The Unknown Studio

Until very recently — perhaps as recently as five or seven years ago — Edmonton suffered a dearth of great cafés and restaurants. Oh sure, there were diamonds in the rough, but the rough was expansive and the diamonds as rare as something even more rare than diamonds.

Then, the landscape started changing, as Edmonton’s downtown began its still-ongoing revitalization. Now, the city is blessed with great eating and drinking establishments. That means the time is ripe for Nate Box to open the Elm Café.

Well over one year in the making, Nate had originally wanted to open the café as a restaurant concept in the Belgravia neighbourhood on Edmonton’s southside. But the lease fell through and so it was back to the drawing board. Last March, though, things started coming together for Nate, when he locked down a location in Oliver — the west part of Edmonton’s downtown (outside of the core).

With the Elm Café slated to open on Monday, June 7 (bright and early at 7am), Scott and I decided to sit down with Nate and find out exactly what it takes to open a café in the this town. We also talk hamburger waterslides, and some of the worst food trends sweeping the city.

Download episode 25 of the Unknown Studio directly to your computer.

The Unknown Studio is a proud member of the League of Extraordinary Media.

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EDMONTON JOURNAL STILL SPONSORS THE UNKNOWN STUDIO
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It’s true! After so much joking and tongue-in-cheek referrals to Edmonton’s newspaper of record on our show, the Edmonton Journal decided to put their money where our mouths are, by sponsoring the Unknown Studio this month!

We’re helping EJ to promote their Blackberry mobile launcher. You can check it out by clicking here on your Blackberry browser. If you have any comments about the mobile launcher or the Journal’s mobile site, let us know and we’ll pass it along!
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SCOTT: Yes. Yes, I do.

ADAM: You should review all of them.

SCOTT: That’s insane. I have way, way too many of them. It would take years.

ADAM: Do it anyway!

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