Fife n' Dekel

Fife n' Dekel

9114 51 Avenue NW

Edmonton, AB

T6E 5L8

(780) 436-9235 

The founders of Fife n' Dekel started baking pies in the 1980s to supplement the ice cream at their business, which was then an ice cream parlor. A few decades and three locations later, the pies have become the main attraction at Fife n' Dekel with soups, salads, and made-to-order sandwiches available to go along with your desserts.

Arriving at their South Edmonton location shortly before noon on a Saturday, I found the restaurant moderately busy with a short line-up at its cafeteria-style food service. The initial stop is the sandwich station, which is the bottle-neck of the process. Skip it and sneak around to the pie if you're only in for dessert.

Montreal smoked meat & havarti on sunflower bread

We followed the line around and started with the sandwiches (priced at about $7). I chose their homemade bread option, sunflower, which turned out be extremely fresh, slightly dense, and loaded with sunflower seeds & their nut-like flavor. Any of their cold cut options would be excellent between a couple slices of it, and the Montreal smoked meat with havarti did not disappoint.

Soups: Wicked Thai (left) and chicken noodle (right)

We tried the wicked Thai and chicken noodle soups as we continued around to the soup and salad section. Though I was told neither were homemade, the wicked thai still was a flavorful explosion of mushrooms, peppers, and chicken with the richness of coconut and moderate heat of curry. The chicken noodle was disappointingly thin and generic.

Strawberry rhubarb sour cream pie

Before reaching the cashier, I pondered our many, many options at the pie case before selecting the strawberry rhubarb sour cream pie. The strawberries and rhubarb were in the right balance with the sugar to create the perfect harmony of sweet and tart. The creaminess lent by the sour cream added an additional richness and thick texture which worked especially well with the crumbly crust. Besides banoffee (which they don't have), strawberry rhubarb is easily my favorite pie, and Fife n' Dekel does it very well. I will need to return to try their traditional, sour cream-less variety. 

Coconut cream pie (upper) and cow tart (lower)

Our opinion of the coconut cream pie, topped with a perfect creamy topping was similarly positive. The cow tart, a rustic miniature pie, was filled with their delicious apple pie filling, subtly sweet and warm with cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg.

Fife n' Dekel's tasty sandwiches and outstanding pies are the result of the quality and freshness that comes with being homemade. Though it's unfortunate that they don't pursue similar quality with their soups, the emphasis here is on the pies and the three we had were all truly delicious. Whole pies can be ordered and purchased, but I'm looking forward to returning to work my way through the varieties slice by slice.

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