Month: January 2015

Food Notes for January 5, 2015

Happy New Year! Although I didn’t originally intend to take a blogging break, it was nice to step back over the holidays to relax with friends and family and complete our mandatory Christmas viewing (which for Mack, involves the Die Hard quartet). Hope you had a restful time as well! On to this week’s food notes:

  • You have until January 7, 2015 to vote for your favourite alcoholic and non-alcoholic concoctions in the City’s 2nd Annual Winter Signature Drink Competition.
  • Miss Sailin’ On? Check out their pop-up at Earth’s General Store on 104 Street on January 9, from 10:30am-3pm!
  • A reminder about this weekend’s 8th annual Deep Freeze Festival, taking place January 10-11, 2015 along Alberta Avenue. It’s one of my favourite winter events; not to be missed!
  • The first YEG Coffee Week event has been announced: a screening of A Film About Coffee and panel discussion about the city’s coffee culture. Early bird tickets for the March 7, 2015 event are $15.
  • The Tomato’s annual list compiling the “best things to eat or drink in Edmonton 2015” is accepting entries January 5-23, 2015. You can see the 2014 list here.
  • Denizen Hall received two thumbs up from the Journal. Can’t wait to try it ourselves!
  • Liv blogged about her visit to Passion de France, the newest French bakery on 118 Avenue.
  • Eat Your City checks out Café Blackbird in Crestwood.
  • What comprised Edmonton’s best eats in 2014? Three CBC reviewers share their opinions.
  • Most cooking classes that have sprung up are all evening affairs, so Gail Hall of Seasoned Solutions is offering a shortened, two hour alternative, priced at $49.95 per person. Perfect for those still seeking a second act to the evening afterwards.
  • Liane polled some chefs to gather their food predictions for the coming year.
  • I can definitely get behind Omar’s last resolution – “just say no to Q water”. I’m surprised more people aren’t making a fuss about the increasing number of restaurants charging for water in a city known for its water treatment system.
  • Nature’s Green Acres posted that they will no longer be at farmers’ markets, and instead, will be focusing on bulk sales. Sign up for the newsletter to stay in touch with Danny and Shannon.
  • It looks like the space that formerly housed Niche is now Tapavino (11011 Jasper Avenue). No details to speak of, as their website doesn’t seem to be functioning.

Tapavino

Tapavino

Burgers Priest

The Burger’s Priest

  • I didn’t end up doing as much baking as I had planned this holiday, but I did manage to make Mack’s new favourite cookie – he couldn’t get enough of Gwendolyn Richard’s recipe for chewy lemon cookies.

Chewy Lemon Cookies

Chewy lemon cookies

  • For my sisters’ joint birthday dinner, they decided on Rostizado. Great service, as always, and we learned that even –30 temperatures won’t stop Edmontonians from enjoying fantastic rotisserie.

Rostizado

The platter of two at Rostizado (love the board itself, too)

  • I was fiercely craving Izakaya Tomo, so we made sure to hit it up before the end of the year.

Izakaya Tomo

I love me some carbonara udon

Izakaya Tomo

Mack’s pick is the chicken kara-age

Epicureous in Edmonton: 2014 in Review

2014 was definitely Elm Café’s year, as they increased their footprint in Edmonton to include District, a great quick-serve café in the government district, and Burrow, innovatively located in our pedway system above the Central LRT station. Owner Nate Box also consulted with Denizen Hall, the refurbished bar in the Grand Hotel, to create a comfort food-focused menu that will no doubt help curious diners overlook the establishment’s seedy past. Had Little Brick, their forthcoming café/general store in the Riverdale neighbourhood, not encountered construction delays typical for any new projects, it would have been an even more runaway year for Nate. At any rate, it’s great to see a local company succeed and flourish in multiple locations – here’s hoping for a speedy finish for Little Brick!

Burrow Central Station

Here are a few other notable food happenings in 2014:

  • Speaking of cafes, it was also a strong year for other independent coffee shops. Transcend returned downtown with a location in the Mercer Warehouse, Credo established a second branch on 124 Street, Iconoclast Koffiehuis’ opening in Oliver, and Remedy added a fourth shop on 124 Street (look for a fifth in Terwillegar to come in 2015).
  • In addition, a significant number of independent restaurants joined the food scene, including Ampersand 27, Bar Bricco, Daravara, Farrow, Hart’s Table, Meat, Rostizado and Solstice.
  • On the flip side, the city did lose its share of prominent food businesses, with Tavern 1903 topping the list that also features Café de Ville, Everything Cheese, Moriarty’s and the Wild Tangerine restaurant.
  • Some measure Edmonton’s place in the world with our ability to attract chains and franchises. To that end, we gained a Popbar at West Edmonton Mall, a Carl’s Jr. outpost, and Filipino fast food chain Max’s Restaurant this year.
  • Although not as prominent, pop-up restaurants still haven’t fallen by the wayside. They continue to provide a way for start-ups to highlight niche cuisine like the vegan Long Lost Foods (formerly the Mirepoix Trio) or specialty items like those offered by Honest Dumplings or Prairie Noodle Shop, whose last pop-up sold out in eight minutes.
  • We also saw the start of several new large-scale outdoor food events this summer, with the inaugural Porkapalooza attracting a stunning 25,000 attendees over three days, and Edmonton’s first Diner en Blanc succeeding in spite of a rain out. Taste of Edmonton celebrated its 30th anniversary, and will be bringing the Canadian Food Championships to the city in 2015.
  • Edmontonians were encouraged to flex their kitchen skills with the release of Duchess Bake Shop’s cookbook, Daniel Costa’s Italian cooking app Tavola, and the expansion of Kathryn Joel’s Get Cooking into its new MacEwan studio.
  • Mother’s Market, the city’s first three-day, year-round farmers’ market opened this summer, while SPUD, a grocery delivery service offering organic and local options, opened up a branch in Edmonton.

Looking forward to what 2015 brings!

You can check out previous year in reviews here.