Food Notes for December 20, 2010

Christmas indeed snuck up on us, didn’t it? I’m looking forward to Christmas morning and all, but there are still a few days of work standing in my way! I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday full of family and good eats. On to this week’s food notes:

• Daniel Costa, formerly of Red Star, opened Corso 32 (10345 Jasper Ave, 780-421-4622) last week. Anyone tried it yet?
• Queen of Tarts (10129 104 Street, 780-421-4410) is finally poised to open the first week of January. I know many are looking forward to accessing Linda’s delectable pastries year-round, but I’m looking forward to fresh, artisan breads baked right on our street!
• The next round of local restaurant excitement surrounds Bistro La Persaud, a French restaurant tucked in La Cite Francophone – a Journal review, a CBC review, and a food blogger review all in one week. Though the reviews all claim that the restaurant is still in “soft opening” mode, I’d say the doors have been blown wide open now.
• Lea reviewed a new Indian restaurant on the south side of Edmonton, called Shafi Tandoori Grill.
• I know Edmonton will never be big enough to have the critical mass to generate a post like this one, but a girl can dream, right? Eater tracks the taco explosion that hit New York in 2010.
• Though I know the trends projected in the US/New York take several years to land here (if at all), they’re still fun to read: here are two great roundups from Grub Street.
• For trends that are more likely to hit closer to home – check out this list of supermarket trends.
• And though this time of year is all about trends – what about the trends that weren’t?
• I spotted this 2011 Calgary Dining Guide, published by Calgary’s Avenue Magazine, at Chapters this weekend. Though I know their editions are routinely double the size of Edmonton’s version, I wonder if we’ll be lucky enough to have a similar guide produced for our fair city?

Calgary Dining Guide

• Sweet Lollapalooza, the Commerce Place-based chocolatier, opened up a second small storefront around the corner from its original shop, just for the holidays. The second shop sells pre-boxed versions of their popular truffles for those without time to select the bonbons themselves. I’m a big fan of their buttercrunch toffee…yum.

Sweet Lollapalooza

• Speaking of chocolate, I tried the hot chocolate from Credo last week, made with Jacek Chocolate. It had a depth and subtle cocoa powder sweetness that was the perfect accompaniment on our winter walk – I’ll be back for another cup soon! Also, it was awesome to read that Jacek sold out of all of their chocolate for the holidays – you snooze, you lose (that would include me).

Jacek hot chocolate from Credo

• We stopped by Duchess this weekend to pick up a few gifts. It was also a good excuse to check out Garner’s gingerbread Notre Dame cathedral in person. It is stunning, and from the photos on Facebook, even more so after dark.

Gingerbread cathedral

• Amanda managed to score us a pair of free tickets to the Oilers game on Thursday night, where we watched the Blue Jackets get rocked. Man, Linus Omark is going to be a star, isn’t he? This was also our first time seeing the newly-minted Octane dance team. They were underwhelming.

Thanks for the tickets, Kelly and John!