Food Notes for October 18, 2010

I know many people probably know about Mack’s site, ShareEdmonton already, but if you haven’t checked it out for the election results, make sure you do! He’s been working really hard on it in the last few weeks, but especially in the last few days, to make sure it was ready for election night. I think he did a great job! Anyway, on to this week’s food notes:

• The U of A’s Office of Sustainability is hosting a Sustainability Awareness Week from October 18-23, featuring a mini farmers’ market on campus, an elk burger BBQ and more!
• Patty Milligan (aka Lola Canola) is organizing an event with Candace Savage, author of Bees: Nature’s Little Wonders taking place on October 24. Proceeds will go to the Canadian Bee Research Fund.
• Far East Sandwiches is now open, located at 10301 109 Street (780-756-3278).
• Cora’s has added two locations of their popular breakfast and lunch spots to the Edmonton market: one in the northwest (12520 137 Avenue) that opened today, and another in the west end (9977 178 Street), slated to open next week. And even more expansion for next year: “Cora plans on opening four more restaurants in the Edmonton area in 2011. A restaurant is coming to Sherwood Park and Cora is also looking at sites in St. Albert, the Oliver area near downtown Edmonton, Whyte Avenue and Leduc.”
• Erin e-mailed me earlier in the week and said that in addition to Cora’s, she’s also seen a few other eateries open up in the northwest, including Mt. Fuji at 9635 167 Avenue) – great news for those that live in the area!
• Foodie McPoon blogged about Rockford Grill, the new restaurant in the Sandman Hotel in southwest Edmonton (10011 Ellerslie Road SW).
• D’Lish has been getting positive reviews in the blogosphere – from Raoul, May Contain Nuts, and Chris.
• Urban Diner’s southside location (in the old Fiore’s spot) is shooting for an October 25 opening, shares Liane.
• The NYT had an article this week about Wal-Mart setting targets to source produce locally (defined as purchasing from the same state). It’s interesting that their goals in Canada are far higher than their American counterpart – by 2013, to source 30% of the produce for Canadian stores locally, and when available, to source 100% locally.
• It’s unfortunate on some level that the first cupcakery in the core is a franchise, but I’m still excited to have one close to home. Expect Big City Cupcakes to open later this year in City Centre Mall.

Big City Cupcakes

• Mack and I were fortunate to get a quick impromptu tour of the soon-to-be retail location and cafe of Queen of Tarts, located in the basement of the Armstrong Block on 104 Street. Proprietor Linda Kearney was especially excited about the artisan breads they will be offering – her husband Paul recently attended a course in San Francisco to perfect his skills. I’m looking forward to their late November opening already!

Queen of Tarts – coming soon!