Hicks Weekly Dish: Now THAT'S a hot dog! BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

The Dog 9567A 118 Ave. 780-424-6823 Tues. to Sun. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Closed Mondays Food: 4 of 5 Suns Ambience: 3 of 5 Suns Service: 3.5 of 5 Suns Dinner for two excluding drinks and tip: Basic, $20; loaded, $35 The lowly hot dog ascends, from a kids’ birthday party staple, to Fat Franks hot dog stands, to the crazy Asian fusion dogs at the It’ Dog. And now the hot dog arrives to its full magnificent glory.  The Dog is a sit-down  hot-dog emporium on 118 Avenue where you can order 23 kinds of hot dogs – at least 14 variations based on excellent locally made beef and beef/pork dogs, then hot dogs built from  kangaroo, elk, wild boar and alligator sausage, and even three vegetarian dogs!  The Dog shares its building and ownership with the best BBQ house in town, Sloppy Hoggs Roed Hus, which means it shares the quirky creativeness of over-all owner Bjorn Cochran. Cochran has had a lot of laughs creating The Dog. You’d associate the ... Read the rest of entry »

WEEKLY DISH Edmonton's Cafe Amore - As good as ever! BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

Cafe Amore 10807 106 Ave. 780-477-7896 www.cafeamorebistro.com Mon.- Fri: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (Friday to 11 p.m.) Sat. 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Closed Sundays Food: 4.5 of 5 Suns Ambience: 4 of 5 Suns Service: 4.5 of 5 Suns Dinner for two excluding drinks and tip: Basic, $30; loaded, $60 You’d think it’d be easy to run a good restaurant. Cook good food, have pleasant servers, charge reasonable prices. Surely the world will beat a path to your door. Of course it’s not easy at all. In fact, it’s one of the most difficult businesses imaginable – to have consistently excellent food  and service no matter how busy or how empty the restaurant, no matter if the cook just walked out the door in a hissy fit, no matter if hung-over servers don’t  show up. Café Amore is one of the very few restaurants in this town able to do just that – always have great food, always have pleasant, professional servers, always give excellent value ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks' Weekly Dish: Sorrentino's Mushroom Harvest Festival better than ever BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2015

FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2015 11:07 AM MDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2015 11:19 AM MDT A fun desert at Sorrentino's Mushroom Harvest Festival. Article Change text size for the story Print this story Report an error Related Stories Hicks' Weekly Dish:In Search of great delis Hicks' Weekly Dish: Azucar Picante for the best Latin food in Edmonton Hicks' Weekly Dish: Gini's offers fine dining experience Sorrentino’s Mushroom Harvest Festival At all Sorrentino’s locations in September: Downtown, 10162-100 St. South, 4208 Calgary Trail West, 6867-170 St. Little Italy, 10844-95 St. St. Albert, 595 St. Albert Road and Bistecca Italian Steak House, 2345-111 St. Food: 4.5 of 5 Suns Dinner for two excluding drinks and tip: Basic, $70, loaded, $120 Twenty-one years, for an annual food festival, is a long run. Think of a favourite restaurant where you took your new-born for a family ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks' Weekly Dish: Gini's offers fine dining experience BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015

FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015 09:51 AM MDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015 09:59 AM MDT A Gini’s special of the day: Kangaroo tenderloin medallions. Photo by Graham Hicks Article Change text size for the story Print this story Report an error Related Stories Hicks' Weekly Dish:In Search of great delis Hicks' Weekly Dish: 12 Acres offers farm to fork freshness Hicks' Weekly Dish: Relish Gourmet Burgers top-notch Hicks on Biz: Don’t re-invent the wheel Hicks' Weekly Dish: Azucar Picante for the best Latin food in Edmonton Hicks' Weekly Dish: Sorrentino's Mushroom Harvest Festival better than ever Gini’s Restaurant — Exquisite French Fine Dining 10706 142 Street 780-451-1169 www.gini'srestaurant.ca Tues.-Fri. 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. (10 p.m. Fridays) Sat. 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Closed Sundays Food: 4 of 5 Suns Ambience: 4 of 5 Suns Service: 4 of ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks' Weekly Dish:In Search of great delis BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015

FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015 09:32 AM MDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015 09:44 AM MDT The Italian Bakery made-to-order deli sandwich. Photo by Graham Hicks Article Change text size for the story Print this story Report an error Related Stories Hicks' Weekly Dish: Sumo Sumo makes excellent sushi Hicks' Weekly Dish: RGE RD, Not your mama's liver! Hicks' weekly dish: Subpar sushi Hicks' Weekly Dish: Sweet, but too sweet! Hicks' weekly dish: Restaurant crawl Hicks' Weekly Dish: Oliveto Trattoria has figured it out Hicks' Weekly Dish: Azucar Picante for the best Latin food in Edmonton Hicks' Weekly Dish: Sorrentino's Mushroom Harvest Festival better than ever Hicks' Weekly Dish: Gini's offers fine dining experience What is … a delicatessen? A deli or delicatessen used to be a food shop with long glass display cases full of slabs of cold cuts or cured meats and whee ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks' Weekly Dish: 12 Acres offers farm to fork freshness BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2015

FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2015 12:54 PM MDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 2015 01:05 PM MDT 12 Acres’ beef/tomato tartare with Saskatoon jelly and wedge potatoes. Article Change text size for the story Print this story Report an error Related Stories Hicks' Weekly Dish: Azucar Picante for the best Latin food in Edmonton Edmonton restaurant makes list of best in Canada, voting opens online Hicks' Weekly Dish: Gini's offers fine dining experience 12 Acres Restaurant 8 Mission Avenue, St. Alberta 780-569-1779 12acres.ca No reservations other than large parties Tues.-Wed., 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday, 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Closed Mondays Food: 4 of 5 Suns Ambience: 4 of 5 Suns Service: 4 of 5 Suns Dinner for two excluding drinks and tip: Basic, $50; loaded, $75 Graham Hicks 780 707 6379 graham.hicks@hicksbiz.com www.hicksbiz.com @hicksonsix Holy baked po ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks' Weekly Dish: Relish Gourmet Burgers top-notch BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 04, 2015

FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 04, 2015 10:30 AM MDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 04, 2015 10:41 AM MDT The Pinchos (tapas-like) seafood board featured in the August-long SABOR Restaurant Seafood Festival. Photo by Graham Hicks Article Change text size for the story Print this story Report an error Related Stories Hicks Weekly Dish: Taste of Edmonton simply 'awful' Hicks' Weekly Dish: Urbano Pizza offers high quality, healthy fare Hicks' Weekly Dish: Sahara Bar & Grill Lebanese-Mediterranean food superb Hicks' Weekly Dish: NongBu Korean Eatery still needs work Hicks' Weekly Dish: Gini's offers fine dining experience It’s the very good gourmet burgers, the friendly but contemporary décor, the beer taps all featuring Alley Kat and Wild Rose brewery beers, but, most of all, it’s the people. The franchise owners of the new Relish Gourmet Burgers, John and Julie Wallace, are good people ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks' Weekly Dish: Sahara Bar & Grill Lebanese-Mediterranean food superb BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015

FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015 09:46 AM MDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015 09:58 AM MDT Sahara starters: clockwise from upper left, hummus, kibbeh nayeh, baba ghaouji and fatoush with string cheese. Photo by Graham Hicks Article Change text size for the story Print this story Report an error Related Stories Hicks' Weekly Dish: Relish Gourmet Burgers top-notch Sahara Mediterranean and Canadian Cuisine #110, 10807 Castledowns Road| 780-371-1113 saharaedmonton.com 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. seven days a week Food: 4.5 of 5 Suns Ambience: 3.5 of 5 Suns Service: 3 of 5 Suns Dinner for two excluding drinks and tip: Basic, $40; loaded, $70 Graham Hicks 780 707 6379 graham.hicks@hicksbiz.com www.hicksbiz.com @hicksonsix The dispersion of ethnic communities in this League of Nations we know as Edmonton has always been intriguing. Why didn’t the Filipinos congregate in one neighbourhood? They’re dispersed ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks' Weekly Dish: Urbano Pizza offers high quality, healthy fare BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, JULY 07, 2015

Urbano Pizza Co. 10220 103 St. 780-705-1885 urbanopizzaco.com 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays Closed Sundays Food: 4 of 5 Suns Ambience: 3.5 of 5 Suns Service: 3.5 of 5 Suns Two 11-inch pizzas: $11.95 each You are so busy, it doesn’t hit you until the aircraft lifts off. Yes! Your holiday is actually underway! I had a similar realization, a chill down the spine as it were, sitting at one (of two) street-side patio tables outside the new Urbano Pizza Co. The early evening July sun was easing off, yet the downtown 103 Street was still bathed in light and warmth. Just a block north, in clear view, the new arena, girder by girder, is fast realizing its fabulous promise. A couple of storefronts away, the cranes were hauling up the exterior wall panels for another new condo tower. Days later, Connor McDavid scored five goals in a scrimmage at the Oilers development camp. It hit home. In just over a year, Rogers Place will be open for bu ... Read the rest of entry »

Hicks' Weekly Dish: NongBu Korean Eatery still needs work BY GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015

NongBu Korean Eatery 8115 104 St. 780-989-0997 www.facebook.com/NongBuKorean Mon. to Sat. 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Closed Sundays Food: 3 of 5 Suns Ambience: 3.5 of 5 Suns Service: 2.5 of 5 Suns Dinner for two excluding drinks and tip: Basic, $30; loaded, $60 Graham Hicks 780 707 6379 graham.hicks@hicksbiz.com www.hicksbiz.com @hicksonsix NongBu Korean Eatery represents an ironic, yet entirely logical, evolution of ethnic-based restaurants. Until recently, most ethnic restaurants served Canadianized versions of ethnic dishes or simple “village” fare reflecting the food from back home ... 30 years ago. Hence Korean restaurants in town have traditionally featured bulgogi, kimchi and bibimbap. But for the next generation that has stayed in the hospitality biz, village and Canadianized dishes weren’t enough. Many studied food trends in their ethnic homelands or in Vegas/ New York to see what fusion was up to. And now there’s a counter-revoluti ... Read the rest of entry »