As fall officially kicks in, I’m gearing up for vacation, and will be meeting Mack in London later this week. I’ll be taking a break from the blog while I’m away. But first, here are this week’s food notes:

• A reminder about the forthcoming Dig In Festival October 1-3, 2015 in St. Albert. The Journal spoke with some of the culinary talent you will meet and learn from at the event.
• Leanne Brown, author of Good and Cheap, is stopping in Edmonton to talk about her cookbook on October 2, 2015 at the University of Alberta. The event is free to attend, but you must RSVP.
• Little Brick is hosting a Harvest Dinner on October 3, 2015 and the menu looks delicious. Tickets are $85.
• The Marc is celebrating their fifth anniversary with a $50 champagne and frites special from October 1-10, 2015.
• Mark your calendar: this year’s Bacon Day is taking place on November 7, 2015 at Chef Paul Shufelt’s new Workshop Eatery. TIckets are $83.
• Christmas in November at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge has released their 2015 packages. This year’s showcase feature Food Network Canada Chefs Roger Mooking and Massimo Capra. Mack and I really enjoyed our experience last year, so it’s worth looking into if you’re looking for a getaway close to home.
• Edmonton’s newest café, The Woodrack Café (7603 109 Street), opened today. Can’t wait to check it out!
• Amelia shared that the Allegro in Little Italy (10805 95 Street) is now open.
• Edmonton’s first South St. Burger location is now open at Oxford Park (15134 127 Street).
• Edmontonians said goodbye to Happy Garden over the weekend.
• Andrea profiles Good Coffee, an Edmonton-based company striving for direct-trade and reinvesting 25% of profits back into the farming community.
• There’s a new food-oriented pasta in town: Phil’s Off Menu Podcast debuted this week, featuring a conversation with Corso 32’s Ben Chalmers.
• Speaking of podcasts, the latest episode of Dirt City Limits focuses on the current Edmonton Journal brunch series by Liane Faulder and Brent Wittmeier. Last week, they reviewed the Sugarbowl, Hathaway’s Diner, Hotel MacDonald and Under the High Wheel.
• Mack sent me a link to a tongue-in-cheek post previewing the new cocktail bar in town.
• I’ll be sad to miss the last few outdoor City Markets this season, but I’m looking forward to discovering the markets of London and Paris! The City Market runs two more weekends before moving into City Hall for the winter.

104 Street in all its autumnal glory

• I had a blast exploring Nuit Blanche with Amanda on Saturday. It was great to see Downtown come alive in a different way. I hope the event returns next year!

Wish Tree in Churchill Square

• Alberta Beer Week runs September 25 – October 3, 2015, with tastings and beer dinners to look forward to. Jason Foster will also be leading another Edmonton Beer History Tour.
• A Bao Bun pop-up dinner will be taking place at Dovetail on September 27, from 4-8pm.
• Sustainable Food Edmonton is hosting an inaugural fundraising dinner on October 3, 2015 at the Arts Barns. Tickets are $52.35, with proceeds supporting their programs including Little Green Thumbs and Community Gardens.
• It looks like a Mediterranean restaurant has moved into the former Creole Envie space called Olio D’oliva (6509 112 Avenue).
• Cindy visits BRU Coffee and Beer House in Oliver, which just celebrated their grand opening over the weekend.
• Twyla was not impressed by Refinery Grill (10406 Mayfield Road), and wonders if that area of the city is the Bermuda Triangle of bad #yegfood.
• Cheryl highly recommends Buco, the pizza-focused restaurant opened by the Sorrentino’s Group in St. Albert. She claims it is better than Famoso, and on par with Rosso.
• Andrea is the latest to review Sambol Sri Lankan Kitchen.
• Chris recapped the latest Swine and Dine event, a delectable brunch at Packrat Louie.
• Speaking of brunch, Linda’s latest “Edmonton A to Z Restaurant Series” features Café Bicyclette.
• The Journal also kicked off a brunch series, with initial reviews of the Highlevel Diner, Culina Muttart and Canteen. This has nothing to do with the food, but will we ever reach a point where we won’t assume that the default mode of transportation is a vehicle?
• Lillian shared her experience of the FEASTival of Fine Chefs dinner last week at the Shaw Conference Centre.
• Congratulations to Giselle Courteau and her team behind the Duchess Cookbook for their Taste Canada win of best English single subject cookbook!
• I was really sorry to hear that Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton had their shed broken into last week, and parts for their apple crusher stolen.
• It looks like a My Fries might be coming downtown to Rice Howard Way.

My Fries

• The new Hoang Long Fresh Market is now open at First & Jasper (10065 Jasper Avenue). Lincoln has a closer look at the self-serve set-up inside.

Hoang Long Fresh Market

• Signage for the forthcoming Joey’s in the Bell Tower downtown is now up.

Joey’s

• I love the redesign of the Bles Wold yogurt. It’s something Mack and I buy religiously, so the logo doesn’t really matter to us, but the more modern look might catch the eye of consumers unfamiliar with their product!

Bles Wold yogurt

• I had linked to a new restaurant in San Francisco last week that is almost fully-automated. I didn’t know we had a similar system at some McDonald’s locations in Edmonton. At a Sherwood Park branch, we punched in our order and paid using a touch screen and only interacted with someone to be handed our order. Is this the future?

McDonald’s automated system

• We had our last What the Truck?! team meeting of the season at Cibo Bistro (which has a great nook for groups of up to 8). I had been wanting to return to Cibo for some time. The service was great, and for the most part, I enjoyed the food. The veal agnolotti with summer truffle was well-cooked, but I would have appreciated a touch more sauce.

Veal agnolotti

• Before Pecha Kucha last week, Annie and I met up for dinner at L’Azia. I was curious about their new menu, which, as promised, featured some Asian/fusion fare. I was happy with the misoyaki butterfish ($27), served atop wild rice. Service could have been better, but it seemed they were unusually busy that night.

Misoyaki butterfish at L’Azia

• Mack and I managed to satisfy our Bun Bo Hue craving before King Noodle House closed for holidays (and re-opens on September 30, 2015).

Bun Bo Hue from King Noodle House

• Yes, it’s fall – a time for squash of all kinds!

Squash from Riverbend Gardens at the City Market

• The second annual Mid-Autumn Festival celebration at Churchill Square is taking place on September 19, 2015, from 1-10pm. There will be food trucks and of course, moon cakes!
• The next Alberta Pork Swine & Dine event is brunch at Packrat Louie on September 20, 2015. A three-course meal is just $30.
• Cook it Raw Alberta is hosting a pop-up dinner at RGE RD on September 21, 2015, featuring Cook it Raw founder Alessandro Porcelli. Tickets are $150 each.
• The second annual Dig In Festival runs October 1-3, 2015 in St. Albert. Workshops include bacon making, coffee tasting, gardening and foraging. Tickets for select workshops are limited – sign up soon to have your pick!
• The Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Festival is scheduled for November 6-7, 2015 at the Shaw Conference Centre, but the early bird discount for tickets ends September 25, 2015.
• Chefs Daniel Huber (formerly of the Pourhouse Bier Bistro) and Levi Biddlecombe (of Attila the HUNgry) have partnered together for Buddha Boys. They’re looking into opening a new restaurant in Edmonton and bottling their own line of sodas.
• Hungry for wings? Vue Weekly investigates some of the city’s wing specials for you.
• The return of the automat: a restaurant in San Francisco is testing customers’ appetites for minimal human interaction with almost fully automated operations.
• On the way home on Sunday, we stopped by Bru Coffee and Beer House, located in the Pearl (11965 Jasper Avenue). It’s been open for a few weeks, but is gearing up for its grand opening on September 19, 2015, from 2pm-late. Bru serves Transcend, Phil & Sebastian and Bows + Arrows Coffee, and on tap Alley Kat beers. It’ll be great to have another locally-owned coffee shop with hours after 5pm.

Bru Coffee and Beer House

• We had to make the most of what may be our last blast of summer – first with a visit to the 124 Grand Market on Thursday. The market runs until October 8, 2015.

Buttermilk fried chicken sandwiches and poutine from Drift

• Saturday was also the perfect patio day, and a few friends and I took advantage of it on the lush Manor Café porch.

Mac and cheese with braised beef short rib from Manor Café

Hope you’re gearing up for our final What the Truck?! event of the season! Join us at Churchill Square on September 11, 2015, from 4-8pm and try to eat your way through 35 trucks. On to this week’s food notes:

• I’m looking forward to attending the Red Shoe Crawl on 124 Street on September 13, 2015 from 1-5pm. Tickets are $45 for adults and $20 for children, with all proceeds going to the Ronald McDonald House. Some of the participating vendors include new restaurant reLISH Gourmet Burgers, the always decadent Duchess Bake Shop and the family favourite Carol’s Quality Sweets.
• Sorrentino’s has kicked off their 21st annual Mushroom Festival, which runs for the month of September. Linda and Cindy share some of the dishes you can expect.
• Island Café & Bistro opened back in July at 9923 170 Street and serves Malaysian cuisine.
• The Local Omnivore is the latest food truck business to move into a brick and mortar storefront, with their new sandwich shop expected to open in November at 10933 120 Street.
• Liane shares that popular west end establishment Bon Ton Bakery has added a new coffee bar to their existing space.
• Crystal reviewed the often overlooked Café Caribe, located next to Tres Carnales on Rice Howard Way.
• Graham highly recommends the Peruvian food at Azucar Picante.
• L’Azia has revamped their menu again just in time for fall, and both Linda and Crystal have already had the chance to try it.
• Eat Your City visited the revamped Gama Café in Old Strathcona for a taste of Taiwanese desserts and drinks.
• The Local Good recaps the third SalvagED event at the end of August that repurposed food that would have otherwise been discarded. It was hosted by the Alder Society at Earth’s General Store.
• Phil offers a list of is five favourite food trucks in Edmonton.
• Liane tries out the NoWait app at Rostizado, which allows customers to place themselves on an electronic wait list from home.
• I missed linking to this last week – I’m glad to see that Burrow in the Central LRT station is back to its regular operating hours after sorting out security issues with the City.
• International chain Oil & Vinegar will be opening up an Edmonton location in Commerce Place some time this month.

Oil & Vinegar

• I had lunch at Rostizado for the first time, and learned that they had a daily weekday lunch feature. Even still, I couldn’t pass up a rosti pollo sandwich. Delectable.

Rotisserie chicken sandwich at Rostizado

• Mack and I met up with Dave and Jenn and headed to St. Andrew’s Ukrainian Orthodox Parish (9831 75 Street) for its monthly pyrohy supper. $13 for a plate of a dozen homemade perogies, sausage, salad and dessert. They have two other upcoming dates: October 2 and November 6, from 5-7:30pm.

Pyrohy plate at St. Andrew’s

Although fall isn’t officially ushered in for a few weeks, with the close of August, autumn feels inevitable. Hope you’re making the most of our last long weekend of the summer! On to this week’s food notes:

• Chef Tony Krause (formerly of The Salt Room, at the now defunct Mother’s Market), is hosting a pop-up dinner at Privada on September 7, 2015. Tickets are $60.
• The Edmonton and Area Land Trust is hosting a five-course dinner at Prairie Gardens & Adventure Farm to be prepared by Chef Blair Lebsack of RGE RD on September 13, 2015. The funds raised go towards securing and stewarding land in the Edmonton region. Tickets are $250 per person (a tax receipt for $120 will be issued).
• The big news this week is that Tavern 1903 will be empty no more: Chef Spencer Thompson of Toast Fine Catering (based at the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market) is taking over the space to open in October under a new name.
• Ramen lovers, rejoice: Kazoku (16518 100 Avenue) is coming soon.
• Vue Weekly published a positive review of reLISH Gourmet Burgers, which has joined the growing ranks of 124 Street restaurants.
• Liv is the latest to visit Rogue Wave Coffee, the newest of Edmonton’s third wave coffee shops.
• El Cortez celebrated its first birthday, but feels like it is just coming into its own.
• Where Edmonton has a round-up of 20 local eateries that are over 20 years old. Some surprises for me: Red Ox Inn and Doan’s.
• While I’m skeptical that Rogers Place will have truly “distinctive tastes of Edmonton” or “local food” with Aramark at the helm, there is some room for optimism. While volume will certainly be a concern, perhaps Rogers can go the route of MacEwan, which has incorporated great establishments like S’wich, Lan’s Asian Grill, Get Cooking and Filistix in and amongst its Aramark-run brands.
• This really is the year of #yegfood crowdfunding projects. Prairie Noodle Shop joins the list, requesting funding to help them.
• Fruits of Sherbrooke has their own Kickstarter campaign called Project Fruit Stars. They hope to raise $17,000 to put towards upgrading their operation to produce 50,000 dehydrated apple snacks for the E4C School Nutrition Program this December.
• Cindy’s feature on farmers’ market vendors continues with a profile on Frosty Fox Ice Cream, who sells at the City Market.
• How might you feel after waiting on the super-rich at a high-end restaurant, day in and day out? This might capture it.
• I used to love the novel chip flavours that rotated through every season, but it barely registers with me now. Have you tried the temporary Lays series?
• Mack and I finally stepped into Sante (10184 104 Street) this week, and found out that they sell Phil & Sebastian beans (dangerous for us). While we haven’t tried any of their food yet, here’s their menu.

Sante

• I made a beeline for Pho Tau Bay on Tuesday, their first day open after their usual summer hiatus. I didn’t realize how much I missed their pho until the steaming bowl of noodles was placed in front of me.

My usual at Pho Tau Bay

• I met up with a friend at Dovetail on Thursday night for a light supper before a stroll through the 124 Grand Market. Their corned beef was delicious!

Corned beef sandwich and samosas from Dovetail

• After a day of canoeing down the North Saskatchewan, Mack and I were in no shape to cook on Saturday. Thankfully, Blue Plate Diner is stumbling distance away from our condo, and their shephard’s pie more than hit the spot.

Shephard’s pie and sweet potato fries from Blue Plate Diner