• Karlynn’s Culinary Cook-Off on March 17, 2012 looks like it will be a blast! But even better, she’s raffling off the opportunity to be the fourth judge – with luck, you’ll get to do your best Tom Collichio impression!
• As you know, I love pho, so it’s great to see a website that is singularly about “saving you from a bad bowl of pho”. Gotta love the name too.
• The Journal slammed both Five Guys and Fulton Market last week. Though based on their business (and the comments), I doubt the restaurants will be any less busy.
• FoodieMcPoon shared her experience in a NAIT chocolate making class.
• Mack sent me a link to what the shopping cart of the future may look like – smart enough to know your food preferences and allowing you to pay without ever heading to a till.
• Downtown Dining Week kicks off on Friday, March 2 and runs until March 12. 27 restaurants are participating by offering $15, $25 or $50 prix fixe meals. Mack and I attended the launch at the Art Gallery of Alberta on Friday, where eight restaurants sampled some of the dishes on those menus. I have to say my favourite was Wildflower Grill’s mesquite grilled hickory ribs and BBQ beans – so tender I was fine just using a fork to pull the meat apart. I also enjoyed Zinc’s goat cheese perogy, so subtle and springy that it surprised me to find it that it was Chef Omar’s first attempt at making perogies! And Lit’s upscale “bacon wrapped cheese” was after Mack’s own heart (literally) – so no surprise he enjoyed it.

Goat cheese perogy with smoked salmon tartar from Zinc

Prosciutto-wrapped Bocconcini from Lit

Four bloggers walked into a room…

• We were really worried that the snow would deter people from taking in IllumiNITE on Saturday, but I really should have given Edmontonians more credit. People were out in spades taking in the lit sculptures in the pocket park on 104 Street, and partying up a storm in 29 Armstrong. The pop-up fashion market next door was also a great idea. As Mack remarked that night, we love living on 104 Street!

IllumiNITE sculpture

One of my favourite sculptures, made using fibre optic cables and concrete

Pop-up market featuring local designers

29 Armstrong

Drift and Nomad providing the catering

Hope you have a good week!

I hope you all had a great Family Day! After Sunday’s snow day, I wasn’t sure what the weather would be like, but it ended up being a pretty great day to spend outdoors. On to this week’s food notes:

• Liane stoked the rumours about a possible Whole Foods in Edmonton.
• The truck-to-brick-and-mortar trend continues with Nomad’s tweet that they will be opening a take-out window in Oliver Square in May.
• Fans of David Adjey should look into La Pisana’s charity dinner, in support of the Leduc Food Bank. $100 will get you a five-course Italian dinner, and the opportunity to rub shoulders with the Food Network star on March 10.
• Vue Weekly had a great coffee feature last week, sitting down with the proprietors of Transcend, Credo, Elm Cafe, Cafe Haven on their coffee philosophies and what they think of their chain competition.
• Chef Chuck Hughes was in Alberta earlier this week, awarding a $25,000 Real Food grant to an elementary school in Red Deer. Valerie was able to take part in the day, and also had the opportunity to speak with a Hellmann’s representative and Chef Hughes about the company’s “real food” philosophy. Worth a read.
• When we visited Bles Wold back in 2010, Tinie had talked about wanting to start a line of yogurt drinks. I noticed them on the shelves at the Italian Centre this weekend, and we bought a few to try – they were thicker than Yop, but less sweet. Bles Wold has also started selling Greek-style yogurt – great for them, since the market for Greek yogurt seems to be on the rise.

Bles Wold’s Sip

Bles Wold’s Greek yogurt

• Mack and I stopped by Remedy’s new downtown location on an evening stroll last week. We’re hoping the fluorescents are replaced with warmer lights that match the wall colours, but other than that, it’s a comfortable addition to the neighbourhood. We enjoyed the chai as well!

Chai from Remedy

• We headed to Latitude 53’s first ever patio parka party on Saturday night, taking advantage of the mild winter night. With mulled wine and heat lamps, plus the wind-sheltered patio, it actually wasn’t bad! We hope Latitude continues the series!

Partying on the patio!

We loved the branch and light-filled tunnel that connected the indoors with the outdoors

Thanks to everyone who has expressed interest in Blink! We had no idea the response would be so overwhelming (we sold out in twelve hours), but I think it bodes well for future pop-up initiatives. On to this week’s food notes:

• Still looking for Valentine’s Day ideas? City and Dale had a great list last week.
• Latitude 53’s first annual Patio Parka Party should be a blast! It is being catered by Elm Cafe, Upper Crust and The Bothy.
• Winefest is back, on February 17-18 at the Shaw Conference Centre.
• Remedy’s new location downtown (10279 Jasper Avenue) is now open! One of the best things is they are open until midnight – great to have more casual late night options in the area.
• Chef Shane Chartrand left L2 Grill and is now cooking at Murietta’s.
• Liane revealed today that NAIT’s 2012 Chef in Residence is another Food Network alum, Massimo Capra, of Restaurant Makeover fame.
• Liane also posted that Come Dine With Me Canada will be filming in Edmonton this year. I find it an odd choice for Edmonton Tourism to woo, as it doesn’t necessarily highlight the city in the same way as a show like Eat St., and actually, never seems to paint the amateur chefs in a very good light.
• It’ll be interesting to see how Edmonton’s Food and Agricultural Strategy shapes up – also from Liane, a short interview with Aaron Falkenberg, the man who is in charge of the project.
• Mack and I checked out the new Lucky Supermarket (I want to call it “Lucky 127” for old times sake) that recently opened up at 13851 127 Street. It’s a beautiful store, with a lot more room than the Chinatown location (they even have a eating area). They also have a large halal meat and product section – it will be interesting to see how it will affect the neighbouring Superstore’s business.

Lucky Supermarket

Interior

• We were also uncharacteristically in the suburbs on the weekend, checking out the Currents of Windermere (and we thought Creekside Chapelle was on the edge). We ended up stopping at the Tim Horton’s/Cold Stone Creamery there, which has been open for about a month. I know there are other dual outlets in the city, but this was our first visit to one. The sizes were much smaller than Marble Slab, seemed much more expensive (a small was $2.89), and there were less mix-in options. I had my usual vanilla and cookie dough combination, and I have to say I prefer Marble Slab’s ice cream. That said, Mack’s Tim Horton’s double-double flavour was the clear winner – it tasted exactly like coffee with a cream finish. Short of satisfying a coffee ice cream craving, however, I think we’ll be back at Marble Slab more often.

Cold Stone Creamery at Tim Horton’s

Ice cream

Happy Valentine’s Day – hope you have a great one with your loved one!

I’m still getting back into the groove of things after an amazing tour through some of Calgary’s best restaurants over the weekend – hence this late post. I hope to write more about the trip soon! On to this week’s food notes:

• Noorish is hosting a speed dating night for vegetarians and vegans! Check it out on February 9, 2012.
• I had heard that The Common would be hosting a series of guest chefs, and it sounds like their first will be the fine folks behind Filistix. $30 will get you a seat at the table on February 18, 2012 for a five-course family-style dinner of Filipino favourites. There will be a seating at 6pm and another at 8:30pm.
• It might still be winter, but spring really is just around the corner, and the time is ripe to think about farm tours – such as this one of four local farms being organized by Slow Food Edmonton in May.
• Valerie and Karlynn attended Brittney Watt’s most recent pop-up dinner at the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market. She held another one tonight, themed around raw food – did anyone attend?
• Nello’s, a St. Albert Italian favourite, opened a location in south Edmonton back in December (2820 Calgary Trail).
• Famoso continues its Neapolitan reign over the local pizza scene, with another location at West Edmonton Mall.
• Liv reviewed the java and food at Cafe Tiramisu – looking forward to checking it out myself.
• Good luck to Jan Trittenbach of Packrat Louie at the upcoming Gold Medal Plates competition. Represent!
• Speaking of representation, I was sad to see that there is only one competitor from Alberta on the second season of Top Chef Canada (and from Calgary, at that). If one of the ten chefs who work in Ontario isn’t crowned the winner, it’ll be an upset. The show debuts on March 12.
• This “food truck court” in the World Financial Centre in New York seems to be a little more exciting than the semi-permanent pods in Portland. I love that the carts change on a daily basis – isn’t that the point of mobile vendors?
• Mercer Tavern just put up a “coming soon” sign in the window (they will be one of the ground floor tenants in the Mercer Warehouse on 104 Street and 104 Avenue). Make sure to follow their progress on Twitter.

Mercer Tavern

• Mack checked out Public House last week, the latest offering from the Oil City Hospitality Group. He appreciated the local beer options of Aprikat and Yellowhead on draft, though ultimately chose to try Labatt’s “local” brew of 780 Lager. In terms of the interior, he found it to be pleasing, if not predictable – the usual dark wood and standard bookcases (remarking that it must be big business to furnish the “pub look”).  Mack commented that the music selection of Top 40 didn’t quite seem to match the decor, however.

Public House

• As soon as we heard that the next Pecha Kucha would be held at the Garneau, we knew where we’d be heading for our pre-show dinner: La Poutine.

Quebecois and pizza poutines

• Jill and I took in Asani at the Blue Chair Cafe over the weekend (great show; such amazing harmonies). It was a good excuse to try out some of their specials, given their new-ish head chef has been encouraged to make the Mexican food so near and dear to her heart. Jill really enjoyed her fish tacos (the salsa verde in particular was great), while my pulled chicken enchiladas were flavourful and comforting. We shared the pavlova for dessert, and though the accompanying fruit was colourful and visually appealing, it was far from “seasonal”, as claimed on the menu. The meringue itself was great though, not too sweet and with a lovely, crumbly texture.

Fish tacos

Pulled chicken enchiladas

Pavlova

• I was Mack’s lucky guest at the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Ball, which took place at the Shaw Conference Centre last Friday. It was one of the swankiest events I’ve ever attended (though a full-length gown was optional!). The standout dish was the beef tenderloin (cooked to a medium rare perfection – amazing considering the number of plates turned out), with a smoky, sultry mole sauce. The entertainment was also great – the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra was en pointe, as usual, and though we missed Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a Highway” finale, he managed to get people boogying out on the dance floor!

Beef tenderloin with mole sauce

With the symphony (even though we look like we were photoshopped in)

Have a great week!

January has just flown by! I hope you’re out enjoying the beautiful winter days and nights! On to this week’s food notes:

• Everything Cheese is hosting an open house on February 8, 2012 (there’s a 10% coupon at the end of the e-mail as well).
• Liane announced that Highlands Kitchen has been sold to Darren Zwicker and Maria Chau of Cellar Door. Hopefully some of the menu items that were featured on the recently filmed episode of You Gotta Eat Here will be preserved!
• Chris pointed me to a CBC piece about De Dutch, a popular BC-based breakfast chain that is set to move into the Cambridge Lofts this June.
• Maki and Liane posted reports of how the first ever Dishcrawl event in Edmonton went. While it looks tasty, and I like the idea of a food crawl (especially one that encourages pedestrianism), the fact that Sabzy was only given $4 to cover food costs, one has to think the profit margins for the organizer are unbelievably high.
• Liane had a feature on the trend of restaurants merging philosophies of lifestyle and food.
• New Level Pizza sounds an awful lot like an underground supper club – invite- and members- only, it is a way for Chad Moss and Jeff Johnson of Transcend to share their love of pizza.
• Also from Kevin – a video montage of what you missed at the latest pop-up dinner from Nomad Mobile, in celebration of Robbie Burns Day.
• Wanted a second opinion on Vivo? Here’s one from Liv.
• Phil posted on an easy-t0-miss family-run eatery, Lan’s Asian Grill.
• Hot on the heels of City and Dale’s list of restaurants to try in 2012, Cream and Sugar put forth their favourite places to eat in Edmonton.
• Love macarons? Then you have to take a look at Valerie’s recap on Mirabelle Macarons’ Taste Tripping class that happened earlier this month.
• I was sad to hear about Saxby’s bankrupcy – it will affect small businesses like Van Os Dairy (who will not be at the City Market for the next few weeks, and until they secure an alternate manufacturer).
• Sounds like Calgary had a great event over the weekend called Calgary Eats, featuring a panel discussion about some of the issues that chefs trying to source locally face. Jennifer Cockrall-King recaps it here.
• In a related story, the Calgary Herald asks: does Calgary have food deserts? I’d be interested in seeing similar data in Edmonton, cross-referenced against the current restrictive covenants.
• Have you seen the recent McDonald’s campaign, targeting parents by using mommy bloggers as their spokespeople? I can imagine it is scarily effective.
• While in the neighbourhood for a meeting on Friday, I stopped by Battista’s Calzones to pick up some of their frozen, pre-baked calzones ($6 each) for supper that night (they also have other take-home products, including marinara sauce, mama’s meatballs and homemade dough). We popped them into the oven on a pizza stone for about 15 minutes at 350F, and they came out hot and crispy. An easy but tasty solution to the question, “what’s for dinner?”, especially since Battista’s isn’t open late!

Frozen calzones

• I was on hand for the Groundhog Day festivities at the City Market on Saturday, with an inspired poetry reading, among other things. I also came across a new vendor, called 100km Kitchen, based out of Drayton Valley. They make preserves from locally-harvested fruit and vegetables. Their jars are particularly lovely, and the apple butter I brought home to try was great on toast, but I think will be even better with some pork! They’ll be back at the City Market on February 25, 2012.

Can you see the groundhog made of balloons?

Margarita and Patty of 100km Kitchen

• I met up with Annie and May at Gama Cafe (10418 82Ave) on Saturday to catch up and try the intriguingly named green cap milk tea ($5), featuring a layer of salted cheese (you can see the menu here). The drink itself was actually pretty good, less salty than we expected, with a creamy effect when combined with the tea. The green tea itself was delicious, and something I would consider going back for, sweetened just right. We also tried the Taiwanese red bean ($2 for 2) and melting gold cakes ($4 for 2), made fresh to order. I preferred the sweetness of the latter, but the fluffy cake shell was tasty. So although we enjoyed the food and drink, we couldn’t fathom why they took forty minutes to arrive. The hard wooden benches were also not particularly comfortable, so we probably wouldn’t have lingered if our order had arrived sooner. In the future, I think I’d opt for a to-go order instead.

Green cap milk tea

Annie with her melting gold cake

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