Page 35 - 06_July-Aug-2025

JoHNNY
INFAMOuS
DJ and Producer, Real Talk
with Ryan Jespersen
FAVE THING
DOUBLE DRAGON
10524 Jasper Ave. NW,
double-dragon.ca
Back in 2008, DJ Johnny Infamous flew in
from Vancouver to play a weekend gig at
Union Hall, skeptical he’d enjoy any part
of it other than the payday. The night he
arrived, it was 25-cent highballs and a
lineup around the building — on a Thursday
in February. “I was like, what’s going on?”
he says. “It was a rager at, like, 9:30.” By the
end of the weekend, he was sold. He moved
to Edmonton a month later and has shaped
its club scene ever since.
Things have changed since then.
There used to be way more live venues.
Basements with bands, clubs that played
everything — those are mostly gone now.
That’s part of what makes Double Dragon,
which opened in 2023, feel special. “You
walk in and it feels like going to an EDM
show in the year 2000 or a punk rock show
in the late ’90s.”
Located in the Alberta Block building,
the venue shares a space with Fu’s Repair
Shop, where showgoers can enjoy all-night
dim sum and craft cocktails.
“You get that high-end production, but it still smells like skate shoes,” he
jokes. “It’s punk rock, and it’s elite at the same time.”
Johnny DJs at Double Dragon about once a month, often for themed par-
ties thrown by Mojo Live, a Toronto collective. One of his favourites was last
summer’s Brat-themed Charli XCX night, where “the island of misfit toys all
came together,” he says, describing an eclectic crowd. On any given night, the
lineup might feature EDM, pop, reggae or even happy hardcore, with
everything from local hip-hop battles to touring DJs. And though his wife’s
not much for late night parties, Mr. and Mrs. Infamous can always agree on
chef Winnie Chen’s food.
–Omar Mouallem
ED’S
PICK
Omar Mouallem,
Editor-in-Chief
Rolled Pistachio “Booza” Ice Cream at Cedar Sweets When I say rolled ice cream, you probably think
of those gimmicky franchises flattening bland ice cream and stuffing it with junk food to make it taste less blah. But the
rolled ice cream I go out of my way for is Cedar Sweets’ “booza” — Middle Eastern ice cream made with a clotted cream
called ashta, then turned over with dried rose petal flakes and pistachio crumbs, then sliced like a loaf. Its silky, stretchy
texture comes from salep, a powder made of ground orchid root. Found in “Little Lebanon” in Castle Downs, with an-
other spot in Jasper Place, it’s sold by the kilogram to treat a party. multiple locations, cedarsweets.ca
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