State & Main

State & Main
850, 5015 111 Street
Edmonton, AB

I love Original Joes. And one of things that I love most about Original Joes is Half Price Wine Night, although the French Dip and Fries with Dill Dip are also right up there. I’ve had many awesome Thursday evenings at OJ’s with friends, enjoying some great food and wonderful half price wine. Can’t beat that!

When I heard that State & Main was going to be opening in Edmonton I was intrigued. I had heard that they were operated by the same people who run OJ’s and that was further confirmed by just glancing at the menu. They share quite a few menu items. The difference seems to be that State & Main is a restaurant for all ages, where as OJ’s remains an 18+ establishment.

A few weeks ago I headed to State & Main to fuel up before a night of shopping. We arrived at about 6:00 and waited for about half an hour for a table. The nice thing about the wait though was that they took my cell phone number, so we could have gone and walked around the mall to kill time if we had wanted.

Once we were seated we took a few minutes to browse the drink and food menus, although they were so similar to OJ’s we really didn’t need to. The drink menu has a wide selection of beers, ciders, wines and mixed drinks, all at a fairly reasonable price. I decided on a Magners Cider, which was refreshing as usual and the perfect drink for a late summer evening. I also noticed that State & Main uses little mason jars to serve their pop in… so cute!

By the time we got our drinks we were ready with our food order. I decided on the Chicken Cheddar Burger, hold the cheddar and picked Fries and Dill Dip as one side and Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread as the other. Yes, I know, 2 carbs… but I just really wanted to try the cornbread and I really love the dill dip, so how could I choose?

The Fries and Dill Dip were just as delicious as they are at OJ’s and that Cornbread….oh my, that stuff sure was good. Again, similarily to OJ’s, State & Main offers a wide selection of interesting sides with their sandwiches, such as Cornbread, Quinoa Salad, Ginger Cilantro Slaw, and Pan Seared Broccolini. The Cajun Chicken Cheddar sandwich was nice, nothing fancy or out of the ordinary, but a well executed chicken sandwich.

A couple other entrées were ordered at my table; the French Dip and the Long Beach Fish Tacos. The French Dip included slow roasted ‘aaa’ certified angus beef, shaved thin on a toasted baguette with sautéed mushrooms, carmelized onions, swiss cheese and horseradish mayo. Talk about a decadent sandwich! I was told the French Dip was delicious and tasted exactly like the OJ’s version.

The Long Beach Fish Tacos included lightly spiced mahi mahi, avocado, shredded lettuce, tomato, green onion, chopped cilantro and fresh lime and were served with a mixed green salad. These were also apparently very good; fresh and delicious! Maybe not French Dip good… but still quite tasty.

Overall I think our visit to State & Main was a success. The service was excellent and the food was good; there are some delicious favourites and also some new, interesting items on the menu that will give me another reason to keep coming back. There were also some really yummy looking desserts on the menu that caught my eye… an ice cream sandwich made with house-baked cookies–yum! The location is very convenient for me, although I am sure it will be very busy as it is attached right to Southgate Mall. And to top it off, their half place wine night is on Saturday! Perfect! If you are an OJ’s fan I definitely recommend giving State & Main a try!

Happy Wednesday!