Happy New Year! I hope you all had a restful holiday and a great start to 2017. On to the first food notes for the year:
- This year’s Deep Freeze runs January 14-15, 2017. A new aspect of the festival is a tourtiere baking contest. Entries will be accepted until January 12.
- Ice on Whyte is partnering with the Edmonton Beer Geeks on February 3, 2017 to present the first ever Freeze Your Cask Off event, featuring 10 Alberta craft beers. The festival is also hosting its third annual Stew Off on February 5, 2017, with 5 local restaurants competing for the title of best stew.
- A food system forum is taking place on February 3-5, 2017 called Cultivating Connections 2017. The goal is to “identify tangible opportunities to collaborate and inspire initiatives for vibrant regional food systems with improved access for all.” Registration is now open.
- Carla Alexander has been such a constant part of downtown, from Soul Soup to MRKT, so it’s sad to hear she’s decided to sell MRKT. Best of luck with your future ventures!
- Glow Juicery’s new location at 10216 124 Street is now open!
- Downtown’s Local Public Eatery will be opening later this month at 11228 Jasper Avenue (formerly Joey’s).
- The folks behind The Common will be opening up a new restaurant called Grandin Fish ‘N’ Chips.
- Expect Vivo’s downtown location to open up some time in the next month.
- Congratulations to Knosh Catering who will be moving into new digs at the Crestwood Curling Rink this year.
- Love Pizza’s St. Albert location is coming along nicely!
- Carolyn shared her thoughts about her new neighbourhood bakery, La Boule.
- Jonny has continued his spotlight on small, often-forgotten ethnic gems with a review of South Indian eatery Masalaz.
- Great to hear that Edmonton has not one, but two new distilleries: Strathcona Spirits and Hansen Distillery.
- If you missed someone on your gift list this Christmas, consider a subscription to the Secret Meat Club, which offers monthly deliveries of artisan food products, including house-made charcuterie and condiments.
- ‘Tis the season for lists: check out Twyla’s roundup of notable 2016 Edmonton food happenings on Eat North.
- Speaking of Twyla, she, along with Phil, helped CBC put together a list of Edmonton’s best restaurants for 2016.
- Cindy shared her own list of memorable 2016 eats.
- Graham also pulled together a summary of the 2016 Edmonton food scene, along with his favourite dishes from 2016, and included a tidbit to expect a formal announcement about a Jamie Oliver restaurant in the new Kelly-Ramsey Enbridge Centre tower.
- Vue Weekly reflected on Edmonton’s year in food.
- How does one go about making food trend predictions? The NYT helps answer that question.
- Some of the grievances in Eater New York’s round-up are specific to that city, but others are somewhat appropriate to our context, too.
- The signage for the Crudo family’s 104 Street restaurant expansion, Bottega, is now up!
Bottega
- We had some good eats over the holidays, including brunch at Hap’s to celebrate Mack’s birthday.
Brunch at Hap’s
- Back to work last week, I chose to drown my sorrows in a bowl of pho at Tau Bay.
My usual
- For Christmas, Mack and I were also given a gift card for Blue Plate Diner that we put into use straightaway – it’s always nice when a favourite restaurant is just steps away from home.
Indulging at Blue Plate Diner
Only Here for the Food 