Celebrated Edmonton fried chicken vendor opens 2nd location
From celebratory cake to chicken, there was plenty to cheer about at the grand opening of a popular local restaurant's second location.
Ralphs Fried Chicken opened its new locale in the central Edmonton neighbourhood Queen Mary Park on Monday.
"They make the best chicken in town, and they're really good people," customer Erica Nelson told CTV News Edmonton at the opening.
The new location is the second in as many years for the venerable Ralphs Fried Chicken, which opened in Castle Downs last year after leaving its original home in Strathearn after three-plus decades due to LRT construction.
"It went beyond the chicken in the store," Nelson said. "This is a place where the whole community would meet. It was the heart of Strathearn. It was really sad to lose them."
Ralph's Chicken has a devoted following. Owner Hussein Salah says the closure of Ralphs' Strathearn location was tough to experience.
"We are part of the community," Salah said. "Most of them are like close friends, like family."
The chicken counter inside the Queen Mary Park location of Ralphs Fried Chicken on Aug. 12, 2024. (Matt Marshall/CTV News Edmonton)Salah and his family wanted to return to their roots with this location: A convenience store with the chicken counter tucked away in the corner, just like it was at Strathearn's Handi Mart.
"Everything is the same, from Strathearn to here," he said.
Salah says all the shelving and equipment at the Queen Mary Park site are from the original location, a tribute to its past as the vendor forges ahead.
And a plan that will always include the patriarch of the family -- retirement isn't in the cards anytime soon for Salah.
"As long as I can walk," he said. "No sense sitting down at home doing nothing."
Instead, he'd rather be sitting outside the store, where the coffee and the conversation are always flowing.
And he's already thinking of their next Ralphs Fried Chicken location.
"We're going to try to cover the four corners of the city, hopefully," Salah said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Beautiful in its own way': New forest emerges in Jasper National Park, bringing protection and new opportunities
Charred stumps and the remains of fire-ravaged trees still cover large tracts of land on the Jasper landscape, but life is returning quickly down below.
Bloc Quebecois ready to extract gains for Quebec in exchange for supporting Liberals
The Bloc Québécois says its ready to wheel and deal with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's party for support during confidence votes now that the Liberal government's confidence and supply agreement with the NDP has ended.
Dog mauled to death in B.C. yard after 3 pit bulls jump fence: police
A 12-year-old collie was killed by three pit bulls in the B.C. Interior Sunday morning, according to authorities.
video ‘Not checking out yet’: Woman with incurable cancer vows to keep fighting
Heather Appleton just renewed her passport for another ten years. “I’m not checking out yet,” said Appleton, 61, who has the incurable cancer, Multiple Myeloma.
Trump threatens to jail adversaries in escalating rhetoric ahead of pivotal debate
With just days to go before his first and likely only debate against U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, former U.S. president Donald Trump posted a warning on his social media site threatening to jail those “involved in unscrupulous behavior” this election, which he said would be under intense scrutiny.
'It's morally wrong': A rural Alberta town reacts to homeless shelter closure
At the end of a side street in Slave Lake, Alta., Lynn Bowes looks at a grey job-site trailer with boarded-up windows and doors that once operated as her town's only homeless shelter.
Over 200 firearms seized in weapons investigation: Waterloo Regional Police
According to police, during a traffic stop in Waterloo, officers noticed firearms and ammunition inside the vehicle.
Military surplus store in Calgary, destination of celebrity shoppers, closing doors
Cher, Anthony Hopkins, Heath Ledger, Alec Baldwin and Tom Hardy are just a few of the celebrities John Cumming met while growing up in his family's military surplus store.
Slide over salsa: K-pop takes socialist Cuba by storm
Socialist Cuba, the birthplace of salsa and other rhythms that have conquered the world, is now surrendering to the invasion of South Korean pop music.