Cannabis for dinner? New restaurant to serve Pot-Infused drinks and eats
At CBD CBN, the food won't get diners high but the mocktails will.
Cannabis-infused meals and mocktails will soon be served at a restaurant in downtown Edmonton.
Customers at CBD CBN — Catering By Day, Catering By Night — will be offered a reservation-only fine-dining experience where cannabis is the key ingredient.
James Mulholland, a mixologist who launched the restaurant with co-owner and chef Stacey Mison, hopes Edmontonians will soon be buzzing about the new venture.
"We're hoping the demand will be quite high," Mulholland said. "I think what we're doing should attract not just cannabis users, but foodies as well."
The restaurant's unusual menu has been made possible through a partnership with Token Naturals Ltd., a licensed cannabis producer based in Edmonton.
Token Naturals holds medical sales, processing and research licences for cannabis, a Health Canada spokesperson said.
"It's just a natural evolution of our business and then we found some really cool partners that can bring that unique chef experience," said Keenan Pascal, CEO of Token Naturals. "It's a perfect match."
The restaurant, at 10130 105th St., will serve the company's research needs while offering users a chance to "choose their own adventure" with a cannabis dining experience, he said.
Pascal said he was familiar with Mulholland and Mison's catering work before the pair approached his team with a pitch for a restaurant with a focus on cannabis.
The team at Token Naturals was keen to sign on.
"That's kind of how it came together — over a couple plates of dinner."
Strict constraints under Cannabis Act
Research licences, administered under the federal Cannabis Act, allow companies to conduct on-site research and sensory evaluations of cannabis products, albeit under some strict constraints.
In a statement, Health Canada said it would be contacting Token Naturals to ensure its plans for a cannabis dining experience are in compliance with all federal regulations.
Token Naturals said it will be in compliance through a series of measures at CBD CBN.
No walk-ins will be allowed; the meals will be offered only by reservation. Tickets are being sold now. Diners will be required to sign a waiver, and will be asked to complete surveys on their experience.
The research will be focused on product testing. It will seek feedback on customers' overall sensory experiences.
Mulholland said cannabis can't be stored on site and having meals by invitation-only will ensure they have just enough on hand for each diner.
He said the food itself will not have intoxicating effects. Cannabis will be used but the THC will not be activated through the use of heat.
"If you want to enjoy the food and enjoy the flavour of the cannabis, you can do that without worrying about getting intoxicated.
"If you would like to get intoxicated, then we'll put it in your drink."
Because the effects of edibles are often delayed, giving customers a taste of THC through mocktails will allow diners to enjoy the effects while they are still enjoying their meals, instead of the high kicking in hours later.
While some diners will certainly get stoned on the THC in the non-alcoholic drinks, that's not the intent, Mulholland said.
He hopes customers will learn to savour the unusual flavour profiles found in cannabis, and that they will only imbibe just enough to enhance the dining experience.
"There are a lot of really interesting flavours in the cannabis," he said. "We're looking at the plants as a herb, as a flavour ingredient."
Terpenes — aromatic compounds — found in cannabis can create a wide range of flavours including pepper, mango and citrus, Mulholland said.
"So, as opposed to the weed brownie that most people have had in the past, where they're kind of like, 'This thing tastes like weed,' the food that we produce will taste much more like herbs," he said.
For example, he said, a "super earthy" cannabis strain with a truffle flavour could be added to a potato chip to make it tastier.
First of many?
When Mulholland lost his hospitality job during the pandemic, he began managing cannabis retail stores. He soon struck up a partnership with Mison, who was keen to get into cannabis catering.
Mulholland said the restaurant is the first of its kind in Edmonton. He hopes it opens the door to a new market. He said he'd like to see Edmonton become a destination for cannabis tourism.
"We definitely hope we're the first of many."
