Food Notes for March 9, 2009

Lots to share this week! Let’s get to it:

One of the concurrent sessions at the food security conference I wished I could have attended was about the recently completed “Cost of Eating in Alberta” report. It was released this week, and the findings aren’t surprising: though the acceptable portion of one’s income to be spent on food is 15%, the report found that some households were spending upwards of 32% on food. Read more here.
My piece on the Sabetghadam family behind Whyte Ave’s Sabzy Cafe was published this week in Vue Weekly. Vue also printed reviews of two relatively new restaurants – 100 and Culina Highlands.
Liane finally continued her series that sees local chefs promoting their favourite blocks to shop. This week, Koutouki’s Chris St. Denis introduced 124th Street to readers.
Local designer Lea Alcantara has created a page to try and answer the age-old question – is Tau Bay open?
Also mentioned at the conference was Augustana Campus’s 100-mile cookie challenge, where all but one of the cookie recipe’s ingredients must come from within 100 miles of Camrose.
Sometimes I like reading about the means and not just the ends to those means, and the Transcend Coffee blog is the perfect example of this. I love Poul’s recent post on how they are changing the way they sell their coffee, reflecting the learning that has gone on. Customers really reap the benefit of their passion and their willingness to share their growing knowledge base.
The Globe had a story this week about pay-what-you-can restaurant menus popping up all over the world in the face of the global recession. While I don’t think local restaurants will go down this path any time soon, Manor Cafe is offering $30 3-course prix fixe meals after 5pm Sundays to Wednesdays. Now it starts.
It’s always nice when local businesses get national recognition – Sylvan Star Gouda was featured in the Globe this week.
The Go Organic Cookbook I wrote about two weeks ago can be ordered online after March 11. It features profiles and recipes of 55 local producers. At just $20, it’s a worthwhile purchase.
I mentioned in February that Ruth Reichl is on Twitter. It turns out there are many other well-known food personalities on Twitter, including the NYT’s Mark Bittman. Eater has also started a new series called “A Movable Tweet: the latest from the industry Twitterati”. On the subject of Twitter and restaurants, I do think Soul Soup could benefit from using the service – they could Tweet their daily selection of soups, and remind local followers that they should be kept in mind as a lunch option!
As seen in the latest edition of City Palate, Lola Canola has started a monthly newsletter on bees and honey. E-mail Patty Milligan to be added onto the list.
The City of Vancouver just approved the keeping of backyard chickens. Will Edmonton (being lobbied by the River City Chicken Collective) be next?
You may remember Todd Babiak’s article about the disruptive television screens in the city’s bars. It seems that while television-less bars in New York are a dying breed, there are a few that remain committed to maintaining a venue for conversation and entertainment without a screen.
Starbucks began offering their value meals in the U.S. last week. For $3.95, customers could get a tall coffee and their choice of an egg sandwich, Perfect Oatmeal, or a slice of coffee cake (Serious Eats gives the egg sandwich a thumbs up). I hope something similarly priced debuts in Canada soon!
On the heels of thisiswhyyourefat, another viral, visual site: scanwiches.
An interesting blog post in the Village Voice about the proliferation of the tip jar, and the way some establishments try to guilt customers into filling them.

Food Notes for February 24, 2009

This has not been a good winter for me; second time in two months I’ve been sick – this time, the flu. At any rate, the notes must go on (albeit late):

Marianne and Zed of Loosen Your Belt and Eat Around Edmonton spotted an upcoming Mexican restaurant coming soon to Whyte Avenue and 108 Street.
Original Fare restaurants are pairing up with Unicef for its second-annual Tap Project this year, where diners can donate $1 towards the cause for the glass of typically complimentary tap water. Details aren’t on the website yet, but they likely will appear closer to the March 22-29 event date.
Liane Faulder and Jan Hostyn of Vue Weekly must be on the same wavelength(or there’s really nothing to cover in this town…) – in early February, they published articles on Andrea Donini of Earthly Delight Soup Co in the same week, then just this past week, Jan published a piece on Leva Cafe’s Jennifer Ogle, who had been covered in the Journal the week prior.
An interesting post from Ganda of eat drink one woman (a New York blogger who is in Sweden for the next six months) about food sold in tubes.
Need more blogs to add to your daily reading list? From Mack: a Times Online list of 50 best blogs worldwide.
Speaking of great blogs – Eat. Drink. Better. is a great resource for those looking at issues about food sustainability. It is great at highlighting new and innovative ideas.
I’m gearing up for the Top Chef finale tomorrow. Like many though, I was shocked at the contestant that was eliminated last week. Unlike other reality shows that are up front about considering past performances, the judges on Top Chef never make this apparent, resulting always in surprise – and seemingly unfair decisions. I’m rooting for anyone but Stefan!
Though the following isn’t food-related, I thought it was clever enough to share:

Food Notes for February 17, 2009

If you missed it, I’m organizing a meetup for Edmonton foodies. Join us at the Blue Plate Diner on February 26 at 6:30pm if you’re interested in meeting some of the people behind the city’s food blogs! Just remember to include your name on the wiki before February 22.
The list of participating restaurants in Edmonton’s 6th annual Downtown Dining Week, which runs March 6-15, is up, though menus have yet to be posted. Calgary’s event, which runs March 9-15, will be making their list public on Thursday. I have to say I am way more excited for the latter.
Thanks to a comment from Jim and Loosen Your Belt and Eat Around Edmonton, I now know that the Whyte Avenue cupcake store just east of Gateway Boulevard, Flirt Cupcakes, is now open. They charge, for the record, $2.95 a cupcake. Apparently the one next to Funky Pickle is also open – anyone know what it is called?
Liane Faulder had the opportunity to interview New York Times columnist Mark Bittman last week about his new book, Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating. I’m interested in the recipes included – apparently over 75 of them.
New labelling regulations for organic products sold in Canada will commence June 30: “under the new federal regulations, only products with organic content greater than 95 per cent can be labelled organic, and use the new logo from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Foodstuffs with at least 70 per cent organic content can call themselves ‘organic products,’ but cannot use the logo.”
Max Satanove, of “Max’s Food Basket” fame (a weekly instalment that compared common grocery products) passed away on January 27. Foodie Suz wrote about his contributions here.
Todd Babiak wrote an interesting article about the ubiquitous presence of television screens in the city’s restaurants. I know I don’t mind them, but then again, it definitely marks the establishment as one that’s less than formal.
Dickson’s on vacation in Asia, and among other things, has stumbled upon some erm, interesting theme restaurants in Taiwan. One was a hospital-themed one, with waitresses dressed in nursing uniforms serving mystery concoctions to guests from plastic syringes. No, you read that correctly.
Starbucks’ latest cash grab: instant coffee called VIA Ready Brew. Why, Howard Schultz, why?
Eater’s series called “To Catch a Critic” (which strives to obtain photographs of New York’s top restaurant reviewers) makes me laugh. It makes me wonder if any Edmonton establishments ever had a photo of Judy Schultz posted up in their kitchen, heh.
I had a quick lunch at Caffe Sorrentino (10665 109 Street) last week. Talk about fast food – by the time I sat down, my slice of mostly hot lasagne ($8.50) was brought to me – it made me wonder if they microwaved it. They scrimped on the cheese, and tried to hide this by doling out extra sauce, but it was definitely noticeable. With the large windows and coffee bar, the cafe provides a nice atmosphere, but food-wise, they’re a bit weak.

Lasagne from Caffe Sorrentino

Food Notes for February 9, 2009

Late reporting on a number of restaurant closures, from Chowhound – The Mill (8109 101 Street) is now Maki-Maki, which is offering 10% off for the month of February, La Tapa (10523 99 Avenue) closed at the end of last year, and Grandma D’s BBQ Cookhouse (16336 111 Avenue) early in January. Churros King (10152A 82 Avenue) also closed, to be replaced by a cupcake store (see below).
Speaking of cupcakes, Whimsical Cupcakes will be offering cupcake and cake decorating classes.
The Journal reviewed Savour Divino on Saturday, and gave it a positive rating. The restaurant is hosting an open house and gala on February 10 at 5:30pm.
The Globe awarded Daniel Boulud’s incarnation of Lumiere in Vancouver a glowing review last week.
If anyone were to make me Twitter more, it would be Ruth Reichl.
This site will either make you hungry or want to hurl.
And onto thoughtfully-prepared food, via Urban Diner, AnnaTheRed’s beautiful bento boxes, including my favourite – a Wall-E inspired sandwich and a farm scene.
This is a cute way of seeing what to eat that’s in season in New York – a local foods wheel. Alberta has a Savour Regional Flavour Seasonal Fresh Food Guide, but it’s really not the same.
On a dinner break at the food security conference a week ago, I headed to Quan’s Cafe (11148 142 Street NW) across the street for a bite to eat. It turns out they are only open for take-out from 4-6pm, so I had to grab my pho and eat, inconspicuously in a coffee shop. It was to determine from styrofoam containers whether or not the soup is worth returning for (particularly because their hours of operation are so tight), but I do like the interior at the very least.

Quan’s Cafe interior

Has anyone else ever had the fruit flan from Sunterra? I heart the chocolate-coated shortbread crust so light, it almost tastes like a meringue.

Fruit Flan from Sunterra

Very Eater of us, but we couldn’t resist taking a photo of the exterior of the “CUPCAKES coming soon” sign (in the location that formerly housed Churros King in Old Strathcona). It’s really about time a cupcakes store made it to Whyte Avenue – Calgary’s 17th Avenue equivalent has two, maybe more. Mack’s photo even made it onto Cupcakes Takes the Cake!

Coming soon!

Food Notes for February 2, 2009

I’m taking a break from recapping this weekend’s conference for my regularly scheduled food notes, and to tell my readers that I likely won’t be continuing with my monthly post of Edmonton events. I didn’t put one together for January, and though I had some intentions to keep track of things for the month of February, it didn’t happen. My energies have converged into these weekly food notes, and between my other commitments, I don’t think I can do a good job. Luckily, in a few months, I think there will be a resource even better than my monthly posts. Keep your eyes open for ShareEdmonton!

On to this week’s notes:

The biggest news this week was Rob Feenie’s visit to Edmonton on Wednesday. He was in town to promote two things – his return February 11-13 to be NAIT’s first Hokanson Chef in Residence, and the mid-April opening of Edmonton’s first Cactus Club Cafe in West Edmonton Mall (I visited the Bentall 5 location last summer, and was blown away). The NAIT media team did an unprecedented job utilizing social media to engage the public, by live-Tweeting the event (answering questions live submitted via Twitter with the hashtag #naitchef), and taking behind the scenes video, which can be seen here. Be sure to enter NAIT’s Feast With Feenie contest on their website; deadline February 5.
My latest article about d’Lish, the newest meal assembly studio in Edmonton, was published in Vue Weekly this week. It’s one of my favourite pieces that I have written so far, if not only because Amanda gave me so much content to work with.
I came across a new-ish restaurant at the Taste of Alberta at the Today, Tomorrow, Together conference called Le Cafe Entre Amis (8627 91 Street, 780-395-0015), near the Faculte St. Jean.
The Hat will be offering brunch on Saturdays from 11am-3pm starting February 6.
I thought I might be able to write a full review of Michael Pollan’s In Defence of Food, but with the way things are going, I won’t. So in short: I didn’t find it as readable as The Omnivore’s Dilemma (mostly because it reads more like an essay as opposed to a narrative), though it is just as valuable a resource for those looking for facts to support a change in the way that they eat. It also surprised me that the end of the book was as prescriptive as it was – yes, he intended it to be a manifesto, but what I liked about Dilemma was that he left it up to the reader to shift perceptions on their own accord.
This is pretty cool: a printer that uses coffee grounds for ink!
Open Table, the online restaurant reservation site, filed for an Initial Public Offering today.

Food Notes for January 26, 2009

There’s a new Original Joe’s set to open in the new 23rd Avenue complex – their expansion is slow and steady, but I think their brand of casual fare is getting recognized.
Foodie Suz received a tip on her blog about a second Careit Urban Deli opening up in March in Crestwood.
Liane Faulder profiled the Prairie Mill Bread Company over the weekend (I have to agree with Mack about the poor usability of the Journal website – you would think a natural link in the above article would be to the bakery’s website).
Sabor Divino garnered its first review in the mainstream media in See Magazine. It’s a thumbs up (guess I shouldn’t give the Journal too much flack; See doesn’t link to the restaurant either).
Courtney and Brooke from Take it and Like it were profiled in last week’s Saint City News. Congrats!
I perused the Edmonton section of Urban Spoon the other day, and it reminds me a lot of Yelp. Anyone started actively using it? Perhaps the iPhone app makes the site useful, but I have to say I still prefer Chowhound; there’s something about the message board format that appeals to me.
This would be so useful, particularly if your office lunch room is equipped not with a toaster oven, but with a toaster: reusable Toastabags that help obtain the right crispy texture for everything from cookies to pizza.
Andree over at are you gonna eat that wrote a thoughtful, balanced entry about dog meat that she tried on her recent visit to China. Worth a read.
There is a bright lining in belonging to a smaller food community – not having to pay $10-12 for Vietnamese subs (as is the trend in New York right now).
Of course, there are some trends that I hope land in Edmonton soon, like chocolate chip cookie dough shooters available at a coffee shop (for just $1!).
Annie had a food-filled birthday party on Friday. Thanks to Mike and Virginia for the feast, and happy birthday Annie!

Hong Kong-style potato salad (my favourite dish of the night, featuring apples, celery, red onion, tomatoes, shrimp and potato)

Mike’s famous chicken wings

Beef and vegetable skewers, roasted on the Foreman Grill

Annie dishes out her Chestnut Cake from Garden Bakery

Food Notes for January 19, 2009

Many of my food blogging cohorts have already sounded the Fork Fest horn, but I figured I’d echo their sentiment: $20 or $35 will get you a great pre-fixe meal at one of the city’s fabulous independent eateries under the umbrella of Original Fare. Check out the menu selections here.
I had the opportunity to interview Miles Quon of The Lingnan a few weeks ago before Family Restaurant started to air – my article was published in Vue on Thursday. I watched the second episode, which contained nary a coherent storyline. I am hoping the rest of the season doesn’t develop like this.
Liane Faulder published a great article this past week – the start of many “that will see local chefs lead Bistro through their favourite food haunts.” Kevin Ostapek, of Flavours Bistro was up first. Even better, Liane and Kevin travelled with a photographer, which meant there was a small online gallery associated with their trek – I always love seeing more visual representations.
The Journal also featured Eric Ng’s veggie donair in a piece about “fake food” on Saturday. Great to see Eric’s efforts recognized in mainstream media – I attended the world premiere of his creation back in November.
Ted Tsenekos, the owner of It’s All Greek to Me on Rice Howard Way, passed away last Sunday. My condolences to his family.
I passed by Sabzy Cafe (10416 82nd Ave) on Friday, personally noting for the first time that it was open, and lo and behold, a review came out in the Journal on Saturday. The family-run Persian restaurant focuses on fresh, healthy fare (including quinoa, the current “it” food of the moment), and got a thumbs up from the reviewer.
Culina’s temporary website is finally up, complete with links to their menus! I love the font and the coloured text on black, and the fact that the phrase “Culina Family of Restaurants” disguises the corporate nature of the establishments to some degree.
Poul Mark of Transcend Coffee wrote an intriguing blog post last week, musing about the “anti-wine model” that must be applied to premium coffee stores – instead of making a high-end product more accessible to the average consumer, premium coffee must convince customers to pay more for a fairly common (and cheaply obtained) product.
On a related note (from Mack), the St. Albert Gazette wrote about both Transcend and St. City Roasters, two locally-based coffee roasters. It’s a good introductory article that discusses some of the techniques they employ, but essentially, the conclusion is that home baristas will never be able to duplicate a fine espresso at home (at least not without intense training and months of practice).
More on coffee: via the Starbucks Gossip Blog, an article in Advertising Age that published the results of an online survey that says 60% of Americans have decreased their fancy coffee consumption in the last six months.
Diane Twittered her experience at a cooking/demonstration class called Culinary Date Night at Servus Credit Union Place in St. Albert this weekend – it’s $115 per couple, but might be an interesting alternative for a special occasion dinner.
I’ve been poking around Dollarama every now and then to see what they have in their food aisle (being the cheapskate I am), and it always surprises me with some of the “brand name” goods they offer. This last trip saw Uncle Ben’s rice, Wheat Thins (organic, nonetheless), and Honeycomb cereal. The following, however, I was skeptical about:

Poutine sauce in a can is frightening enough, so “poutine” sauce? Makes you wonder…

Food Notes for January 12, 2009

I registered for the upcoming Food: Today, Tomorrow, Together Conference running January 29-30 this past week. I hope to get some blogging in during the conference, so watch for posts at the end of the month! If you can’t make it to the entire event, there is a public keynote by Carol Off, author of Bitter Chocolate, on Friday evening.
From Vue Weekly: Culina Highlands is now open for lunch, Tuesday to Saturday, 11am-2pm. I hope their new website debuts soon!
From City Palate: there’s a new bakery in town called Prairie Mill Bread Co. (14253 23 Avenue, 780-436-0920). They recently opened their first location in Edmonton after finding success in Calgary.
Liane was back this week from a brief hiatus, and covered Edmonton’s burgeoning scene of meal assembly studios. I had no idea there were nine in the city.
Food Network Canada’s third season of Family Restaurant, this time featuring the Quons of Lingnan and Chicken for Lunch fame, began on January 8. The 10-episode run got off to a good start, with the frenetic energy of the family on display.
Mack tipped me off to some interesting discussion on Connect2Edmonton about the upcoming Downtown Dining Week, an annual event that encourages patrons to dine in the core by offering set-meals at a “discounted” rate. I have to agree with IanO – Edmonton’s independents do themselves a disservice by offering two competing dining weeks (something I’ve said in the past) – why not combine Downtown Dining Week and Original Fare’s Fork Fest?
I saw commercials advertising Boston Pizza‘s new “10 for $10” feature on television this week (dine-in only from Sunday to Thursday, until February 8). I wonder which will be the next non-fast food chain to push value-for-dollar meals?
Speaking of advertising, I love the current Tim Hortons campaign, which pushes their coffee into the spotlight. Like Starbucks should be doing (instead of say, diverging to tea), the spots focus on the 20 minute freshness of each pot – simple, but effective.

Food Notes for January 5, 2009

…starting the year with dated food notes, to make them easier to distinguish when archived.

Sabor Divino (109, 10220 103 Street), the new Portuguese restaurant on the Boardwalk is now open.
According to the link Mack sent me, The Cupcake Bakeshoppe & Cafe (17298 Stony Plain Road) will be “changing [their] name and appearance.” Keep an eye out on their website for details.
Pita the Great (3, 10141 34 Avenue) has now become Alsalam Bakery & Restaurant.
Something I totally missed from about a month ago – Good Earth Produce closed their two locations in early December. I was wondering what happened after I passed it a few weeks back and saw the windows at their downtown location papered up.
Julie van Rosendaal’s last “day in her kitchen” post came a few days ago, but it seems she will continue, to the delight of her readers (and to her husband’s dismay, heh).
Jennifer Causey, the woman behind simply breakfast, a beautiful “art of breakfast” photo blog, has decided to end her blog. She will continue to post here, expanding beyond her morning meal.
An interesting read from the NYT about the five stages in which an ingredient passes through to become mainstream.
I couldn’t find a solid 2009 trends article that I liked, but this one from Epicurious is a quick read, and echoes most of the “common sense” projections one would guess.
I tried the new London Fog TAZO Tea Latte (a grande for $4.15) this weekend – it tasted like a creamier, sweeter version of a tea latte I had at Vancouver’s Blenz, with an aftertaste I can never seem to shake when it comes to Earl Grey tea.

“Tea Time” at Starbucks

Mack and I met Tom at Bourbon Street for lunch last week, and ended up at Moxie’s. I haven’t been to the chain in a while, so most of the menu seemed new to me. I ordered the Tandoori Chicken Pizza ($13.99) – the crust was a tad too hard and the chicken a touch dry, but I liked the mildly spicy curry sauce used. The boys ordered the Big Life Fish & Chips ($12.99), and both liked it. My biggest disappointment was with the service that afternoon – our server completely disappeared after taking our order. Our food finally arrived after an over thirty minute wait; I expected at least a cursory “thanks for being patient” check-in from the waiter. I guess that was too much to ask for.

Tandoori Chicken Pizza

Big Life Fish & Chips

Food Notes

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas! I took a bit of an unplanned break from blogging, and while it was relaxing, it’s nice to be writing again. I’ll be catching up on quite a few posts over the next few days.

I could not help but laugh and relate to Marty Chan’s account of attempting to demonstrate his dim sum prowess to friends, published this week in the Journal.
Well-known Edmonton blogger Lex Culinaria wrote that she has relocated to Langley, BC. Her posts will also begin to focus more on recipes, as she raises her second child. Best of luck Lyn!
Via Brulee Blog, a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa is using garlic salt to de-ice their roads.
There are a ton of year-end roundups out there, but I like the scope of Chow’s Year in Food 2008.
Mack, being the thoughtful person that he is, made me a customized calendar for Christmas, featuring sixty of the food photos that we have taken over the last two years, food-related quotes, and important dates to remember. It will hang proudly in my office at work! He posted about his experience making the calendar here.

June 2009

As is tradition in our family, Christmas Eve meant a potluck with family friends. My Mum made her famous breadsticks, honed from a recipe she now has memorized. There was turkey, and then some.