Dining with a View: The Butternut Tree in Edmonton

Super colourful Crab Tart ($19) featuring a rye tart, crab mixed in with crab apples, and smoked creme fraiche. 

Last week, I was invited to attend the media dinner for one of Edmonton's newest restaurants - The Butternut Tree. Upon entering the space, I was impressed with the almost floor to ceiling window view of the Edmonton Legislature building, the High Level Bridge and views of the River Valley. While sitting you can enjoy a beautiful slice of Edmonton complete with the High Level Bridge Streetcar that occasionally appeared.

That night we were seated with fellow food bloggers in the private dining section of the restaurant. This room also lent itself to views of the Legislature building and had floor to ceiling glass windows.

Upon being seated, I chose the Elderflower Tonic ($13) which was made from Ungava gin, eau claire tonic and elderberries. Dan, ordered the Sumacade ($14) which consisted of lemon verbena, dandelion honey, soda, eau claire three point vodka. All of the drinks can also be made without alcohol and are reportedly just as tasty.

Next, the amuse bouche arrived. This is essentially a single bite sized hors d'oeuvre. The one that we had that night was a salt cured halibut, fresh apple marigold and chive finished with juniper oil. It arrived on a pretty heart shaped pottery dish - in fact all of the dishes used at the Butternut Tree are gorgeous and so unique! 

It may not be apparent at first glance of the dinner menu, but Chef Scott Downey is incorporating ingredients from across Canada.

The one appetizer which everyone unanimously loved was the Broccoli ($16). This appetizer's main feature was the soft boiled ash covered duck egg, on a bed of broccoli, pork belly, pickled garlic scapes and cereal grains. The egg was perfectly cooked and upon cutting the egg open, out flowed a bright yellow yolk. 

The tomato appetizer featured fresh tomatoes from Prairie Gardens, Josef Cheese from Winding Road Cheese, and finished with sorrel cream, preserved yarrow blossom and canola oil.

The Grilled Bannock ($14) was equally delicious with wild mushrooms, berries, winged kelp, and pumpkin seed. The star of this appetizer was definitely the mushrooms.

For mains, I loved the Haida Gwaii Halibut ($38). I had the squash ragout substituted for a legume pilaf. My dish still featured the parsley onion pesto, braised leek and lobster mushrooms. The lobster mushrooms were incredibly flavourful while the braised leeks were equally delicious and had a bit sweetness to them.

Dan thoroughly enjoyed his choice of main - the Bentley Bison Dou ($44) which featured good chunks of bison. The rest of the dish was filled out with lentils, carrots, cauliflower and a saskatoon berry jus.

Some of our friends at our table also ordered the Miss Tatum Rockfish ($36) on top of a bed of Saskatchewan wild rice, beans and herb. Then, the server came by and poured kelp broth on top.


For now, the Butternut Tree is focusing on dinner with plans to open for brunch and lunch in the future. I love how they have an open kitchen as it helps to add to the expanse of the space. I look forward to visiting again!

To read more experiences from the evening, head over to Cindy, Crystal or Sharon's blogs for more! Thanks again to Bonafide Media for organizing the event and inviting us! 

The Butternut Tree
101, 9707 110 Street (Ledgeview Building) 
(780) 760-2271 
Tuesday – Sunday 5pm-midnight
closed Mondays