So how did this column do last year?
How good was Hicks on Biz in reading business trends, on gazing into Edmonton’s economic future?
Not bad, I’d say … with one big blooper that’ll haunt me for years.
I said the Metropolitan Edmonton economy would dodge multiple bullets in 2015, and I was right.
Despite the colossal drop in commodity prices, despite the economic hardship now pummelling Fort McMurray and Calgary, Edmonton did surprisingly well.
City of Edmonton Chief Economist John Rose had predicted 3% growth in the Edmonton economy in 2015, with 20,000 new jobs. It looks like we’ll leave 2015 with a 3.8% growth rate and a net gain of 28,000 new jobs. It’s always good when an economist is too conservative!
I said, back in August, that recession will hit Edmonton, hurricane-force, sometime in late January/February of 2016. Business activity will slow down, layoffs will be the order of the day, house prices will drop. In short, that 2016 will be a very, ve ...
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Don't you just hate it when people answer a simple, direct question with "it depends"?
"Can you recommend a good restaurant?" Now there's a simple question often put to this restaurant critic, who, for review purposes, dines out at least once a week.
But "¦ it depends!
In the interest of "it depends," here are the Weekly Dish's socio-demographic-economic recommendations of where you might want to dine out in 2016.
You want to impress him/her, you have $200 burning a hole in your pocket, you want the linen, the Downton Abbey cutlery, no background noise and a thoroughly professional waiter: The Hardware Grill, Characters, The Harvest Room (Hotel Macdonald), Ruth's Chris, Violino, Solstice Seasonal, Sorrentino's Downtown, Madison's.
You want to impress her/him, you have $200 burning a hole in your pocket, but you want something a little more casual: Corso 32, Sabor, RGE RD, Woodwork, Vivo, Gini's, Red Ox Inn, Normand's, XIX, Bistecca, Cibo, Black Pearl, Wildflower Grill, The Marc.
You w ...
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Sorry to be the Grinch, so soon after Christmas Day.
But reality must be confronted.
Alberta will soon be in its worst financial pickle since the '80s.
Our naïve New Democratic government is in for the shock of its young life. The unforeseen consequences of corporate and personal tax increases, the new carbon tax and higher minimum wages are being layered on top of a fast-shrinking energy sector and a recession that's just now taking shape.
The tax specialists consulted for this column were blunt. When the dust settles, they say, the provincial government won't have the added $1.1 to $1.55 billion it expects from corporate and personal tax hikes. By 2017, Alberta's corporate and personal tax revenue will shrink, not grow.
Here's why.
As of January 1, high-income earners - top managers, corporate partners and owners - will see their personal income tax rate (combined provincial and federal) jump from 39% to an expected 48% in 2016. Tax advisors are telling their clients to pay as much in ...
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If a downside exists in the restaurant reviewing business, it’s the lack of time and budget to return to enjoyable dining spots, to eat for the sheer joy of eating rather than with pen in hand and camera at the ready.
So these memorable Meals of 2015 are, of necessity, mostly based on one-time visits to an astounding variety of restaurants in our city.
I can say — as far as I am aware — that I eat what you eat. As a reviewer, I seek anonymity. Reservations are made under other names, I pay what you pay. The only exception is attending showcase dinners to which all members of the city’s food-reviewing community are invited.
I also keep my distance from restaurant chefs, owners and charming maître d’s. Nothing destroys objectivity as quickly as friendship. From their blogs, it’s so easy to tell the food writers on the free-dinner circuit, or those in tight with certain chefs. They like everything, criticize nothing.
Memories of 2015 …
The Hot Dog R ...
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So you want to open a restaurant.
You, and a thousand other dudes, all sitting around half-hammered on a Friday night, waving your beers and being enthralled by the BEST FOOD CONCEPT EVER!
Ryan Heit, Craig Milne, Jeff Morton, Arden Tse and Terry Wong, however, went and did it.
Their very hip Prairie Noodle Shop opened for business this past week … after 2½ years of preparation.
Here’s their story.
Phase I, The Concept: In mid-2013, nine friends who were connected through the University of Alberta’s MBA (Master of Business Administration) program began meeting regularly, just to think about business ideas. “We all wanted to start something,” says partner Ryan Heit, “but what?”
Arden Tse and Terry Wong, both experienced restaurant managers, brought the idea of a Japanese-style ramen noodle shop to the group. “We held a ramen tasting party,” says Ryan. “We all liked the idea, but it was a $450,000 investment. And, being MBA stu ...
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There’s a pile of songs in the Mayfield Dinner Theatre’s “Back to the ‘80s” show – playing with a full cast and band, until the end of January, 2016
From my notes while attending the show, here’s a list of all the songs I jotted down – some of them being just a few bars. I’m too lazy to go and look up the proper title. Besides, you’ll know:
Video Killed the Radio Star – great tune!
Still Rock ‘n’ Roll to Me – Billy Joel at his best
(You Can} Hit It
Call Me
Turning Japanese (I Really Think So)
Live Forever (from Fame)
Cadillac Ranch – all that line dancing!
They Got the Beat
Jessie’s Girl – timeless
Bette Davis Eyes – Kim Carnes, the best whiskey voice in the biz
Dancin’ With Myself
Hold On – Phil Collins’ first hit on his own?
Hey Rickie
Who Can It Be Now – Men At Work
Don’t Stop Believing – thank you Glee
Spending The Night Together
867- ...
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XIX (Nineteen)
5940 Mullen Way (off Rabbit Hill Road, north of Henday Drive)
780-395-1119
dinenineteen.com
Mon. 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., Tues-Thurs. 3 p.m., Fri-Sat. noon to midnight, Sun. noon to 10 p.m.
Food: 3.5 of 5 Suns
Ambience: 3.5 of 5 Suns
Service: 4 of 5 Suns
Dinner for two excluding drinks and tip: Basic, $60; loaded, $100
Andrew Fung’s XIX (Nineteen) seeks to be the Hardware Grill of the city’s South Side.
Sleek is the word I’m looking for.
XIX is in the middle of the prosperous new suburbs of the deep southwest, spilling out of Riverbend across Henday Drive into Windermere. I suspect stricter drinking and driving laws have accelerated the move of quality restaurants to the wealthier ‘burbs, given the reduced driving distances or reduced Uber bills.
That said, there’s a certain lack of character endemic to such establishments. It’s all too new, too well groomed, a tad bland. The new structures — XIX is at the end of a high-end ...
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Good riddance to bad rubbish. May the traitorous Chris Jones royally screw up in Saskatchewan.
The Edmonton Eskimos – specifically General Manager Ed Hervey – gave their newly departed head coach Chris Jones his big break two years ago.
It was Jones’ first head-coach job after bouncing through three teams over 10 years as a defensive coordinator. Always the groomsman, never the groom, at least not until the Eskimos gave him his break, complete with a three-year contract. And Hervey gave him the players.
Jones delivered big-time. He’s a great coach. He took the Eskimos from a 4-14 year in 2013 to Grey Cup champions in 2015.
So, just as long-suffering Eskimo fans could realistically savour the return of a Canadian Football League dynasty based on three pillars - GM Hervey, coach Jones and quarterback Mike Reilly - what does Jones do?
He gives EVERYBODY – his players, his staff, the Eskimo organization and, most insultingly, Eskimo fans – the middle finger!
W ...
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Corso 32
10345 Jasper Ave.
780-421-4622
corso32.com
5 p.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week
Reservations recommended
Food: 5 of 5 Suns
Ambience: 4 of 5 Suns
Service: 4.5 of 5 Suns
For prime-time dining, tables at Corso 32 tables are booked months in advance.
The place is so popular you could make money selling those reservation slots on Kijiji!
There’s such a good reason.
Everything about the contemporary Italian dining establishment — literally a hole in the wall on Jasper Avenue you’d never notice unless you’re looking — is soft and silky and is of nothing but the best of quality.
Most of the city’s finer dining establishments receive a 3.5 or a 4 four out of 5 Suns in the Weekly Dish rating system, usually because something or other isn’t quite right.
But having dined at Corso three or four times over the past three years, I’ve never experienced anything — not the food, the service, or the evening out — that w ...
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These scenarios surrounding our energy sector are absolutely baffling.
Has Lewis Carroll come back to write a sequel to Alice in Wonderland?
Even in 2014/15, when energy prices were halved, oil/gas production and processing accounted for $111 billion gross revenues in Alberta – or approximately $400 million A DAY.
Last year, the energy sector directly accounted for 25% of our provincial Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) – suggests 70% of Alberta’s total economic activity is tied to the energy sector. Nobody has challenged that figure.
Today, this industry is on the ropes. The world price of oil and gas, which we cannot control, is at a 10-year low. Our guy is reeling, heading to the mat.
Here’s the craziest thing. The body blows are being delivered by those who live among us, who benefit every day from this industrial activity! The Save-Our-Plant/Climate Change frenzy has become such an emotional crusade that fossil fuel ...
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