Alberta’s Road-Trip Food Stops Worth The Drive BY LYNDA SEA
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UMMER ROAD TRIPS around Alberta promise breath-taking scenery, fun landmarks, and outdoor activities, but just as essential as your music playlist tunes and company is the food you’ll eat along the way. If you’re craving ideas on where to refuel for the day’s adventures and satiate your appetites, get off the beaten track and drive through the province’s charming small towns around Calgary and Edmonton. You’ll discover hidden-in-plain sight foodie gems for local provisions to eat and drink and take home. And your stomach will thank you
Chartier (Beaumont) Just outside of Edmonton, in Beaumont, you’ll find this charming French Canadian restaurant run by owners Sylvia and Darren Cheverie. Chartier was named one of the top 10 Best New Restaurants in Alberta by the Globe and Mail. Whether you come for brunch or dinner or simply to hit the bakery and pantry shelves for goodies, you’ll leave seeing why it’s attracted so much hype and buzz from patrons and press alike. Find fresh baked bread, pastries and sweets, like their sea buckthorn maple pecan butter tarts, to in-house preserves and pickles, cured meats, and heat-at-home soups. If you’re dining in, order the poutine with its triple-cooked fries, Montreal style gravy, and add the smoked meat to it. The Cookshack BBQ (Nisku) Within a 10-minute drive of Edmonton’s International Airport, you can find great southern-style barbecue in the hamlet of Nisku at The Cookshack BBQ. The family restaurant slow-smokes all their AAA brisket, Alberta pork, ribs and chicken, and sausages in-house. Bring your appetite for the generous portions and made-from-scratch daily sides of smashed potatoes, mac n’ cheese, baked beans, jambalaya rice and creamed corn. Slather your meats with their eight different house-made sauces. Old School Cheesery (Vermillion) Cheesemaker Patrick Dupuis opened Old School Cheesery in 2016 on a small acreage in the town of Vermillion. The handcrafted artisan cheese uses milk 28 Culinaire | July/August 2022
Chartier
from local dairy producers which is pasteurised onsite. Tour the cheesery housed in a converted Quonset to see how the cheese is made, then stock up on cheese to take home. Old School Cheesery is best known for its cheese curds which come in regular, garlic, dill, chipotle, barbecue, and black peppercorn. Other standouts include the Dill Cheddar or the Harvest Moon Smoked Brie which is salty and smokey from being cold-smoked with Applewood chips for six hours. Blindman Brewing (Lacombe) Named for the Blindman River in south central Alberta, the awardwinning brewery has been around since 2015. Make the drive out to Lacombe to the Blindman Brewing taproom to sample their small-batch beers. Along with their flagship beer, the bright and citrusy Blindman River Session Ale, you can find sours, strong stouts, and Belgian farmhouse style ales. The food menu features taqueria staples, like
pork carnitas tacos slow-cooked with a New England Pale Ale, and nachos made with pickled onions and jalapeño, toasted tortilla chips, cheese and peppers from Doefs Greenhouse.
Blindman Brewing
