ABOUT US     "20 years says it all" Edmonton Journal Review "There's something to be said for staying power, particularly when it comes to the cut-throat restaurant trade. So raise a glass to Rigoletto's Cafe, a cosy Italian joint that I confess fell off my radar back in 1998 when it lost its lease on Rice Howard Way. The restaurant didn't stay closed for long. Partners Jack Flisiak and Segrio Turlione simply bided their time a few months and the reopened in new digs in the back of the old Mayfair Hotel on 108 Street, just south of Jasper Avenue. And if I didn't rediscover them there, many of Rig's regulars certainly did, including a friend at work who raves about the steak. Pasta clearly rules at Rigoletto's and chef Turlione loves cooking seafood, but the fare is not merely mamma's dishes from the old country. Turlione worked the grill at Bistro Praha and the Steak Loft prior to his Rigoletto's run and the school shows. There's a little fusion evident on the menu, a little twist on the usual Italian order of things—the aforementioned rib eye steak is a grand example. For a good combo table appetizer, try the feta pate and Italian sausages. The first is a blend of feta and cream cheese and jalpeño peppers, delivered with gherkins and a side of dry toast; the second a platter of grilled mini sausages served with a grainy Dijon mustard. Taken togehter, this spicy tandem packs some heat." Richard Helm, Edmonton Journal (Riglotto's, at 10305 - 100 Avenue, is coming off its 23rd anniversary in November 2008) Rigoletto's Cafe Edmonton Plus "Good Food A champagne breakfast on a beer budget isn't a tough feat to pull off, if you know how to do it. Case in point is finding first-class Italian food with a tasty selection that's of inverse proportion to the thickness of your wallet. Fortunately, Rigoletto's, located on 100th Avenue across from the Freemason’s Hall, is a great find. They serve family-style, hearty Italian food that is good to the palate and the purse. What’s On the Plate? No matter what your taste in pasta is, Rigoletto’s will have something to suit. From baked lasagna or penne with chicken or a variety of pastas with seafood; the choices are plentiful. If you feel like select cuts of meat you’ve got your choice of steak, chicken, salmon and shrimp. There is also a good variety of salads, soup and dessert; most popularly, the delicate and delicious tiramisu. Have the Family Over If you have a family reunion coming up, or just a special event, this causal and cost effective restaurant will fit the bill nicely. They’ll also help organize special intimate dinners and corporate functions as well. Rigoletto’s has great food, a good wine list, and won’t break the bank."     About the Opera Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851. It is considered by many to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi's middle-to-late career. As a staple of the standard operatic repertoire, it appears as number nine on Opera America's list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia Stories of the Operas Rigoletto Composer: Giuseppe Verdi ACT I. Mantua, 1500s. At his palace, the Duke lightheartedly boasts to his courtiers of amorous conquests, escorting Countess Ceprano, his latest prize, to a private chamber as his hunchback jester, Rigoletto, makes fun of her husband. Marullo announces that Rigoletto is suspected of keeping a mistress, and Ceprano plots with the courtiers to punish the hated buffoon. Attention is diverted when Monterone, an elderly nobleman, enters to denounce the Duke for seducing his daughter. Ridiculed by Rigoletto and placed under arrest, Monterone pronounces a curse on both the Duke and his jester. On his way home that night, Rigoletto broods on Monterone's curse. Rejecting the services offered by Sparafucile, a professional assassin, he notes that the word can be as deadly as the dagger. Greeted by his daughter, Gilda, whom he keeps hidden from the world, he reminisces about his late wife, then warns the governess, Giovanna, to admit no one. But as Rigoletto leaves, the Duke slips into the garden, tossing a purse to Giovanna to keep her quiet. The nobleman declares his love to Gilda, who has noticed him in church. He tells her he is a poor student named Gualtier Maldè, but at the sound of footsteps he rushes away. Tenderly repeating his name, Gilda retires. Meanwhile, the courtiers stop Rigoletto outside his house and ask him to help abduct Ceprano's wife, who lives across the way. The jester is duped into wearing a blindfold and holding a ladder against his own garden wall. The courtiers break into his home and carry off Gilda. Rigoletto, hearing her cry for help, tears off his blindfold and rushes into the house, discovering only her scarf. He remembers Monterone's curse. ACT II. In his palace, the Duke is distraught over the disappearance of Gilda. When his courtiers return, saying it is they who have taken her and that she is now in his bedchamber, he joyfully rushes off to the conquest. Soon Rigoletto enters, warily looking for Gilda; the courtiers bar his way, though they are astonished to learn the girl is not his mistress but his daughter. The jester reviles them, then embraces the disheveled Gilda as she runs in to tell of her courtship and abduction. As Monterone is led to the dungeon, Rigoletto vows to avenge them both. ACT III. At night, outside Sparafucile's run-down inn on the outskirts of town, Rigoletto and Gilda watch as the Duke flirts with the assassin's sister and accomplice, Maddalena. Rigoletto sends his daughter off to disguise herself as a boy for her escape to Verona, then pays Sparafucile to murder the Duke. As a storm rages, Gilda returns to hear Maddalena persuade her brother to kill not the Duke but the next visitor to the inn instead. Resolving to sacrifice herself for the Duke, despite his betrayal, Gilda enters the inn and is stabbed. Rigoletto comes back to claim the body and gloats over the sack Sparafucile gives him, only to hear his supposed victim singing in the distance. Frantically cutting open the sack, he finds Gilda, who dies asking forgiveness. Monterone's curse is fulfilled. -- courtesy of Opera News           Copyright © 2008 Rigolettos.com