Bottega Italian Kitchen Bar Off Whyte

Long before he became a managing partner, Jodh Singh was a Packrat Louie regular. “I went there years before I took over in 2006,” Jodh says. “It was an institution and a great place to have a business lunch or a romantic meal.” Packrat Louie first opened its doors in 1993 under the ownership of renowned chocolatier Peter Johner. The restaurant was an European-inspired bistro specializing in wood-fired oven pizza and so affectionately named after Peter’s then-wife Lynn. “Her last name was Louie and she never threw anything away,” Jodh explains.

Peter quickly won Edmonton over with his wood-fired pies and hospitality, and Packrat Louie has been an Edmonton destination ever since. “It had the flare and the food, and Peter was just an exceptional man,” Jodh says. “You just felt at home when you came in here.”

But when Jodh and his partnership group caught word that Peter was going to leave, they jumped at the chance to take the restaurant over. “We heard through the grapevine that someday Peter wanted to hang up his knife,” Jodh explains. “So we put the bug in his ear and said, ‘Before you talk to anybody else, we’d be really interested!'" In 2006, Peter sold the restaurant to focus on chocolate making and Jodh's team took over.