Blogs HICKS ON SIX

A review of Blind Date – created by improvisational actor Rebecca Northan – playing at the Citadel Theatre on the Rice Stage through February 19, 2012.

When you think you’ve seen it all … try to imagine a 90 minute theatrical show, where one of the two actors has not seen the script, has never likely even been near a stage, has had no rehearsal and was basically selected at random out of the crowd to be the “blind date.”

The result, in the very sure hands of Calgary-based improvisational actor and comedienne Rebecca Northan, is a beguiling, delightful, funny play that’s going to dramatically change with every show.

Because at every show, the fella picked out of the audience to be her “blind date” will be a very different personality than the night before, will create in different ways, will take the story different ways.

The show’s creator and star, Rebecca earned much of her comic skills when, living in Edmonton, she was very much part of the city’s improvisational and comedy live theatre scene. Plus she’s had several hit Fringe shows. Opening night saw Fringe/Varscona/Die Nasty alumni out in force to support one of their own. Made for great atmosphere.

Blind Date has actually become a North American hit – Rebecca has been touring it to rave reviews. So much so that other improvisational actor/comediennes are testing themselves out on the role, as theatres ask for it to be included in upcoming seasons.)

Here’s Blind Date’s basic premise: Mimi (Rebecca’s character, also known as Mimi the clown) is a young French lady, staying here in Edmonton at her uncle’s apartment, while said uncle is off seeing family in the south of France.
The show starts with her waiting in a café for a blind date.

It’s a bit of a stretch, but then, so’s the whole show! Mimi wears a clown nose for a reason – the show is not meant to be literal in any shape or form. The whole idea is for Mimi to catch and run with the comedic moments as they appear.

Her blind date is chosen out of the audience, brought on stage to become the co-lead.

They converse as do any two individuals meeting for the first time and looking for connections. Mimi persuades the gentleman to come back to the apartment with her. Thanks to the magic of theatre, they then fast-forward five years by the end of the show and have just had their first baby.

At least that’s how it went on opening night. I daresay the show will go in any which way every time it’s performed through Feb. 19.

This is wonderfully funny stuff.

First off – the fella picked out of the audience, Duncan, was a rather shy and quiet 51-year-old, an elementary school principal who was attending Blind Date with his wife of 30 years.

Suddenly, he’s on stage, acting – trying to pretend to be some guy who’s arranged to meet this whacky, irresistible force of comedic nature known as Mimi – for the first time.

Before the show dives in, Mimi explains some ground rules to both Duncan and the audience.

On one side of the stage is a “time out” space, where Mimi and Duncan can go back to “reality”, and get out of character. She can explain things to Duncan, and then back they go into the play.

Duncan is allowed, during the show, to ask for a “time out” if he needs to head back to the reality check.

Meanwhile, Duncan’s wife in the audience is allowed to comment on the action, and to yell “bull shit” if she thinks Duncan isn’t quite telling the truth as Mimi quizzes him – on the theatre side of the stage – about his background.

Obviously this takes supreme comedic talent on the part of Northan’s part, to take whatever material her evening’s date presents, and spin it into comedic gold.

At the same time, her crew – two supporting actors who play the waiter, an RCMP officer, and are the stage crew, plus the lights and sound tekkies – are on the highwire as well. They have to adapt and have fun with whatever is happening on stage.

Northan has her pre-rehearsed bits – she must have hundreds – that she can steer the conversation toward, then take off in near solo comedic voyages. Or maybe she makes it all up on the spot?

The ground is so fertile because of the inherent contradictions. Some poor dude from the audience, with his wife watching, is expected to try and be a single guy looking for a little loving wherever he can find it?
This evening, Duncan was a happily married man who hasn’t even looked at another woman since marrying his wife (in the audience) three decades ago. Yet in front of her and 200 other audience members, embarrassed and at a loss for words, he is trying to remember what it was like to be single and available!

The gentle magic of the show lies in Mimi/Rebecca’s intuitive ability not to belittle or make fun of her unprepared co-lead actor. Duncan was not the least picked upon, nothing was sarcastic or belittling. If Duncan was feeling uncomfortable, Mimi would bring him over to the reality-check space, make him laugh, adjust the scenario and back they’d go.

Then again, there was a bit where Mimi heads off the stage in the apartment to “freshen up” and leaves Duncan alone, on stage, in front of those 200 people, for what seemed to be four or five minutes. Didn’t matter what he did in his uncomfortableness of those moments, it was too funny!

I can’t reveal what happens at the end – Mimi might use it again sometime in the next two weeks, and I wouldn’t want to spoil the fun.

Suffice it to say I suspect the end of the show is probably quite similar, no matter what the outcome: Mimi/Rebecca will find all the positive attributes of the fellow who has bravely “volunteered” to play the blind date, and, leaves him feeling pretty darned good about himself.

It’s a unique, creative, very funny and very poignant show. One not to be missed.

Cracked ribs?
I am so in sympathy with the mayor on this one!
It’s the most painful “minor” injury going.
I did the same thing around the same time in 2009, hurrying from my car to one of the first Christmas receptions of the year. I slipped on new ice (nobody’s fault, middle of a storm, nobody had a chance to lay down any salt or sand), whacked my side on the sidewalk curb, but kept going to the reception and had a glass of wine to dull the pain …
For the next two weeks, our mayor is going to be in serious pain every time he laughes or coughs – shooting pain in fact, zapping his entire upper body.
Even worse, he won’t be able to sleep lying down. It’s just too bloody painful to go from lying down to standing. It feels like the pointed ends of the ribs are grinding together. So you “sleep” sitting up in a chair, which is the king of discomfort. After the jolts of searing pain, sleep deprivation is the second-worst result of cracked or fractured rib.
But you can still move, so off to work you go. But any slightly wrong move, and there’s that ferocious pain.
There’s not a darned thing you can do about it in most cases, other than gobble down ibuprofen. it simply has to heal on its own.
After two to three weeks, the pain gradually subsides. But here’s the secondary rub. No exercising, skiing, indoor tennis etc for at least two months because the last thing you want to do is disturb the finally-knitting bones.
The good news is you do completely recover, but my goodness, you then walk on ice like an old, old man for fear of slipping again.
It’s not the cold or the snow that sends us fleeing in Phoenix for the winter (as if any of us besides lawyers, accountants and oil patch guys can afford that). It’s the #@$%$ ice!

With legislation pending to drop the Alberta impaired level from .07 to .05 – not official yet but it appears imminent, somebody has to speak up for the socially responsible drinker.

Dropping the impairment critical threshhold to .05, as far as I’m aware, means no second glass of wine or beer if you intend to drive after attending any social occasion.

Now this is heresy and entirely unacceptable to say, but I will say it. The socially responsible drinker can have two glasses of wine, or two bottles of beer, and safely drive home.

When innocent victims are killed by drunk drivers, the culprits are not individuals with .07 or less of alcohol in their bodies.

The culprits are usually individuals, I would suggest, who have been on massive drinking binges, who are driving at two to three times over the .07 level, who are oblivious to social responsibility.

They are usually young men. And too often, they are driving recklessly, in the wee hours of the morning. And too often, it appears, in rural areas.

I’m sorry, the hypocrisy of all this troubles me.

You lawmakers who will pass this bill … does this mean from now on, for the rest of your lives, you will never order a bottle of wine to go with your dinner for two?

At all those banquets you attend, where the waiters are happy to refill your wine glass as soon as it’s half-full … will you turn your glass upside down after one drink?

Actually, no, you’ll have to refuse ALL wine because you already had a pre-dinner glass of champagne at the reception.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having two drinks at a cocktail party, at a pub after work with colleagues. The socially responsible drinker is able to drive home after two drinks, as we as a society have agreed with, up to this point, by pegging the point of impairment at .07.

To drop that level to .05 is not only to create a world of hypocrites, because, again, it will be widely ignored by socially responsible individuals who like TWO glasses of wine with their dinner, or who enjoy a drink OR TWO when they socialize with their friends or colleagues before they drive home … driving more carefully because they are aware they’ve had two glasses of wine or two bottles of beer.

I’m not sure “sophistication” is the right word to use, but I can’t think of another.

We – Rob Christie and Audie Lynds of Capital FM and myself – took our 61st gathering of the “Art of Conversation” on Thursday (September 29, 2011) out of Edmonton to the new Enjoy Centre in St. Albert.

Never before had we taken the monthly gathering of our friends, readers, listeners and just plain anybody who enjoys a good conversation, out of the city itself.

But the Enjoy Centre is such an attraction unto itself, with the excellent Prairie Bistro overlooking Big Lake, that we wanted our friends and acquaintances to see this beautiful new addition to the region.

The brothers Jim and Bill Hole of Hole’s Greenhouse are cut from the same visionary cloth as their much-loved and much-missed mom, the late, great Lois Hole and their quieter but equally visionary dad Ted Hole.

They envisioned a mighty step forward for the very popular greenhouse operation, long a St. Albert fixture. Why not, they thought, a healthy lifestyle-oriented shopping centre within a greenhouse?

They bought a beautiful site in the west end of St. Albert, close to major intersections, overlooking Big Lake and the provincial park named after Lois.

And carried out their vision.

The best way I can describe the Enjoy Centre is one huge, state-of-the-art greenhouse (Hole’s) with flowers and greenery everywhere. Tucked in here and there on two levels are beautiful stores completely in harmony with the surroundings … The delightful Prairie Bistro at the Big Lake end of the complex, The Water Garden Spa (with every spa treatment under the sun), Amaranth Whole Foods, Sandyview Farms Deli, the Prairie Baker, Liquid Harvest Wine + Spirits + Ales, Beautiful Home & Gift, and Hillaby’s Tools for Cooks.

The concept is quite unique. As far as Jim Hole is aware, it’s never been done before, certainly not in North America. Many greenhouses have tearooms or restaurants attached. Many greenhouses offer more than plants. But to team up unique food products, local food products, spa services, kitchen and garden related consumer goods, craft beers, fine wines and excellent but affordable dining under one giant greenhouse glass roof … it’s never been done!

Jim doesn’t talk about the cost of the Enjoy Centre. But this is a building with so much state-of-the-art environmental technology that it must have cost at least $50 million.

The Art of Conversation gathered at the Prairie Bistro, which was previously reviewed in my Weekly Dish column in the Edmonton Sun. The Prairie B offered a terrific selection of wine, Yellowhead beer on tap and delicious appetizers that were a taste of what was to be had in the restaurant itself.

If you’re wondering, the Art of Conversation is simply a gathering during the last week of each month held in an interesting lounge, restaurant and space as decided by Rob, Audie and myself.

There’s no agenda, no promotion, no marketing allowed. We even don’t like the word “networking”. Leave your career at the door and come as yourself!

It’s open to anybody, as long as you are open to engaging in a conversation with whoever is standing next to you. If you’d like to be on the notification list, feel free to reach me – Graham Hicks by Twitter #hicksonsix, Facebook, or e-mail at graham.hicks@shaw.ca.

Over five years, the Art of Conversation has taken on a life of its own, attracting at least 100 conversationalists per occasion. We have regulars, drop-ins, folks who come in groups, individuals who come alone and hopefully feel immediately welcome. All we ask is you make an effort to re-kindle the lost art of conversation!

The Enjoy Centre has its Grand Opening this Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Great time to check it out.

And if you have guests in town, there’s no better place to take them. I do hope Travel Alberta has the Enjoy Centre squarely within its sights as one of the region’s major and unique tourist attractions.

Graham Hicks’ review of Penny Plain, from the Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes playing at the Citadel Theatre through October 9, 2011.

I have to admit I was let down with Ronnie Burkett’s first Citadel appearance, the world premiere of his Billy Twinkle: Requiem for a Golden Boy.

The astounding puppeteer/playwright/designer/performer went autobiographical on us.

I’d been telling anybody who’d listen of puppeteer Burkett’s quite profound pessimistic world-view that manifested itself in unique bleak, but comedic plays. Since the ’80s, Burkett would make Theatre Network his Edmonton stop for his one-man mega puppet shows, the Cirque du Soleil of the puppet world.

But Billy Twinkle was a lightweight life-story romp in the park that may have left much of the quite sophisticated Citadel theatre audience wondering what all the fuss was about.

Well Burkett is back to what he does best, portraying an apocalypic world where humanity is down to survival of the fittest. Pestilence and fear and hunger stalks the formerly nice, safe, once-comfortable world.

Everywhere, that is, except in Penny Plain’s boarding house, where civility and manners and decency still rules. At least at the beginning of the show, for what transpires, with so many moments of sharp humour, is the steady invasion of the “real” world into Penny’s world … until by the end, all is lost.

The best of Burkett, and Penny Plain will is definitely be at the top of the canon, is layered with meaning and symbolism. So much so that different aspects of his show reveal themselves to the viewer after the fact.
What appears to be mad-cap and practically stream of consciousness is actually extremely well crafted.

The inhabitants of Penny Plain’s boarding house all have some representation. And the invadees, the people – puppets – who barge in from an increasingly hostile outside world all have dramatic function.

Dogs are human, with all too human traits. The “lead” dog becomes a terrifying metaphor for what mankind could be capable of. An old woman with a scatalogical obsession is civilization’s decay personified. You wonder why Burkett has a woman character hanging around the fringe, begging to boarder Geppetto (Pinocchio’s dad) to make her a baby that can come to life and she can love. Geppetto obliges, but not quite the way she expects.

Burkett’s shows are often without hope. But here’s the contradiction. For the audience does not leave the theatre in despair because there has been so much intense humanity of the better sort in so many other aspects of Burkett’s Theatre of Marionettes.

If you’ve not seen a Burkett show, simply the technical aspects of what’s happening on the Citadel’s Maclab Stage is worth the admission.

Suffice it to say you forget, within minutes, that these are puppets, that the entire world on the mini-stage is coming from the mind of the man on the “catwalk” above, that Burkett is doing all the movements, all the voices. It’s actually fun, from time to time, to steal a look “upstairs” and watch Burkett’s facial acting. He “becomes” each character no matter how rapid-fire the dialogue.

It’s a beautiful – in a manner of speaking – show.

If you enjoy theatre and you’ve not seen a Ronnie Burkett show, go. You’ll have done your theatre-going experience one great big favour.

I’ve been asked many times since I retired from the Edmonton Sun at the end of 2010 how “retirement” is going.
So here’s a report.
To begin with, it was a great run and I loved my 30 years at the Edmonton Sun, 20 of them as the Hicks on Six daily columnist.
But during those 20 years, the column pretty well owned my soul.
I ate, breathed and slept Hicks on Six. I was out four to six nights a week, because “conversational journalism” was where I got the stories. Maria did at least 90% of the parenting of our three daughters.
There is a great sense of liberation, of not having to “be” Hicks on Six any more. I can converse without worrying about who else is in the room that I ought to talk to before they leave.
I made the right decision. It was a great run, but, on turning 60, it was time. I don’t miss the column, don’t miss the deadlines, don’t miss the lifestyle. At the same time, I’ve been lucky enough to continue an association with The Sun, still blogging from time to time, and doing weekly restaurant reviews. The Weekly Dish appears on Wednesdays.
What I’ve been up to:
… going for nice long walks, catching up with my dear patient wife Maria, finally giving our relationship the time it richly deserves.
… Working two days a week as communications and corporate sponsorship advisor at TEC Edmonton, a very dynamic social enterprise doing a superb job helping budding entrepreneurs create new knowledge-based companies in Edmonton.
… Having more time to spend with enduring friends: beers with friends David + Ruth Norwood; Sports and sports bars with Pete Koziol and his posse; Harmeet Kapur at New Asian Village; slurping pho soup with Giuseppe Albi; coffee with our friend Elexis Schloss; being entertained by my bro-in-law Rino Yatco on poker nights; Heading to Vancouver to hang with my buddy Sam Yehia from time to time, as I’m doing now; Heading to Calgary to enjoy my godson Jonathan McLean’s band.
… going out with Maria to events that aren’t about work but about interests.
… Cooking on Sunday afternoons for our weekly family & friends Sunday evening dinners.
… Working on my computer, social media, communication and business skills, and learning all I can about Alberta’s energy sector in preparation for the formal launch of Hicks Communications in early 2012. Taking time to determine my best and most satisfying fit when I return to the work force … four days a week!
… Working out three times a week, trying to run two to three times a week.
… Working on my golf game, so I can consistently beat my bro-in-law Ay Ay Jimenez.
… Expanding my garden, keeping up with the yardwork.
…Thoroughly enjoying every moment of having our three daughters Liza, Salina and Cynthia all at home (off and on) this summer, before Liza leaves for fourth year at Ryerson University in Toronto. Thoroughly enjoying watching the growth of all three into remarkable, graceful and caring young adults.
… Serving on the board of the River Valley Alliance.
… Still involved with the Sun Christmas Charity Auction as honourary chair.
… Working with Catholic Social Services Sign of Hope campaign.
… Worrying that the less-than-lucky teens won’t get Christmas presents, so we gotta keep Adopt-A-Teen the Christmas gift program for under-privileged teens, alive and thriving.
…. Back-packing in the Rockies with bro-in-law Ferdie.
… Canoe trips with my outdoor buddy Ron Hiebert.
It’s all been great fun. And Maria sure likes having somebody around the house to share the day-to-day chores!

This ‘n’ That from Edmonton’s food world.

* Fantasia Gelateria: The Fantasia Gelateria, on the very open main floor of Enterprise Square (the original Bay Building at 103 St. and Jasper) really ought to have a storefront window.

Its display of just 24 of the 75 different gelatos (Italian-style ice cream) the company actually makes on site. Since 1999, James Fiorillo has made Fantasia gelato using bases and flavourings from Italy, lemons from Sicily and milk and sugar locally.

Fantasia gelato is found, outside of the gelateria, at the Italian Centre shops and the Sunterra Market in Lendum.

Finally, James (Giacomo, but he was actually named, in Italy he says, as James) will be spreading the world. The Fantasia Gelateria will be one of the featured restaurants in the Taste of Edmonton’s new Taste of Dessert section, inside the Art Gallery of Alberta.

Meanwhile drop by Enterprise Square for some of the best gelato, and one of the best-kept secrets, in town. Great coffee and pizza too.

*Foodies (dare I use the word, see previous blog posting) fondly remember Flora Corazza from Pan e Vino in St. Albert, Via Vai in the west end, and Boulevard in Scotia Place. Flora’s on a break from the demanding business of running a restaurant, working as the supervisor of the excellent deli at the downtown Save-On, and running a home-catering business on the side. Another restaurant? “Never say never,” she chuckles.

*I wouldn’t be the least suprised if Sutton Place Hotel is soon home to the first Chop Steakhouse in the downtown. The new owners of Sutton Place also own the Chop Steakhouse restaurant chain, plus the Sandman Hotels, a good chunk of the Moxie’s and many other hotel/restaurant brands. Chop would be a natural fit and would offer a third steakhouse downtown, after Lux and Ruth Chris.

After I retired as the full-time Page Six columnist in the Edmonton Sun at the end of 2010, publisher John Caputo asked if I’d like to take on a new column, a once-a-week restaurant review called the Weekly Dish.

Which I was happy to do, food having always been an interest, and having the utmost of respect for inspired chefs who, I’ve always thought, are much closer to artistry than to tradespeople.

In the three months I’ve done this, I’ve had three different confrontations, the likes of which I would never have expected. And I must add this is just three people, compared to dozens who have mentioned they enjoy the Weekly Dish, follow its recommendations and generally have not been the least disappointed.

But to these three, from their point of view, I am not fit to be a restaurant reviewer.

I don’t know enough about food. I ought to be world-savvy, to have dined in top restaurants around the world to know what the best is all about, in order to encourage Edmonton restaurants – which to their minds are very backward and unsophisticated – to be world class.

They were aghast that I called, that the chef at Zinc called, his risotto made from orzo past “risotto” not “orzo risotto” because a true foodie knows that all risotto must be made from certain kinds of rice.

And how dare I say cream was used in the risotto, because any good foodie knows cream isn’t an ingredient of risotto. Far be it for me to be somewhat puzzled, as I never said there was cream in the risotto, but that it had a delicious creamy-like texture! Far as I’m aware, there’s many ways to create a creamy texture without using cream!

And how dare I say a restaurant’s truly delicious steak tartare was spoiled, because the way it was presented, it looked like cat food. Here we are, they say, trying to raise the level of Edmonton dining to enjoy a steak tartare, and you spoil it all by saying it looked like a tin of cat food!

That the chef might have looked at his presentation, and said, yes, it does look a little cat-food like and perhaps the presentation could be changed … didn’t seem to occur to these folks.

So here’s the skinny. I’m not a world-class food expert. I’m a guy who’s lived in Edmonton for 33 years, thoroughly enjoys everything this city has to offer, will never get to all the plays I want to see, hockey games I want to watch, and restaurants I’d like to try.

I’m not a sophisticate, but I’m well-rounded enough to articulate why I like something, and in tune enough with those who read my writing, I hope, that they would generally agree, or at least acknowledge the argument.

In fact, I don’t care about world-class! I care about what’s excellent and good here in Edmonton! In fact, I can’t stand it when people start putting down Edmonton by saying it’s “backward” or “uncultured” and how they just can’t wait to get to New York City for some culture.

My standards for what’s good and bad in the restaurant world are bounded, in general, by comparisons to other Edmonton restaurants and meals I have eaten outside of restaurants in this city.

I think that’s what 99.9% of Edmontonians are all about.

And if .1% want to wring their hands in anger over using “creamy”, I’m not going to loose any sleep about it.

(My Weekly Dish column from the Edmonton Sun published on Wed. May 25, 2011, about the 22-restaurant Bridge District on 109 Street at the south end of the High Level Bridge)

On 109 Street, from Whyte Avenue (82nd Avenue) to the High Level Bridge (88th Avenue), are now 22 restaurant, bars and coffee houses.

Walk up the west side of 109th Street from Whyte to the High Level Bridge: You pass Original Joe’s, Happy Joe’s Pizza, La Tienda Cigars & Coffee, Bubble Zone Tea House, the Garneau Pub, Plato’s Steak & Pizza, The Upper Crust Café, Transcend Coffee, Whimsical Cake Studio , La Poutine, Kabuki Sushi & Grill, Da Capo, Sugarbowl and Highlevel Diner.

Cross the street and head south. The Urban Diner stares at the Garneau Theatre, then an ugly strip mall where the food – Kyoto Japanese Cuisine, Domino’s Pizza and Phobulus Vietnamese – transcends the location. Then The Remedy Café, Bad Ass Jack’s, and, if you must, KFC and McDonald’s.

There are those who fret about too many restaurants. The heritage Highlevel Diner appealed the zoning for the new La Poutine on that very point, and fortunately lost.

Fortunately, because La Poutine’s take-out/eat-in 15 variations on French-Canadian poutine (hand-cut fries and cheese curds, doused in beef gravy) doesn’t steal customers from other outlets, but adds to the total pedestrian traffic crucial to a dining district. There’s line-ups most evenings at La Poutine.

The Bridge District, as Tomato Magazine Editor Mary Bailey so aptly named the area, has now taken off. The tipping point occurred when the re-developed Garneau Theatre retail spots were all leased by eateries – The Whimsical Cake Studio, La Poutine, Kabuki, and, in the old Pharo’s Pizza corner, the indie coffee house Transcend.

There’s something for every possible taste. The Bridge District has become a mini-Old Strathcona food fair.

Hungry? Just park on 109 Street north of Whyte (there’s always a space) and start walking.

One couldn’t eat at 22 restaurants in one week without facing obesity. Maria and I sampled a few Bridge District outlets during the week (La Poutine, Kabouki), then, on last Friday’s first summer evening, took a grazing tour with stops at Urban Diner, Sugarbowl and Kabuki. Of the others, Da Capo is already a favourite. When in need of a cupcake fix, my daughters head to the Whimsical Cake Studio. The 25-year Upper Crust and the 28-year-old Highlevel Diner have heritage status.

Biggest surprise: The Sugarbowl, just west of the Highlevel Diner on 88th Avenue. It’s busy, bustling, indoor-outdoor ambiance, superb food at ridiculously low prices and over 100 bottled beers. Outside, under the avenue’s lovely trees, folks gather while waiting for tables or for the addicts to take a nicotine fix. The Sugarbowl renaissance began when chef Nate Box (who now owns the Elm Café) took a burger ‘n’ beer menu from the mundane to the sublime. Chef Brayden Kozak carries on the gastro-pub tradition. A red curry coconut seafood laksa – shellfish and veggies over linguini in a Thai curry – was the best I’ve tasted, for $12! Warning, it can get loud.

The tried and true: The Highlevel Diner is known for “healthy” food. The Upper Crust forever reminds me of an English tea house – though its menu is deli and desserts.

Will the family-friendly, back-to-basics ‘60s menu at the second Urban Diner, in the old Fiori space, be a hit?

Specialty: La Poutine, Da Capo Caffe for modern Italian atmosphere, gelato, coffee, wines, beers, salads and thin-crust pizzas, Whimsical Cake Studio for those cupcakes.

We are witnessing the birth of a destination neighbourhood. Please, bore me not with whines of Deadmonton. This city is vibrating with new life.

P.S. Art of Conversation LVII happens in another lively district, that of our Francophone 91st Street north of Whyte, in Bistro La Persaud on Thursday, May 26, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

In The Edmonton Sun’s Weekley Dish published Wed. May 18, 2011, I wrote a glowing review of the city’s best-known Turkish style restaurant, Demi Duzgoren’s Istanbul Restaurant.

Near-Eastern and Middle-Eastern cuisine is being featured in a number of Edmonton and area restaurants now, likely a reflection of increasing immigration from those parts of the world, plus the traditional factor in many ethnic food trends of new-comers looking to create their own jobs with what they know. Or second-generation kids who grew up with parents in the hospitality business, again seeing a market opportunity.

It’s interesting that many of these restaurants bill themselves as Mediterranean – a bit of a misnomer since surely any cuisine from countries/regions bordering the Mediterranean could then bill themselves as the same?

The Parkallen Restaurant on 109 Street just south of 72 Avenue is one of the granddaddies of such cuisine, Joseph Rustom having persuaded his dad many years ago to add pitas and hummus etc. to a standard (but very good) pizza joint. Now the Parkallen is one of the classier dining rooms on the South Side and still have a choice of two completely different menus, pizzas and their usual accompaniments on one side, Lebanese on the other.

Tazza Mediterranean Kitchen in the Marchand Mansion on 100 Avenue at 116 Street, owned and operated by the family of the late, great hotelier Jean Katchkar, is another bright, airy restaurant that offers Middle Eastern fare adapted to Canadian tastes. It’s a beautiful room that makes you feel like you are sitting in the sunlight in Damascus, but it’s a little tricky to find as it’s at the back of the Marchand.

La Shish Taouk (two locations, a small place on 118 Street north of Jasper Avenue, and a bigger eat-in in the Mayfield Common) has an excellent reputation for its Lebanese fare.

I’m hearing of one called Phoenician – have to check it out.

Any other suggestions? Please let us know in your comments.