Category: notes

Food Notes

  • My latest Vue Weekly article, a profile on the man behind Origin India, Arvind Sawhney, was published last week. It’s also important to know that the restaurant offers wine pairings with their food. I reviewed the restaurant (albeit the buffet and not the recommended a la carte) back in October.
  • Courtney of Take it and Like it reviewed her recent experience at the fairly new Kai Asian Grill – it seems to be on par with other casual upscale chains in the city.
  • From Mack: Wildflower Grill made it onto Where Magazine’s annual tally of the 10 best new restaurants in Canada. See the entire list here.
  • The “oldest wine festival in Calgary” is coming to Edmonton – Winefest, on February 28 at the Shaw Conference Centre.
  • Walter Schwabe, one of Mack’s colleagues, launched the fusedlogic Food Bank Challenge last week. The goal is to have one million pictures of one million Food Bank donations by next December.
  • Information about the Food Security Conference on January 29-31, organized by the Edmonton Food Security Network, was released this week – the schedule of sessions looks great!
  • On a related note, the theme of International Week 2009 is food: “Hungry for change: Transcending Feast, Famine and Frenzy”. It should be a good event, as usual.
  • According to Canwest, the latest incarnation of Family Restaurant, a reality-show that focuses on a family-run establishment, will debut on January 8. As I mentioned a few months back, the family behind The Lingnan and Chicken for Lunch will be showcased.
  • On the topic of Food Network, I have to say that the cheesy Food Network Holiday Special, that saw a number of Canada’s celebrity chefs “get together” to cook got to me. It was staged, but still cool to see them interact. Also, I may finally be jumping on the Top Chef bandwagon. Foodie Suz wrote about her love for the show earlier this week; I’ve caught a few episodes of the season here and there (my interest being more on the side of the NY location than the competition itself), but the individual personalities involved, and the cooking challenges have been quite enthralling.
  • Starbucks will be debuting a new line of tea lattes in January. What happened to the coffee focus?
  • For all the accolades given for positive accomplishments, how about a negative one: Eater just rounded up its search for the worst food porn on the internet. Take a look and judge for yourself.
  • If you’ve ever called someone “beefy”, here’s the perfect gift for them – meat-scented spray from Burger King.
  • I bought a cute little jar of Chicken Curry spice mixture from a coworker last week, with all proceeds going to an orphanage near Mumbai. Using the mixture, I of course decided to deviate from the recipe attached and use rotisserie chicken (instead of uncooked meat) to cut down on the cooking time, and added a can of diced tomatoes. As a result, the curry flavour was weaker than it was probably supposed to be, and the chicken was unfortunately dry. Guess I need to be reminded to follow instructions closely.

 

Mrs. Susannah John’s Chicken Curry mixture 

  • I raided my emergency food drawer at work, on a particularly hungry afternoon. This ended up in my first encounter with microwavable Kraft Dinner in a cup. Thankfully, the sauce thickened up a bit after the following photo was taken, but I’m not sure I will buy it again – the styrofoam-like cup didn’t seem to be able to stand the heat of the microwave.

 

Microwavable Kraft Dinner

  • The franchised Sbarro replaced the family-run Italian fast food  outlet (whose name escapes me) in Edmonton City Centre a few months ago. I tried their lasagna ($4.79), but it just wasn’t the same (or as inexpensive) as what I had been used to.

 

Lasagna from Sbarro

Food Notes

  • I’m always happy when restaurant websites actually have content on them. So much so that it’s definitely something to note – welcome, Silk Hat, to the blogosphere!
  • The Journal reviewed the random Rice Bowl Express (8926 149 Street) on the weekend.
  • There was recent chatter on Chowhound about the whether or not the west end Julio’s Barrios has closed. Based on their website, and the listed locations, it looks like it is.
  • Via Loosen Your Belt and Eat Around Edmonton, I learned that the space that was formerly Cafe Select on the southside will become a second Original Joe’s outpost.
  • On the topic of blogs, I’ve noticed that the last few local food blogs that have come up are authored by duos. I wonder if this is a trend on the writing side of things – to offer multiple perspectives while splitting a time-consuming task.
  • Sobeys is pushing consumers to think about having lobster in place of turkey at Christmas this year. I have to say, seafood just doesn’t convey the holidays to me as much as poultry.
  • I’m pretty hard on most chain restaurants (particularly those selling the “upscale casual” idea), but some do escape my wrath. Milestones (1708 99 Street), for example, does a decent brunch, which I have written about in the past. Mack and I took his Grandma there prior to a movie this weekend. The menu has changed slightly since I had been there before, but the Prime Rib Hash ($12.95) looked good to me: slow roasted and thinly sliced prime rib tossed with crispy potatoes, bell peppers, sweet onion, roasted corn in our specialty hash seasoning, then topped with two poached eggs, real hollandaise, roma tomatoes and grilled herb toast. While it was all right, I probably should have gone with the no-fail Strawberry French Toast, which Mack’s Grandma ordered, as the kitchen was light on the prime rib, and the sauce flavouring the tomatoes was much too sweet.

 

Prime Rib Hash – so much food!

 

Strawberry French Toast

Grilled Shrimp California Benedict

  • Mack and I also stopped by the Vue Weekly Christmas party on Saturday, where we met Hanne and Carlo from Supper In Stereo (Hanne is also a fellow writer in the Dish section). It’s always lovely to finally meet people you’ve been reading online for some time.

 

The spread (half eaten) at Vue’s shindig

Food Notes

  • Mark your calendars: Fork Fest (Original Fare‘s version of “dine out week”) is scheduled for January 19-22 and 26-29.
  • The Journal reported that Le Table de Renoir is temporarily closed because the owner is going through a divorce. It should be back up and running in January.
  • Also in the Journal, a positive review for Bistecca, the new Sorrentino-run steakhouse.
  • The 12-year old “food critic” from New York I mentioned two weeks ago in my Food Notes will be even more famous – Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to his story to be adapted into a movie or a television show.
  • How’s this for the intersection of food and politics: December 3 was supposed to be declared “Yelp Day” in San Francisco, in honor of the popular website, but once the Mayor’s office got wind that negative reviews of businesses that supported Proposition 8 had been taken down, the proclamation was pulled.
  • I was on the look out for this year’s incarnation of Starbucks’ “It’s Red Again” campaign, but it turns out the coffee company has decided to go the charitable route this year, partnering with the now well-known (RED) campaign: “For every purchase of a (STARBUCKS)RED EXCLUSIVE beverage – Peppermint Mocha Twist, Gingersnap Latte and Espresso Truffle – at participating stores in the U.S. and Canada, Starbucks will contribute five cents to the Global Fund to invest in AIDS programs in Africa.”

 

The (Starbucks)RED sleeve

  • May and I had a bite to eat at Ga Ya, prior to a show at the Timms Centre last week. I had been meaning to return at some point to try something other than the Bee Bim Bob (which I wrote about before), and the Chicken Teriyaki ($10.95) hit the spot. The meat was nicely flavoured with a house marinade sauce, and there was a fairly generous amount included.

 

Chicken Teriyaki

  • Needing a fast dinner option in South Common before checking out the new Future Shop, Mack and I headed to Ikea, past all of the tempting housewares and seasonal items and up to the cafeteria. I’ve written about my love for their cheap food before, but I thought it was worth noting that their quiche is pretty darn good as well. Served with a bowl of soup (or salad), it’s a meal that won’t break the bank at $4.99.

 

Vegetable Quiche with Mushroom Soup (orange juice extra)

Food Notes

  • A profile I wrote about Cindy Lazarenko of Culina Highlands hit the stands on Thursday. I was remiss with the space limitations for that article in particular, because I felt I had so much more I could write. So here’s a quote I would have shared if I had more room: “You watch these Food Network [shows and] it doesn’t have to be like that – oh Rachel Ray makes these half hour dinners– [but] did you see the list of ingredients? Do you have that much money? It would cost so much money to make all these different things. It really just has to be simple – roasted chicken. Have chicken and vegetables and potatoes. And then the next day you can have a chicken quesadilla with the leftover chicken. Keep it simple. We don’t have to eat every ethnic food out there for dinner every night. We just really need to eat basic food. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. To me it’s not that difficult to just cook.”
  • See Magazine reviewed the new Kai Asian Grill last week (I’m hoping they fix the alignment of the article soon; it looks like they just debuted a new website), and Allan Kellogg put the Silk Hat to the test in the Journal.
  • I passed by a new Good Earth Cafe in the government district (12056 Jasper Avenue) the other day. It looked really nice from the outside at least.
  • Another gadget very few would have room for in their kitchen: a microwave s’mores maker.
  • A story I first saw on CNN, but worth reading about – a farm couple opened their farm up to anyone who wanted to pick their leftover vegetables, and 40,000 people showed up.
  • Also a sort of “harvest”, and only Andrea could send this to me – a cookbook full of recipes where human semen is an ingredient.

Food Notes

  • My latest Vue Weekly article was published this week, about a “Veggie Donair World Premiere” taking place at the Hydeaway All Ages Art Space on Wednesday.
  • Vue reported on Thursday that Four Rooms in City Centre has closed: “Henry Song, owner/operator of the City Centre establishment, commented to Vue Weekly that he regrets closing on such short notice. He offered no explanation beyond that the timing was right. He regrets any difficulty caused to clientele, musicians and his staff. He has expressed a desire to continue to work in the food and entertainment industry.” What’s up with all of these recent closures?
  • Lea told me about a new Thai restaurant on the north side called Stephanie’s Thai and Lao Fusion Cuisine. It was reviewed this week in Vue as well.
  • Mack sent me a link to Sassy Cakes, a new home-based cupcake business. They’re also on Twitter.
  • All eyes on the maple leaf: Susur Lee’s debut in New York doesn’t make him flinch at all. A NY blogger I read was lucky enough to go to the Gourmet media event alluded to in the article – her thoughts are here.
  • Mack downloaded the Urban Spoon app to his iPod Touch last week, and I will admit that it was rather fun to play with (the columns can be flicked like a slot machine, but shaking of the iPod will yield a random result – too cool). I hope they add Edmonton to their list of cities soon!
  • Does kids’ cuisine reign supreme? It seems to be the trend, writes Misty Harris.
  • Also on the subject of children – I am tempted to describe the 12 year old food critic in an NYT story as “precious”, but something tells me he would bristle at that label.
  • In a case of ‘coulda, shoulda, woulda’, had I known Starbucks would wholly change their line of mints – from the tiny, power-packed kind to large, money-grabbing tablets, I would have stocked up on the small boxes (pictured below on the right). While the larger case is sleek, it makes me feel a little like a dealer of some kind every time I slide it open.

 

New vs. Old Starbucks Peppermints

Food Notes

  • I’m sure most of my blog readers have seen the Journal article that was published in part about this website on Wednesday. I was asked on Twitter about how I felt being on the other side of the interview card, and I have to say, not having control over what will be printed has made me more aware of what I write after conducting an interview. For the most part though, I’m happy with the article. And for those who are curious – my stats shot up the three days following the article (doubling my usual traffic), and has since slipped back into the same rhythm it has held over the past few months.
  • Kimmi tipped me off that Kai Asian Grill (which I had mentioned as Tao a while back), at 100, 10909 Jasper Avenue, just opened. They have a pretty decent website.
  • A second Famoso Neopolitan Pizzeria will open in Terwilligar in January (142 St & 23 Ave). It seems to me the South West is the place to be these days, at least for new places to chow.
  • They really are many-fingered, via Mack – a Caffe Sorrentino is going into West Edmonton Mall.
  • A new tea shop opened in Southgate Mall (11100 51 Avenue) recently, called Tea Desire. There really is a growing demand for “gourmet” tea in the city.
  • I met the Studio Manager of D’Lish over the weekend – he said the grand opening will be in early December, but they are already open for lunch. Check out the menu on the website.
  • With Vancouver’s very successful Salt, and now Farm in Calgary, will a charcuterie-serving wine bar be the next big thing in Edmonton?
  • The Edmonton Journal gave a disappointed review of Hundred over the weekend, while See Magazine offered a thumbs up for The Hat.
  • Foodie Suz very bravely wrote about her $2000/month grocery bill on her blog. Brave to me in particular because I don’t really keep track how much I spend on food…
  • Open Table teamed up with over 1300 restaurants in the U.S. to come up with an “Appetite Stimulus Plan”, offering discounted lunch and dinner deals. How long until these kinds of discounts come to Canada?
  • Starbucks unveiled their 2008 Red Cup on November 13. I couldn’t resist popping by for my favourite drink – the newly-renamed Gingersnap Latte. Yum!

 

Gingersnap Latte

Food Notes

  • Turns out D’Lish on 124th Street is another meal-assembly business, along the lines of the south side’s Passionate Plate. It opens some time this month.
  • City Palate reports that the upcoming Sabzy Cafe (which will occupy the old Sapphire Lounge space on Whyte) will be a Mediterranean/Turkish spot, and also mentioned the new Sabor Divino (109-10220 103 Street NW, 780-757-1114) to watch for on the Boardwalk.
  • Also from City Palate – Kerstin’s new Chocophilia flavour is Cardamom Mint. I’ll need to get out to the store some time soon to give it a try.
  • Hanne Lynch wrote about her experience at a NAIT Culinary Skills course that I’ve been considering for a while – Kitchen Skills I – The Art of Garde Manger & Knife Skills. Her husband blogged about their experience here.
  • It’s funny how excited I get about potato chips, but it’s undeniable: President’s Choice has added two new flavours to their premium line of chips – Spicy Piri Piri and Tandoori Chicken. I have no doubt the former will be too hot for my palate, but I was happy with my initial sampling of the latter.
  • Instead of the 100 Mile Diet, how about the $1 a day diet? A New York Times article about the subject in an economic downturn.
  • Also from the Times, a great primer article on Yelp, a rising star in the food subset of social media. I’ve been spending more time on Chowhound as of late, but I started browsing Yelp, and it looks like an interesting community. I’ll be poking around a bit more.
  • I normally purchase the cheapest cupcake liners I can find, but should a special occasion arise, I wouldn’t mind considering these absolutely gorgeous paper Filigree Cupcake Wrappers.
  • Employees at my organization were treated to a fundraising “Ethnic Lunch” this past week. For just $10, we were treated to a buffet of Indian and African dishes, including Daal and Curried Cabbage. Delish!

 

My plate

  • Megan bought me Foodie Fight, a trivia game that asks questions on everything food-related. We’ve already played it twice, and I’m happy to say I’ve been on the winning side each time. Thanks Megan!

 

Foodie Fight (the board on the left belongs to Gord and Andrea, while the one on the right belongs to Mack and I)

Food Notes

  • The Edmonton Food Security Network is offering its first of five learning events, “designed for front-line service providers who work on food security issues as well as community members”. The upcoming session will take place on Tuesday, November 4 from 9-11am at City of Edmonton – Community Services Circle Square (11808 St. Albert Trail). Direct your RSVPs here.
  • The second branch of Culina has been open for nearly a month in the old Bacon location (6509 112 Avenue, 780-477-2422). Alan Kellogg gave it a thumbs up in the Journal.
  • The site formerly occupied by Sapphire Lounge (10416 82 Avenue) will be transformed “soon” into the Sabezy Cafe.
  • I passed by a new catering/bistro(?) place called d’licious in the High Street area the other day. It is also “coming soon”.
  • Via the Edible Prairie Journal, a link to enRoute’s list of the 10-best Canadian eateries. No Edmonton entries, but Calgary’s Chef’s Table made the cut.
  • Also via the Edible Prairie, I found out that Transcend‘s Chad Moss recently placed fourth at the Canadian Barista Championships. Read more about his experience at their blog.
  • Since being bitten by the entertaining bug, I know I like collecting ideas for off-beat food gatherings. Amber Hildebrandt’s grilled cheese party seems like the perfect combination of spontaneity and ease.
  • Mack sent me an interesting post by Darren Barefoot, where he muses about the idea of seasoning. I don’t know about you, but even if my dish contains “enough” pepper, I can never resist reaching for the tabletop peppercorn grinder anyway…
  • I’ve been meaning to try Safeway’s bakery cupcakes since spying them in the case a few months back. Priced at just $1.50 each, you can’t beat the price. The cake itself was moist and not too sweet, but the latter could not be said for the icing, and I ended up trashing most of it. Decent deal to satisfy one’s sweet tooth though.

 

Banana Chocolate and Vanilla cupcakes

  • I took some time this weekend to drop by the second Sobeys Urban Fresh in the Garneau neighbourhood (8225 – 112 Street). It’s definitely not as nice as the flagship store, as the low ceiling and relative lack of windows contribute to its more bunker-like feel. There is a huge prepared food aisle with not only ready-to-heat items, but even packaged food that has already been cooked (seriously, they were selling pre-cooked steak in the cooler). The bakery had a few boxes of vegan cupcakes (4 for $8), likely in an attempt to try and appeal to some of the organic shoppers that may have perused Organic Roots in the past. The Bistro immediately attracted me with their bank of windows and bright design, and I could see students being drawn in with their menu of pizzas, burgers, and pub fare.

 

Prepared food aisle

 

Bistro

Food Notes

  • If you’re in the downtown area at lunch hour on Friday, be sure to check out the Chili Cook-off at Scotia Place. Sample chili and check out the rodeo atmosphere!
  • The Hat opened last week (why restaurants don’t get their websites together prior to the launch is beyond me). Here’s a short primer article about it in the Journal – The Hat’s focus is on burgers.
  • Christopher Thrall wrote a great piece about the family behind New Asian Village this week.
  • I saw a news story recently about Health Fare (10865 23 Avenue), a restaurant that bills itself as a ‘healthy fast food’ outlet. They apparently have a computer that will help you determine the appropriate number of calories to consume per meal, and entrees with total caloric content listed. A little too much work for me, but might be interesting to try.
  • A quick decision at the Kingsway Garden Mall food court yielded me a plate of Butter Chicken from Badass Jack’s. There was a funny colour to the sauce (almost salmon), but had the chicken been even a little bit moist, I would have forgiven the aesthetics of the dish.

 

Badass Jack’s Butter Chicken

  • I had a Panino Veneto at the City Centre location of Caffe Sorrentino last week. It was smokin’ hot, with a generous amount of melted cheese, but the brie pretty much overtook any turkey and cranberry mayo flavours that may have been present.

 

Panino Veneto (the sandwich really wasn’t green…the overhead fluorescent lights makes it appear so)

  • I tried Starbucks’ Perfect Oatmeal the other day (with a coupon), and it reminded me how much I dislike oatmeal (nothing against the Starbucks’ version). The packaging also seemed excessive – a plastic-wrapped spoon, plastic-encased raisins, a packet of brown sugar, and of course, the container of oatmeal itself.

 

Perfect Oatmeal

Food Notes

  • My blog turns two today! You know you’re addicted to the medium when you refer to some things occurring “before blog” and “after blog”, heh. I’m still enjoying the ride, and the slow expansion of my writing borders. Thanks always for reading!
  • Congratulations to Team NAIT, who performed superbly at the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany this weekend. Every member of the team medalled, and two competitors were able to secure gold. I was privileged enough to be invited to one of their practice sessions in September – click here to read.
  • Edmonton’s second Sobeys Urban Fresh, situated in the old location of Planet Organic Roots in the Garneau neighbourhood (8225 – 112 Street), opened last Thursday. As individual stores are designed with the immediate community in mind, this branch features a large floral selection because of the nearby hospital and frozen meals to cater to university students.
  • An interview with Chris Lachance, head of the Century Hospitality Group that just opened Hundred Bar Kitchen, reveals that he has plans for a sushi concept named Stingray tentatively slated for next spring.
  • Kerstin’s Chocolates, my favourite confectioner, will be unveiling a new Chocophilia bar at this weekend’s Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Festival. They also have a new product that I’ll have to try: Chocolate Melt-aways, made with a mixture of chocolate and cocoa butter.
  • There’s a new Vietnamese place in town: My Tho (9261 – 34 Ave, 780-988-2968). It was reviewed in Vue Weekly this past week.
  • Edmonton’s newest duelling piano bar (who knew there was a market for this?), The Red Piano on Bourbon Street in West Edmonton Mall, will host its grand opening on October 31.
  • There has been some chatter on Connect2Edmonton about Nikita’s (and possibly Le Table de Renoir) having been shut down. Does anyone know anything new?
  • The Journal had a bit piece on Bistecca, the new Sorrentino’s Group outpost, last week.
  • FoodTV is looking for “restaurant scouts”: if you have a notable restaurant in your community, send it in and you’ll be considered for monthly prizes. November’s challenge is your local “hidden gem”.
  • Zagat reports that automated ordering is the way of the future. While I’m not sure I would enjoy interacting with screens beyond the initial novelty of it, I’d definitely try it out.