Recap: the 97 Street Night Market, 2014 edition

On August 23, 2014, the second annual 97 Street Night Market took place in the heart of Chinatown.

97 Street Night Market

Closing off part of 106 Avenue just off of 97 Street ensured we were accessible, and adjacent to several of the neighbourhood’s most popular restaurants.

Lion dance

The market built on much of the foundation we had established last year, comprised of vendors, Asian-themed food trucks, dynamic performers and walking tours.

Food trucks

New this year to our vendors was Sunny Snapshots. They provided attendees with the chance to take home a keepsake of the market with a photobooth picture (and props to enhance the shots!). The photos are also online in a digital format, for handy sharing.

Felicia and I crammed our props inside the booth

Rory Lee, a local artist, also committed to live painting a piece during the market. Many onlookers watched to see the progress he made throughout the night.

Rory Lee

We were fortunate to have Molly’s Eats back for a second year, who was joined by Nhon Hoa and Yellowbird. They provided a nice variety of dishes, from banh mi to sesame fish tacos. I personally enjoyed the braised beef shank wrapped in a green onion pancake from Molly’s Eats.

Fried rolls with beef from Molly’s Eats

The stage that night hosted a range of performers demonstrating more traditional arts to those who practice more modern endeavors. And they were all fantastic.

The sidelines were full that night

Vivian Tao, a twelve year old master of the Chinese guzheng, blew the crowd away with her talent. Wing Choy of the Red Dragon Tai Chi Club enthusiastically led a tai chi lesson. The Sung Lee Taekwondo Demo Team brought their A-game with their high energy routine.

Vivian Tao

Wing Choy

Sung Lee Taekwondo Demo Team

We also had two great K-pop dance crews: Rise to Beat and a favourite from last year, Convergence Dance Crew. Someone suggested we host a “dance off” in the future, but both crews are so passionate it would be hard to choose a winner!

Rise to Beat

Of all the elements of the night market, walking tours are perhaps closest to my heart. They’re something I always seek out when travelling, since they’re a great way to learn about the history and geography of a neighbourhood.

Returning guides Peter Wong and Lan Chan-Marples lead a Chinatown history tour

This year, I was most proud of the fact that we added a new tour to the mix that was all about the area’s culinary gems. A popular way to learn about Chinatowns all over North America, I was happy to finally bring such a concept back to Edmonton (I heard Judy Schultz, formerly of the Edmonton Journal, used to lead such tours herself).

Tour participants enjoy samples at Ying Fat

Wild Tangerine’s Wilson and Judy Wu did a phenomenal job introducing five of Chinatown’s food businesses to a small group of lucky individuals (we unfortunately couldn’t take everyone who was interested in the tour!). The food-filled stops included Ying Fat, Edmonton’s fresh tofu factory, who go through 1000 pounds of non-gmo soybeans sourced from Ontario, and Hing Lung, a barbecue shop that cures and roasts its own meat.

How many people can fit into Hing Lung?

The tour feedback was great; some commented that they would have gladly paid for the tour! Many participants also remarked that they now felt less intimidated in Chinatown, and would soon return to patronize the shops they now feel familiar with. Food tours in Edmonton’s Chinatown are definitely an untapped opportunity; I’m hopeful someone will pick up the torch in the future.

The market after dark

Overall, I am proud of what we achieved with the 97 Street Night Market. We not only created a vibrant, safe gathering place in Chinatown, but also highlighted some of what the neighbourhood has to offer.

With my co-organizers, Maria and Roxanne

Thanks to those who attended this year!

What the Truck?! @ Churchill Square: September 12, 2014

In previous years, I’ve been able to keep up with the food truck scene in Edmonton – though it usually took me the entire season to get to and try all of the new trucks that debuted that year, it could be done. This year, I’ve all but given up.

What the Truck?! at Churchill Square
2012 What the Truck?! @ Churchill Square

It speaks to how pervasive food trucks have become in the city, with over fifty in operation in the Edmonton area. Food trucks have also become nearly synonymous with festivals, farmers’ markets and any outdoor events that make the most of our warm weather months – a good sign that they’re here to stay.

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2013 What the Truck?! @ Churchill Square

Help us celebrate a great season with our last What the Truck?! of the year with a historic event – the largest food truck gathering Edmonton has ever seen.

What: What the Truck?! at Churchill Square
Where: Sir Winston Churchill Square Edmonton
When: Friday, September 12, 2014
Time: 4-8pm
RSVP on Facebook!

Twenty five trucks will fill up Churchill Square and 99 Avenue, with menus so delicious and varied you’ll be hard pressed to narrow down your choices. Among your options: South African bunny chow, Hawaiian spam burgers, and liege waffles topped with cream cheese grand marnier mousse.

What the Truck?! at Churchill Square 2013
2013 What the Truck?! @ Churchill Square

DJs Thomas Culture, Chesterfield and The Hugonaut will be on hand that night to set the tone – get ready to party!

What the Truck?! at Churchill Square 2013
DJ Thomas Culture

Hope to see you there!

97 Street Night Market: August 23, 2014

Last August, I was a part of a group that organized the inaugural 97 Street Night Market. The group was comprised of a number of young second-generation Chinese Canadians, and the market was our way to create a lively, energetic gathering to inspire a new vision for the neighbourhood.

97 Street Night Market
2013 Night Market

In many ways, I think we succeeded. It was heartening to see people of all generations from many different backgrounds convening in a single parking lot, feasting, shopping, and otherwise socializing. It was a gathering place not normally found in Chinatown, and one that I hoped would be replicated in the future.

97 Street Night Market
Fortune sticks were really popular that night!

A lot of things came together to make that event happen – from gathering some of Edmonton’s food trucks to serve up Asian-themed dishes, to organizing walking tours of the area, vendors to sell trinkets and other typical night market finds, and securing performers who fit the spirit of the market.

My favourite act was Convergence Dance Crew

We developed connections with like-minded groups and at the time, knew that the market would allow us to build towards other events in the future.

On August 23, 2014, from 6-10pm, we will be hosting our second 97 Street Night Market. This time, we will be situated right in the heart of Chinatown, at 97 Street and 106 Avenue.

We will be building on the momentum from last year, and have invited some of the same food trucks and vendors to return. Molly’s Eats had a menu that was hard to beat, but Susan may have outdone herself again this year – check out the menus from Molly’s, Nhon Hoa and Yellowbird here.

97 Street Night Market
Molly’s Eats feeding the crowd

The tours were so popular that we knew we had to ask our volunteer guides back. The detailed schedule is here, but were thrilled to have Lan Chan-Marples and Peter Wong lead not one, but two historical tours this year, and Paul Giang returns to deliver a perspective on art in Chinatown. New this year (and something I’m most excited about), is our food tour. I’ve long thought Edmonton’s Chinatown deserves its own culinary walking tour, and I can finally say it’s happening! Wild Tangerine’s Wilson Wu will be guiding a small group through some of Chinatown’s food gems, complete with samples along the way. There are limited spaces, so it is first come, first served!

We’ll have a host of great performers. Convergence is back, and we’ve added a second K-pop dance group as well, R2B. Also joining us this year is a martial arts group and a tai chi instructor! We’ll be posting the performance schedule next week.

Our goal for the 97 Street Night Market is to ensure that Chinatown isn’t forgotten. Join us on August 23, 2014 to explore, taste and see what Edmonton Chinatown has to offer!

Find out more on our website, and follow us on Twitter at @yegchinatown.

Taste of Edmonton 2014

The Taste of Edmonton has been getting a lot of love this year, and it couldn’t be at a better time. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Taste is very much a staple in the city’s busy summer festival calendar. But the organizers haven’t been resting on their laurels – over the past few years, they’ve strived to make changes in order to continuously improve the festival experience, and to try and expand their appeal to an even larger audience. To that end, I think they’ve succeeded.

Taste of Edmonton

Sip ‘N Savour, Taste’s effort to involve chefs and restaurants who might otherwise not participate in the festival with a regular booth, was introduced in 2013. This year, the special workshops and pop-up evenings seemed to have something for everyone, and I loved the idea of the culinary adventures that saw off-site food and drink excursions (in a way, I’d have to think they’d be even more successful in the fall or winter, when festival calendars just aren’t as packed as during the summer months).

There was a lot more non-beer garden seating this year – hurrah!

But the heart of the festival – the food samples served by restaurants – is the real draw. And with a high menu turnover, and the average item priced at 3 tickets, the value for dollar was better than ever before, and patrons were able to sample an even greater variety of dishes. The complaints heard in previous years about the price of food seemed to fall away this year, as the festival returned to again offering taste-sized portions.

I wish more booths hawked their wares like Guru

The crowds have been out in full force, and Wednesday was no different. Lines were twenty deep at some booths, and available standing rom in some areas of the Square was sparse. But even at the dinner hour, it only took us about an hour and a half to sample more than a dozen dishes.

The dinner crowd

One of the highlights for me was the pizza from Canicus Catering. In a way, the food trucks have been a blessing for Taste of Edmonton (introduced in 2012). Whereas restaurant booths are immobile and harder to change over, the addition of trucks provides the festival with the ability to offer “limited edition” items, and with a rotation of trucks throughout the ten days, patrons can return over the course of the event and still try something new.

The line-up

Canicus Catering is perhaps the most unique food truck in Edmonton, serving up wood-fired pizza cooked out of a converted fire truck (where the water tank has been retrofitted with a pizza oven). It was great to see the pizzas being cooked in front of us (whereas in some cases, restaurants employ the “scoop and serve” model).

Canicus Catering

The pizza had a wonderfully crisp crust, and bubbly cheese atop the prosciutto. The fact that it was freshly prepared made all the difference.

Canicus Catering’s prosciutto pizza

Mack’s favourite item was the chicken marsala perogies with sauteed bacon and onion from Select. The tangy flavour was a bit off-putting for me, but Mack had a different opinion.

Select’s marsala perogies

Although many restaurants claimed to use local ingredients, few named the producers, or, in Culina’s instance, put them front and centre. Listing Calgary’s White Gold and Gull Valley as its primary suppliers for its “Prairie” caprese skewer, it really did live up to its name. Mack didn’t find fault with the chicken and bacon kofta with tomato chutney either, remarking that the dish had a lot of flavour.

Culina’s caprese skewer and chicken and bacon kofta

Mack, of course, couldn’t turn down crack chicken from The Lingnan. It was actually the perfect portion size in my opinion!

The Lingnan’s dry spicy chicken

The ricotta cheese fritters from the Edmonton Petroleum Club were disappointing. We had high expectations, but unfortunately, the fritters just needed more salt.

Edmonton Petroleum Club’s ricotta cheese fritters

Creole Envie’s fried green tomatoes are probably an acquired taste, as they were a little too tart for me. But I did anticipate a thicker breading that would hold up a bit better.

Creole Envie’s fried green tomatoes

We ended our meal with Eva Sweet’s liege waffle – one of my favourite sweet treats!

Eva Sweet’s liege waffle

I’m already looking forward to what Taste of Edmonton may have in store for us in its 31st year – see you then!

Food and Fun at K-Days 2014

Mack and I may not be the target demographic for K-Days, but we love it regardless. It’s an annual summer tradition for us – there’s just no other festival in Edmonton that offers the variety of attractions, or a midway of that scale.

Midway

We were fortunate enough to have been asked to eat our way through some of the new food items offered this year. And knowing our consumption capacity, we thought it best to invite Amanda and Felicia with us on Saturday, two people also used to testing their limits.

Ready to eat!

Like last year, the one page map produced by K-Days helped us to locate the new dishes on the midway. However, it wasn’t as intuitive as it could have been, as many of the vendor names didn’t match the signage on the actual booths (Tin Lizzy for instance, home of the porcupine corn dog, was branded “Wiggle Chips” instead). I also had to wonder if the list was comprehensive, as none of the local food trucks participating were included on the listing (even though it was their first time at the fair), and Expo Centre vendors were conspicuously absent.

Juicy’s Outlaw Burgers (home of the world’s largest commercially available hamburger and hot dog)

We started our indulgence indoors at the Taste of Canada in Hall H. In 2013, we found the dishes inside to be of the best value (not to mention their relative distance from the deep fryer). Unfortunately, things changed, and the average price for a sandwich with a side of chips has risen to $13. Disappointingly, the menu was smaller and less enticing than last year. Given the recent launch of Northlands’ Alberta Flavour initiative, it’s surprising they couldn’t have somehow incorporated more local ingredients in some of the dishes. We did note the cooking stage located in the same area, but without a posted schedule, we didn’t know when the next demo would be conducted.

We ended up with a Montreal-style house smoked meat sandwich ($13.25). The sandwich itself was fine, if unremarkable. The side of kettle chips was the highlight for me, lightly salted and addictive.

Montreal-style house smoked meat sandwich

Back on the midway, Mack’s annual corn dog was from a maple bacon breakfast corn dog ($7), served with a side of maple syrup for dipping. It was definitely light on the bacon, but Mack enjoyed it all the same.

Mack’s maple bacon breakfast corn dog

Amanda’s porcupine corn dog ($5) was the better deal, and more unique – a corn dog studded with French fries. She remarked that the fries themselves could have used a bit of seasoning, but other than that, she gave it a thumbs up.

Amanda and her porcupine corn dog

I was happy to see the return of Rib Fest. The theatricality of the staff is as much of a spectacle as the food itself.

Rib Fest

That said, I’m not sure why the lines moved so slow this year. It took us more than 30 minutes to reach the front of a modest sized line, even though the transaction time for us between ordering and receiving our food was less than two minutes. The big attraction was Gator BBQ’s pulled pork sundae ($9), a savoury concoction comprised of layers of mashed potato, baked beans and pulled pork.

Success!

The serving size was not for the faint of heart, and from a conception standpoint, I loved the idea of the sundae. Execution-wise, everything from the pulled pork to the potatoes was over salted to the point that we struggled to finish it.

Pulled pork sundae

My favourite item that night was the Royal Street turkey dinner poutine ($12) from Mardi Gras Grill. It was a creative take on comfort food, topping a bed of fries with cheese curds, gravy, slices of roasted turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. All of the individual elements were well-prepared – the roasted turkey would have been equally delicious on its own – but together, it was a tasty, one box meal.

Royal Street turkey dinner poutine

On the sweet side, I was most looking forward to the deep fried cookie dough ($7). Three generously battered and fried balls made up the serving, lightly dusted with powdered sugar. And though we all remarked that they were intensely sweet, they delivered – the chewy coating gave way to a soft chocolatey centre. Our only suggestion for improvement was to make them two-bite treats.

Deep fried cookie dough

Cin City Donuts offered a different take on the fair favourite of mini doughnuts. We tried their s’mores mini donuts ($5), which saw marshmallows, chocolate sauce and graham crackers replace the traditional cinnamon sugar topping.

S’mores mini donuts

It’s worth noting that when I mentioned that Felicia is allergic to chocolate but still wanted to try it out, they ended up giving us two servings for the same price – one minus the chocolate sauce. Their generosity aside, we had assumed the dish would have been quickly broiled to melt the marshmallows, but no dice. As a result, the donuts themselves were on the dry side. We decided the traditional cinnamon sugar was the way to go.

Interspersed between bites, we took our time to explore the grounds as well.

One of the mini-parade floats

I had been hoping to catch a glimpse of the futuristic robots in the Techlife exhibit, but they had been packed up for the day. Still, there was lots to see in that pavillion, from the Hacklab where kids of all ages were putting together different models, to the mock stadium view they had set-up for gamers on stage.

Hacklab

Gamers on display

Next door in Hall C, we had the chance to indulge in a little gaming ourselves of the retro variety. There was an NES and a Super Nintendo set-up, with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and MarioKart on rotation, respectively. I have to admit, I’m a bit out of practice – Amanda schooled me on MarioKart.

Out of practice

We also took in the Hockey Canada exhibit, and didn’t pass up the chance to have our photo taken in front of a memorable backdrop (we think it’s Eberle’s tying goal in the 2006 World Junior Championships, but we may have heard wrong).

Felicia and I weren’t ready for the photo

Hall A hosted the Farm exhibit, and we loved seeing the live animals.

The three little pigs

How about these three day old chicks?

We closed out the night with a final walk around the midway and fireworks.

Ferris wheel

At Northlands Park

All in all, we had a great day. Thanks again to K-Days for the chance to sample the breadth of this year’s fair food!

K-Days runs July 18-27, 2014.

East Meets West Festival 2014

Mack and I met up with Maria and Roxanne last Saturday to check out the East Meets West Festival in Chinatown, now into its sixth year. In the past, the timing usually coincided with an event in Little Italy (hence the name), but this year, the Business Revitalization Zone-organized Chinatown portion took place about a month earlier.

97 Street

It was great to see the festival return to 97 Street, the main artery of the neighbourhood, and a location that gives the event much more prominence. A stage was set up near 105 Avenue, while vending tents and food trucks were spread out on the street.

Stage

No doubt the weather was much improved from last year (when a flash hailstorm forced the event to shut down early), but I had to assume it was the poor experience the organizers had with small tents in inclement weather that caused them to go with the larger, heavier-duty cover this time. Though its hard to argue with their sturdiness, the walled structures felt disconnected from the rest of the street.

Inside the tent

Most of the vendors beneath the tent sold items typically found at Chinese markets – trinkets, small toys, clothing and accessories. The theme didn’t necessarily continue throughout the marketplace – while it was great to see the Organic Box’s Fruit Truck, it would have been great if they had been able to incorporate some Asian produce into their wares.

Fruit Truck

East Meets West chose to partner with Hawkers Market to organize a combination of pop-up food vendors and food trucks. I was hoping more of the trucks would be serving Asian-themed menus, but it was a bit hit or miss.

Knosh and So-Cal Smoothies

Long Lost Foods was one that absolutely hit the mark with their unique vegan donair made with green onion cakes. Given the recent debate about whether the donair or green onion cake should be crowned Edmonton’s official dish, it was an ingenious way to settle the argument – why not combine the two?

Long Lost Food’s green onion cake donair

With the scorching hot weather, we also couldn’t resist an ice cream sandwich from One Cool Cookie. The trailer is not only equipped with ovens (fresh baked cookies, anyone?), but because they assemble the sandwiches on-site, we were able to personalize our treat with our choice of cookie and ice cream.

One Cool Cookie

I ended up with one of their suggested combinations – skor cookies with Pinocchio’s salted caramel ice cream. The thin, room temperature cookies made this one of the easiest homemade ice cream sandwiches I’ve ever had, and it was darn tasty, too.

Mack’s double chocolate and black cherry ice cream sandwich

It was a great day to be outside, and though the heat may have chased away mid-afternoon revelers, we hoped more foot traffic would come in the evening.

Squinting in the sun

If you missed this event, not to worry – we’ll be announcing the details of our follow-up to our successful 97 Street Night Market shortly. Stay tuned!

Recap: Truck Stop at Boyle Street Plaza

What the Truck?! has always been at the mercy of the elements, and this was no more evident than on Thursday. Boyle Street Plaza played host to our second Truck Stop of the year, a burger-themed event. And though the forecast had been beautiful in the days leading up to Thursday, that evening was incredibly windy and mostly overcast.

Boyle Street Plaza

On the bright side, the lines were short, so it was perfect for folks looking for a quick dinner fix before heading off to make the most of their summer evening.

A break in the clouds

Among the three trucks present (one had to pull out due to mechanical difficulties) was Funky Mango, a Fort Saskatchewan-based truck who specializes in burgers. Mack and I had the Kahuna and the Thai shrimp burger, respectively, and found them to be very good. The latter in particular was very unique, with a handmade shrimp patty, impeccably seasoned, topped with a smattering of peanuts and served in a soft bun.

Thai shrimp burger

We were happy to have Now Radio’s Trucksicle on site, complementing the savoury menus with a free sweet treat.

The ice cream men

Our organizing team also debuted our new volunteer t-shirts on Thursday! It’ll now be easy to find us, if you have a question while you’re on-site.

Just look for the blue and yellow!

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t share at least one picture of the cutest puppy to venture down to the plaza that day: Lemons, a four-month old corgi. Couldn’t you see him as our animal mascot?

Lemons!

Thanks again to the City of Edmonton and the Boyle Street Community League for your support! Our next What the Truck?! will be taking place on Saturday, August 16, 2014. Check back on our website for more information closer to the date!

Recap: Truck Stop @ Baconfest

Last Friday, a glorious summer evening, What the Truck?! partnered with the inaugural Baconfest to host a bacon-themed Truck Stop.

Baconfest Truck Stop

Six trucks, all offering sinful, bacon-filled menus, parked outside the Arts Barns to serve their sweet and savoury concoctions. I loved the creativity, from SoCal Smoothie’s bacon milkshake to Big City Sandwich’s mysteriously named bacon magic cheeseurger.

Smokehouse BBQ

It was great to have several vendors new to What the Truck?!, including SoCal Smoothies and Keilan’s Creamery. Keilan’s primarily serves ice creams from Foothills Creamery, but also sources from a local small-batch ice cream maker who brings unique flavours (and then some) to the market – such as bacon bourbon, maple bacon and Guinness vanilla.

Keilan’s Creamery

This was one of our quieter events this season; I think we weren’t able to overcome some of the confusion as to whether or not our Truck Stop required a ticket for admission. Still, those who attended seemed to have a great time, and the short lines meant folks were able to dabble in dishes from multiple vendors!

Amanda and her poutine from The Local Omnivore

I personally was able to enjoy a few dishes, the most memorable being the Peruvian Pan Con Chicharron (braised & pan seared rib meat, pan seared pork belly, fried sweet potato slices & salsa criolla in a French bun). It was easily one of the best things I’ve ever had from Molly’s Eats – I loved the crispy, flavourful meat and the crunchy bun.

Peruvian Pan Con Chicharron from Molly’s Eats

The tangy peach sorbet from Keilan’s was a refreshing way to end to the scorching day. It seemed that almost everyone indulged in the cool treat too.

Felicia enjoys two scoops of coconut ice cream from Keilan’s

Edmonton Public Library was on-site, signing people up for free memberships. And in a What the Truck?! first, there were a handful of peaceful protesters present all night, encouraging people to refrain from eating meat. I suspect they were mostly there because of the media attention attracted by Baconfest, but I hope none of the Truck Stop attendees felt intimidated.

I heart EPL, too!

I’d like to also recognize the Old Strathcona Business Association and Baconfest for partnering with us on this event.

If you missed the Truck Stop, you’re in luck, we we’re hosting another one this Thursday, July 10, from 5-8pm at the Boyle Street Plaza. This time, the menus are burger-themed, so bring your appetite and come hungry!

Recap: What the Truck?! in Old Strathcona

I can’t tell you how many times I checked the weather forecast in the days leading up to our second What the Truck?! event on Friday. Early on in the week, things weren’t looking good, with showers predicted on the day itself and even on the following days. Thankfully though, as Friday approached, our optimism was rewarded, and save for a few threatening clouds, we were able to stay dry!

McIntyre Park

For a second year in a row, Old Strathcona played a welcoming host to WTT. And like last year’s event at McIntyre Park, we found it again attracted many young families – it was a wonderful sight to see so many children enjoying themselves in the green space.

Dinner time!

In response to the crush of lines at our last event on 104 Street, we increased the number of food trucks to fifteen. This, coupled with a steady crowd over the course of the evening, really helped to minimize the line-ups. I know I was personally able to try several more trucks this time around!

Food truck cul de sac

We made the effort to try some of the vendors new to WTT. I was perhaps most looking forward to the Perogy Princess, as it has been the most talked about truck this season. Their prairie poutine was a fun twist on one of my favourite dishes – perogies drowned in gravy and topped in cheese curds.

Prairie poutine from Perogy Princess

Afterbite Mobile Kitchen’s pizza rolls were an instant hit with the crowd – and after trying them myself, I could see why. How could you say no to deep-fried morsels filled with cheese, and an assortment of pizza toppings?

Pizza rolls from Afterbite

The chicken flautas from Casa Doce were a meal in itself, which I didn’t expect. They came with a generous portion of pico de gallo and a fresh underlay of lettuce.

Chicken flautas from Casa Doce

There was also quite a bit of chatter about the duck tots from Attila the HUNgry. It was definitely enough for two, tater tots topped with Thai-braised duck legs, hoisin aioli, lime sriracha, herbs and peanuts.

Duck tots from Attila the HUNgry

We were fortunate to have great community support for this event. It was wonderful to work with the Old Strathcona Business Association, specifically with Tineke De Jong, who secured sponsorship for the street closure. The Strathcona Community League also stepped up to sponsor our event insurance. In addition, Capital City Cleanup came through with some volunteers and clean-up supplies – the volunteers made sure the site remained spic and span during and after the event!

Capital City Cleanup

A big thanks also to DJs Polyesterday and Chesterfield for the tunes in the park!

DJ Polyesterday’s fans start young!

Keep an eye out on our website for more details about our next two events in July – we’ll be at Baconfest on July 4, and back at the Boyle Street Plaza for a burger-themed Truck Stop on July 10. Hope to see you there!

Recap: Mercer Summer Super Party

I love street parties, and the Mercer Warehouse sure knows how to throw one. Though the all-ages Mercer Summer Super Party was technically their second event (the first one having taken place at the tail end of Al Fresco in 2012, but was unfortunately rained out), given the growth of the tenants and businesses in the building since that time, the differences were almost night and day.

104 Street

The weather was chilly, but cooperated enough to keep the rain away. And in that way, the combination of a street fest with the in and out privileges to explore what was taking place inside the Mercer was perfect on that evening. In some ways, the building capacity explained the need for attendees to have tickets, but ultimately, I think the provision of free tickets hindered the overall event attendance. The crowds didn’t seem as big as anticipated, so hopefully the Party organizers work out a different system for future events.

Rapid Fire Theatre

Indoors, On the Spot Pop-Up had a small trunk market in the basement (I loved the Green Window #rethinkjunk as art sprinkled throughout the floors), while many of the businesses on the upper floors had their doors open for curious wanderers.

On the Spot Pop-Up

Guru Digital

The Startup Edmonton space in particular was rockin’, with its own stage, free slushies, and of course, Lego!

Startup Edmonton

Outdoors, the stage hosted a variety of bands, DJs, and variety acts, while the rest of the street was lined with pop-up food vendors and food trucks. Mack and I love food trucks, but we took advantage of this opportunity to try some vendors we’d never encountered before.

Vendors

At the top of our list was the ramen burger, from Vancouver’s Rambu. We had seen this item at Smorgasburg in Brooklyn, but didn’t have the chance to try it there. Here, $10 bought us a pork patty sandwiched with cheese, bacon, a fried egg, and ramen noodle “buns”.

Rambu

Mack remarked at how messy it was to eat, but yes, it was worth it! I love texture in my food, so the crispy-crunchy noodles did enhance the burger for me.

Ramen burger!

La Cantina Negra also offered a new-to-Edmonton item that is so popular elsewhere – the bao as popularized by David Chang. La Cantina’s version featured wagyu beef or soy-pickled wild mushrooms. The former was our favourite, the tender beef tasting almost gamey, complemented by the freshness of the cucumber and carrots. I actually didn’t mind that the bao itself was browned, but I know for some, this would be considered blasphemy.

Bao from La Cantina Negra

Lastly, we dug into a variety of dumplings from Honest Dumplings. They’ve been around at farmers’ markets this season, but we hadn’t yet had the opportunity to try their house-made creations (including the wrappers!). The dumplings were delicate, and with flavours like butter chicken, are definitely not your mother’s dumplings!

Honest Dumplings

We didn’t linger at the party too long (I had an early pancake breakfast start the next morning), but it looked like people were having a great time. Congrats to the organizers for a successful event. I hear another party might be in the works for August – make sure you keep your eyes open for the details.

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