We’re deep into planning What the Truck?!’s fifth (can you believe it?) season. Make sure to check the website in the next few weeks for an announcement of our first event of the summer! On to this week’s food notes:

• A reminder that the Culinary Arts Cook-Off is taking place at Mount Royal School on April 18, 2015, from 11am-2pm. See you there for “noodles and doodles”!
• This is such a neat idea – Brew-Curious is a “rare chance to experience Edmonton’s local brewing heritage and modern craft beer industry”, with plenty of tasting in between. A few tickets to the April 18, 2015 event are still available.
• Native Delights is celebrating their grand opening on April 25, 2015, from 10am-6pm with a street festival. Check it out at 10406 118 Avenue.
• Congrats to Glow Juicery, who just opened a new Juicery + Raw Food Cafe in Old Strathcona over the weekend (7911 104 Street).
• Swiss2Go, a popular sandwich shop that used to be located in the west end, is reopening on April 15, 2015 at a new shop in Beverly (4306 118 Avenue).
• My Dad, for one, will be thrilled to hear this: Bubba’s is back. You might remember Bubba’s as a very popular south side barbecue vendor, until a fire put him out of commission. Find him now in the Osman Auctions lot at 6330 75 Street.
• Korean is definitely the cuisine of the moment in Edmonton – new restaurants seem to be opening up all the time, including Seoul Tofu House (5020 97 Street), reviewed by Andrea.
• Great to see the Journal feature the repurposed Central Station Edmonton Transit System booth that now houses Baba Finkelstein’s.
• Phil offers his thoughts on his YEG Pizza Odyssey so far.
• Another local chef will be featured on Chopped Canada this season – watch Zinc’s Chef David Omar take on the competition on June 13, 2015.
• It must be spring, as food trucks have started to come out of hibernation! Check the Street Food app for the latest updates, but in anticipation of our What the Truck?! season, we’ve also started posting profiles of new trucks you can expect on the street this year. First up: Phat Tony’s.
• You have until April 20, 2015 to nominate your favourite restaurant for Vue Weekly’s annual Golden Fork Awards.
• I do wish Avenue Edmonton articles went online sooner – I always want to link to them after reading the paper issue. Anyway – I didn’t want to miss pointing to a piece about some Edmonton restaurants that are building their success but not repeating concepts in the process.
• Vue profiles the Alder Food Security Society and how they want to increase food security in Edmonton by giving a broader audience access to local food.
• Mack and I are super-excited we got into our first track choice for Eat Alberta (Track 9: Foothills). But in case you missed it, tickets for the May 2, 2015 event are still available!
• On the way home from an errand, Mack and I thought it was a good excuse to finally give Ragazzi Bistro (8110 82 Avenue) a try. The wait, as expected, on a Friday night was almost 45 minutes, and we toughed it out. We shared a Raging Bull pizza with pepperoni, ham, sausage, salami, bacon, and banana peppers. The crust was bone dry, which just wasn’t our preference, and we could have used a bit more cheese. And as is usually the case with meat-heavy pizzas, it was also on the salty side. That said, the service was good, and it was clear that Ragazzi has built up a clientele made up of mostly regulars – so they must be doing something right. It’ll be worth another shot when we’re in the neighbourhood again.

Raging Bull pizza

Back at it after a long weekend – though I can’t complain – we were able to host my family for dinner, finally write our wedding thank yous, and still had time to lay low and relax. Hope you had a good one, too! On to this week’s food notes:

• It looks like Parkallen’s new restaurant in the west end is almost ready to open!
• Andrea and Cindy recapped the second underground dinner hosted by The Salt Room, located upstairs at Mother’s Market.
• Andrea also wrote about The Dog, the restaurant that replaced Absolutely Edibles.
• The Journal didn’t take long to review The Burger’s Priest.
• Chef Andrew Cowan has moved on from Century Hospitality to helm Packrat Louie.
• The Journal wrote a story about the couple hoping to kickstart Chartier, their Beaumont restaurant dream, with crowdfunding.
• The Edmonton Opera is hoping to increase the buzz about their new show, Lucia di Lammermoor, through some opera-inspired cocktails at &27, BLVD and Mercer Tavern.
• Sobeys Newcastle pulled a fast one with some of its neighbours as a way of introducing the community to some of their ready-made items. Watch the aftermath of its “pop-up restaurant” here.
• There’s an anti-Yelp documentary coming out in the fall; Grub Street interviewed the director on how this film came to be.
• Mack and I started off the weekend with a stop at one of our old favourites: Route 99.

Pepperoni and mushroom pizza

• We also did some home cooking with some Icelandic halibut from Ocean Odyssey, served over a bevy of vegetables from S4 Greenhouses and Doef’s.

Seared halibut with gazpacho salsa and tomato vinaigrette

I’m so ready for the Easter break; Mack’s been making fun of how much I’ve been sleeping lately, but I think it’s just fatigue. It’ll be nice to have a long weekend to catch up on sleep and other things! On to this week’s food notes:

• Sorrentino’s annual Garlic Festival kicks off this week and runs April 1-30, 2015, featuring garlic-centric menus at all of their locations.
• The owners behind Absolutely Edibles have revamped the space, which has now become The Dog, an upscale hot dog joint. Linda has an early review.
• A smattering of reviews of The Burger’s Priest – this week from Robyn and Stephanie.
• Jonny offers another opinion on Cerdo Tacos, the new Mexican restaurant in St. Albert.
• Is two a trend? The Alder Room was the first to launch a crowdfunding campaign this year to help finance their new restaurant, and now a couple have done the same with the hopes of opening a French Canadian restaurant, Chartier, in Beaumont. They’ve already raised over $45,000 towards their goal of $95,000.
• Vue Weekly’s annual Golden Fork Awards is now accepting nominations for your favourite eats.
• Congrats to the crew behind the 2015 YEG Sexy calendar, which raised $19,500 for the Edmonton Food Bank! If you have what it takes to be a part of their 2016 calendar, applications are now open!
• Tickets for the 2015 Eat Alberta will be released on March 31. Mack and I are looking forward to attending as participants this year – hope to see you there!
• A few friends and I took in one of the drop-in classes on Wednesday evenings at the Art Gallery of Alberta. Centred around silk screening, the instructor first gave us an opportunity to explore the Pop Art exhibit for inspiration, then we all tried our hand at creating a stencil to screen. While my artistic talents definitely leave something to be desired, it was a lot of fun!

Can you guess which print I created?

• Before the art class, we met up at the nearby King Noodle House in Chinatown. I’m not sure what it will take for me to deviate from the bun bo Hue.

Bun bo Hue at King Noodle House

• Kerry and I met up for a long-delayed dinner at RGE RD on Thursday night. We shared several small plates, with my favourite being the hay smoked sausage and chickpeas. The brassica mustard was the perfect accompaniment.

Hay smoked sausage and chickpeas at RGE RD

• After a long week, it was nice to unwind with Mack at one of our favourites, Café Amore. Black Pearl, their new seafood venture on 104 Street, sounds like it might still be a month out.

Truffle chicken pasta at Café Amore

• There was a ton of excitement with the lead-up and opening of Little Brick (10004 90 Street), Nate Box’s newest venture, on Friday. We didn’t plan very well, and arrived on Sunday afternoon past their operational hours, but Nate was still gracious enough to give us a quick tour of the space. No doubt, a lot of love has gone into restoring the Riverdale home, and it will be a beautiful venue for brunches, set dinners and musical evenings.

Inside Little Brick

Happy Easter!

• I’m looking forward to attending Northern Land’s Meet Your Maker event this weekend. Learn more about the biggest all-Canadian wine and culinary festival in Vue Weekly.
• Dream Tea House opened up their fourth location in Oliver Square (11242 104 Avenue). Stephanie wrote an overview of their menu items.
• Sherwood Park now has its own location of Memphis Blues Barbecue House (150 – 222 Baseline Road).
• Sandwich and Sons continue to get good food press, this week from both Liv and Twyla.
• The seventh Pizza Odyssey took Phil to D’Amore’s Mercato and the Italian Centre, for a throwdown of grocery stores that double as pizzerias.
• Not surprisingly, the third Prairie Noodle Shop pop-up was a resounding success, serving up vegetarian ramen. Andrea and Cindy recapped the evening.
• Andrea also captured her experience at the first underground dinner at The Salt Room.
• Cindy attended a variety of events during Edmonton’s first YEG Coffee Week – great to hear that it will be back next year, too!
• Century Grill (and Hundred Bar and Kitchen) have been sold by Century Hospitality Group, in order to allow the business to focus on their other brands. Century Grill is hosting a final farewell party on March 28.
• Chic Hog O’s Social Roast House closed recently due to a dispute with their new landlord. The couple behind the restaurant are currently scouting new locations and considering a food truck.
• Did you know that March 20 was “macaron day”? Lillian (macaron baker extraordinaire) marked the occasion by reflecting on the origins and current direction of her blog.
• F.E.D. U.P. (Feminist Eatery Database Undercover Project) is a site led by four Women’s Studies students at the University of Alberta, seeking to “highlight prominent issues regarding sex, gender and race in the service industry”.
• The tickets for the 2015 edition of Eat Alberta go live on March 31, 2015.
• Twyla is leading her own food tour to New York City April 12-16, 2015.
• Mack and I hosted a family supper on Sunday, as Mack’s Mom is in town for the week. We successfully made citrus-braised pork shoulder tacos with all the fixings from Pucker. We’ll definitely make it again!

Tacos for the family!

• The Telus World of Science Edmonton plays host to its latest Dark Matters event on March 19, an adults-only evening where “science is served on the rocks”. The theme this week is food and beer, with Alley Kat on tap, and sessions on cheese, honey and sausage.
• Cookie lovers rejoice: Cookie Love Café is holding their grand opening celebration on March 20. Expect free cookies, ice cream and espresso!
• Taste of Iceland reservations are going fast! Check out the dinner menu to be served at Characters from April 9-12, 2015 here.
• Burger’s Priest opened to much fanfare this weekend, but did you know that another Eastern burger chain is set to invade Edmonton this summer? Phil has the details about Relish Gourmet Burgers (10704 124 Street) aiming to open in June.
• The warm weather means food trucks have started to come out of hibernation! The Local Omnivore, among others, has already kicked off the season.
• There are some great things happening at Mother’s Market – namely, the unremarkable food vendors on the second floor have been replaced by The Salt Room, run by Chef Antony Krause, formerly of St. Albert’s Privada. He is hosting an ongoing series of underground dinners, the first of which were reviewed by Cindy and Diane. It looks like his next few are already sold out, so follow Antony on Twitter to get a jump on the next one!
• NAIT’s annual Chef in Residence Program took place last week, and it looks like Chef Michael Stadtländer helped cook up quite the feast for its feature luncheon – reports are back from Andrea and Chris.
• I love that Loblaws is following in the footsteps of French supermarket Intermarché and adopting its ugly produce campaign, selling undersized or blemished produce under the “Naturally Imperfect” label.
• The Downtown Business Association kicked off Downtown Dining Week with a reception at the Art Gallery of Alberta on Thursday. Nine restaurants were on hand, offering samples of some of the dishes they will be serving as a part of their prix fixe menus from March 13-22, 2015. One of my favourite tastes was from The Harvest Room, who served a red wine braised veal cheek slider. Zinc’s contribution of a house cured and smoked pork belly, atop potato rosti with a quail egg was also delicious, and formed part of a larger statement plate of “head to hock” Alberta pork. Thanks again to the DBA for the invitation!

Red wine braised veal cheek sliders

Zinc’s Alberta Pork “head to hock”

• On Friday, my family and I headed to The Marc for supper to celebrate my parents’ anniversary. Incidentally, only my Dad ended up ordering from the Downtown Dining Week menu, as the rest of us were too easily swayed by the a la carte options. One thing we could agree on, though – beignets for the win!

Braised pork cheek with Savoy cabbage, peas, pearl onion and fingerling potato

Seared scallops with confit potato, spinach pistou, leek crisps, tomato and caper

Beignets!

I’m honoured to be among the bloggers nominated in the “Best in Food” category for the 2014 Yeggies. Congrats to my fellow nominees! On to this week’s food notes:

• Over 30 restaurants are participating in this year’s Downtown Dining Week, which runs March 13-22, 2015. Prix fixe meals are specially priced at $15 for lunch and $28 or $48 for dinner.
• The Palestinian Bazaar on March 14, 2015 will celebrate the arts, culture and food of the Palestinian people. The event is taking place at the Citadel Theatre from 12-5pm.
• It’s starting to look like spring out there – head to the annual Seedy Sunday event to get inspired for your garden this summer! The March 22, 2015 event features speakers, exhibitors and seed swapping.
• St. Albert is now home to a taqueria – Cerdo Tacos opened last week at 150, 15 Perron Street.
• The Edmonton location of The Burger’s Priest opens on Saturday. The Journal has a sneak peek.
• Great to see that Meat is now offering brunch on the weekends from 11am-2pm! Bring on the biscuits and gravy.
• First there was S’wich, then Farrow, and now, Sandwich and Sons – Edmonton is definitely on the handcrafted sandwich train! Both Andrea and Cindy checked it out last week.
• Linda reviewed the new Browns Socialhouse in Windermere, which seems like an immediately popular addition to that part of the city.
• Diane started a great series called Living La Vida Local, which will be highlighting her favourite local businesses. The first post is all about Revojuiceinary.
• Have you seen Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list? Three local establishments made the cut – Corso 32, RGE RD and Rostizado.
• Ever wondered what your favourite chef has up his or her sleeve? Wonder no more, with Liane’s story about food tattoos.
• Thinking of booking a class at Get Cooking? They’re offering a 10% discount for April to June classes booked this week. I’m already looking forward to our Indian street food class with Addie in a few weeks!
• In Calgary on the weekend, Mack and I stumbled upon a thought-provoking art installation at the Esker Foundation in Inglewood called tender by Rita McKeough. The accompanying interview illuminates her view on how we should see our food.

tender

Mack and I are ready for a bit of a break, so we’re both looking forward to our upcoming getaway to Calgary. I’m readying for a low-key weekend full of new discoveries and good food. On to this week’s food notes:

• The next Green Drinks is all about Local Food DIY! Join in on the conversation on March 4, 2015 at Yellowhead Brewery.
• YEG Coffee Week starts this weekend, and runs March 7-15, 2015. Check out their list of events, including pour over and latte art seminars, roastery tour, and a coffee-inspired dinner.
• Cheer on our hometown chef Shane Chartrand when his episode of Chopped Canada airs on Saturday – he is hosting two viewing parties at Sage on March 7, 2015.
• Do you commemorate Pi Day (3-14)? Maybe you should! Or at least, with Sugared and Spiced offering up a special selection of Pi Day Pies, you’ll be tempted to. Pre-order chocolate pecan, black & blueberry or caramel and banana cream pie by March 8 for pick-up on March 14.
• Save the date: the fourth annual Culinary Cook-off, benefiting Mount Royal School, will be taking place on April 18, 2015.
• Blink and you miss it: the second Edmonton Food Fight, hosted at Get Cooking on March 24, 2015, is already sold out! Make sure to follow the Twitter account for notice about future events.
• Lots of food literature released this week for your reading pleasure, starting with Avenue Edmonton’s Best Restaurants issue. Congrats to all of the establishments recognized in 2015, including those honoured in the best overall category – Corso 32, RGE RD, Cibo Bistro, The Marc and Tres Carnales.
• The Tomato also released their annual list of Top 100 Best Things to Eat or Drink in Edmonton, with a sandwich from Farrow topping the list. Unfortunately, the list isn’t yet online, so you’ll have to pick up a paper copy of the issue.
• Sandwich and Sons (13119 156 Street) is the newest artisan sandwich shop to open in Edmonton by Chef Alex Sneazwell, formerly of Von’s and El Cortez.
• Liv is the latest to review Coffee Bureau, the newest café to add to Edmonton’s coffee district.
• Phil sampled pizzas from Tony’s Pizza Palace and Ragazzi Bistro in his sixth Pizza Odyssey installment.
• This is a great piece in the Journal that interviewed a few chefs, including Daniel Costa, about the current and future state of Edmonton’s restaurant scene.
• Learn more about the duo behind Farrow in a piece in Vue Weekly.
• Expect a new farmers’ market this summer on the city’s north side, called the Miller Crossing Farmers’ Market, to run Tuesdays and Sundays at the Miller Crossing Kingsway Legion Branch (14339 50 Street).
• The scourge of K-cups, indeed – have you embraced the single cup trend?
• Speaking of coffee, would you try KFC’s forthcoming edible coffee cups, coming to a UK location near you?
• The Parlour is one of our favourite meeting locations – lots of natural light, half price wine on Wednesdays, and one of my favourite pizzas in the city!

The Gamberi

• Before the Edmonton Rush game on Friday, a few of us met up at The Denizen Hall for a bite to eat. I had their $10 fried chicken special. It’s a good value, three pieces of meat served with smashed potato, kale, and buttermilk biscuits, but the breading was a little thin for my liking.

Fried chicken at The Denizen Hall

• At the Rush game, I ended up winning a really neat prize – a Budweiser goal light helmet (complete with a remote control to turn on the light). What was more amusing than the helmet, however, was learning how much people were willing to pay for it.

Goal light selfie!

• Over the weekend, a few friends hosted a communal hot pot party. The meat definitely outweighed the veggie options that night!

Hot pot!

• After babysitting our nephew on Sunday, Mack and I had lunch at King Noodle House. It’s always busy, and for good reason.

We love their bun bo Hue!

• I’m proud to say that not only have I kept the starter alive that I received a few weeks ago at a bread making class I attended, but I’ve also been continuing to bake loaves!

Bread baby #4

• The Pourhouse Bier Bistro continues their “chef vs chef” pop-up series through April. The throwdowns will feature several chefs, including Chef Matt Phillips of Lux and Chef Danielle Majeau of Creole Envie.
• Save the date – Characters is bringing back their Taste of Iceland feature April 9-12, 2015.
• Though we often think of building up, we don’t often think of better utilizing subterranean spaces as well. Sofra (10345 106 Street) has redone their basement space up into a sumptuous Turkish wine bar.
• Overtime on the south side has been replaced by Provincial Pub (#160, 4211 106 Street).
• Edmonton is now home to another casual franchise – Browns Social House is now open in Winderemere (5210 Windermere Blvd).
• Mack believes that newly-opened Coffee Bureau and Lock Stock Coffee have revived Edmonton’s coffee district.
• Amelia alerted me to paper signage next to Smokehouse BBQ – look for their sister restaurant, Pie Piepers, soon!
• Linda tweeted about a forthcoming Korean restaurant, Nong Bu, in Old Strathcona.
• Twyla takes aim at Halo Bar and Bistro’s byline of local ingredients at the Edmonton International Airport.
• Phil’s latest Pizza Odyssey post rounds up the best of the old timers – Royal Pizza and Dallas Pizza.
• Cindy is the latest to check out Chinatown’s Tao Garden for noodle soup.
• Fancy some afternoon tea? Check out Andrea’s review of elegant tea service at the Hotel Macdonald.
• I love the idea of a pedway food adventure – here’s one suggested by Vue Weekly.
• Cindy recapped the inaugural Edmonton Food Fight on February 21, hosted at Get Cooking.
• Avenue’s annual Best Restaurants issue is out next week!
• Love food trucks and want to help grow Edmonton’s food scene? Consider joining the What the Truck?! organizing committee – we’re recruiting!
• It was great to be at The Westin on Thursday night to help Chef Ryan O’Flynn celebrate his win at the Gold Medal Plates this year. He even made sure guests had something special to sample – the dish he prepared to pair with the mystery wine: a smoked sturgeon with a deviled egg aioli, beet root puree, and caviar. Spectacular.

Gold Medal Plates redux

• I watched my first ballet on the weekend – Alberta Ballet’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. Marveling at the athleticism and grace of the dancers, it would be interesting to see their technique deployed in a more traditional show. At the very least, I know this won’t be my last ballet!

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

• Happy Lunar New Year to those who commemorate the occasion. I missed the bulk of the fun in Chinatown, but while picking up some groceries, I was still able to partake in lion dances and firecrackers – it should be an annual tradition for more Edmontonians!

Lunar New Year in Chinatown

This long weekend really couldn’t have come at a better time. Hope you had a great time with your families as well! On to this week’s food notes:

• This year’s Farewell to Winter Patio Party is taking place at the Hotel Macdonald on March 14 and 15, 2015. Tickets to the “fire and ice” themed events are $45.
• Save the date: Eat Alberta 2015 is taking place on May 2, 2015.
• The week’s biggest food news was the announcement that Whole Foods will be opening a store in south Edmonton in the fall of 2016 (in South Park, in the existing Canadian Tire). I am disappointed with the choice of a location so inaccessible by transit, but I am curious to see if the city can support such a large organic retailer. Do you think Edmonton is ready for a Whole Foods?
• Native Delights has opened up a storefront in the old Sloppy Hoggs location (10406 118 Avenue).
• Vue Weekly has a great review about The Mercury Room, Edmonton’s newest vegan restaurant.
• Andrea reviewed the Chinatown location of Lee House.
• I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the latest Elm Café project, Little Brick, does open up in March!
• I loved this story in the Journal about chef sweethearts Matt Phillips (of Lux) and Sarah Masters-Phillips (of Belgravia Hub).
• Congratulations to Confetti Sweets, who will be bringing her Sherwood Park-baked cookies to Hollywood for a pre-Oscar party.
• Mack and I had a pretty low-key Valentine’s Day – bun bo Hue at King Noodle House, followed by a visit to the Art Gallery of Alberta. We’d both wanted to check out the exhibit Future Station for some time, but as a bonus, we also managed to watch a bit of the fascinating 24 hour film, The Clock. It is definitely worth your time, heh.

Spicy noodle soup from King Noodle House

• We’re thrilled that there’s a new coffee shop in the neighbourhood! Coffee Bureau (10505 Jasper Avenue) has had a soft opening these past few days, but will officially be open tomorrow (Monday-Friday 7am-5pm, plus Saturdays). They’re using beans roasted by ACE Coffee, owned by the folks behind Leva Café, and will offer pastries sourced in part from Leva. Coffee Bureau is built mostly for takeaway business, but it’s a cute little spot that’s renewing my hope for a larger “coffee district” downtown. Go check it out!

Coffee Bureau

If you’re still looking for something to do this Valentine’s Day weekend, make sure to take a peek at my suggestions. Mack and I haven’t made plans yet, but likely they will involve Netflix and some popcorn. On to this week’s food notes:

• Time for another lunch pop-up at Earth’s General Store downtown! This time, they’re featuring raw and vegan cuisine by Truffula. Check it out on February 13, from 10:30-3pm.
• The Mercury Room is hosting a 5-course Valentine’s Day dinner with two seatings.
• If you were hoping to charm your valentine with wine, you’re in luck – both Andrea and Linda are giving away tickets to Winefest on Saturday.
• Congratulations to Chef Ryan O’Flynn of the Westin for taking home Edmonton’s first gold at the Gold Medal Plates competition this weekend!
• NAIT announced that this year’s Chef in Residence will be Michael Stadtländer, of Scaramouche and multiple sustainable food initiatives. Enter to win one of four pairs of tickets to an exclusive three course lunch prepared by Chef Stadtländer and students of the Culinary Arts Program taking place on March 12, 2015.
• The Edmonton area has another quick-serve noodle franchise – Noodle Box just opened in Sherwood Park (100 – 222 Baseline Road).
• In honour of the upcoming YEG Coffee Week, Phil surveyed some local luminaries for their favourite cafes around the city.
• Phil’s latest Pizza Odyssey post is also up, which sees Parkallen take on SLiCE Pizzeria.
• Liv put together a list of 25 of Edmonton’s best restaurants for Huffington Post Canada.
• Great to see news or Ritchie Market, a new complex in Richie that combines a market, a Transcend coffee shop and roasterie and a brew pub. Expect it to open in the summer of 2016.
• The forthcoming Canadian Food Championship, organized by Events Edmonton and taking place July 21-25, 2015 released more details about the competition. They’re looking for competitors in seven categories ranging from bacon to seafood to dessert, as well as volunteers and judges.
• The Edmonton Food Council is recruiting new members. The deadline to apply is March 16, 2015.
• The “big” food news this week was Starbucks’ announcement that some of their Canadian stores will be serving up beer and wine by the end of this year.
• Mack and I loved the 24 hour biscuit shop Empire Biscuit, which we discovered on our last trip to New York. It looks like an all-breakfast sandwich restaurant is now on the horizon. Yes, please.
• I had a work lunch at Padmanadi this week – it’s been too long since I’ve had their ginger beef.

Ginger “beef”