Normand's Fine Regional Cuisine 11639A Jasper Ave. 780-482-2600 www.normands.comIt's mainly because of the meat.Normand's Fine Regional Cuisine has become an Edmonton institution — in the same tucked-away, Oliver end of Jasper Avenue location, with the same hands-on owner Normand Campbell, for 23 years. Chef Cui Kouch rivals Normand for longevity.Just about everybody at Normand's is a repeat customer. Restaurants don't flourish for 23 years without being on a plethora of favourite restaurant lists.And they go for the meat. As the late, great judge Ed Wachowich used to say, "I love animals — right beside the mashed potatoes."Other restaurants have dabbled in wild, exotic and unusual meats — bison, venison, elk, duck, pheasant, wild boar, ostrich, kangaroo.Normand's has made such meats an enduring speciality. Campbell knows what to look for in his purchasing, Cui has decades of experience in optimal preparation. Every entree on the wild game side of the menu is a good bet.In most restaurants, bi ...
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Don’t crack the champagne yet.
But if the South African energy giant Sasol goes ahead with its unique GTL (Gas to Liquids) refinery close to Fort Saskatchewan, it’ll be one giant boost to the region.
Sasol’s patented technology converts natural gas into diesel fuel.
How about $8 billion spent mostly around Edmonton, to get it built? To put that figure in perspective, it’s as much as the entire provincial education budget.
How about 5,000 skilled trades workers employed over a three-year build?
How about, once operational, 500 permanent skilled jobs?
We haven’t seen the possibility of such eye-popping numbers, this close to Edmonton, since the Petro-Can refinery expansion and the final phases of Shell’s Scotford refinery/upgrader.
All about the price of gas
The caution comes because nothing is a done deal.
Sasol’s unique technology depends on the price of natural gas (hereto referred to simply as “gas”) staying down, and the price of oil/diesel sta ...
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So the Katz Group — owner of the Edmonton Oilers NHL hockey team, and operator of the proposed new downtown arena — is back for more.
The story, huge headlines three weeks ago, is that our municipally elected councillors were "blindsided" when presented behind closed doors with new, unexpected financial demands from the Katz Group as part of the new arena deal.
Daryl Katz last weekend issued a statement in a full-page ad, apologizing for his bull-headedness. Certainly that statement softened down the antagonism.
Nobody outside the Katz Group has access to the team's audited financial statements. The club, like all NHL teams, is privately held. Nobody besides Revenue Canada knows how much it does or doesn't make. Daryl Katz will not open his books, even behind closed doors, to city council or its representatives.
We are forced to accept, on faith, that the Oilers are a break-even proposition at best. The Forbes business magazine article pegging Oilers profits at $7 million in 2010/11 was nothin ...
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