“This place has been around for like 40-50 years. It has been here forever. There’s tons of history.

This is the old Mellinville, from SCTV. SCTV was an old comedy show shot in Edmonton. The Red Ox Inn was called the Beef n’ Booze, in the show. John Candy was in the series. All those guys, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Rick Moranis. It was like a Saturday Night Live thing.”

Frank Olsen gained ownership of the formerly known “Beef n’ Booze” ten years ago. He has been in the restaurant business for twenty years. Beginning as a doorman, he eventually worked his way up to become a restaurant owner. Today, the legacy of the Red Ox Inn continues through Frank and his wife Andrea.

1. What interested you about this particular kind of restaurant?

My wife worked here, for the person before this for 4-5 years. Then one day she came home and said that the previous owner was selling the restaurant. We were sort of young and naive and thought it would be fun to do that. It’s been good. It was really exciting. We rounded up some loot, and started doing it. We had to learn how to cook and run a business. The interest was that it was a manageable size and so we thought we could do it.
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Rima Devitt jokes now that growing up she always thought she would end up being a rock star, while her husband John Williams had aspirations of becoming a Jazz musician. Destined for greatness they were, but not in the genre of entertainment that they might have expected. The two have been married for fourteen years, now have two young boys, and together have established the Blue Plate Diner a success.

1. When were you first interested in the restaurant business?
RIMA: I’ve always loved going to restaurants. Really loved going out for dinner and enjoyed the wine, the music, and people coming together. I guess it started there. John and I always worked in restaurants going through university, and we always kind of felt like we knew more than the people we worked for-as I’m sure everybody does. I went to university in Arizona, and my brother and I would take road trips in the southern United States. Often times we’d look for a great place to go for breakfast. We’d pick a semi-truck trailer and we’d follow it until it pulled into a joint. That would always be the best place because the truckers know the good places to go. I guess that’s when it started. John and I used to own an Italian restaurant and that’s sort of how we got our feet wet in the industry. We really learned managerial skills that way. That’s how we started thinking of and talking about opening our own. It was one of those things where we woke up and thought, “How can we make our lives even more difficult and way more complicated. I know, let’s have kids and open up our own restaurant.”
JOHN: (Laughs) And we’ve always liked change.

“Lots of things have happened in this building. Back in the early 90s there was a dance factory called “Sublime” downstairs that was a notorious all night after hours dance club. I think there are ghosts in this space. All of the night time servers say they’ve heard the doors open on their own. It’s not bad or anything. It’s all part of the history of this place.”

a€“ Rima Devitt

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Considered a veteran in the industry, Peter Jackson is frequently referenced in a tone of admiration by other restaurant owners. Before he showed up and opened “Jack’s Grill” in 1989, people in Edmonton thought of the “Skillet Grill” at Zeller’s when they heard the word “grill.” Though the term “grill” now frequents many restaurants around town, Jackson was the first to introduce the term to the Edmonton scene.

1. When were you first interested in the restaurant business?
I guess in college. It was a good reason to have a job in those days. I like people so it fit well with my likes. I didn’t know anything about it at the time. Growing up, my mom was a good cook. She doesn’t think she is, but she was a solid cook. Both my sister and I have an interest in cooking and I used to cook a lot at home so I became one of those decent young cooks as a young guy. At one point I hated my daytime job so I thought I’d give the restaurant business a chance. It started when I went out West from Nova Scotia in 1980 and I had to find a place to live. I ended up working at the Banff Springs hotel because it was easy to find accommodations and I ended up working in the kitchen. Kind of didn’t mind it. Kind of started to like it. So I ended up going and taking a job in Nova Scotia in a good kitchen as the lowest person on the ladder.
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