food: 5 of 5 Suns
Ambience: 4 of 5 Suns
Service: 4 of 5 Suns
Dinner for two: Excluding drinks and tip, basic $40, loaded $70
For a restaurant to earn a five (out of five) Sun rating for food in this column is no easy feat.
Everything must be perfect. Every dish must be attractive, delicious, inspiring, even challenging.
Over five years, The Weekly Dish has only given out five Suns seven times – to Zinc, North 53 when Ben Staley was chef, Corso 32 (twice), RGE RD, Black Pearl Seafood and one fine evening at Hart’s.
So congratulations to the new French-Canadian Chartier restaurant, a down-to-earth, whimsical and inviting eatery in the Franco-Albertan community of Beaumont, less than a 30 minute drive from south Edmonton. Every food item served was so absolutely superb as to w ...
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Without question, NW Refining's Ian MacGregor is "the craziest guy on the block."
Thanks to the crash of world crude oil prices to their lowest (ongoing) levels of the past 35 years, the big oil companies operating in Northern Alberta have pulled in their horns. Once existing expansion projects are finished, there's not a whisper of future expansion.
But MacGregor, the chairman, CEO and president of NW Refining (formerly North West Upgrading) sees something the multi-national integrated oil companies don't. Ian MacGregor has raised $8.5 billion to take his vision to reality: A partnership between NW Refining, the independent Canadian oilsands producer CNRL and the government of Alberta, the Sturgeon Refinery is slowly taking shape north of Fort Saskatchewan, with startup in 2017.
The refinery is, in the language of innovation, "disruptive". It will be the first to convert dilbit (diluted bitumen from the oilsands) directly into high-grade, ultra-lowsulphur diesel fuel and other petrochemical products ...
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Plates International Buffet
3975 Calgary Trail
780-428-8877
www.platesbuffet.com
Mon. to Thurs. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Fri. & Sat. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Sun. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m
Food: 4 of 5 Suns
Ambience: 3.5 of 5 Suns
Service: 3.5 of 5 Suns
Dinner for two: Excluding drinks and tip, set price; weekday dinner $84, weekend dinner $108 – senior and children pricing as well.
Green beans, perfectly cooked, as fresh as if newly picked.
Pasta al dente with just the right resistance at the end of the bite.
A slice of soft, tender, juicy lamb, without gristle or excessive fat.
In a buffet? Ya gotta be kidding!
I am not. It is now possible, Matilda, to have a top-notch buffet lunch, dinner or weekend brunch in Edmonton, with food quality within hailing distance of the city’s top sit-down restaurants.
Before dining, you’ll be slightly shocked at the Plates International ...
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The road to Canada had been long, rough and rocky, but was slowly smoothing out.
And then, the Great Fort McMurray Fire.
Being born and raised in the Philippines is doubly tragic. Through past failures of leadership, corruption and the breakdown of law and order, the “Pearl of the Orient” after World War II remains mired in poverty.
Filipinos are intensely aware of their condition. Filipinos have historic ties to Europe and the USA, are well-educated, English-speaking and Catholic, making it easier to work overseas.
They may have been $15 an hour jobs, but for Mary Anne Gutierrez, working in Fort McMurray was winning the lottery.
Years before, she left her family and her young daughter in the Philippines to work in Hong Kong as a nanny/housekeeper. Filipinos are not well-treated in such countries, but at least there’s money to send back home.
Working in such Asian and Middle Eastern countries also built experience for the big prize: To qualify to come to Canada, not a ...
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The Glasshouse Bistro & Cafe
Enjoy Centre, 101 Riel Drive
St. Albert
780-651-7361
glasshousebistro.ca
Mon. to Wed. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Thurs. to Fri. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sat., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sun. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Food: 3.5 of 5 Suns
Ambience: 4 of 5 Suns
Service: 3.5 of 5 Suns
Dinner for two: Excluding drinks and tip; basic $35, loaded $55
It’s Sunday brunch or lunch, Saturday dinner … the relatives are in town and Gramma wants to take the gang out for food.
But where to go? Gramma wants quiet and minimal distraction. The kids want entertainment. Uncle Fred is a meat ‘n’ potatoes fella, Auntie Awkward is all about cuisine. Fred Jr. is in his vegetarian phase.
Write this one down: The Glasshouse Bistro & Café in St. Albert’s Enjoy Centre.
It’s a beautiful site, an unusual and inviting place for light or full dining. The Glasshouse has that afternoon-tea comfyness, is spacious and airy with the finest uninterru ...
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