Crystal Higgins has no problem with pressure when it comes to cooking.

“I absolutely love it,” says Higgins, who will be testing that declaration at this year’s PEI International Shellfish Festival, running Sept 17 to 20 in Charlottetown. “I’m just really ready to bring it.”

It helps that Higgins, who works in Beaumont as Chartier’s executive chef, is no stranger to competition, having captained an all-female NAIT squad that brought home a silver medal from the IKA Culinary Olympics in Germany in 2024. Higgins will be channeling that mindset during the Garland Canada’s International Chef Challenge, where she’ll compete against 10 other chefs from around the country plus one from Osaka, Japan, to do delicious things with PEI shellfish dishes. The grand prize? Bragging rights and a sweet $10,000 cheque, along with the feeling that you’ve done your family proud.

“My grandma just recently passed away, and she’s the reason why I’m a cook,” Higgins says. “So for me, I want to represent Chartier, represent myself as a cook, but also represent my grandma. I want to give the judges something that may seem familiar but different all at the same time. Elevated but a big hug. I want them to lick their plates clean.”

Chef Higgins isn’t the only contestant from Alberta flying in for the challenge to see whose plate will be more lickable. Calgary’s Allyson Huynh from Foxtrot at Spruce Meadows is also competing, as is Tyson Wright from The Old Red Barn in Camrose. Everyone will have 45 minutes to prepare their dishes on the main stage, with three different island shellfish required. The competition will continue through the weekend, until the two remaining chefs go head to head.

For a landlocked chef Higgins will be very prepared to tackle the bounty of the sea in Charlottetown. Fish and chip dinners are a mainstay at Chartier, and she says that her absolute favorite thing to cook is a seared scallop. Her past tenure at the Royal Glenora Club included more than a few lobster dinners. She’ll be bringing all of that and a family member when she touches down in the capital of P.E.I next weekend.

“My mom’s coming with me,” she says. “It’ll be the first time she’s been on a plane for a long time or seen me compete, so that’s also a bonus.”

When last we spoke with Zachary Fritze he was just getting started with his alcohol-free whiskey, Mad Moose.

Under the auspices of The Wagon & Co., Fritze began stocking his “smokey and oaked” alternative whiskey in local liquor stores, restaurants, and bars, picking up a cult following that quickly developed into Canada-wide interest. Who knew that only a year later he’d be recognized by the only international drinks competition dedicated to judging non-alcoholic beverages containing 0.5% ABV or below? “This is huge,” says Fritze about the win at the 2026 World Alcohol Free Awards, which is based in the UK. “I mean, on one hand having the confidence around your product and what you’re pouring for people is really important because of all the work that goes into this. But also the reality is you can’t control awards, and having something like this huge helps a lot. So, it’s not only me saying this is a really good product, I’m not just making this up.”

He certainly isn’t. Mad Moose was chosen for a Commendation medal out of 600 entrants from over 30 countries, and given the exact same blind tasting protocol as the others by an international panel of judges. This was the official verdict after the experts huddled to describe it:

“Interesting aromas of vanilla, dried raisin and toasted wood, with a palate of peat, honey and spice; balanced, warming, would be great on the rocks.”

It’s good timing, because The Wagon and Co. have decided to move forward with new products. There’s a Mad Moose Japanese whisky that features notes of oak, coconut, and black pepper; the citrus-y Mad Moose Old Fashioned; and a smaller format original Mad Moose. Fritze says that demand, while not at the level of alcoholic options, is steadily rising.

In his day to day dealings Fritze admits that there are still people out there who are unaware that there are options for those opting for a sober lifestyle.

“When I’m out there pouring people are still surprised that there’s non-alcoholic whiskey,” he says. “So, talking about the awards helps a lot with those conversations. It’s really growing. I have gotten requests from the US in several places because of the award, but also because of the Japanese style non-alcoholic whiskey and the old-fashioned. I’m getting a number of requests because these are very distinctive products and they’re getting excited to stock them.”

Remembering Brad Smoliak

News travels fast these days, but the media landscape is such that it moves in increasingly narrow channels. When beloved Edmonton chef Brad Smoliak died at the age of 59 in the first week of August the news immediately made its way around social media, with accompanying tributes and memories. Smoliak had an impressive impact on the Edmonton culinary scene, far more than just a few paragraphs here can say.

There was the time he cooked for Queen Elizabeth when she toured Alberta as part of her royal visit in 2005, then popped over to her majesty’s turf as lead chef at Canada House for the London Summer Olympics in 2012. Smoliak was also lead chef for Alberta House at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, and with KITCHEN by Brad Smoliak he headed a space that held cooking classes, private kitchen parties, long table dinners and more.

Born with a congenital heart defect, Smoliak by all accounts lived life with a great degree of relish. He was given a few months to live when he was 52, but added seven and a half more when he was fitted with an artificial heart at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, a place that he’d done much fund raising for. The last time the Journal reported on him was in 2024, when he came out of semi-retirement to mentor chefs at DON’YA Ukraine’s Kitchen. He will be missed.

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