Restaurant Review: Saskitoba

SASKITOBA

1501 8th Street, Nisku

Instagram: @saskitoba

Co-Diners: The E.A.T Crew

There are "hidden gem" restaurants and then there's Saskitoba, a place that epitomizes the entire concept. The prairie provinces of Canada are known for their high concentration of people of Eastern European decent, especially Ukrainians. And so of course there are restaurants that reflect this cuisine, although not as many as you'd imagine. Saskitoba is one of these places, originally opened to service the needs of their immediate community in Nisku (mostly the industrial workers nearby at lunchtime). But this didn't last for long because the rest of the Edmonton area caught wind of them and the Edmonton Journal named them Favourite Hidden Gem Restaurant 2023. Yes, they're out in Nisku among the drilling and machining companies. But don't let that stop you - you're on a Ukrainian buffet adventure! You read that right: It's a buffet. And you're going to need to make a reservation in advance because Saskitoba is not so "hidden" anymore and they're usually booked solid. Don't assume that you can just walk in. I visited on a Saturday evening and they didn't have a single table to spare. The outside boasts a big, bright blue and yellow banner, so you'll be sure that you've found the correct place. Inside, I was immediately struck by sense-memory aromas that took me back to my Polish grandmother's kitchen (the cuisine is quite similar, after all). The dining area looks to be part small town diner and part cafeteria, with bright overhead tube lighting and simple tables (don't let this discourage you). There are a few bits of Ukrainian decor, namely the impressive floral vinok arrangement at the front entrance. Promptly whisked to our table, our server was friendly and ran through a routine speech to inform us of how everything was about to go down. As a buffet restaurant you can imagine that they face real concerns when it comes to food waste, and we were rightfully reminded to only take as much food as we intended to eat. It was time to begin. The back end of the room served as the buffet area, with various chafing dishes lined up in a row, as well as a salad bar section and a dessert table. The Handmade Ukrainian Buffet costs $25 per person and kids pay their age! My eyes located the cauldron of Meatless Borshch and I filled a bowl.

I'm a fan of adding sour cream to my borshch and Saskitoba obliges by leaving a big bowl of sour cream right next to the soup. The deep scarlet colour of the broth was mesmerizing and plentiful with dill. The flavour was rich and earthy. The abundant pieces of beet were prepared in a long and skinny julienne style which allowed for a lot of beets to fit into the bowl without taking up too much bulky space. I loved this soup. It was nostalgic (although many of the dishes were) and it tasted like it was homemade by someone's grandma, er, babusya. Attempting to pace myself (I can see why they are required to remind people of this because the desire to go crazy with a fully-loaded plate is certainly real), I decided to treat my next round as a "starter course." This included a visit to the Cold Salad Bar, the dishes resting atop a huge bin of ice. The options included various salads and pickled vegetable items. This also seemed like the appropriate time for the Hand Pinched Potato Cheese Varenyky (or perogies).

I need to mention that the dinner plates at Saskitoba are gorgeous! I absolutely loved the blue floral printed dishes - far more striking than a plain white plate. I also paid a visit to the "cabbage vessel" and loaded up on some Fried Cabbage and Sauerkraut & Bacon. The Eastern European in me certainly appreciated plenty of cabbage content. The potato salad was incredible! So creamy and jam-packed with dill!! The pieces of potato were tender and the salad was so flavourful. I grabbed some beets and olives, because obviously. I loved the fried cabbage a lot and I'm not sure if I've ever tasted this preparation before. Caramelizing anything is never going to be bad and this remains true in this case. And now the varenyky. These were magical because you could really feel that each one was handmade and that their dough came from the type of recipe that has been passed down through generations. I loved that the varenyky were swimming in a vat of butter and fried onions. Incredible! The only thing that I didn't enjoy as much (and I'm sure that this will not be the popular opinion) is the cheese filling. To me, a cheddar cheese filling is a North American expectation of a perogie and not so much an authentic version. My tastes prefer a sauerkraut-filled perogie every time. Maybe with some wild mushrooms in there. And definitely served with a mushroom gravy (not sour cream). However, I was able to work with the situation by piling my varenyky with sauerkraut & bacon which got me much closer to my preference. My next visit to the buffet was meant to be my "main course," where I would load up on all of the big savoury dinner items. There were more dishes to choose from than I could possibly eat and I didn't even end up trying it all! I apologize to the Meatballs in Gravy, Roast Beef in Gravy, and the entire Baked Potato Bar that I didn't even get around to.

However, I did happily select the Sweet Leaf Holubtsi, Sour Leaf Holubtsi, Pyrizhky in Creamy Dill Sauce, Kubasa, and Nalysnyky. Starting with the holubtsi, these are what most people know as cabbage rolls. Saskitoba offers two different types, each with it's own unique flavour profile. The sweet version is filled with rice, beef, and onion. Topped with a tomato-based sauce, these are the version that most people imagine when they think of a cabbage roll. I liked that they weren't massive in size (because sometimes they are!) so that they didn't take over the whole meal. These holubtsi are similar in size to Greek dolmades. The sour version is filled with bacon, rice, and onion - and topped with extra crumbled bacon. Of the two holubtsi, these ones were my favourite. The sour cabbage brought a wonderful acidity and no one is ever upset about copious amounts of bacon. As far as I'm concerned, you can't go wrong with kubasa. Everyone loves a tasty sausage! Although I usually like to eat mine with mustard and they didn't seem to have any. The next two items were from the "creamy dill sauce vessel" and they're both what I would consider as very uniquely Ukrainian offerings. Pyrizhky is a bun-like pastry filled with cottage cheese, potato, and dill. These stuffed buns are so delicious because the outside has some bite to it while the inside is pillowy soft. Unfortunately, I found these ones a little bit dry. Nalysnyky, covered in the same dill cream sauce, are filled with cottage cheese and dill. Crepe-like with a crispy crust, these were one of the best items in the buffet. Both the flavour and texture really hit the mark, especially given that many of the dishes had a pretty similar flavour profile. Lastly, there was an entire table dedicated to dessert! A Chocolate Fountain was included.

My main issue with the dessert table is that none of the desserts were homemade and instead were all store bought. The donuts and cookies clearly came from packages. The plentiful amount of fruit for use with the chocolate fountain was very nice, however I don't think that the chocolate used in the fountain was exactly top shelf stuff. Another issue was that by the time we were finished eating the main part of our meal the desserts were quite picked over. Many types of cookies were completely gone as well as all of the marshmallows. These were not replenished during our visit. It was fun and novel to use the chocolate fountain but overall I wouldn't say that the desserts were a major highlight. I realize that they can only do so much, but it would be nice to see some traditional Ukrainian desserts available.

As long as you're prepared for beets, cabbage, and dill (and for most of your dinner to be white) you will do just fine at Saskitoba! Indeed a hidden gem, this restaurant is a huge love letter to the Ukrainian community and an incredible addition to Nisku itself. It's wonderful to see that this restaurant is receiving plenty of love in return from all of their loyal customers. дякую!