Food Notes for November 30, 2009

I can’t believe it’s December 1 tomorrow – I’m sure we say this every year, but where did 2009 go? Still, as it’s my favourite time of year (only 25 days until Christmas), I’m going to enjoy every moment of it. On to this week’s food notes:

• Up-and-coming chef Daniel Costa is hosting a special tasting at Red Star (10534 Jasper Avenue) on December 3 in honour of Parlous Magazine’s launch party. Tickets are $25; contact Daniel at 780-937-2276 for tickets. You can also read an interview with Daniel in the current issue of Parlour on pages 36-37.
• Sutton Place Hotel’s annual Taste of Christmas lunch buffet kicks off on December 8. At $30 a person, it’s a bit pricey, but I’ve been before, and the selection and quality generally speak for themselves.
• If Sutton’s price isn’t right, a new hotel restaurant on the block – Creations in the Sawridge Inn – is offering their own “12 days of Christmas lunch buffet” from December 7-23, at just $14.95 per person. The Journal happened to review their dinner service this weekend.
• Sweet Lollapalooza, a new chocolatier in Commerce Place, opened today. Foodie Suz was one of the first to sample their treats.
• Foodie Suz also posted about Cafe Haven out in Sherwood Park, which I would venture out to try just because of their Twitter presence. Looks like a neat place.
• Chris over at Eating at the Hard Part wrote about his visit to Greenhouse, a “gourmet” salad eatery that shares a space with Good Earth on the U of A campus. Could this be the start of the salad bar trend in Edmonton?
• Kiwi Kiss was in the Journal last week – turns out the man who started Booster Juice is behind this new frozen yogurt shop.
• Liane wrote today that chef Nathin Bye of Lazia failed to place in the national Gold Medal Plates competition this weekend in Vancouver. It’s still a fantastic achievement to get that far, especially as the youngest one there!
• Mary Bailey is Delux Burger’s celebrity chef for the month of December! Mary’s locally-sourced creation sounds delicious, featuring beet relish and Sylvan Star smoked gouda.
• Valerie (aka A Canadian Foodie) was featured alongside her catering club at Kate Chegwin where she teaches. It’s awesome that she is passing down an appreciation for good, clean food (as well as teaching cooking skills) to a new generation.
• I wrote about the Meet the Locals Festival for last week’s issue of Vue Weekly (providing a bit more information that my blog post about the event).
• This is kind of cool – the NYT broke down Thanksgiving-related recipe searches on Allrecipes.com by geographic location. Wonder how a similar analysis of a Canadian Thanksgiving would turn out?
• Last week, I linked to a fast food flow chart that I found absolutely hilarious – just as funny is their method of answering the question, “What kind of cereal should I eat?”
• The restaurant trend articles have started to roll in: Nation’s Restaurant News says simple and restaurant-grown will be in, and Restaurants and Institutions call more specialty menu items (gluten-free, vegetarian), more deals, and asks, “Are eggs the new bacon?”
• I was excited to see that the Chinatown outpost of Hoang Long finally reopened about a month ago, after being closed for months. When I met Cristy there for lunch last week, I somehow thought the interior would have changed more. What mattered more than the decor, however, was the food – still the same good soup. And though the service could have been better (I wasn’t offered even a glass of water until Cristy arrived), I’m glad to have another pho option in the area.

Beef Noodle Soup with All Types of Beef ($8.95)

Wor Wonton Soup ($7.95), absolutely loaded with veggies

• Mack and I stopped at Bulk Barn on Saturday while at South Edmonton Common (next to Payless). I was looking forward of checking out their “over 4000” items, and while I wouldn’t be able to do as thorough of a job chronicling the store’s contents as Chris already has, I have to say I love the nutritional information next to each of the bin labels, and their selection of baking ingredients. I was also expecting more “unique” bulk items though – what exactly, I’m not sure, though our relatively fast walk through yielded a few semi-interesting items.

Surrounded by bulk bins!

I heart fortune cookies

Chocolate toonies (not as common as their $1 counterparts)