Enjoy tea and bagels in Old Strathcona on a secluded garden patio
Address: 8430 Gateway Blvd.
City: Edmonton, Alberta
Phone: 780-432-2003
Price: $10 - $20
Hours: Sun.-Sat. 9am-4pm
The secluded patio at New York Bagel Café is the perfect place for two suits to exchange manila envelopes stamped “FOR HARPER’S EYES ONLY” while enjoying tea in Old Strathcona. Owner Grace Kalinowski has literally made the place her own (twice, since the original location burned down in 2003). “I spend most of my life here,” she explains. So a visit here is like visiting her home, and she doesn’t care whose foreign intelligence you’ve come to spy on. No reservations taken — just drop by. The garden is wall-to-wall flora and the lattice roof is festooned with hanging cup-and-saucer vines. Bagels, with 21 varieties, are the specialty (though Kalinowski says the specialty is breakfast). There’s even a beluga caviar spread for $95. Everything is made from scratch, so service is necessarily relaxed. Enjoy gypsy music while you wait.
