Steel Wheels
10307 - 85 Avenue NW, Edmonton AB
For U of A students and other south side kids that spend their weekends on Whyte Avenue, Steel Wheels has an almost mythic reputation. It is licensed, and open till 3am: a natural place to round out the evening with a few more drinks, buffered by an eclectic blend of pizza and Korean comfort food. But while Steel Wheels is definitely of Whyte Avenue, it is not on Whyte Avenue: one must walk a small odyssey to find the dimly lit entrance on 85 Avenue, across from the old armoury. Heading north on Gateway, the din of Whyte quickly recedes behind you. North of 83 Avenue all the buildings are dark, and the walk starts to seem a lot longer than it really is, especially on a cold night.
There is no dining room that better represents the reckless, debauched essence of a Whyte Avenue Saturday night. Every surface - the tables, the booths, the walls - is a decades-old palimpsest of graffiti written in Sharpie marker, paint, and white-out. The ceiling and the upper portions of the walls are lined with paper plates that patrons have used as impromptu substrates to draw pictures in ballpoint pen. Many are loving caricatures of Phil, a man who once commandeered the counter at Steel Wheels. He always wore a pink cowboy hat, and his unflappable good nature and strongly accented shouts were defining elements of the Steel Wheels experience for many years. Since his retirement he has become a semi-legendary figure, and an enduring part of the Steel Wheels mythology.
Steel Wheels is first and foremost a pizzeria. In fact its full and proper name used to be Steel Wheels Rock ’n’ Roll Pizzeria. The most notable pie is the bulgogi beef, which Steel Wheels was making years before kooky toppings like perogies and donair meat became standard offerings. There is a little sauce bar with squeeze bottles of teriyaki, Sriracha, and ranch dressing, to customize your slice. In a sober blind tasting the pizza might be described as utility-grade: a thick, bready crust, sprinkled with industrial cheese. But the unremarkable pizza is easily excused, because with Steel Wheels the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Dunk that dryish crust into some Korean stone bowl soup and it becomes one of the more memorable pizzas of your life.
The heavy stone bowls are pre-heated to near-volcanic temperatures before being filled. Soup comes to the table at a sustained, seething boil. Many people have grown up with this style of soup, but for neophytes it is awe-inspiring, almost magical, like seeing fireworks for the first time. Eventually the boiling subsides and you can enjoy some profoundly nourishing food.
Kimchi jjigae is a fiery soup based on kimchi, with hunks of tofu and pork belly bobbing in the red broth. It is hot, spicy, and deeply savoury, with funky inflections from cabbage, daikon, and seafood. It is an instant cure for drunkenness, and focuses the mind more sharply than a pot of coffee.
Budae jjigae (“army base soup”) is a rich broth crammed with sausage, Spam, instant ramen noodles, and canned beans, garnished with a slice of processed cheese that melts into the soup to become a subtle, savoury overlay. It is a sophisticated and flavourful version of the common bachelor’s dinner of elbow macaroni, baked beans, and sliced hot dogs. I believe it holds roughly the same place in every Korean heart that Kraft Dinner does in Canadian children.
There are also noodles, rice bowls, dumplings, spring rolls, cardboard trays of kimchi, and at least a dozen other items on the menu.
On weekends, after midnight, Steel Wheels is a madhouse. Every bench is full and the line goes out the door. It is loud, raucous, vulgar, and one of my favourite places in the world. It is the only place in my entire life that I have witnessed an actual food fight. However if you find yourself wanting dinner on a weeknight, you can have a much calmer, more approachable experience while still enjoying the food and ambience.
In an age where restaurants are intentionally contrived for social media, Steel Wheels stands as an authentic, totally unique space that has been carved up and painted by its patrons over many years. A natural and understandable intersection of youth drinking culture (for better or worse), immigrant families, and international students. A confluence of pizza sauce, ranch dressing, and gochujang, that is very much Edmonton, and undeniably rock and roll.
