Saturday in Edmonton

It was a great day to be in Edmonton this weekend – I’m not really a football fan, but the excitement in the city for Grey Cup weekend was palpable. It helps that where we live is right in the thick of things, but based on the numbers of people on the streets – tourists and residents alike were out in full force taking in one of our biggest events this year.

We started our Saturday at the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market (which seemed to be emptier than usual, no doubt because of the festivities downtown), then wandered over to the Cosmopolitan Music Society, which was hosting the 9th Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair.

Inside the Royal Bison

There was some uncertainty earlier this year whether or not Royal Bison would continue, as founder Raymond Biesinger moved to Montreal, but thankfully, three of the artists/vendors saved the fair from demise. It’s such a great event – I love the unique products, but also the variety available.

Fun vinyl accessories by Majesty Inc.

Suitcase amps!

Beautiful jewellery by Saraswati

Omar Mouallem is multitalented – associate editor at Avenue Edmonton, he is also a writer and rapper

Sarah Jackson of A Jam Story was nice enough to tell us our love fortune (something we missed out on at the last ArtsScene event)

We picked up a few gifts, then zoomed back home, just in time to catch the Grey Cup parade just outside our building.

There were snowbirds

And cheerleaders

Mascots

And smile-inducing floats

Horses

And those that clean up after them

Our armed forces

And of course…a sea of green

I knew from attending an Eskimos game against Saskatchewan that Roughriders fans are rabid supporters of their team, but I really didn’t know how much until this weekend. It really was amazing to be a part of, if only for a few days. (You can check out Mack’s post on the parade here, and see the rest of his photos here.)

After ducking inside to warm up (funny how staying stationary in even mildly cold temperatures can be chilly), we wandered over to Huddle Town, centering on Churchill Square, to check out the festivities.

A football game in front of City Hall

It was really amazing to us how many people were outside wandering around, enjoying themselves, not minding the cold. We hear so often that being a winter city prevents more programming of events outdoors – and though I recognize that the weather was actually not too bad, to some extent, the “build it, and they will come” mantra seems to hold true.

The crowds

The Gridiron Zone, for example, held in the square just south of the Stanley Milner Library, is empty most of the year. One reason provided was that the concrete isn’t sound due to the parkade structure just underneath. Well, everything seemed fine this weekend – as the space hosted sponsor booths, and, what else – a bar.

Inside the Zone

Lines seemed to be the word of the day, however – besides the massive wait for the Zipline (please, please bring it back in the future!), there were lines to get into the Spirit of Edmonton, the Huddle Dome and even the tented sports bar by City Hall!

Lines everywhere

In spite of the waits, everyone was in such a good mood. We even got a random hug from a woman walking around with a huge “Rider Nation” flag!

Spread the love

There really was something for everyone though, and enough activities to keep crowds busy. The music at the outdoor stage kept things lively, and of course, food is never a bad thing. It was great to see Eva Sweet out so we could warm up with some hot waffles!

Fozzy with Chris Jericho

Eva Sweet (without a truck!)

Though I’m sure people didn’t come out for the free stuff, there was quite a bit of swag to be had, some more random than others (we took the can of baked beans, but we live nearby; who would want to carry it around with them?). My favourites were the Mardi Gras-inspired beads from the organizers of TigerTown and the Grey Cup bandana.

Mack with his swag!

For non-sports fans, Alberta House could have been a bit of a sanctuary, with a good variety of arts and culture programming. We finished off our tour of Huddle Town with a quick demo by Brad Smoliak, who used quick-cook barley from Progressive Foods to make a risotto (which also featured pecorino from The Cheesiry, and wild boar bacon from Hog Wild).

Brad Smoliak at work

The finished product (I’ve made it before, but never with bacon – it tastes so much better with bacon!)

Kudos to the organizers for such a great weekend! Hopefully it leads to even more events downtown in the winter.

Alberta Avenue Farmers’ Market: Update

I had some time after work on Thursday, so hopped on the train and headed to the Alberta Avenue Farmers’ Market. After a quick connection to a bus at Coliseum station, I was there – fifteen minutes after leaving downtown.

All decked out for the holidays

The market has undergone some changes in the past two weeks since my last visit. A new market manager has been installed, and from the sounds of it, was a necessary step, and a positive one. Kerry is working on bringing in new vendors, and though the market will be closed December 23, 2010 and January 2 and 9, 2011, she’s already planning to partner with Deep Freeze, Arts on the Avenue’s winter festival, to offer a special market in conjunction with the festivities.

Mary Ellen and Andreas of Greens, Eggs and Ham have also been tirelessly drumming up more vendor support for the market, and helped bring on both Shooting Star Ranch and Smoky Valley Goat Cheese. They really are amazing – between farming, deliveries, and family, they’ve also managed to squeeze one more market into their roster – the Kingsland Market in Calgary on Saturdays.

Andreas and Mary Ellen Grueneberg

Elk farmer Christine Harrison of Shooting Star Ranch has an amazing memory – she had to prompt me that we had already met – briefly at Planet Organics’ Meet the Locals festival over a year ago (where they also carry their products). This was her second market day (and the only farmers’ market that she does), and though it had been slow so far, she was confident that sales would improve. I picked up some ground elk, which will be perfect for a warming batch of chili later in the week.

Christine Harrison of Shooting Star Ranch

It was the first Alberta Avenue market day for Holly Gale of Smoky Valley Goat Cheese. It’s so fantastic for this small market to have such a wonderful cheese producer. I really hope customers give her cheeses a try – they won’t look back!

Holly Gale of Smoky Valley Goat Cheese

Arie Jol of Ma-Be Farms is a veteran at this market, having joined in the fall of 2009. He sells grass-fed beef and bison, naturally-raised pork, and free-run chickens and eggs. He has his share of regular customers, such as one woman who asks, “Are you treating your chickens well?” before buying her eggs. Every week, he responds, with assurance, “Yes.”

Arie Jol of Ma-Be Farms

Though the selection of vendors is small (which will hopefully change soon, along with the hours), I love the vibe of this market. Sure, it is so different in many ways from the City Market, but they do both have an intimacy not seen at the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market – space and time to be able to individually connect with the vendors. This market also has such potential to become a community gathering venue like The Carrot down the street, vitally important “bumping places” for burgeoning neighbourhoods like Alberta Avenue.

Check out the Alberta Avenue Farmers’ Market when you have the chance!

Alberta Avenue Farmers’ Market
118 Avenue & 93 Street
Open Thursdays, 2-7 p.m.

Downtown East Diner: Early Bird Cafe

A colleague and I attended an all-day training session at Canada Place today, which, besides being a nice change of pace, also meant we were able to try out a new restaurant! I had been eying the Early Bird Cafe for some time, tucked away in the soon-to-be-revitalized Quarters on 97 Street and 102 Avenue. Though it is getting better, it is still not the best area after dark, which may also explain why the restaurant is only open for breakfast and lunch.

Our instructor cut our lunch hour in half, hoping to get a jump on the afternoon material, so I crossed my fingers that it wouldn’t be a mistake for us to opt for a non-food cafeteria meal. It wasn’t.

The restaurant is narrow, with a welcoming long wooden bar at the front, where customers could watch the kitchen in action. Unfortunately, the walkway between the door and the bar isn’t particularly wide, so customers all inevitably drifted to the rear of the space. The room is functional, with a nice refurbished wooden floor, but what passes as decor gave us a bit of a laugh because of its randomness – a poster of mushroom varieties displayed next to a glossy of Marilyn Monroe, for example.

The no-frills menu is filled with comforting diner favourites – baked pastas, burgers and donairs. Due to the time constraints, my coworkers and I both decided on a sandwich with the day’s soup on the side.

My colleague enjoyed her Denver sandwich, with ham, green pepper, onion and egg ($6.95). We both agreed the cream of spinach soup was pretty good – nice flavour, and fresh spinach that had been added just before serving.

Denver sandwich

My Monte Cristo with ham, turkey and Swiss ($8.95) was a bit unusual – where I was expecting crisp egg-dipped bread, I was presented with the equivalent of a sandwich made with French toast. I found out later that this simply is another version, and ultimately, would make a great brunch dish – savoury with hints of sweetness.

Monte Cristo

Staff were great – friendly and attentive; if we didn’t have to promptly return, it would have been a great place to linger a while. It’s really great to see another small business open up in downtown east – give it a try if you’re in the area!

Early Bird Cafe
10221 97 Street
(780) 420-6826
Monday-Friday 10am-3pm

Food Notes for November 22, 2010

On cold nights like this, walking home, it’s hard not to think about those who don’t have a place of their own. Even though this year’s homeless count estimates that the numbers have decreased since 2008, there is still a long way to go. As we approach Christmas – remember your local charities this holiday season! On to this week’s food notes:

Billingsgate (7331 104 Street) is hosting an open house on Saturday, November 27 @ 10am-2pm, celebrating their 103 year in business. Lobster bisque will be sampled.
Need some help deciding on a gift? Sherbrooke Liquor Store will be holding a Christmas Spirit”s” show at the Capilano Community League (10819 54 Street) on November 27 from 5-9pm, with sampling tickets available at the door.
Transcend’s upcoming Barista Jam on December 4 at the Argyll location sounds like a lot of fun. Look forward to an espresso throwdown, taste Alberta-roasted espressos, and test your ability to identify the odd-espresso out.
To celebrate Terra Madre Day on December 10, Slow Food Edmonton is screening the episode of The Endless Feast that was shot in Edmonton last year, as well as a documentary about a Prairie farming family. To sweeten the deal, there will be local meat and cheese to snack on, and Amber’s beer and EnSante wine to drink!
For more food and drink events, check out City and Dale’s Holiday Eats & Drinks Guide.
I had heard rumblings about this, but it’s nice to finally have it confirmed – Culina will be moving into the cafe space in the Muttart Conservatory! I have no doubt the recognizable name will help draw many more people into our beautiful river valley, and I am glad to hear they will be taking advantage of the greenhouses to grow their own food. They hope to be open by Christmas.
New bakery alert: La Manarca, at 4119 106 Street, will be hosting its grand opening on December 1.
On the topic of bakeries – Duchess has a brand-spankin’ new website. It looks great!
Passing by what used to be Kai on 109 Street and Jasper Avenue, it looks like it is Kai no longer – a sign posted said they are hiring for Ruby Dragon. Though this ad says they will be opening on November 18, it still looked like it was under construction. Any updates?
Chris reviewed Bubba’s BBQ & Smoke House last week. Sounds delish!
Mack pointed me to a great little blog by Lightside Photo – they are currently doing a feature called “30 Days of Edmonton”, and alongside beautiful photos, they posted an interview with the owner of Cha Island Tea today.
More on GMO salmon – and it isn’t good.
Mack and I were in the area of Everything Cheese on the weekend, so decided to stop by. While the selection may not be as deep as Paddy’s (though they will be getting in shipments from Neal’s Yard Dairy soon), there is no doubt it is a stunning space. I also much appreciated the labels – both next to the cheeses inside the case, and printed onto labels for customers to easily reference. While it’s a little out of the way for us, I can imagine those in the area are floored with this new neighbourhood addition!

Everything Cheese

Hurrah for labels!

A fun stocking stuffer – bags that allow one to make a grilled cheese right inside the toaster

Next door to Everything Cheese is Secret Sweets (14910 45 Avenue, 780-479-3387), whose tagline is “because you don’t always have time to bake!” The baked good sold leaned more towards nostalgic than gourmet (snickerdoodles, Rice Krispie balls, cupcakes and shortbread), but from what we sampled, it’s a solid local option to satisfy the sweet tooth. They’re also looking into offering bread some time in the future as well.

Secret Sweets

We finally got our lights up outside (of course we waited until it was –30 to do so). Only 33 days until Christmas!

Love that LED glow

The Cooking Chronicles: Marvellous Marinades

Until recently, I hadn’t experimented much with marinades. No reason for it, save perhaps that no recipes had really caught my eye. While I know marinades can help with breaking down tougher cuts of meat, the two dishes I made in the last two weeks helped demonstrate two other fantastic uses for marinades – for adding flavour and boosting moisture.

Soy Baked Fish

One of the objectives of Donna Hay’s recipes in No Time To Cook is to offer flavourful dishes that can be made in a relatively short amount of time. The soy baked fish is a great example – a meal in half an hour, with less than ten ingredients.

Ocean Odyssey was unfortunately closed that Sunday, so we used whitefish from the Sobeys down the street. The fish was marinated in soy, sesame oil, brown sugar, leeks, and garlic for five minutes on each side, then placed on top of Peas on Earth gai lan, marinade and all, and baked for about twenty minutes. Served with rice, it made a quick but tasty supper, and given the results with such minimal effort, it is something I’d definitely make again.

Soy baked fish

Balsamic Pesto Chicken

Dish Entertains is one of those cookbooks I return to again and again – for dinner parties, for desserts, for weeknight meals. The balsamic pesto chicken was a recipe that I passed over the first time, but came back to this week, knowing that I had a fresh batch of pesto in the fridge to use, made with leftover basil from Morinville Greenhouses.

The marinade is a combination of a 1/4 cup pesto, 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil and salt and pepper. 3 boneless chicken breasts are then marinated anywhere from 2 hours to overnight (I left it for about 5 hours), then baked off with the marinade in a 400F oven for 25 minutes.

The marinade helped the chicken retain its moisture, though I would have wished for more basil flavour – the balsamic was undoubtedly dominant. We served the chicken with some roasted root vegetables and leftover rice.

Balsamic Pesto Chicken

Balsamic pesto chicken (not the most visually appealing dish, but tasty!)

Thanks to Trish Magwood for another solid recipe!

One-Note Wonder: Battista’s Calzones

About two years ago, I wrote that more one-note restaurants in Edmonton would be a welcome sight – Battista’s Calzones is one such place, and is a wonderful addition to the local food scene.

Battista’s Calzones

Situated in a small building on 118 Avenue, Battista’s unavoidable purple hue is both eye-catching and a pleasing pop of colour on the sometimes dreary stretch of road. Stepping inside, it’s almost hard to believe it used to house an autobody shop – though nothing fancy, between the smell of baking bread and the friendly purveyor, the space felt warm and inviting.

Interior

Owner Battista Vecchio is clearly passionate about his new endeavour. When asked why he chose to focus on calzones, he said it was something he grew up with – his mother would make the portable pizzas for him so he would have something to eat after soccer games. Even now, his family is involved in the business – his mother makes the meatballs for one of the calzones, and his father was there assisting with a large catering order.

Battista Vecchio presents one of his calzone creations

Battista makes the dough from scratch, and sources the rest of his ingredients through The Italian Centre, including spicy Italian sausage made by Edmonton-based company Little Italy Foods. Though at the moment he offers only four varieties, Battista knows that the possibilities are endless – chili calzones, BBQ chicken calzones, Nutella dessert calzones, or turkey calzones for Christmas. I remarked that because of its compact nature, it is the ideal street food – calzone food truck, anyone?

Based on the meatball calzone I had (already baked earlier, and kept warm, meaning it was served to me almost immediately), I am glad Battista has chosen to keep his focus, in spite of many people prodding him towards pizza or other menu additions. The meatball was perfectly seasoned, and had just the right texture to be eaten between the folds of the soft and chewy dough. It was the most satisfying lunch I’ve had in a long time.

Meatball calzone

Battista said he’s slowly building up the business – from word of mouth, and those that live in the neighbourhood. But perhaps after the release of Avenue Edmonton’s next food issue – where his calzones will are in the running to be included as one of Gail Hall’s 25 Best Things to Eat, this gem of a restaurant will be a secret no longer. Try one before the crowds gather!

Battista’s Calzones (Twitter: @BattistaCalzone)
118 Avenue & 84 Street
(780) 758-1808
Monday-Saturday 11am-3pm

The Cooking Chronicles: Welcome to Our Home!

I learned a lot from helping organize Mack and Kimmi’s housewarming two years ago. Though we had incorporated a few make-ahead dishes, I remember spending more time in the kitchen than was ideal at a party where socializing should have been the main focus. So for our first *official* housewarming for friends, I planned to build a menu based upon recipes that could be prepped in advance.

The spread

Giada de Laurentiis’ white bean dip, served with Sunbake Pita chips, was one of the first dishes that came to mind, primarily because both components could be made the night prior. That said, it’s tasty too, and is a solid alternative to hummus (we suspect that Mack is allergic to tahini).

White bean dip and pita chips

At our friend Devin’s housewarming party over the summer, we sampled Gordon Ramsay’s simple but colourful cherry tomato & feta kebabs. We decided to replicate it, but with a local twist – Doef’s cherry tomatoes, basil from Morinville Greenhouses, and Smoky Valley St. Maure goat cheese. We put these together early in the afternoon, and pulled them out of the fridge just before guests arrived.

Cherry tomato & goat cheese kebabs

My favourite appetizer that night was Donna Hay’s Thai wonton cups. We took a few shortcuts with this one, including using a store-bought rotisserie chicken, but it made our lives much easier. While oiled won-ton cups pressed into mini-muffin tins were baking in the oven, I cooked down 4 tablespoons each of fish sauce and water, 2 tablespoons of lime juice and 100g brown sugar, then combined it with 2 cups of shredded chicken and a bunch of cilantro leaves. The result was fabulous, though as Mack indicated more than once, it’s a dish meant for lovers of fish sauce – I couldn’t get enough of the sweet and fragrant tang adopted by the chicken. We topped a few of them with sliced red chillies – definitely not for the faint of heart, but made for an eye-catching garnish. Though they were best served warm, they were enjoyable at room temperature as well.

Thai wonton cups

I’d been looking for a reason to make Trish Magwood’s cremini mushrooms stuffed with chevre and leeks for some time, especially knowing I could source everything locally – cremini mushrooms from MoNa (ordered through the Good Food Box), chevre from Smoky Valley, and leeks from the farmers’ market. I assembled them that afternoon, but didn’t bake them until just before guests arrived. These were definitely tastier warm, but Mack loved them regardless – the creamy chevre made them the perfect little one-bite treat.

Cremini mushrooms stuffed with chevre and leeks

Also from Magwood’s Dish, I made her parsnip, celery root, and apple soup, knowing that I wanted something to serve hot, kept warm using the slow cooker. It was also fantastic to have a soup made with all seasonal ingredients – parsnips from the Green & Gold Farm, celeriac from Greens, Eggs and Ham, and apple-pears from the OSFM. All the peeling and chopping required made this the most time-consuming dish, but it was worth it. I had made the vegetable stock the night prior, which made it somewhat easier, and after the vegetables were tender, pureed the soup and transferred the batch to our slow cooker. The texture was a bit unusual, grainy from the apple pears, but for the most part, it was light but warming.

Parsnip, celery root and apple-pear soup

To accompany the food, we had local beer and wine: Mack’s favourite Alley Kat brew, Charlie Flint’s – and wine from Barr Estate Winery. Most of our friends hadn’t heard of Barr, and they particularly enjoyed The Other Red, made from raspberries.

We also decided to have more casual snack food, in the form of unusual chip flavours – PC brand hot dog-flavoured potato chips and Doritos Late Night Cheeseburger flavoured chips. The label-less bowls ended up serving as a blind flavour tasting station of sorts – though our friends picked up on the hints of mustard, relish and hamburger seasoning, no one could identify the flavours outright. On a larger scale, it’d make a fun game (of note, PC recently released a pizza flavour too!).

Thanks again to everyone who helped us celebrate!

For Dancing Not Dinner: The Treasury

Though there were some nibbles provided at Avenue Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40 shindig at the Art Gallery of Alberta, they definitely weren’t enough to make a meal. So Dave, Kyla, Mack and I decided to get something more substantial to eat as a group, and surveying the immediate area, ended up wandering over to The Treasury Vodka Bar & Eatery.

The Treasury has such a great location – both in terms of visibility on Jasper Avenue, but also with easy access to public transportation. And really, it’s hard not to cheer when an otherwise vacant space downtown is reclaimed by an establishment that would ideally bring further foot traffic to the core. In that context, our lacklustre experience was even more disappointing.

Save one pair of diners, we were the only customers in the entire restaurant. Granted, it was about 8 p.m. that Thursday when we walked in, but we were assured that the kitchen was still open.

Interior

The interior is excessive, bordering on gaudy, with its gold chandeliers and plush red velvet, but I can appreciate that such features would likely complement The Treasury’s other identity as a nightclub much better (up until 9 p.m., minors as permitted in the restaurant). I should note, however, that the volume of the music was surprisingly low, meaning a conversation could be had at a regular volume.

Dance floor

The menu is massive – three pages, with nearly three dozen dishes to choose from (as we were able to order from the lunch menu as well). Still, with no other tables to serve, we weren’t sure why our food took twenty-five minutes to arrive.

Mack enjoyed his Guinness “fish & chips” of the sea, featuring black cod, calamari, shrimp and Cajun-spiced fries, though it was nothing special.

Guinness “fish & chips”

The roast beef in my sandwich ($15) was all right, and was definitely a generous serving. The multigrain bread, however, needed to be sliced thicker, or have been substituted with ciabatta or a similar loaf that could stand up to the moisture from the meat. Also, it was my mistake to order the soup at the end of the day, especially when what was presented was, instead, a puree. Topping it with moisture-drawing puff pastry croutons didn’t help matters either.

Roast beef classic with squash soup

Dave found his steak sandwich okay, while Kyla simply shrugged when I asked about her frittata ($16) – that shrug sort of summed up our meal. Twyla’s review back in September, albeit for their soft opening, wasn’t much better.

Frittata a la carte

Service was perhaps the only redeeming quality – our server hovered a bit, but she was there whenever we needed her, and in particular, was lighting quick with replacing empty glasses of water.

I can’t say I’d be anxious to return to The Treasury – with neither food or atmosphere that would draw me back, I do hope their nightclub scene is more happening. It’d be a shame for the renovated space to return to an empty state.

The Treasury Vodka Bar & Eatery
10004 Jasper Avenue
(780) 990-1255

Food Notes for November 15, 2010

Last night, Mack and I attended the closing film of the Global Visions Film Festival. A Small Act tells the story of a Kenyan boy who was given the opportunity to continue onto secondary school because of a monthly donation made by a woman in Sweden. He now works at the United Nations. It was a reminder that our public education system should never be taken for granted, and to never doubt the possibilities created by any kind gestures, no matter the size. Onto this week’s food notes:

University of Alberta’s Environmental Research & Studies Centre is currently putting on a monthly lecture series titled “Welcome to the Food Futures”. Next up on November 18, 2010 is Robert Paarlberg, who will be speaking about “Alternative Paths to Global Food Security in 2050: Making the Right Choice.”
It’s that time of year to mark your calendar for holiday shopping options outside of malls: check out the Handmade Mafia at Orange Hall November 27, December 4 and 11; Just Christmas takes place on November 26-27 at the Alberta Avenue Community Hall; Make It takes over the Alberta Aviation Museum November 26-28; Royal Bison heads into its 9th edition November 27-28 at the Cosmopolitan Music Society; and a Winter World Market on December 11 from 10am-4pm at McCauley School (9538 107 Ave). And of course – don’t forget the farmers’ markets too!
Thanks for the heads up about the IHOP coming to town – from the looks of it, they will likely be open late this year or early next year.
Chris checked out Edmonton Cheese, the newest cheese monger in Edmonton.
Marianne and Charles stopped by the new south side location of Urban Diner last week.
Liane wrote about Press’d, a new-ish sandwich shop in City Centre.
Thanks to Vue Weekly, I now know that Edmonton has a popular South African deli in Betsy’s South African Deli.
I’ve always wondered what Christmas in November at the Jasper Park Lodge was like from a guests’s perspective – Valerie has helped me answer that question. It looks like a fabulous time!
Thought-provoking article BruleeBlog linked to about the financial impacts of Open Table’s monopoly on online reservations, from the mouth of Mark Pastore, owner of SF’s Incanto.
Though I mentioned it before, I actually passed by Pampa (9929 109 Street) over the weekend and snapped a photo. Look for the Brazilian churrascaria in 2011.

Pampa

One of my coworkers hosted a fundraising dinner to help send her two children on school trips this year. She did all of the cooking, alongside two of my other colleagues – the food, which included Indian, African and Caribbean dishes was fantastic. And what can we say about the African doughnuts? Mack and I had four each.

My plate (we went back for seconds)

The Good Food Box

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Eat Local First – both of their message to support local producers and businesses and of their initiatives, such as making it easier for consumers to identify locally-grown and -made products at some grocery stores. As such, I was interested to learn more about their most recent enterprise – The Good Food Box – a project that seeks to widen access to local products.

A sample Good Food Box

Targeting those who would like to support area farmers and businesses, but are perhaps short on time, the Good Food Box offers a variety of produce, dairy, meat, seafood, grains, prepared foods, baked goods, beverages and sweets for biweekly home delivery or pick-up (the online/phone order desk is open from Monday-Saturday, with products to be delivered the following Thursday/Friday). As Liane Faulder noted earlier this year, products are marked up to ensure the program’s sustainability, but the business is set up as a social enterprise, which means some profit works its way back into the community (at the moment, clients of the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers are the beneficiaries of 1% of the revenue, in the form of food baskets).

I think the Good Food Box is a great idea, and though they don’t deliver to our neighbourhood yet (a little curious since our street is home to the City Market during the warmer months, where one would assume interest would be ripe), my preference is still to buy directly from producers when possible so I am able to connect with them in person. Moreover, though I do plan meals in advance, ordering from the Box would mean having to think two weeks ahead – too far for what I am used to.

That said – it is a great option for those who aren’t able to get one of the few year-round markets open during the winter, or, in some cases, access products that aren’t available anywhere else.

The latter was the case for us this past week, wanting to incorporate, among other things, MoNa mushrooms into our housewarming party menu. And since we were able to travel to the Live Local warehouse on Thursday, we thought we’d give ordering a Good Food Box a shot.

The online order desk isn’t the most seamless website, but I found it easiest to click on the “all product list” to scan and select from. Though we ended up with a loaf of honey whole wheat from Prairie Mill, a bunch of gai lan and garlic from Peas on Earth, and cremini and shiitake mushrooms from MoNa, somehow, I expected a greater product variety from some vendors (such as more yogurt flavours from Bles-Wold). It’s also worth noting that none of the products were priced any higher than what I was used to paying at the farmers’ market – the bread was $5.75; the gai lan were $4; the pound of shiitakes were $10 – it made Mack and I both wonder how the Good Food Box was making money at all.

On Thursday evening, we had a heck of a time finding the Live Local warehouse at 5032 129 Avenue (for the record, it’s located at the end of the road in-between Queen Donair and the Salvation Army), but did reach it before it closed. It’s a non-descript storefront, but thankfully, had a Live Local-decaled vehicle parked out front.

Live Local!

Josh, the Project Manager of the Good Food Box, was kind enough to give us a tour while we were there. The highlight was definitely the walk-in cold storage, stacked with coolers ready to be delivered the next day (he said that right now, 150-200 orders are placed on average per week).

Full of good food

Along the perimeter of the cooler were bags of orders yet to be picked up that day, as well as some loose produce that didn’t make it into the week’s orders.

Fruit from Steve & Dan’s

Between the baskets and the storage space, it seemed that the warehouse could almost function as a retail shop (which would, of course, require some much more complicated logistics). Josh replied that this wasn’t the model they were operating in, though they realize the fact that because of the one week delay, they aren’t able to offer the “instant gratification” that a store would. Josh also said that they are working on developing a next-day delivery system to help encourage even more business.

Live Local First administrative area

Thanks again to Josh for the tour, and best of luck to the Good Food Box in the future!

Good Food Box
Order desk open from Monday at noon to midnight on Saturday
Delivery to select postal codes for a fee, or pick up at 5032 129 Avenue

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