I hope you enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous weekend! It was easy to forget the rain that preceded it, but did it ever make a difference – it helped flip the switch to green. On to this week’s food notes:

• The JLS Night Market has rebranded as Night Market Edmonton and returns this summer in a new location: Beaver Hills House Park (Jasper Avenue & 105 Street). The market will operate every Friday night from June 6 to August 29, 2014 from 7-11pm.
• Though I haven’t heard the term “Super Saturday” used this year, Downtown will be one rockin’ place this Saturday with the Pride Parade coming through. But before then, start your day off at the Downtown Edmonton Community League Pancake Breakfast, taking place from 8:30-11am at our new league space (10042 103 Street). Alternatively, Oliver is also hosting a breakfast by Duchess Baker that same morning, a kick-off to their annual Oliver Community Festival.
• A reminder that the Red Shoe Crawl is taking place in Old Strathcona on June 8, 2014! They updated the list of businesses you can expect to visit, amounting to nearly two dozen. Tickets are still available.
• The Italian Centre is celebrating their 55th birthday with a party on June 14, 2014 at their Little Italy shop (10878 95 Street). I’m looking forward to the outdoor screening of the Italy vs. England World Cup match. Should be a good time!
• Also June 14, 2014 is the next Hawker’s Market at the Mercer Warehouse.
• Porkapalooza released more details about their first annual festival, running June 13-15, 2014 in Hawrelak Park.
• Tickets to Baconfest, taking place on July 4, 2014 at the Arts Barns, will go on sale June 4, 2014. Although tickets are necessary for the indoor component, there will be lots of free/no admission activities outside as well!
• Fort Edmonton Park has a cool new feature where you can pick up a pre-packaged lunch basket from the Johnson Café at the Hotel Selkirk – perfect to take and picnic on the grounds outdoors.
• The big news this week was the announcement that after a decade, the Wild Tangerine will be closing at the end of June.
• Transcend will be anchoring the new Mother’s Market (revised opening date: June 20, 2014) with an in-house café.
• Robyn had the chance to check out Popbar’s first Canadian location at West Edmonton Mall.
• An interesting piece in the New York Times about food truck associations south of the border.
• It looks like Tutti Frutti will have Menchie’s bookending it on (and just off) Whyte. Another Menchie’s is moving into the Marble Slab vacancy.

Menchie’s

• Mack and I spent the weekend participating in the third annual Good Hundred Experiment, a gathering of about one hundred people, all involved in projects that somehow better the community. The crowd was diverse, and endeavours ranged from environmental to political to artistic. It was a learning opportunity to hear about some of the wonderful things going on in the city, and to network with people I’d never met before. Kudos to Nadine and Tad for their wonderful facilitation and planning skills – getting strangers to feel comfortable with one another is not an easy task, but I feel that they more than accomplished that by getting conversations to flow and connections made. Bravo!

Good Hundred

• I had been craving pho all through our Toronto trip, but was not able to satisfy that craving. So of course, I made a beeline for Pho Tau Bay not long after returning home.

My usual

• It’s been too long since our last visit to El Rancho – the Amigos Platter hit the spot!

Three of my favourite things (but don’t worry, I shared them with Mack)

• Our What the Truck?! team met up at The Next Act tonight to plan our event coming up on June 13, 2014. It was my first halibut sandwich of the year, but I’m sure – not my last.

Cornmeal-crusted halibut sandwich at The Next Act

Mack, Amanda and I had a great time in Toronto. I was happy I could be a part of Janice and Bennett’s special day – it was a beautiful ceremony and a rockin’ reception! And though Mack jokes that he will now need a vacation after his “vacation”, it was great (as always) to explore Toronto’s diverse neighbourhoods. On to this week’s food notes:

• Elm Café’s next pop-up is another Austrian Sausage Stand on May 30 and 31. As always, the menu is extremely value-oriented, at 3 courses for $35: pancake soup made with smoked pork broth; a choice of sausage: Käsekrainer (cheese-filled sausage), Leberkäse (Austrian meatloaf), or Debreziner (spicy paprika sausage); and rhubarb strudel.Make sure to call ahead.
• The next Art Gallery of Alberta Supper Club is taking place on June 1, 2014. Tickets are $150.
• Do you have your tickets for the Mercer Summer Super Party yet? In addition to art displays and an On the Spot Pop Up Market, expect a Hawkers Market offshoot with food trucks! It all goes down on June 6, from 5pm – midnight at the Mercer Warehouse.
• The Edmonton Craft Beer Festival is coming up, June 6 and 7, 2014 at the Expo Centre.
• Next Act’s sister restaurant MEAT is now open! Vue Weekly has a great preview of the restaurant, and Cindy has already stopped by.
• A restaurant in Calgary made the news a few weeks ago after offering a family a “well behaved kids” discount on their meal. What do you think?
• Mack sent me a link to a piece about the history of ramen.
• I’m so happy that the City Market is back outdoors – every Saturday from 9am-3pm on 104 Street north of Jasper Avenue. We were out of town last week so missed the opening week, but I made it out early on Saturday and made sure to snag a few bundles of Edgar Farms asparagus and some tomato plants from Sundog Organics.

Edgar Farms asparagus

• Though I shouldn’t be too hard on a first-time event, I think Host Edmonton has a lot of work to do if they decide to repeat the conference in the future. It wasn’t clear who the primary audience was intended to be – industry professionals? Home cooks? Foodies? I was given the complimentary opportunity to attend two sessions on Saturday morning, and though it was only a taste of the range of sessions, the direction wasn’t clear. My favourite of the two was Chef Christine Cushing’s demonstration. Engaging and clearly passionate about food, I couldn’t think of a better speaker to present on stage early in the morning. That said, I found value in it primarily as a home cook – if I was an “industry professional”, I’m not sure it would have suited my needs. In that sense, Bal Arneson’s keynote was likely meant as an inspirational talk – and there’s no doubt her story (transitioning from a small village in India to a Food Network Star) is quite the tale. But I didn’t receive her casual name-dropping as well as others, and would imagine that her storytelling, interwoven through food, would have been more powerful.

Christine Cushing (an overhead mirror would have been helpful)

Roasted eggplant spread with flat bread and bergamot orange blossom panna cotta

I hope you’ve all saved the date for our first What the Truck?! of the season! It’s taking place on our home turf (104 Street) on May 24, 2014, from 5-9pm. We’ll be releasing the list of trucks participating tomorrow. Hope to see you there! On to this week’s food notes:

• Gail Hall will be hosting two farm tours this summer. The first is around the Kitscoty area, July 19-20, 2014, and will feature visits to The Cheesiry, Ribstone Brewery, buffalo ranch and a honey farm.
• The Valley Zoo’s special farmers’ markets last year have turned into a regular event – running June 17 – September 19, 12-6pm.
• Popbar opened its first Canadian location of the international chain at West Edmonton Mall on the weekend. It offers gelato bars in a variety of flavors.
• Congratulations to the winners of the second annual Yeggies, awarded at the Avenue Theatre on Friday. In particular, kudos to Valerie of A Canadian Foodie for winning Best in Food, and to Phil (@Baconhound) for winning Best Twitter Persona.
• Speaking of awards, I realize I forgot to link to Vue Weekly’s 2014 Golden Fork Awards.
• Andrea reviewed Hart’s Table last week – it sounds like the menu has undergone quite a bit of change since the restaurant opened.
• Duchess has a blog! Check it out for some behind-the-scenes photos of their cookbook photoshoot.
• Great to see Reclaim Urban Farm and Lactuca featured in the Edmonton Journal.
• Eater took a tour of a sriracha factory in California.
• For Mother’s Day, my family had dinner at Café Amore. It was a first for the rest of my family, and as expected, they were all defeated by the massive portion sizes. As usual, their hospitality was great.

Truffle chicken

• For dessert, I tried The Guardian’s recipe for tiramisu, which involved an extra step of separating the egg yolks from the whites and beating them separately for volume. I do think it resulted in a lighter cake that seemed much less dense than my previous tiramisu trials. Even my Dad, who isn’t much for sweets, had seconds.

Tiramisu

Oh, Raptors. Those last six second were heartbreaking, but it sure was a wild ride. Selfishly, I was hoping to partake in Jurassic Park myself when in Toronto next week, but here’s to the possibility next year! On to this week’s food notes:

• Outdoor farmers’ markets are back! Salisbury was the first on May 1, then Callingwood on May 4, and this coming weekend, the French Quarter on May 11. The City Market returns to 104 Street on May 17.
• The next Tomato Test Kitchen with Brad Smoliak takes place on May 8, 2014, and focuses on the art of grilling.
• Food trucks are popping up all over! Make sure to keep up to date with the Street Food App, but also check out Eva’s post about one of the newest, Perogy Princess.
• Speaking of food trucks, Liane has some details about Pampa’s forthcoming mobile offering as well, which will feature the same charcoal-grilled meat you know and love.
• Host Edmonton, a hospitality conference taking place May 22-24, is looking for volunteers.
• The Calgary Stampede released their 2014 food line-up last week. I wonder if the scorpion pizzas will also be making their way to K-Days?
• Mack and I attended the Iconoclast Koffeehuis (11807 105 Avenue) opening on Saturday. The event seemed to showcase the space itself as a venue rather than the coffee, but it was a good opportunity for us to get acquainted with the place. While it is walkable, it’s not exactly convenient, so I’m not sure how often we will be frequenting Iconoclast. But at the very least, it seems to be a good addition to the city’s coffee scene! Cindy has much better photos of the evening here.

Iconoclast Koffehuis grand opening

• I had a very good food week, starting with this beautiful charcuterie board at Hundred.

Charcuterie board (I had to steal Linda’s photo)

• Mack and I ended up at Three Boars on the weekend. It’s been too long since our last visit, so we plowed through several new-to-us menu items. Our favourite were the lamb neck croquettes, served over a delicious bed of curried lentils.

Lamb neck croquettes

• It’s been some time since dining at Quan Pho, but at a lunch meeting today, I found their vermicelli bowl to be much superior to the pho I tried during my previous visit. The grilled pork was particularly tasty.

Grilled pork and spring roll vermicelli

• It was a cold one this weekend, but we layered up and helped the Downtown Edmonton Community League pick up some trash in the neighbourhood.

Mack with his favourite new toy

It was a pretty food-full weekend, with our fourth Eat Alberta taking place on Saturday. Thanks to everyone who took part; I hope to write a full recap soon. On to this week’s food notes:

• The oldest greenhouse in the Edmonton area, Wallish Greenhouses in Strathcona County, is throwing a party on May 3, 2014 their 95th anniversary.
• Toast Catering in the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market is hosting a 3-course Mother’s Day brunch at the Market, with two seatings at 10:30am and 1:30pm. Tickets are $65.
• Phil has another YEG Burger Odyssey post up, this time pitting the burgers of a Fort Saskatchewan diner against that of Rockin’ Robyn.
• There’s a great piece about the Century Hospitality Group in this month’s TechLife magazine.
• Vue Weekly explores the rationale behind restaurant wine prices.
• Is it true? Calgary is envious of Edmonton for a change? This Calgary journalist wonders why there are no weekend farmers’ markets in downtown Calgary, when Edmonton will have not one, but two this summer.
• The Eat Alberta committee met up at The Manor for a post-event supper. They were able to accommodate us in a private room on a second floor, so we were able to meet (and eat) to our heart’s content. I also quite enjoyed the schnitzel that I ordered.

Schnitzel from The Manor

• Mack and I took in the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts tonight. It was one of the best I’ve seen yet – a tight set, and some wonderful performers. Though I will always have a soft spot for Sugar Swing, Ariane Mahryke Lemire took my breath away, even though I couldn’t understand the words to her French song. We ended the night with some tastes from Elm Café – I devoured the vegetarian crostini!

Ariane Mahryke Lemire (loved the animated Jason Blower backdrop, too!)

Tastes from Elm Cafe

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter! On to this week’s food notes:

• It’s your last chance to nominate your favourites for Vue Weekly’s annual Golden Fork Awards. Fill out your ballot online before April 28, 2014.
• Mark you calendars – Indulgence will start selling tickets this year on May 1, 2014.
• Barbecue lovers, rejoice: Porkapalooza will take place June 13-15, 2014 in Hawrelak Park, and will offer demonstrations, barbecue competitions, and of course, lots of food.
• The big news this week was the forthcoming launch of a second farmers’ market downtown in the building that formerly housed Mother’s Music (10251 109 Street). They are hoping to launch mid-May, right around the time the City Market returns to 104 Street. Based on the CTV story, it doesn’t sound like the organizer of Mother’s Market will be focusing on locally-sourced products, but I’ll wait and see.
• Farrow (8422 109 Street), Three Boars’ new sandwich joint, opened on April 16, 2014.
• The Act Out & About won’t be hitting the streets this summer, unfortunately, with The owners of The Next Act focusing on their new restaurant, MEAT, to open this spring. That said, their truck won’t be sitting idle, as Big City Sandwich will be taking it over this season.
• Vue Weekly reviews the new Three Amigos location downtown.
• Twyla posts one of the first reviews of Hart’s Table, the newest of the Century Hospitality restaurants.
• Speaking of Twyla, she had a terrible experience at Craft Beer Market, and unfortunately, the higher ups have failed to rectify it.
• Phil’s latest Burger Odyssey post is up, pitting The Burger Joint up against Rodeo Burger.
• Curious who will be participating in this year’s Gold Medal Chefs battle in October? Liane has the news.
• Valerie’s newest Canadian Food Experience round-up highlights local food heroes across Canada.
• There was an interesting piece in Grub Street last week, asking the question – why aren’t more restaurant critics women?
• I finally caught Three Chocolate at the City Market this Saturday (Edmonton’s coming up chocolate it seems, with Pinto Chocolates also being a fairly recent addition to the scene, and news of Jacek Chocolate Couture’s expansion with a second storefront). Three sources all of their cocoa beans from the Dominican Republic, and their name is derived from the number of ingredients in their dark chocolate – cocoa nibs, cocoa butter and sugar. They will be vending the next two weekends at the City Market, but will not be transitioning to the outdoor location.

Three Chocolate

• After a successful trip to a bridal salon in Sherwood Park where my sisters finally agreed on a bridesmaids dress, we headed to the nearby Sumo Sumo for sustenance. It was relatively busy for a Wednesday evening, but if there was anything to be said about our meal, it was that portion sizes were very generous. The udon soup I ordered was just $13, but it really could have fed two people.

Tempura udon from Sumo Sumo Sushi

• Mack, Thom and I had a pre-Rush game dinner at The Common over the weekend. Though we enjoyed our initial visit when it first opened, the kitchen has been inconsistent since then. The umami burger I ordered this time was disappointing – both the patty and focaccia bread it was served on were quite dry.  

The umami burger from The Common

• At District Coffee Co. today, Mack and I noticed bottles of Upson’s Classic Cordials for sale. We didn’t know such a product was being made in Edmonton! The fruit drink concentrate is meant to be mixed with sparkling water or spirits for drinks, making it something to consider especially now as the weather warms up.

Upson’s Classic Cordials

• Registration for this summer’s first Edmonton Diner en Blanc is now open!
• Looking for Easter dinner plans? The Mirepoix Trio is hosting another pop-up dinner, this time at Upper Crust. Check out the two different menus for the April 18 and 19, 2014 dinners. I’m looking forward to it already!
• Iconoclast Coffee is hosting a free grand opening party on May 3, 2014, from 7-11:30pm. If you needed an excuse to check it out, here you go – they promise fine food, prosecco and music. Speaking of the Koffiehuis, Vue Weekly profiled the new shop last week.
• Slow Food Edmonton is hosting a 5-course dinner at Lux on May 13, 2014 that will highlight sustainable species of fish. It sounds like it will be an educational and tasty evening. Tickets are $70 for members and $80 for non-members.
• Speaking of fish, because of the new direct Icelandic Air flights to Edmonton, Ocean Odyssey will now be offering fresh wild Atlantic fish. Stay in touch with this development on their website.
• Hillaby’s Tools for Cooks has expanded beyond the Enjoy Centre, with a location in Terwillegar (14251 23 Avenue). They celebrated their grand opening on April 10, 2014.
• Also now open is the Tunki Café Shop (10998 124 Street), a new Peruvian café on 124 Street.
• Liv reviewed Bodega Tapas & Wine Bar.
• I have to say In & Out Burger was a little underwhelming the first time I tried it in the States, and I wonder if Carl’s Jr will be the same? The American chain just opened their first Edmonton-area location in Spruce Grove (420, 131 Century Crossing), with another on the way in the west end.
• As I mentioned last week, it’s great news that Evoolution is expanding, including another storefront in Southgate.

Coming soon: Evoolution

• Dinner at Boualouang on Friday was great (their green curry/coconut rice combo is deadly). The Thai-style salad was new to a few of us, but turned out to be a delicious choice as well.

Thai-style salad with papaya, dried shrimp, peanuts, tomatoes and chilies

• It was a busy family-filled weekend for us, including participating in a baby gender-revealing party. It was a lot of fun testing out old wives tales and failing miserably at baby-related trivia.

Gorgeous table!

Fans of Television Without Pity will already know the bad news, and for me, it is still sinking in. It’s a website I’ve visited on an almost-daily basis for over thirteen years, and has been with me for the good (The West Wing), the bad (multiple Bachelor/ettes) and the ugly (the current season of Scandal). I’m going to miss the insightful discussions and the community of people who made up the forums. On to this week’s food notes:

• The third installment of Hawkers Market takes place on April 12, 2014. There will be several new vendors this time around, including Reclaim Urban Farm and Orbit food truck.
• Elm Café’s Dining Room will be hosting a Sugar Shack Dinner on April 25 and 26, 2014. The three-course meal is priced at $35.
• Lots of 104 Street news this week: Jacek Chocolate Couture will be replacing Bubble Buzz with a downtown storefront, Earth’s General Store will be moving in, and the Tres Carnales restaurant in the Mercer Warehouse (opening in June) has a name – Rostizado, offering “modern Mexican”, table service and wine.
• In related news, popular specialty shop Evoolution will be expanding beyond 104 Street and into Southgate and the Enjoy Centre.
• State & Main will be a street-level tenant in the First & Jasper complex.
• Liane shared that in addition to their farmers’ market tables, Confetti Sweets will also have a storefront in Sherwood Park, to open in mid-May.
• Mack and I both have Iconoclast Koffiehuis (11807B 105 Ave) on our list to check out – it was nice to get a peek inside from Cindy.
• Both Andrea and Cindy checked out Mama Lee’s Kitchen (10633 51 Avenue), a new Korean take-out restaurant in Southgate.
• Robyn offers up another opinion on Bar Bricco.
• Phil’s latest Burger Odyssey pits The Next Act against The Sugarbowl. Time for a death match.
• I rarely have the opportunity to meet up with Mack for lunch, so last week when it was possible, we made it count at Pho Tau Bay.

#phodate

• It’s been some time since I’ve been to an Edmonton Rush game, but it was as exciting as I remembered! It was a much closer game than anyone expected, but they managed to hang on and maintain their undefeated streak. Bring on the playoffs!

Go Rush Go!

Although Calgary was equally cold this past weekend (spring? what spring?), it was still worth it to get away from the city for a few days. Short of living there, it is impossible to keep up with their food scene! On to this week’s food notes:

• Northlands is hosting a behind-the-scenes tour of their kitchens and facilities on March 27, 2014, which finishes up with a three-course lunch. Tickets are $80 for non-members.
• Elm Café’s Dining room will be hosting another Austrian Dumpling Night on March 28, 2014 (Mack and I went to a similar dinner they hosted last year and really enjoyed it). $30 for three courses, with a choice of dumplings for the main, which include a potato dumpling stuffed with Grammeln (crispy fried bits of pork, a by-product of making lard).
• Vue Weekly’s 2014 ballot for the Golden Fork Awards is now out. Vote for your favourite restaurants here.
• Bar Bricco (10347 Jasper Avenue), Chef Daniel Costa’s new spuntini bar, opened up this weekend. Cindy already stopped by – it looks like a wonderful addition to downtown.
• Mama Lee’s Kitchen, opening soon, will offer take-out Korean food in Southgate (10633 51 Avenue).
• Vue Weekly published a feature about District Coffee Co., while Liv explains why its worth checking out.
• Phil posted his most recent YEG Burger Odyssey findings, pitting On the Rocks against Kelly’s Pub.
• Just in time for the Christmas season, Duchess will be publishing a cookbook.
• Watch for the possibility of more patios on Whyte Avenue this summer.
• There’s a new distillery in the province called Eau Claire Distillery. They will be trying to source as much of their grain and produce from the province as possible.
• With the cold temperatures, it’s not surprise I’ve been retreating into Pho Tau Bay for bowls of warming soup. Yum.



My regular

• Though we had a productive meeting over dinner at MRKT last week, I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the food. It’s been several years since we’ve been to the restaurant, and though the service has been good on previous occasions, the menu has left us wanting more. Unfortunately, it is still largely unchanged since our last visit. I ordered the braised short ribs ($27) this time around, and though tender, the plate definitely could have been warmer.

Braised short ribs

• In honour of the proliferation of selfies, we thought it appropriate to post our own – with a plate of our favourite Route 99 poutine, of course.

#poutineselfie