Winter has finally arrived – can’t say we haven’t been spoiled up until now, though, so I think we can get through it. Stay warm! On to this week’s food notes:

• Fork Fest is on! It runs January 15-19 and 22-26, 2012. Ten restaurants are participating; check out their menus online.
• On January 25, 2012, Nomad is serving up a Robbie Burns supper, complete with haggis of course! The three-course dinner is $40.
• Save the date: the Slow Food National Conference will be hosted in Edmonton this year, and you know what that means – good food! The gala will be taking place on May 5, 2012 at the Enjoy Centre, with dinner being overseen by Chefs Blair Lebsack and Paul Schufelt. Tickets go on sale March 1 – for more information, e-mail Valerie.
• Bernard Callebaut announced the location of their new flagship chocolaterie this week, at 124 Street and Jasper Avenue. Although I think it will complement what is already in the area, a part of me wanted it to be closer to Kerstin’s – chocolate district, anyone?
• From CBC: a whisky bar is forthcoming to 104th Street, and a sneak peek inside the Mercer Warehouse, where Roast Coffeehouse and a restaurant will open this year.
• I had no idea you could get hand-pulled pretzels in Edmonton – check out Schneckels Pretzels!
• The Queen of Tarts is now officially Dauphine.
• The Journal loved Cibo Bistro.
• I missed this last week, but it’s worth checking out if you love Mediterranean food – Vue Weekly reviewed Cafe Amore Bistro.
• Is the concept of a Sunday night family dinner coming back in style? D’Lish has started offering it, Sundays from 5-10pm, and the Next Act and Ruth’s Chris have been serving it up for some time.
• Liane had a great story about the “rise” of knives – it’d be great to see a specialty knife store open up in Edmonton.
• Food Network is in town to film segments for its newest show, You Gotta Eat Here. It’s always great to see Edmonton presented on television – look for the episodes some time in the spring. Check out this Global interview with host John Catucci.
• Marlow Moo went macaron making!
• A bowl of homemade wonton soup would be perfect for a night like this – get Ming’s recipe here.
• Love pie? Karlynn does too – and she will be sharing a new pie recipe with her readers every Friday.
• Maybe we could bring the idea of a “coffee common” to 104th one day, given all the coffee shops we have brewing.
• Speaking of coffee, Tim Horton’s is jacking their sizes up – their new extra large holds 24 ounces of coffee.
• Does Paula Deen have diabetes?
• Though we’ve never tried Papa John’s before, it’s always great to have another food option close by – this location opened next to MRKT on Jasper Avenue and 105 Street recently.

Papa John’s

• I attended the City Market AGM last week – it looks like a focus this next year will be on increasing the foot traffic to the winter portion of the market at City Hall. Although the street market attracts an average of 17,000 visitors every week, they’ve only averaged 4,000 shoppers this winter.

New City Market insulated tote bags

• On Saturday, I tried the Red Piano for the first time, for a friend’s stagette dinner. It’s clear entertainment and drinks are the focus, and not the food, given the average price of an entree and the fact that our food took over an hour to arrive. The short rib sliders were all right, but definitely needed the flavour boost from the au jus.

Short rib sliders

• One of my teams at work had a belated holiday lunch at Sorrentino’s in Little Italy today. I enjoyed my pollo parmigiano and soup, but even more noteworthy was the service. Our server was exceptional, and handled our large group with ease and charm to spare.

Pollo Parmigiano (the roll was excellent)

• Mack has been itching to go back to Mucho Burrito for some time, so I made sure to tuck one of their gift cards in his stocking this Christmas. We used it on Sunday, for a quick dinner before heading out to the Legislature grounds.

Happy with his burrito!

• Fork Fest is coming, January 15-19 and 22-26, 2012, with prix fixe menus priced at $25 and $45. Less than a week away, it’d be nice if the menus were already up on the website, but they’re usually tardy.
• Mark your calendars: Big City Sandwich will be hosting their next pop-up on January 22, 2012 at the Billiard Club (tequila lime chicken sandwich, anyone?). Mack and I attended the first kitchen takeover, and it was a delicious experience.
• Valerie sent me a note about Dishcrawl, a San Francisco-based company that organizes restaurant crawls all across North America. Their first Edmonton event takes place on January 25, and is nearly sold out! Great to hear there is an appetite for this kind of “communal” dining.
• We were happy to hear that Filistix is expanding their campus kiosks to include a location downtown, at Grant MacEwan’s Robbins Health Learning Centre. Check them out when they open on January 23!
• Liane wrote that Culina Muttart started dinner service! Look for a seasonal menu every Thursday night from 5-9pm (I hope the City of Edmonton page is updated to reflect these changes, too).
• Liane posted that Packrat Louie purchased Cafe Select downtown.
• CHARCUT, pioneers of the alley burger, are following another trend this time around: the pop-up restaurant. CHARPOP runs January 15-17, 2012. The location is secret, and only accessible on their website with a password e-mailed to patrons lucky enough to score a reservation.
• Mack sent me an article in Alberta Venture about the success of Bles Wold, a local dairy (who happens to make our favourite yogurt!).
• Save the date: after a successful inaugural event last year, held on April 30, 2011, Eat Alberta will be returning to Edmonton on April 14, 2012. More details will be released soon, but if you want to be among the first to be informed, consider joining our mailing list.
• I watched the first episode of You Gotta Eat Here last week. Host John Catucci has a good energy, and the production quality seems high (if I didn’t know any better, I’d think I was watching Diners, Drive Ins and Dives). My only minor disappointment was that they seemed to want to do too much, and showcase too many dishes. I thought there were some opportunities to focus more on each element the restaurants made from scratch that they used to build their menu (e.g. sausages, corn bread). What did you think?
• With the movement towards foraged foods, this is a reminder that it can go horribly wrong when the proper knowledge isn’t applied – two patrons in Australia died after ingesting poisonous mushrooms foraged by a chef.
• The space that formerly housed The Butler Did It (10130 105 Street) is getting a makeover. As reported in January/February issue of The Tomato, “Brad Smoliak is cooking up something…Expect a research and development kitchen, cooking lessons, events and private dinners come March.”

Something’s cooking…

• We stopped inside Cafe Tiramisu (10750 – 124 Street) to take a peek – the space is bright lovely, and features a separate playroom for children. Mack and I will be back to sample the menu (which a coworker has told me is quite good).

Interior

Playroom

• On the way back from the City Market, we stopped inside the food pavilion at Metropolis on Saturday. Both Molly’s Eats and Eva Sweet were there – nice to have the presence of food truck vendors even in the middle of winter!

Eva Sweet at Metropolis

• Mack and I had lunch at Joey’s two weeks ago while shopping in South Common (it was a good excuse to use up a gift card we received two Christmases ago!). It’s been quite some time since we’d been there, with the menu having changed quite a bit. It was interesting to see a miso ramen on the menu – perhaps this speaks to the ramen really becoming a mainstream dish?

Mack’s lobster grilled cheese

My mushroom soup and Caesar salad

• Although Mack’s already had half a dozen (if not more), I really enjoyed my first Credo coffee of 2012 last week.

Vanilla latte

Happy New Year! I hope you’ve had a good start to 2012 so far! Mack and I had a wonderful holiday (including quite a long break from our computers) in Yellowknife, and took a few days to get settled back in Edmonton. Thanks for being patient with my absence from this blog – needless to say, I have some catching up to do now! On to this week’s food notes:

• Liane posted about the newest arm of the L’Azia group of restaurants – East (16049 97 Street, 780-457-8833). It offers “Authentic Modern Chinese with a Malaysian twist.”
• Twyla reviewed Cibo Bistro this week. Looks like there’s some work to be done at the upstart Italian eatery.
• Valerie had an amazing series of posts capturing thoughts of local and international food writers, farmers, chefs and others involved in the industry on trends to watch for in 2012.
• Liane also broke down what to expect this year, as well as a summary of what was seen in 2011, food-wise, in Edmonton.
• Inspired by Oprah’s “favourite things”, Carmen put together a list of her favourite dishes sampled in 2011.
• Michelle wrote a great post on dining with children in Edmonton: “…So many people find it perfectly acceptable to tsk at kids in restaurants, and on one memorable occasion, ask to change seats when they realised I was going to sit next to them with my daughter. How rude it that? In our politically correct society, we wouldn’t dare do something like this if we were sat next to say, a black person or an openly gay couple. Yet its perfectly acceptable to do this to children? How low can we sink?” Worth a read.
• It looks like Viphalay’s second location downtown (10523 99 Avenue) is open – I’m excited to have a great Thai option within walking distance.

Viphalay

• Mack and I will be writing more about Metropolis later, but did anyone else take a trek through the food pavilion on New Year’s Eve? It was crowded, to say the least, and definitely wasn’t built to accommodate the traffic and flow of people that evening. I hope it was just first night issues that will be rectified in later weeks.

Food pavilion

Fireworks

Between the functions, potlucks and dinners, this Christmas season has been a busier one for me than usual! And with trying to spend as much time with family in Edmonton as possible before we jet off to Yellowknife for a week, I know December will be over in a flash. On to this week’s food notes:

• Liv checked out one of the newest restaurants to hit Edmonton, Cibo Bistro. Looks like it’s worth a try (and might be a great Italian backup to those who can’t swing a reservation to Corso 32).
• The Journal also reviewed a fairly new restaurant – Cafe du France, in the LeMarchand Mansion. It sounds like the review might help the restaurant at least raise its profile, “the pretty little café was completely empty at 7 p.m., and remained so until we left more than two hours later, literally shutting the place down.”
• Great to see several food bloggers participated in the recent Meals on Wheels call out to the blogosphere for volunteers. I wasn’t able to make it, but I love living vicariously through pictures!
• Michelle also spearheaded a recipe live blogging experiment to capture how to make classic butter chicken. Yum, I don’t need to be told twice!
• Via Cream and Sugar: ever wonder what’s behind that distinct Subway smell?
• It seems like vegetarian restaurants are on the up and up this year – Veggie Garden Restaurant (10582 100 Street, 780-757-9060) just opened up at the end of November. My coworker said it’s pretty good, but I have yet to try it myself.

Veggie Garden

• Oodle Noodle’s second downtown location on Jasper Avenue just off 104 Street is on the cusp of opening. Mack and I peeked inside today to take a look at the progress – we love the exposed brick and seating that takes advantage of the room’s length. Look for a soft open soon!

Oodle Noodle

• The Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market was bustling on Saturday! I loved the pine arrangements right up front – fragrant and eye-catching! It’s also open on Christmas Eve for those last minute needs!

Pine arrangements

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful holiday season filled with family and friends. All the best in 2012!

Still looking for the perfect Christmas gift? How about a pair of YEGWOOD treefarer shades? For a chance to win a free pair, just leave a comment on Mack’s blog! On to this week’s food notes:

• Cally’s Teas is back! Or at least temporarily starting December 14 until her shop at 10151 82 Avenue is in order. Check out Marianne’s blog for more details.
• Great news for the food truck scene this week: Battista’s Calzones bought a truck to debut next summer.
• It seems like it’s been in the works for quite some time, but Cactus Club will be opening up a downtown location of their popular casual upscale restaurant on Jasper Avenue and 111 Street.
• Twyla reviewed new-ish Mediterranean restaurant Ousia: “Ousia holds promise. The ambiance scores high, as do the appetizers and desserts. The entrees were disappointing but those issues should be easily fixed.” Great to see that the staff commented directly on the blog, too.
• Liane shares her favourite dishes of 2011, and asks readers to share their own.
• Kevin posted a link to the continuing campaign to protect the agricultural lands in Northeast Edmonton – consider becoming a Friend of Farmers.
• There really is an app for everything: just released last week was Big App for Meat by butcher extraordinaire Pat LaFrieda, pitched as the “definitive butcher’s guide to every cut of meat”, with 360-degree interactive rotating meat and videos of butchery. Sounds like a great use of technology.
• ‘Tis the season for food trends. Here are some great links from Grub Street (keep in mind Edmonton is always behind, if we get the whiff of the trend at all).
• Passed by a new forthcoming vegetarian restaurant next to Duchess on 124 Street and 107 Avenue called The Clever Rabbit. Vegetarian seems to be a trend this year, with Noorish having opening up not long ago as well.

The Clever Rabbit (excuse the drive-by photo)

• We stopped by the St. Albert Christmas Market on Saturday to pick up a few gifts. There were a few producers present (Irvings, Steve & Dan’s, Erdmann’s, among them), but the majority were crafts and giftware vendors. We saw for the first time Steve & Dan’s sparkling juice – this would be a great non-alcoholic alternative for a local food gift basket.

St. Albert Christmas market

Steve & Dan’s sparkling juice

We couldn’t help but gape at the artificial grass in front of St. Albert Place – we wondered what the justification was – anyone know?

• To cap off a busy week at work, Mack and I indulged at La Poutine on Friday night. Nothing beats fries, gravy and squeaky cheese as stress relief!

You can now wear your love of poutine

Quebecois and Surpreme

It’s been a bit crazy at work these past few weeks, and for that reason, I’m grateful Mack’s been able to pick up the slack at home. It’s nice to have dinner waiting for you when return home after a long day. On to this week’s food notes:

• You may remember soon-to-be-launched food truck Big City Sandwich has been taking over kitchens in restaurants around the city, to generate some income (and buzz) before the summer season. So it’s interesting to see existing truck Nomad do the same, for a similar reason – to tide them over in a city where winters are not necessarily hospitable to year-round vending. Their first dinner will be held at Yellowhead Brewery on December 20, 2011. There might be a few tickets left if you don’t blink!
• Also on the evening of December 20, 104 Street businesses will be hosting a customer appreciation day. I’ll link to more information next week, but expect discounts like 10% off nearly everything at deVine’s, 25% off food at Blue Plate Diner, and complimentary treats all day at Queen of Tarts.
• Maybe the most exciting news to me this week was finding out that 104 Street really is becoming Edmonton’s artisan coffee district – Roast Coffee will be setting up shop in the Mercer Warehouse on 104 Street and 104 Avenue, to be open some time in 2012. Great to see a small local business set up in the heritage building!
• Will Jasper Ave eventually have its own chocolate district (near Kerstin’s Chocolates)? Bernard Callebaut will be opening up a new retail store (with a cafe) on Jasper next year.
• Liv wrote about Cafe Coral de Cuba on Whyte Avenue.
• The Journal reviewed Nola, the newest Creole restaurant in Edmonton. It’s quite a negative review, with such a different opinion than what others have told me about their experience. I’ll definitely have to check it out myself.
• I haven’t been watching Recipe to Riches myself (is it odd to anyone else that Jesse Palmer is the host of that show?), but I know I was wondering if the products were actually worth buying. Foodie McPoon has been trying them all out, week by week, so you can get a second opinion first.
• With another Wild Earth open on the west side at 14238 85 Avenue (and another one to come at the Epcor Tower), I wonder if people are confusing that cafe with the similarly-named Good Earth, which is also rapidly expanding?
• Smashburger, deemed “America’s most promising company” by Forbes, is expanding to Edmonton. Makes me wonder why Five Guys hasn’t been more aggressive in northern Alberta.
• Price check: this is an interesting post on the price comparisons between products at Planet Organic and Earth’s General Store.
• Lots of great gift suggestions for the food lover in your life: cookbook recommendations from the NYT, and gadget picks from America’s best chefs.
• 362 slices and two and a half years later, a man who vowed to eat his way through Manhattan’s pizzerias is now done.
• Taste of Lebanon, the second Cafe Beirut location on Jasper Avenue and 112 Street is now open!

Taste of Lebanon/Cafe Beirut

• I had no idea Viphalay was moving to the house formerly occupied by Karma 99 Avenue and 105 Street.

Viphalay

• Though the second downtown Oodle Noodle is on the horizon, Mack and I headed to the 109 Street and Jasper Avenue location on Friday to help celebrate its 1st birthday. We loved the decorations (who doesn’t love helium-inflated animal balloons?).

Or dragon-shaped cupcakes?

• At Ikea this weekend, we stumbled upon the most adorable fruit and vegetable shaped stuffed toys. Mack didn’t have a choice but to pose with his new broccoli friends.

Green is good

• The downtown location of Oodle Noodle is turning one! Help them celebrate this weekend, December 2-4, 2011. This coupon will get you an entree and a drink for just $7, while there will be cupcakes and a magician on hand at noon on December 2.
• To help you be a more thorough shopper, Vinomania is offering free wine tastings from their Enosystem over the next three Saturdays from 11am-5pm (December 3, 10 and 17, 2011). You might just pick up a bottle for yourself, too!
• Sutton Place Hotel’s annual Taste of Christmas kicks off December 6 and ends on December 16. Make sure to call ahead for a reservation!
• Are you ready for a party? The Downtown Edmonton Community League is having a Christmas mixer at the office (10113 104 Street) on December 8 from 7-9pm. If you don’t have a membership yet, they will be selling them at the door for just $5. And with food being catered by Drift, you know it will be a good time.
• Twyla reviewed Hakuna Matata, a fairly new Somali restaurant on Alberta Avenue. I’d be interested to try it myself to see how it compares to African Somali, my go-to Somali restaurant.
• Marianne offers up a review of Noorish. Seems like most people are at first sceptical, but are quickly converted.
• The Journal had a great piece about the trend (and Edmontonians’ hesitation) towards fully embracing the communal table. I remember first encountering one a few years ago in DC – we were apprehensive at first, but found that it was a great way to break bread with strangers.
• Sarah Chan, of Girls + Bicycles fame, published a cookbook with her friend Leanne Brown. You can buy a hard copy, but you can also download it for free as well. I love how it is sectioned off into shops/farmers’ markets.
• I’ve had Thanksgiving in a bowl, but never in croissant form. It looks delicious.
• It’s a little disheartening to read about the food truck crackdowns in Midtown Manhattan. I really hope they find some way to work towards a more conducive solution for everyone.
• Did you see the headlines last week about how the US Congress now considers pizza a vegetable? I did too, but it turns out that wasn’t exactly true.
• A coworker had her farewell lunch at Khazana last week. I balked when I heard their lunch buffet was priced at nearly $18/person, but clearly this isn’t a problem for most – it was packed! Decent variety and good food, but I’m not sure I would pay that much for a lunch buffet on a regular basis.

The saag paneer was my favourite

• I love putting together baskets of food products and trinkets to give as gifts. The Italian Bakery in Chintaown (10646 97 Street) is a great place to go, where last week I spotted a marzipan pig.

Some pig

• I can’t wait until the Legislature grounds are all lit up for Christmas (taking place on December 1, which also kicks off the choir and hot cocoa season), but in the mean time, City Hall is looking lovely as well.

Have a good week!

If the crowds at Make It were any indication, I think people are seriously getting ready for Christmas! Thankfully, that wasn’t the only opportunity to get locally-produced and handmade crafts. The Royal Bison takes place this coming weekend, November 26-27, 2011, with catering provided by Culina. On to this week’s food notes:

• Moriarty’s is hosting a Beaujolais Nouveau party on November 24, 2011.
• I’m excited for Underground 104, which is happening on November 25, 2011. It’s an event being put on by Mercury Opera, and involves food and drink at several Fourth Street businesses from 6-8pm, and then at 8:15, there will be a performance on the Bay LRT platform. Tickets are $25, $20 for members of the Downtown Edmonton Community League.
• The next supper club at the Queen of Tarts will take place on November 26, 2011 – they will be posting the menu on Facebook. Mack and I attended the first of these dinners in October, and had a great time.
• Miss Cally’s Teas? Until they find a storefront, you can get your Earl Grey fix from Culina Muttart.
• This is never something you want to hear: another small farm has called it quits. Gwen Simpson of Inspired Market Gardens (a fixture at the City Market for many years), has decided that it is no longer sustainable for her to continue. She will continue to produce her dried edible flower products and a buyer’s guide to herbs next spring, but she will be relocating back to BC. All the best, Gwen!
• Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton (OFRE) needs your help! They need to make it through to the semi-finals of the Aviva Community Funding Grant with your votes – deadline is November 30, 2011.
• Top Chef Canada winner Dale McKay announced that he will be opening ensemble Tap, his second restaurant in early December 2011. It seems to be in the gastropub vein.
• The New York Times announced their new dining critic last week – Dining Editor Pete Wells will be taking on the task.
• There’s a calendar for everything these days, so why not one for food trucks, too?
• There was outrage this week when there were rumours that several NY locations of Starbucks would be closing their bathrooms. Is it the cafe’s job to provide public restrooms? This was an interesting thread, and made me think of the equivalent role Tim Horton’s and McDonald’s play in our city.
• Mack noticed that Chop will be coming to downtown Edmonton next summer – inside the Sutton Place Hotel.

Chop

• While at the University of Alberta last week, Mack and I were finally able to check out some of the kiosks run by some of the city’s food truck vendors, located in the basement of the Central Academic Building. Among them were Eva Sweet, Filistix, and Fat Franks. I’m a bit jealous that current students have such great options to choose from – I would have killed to have the option of starting my day with a savoury breakfast waffle topped with eggs and bacon, a lunch of pulled pork with apple chipotle bbq sauce, or an international dog of the week (like a Peking Dog with hoisin sauce). The kiosks are open 10am-4pm – check ‘em out if you’re down on campus!

Filistix and Eva Sweet share a kiosk

Who can say no to breakfast waffles?

Fat Franks

• We had a chance to stop by the McCafe in Commerce Place last week (incentive being, of course, the 2-for-1 coupons we received in the mail). Mack ordered a latte with a sugar-free vanilla shot, while I opted for a mocha (menu here). They are push-button drinks, made from machines similar to the ones seen in some self-serve cafe areas of hotels now. We liked the real milk (which gives McDonald’s a real advantage over Tim Horton’s), but even with the slight discount over Starbucks, we likely wouldn’t choose McCafe if there was a Starbucks nearby.

McCafe

Pastry case

Our drinks

Сайт знакомств

Edmonton finally gets its first snow (I’m not counting the bit that fell on Friday), and it was a pretty gorgeous snowfall to boot. On to this week’s food notes:

• Not food related, but the snow is making me think about Christmas. Two great shopping opportunities this weekend – Handmade Mafia on November 19 at Orange Hall, and Make It, from November 17-20 at the Alberta Aviation Museum.
• In the mood for chocolate? Then take advantage of the opportunity on November 19, 2011 from 1-5pm to sample a trio of chocolate flights at Kerstin’s Chocolates for just $5.
• You can cook, but how are you with your partner in the kitchen? Chef Andrew Parker is hosting a couples cook-off for ten pairs on November 22, 2011.
• Liane wrote about Smoky Valley Goat Cheese having changed hands. Glad to hear that Holly Gale is staying on to mentor the new owners to ensure a more seamless transition.
• Liane also posted that the Taste of Ukraine has reopened in St. Albert (#40, 516 St. Albert Trail).
• Lillian reviewed Mirabelle Macarons. Though several small macaron-oriented businesses have popped up over the year, they still haven’t become “mainstream”. What will it take?
• It was nice to read about the Tea and Coffee Company last week – I have seen their coffee on the shelves at the Italian Bakery, but didn’t really know much about them at all.
• I failed to link to this earlier – Yvonne discovered a McCafe in Commerce Place (on the second floor, in a renovated kiosk next to the existing McDonald’s). I’d be interested to put their espresso-based drinks up against Tim Horton’s new line of coffees.
• Speaking of Tim Horton’s – their storefronts will be going the white collar way of Starbucks too. Expect softer lighting, wi-fi, and new menu additions. What say you?
• I wasn’t able to make it out to the Chili Cook-off this year, so was happy Karlynn shared photos of the event.
• Great piece in Vue Weekly about the development of the local food scene, featuring interviews with Blair Lebsack and Kevin Kossowan.
• A similar article in the November issue of TechLife (NAIT’s monthly publication) on Blair’s quest to make local food mainstream in Alberta. I love this quote from instructor Hong Chew: “‘When we put a certain product on the menu, there has to be a story behind the product. That’s how you educate the consumer about where the food comes from.’”
• This is the outcome of an economic downturn: a rap about “going dutch”.

Anyone else excited for the Christmas season? I know Mack won’t let me start decking the halls until after American Thanksgiving, but given the holiday lights have been up all over downtown, I can’t help but start looking forward to all of the lovely things that come with the season. On to this week’s food notes:

• Olde Time Fair on the Square is back (albeit a little later than most years) on Saturday, November 13, 2011 from 10am-3pm. Expect carnival games, horse and wagon rides and food vendors! We checked out the festivities very briefly last year.
• Cake Couture, the west-end cake and cupcake shop, has published a book, subtitled, “Modern Sugar-Craft for the Stylish Baker.” Join Annie Dam for the book launch at Century Grill on November 16, 2011.
• Help Battista’s Calzones celebrate their first year in business on November 19, 2011.
• NAIT is hosting a special dinner prepared by Julie van Rosendaal and Sue Duncan, authors of a new cookbook called Spilling the Beans. For $60, attendees will be provided with a 3-course dinner, and a copy of the book. Register prior to November 14 if you are interested.
• It’s cookbook news galore, as Highlands Kitchen also announced that they are preparing a book, to be ready in 2012. A related note – they will be “posting a call for extras (diners) for filing January 10th & 11th via twitter and facebook” for their appearance on Food Network’s You Gotta Eat Here. Keep your eyes peeled!
• Can’t wait to celebrate American Thanksgiving? The High Level Diner will be serving up a turkey dinner perfect for ex-pats, or turkey fiends on November 24, 2011.
• Hopefully, the wait is over: Bubba’s tweeted that he will be open the week of November 8.
• Fat Franks must be doing well at the University of Alberta campus! They just opened a second kiosk at Lister Hall.
• Congratulations to Packrat Louie, Guru and Café de Ville for winning gold, silver and bronze, respectively, at the Gold Medal Plates last week. The dishes, as usual, looked stunning. My only wonder is why the awards aren’t more visible to the typical diner. Given they have a cross-Canada reach, one would think the program could develop into a Michelin- or Zagat-style rating, especially with the amount of effort chefs and restaurants undergo to participate. Though I know the primary purpose of the awards is a fundraiser for Olympic and Paralympics athletes and not as a culinary showcase, it’s a pity the winners of the competition aren’t more revered in Canada.
• Twyla reviewed Noorish, which is apparently leading the trend of serving up a side of yoga with your lunch.
• I had no idea Oranj, the new sushi bar on Bourbon Street at West Edmonton Mall, was a part of the Albert’s chain. The Journal reviewed it last week.
• If you haven’t already, Kevin’s post on seasonal eating (or as he calls it, “a forced abstinence”), is worth a read.
• I missed this last week: Toronto joins Mississauga, Brantford and Oakville as municipalities that have banned the sale of shark fin. The bylaw, effective September 1, 2012, bans the sale, possession and consumption of shark fin and carries fines of up to $100,000.
• Mack is pretty excited about the possibilities of Square, a “virtual card case” that will enable patrons to pay up without ever touching your phone or wallet.
• How low will we go: now that the word “artisan” has been co-opted by Burger King, will it ever have the same meaning again? Grub Street tracks the word’s demise.
• Duchess opened on Thursday in their new space. It looks great, with lots more seating. Apparently, it has been non-stop busy since that day! Mack and I stopped in on Saturday to check it out.

The new Duchess

We couldn’t resist picking up an exquisite passionfruit tart

• I’ve written in the past of our enjoyment of unusual potato chip flavours. So of course we couldn’t pass up a bag of Lay’s India’s Magic Masala flavour that we came across at the Spice Centre in Little India. It was definitely spicier than most North American-produced Lays, and the thicker ripple-cut was reminiscent of Ruffles.

India’s Magic Masala

• It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who gets excited when Starbucks releases their red cups.

Mack’s favourite egg nog latte and my seasonal choice, the gingerbread latte

Have a good week!