Our Story
Brad Lazarenko the founder and Executive Chef de Cuisine of the Culina Family of Restaurants, is a self-taught chef with a Metis background. His first restaurant, the 45-seat bistro ‘Culina’ (the root word for culinary) opened in Edmonton’s beautiful Millcreek neighbourhood in 2004. With excellent reviews, Culina introduced Edmonton to Brad’s philosophy of offering quality and affordable comfort food featuring local suppliers and producers.
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In 2015, Brad brought this philosophy into the River Valley by renovating and operating the cafe at Victoria golf course. A successful and well-received endeavour, Brad's vision was then expanded to include cafes and restaurants at a number of City of Edmonton-run facilities including ACT Centre at Rundle Park and The Riverside Golf Course. Despite the popularity of the local cafes, in 2018, Culina Restaurants lost the bid to renew for the river valley spaces to a much larger, corporate competitor. Now only two years later, the corporation has left town and there is an opportunity to bring local food back to the river valley at Hawrelak Park.
We're game...but we need your help to do it.
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Culina on the Lake will be a community space where we can all enjoy local fare, skillfully prepared within the beautiful backdrop of Hawrelak Park. We want to be the meeting place for family meals after a day of skating, where friends catch up after work and a place to refuel while enjoying the river valley with all its festivals and attractions. During the summer months we invite our neighbours to join us for lakeside sunsets with fresh food and beverage or to grab one of our picnic baskets to enjoy the park even more. We also intend to utilize this unique space by hosting cultural events, yoga, paddleboarding and much more.
We want this to be yours as much as much as it is ours.
Why Indiegogo?
When a good opportunity presents itself you have to move. We would love to be able to simply jump in and start a new venture like Culina on the Lake but for us, like most, that is not the case. Some capital will be required to get up and running. We will need to purchase equipment, furniture, signage and a little bit of marketing to make sure everyone knows were there. Lastly, since we not only support local food but local art as well, we will have a mural installed on the building by a local artist to mark it as ours. That's it, and we will be sharing each development with you on the way so that you know where your dollars are going.
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Will this work?
Of course. Culina Restaurants has an exemplary track record when it comes to creating spaces for local food and gatherings in the river valley. Successful, well reviewed establishments that the Culina Family of Restaurants have created in the past include:
- Dogwood Cafe at the Victoria Golf Course
- Dogwood Cafe at the Riverside Riverside Golf Course
- Dogwood Cafe at the Rundle Golf Course and Rundle ACT Centre.
- Culina Muttart Cafe
- Culina Mill Creek
- Bibo Wine Bar
Lessons learned from operating these establishments and decades of restaurant industry experience put Culina Family of Restaurant's in an ideal position to meet and surpass expectations on the lake at Hawrelak Park.
