My sister Amanda is telling me that Toronto’s boasting temperatures in the mid-20s this week, but I’m still feeling pretty good about the weather here. It’s hard not to love a March where we’re not trudging through knee-deep snow! On to this week’s food notes:

• Liane posted about a pop-up tea house taking place in McCauley on March 24, 2012, organized by the Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative, the Edmonton City Centre Church Corporation (E4C) and a team of volunteers. The menu will celebrate a variety of cultures and has been designed by immigrant women. Sounds like a great idea!
• Mark your calendar: this year’s Indulgence is taking place on June 11, 2012.
• It was a sad week for Edmonton’s food scene: both Kerstin’s Chocolates and D’Lish announced that they would be closing their doors. They will both be missed.
• Looks like Tres Carnales has a new neighbour: Crepe Symphony! Check them out at 10115 100A Street.
• The Bothy will be opening up a second location on 124 Street! Mack is excited that their chicken and leek pies will be only a hop, skip and jump away from our condo.
• Five Guys has announced another Edmonton location in South Common (to join their forthcoming outlet in Windermere). They really are a suburban chain – where’s the love for downtown?
• Graham Hicks paid a visit to Murrietta’s, with Chef Shane Chartrand now at the kitchen’s helm. Although the menu hasn’t yet been changed over, he still gives the restaurant a thumbs up.
• Kevin’s newest KevinTV episode highlights backyard chickens. Speaking of backyard chickens, the River City Chickens Co-op is meeting on March 24, 2012.
• There were many rumours about what would be going into the space on 104 Street vacated by Fiji Tan, but wonder no more: Evoolution, offering olive oils, vinegars and a tasting bar is coming soon.

Evoolution

• A new bubble tea and banh mi place just opened up  on March 16, 2012 near Kingsway Mall called Fresh Bubble Tea & Sandwich Bar (10611 Kingsway Avenue) Although it’s on a main thoroughfare, with all the construction in the area, it’s easy to miss – but the photos posted on Facebook make it seem worth the effort to find.

Fresh Bubble Tea

• Is this space cursed? Sports bars and piano bars have come and gone – maybe The Marquee (10304 111 Street) can make it work?

The Marquee

• At the City Market this weekend, we came upon the Fruits of Sherbrooke for the first time. They sound very similar to Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton, in terms of “rescuing fruit”, except they are based in just one neighbourhood. They were selling preserves made from some of the fruit they picked this year. We bought a jar of raspberry rhubarb jam to try.

Fruits of Sherbrooke

• Mack and I were at Ikea this weekend to pick up some things, and ended up staying for lunch. Though we typically just grab something at the kiosk on the way out, we decided to visit the cafeteria this time around. It’s been a while since we’ve had a “full” meal there, but perhaps there’s a good reason for that. The dining area was in need of a good cleaning, and Mack used the word “slop” to describe his food. Guess we can’t be picky when we’re choosing to eat at a furniture store, but is it just us or has it gone downhill?

Ikea food

I hope to write more about this soon, but I’d like to announce that Eat Alberta 2012 tickets will be on sale on March 13! Our second annual conference that brings producers, chefs, local food advocates, and those interested in learning how to source and prepare local ingredients is taking place on April 14, 2012 at NAIT. Check out the program here! Onto this week’s food notes:

• The Palestinian Bazaar is taking place on March 17, 2012 at the TransAlta Arts Barns – it’s a full-day festival celebrating the cultural richness of the Palestianian people, including art, music and of course, food!
• The annual Seedy Sunday is taking place at the Alberta Avenue Community Hall on March 18, 2012. Look forward to informative learning opportunities!
• Carmen had a great potluck party idea: “around the world with dumplings”. She invited bloggers and foodies to contribute a kind of dumpling so people could learn from and share with one another.
• Twyla reviewed Nola – although not perfect, it seemed to be written more fairly than the Journal’s review published a few months back.
• Another plus from our mild winter – food trucks are already back on the streets! Pay Drift a visit, several weeks earlier than this time last year would have allowed.
• Transcend Downtown introduced The Elevation Room today: “Every Friday and Saturday, starting April 13, 2012, we’ll host some of Edmonton’s (and Alberta’s) best bands. It’s a place to enjoy fine music as well as fine coffee, beer and wine.”
• A review of Olive Garden, of all places, went viral this week. Read about one woman’s excitement about the chain arriving in her place of residence to find out why.
• I guess in some cities posting photos of food may have jumped the shark, but I don’t feel that’s happened in Edmonton yet. But then again, I’m a little biased, heh.
• Starbucks is joining the single cup brew revolution: they will start to sell their new Verismo this fall.
• Also from Starbucks: they opened a concept store in Amsterdam which has the look and feel of a “local” cafe. The interior incorporated art from area designers, and the shop even offers in-house baked goods daily. I’m sure this is the wave of the future – chains disguised as independents.
• Clever Rabbit (10724 124 Street), a vegetarian/vegan cafe just down from Duchess, opened about two weeks ago. Mack and I popped inside just as they were closing (they open from 9:30-4:30 daily) to take a look inside. Apparently the response from the community had been great so far – it looks like another welcome addition to the strip! Take a peek at the menu here.

Clever Rabbit interior

• Mack attended a lunch at the Shaw Conference Centre on Wednesday honouring the winners of the High School Culinary Challenge (congrats to the students from Queen Elizabeth who took home the gold!). Check out Liane’s write up here.

Mack’s favourite course: the absolutely gorgeous dessert

• On Wednesday, Yelp celebrated its first anniversary in Edmonton with a prohibition-themed party at Suede! Mack and I stopped by to check out all the well-dressed flappers and had the opportunity to try out some free liquor and sample new items on Suede’s menu. Brittany, Yelp’s Community Manager and party planner extraordinaire, also made sure there was entertainment on hand, including swing and burlesque dancers. It was a good time – thanks again for the invitation!

Appetizers

Cafvino (a coffee-infused wine) was interesting, but the liquor reps on hand sampling it couldn’t answer basic questions like how it was made

Dressed in not-quite period-appropriate wear

I’ve been in Toronto for most of the last week – though I was in town for a work conference, it has been nice to get away from Edmonton for a while, and spend some time with my sister! There’s also something about being in a larger city that feels so rejuvenating to me. Here are this week’s food notes:

• Downtown Dining Week continues until March 11, 2012. The Downtown Business Association website has been updated with pictures videos.
• The 5th Annual High School Culinary Challenge, organized by the Canadian Culinary Federation, took place on February 4, 2012, but the winners won’t be announced until March 7, 2012. Tickets to the public luncheon to be held at the Shaw Conference Centre are $30, and funds raised go towards the Canadian Culinary Fund, which contributes to scholarships for talented students to pursue their food careers.
• Also from the Canadian Culinary Federation, “Hot Chefs, Cool Beats,” a fundraiser on April 21, 2012, also at the Shaw Conference Centre, that brings together chefs from some of the most popular restaurants and food trucks in Edmonton. Tickets are $150 and support Culinary Team Canada and their quest for gold in Germany in October.
• To gear up for the second season of Top Chef Canada, join Connie DeSousa at Appliance Unlimited on March 11, 2012 for cooking demos at 1 and 3pm.
• Jennifer Cockrall-King’s much-anticipated book, Food and the City, was published last week. Her main book launch is taking place at Hardware Grill on March 22, 2012, from 4:30-6:30pm.
• Local food/urban farmland preservation advocate Michael Walters is running to become the MLA for Edmonton-Rutherford. Join him for a fundraising dinner featuring a meal prepared by Chefs Rose Scavuzzo of Culina and Jackie Ryan of Cooks Corner made with local food.
• Need a reason to attend the Slow Food Canada National Conference, being hosted in Edmonton from May 3-6, 2012? Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food himself, will be attending!
• Oliver is the home of Edmonton’s newest neighbourhood cafe – Fresh Cafe & Espresso Bar (10038 – 116th Street). They even serve brunch on Sundays!
• From the March/April issue of The Tomato: Brad Smoliak’s new venture, Kitchen, is set to open in “mid-March”.
• The March issue of Avenue Edmonton is all about food! You can see the list here.
• In case you missed it: Western Living released their 2012 list of “Top 40 Foodies Under 40” last week. Congrats to the Edmontonians that made the list: Ariel del Rosario and Roel Canafranca of Filistix; Annie Dam of Cake Couture; Deependra Singh of Guru; and Daniel Braun, Chris Sills, and Edgar Gutierrez, of Tres Carnales.
• Maki and Caroline posted about the second Edmonton Dishcrawl that focused on restaurants on 124 Street. For more about Dishcrawl, and some other on-trend events in Edmonton, check out Linda Hoang’s blog.
• Marianne shared some thoughts about Public House’s selection of “craft beers”.
• I loved this peek into Doef’s Greenhouse, courtesy of Kevin.
• Mack sent this to me: do you want to eat for a living? Tourism Richmond can make that happen, as they are hiring a full-time food blogger position. The salary is $50,000 per year, plus a daily dining-out stipend for two.  
• Mack also attended Avenue Edmonton’s launch of their 2012 list of the “25 Best Things to Eat” at the Appliance Gallery and Lightform on 124 Street tonight. Check out his full photoset here.

Lightform

Laura Rogerson with her bread – look for her at the St. Albert Farmers’ Market this summer

Coxinha from Transcend Coffee

Pistachio macaron from Duchess

• 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