I’ve been looking forward to this week for a while – on Wednesday, I’m heading down to a conference in Calgary, and after that, Mack and I will be spending the weekend in Banff. Nothing like a mini-break in the fall to rejuvenate our spirits! On to this week’s food notes:

• Congrats to Chad Moss of Transcend Coffee for placing third in the Canadian National Barista Championships held this weekend in Vancouver! Check the Transcend website for photos of the competition.
• The Journal filed an early review for the sparkly-new Indian eatery, Zaika, tucked on the city’s burgeoning southwest side.
• See Magazine published a positive review for Nyala (10875-98 Street, 780-761-2000) this week, the relatively new Ethiopian eatery that took over the space previously occupied by the Blue Nile.
• Original Fare has a new contest to encourage patrons to visit independent eateries (or, alternatively, to reward those who do already): experience 10 different Original Fare restaurants before December 31, 2009, and you can enter a draw to win a $250 gift certificate!
• The Manor Bistro (formerly known as the Manor Cafe) as a new website!
• The Duchess Bake Shop received more online food love this week, with a post by Twyla at It’s a Weird, Wild and Wonderful Life. A note to anyone looking to visit the bakery – Duchess just changed their hours to hopefully allow Garner and Giselle some breathing room: closed Monday-Tuesday, Wednesday 9am-6pm, Thursday-Friday 9am-8pm, Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 10am-5pm.
• Liane blogged about the launch of an exciting new cookbook called We Eat Together, filled with recipes, photos and stories from nine local farming families. It is being launched at the Artery on November 25.
• Thanks to Valerie (aka A Canadian Foodie) for writing about her experience in hunting down the ingredients (and of course, subsequently pulling them all together) for Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon. I’d like to attempt it someday…
• In recent weeks, Mack and I hit up two of our favourite restaurants in Edmonton. Before the final City Centre Market day, we just had to have brunch at Blue Plate Diner.

It was full when we sat down, but cleared out by the time we were done

Mack in weekend-mode

Mack’s Pancake Breakfast

My Big Breakfast

• A quick meal at Route 99 prior to a show in the nearby theatre district has become standard for us. Or, we just need an excuse to indulge in poutine. Yum.

Poutine!

Pepperoni & Mushroom Pizza (as always, so generous with cheese)

Fish & Chips

Enjoy the return of fall!

Mack and I damn near froze to death at the penultimate City Centre Market day on Saturday. We decided to walk, which was actually not too bad, but by the time we got there, the wind picked up. We bought our groceries as fast as we could and left, but the poor vendors had no choice but to stay! Anyway, this coming Saturday is the last day of the City Market for the year – though I know there are other year round markets, it’s my favourite, and I’ll be stocking up as much as I can!

• Foodie Suz gets the quick draw review award – she visited the new Edmonton location of Cora just three hours after it opened.
• Liane sampled some of the menu items on Hardware Grill’s new lunch menu this week, and also wrote about two vegan restaurants – Refresh and Misella Delite in Stony Plain.
• Isabelle from The Little Red Kitchen will be reviewing restaurants every two weeks on CBC radio! She is actively seeking recommendations by e-mail.
• Vue had a piece about Cake Couture’s Annie Dam last week.
• Workshop West’s upcoming show The Seed Savers sounds like a worthwhile production to take in. The premise: “Mindy and Joe have spent fifty years on their farm, their family and each other, but when genetically-modified canola gets into their prized crop, much more is at risk than the ancient right of farmers to sow their own seed.” The show runs October 30-November 8.
• I read about Localicious, a two week-long World Wildlife Federation venture to promote local foods with restaurant specials taking place in select Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and Calgary. Why not Edmonton? I would think there are enough restaurants serving local food here that would be happy to participate.
• The Globe & Mail had an article on the national green-washing trend, which the majority of local food advocates interviewed for the piece support.
• Via Eat. Drink. Better., a calculator by an American organic company that lets consumers see how much synthetic nitrogen, herbicides and pesticides they would prevent by choosing their organic dairy products. An interesting way of getting the point across.
• After 68 years, Conde Nast is pulling the plug on Gourmet Magazine. I’ve been reading stories over the last few months about the possibility of either Gourmet or Bon Appetit, so it’s not really a surprise. I’m still a little sad though.
• The reviews of Starbucks’ instant coffee, VIA, have been lukewarm. I actually haven’t tried it yet – Mack has, and said he could have done without the sludge-like residue at the bottom and near the top of his mug.
• The FTC ruled that bloggers must disclose any freebies (when posting reviews, etc.) – I had no idea they were even considering this as an area of possible regulation.
• Mack sent me a short piece about the seemingly common disorder of food aversion (one man has apparently subsisted on cheese since birth).
• Annie and I refuelled on an indulgent cinnamon bun from CinnZeo (which should really be called Sin-Zeo) at Kingsway last week. And yet, at $4.25, it was worth every icing smothered bite. Yum.

 

Cinnamon Bun from CinnZeo

• Mack’s Mum was in town this weekend, and we met up with her, and Mack’s siblings at Cactus Club for dinner before a double feature of Toy Story 1 & 2 in 3D. We sat out on the patio, enclosed and heated in cool weather, which is really a great maximization of the space. My butternut squash ravioli ($17) was a lovely dish to have in the fall, and Mack enjoyed his cajun chicken burger ($12.50). Patti and Thom liked their pesto chicken quesadilla ($10) too. It was good to see everybody!

 

Enclosed Cactus Club patio

 

Cajun Chicken Burger

 

Pesto Chicken Quesadilla

The television season officially started again, with the premiere of House. It was a fantastic episode to boot! Anyone else hungry for new shows? On to this week’s food notes:

• A reminder that the Great Potato Giveaway is on this Saturday, September 26 at Norbest Farms. Who wouldn’t want fifty pounds of free potatoes?
• I read about a new bakery called Old Bread Factory on Foodosophy. From the looks of the scrumptious desserts offered there, I will have to make an effort to swing by to pick up my own box of sweet goods soon.
• The Cocoa Room is open again after the summer break, although under a new name – Kerstin’s Chocolates! Kerstin’s hopes the change will result in less confusion.
• James from Transcend wrote a post last week about the surprisingly collaborative nature of the specialty coffee community. Good to know.
• DeVine’s is offering a free spirits tasting on October 2 from 4-7pm. Donations will be gratefully accepted for the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters.
• Is a local food supply network a possibility on the horizon? I hope so.
• On that note – the USDA’s “Know Your Farmer, Know your Food” initiative sounds great, though I know sometimes these things could just be about throwing money without sense of where it is actually going.
• I have been hearing so much about Portland lately – about how they are the model city for sustainability, planning, and liveability. And just this weekend, the NYT included a feature article about their supposedly incredible food scene. Is Portland too good to be true? My scanning abilities have failed me again – I didn’t realize they were talking about Portland, Maine.
• Everything you wanted to know about burger classification and more – but be warned, don’t click on it if you’re hungry.
• I’m in the middle of Frank Bruni’s memoir Born Round, and after his umpteenth description of a ravenous Italian meal with his family, I couldn’t take it anymore and had to make the only dish I knew that could satisfy my craving for pasta to gorge over: Giada’s stuffed shells with arrabbiata sauce. Yum.

 

Stuffed Shells with Arrabbiata Sauce

You may have read on Mack’s blog that Twestival Local 2009 raised $565 for the Youth Emergency Shelter Society – thanks to everyone who came out! On another fundraising note, Mack and I will both be participating in the AIDS Walk for Life on Sunday. Brittney wrote an awesome post for “Team Sharon” last week – please consider sponsoring either myself or Mack. On to this week’s food notes:

• Congrats to Chad and Josh from Transcend who placed third and fourth, respectively, in the Prairie Regional Barista Championships this weekend in Calgary. They’ll both be at nationals!
• Nate Box’s new endeavour in the space that was previously Hulbert’s will be called Elm Cafe (7601 115 Street), and will be open for three meals a day. Look for it (fingers crossed) in mid-October.
• Kelly posted about a new Indian restaurant on the city’s burgeoning southwest side called Zaika Indian Bistro. Looks sleek.
• Christopher Thrall (who formerly edited and contributed to Vue Weekly’s Dish section) is Metro‘s Edmonton Urban Foodie – I look forward to seeing your reviews every Thursday, Chris! Meanwhile, food blogger Andree Lau has taken up Metro Calgary’s Urban Foodie post.
• September 15 is the last day to get early bird admission tickets for the upcoming Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Festival, running November 5-7.
• Vue Weekly had an article about Belle Valley Farms, an alpaca farm in Alberta – I’m not sure we’ll be seeing the demand go up just yet, but I’d be willing to try more of it.
• Chris LaBossiere wrote a thought-provoking post about a potential redevelopment plan for the land currently occupied by the Valley Zoo. He suggests turning the area into a world-class community garden with teaching spaces for school children and culinary arts students alike.
• Can a steakhouse be sustainable? An interesting question for Alberta, where steakhouses are a dime a dozen.
• I had no idea Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups taste different depending on which side of the border they’re sold. Sounds like we Canucks have the better kind, though.
• Can you say lunch envy? Some chef’s children have it good – I wish I had such good lunches when I was a kid.
• Julie & Julia author Julie Powell’s new book seems even more contrived than the chapter excerpt I read, at least according to this Eater post.
• Browsing in Damon J in Old Strathcona last week, I was handed a coupon book called Cheque Out Whyte. In it are some pretty sweet coupons, including a $15 “cheque” for Devlin’s, and a $10 “cheque” for Packrat Louie. It’s a neat promotion for area businesses to collectively offer.

Cheque Out Whyte

• Just off Whyte (in the strip mall with Henry and Shoppers Drug Mart), I spotted a forthcoming restaurant called Taiwan Express. It will offer bubble tea, along with Taiwanese dishes.

Taiwan Express

• A few of us helped May celebrate her birthday two weekend ago. We had dinner at Wildflower Grill, one of my favourite restaurants in the city. I have to say I wasn’t as enthralled with this experience as with past meals, and much of that had to do with our waiter, who was much too pushy with alcohol that night. Service aside, the food was okay. The star on my halibut entree was not the fish itself (which was actually overcooked), but actually the polenta, perfectly seasoned and cooked in a way that absolutely melted on my tongue. Mack’s steak was over-sauced, but he did enjoy his baby crock pot of truffled mac and cheese.

Goat cheese mousse amuse bouche

Halibut

Steak (any further details would have required some notation…of which I did not make)

Mack and I signed up for the AIDS Walk for Life this weekend – we had a blast last year, and think it’s a great cause to support. It’s taking place on September 20, beginning at Churchill Square. If you would consider sponsoring either Mack or myself, that would be awesome! On to this week’s food notes:

• Has the downturn affected consumer spending in the food industry? Maybe, but data from Stats Can indicates it might be less than expected – sales in June of this year were down 1.2% from one year ago. Chances are – people are opting for cheaper meals, but not eating out any less.
• Kelly posted about Urban China, a new Asian eatery which is set to open in the space formerly occupied by Rosie’s on 101 Street.
• Vue Weekly reviewed the new-ish Indian Fusion restaurant this past week, granting it a mostly positive write-up.
• Jon in Calgary wrote about his recent visit to a hybrid Tim Horton’s and Cold Stone Creamery – looks like it would be worth a try!
• September’s edition of Avenue Magazine has a good article about the craft brewing business in Alberta.
• It’s that time again – the Prairie Regional Barista Championships are just around the corner, taking place in Calgary on September 12. Transcend Coffee posted several links where you can follow their baristas in competition (we picked up a bag of their Sin Limites coffee from Costa Rica this weekend, which we were told Chad will be bringing to the competition – it’s great).
• Starting September 29, VIA, Starbucks’ venture into instant coffee, will be available in all Starbucks locations in U.S. and Canada. I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of instant java, but I’ve heard good things about VIA.
• The NYT wrote about “haycations” last week – where instead of a typical vacation involving a hotel, travellers are paying for the privilege to see what life on the farm is really like, complete with chores.
• I think I’m in a bit of Frank Bruni overload (I just got my copy of his memoir, Born Round), but I did like this exit interview he did with a crew from Eater.
• The Italian Centre in Little Italy has joined Wild Earth Foods as the second store in the city subscribing to the Eat Local First labelling system.

 

Eat Local First labels denote Bles Wold‘s “local” status

I started my day off this morning with fantastic news – Edmonton’s Fringe reigns supreme! Stage a Revolution absolutely smashed Winnipeg’s 81,000 record – 92,100 tickets were sold this year. Way to go Edmonton! Now on to this week’s food notes:

• I finally finished reading Julia Child’s My Life in France. Though this was my second attempt at reading it, I have to say watching Julie & Julia gave me the needed push to finish the book. It’s a lovely memoir, filled with vibrant prose and hilarious accounts of Julia’s trials at Le Cordon Bleu and her decade long struggle to publish Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I loved her use of words (“marketing” and “cookbookery”), and do think the movie undercuts how much work really went into Mastering (for example, I cannot imagine communicating exclusively via air mail…in this age of technology, I can’t fathom anything less than instant). I appreciated the glimpse into the making of an American legend, and reading about the absolute joy that Julia found in cooking.
• On the topic of books – Edmonton Public Library is having their back-to-school booksale this weekend – pick up some new reading material for next to nothing, and perhaps a new cookbook or two!
• The Endless Feast is a PBS show that explores “the connection between the earth and the food we eat, one incredible feast at a time”. They will be filming an upcoming episode in Edmonton on Friday at Peas on Earth and at the City Centre Market on Saturday. It’s awesome that an American show will be featuring our city in all its glory.
• I missed out on Mary Ellen and Andres’ picnic on their Greens, Eggs and Ham Farm this year in favour of the Fringe and another local food event, but I was happy that Valerie wrote a detailed account of it.
• This is old news by now, but in case you missed it – Transcend Coffee’s second location is official: they will be taking over the Garneau space formerly occupied by Pharos Pizza. The cafe is set to open in January 2010.
• Speaking of coffee – Vue Weekly had a short piece about the relatively new JoJo’s Cafe, located inside La Piazza Dasee, this week. Turns out the barista learned his chops from Transcend (every new cafe seems to have a tie to Transcend, eh?). On a related note – the Edmontonian reviewed some of JoJo’s brunch offerings here.
• The Journal had a piece on Saturday featuring the results of a gelato taste test. The unlikely winner? Chocolate Exquisite. I’ll have to make a point to stop by sometime soon.
• If you’ve walked past Rice Howard Way, you probably noticed this sign on Co Co Di’s doors – it reads: “Co Co Di will be reopening later this year. We look forward to serving you in our new location on Jasper Avenue between 114 & 115 Street, north side”. I hope they get some foot traffic with the move west.
• Janice tipped me off that there will be a third location of Famoso in South Edmonton Common (in the area with the new Gap and Banana Republic outlets). They do already have an address and number ready to go – 1437 99 Street, 780-468-0000.
• President Obama said that he would like to see a farmers’ market set up in front of the White House. Who knows if that would ever happen, but how cool is it that POTUS made mention of it?
• The second artsScene Party took place at Latitude 53, and allowed us to scope out what is billed as the “only downtown rooftop patio”. Being at the top of a two-storey building wasn’t what I had in mind, but it still picked up a nice cool breeze. Of course, the gallery itself has a few pretty cool exhibits right now, including Trespass Act and a community gallery featuring this striking work by a Victoria High School student titled “Between Liberty and Freedom”.

Latitude 53 Rooftop Patio

• On our way to the City Centre Market on Saturday, we stopped to gawk at the new community garden in Mack’s neighbourhood. It’s beautiful, with circular paths in between plots, benches, and perhaps even a future water feature.

Oliver Community Garden

• Starved and with only $5 cash between us, Mack and I wracked our brains for something affordable to eat on the Fringe grounds on Sunday. Luckily, we remembered Chicago Deep Dish (8114 104 Street, 780-413-8866). At $2.50 a slice, it’s still the most economical purchase on Whyte.

Ham & Pineapple Slice from Chicago Deep Dish

• Chris had mentioned something food-related was under construction next to Bubble Juice on Whyte. Turns out, he was right – Irie Foods will be open on September 1, 2009. It looks like they have another location in Mill Woods – anyone know if this is replacing that store or is an additional one?

Irie Foods on Whyte

• It will be hefty competition for TZiN, but Kelsey seemed to know it was coming: Lit Wine Bar will be opening up on the ground floor of one of the Icon Towers.

LIT Wine Bar on 104th Street and Jasper Avenue

• There’s also a new bubble tea place in Chinatown on 97th Street. What downturn?

Bubble Tea Cafe

America’s Best Dance Crew (also known as ABDC) is back in full swing! I’m not sure what about the show entices me, but I know my Sundays are infinitely better now! On to my weekly food notes:

• Still don’t have an Original Fare VIP card and can’t get to the City Centre Market on Saturdays? Lucky for you, they have a booth at the Fringe! Sign up and start earning points at all of your dining experiences at Original Fare restaurants, and receive 2% back of your purchases at the end of the year in gift certificates.
• I linked to Operation Fruit Rescue last week, but there was a good story about them in the Journal on Friday.
• Pam wrote about the bounty she received in her first Good Food Box.
• I was happy to see an article in the Journal last week featuring Edmonton’s newest community garden project in Oliver! It’s just a few blocks away from where Mack lives, and over the weeks, we were seeing the garden come together, but no signage identifying who was behind the greening of the land.
• There was a review of Red Brick Pizza in Foodosophy last week – I still haven’t made it out there, as I haven’t had any reason to get me out that far south yet.
• Vue Weekly featured an article about a cooking class at Mexico Lindo. At $75 for two, the class seems reasonably priced, and might be the cure for stagnant evenings.
• The NY Journal has a post containing what they think are the ten best Frank Bruni reviews – it’s great writing, to be sure, but an even better overview of some great examples of NY excess.
• Another death knoll sounds for Gourmet and Bon Appetit. One has to wonder how much longer they can both hold out.
• The Wall Street Journal reports an increased boom for cooking schools and classes – a reactionary jerk to the state of the economy with people wanting to eat less out and more at home.
• Mack and I wandered into La Piazza Dasee in Old Strathcona over the weekend to see if the cafe portion of the space was finished. It has been, and even has a menu up online.

 

JoJo’s Cafe

• The new Superstore (and perhaps others, but I only have been to this location in a while) on 17th Street has a “Grown Close to Home” section of produce just in front of their entrance – with BC blueberries and Alberta tomatoes, among others. I’m sure we’ll see more of the larger grocery chains getting into the “locavore” movement.

 

Superstore’s “Grown Close to Home” sign

• My Mum and I headed to the Millwoods Farmers’ Market on Thursday – the first time I have been there in probably ten years. Even though I live in Mill Woods, it’s definitely not in a convenient place for me (my bus routes through Millgate and not Lakewood, for example, and a walk there would be at least an hour). My memories are foggy, but I vaguely recollect just two rows of vendors, and nothing particularly interesting (of course, ten years ago, I was happy with Boston Pizza and couldn’t cook my way out of a bag). I am happy to say that the farmers’ market in the ‘burbs was bursting at the seams with fresh produce and people! There were four rows of vendors, with everything from produce and BC fruit to bread and prepared food. They didn’t have much in the way of meats and protein, but you can’t have everything, right? My Mum and I picked up some cinnamon raisin bread from Jane’s Bread and some random vegetables. Of course, I still prefer the City Centre Market, but this was a nice-sized, open air neighbourhood market. Check it out if you’re in Millwoods – it runs 5-8pm Thursdays until October 1 at the Millwoods Recreation Centre Parking Lot, 28 Ave and Millwoods Road.

 

Millwoods Farmers’ Market

• On a walk downtown, we decided to stop in VinoMania (11452 Jasper Avenue), a liquor store that we had passed countless times. We discovered an unexpectedly nice interior, and Edmonton’s first enomatic wine system (it is essentially a system that prevents open wine from oxidizing). I never really considered the system for liquor merchants, but it makes sense to allow customers to try what they are buying if possible. VinoMania sells $20 cards that can be reloaded to try any of the dozen or so wines and spirits on hand (the bottles are rotated every three weeks) with samples ranging in price from $1.50 to $3. A staff person allowed us a complimentary taste – I’d like to say I could point out how fresh it was, but with my palate for wine being what it is…Still, I was impressed by how easily the wine was dispensed.

 

VinoMania’s Enomatic Wine System

• Mack hates any bread with what he deems “crap” in them (e.g. grains, seeds, etc.), even though that’s exactly the type of bread I like. As a result, there are often two types of loaves in the house – whole wheat and grainy. The other day at Sobeys Urban Fresh, we saw a loaf of bread that had Mack’s name on it – literally. Perhaps it was a sign to give in to the grainy side, Mack!

Mack with Mack’s Flax