5th Street Food Hall ready to cook up new culinary experiences

EDMONTON -

Edmontonians will soon be able to enjoy local chefs and innovative cuisine in a new way.

5^th Street Food Hall, located at 105 Street and 104 Avenue, houses four restaurants all under one roof and a market featuring local goods.

The food hall features dine in, takeout, delivery, online marketplace, and an app to place orders on.

Jennifer Keith, CEO and co-founder of JustCook Kitchens, said the intent behind the food hall was to provide a space for chefs with fresh ideas but lacking the resources to enter the restaurant industry, whether logistical or financial.

“We try to take the burden away from chefs and local producers by giving them a lot of the infrastructure – so the kitchen equipment, the space, marketing, supply chain, and the technology that connects them to customers – so that they can focus on what they do best, which is create.”

While there are four anchor restaurants offered to Edmontonians right now, Keith said the plan is to have more weekly pop-ups to give a stage to new local food innovators.

“Everyday we are scheming about new things to come, new things we are going to try and experiment or innovate on to help bring value to the chefs and local Edmonton producers and culinary professionals.”

Those restaurants include Backstairs Burger, HOM, Seitan’s, and Three Foodies.

Keith said there will be food for everyone to enjoy, from Southeast Asian-inspired fusion, vegan-fried chickun, and decadent desserts.

The food hall was supposed to open in July but the pandemic pushed that back.

“It was just a matter of timing,” Keith said. “We knew things would be done, it just took a lot longer.

“We held on and now we are open.”

The soft opening happened on Oct. 5 and the plan is to announce the grand opening in the coming weeks.

“We’ve had a wonderful team of dedicated people that helped us get here,” Keith said.

“It’s been so much hard work to get to this point,” she added. “We can’t wait to get people here.”