Born in France to Chinese parents who had migrated through Hong Kong and Europe before settling in Edmonton in 1979, Edith Chu grew up in a family deeply shaped by migration, hard work, and restaurant life. Her father, Richard Chu who was a businessman in Hong Kong started washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant in Paris, worked himself up to the position of chef and eventually opened Szechuen Cuisine in 1984 on 15525 Stony Plain Road.
Although not ethnically Sichuanese, Edith’s parents named the restaurant after the popular “Szechuan/ginger beef” trend at the time, a strategic move to attract customers and carve a niche in Edmonton’s competitive Chinese food scene. The restaurant remained a family-run business and served as both livelihood and cultural anchor for over two decades until its closure in 2007.
Edith shares a richly detailed memory of a typical day at Szechuen Cuisine. Her father would begin the morning with a swim at Coronation Swimming Pool, then prepare food for the lunch crowd. Her mother managed the dining room and cultivated deep bonds with patrons—remembering names and favourite dishes. Meals were often followed by a siesta, and her father would rest on a rolled-out mattress in the back office before reopening for the evening shift.
The restaurant became both a site of sacrifice and pride. Everything revolved around the restaurant, even on weekends and holidays. Edith, her siblings, aunt, and grandmother all took part in running the restaurant. Over time, Szechuen Cuisine became known not just for its food, but for its regulars and a few unique dishes like a crispy chef’s special chicken and the sizzling guo ba (puffed rice) soup—memories Edith carries with fondness.
These behind-the-scenes dynamics are foregrounded in her Sweet and Sour Memories exhibit, which Chu developed as part of her Master of Fine Arts program. Edith reflects on her desire to honour her father, who passed away in 2019, and to reconnect with her heritage through food and memory.
One of her pieces—a sketch drawn directly onto an old restaurant guest check—captures her father in the kitchen mid-motion, ladle in hand. The drawing, rendered in pencil on the textured surface of the receipt, echoes the everyday labor that sustained the family.
A drawing of Richard Chu, Edith’s father at the stove, layered over a restaurant receipt. Artwork by Edith Chu
Szechuen Cuisine was more than just a livelihood for Edith Chu’s family. It became a community space in Jasper Place, where regulars felt at home. Staff and students from nearby Grant MacEwan[i] came often, and families marked birthdays and milestones there. The restaurant hosted events like art auctions and even helped stage a wedding proposal inside a fortune cookie. Relationships extended beyond customers to fellow business owners: the western wear shop owner dropped in daily for soup and chatted with Richard Chu. Shirley Romany of Ebony and Ivory cut the hair of all three children from Chu’s family, and her family were regular takeout customers at Szechuen Cuisine.
Edith Chu’s careful rendering in watercolor captures the red-lit facade of Szechuen Cuisine. Artwork by Edith Chu
While Jasper Place had a reputation for being rough around the edges, Chu resists one-sided portrayals. “Not every community can be sparkling clean and rich,” she reflects. “But it’s still part of our city.” For her, the restaurant and the neighbourhood were shaped by care, reciprocity, and everyday acts of belonging
[i] The Jasper Place Campus of Grant MacEwan moved to a purpose-built building on Stony Plain Road and 156 Street in 1981. This campus, later known as the Centre for the Arts and Communications, remained an important cultural presence in the neighbourhood until 2017, when all programs relocated to the City Centre Campus and the Jasper Place site was closed. [ https://www.macewan.ca/about-macewan/history/ ] See also the Orange Hub page on this website.
