The Pulse: March 21, 2023

After testing their idea with a pop-up at Take Care Café in 2021, the owners of Darling are looking forward to opening their own place on Whyte Avenue.

The restaurant with a focus on natural wine, which is aiming to open in April at 9616 82 Avenue NW, is the latest example of an Edmonton eatery that has made the journey from pop-up to stay-up.

"We know people will come," said Justin Jones, who started the restaurant with his husband, Derrick, plus two silent investors. "They came for the pop-up, so we have the proof, we have the numbers that say people did show up."

The couple discovered their love of natural wine on their honeymoon, said Jones, who has an extensive background in hospitality management for restaurants such as Biera, Blind Enthusiasm Brewing, and Café Bicyclette.

Because natural wine (essentially wine without much intervention such as added preservatives) is a niche market, it would have been a risk to leap right into restaurant ownership. Their friends at Take Care Café, which is usually closed at night, offered them the opportunity to run a pop-up in their space across the street from where Darling Restaurant will be.

"It was just a great suggestion on their part to be willing to let us use that space, kind of test out the market, test out the concept, and see if people will come," Jones told Taproot. "It was a happy middle ground of like, 'Hey, let's test this out, let's have some fun. We'll invest in it, but only so much so that we can see how it goes, and if it goes south, then that's OK.'"

Arden Tse and his partners ran a similar playbook with Prairie Noodle Shop back in 2013-2014, before Edmonton had any dedicated ramen shops. Pop-ups gave them a chance to run a minimum-viable-product version of their concept, leveraging other people's social media accounts and clearly communicating the story of the Prairie Noodle brand without having to invest in their own brick-and-mortar location.

"It was a way for us to not only build up momentum and interest but also attract other investors," said Tse.

• A regimental funeral for Const. Travis Jordan and Const. Brett Ryan is scheduled for 1pm on March 27 at Rogers Place. A procession will take place on March 21 starting around noon, and EPS encourages anyone who wants to show support to line the route as the officers' bodies are brought from the medical examiner's office to Serenity Funeral Home. EPS said it is working with the families to finalize details of the funeral and will share more information when it is available. Jordan and Ryan were shot and killed while responding to a family dispute call in the Inglewood area just before 1am on March 16.
• Environment Canada issued an air quality advisory for Edmonton on March 20 due to stagnant weather. The poor air quality may continue for most of the week and will likely be worse during the afternoons and evenings. People with lung diseases such as asthma or COPD can be especially sensitive. A similar week-long poor air quality event took place across Alberta in January.
• City council's community and public services committee voted unanimously in favour of a three-year extension for the Community Outreach Transit Teams. The program, launched in 2021 as a two-year pilot project, is a partnership between the city and Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society aimed at providing support and resources to vulnerable people within the transit system. The program will also be expanded from five to seven teams, which patrol transit stations seven days a week from 6am to 2am. "These social issues are not going to go away in a short amount of time, so we need to have these kinds of social interventions in the system," Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said during the meeting.
• The medical staff association at Misericordia Community Hospital, which represents hundreds of staff, is finalizing a letter to the province highlighting the urgency of replacing the hospital's CT scanner as it prepares to open a new $65-million emergency department in 2023. Emergency room physicians told Postmedia the single existing CT scanner is unreliable, which can delay emergency care, cause a ripple effect throughout Edmonton's hospital system, and tie up ambulance teams. A press secretary for Health Minister Jason Copping said about 190 patients were transferred the last time the scanner was down, but said current patient volumes don't support adding another machine.
• The city is inviting public input on a variety of initiatives and projects, including the temporary Pop-up Dog Park Program, a land development application in Glenora, the design concept for the Rollie Miles Recreation Centre, and the possibility of expanding the Vision Zero Street Labs program in the Silver Berry neighbourhood.
• Blatchford was named the "Best New Community" at the 2023 Awards of Excellence in Housing event hosted by the Canadian Home Builders' Association-Edmonton Region. The category recognizes residential developments for innovative land use, amenities, and environmental initiatives. The award is a "testament to teamwork, collaboration, and continued commitment to city council's vision for Blatchford," said Tom Lumsden, development manager for Blatchford.
• Investigators determined a March 12 apartment fire at 126 Street and 152 Avenue, which required a response of 16 fire trucks and 64 firefighters, was caused by an electrical or mechanical failure. One person was hospitalized in the fire, which caused $7 million in damages.
• The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and its American counterpart are reopening all NEXUS airport enrolment centres this spring, which the agencies say will increase the program's capacity and help people get NEXUS membership cards faster. Interviews to join the NEXUS Program can be booked as of March 20, with appointments at the Edmonton International Airport starting April 12.

Testing for the Valley Line Southeast LRT has now reached the "warm-up" phase, which means more trains are running along the tracks, TransEd has announced.

Episode 213 of Speaking Municipally updated listeners on the line's progress, illustrated by TransEd in an infographic released on March 10.

"I think the trains might open this year," co-host Troy Pavlek said before explaining the steps that TransEd has outlined on the journey to opening the line. "I think it's going to happen before Folk Fest, I'll put that on the record."

An opening date for the much-delayed line has not yet been announced. The Edmonton Folk Music Festival takes place in Gallagher Park from Aug. 10 to 13.

Scenario testing, which includes emergency evacuations, power failures, security threats, and collisions, has now been completed. The next phase of testing — called system demonstration testing — will ramp up the frequency and size of trains running along the full 13 km of tracks. You'll notice more trains during peak times, for instance.

With the increase in trains, TransEd is once again reminding Edmontonians to prioritize safety around the LRT. "Never rush to beat a train and never stop on the tracks. When you see tracks, expect a train."

Hear more about this, as well as the provincial government's decision to mandate body-worn cameras for police officers, the latest statistics on transit safety, and new funding for affordable housing on the March 17 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast. The podcast will be off next week, with new episodes resuming on March 31.

Photo: Roadmap to Opening: Valley Line Southeast (TransEd)