Food Notes for August 10, 2010

Beer & Boar took a lot out of me, but I won’t have a lot of time to recover, with the Fringe right around the corner! We missed out on Frequent Fringer passes last year, so I made sure to order them on the day they were released – good thing too, as they were sold out in less than 24 hours. See you on the grounds this weekend! On to this week’s food notes:

• The Edmonton Latin Festival is on this weekend, August 14-15, 2010 at Churchill Square. Look forward to salsa and samba lessons, entertainment, and of course, food!
• The Alberta Mycological Society is hosting its City of Champignons wild mushroom exhibition at the Devonian Gardens on August 15, 2010. The sampling menu includes “Phungi Pho”, made with Asian masterstock, miatake, fairy ring, brown beech and shittake mushrooms, Bioway Gardens cilantro, and southern Alberta beansprouts, Alberta dried mushroom and Earl Grey cream risotto and wood oven tea smoked chantrelles, and mushroom truffles custom made by Kerstin’s Chocolates.
• I love neighbourhood festivals, so I’m really excited for the second annual East Meets West Festival on August 27-29, 2010, based in McCauley (we went last year). In addition to celebrating Chinese and Italian cultures, they’ve added an additional day for the Karibuni AfrikaFest.
• The Edmonton Corn Maze is now open, and its theme this year is the Edmonton Food Bank!
• Congrats to Josh Hockin of Transcend for placing second at the Prairie Regional Barista Championships this weekend! He will be the lone Edmonton-based barista to compete at Nationals September 26-27, 2010.
• Look for V Sandwiches, offering Vietnamese subs and coffee on Rice Howard Way (10135 100A Street), to open next week.
• Southwest Edmonton is looking to have a farmers’ market in their neck of the woods by spring 2011. More information here.
• Elm Cafe and Sarah Jackson (creator of A Jam Story) have collaborated this week the opportunity to read an all-local PB & J book while eating an all-local PB & J sandwich. Neat idea!
• Something else I want to try – Delux’s new celebrity creation, a poutine burger!
• Liane had a piece on interesting hot dogs in the Journal this week (I still have to get down to Bibo to try out the duck creation), as well as an article on Edmonton food carts. She also announced news of a new street food vendor called Hot Dog Heroes that offers beef, chicken and vegetarian hot dogs and bison, elk and Italian smokies. Find it at 107 Street and Jasper Avenue.
• Mack sent me this release from Delivery Town, a new food delivery company that has set up shop in Edmonton. It sounds similar to Dial and Dine, but online and with added incentives such as a rewards program. I don’t use delivery services myself, so I’m not the best person to ask, but is there really a high demand for such services?
• Bernard Callebaut may have gone into receivership, but its independent retailers in the city will continue to operate, and may bid for the company.
• The Royal Alberta Museum is looking for your memories of Chinese restaurants in Alberta.
• Lillian posted her notes from the Foodprint conference in Toronto – I, too, hope something like this comes to Alberta.
• From Jennifer Cockrall-King – a peek at SOLEFarms in Vancouver, a social enterprise project that transformed a vacant lot in the downtown east side to a productive piece of land. Something to consider for the Quarters, perhaps near the YMCA Welcome Village?
• First, it was the stadium, and now, it’s the airport in NY that is the recipient of celebrity chef outposts. I wonder if EIA will soon see local brands infiltrating its space? I would think a Cafe Sorrentino and a DeLux Burger Bar would be quite successful there.
• Good question: should food writers out the restaurants that made them sick?
• Sure, it’s gimmicky, but it’s fun: Pop Tarts World opened today on Times Square, and features everything from Pop Tart sushi (yes, you read that right) to a PB & banana sandwich made with Pop Tarts.
• Starbucks was handing out free samples of their new-ish Iced VIA product a few weeks ago, which we finally tried at home. Given that it’s in powdered form, it’s not bad.

Iced VIA