EDify Best Restaurants 2026: It's time for all of the city's best food!

It's March and by now you should know what that means! It's time to celebrate our city's tapestry of culinary gems! The EDify Best Restaurants list was released a few weeks ago and as usual it was filled with Edmonton's brightest stars and some new favourites. This year featured over a dozen categories, each one boasting the absolute finest from burgers to steak to dessert. I place value behind this list because the winners are chosen by a panel of actual local foodies, making it the most important and esteemed restaurant selection of the year. Each spring Edmonton's foodie elite descend upon the Edmonton Convention Centre where EDify hosts one of the largest celebratory feasts of the year. The magazine's winners converge, each serving a dish worthy of their status and I always do my best to taste each one. To do this, I'm sure to purchase a VIP ticket (which turned out to be even more valuable this year compared to previous years). One of the biggest benefits is that you get to enter the event 45 minutes earlier than everyone else which means a lot of extra time to start crushing the food without waiting in long lineups. You also get a VIP table and it's nice to have a place to sit (breaks are needed!) and sparkling wine is also included. I loved that they moved the event back into Hall D this year (like it was in 2023) because the large windows and natural light make for a much better atmosphere (and better food photography too!). I appreciated that this year they opted not to include a charcuterie-type plate on each VIP table because these were honestly wasteful. I doubt that anyone was able to eat them on top of everything else that's on offer! Instead, there were a couple of take-home treats waiting for us which made so much more sense! However, the most important feature of the VIP ticket this year (and new from previous years) is that there were two entire food booths within the VIP area that could only be accessed with this ticket! Each person receives 15 food tickets (good for one dish each) and 5 bevy tickets. Combined with my co-diner that's 30 dishes of food which was enough for us to try one dish from each of the 25 booths. It seemed like they paired back the number of restaurants slightly from last year, which was the correct choice in my opinion. This year there was actually hope in trying something from everyone. In the past, the dessert booths were not included as a ticketed item - you could just help yourself to dessert. However, this year two of the desserts did cost tickets. The full menu gets released a few days in advance of the event and it's always helpful to take a look and to start making some plans. With tickets in hand, it was time to eat everything. Here is how I ranked what I ate: 25. Pulled Pork Mac & Cheese from Otto Food & Drink (#4 Best Overall Restaurant in Edmonton and Area)

Maybe it was because I tried this one toward the end of the night, but I found this dish to be quite mushy. I love Otto and they're everyone's favourite! But the mac & cheese combined with the pulled pork somehow created a big undiscernible mass that I wish could've had more substance. 24. Smoke Show Pizza from Campio Brewing Co. (#2 Best Pizza)

Campio had three pizzas available to choose from; including the Sydney to Halifax and the PB & J. I went with the Smoke Show which is made with slow roasted ancho pulled pork, pickled jalapeños, smoked applewood cheddar, Last Best BBQ sauce, roasted red pepper aioli, and topped with house-made “Hickory Stix”. I was happy to get a nice crispy corner piece! I loved the idea of crispy hickory sticks on top for crunch but unfortunately I think the pizza had been sitting around for too long because it all had a gummy texture. I'm sure that I would enjoy this pizza much more if it had been fresh from the kitchen. (But also, a big thank you goes to Campio for giving me an empty pizza box to stash all of my uneaten desserts in so that I could take them home!) 23. Guava & Cheese Empanada from Paraiso Tropical (#3 Best Latin American Restaurant)

I love Paraiso Tropical and I LOVE their cheesy empanadas SO MUCH! I regularly rank them in the top spot at Taste of Edmonton. Unfortunately, the issue at this event is that they made a mini-sized version of their empanada and there wasn't much filling inside. Usually you get a ton of gooey cheese with a delightful sweet hit of guava and it's magic! This time it was a lot of pastry and not much else. 22. General Quon Chicken from The Lingnan

I love that they're call this General "Quon" Chicken, as it should be. Miles Quon himself was there to serve each dish and there is no disputing the legendary status of this restaurant. The chicken was very tender and I enjoyed the hit of spice... But it did also just kinda taste like a spicy plum sauce. 21. Pickled Kholrabi Satchel & Wild Mushroom Foccacia from Wildroots Bistro (#3 Best Brunch)

I found this dish slightly confusing. The mushrooms on foccacia were nice and I appreciated the flavourful mixture. However, the pickled kholrabi satchel seemed like a strange addition. I did enjoy it because it was very dilly, made with salted cream and dill pollen. But I didn't really understand it. Maybe we all just need a pickled satchel in our lives! 20. Salad of Crab & Citrus Madeleine from The Marc (#5 Best Tried and True Restaurant)

The idea of serving madeleines with this dish instead of something like a cracker was really inspired! I loved the crab salad a lot - very creamy and delicious. I did get a couple bits of hard shell in my bite though. The play on sweet and savoury was fun with this one. 19. Tuna Pan Con Tomate from Next of Kin (#1 Best New Restaurant in Edmonton and Area)

This is one of the dishes that was only available to VIPs! What a gorgeous dish! I'm already a huge fan of pan con tomate and the idea of draping a beautiful sheet of crimson tuna on top just sounds incredible. I found the tomato a bit over-seasoned but this dish spoke to me. 18. Pepperoni Pizza Popcorn from High Dough (#1 Best Pizza)

Those crazy guys at High Dough and their crazy ideas!! I love that instead of serving pizza, which would have been the obvious thing to do, they opted to create a savoury seasoned popcorn covered in pepperoni! And it did taste like pizza! This was super fun and a great dish to munch on. 17. Pholourie from Cafe Caribbean

This dish was the biggest surprise! They were also serving Doubles at this booth, which I did not try. I'd never heard of pholourie before and was excited to taste it! This snack food consists of fried, spiced split pea and flour dough balls that are served with a chutney. So light and fluffy!! The chutney added a spicy kick and these were a joy to eat. This quickly became the dish that we were measuring most others against. 16. Charcoal Striploin with Celeriac Puree & Red Wine Demi from Braven (#1 Best Steak)

Braven is the big fancy steakhouse in town so of course it was exciting to see what they had to offer. Overall, I loved their beautiful piece of striploin, cooked to a perfect medium rare. However, the meat was kinda cold from sitting out and I found it a bit chewy. The celeriac was a nice creamy accompaniment. 15. Fried Eggplant, Koobideh Kebab & Chicken Kebab from Lotus House of Kebab (#3 Best MENA Restaurant)

Another very big surprise! First of all, I thought that they were serving three different dishes and that I would have to choose one. No. You get all three! They likely win for having the largest portion size. I loved all parts of this dish. The eggplant was bursting with flavour. The two kebab meats were tender and juicy, plus I loved the sauce on top. This place really came out of no where! 14. Chix & Waffle Sliders from Seitans

This ain't Seitans' first rodeo. This plant-based restaurant has been around forever in various forms including a food truck and the pizza restaurant Die Pie (they still do pizza). This slider was delicious and tasted almost like carnival food (in a good way!). Made with a jackfruit seitan nugget, maple aioli, hot huney, arugula, and served on a waffle bun. The jackfruit was a little tough but this thing was a party. 13. Bacon Pepper Smash from Fox Burger (#1 Best Burger)

I'd been wanting to try this particular burger IRL for a while. Fox Burger knows their way around the burger game and is undisputedly one of the very best. I love their super-sesame covered buns, you could taste the quality of the the crispy smashed meat, and it was sooo bacony too. The burger was a bit dry because of the nature of the event... But now I just want to try the real thing even more. 12. Spanish Blackened Basa from El Corazón (#1 Best Latin American Restaurant)

This booth was also serving Corazon Ancho Chicken but I chose the basa. This dish was punchy and bursting with big, bold flavours! The fish was tender and well-coated in delicious blackened spices. The accompaniments were bright and fresh. Delightful! 11. Smoked Lakeside Farmstead Beef Brisket from Rge Rd (#1 Best Overall Restaurant in Edmonton and Area)

Everyone loves Rge Rd and they're number one with good reason. They're the restaurant that puts our city and province on a plate in the most skilled and beautiful way. This dish used Lakeside Farmstead beef, which is already our (and everyone's) favourite beef producer. A ragout with red wine jus, a potato blini, crème fraîche, and sprouts. Think meat and potatoes... But Rge Rd. The brisket was impossibly tender and full of smoky flavour. I loved this. 10. The Critic Slider from The Next Act (#2 Best Tried and True Restaurant)

The Next Act won this round of the burger wars, serving my favourite burger of the night! It was the most perfect little slider full of every flavour that you could want a burger to have. The meat tasted of quality and the toppings were very fresh. You can't argue with a burger made this well and right. 9. Sparrow Tots from Golden Sparrow (#5 Best New Restaurant in Edmonton and Area)

An unexpected dish! When I hear "tots" I think tots. But Golden Sparrow gave me something much more sophisticated. Smoked salmon, potato pavé (arguably the best preparation of potato?), pickled onion, and crème fraîche. It actually reminded me a lot of a blini. Everything about this was delicious and the gorgeous tuile on top was the icing on the cake. 8. Filet o Ebi Slider from JUU.KU (#4 Best New Restaurant in Edmonton and Area)

This is the hot new place in town that everyone is talking about. This little sando seemed simple yet was so delicious! A shrimp cake served with a sheet of nori and sriracha aioli... All the Japanese flavours that you want in a super fun package! 7. Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe from Bianco (#5 Best Overall Restaurant in Edmonton and Area)

Bianco was up in here making their pasta inside of a full wheel of Reggiano so you knew that they meant business! This was a lovely version of cacio e pepe. So creamy and cheesy - that cheese obviously came through in a big way. It was peppery and it was perfection. No wonder their lineup was so long. 6. Black Garlic Asado Steam Bun from Fu’s Repair Shop (#3 Best Overall Restaurant in Edmonton and Area)

This dish didn't look like much but we all know by now that Fu's knows what they're doing. An excellent fusion dish, I was served a fluffy steamed bao stuffed with meat cooked using a South American technique. The result was ultra-flavourful and just bursting with everything that we have come to expect from Fu's at this point. 5. Torched Sablefish St. Germain & Saffron Espuma from The Butternut Tree

This was the other dish that you could only get if you were in the VIP section! I loved the cook on this tender, buttery fish. The espuma foam was delicate and there were all sorts of interesting green accompaniments to add texture - one of them looked almost like moss. So creative and refined! 4. Mortadella Sandwich from The Butchery

The Butchery is a forever favourite that can do no wrong! Their sandwich was made with mortadella that they make themselves (and were sliding on site), pepita pesto, burrata, and balsamic reduction. Their housemade focaccia is wonderful. Everything that they do just nails it. 3. Insalata Rapa Rossa from Nero (#2 Best New Restaurant in Edmonton and Area)

This is the dish that everyone was whispering about throughout the room. A pickled beet salad with a walnut emulsion, seed clusters, and goat cheese. The plate exemplified maturity and the capability to create something that no one saw coming. All the flavours and textures that you could want were there; tart, sweet, crunchy, smooth. This is a dish that takes you somewhere. 2. Buttermilk Ricotta with Focaccia & Truffle Honey from PIP (#2 Best Brunch)

I ate this early in the event and it stayed with me for the entire night. A simple bite that was filled with the flavours that I love. The ricotta was like velvet and the truffle-forward honey was decadent. I probably would have gone back for another one if I hadn't been so full! 1. Smoked Scallop Ceviche from Atrium at Sabor (#3 Best New Restaurant in Edmonton and Area) (#1 Best Tried and True Restaurant)

MY TOP PICK!!! Chef Lino himself was there to serve his dish and their entire booth was filled with a stunning array of seafood on ice. Again, the skill and knowledge on this plate was not to be understated. I was blown away by the first bite! The tender smoked scallop brought a unique flavour that I've never tasted. The dish was so bright and fresh, delightfully acidic, and just so full of expertise. I could eat this every day. What a beauty! You'd think that I would learn from year to year but just when I thought that I couldn't possibly eat anymore... There was the dessert round. I mean, I guess that nothing is stopping you from starting with dessert if that's your jam. But I left it till last. Like I mentioned earlier, some of the desserts cost tickets this year, which was new. But because there was a reasonable amount of restaurants participating this year we still had enough tickets to grab the desserts as well. There was Chocorrant Pâtisserie + Cafe (#1 Best Dessert) serving Earl Grey Opera Cake and a Mini Milk Strawberry Croissant. Duchess Bake Shop (#2 Best Dessert) was obviously there because you can't have a food party without them in this city! They were serving a dessert called Hana which was a choux pastry layered with toasted rice, sakura chantilly, and fragrant sake. It was finished with a thin layer of marzipan, a white chocolate feather, and sprinkled with maldon salt. King of Tarts was also on hand serving packaged Vegan Tarts but they were already all gone by time I showed up for dessert. Extra treats on our VIP table included Colleen’s Chocolates and Wow Brownies, which were great because they could be taken home like a party favour. (And yes, I threw all of this stuff into an empty Campio pizza box so that I could bring it home with me. Pretty genius if I do say so myself.)

Another Best Restaurants event in the books!! This one may have been the best one yet! The food scene in Edmonton is perpetually underrated but I think that the secret is starting to get out. There is so much talent and innovation happening all the time. There's also a huge embrace toward celebrating cuisine from every possible culture and that might be the part that I love the most. This year's trendy item seemed to be the burgers! I could not be more proud to be an Edmontonian and look forward to doing it all again next year!