The Humans
Citadel Theatre, Shoctor Stage
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
January 6 to 27, 2018
Theatre review by GRAHAM HICKS, hicksbiz.com
What is all the fuss about?
Why is a yet another cliche-filled play about yet another dysfunctional American family considered to have been 2016's hottest Broadway property, winning every award in the book?
The Humans, having its Canadian premiere at Edmonton's Citadel Theatre January 6 to 27, is about as American soured-apple pie as it gets.
Rebellious aspiring musician younger daughter Brigid, currently bartending, is living in a dingy two-floor apartment with her boyfriend in New York City's Chinatown.
Ambitious older daughter Aimee is about to be fired from her law firm, mainly because her medical problems are eating into her billing hours. And her girlfriend has broken up with her.
Mom and Dad, Deirdre and Erik, are devout but liberal-minded Catholics, on good terms with the daughters but still nagging them a ...
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REBEL FOOD & DRINK
9112 142 STREET
780-752-7325
CENTURYHOSPITALITY.COM/REBEL
Mon. to Fri. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Sat. and Sun. 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Dinner for two, excluding tip and beverages: basic, $30; loaded, $60
Food: 3.5 of 5 Suns
Ambience: 4 of 5 Suns
Service: 3.5 of 5 Suns
Rebel Food & Drink takes the old – the idea of a neighbourhood-based eatery/bar – shines it up, modernizes and makes it trendy.
But it’s still the place to meet your pals for a drink, or bring the family if nobody wants to cook. And if you’re over .05 thanks to half-price wine Wednesdays, you can walk (cab/UBER) home without breaking the bank, then come back in the morning to get your car.
It may have been partially circumstantial, but the latest concept from Chris Lachance’s Century Hospitality Group (Lux, Delux, MKT, Hart’s, Parlour) hits all the right buttons.
Piccolino’s had been an old-style village Italian eatery, an inner-west end fixture ...
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You have to be careful, sticking your head out of the foxhole to gaze out on 2018.
The odds on said head being blown off are fairly alarming. Nobody ever gets this prediction game right.
But, fingers crossed, luck being with us, global events giving us tailwinds, 2018 should be a reasonably decent year for business, employment and quality of life in northern Alberta (for our purposes, Edmonton and everything north of Edmonton).
“Reasonably decent” is highly contextual.
For the province as a whole, the Alberta government’s forecasters are looking at a 2.5 per cent growth rate for 2018. Which will be less than the four per cent growth rate being left behind in 2017.
Don’t forget three big factors.
It’s terrific the economy did well this year, and will keep growing (hopefully) at 2.5% for 2018. But the previous two years were awful, a negative four per cent economic growth in 2015, and another negative four per cent growth in 2016. We have not caught up to ...
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Oh the food memories of 2017 …
The sweet plantain fries plus spicy shrimp/melted cheese arepas at Rolando Sandrea’s Avila Arepa Urban Venezuelan Kitchen … The lamb shoulder stew on noodles at the Bedouin Experience … Any of the ramen soups at Tokiwa … LOFT Thai Eatery’s Thai-Italian fusion confit duck leg with Thai curry.
We lost the Alberta Hotel & Grill’s take on duck breast when that restaurant closed, but the same room has re-opened as the exciting Revel, with Chef Tony Krause’s octopus cassoulet. LUX stepped out of its steak house mentality by adding a deep-fried and battered whole-fish Pacific snapper to the menu. Takami Sushi’s deluxe sashimi floated in a soft bed of dry ice.
Tang Bistro has finally offered Edmonton authentic regional Chinese cuisine. Real fish ‘n’ chips came from Jesse Morrison Gauthier’s Grandin Fish ‘n’ Chips. The best dessert ever tasted in Greater Edmonton was in St. Albert, being ...
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Santa, you have already given Edmonton the best gift we could have asked for.
In 2017, Metro Edmonton somehow avoided slipping into recession.
Business-wise, things weren’t great, but they weren’t bad … and way better than 2016 which was an annus horribilis year.
The oil patch has learned to live with $50 a barrel oil (the benchmark $50 US for West Texas Intermediate). Of late, oil prices have looked positively balmy, floating up to $55 to $60.
Residential construction surprisingly picked up strength as the year went by … pent-up demand, confidence on the part of home-buyers, more young couples with good jobs, readying for kids.
As the Stantec and JW Marriott towers reach ever skyward, the Ice District construction employment has been a saving grace. The Valley LRT has also dented the unemployment ranks with that project now in its intensive construction phase.
The impact, or lack thereof, of oil and gas on Northern Alberta’s economy is increasingly complex. ...
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Matilda, the kudos coming Edmonton’s way for its restaurant renaissance are for real.
The facts speak for themselves: City restaurants earned three of Canada’s Top 10 new restaurants in enRoute Magazine, five of Open Table’s 100 Best Canadian Restaurants for 2017, five of Canada’s 100 best restaurants as chosen by Canada100Best.com.
Edmonton came out of nowhere to jump onto Resonance Consultancy’s Top 100 World Cities annual rating for this year – at number 60. Our culinary smorgasbord was a “quality of life” factor.
The Toronto Sun ran a culinary travel story under the headline “Why your next foodie trip should be Edmonton.”
When Air Canada announced non-stop Edmonton-to-San Francisco service (in the spring), the EnRoute Top 10 awards were cited by an Air Canada executive as an example of our city’s “considerable, young, entrepreneurial demographic.”
By my count, some 50 young (or young-at-heart) exciting chefs hav ...
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LOFT Thai Eatery
5324 75 St.
780-466-5638
Loftthaieatery.com
Mon. to Fri. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Sat. 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Closed Sunday
Dinner for two, excluding tip and beverages: basic, $30; loaded, $50
Food: 4.5 of 5 Suns
Ambience: 2.5 of 5 Suns
Service: 4 of 5 Suns
The food is beautiful.
The space is not.
LOFT Thai Eatery chef Shon Vichitvorakul is producing the best Thai “fusion” dishes this city has seen since The King & I Thai Restaurant was one of Edmonton’s Top 10 restaurants.
The young Thai, trained in Australia and five-star hotels in Thailand, is producing green curry and pesto pastas, duck leg with fragrant Thai curries and cooked fruit, delicious home-made coconut-infused peanut sauces and dozens of other original Thai-based creations.
The LOFT’s rama salad is a mix of soft and crunch.
Plus, it should be added, conventional dishes for the meat ‘n’ potatoes crowd.
Sadly, the venue does not do the food jus ...
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