Food Notes for October 31, 2011

• Haute Cuisine has the first review up for Meguro Ramen, Edmonton’s newest ramen joint in Chinatown that opened on October 27, 2011.
• Liane mentioned that there’s a new “lifestyle” restaurant on the horizon in the High Street area called Cafe Tiramisu (10750 124 Street) that will offer healthy eats and a side of yoga.
• Liane also posted about Blue Kettle’s open house, to be held on November 26 in St. Albert.
• Ever want to be a restauranteur without the financial investment? Now, there’s a game for that: Duck Soup!
• Congratulations to Daniel Costa and Corso 32 for achieving not one, but two honours last week – Costa was named one of Avenue Edmonton’s “Top 40 under 40”, and Corso was included in EnRoute’s list of “Canada’s Best New Restaurants”.
• Great to see that Chef Blair Lebsack put on another fantastic farm to table dinner, this time at Riverbend Gardens. Thanks to Kevin for sharing, so people like me can live vicariously through the video!
• Ever wonder what chefs and critics in North America think of the Michelin guides? Eater reports on a few opinions here.
• Grub Street had a great series last week focusing on food television. Of note, how much TV appearances are really worth to restaurants, ten important food moments on television and why Chuck Hughes might be the next big celebrity chef.
• The Globe and Mail published a piece this weekend that tried (again) to beat the cupcake trend into submission. Even better, the response from Cupcake Takes the Cake.
• Walking down Whyte Ave, I noticed that Ousia (10846 82 Avenue) is now open. Lisa tells me that it is definitely worth checking out: “The food is amazing and the atmosphere is warm, elegant and inviting. It is truly one of its kind on Whyte Ave, and perhaps in all of Edmonton. Very unique, well thought out dishes and a wine/cocktail menu to match!”

Ousia

• I dragged Mack to Southgate for some window shopping, and thought the least I could do was reward him with some poutine! It was a good excuse to try New York Fries’ other “gourmet” poutine, featuring short ribs and a red wine reduction. The beef was actually not that bad, and the gravy-like sauce tasted not much different than a typical poutine sauce. The carrots should have been strained out though – it was a little odd to encounter anything remotely healthy in the poutine, heh.

Short rib poutine

• I think the number of poutine pictures I’ve shared is only perhaps rivalled by the number of pho pictures I’ve shared. So here’s another one – from lunch at Pho Tau Bay on Tuesday.

Pho with beef balls

• Attending a conference at the Radisson Hotel last week, I noticed they featured sparkling water in the meeting and banquet rooms. Not necessarily a selling feature, but a nice touch – I wonder if this will become more common in hotels (and restaurants)?

Sparkling water at the Radisson

• Did you know the Queen of Tarts offers challah bread (now on Fridays). We picked up a loaf for French toast. Delicious!

French toast

• I hope you had a good Halloween! Mack and I didn’t end up doing much, except carve a very rudimentary jack o’ lantern. What can we say – it’s our first!

Meet Jack (ignore the Christmas lights behind him)