Author: Rebecca

Brazilian Ice Grilling Stones – The Latest in BBQ Technology

Brazilian Ice Grilling Stones – The Latest in BBQ Technology

By | | Comments 10 comments

Edmonton never ceases to amaze me with its local food community.  We have so many small businesses that deal with food on a daily basis; food trucks, restaurants, cafes, delis, grocery stores, butchers etc., etc.  If you are willing to go exploring and a little outside of your comfort zone, it is amazing at what you will be able to find.

I don’t cook at home much due to a very hectic lifestyle.  My husband and I are both very creative, artistic people and I also like to donate my time to volunteer for a couple of local charities whenever I can.

When I do have the time to cook at home, I want to make sure that it is relatively healthy and flavourful.  I have been following Brazilian Ice on Twitter for quite some time.  The photos that Maxine posts are mouth watering!  To make a long story short, I entered a contest to win a pair of camping stones and ended up winning.

I figured that it would be a great idea to do a blog piece on the stones, so Maxine agreed to meet me for lunch and I got to learn all about my new found tools.

…

Read More Read More

Little Italy Pasta; Little Cafe with a Big Heart

Little Italy Pasta; Little Cafe with a Big Heart

By | | Comments 0 Comment

In August of 2013 a lot of things in my life changed.  I finally got married to my sweetheart of four years AND I got a shiny new job.  The “Shiny New Job” was out in Acheson… my foodie self was devastated.   I would have to give up my much loved food trucks and learn to pack lunch for myself.  (Insert lengthy sigh here)

Luckily, I had heard of this lovely little Pasta restaurant; “Little Italy Pasta”.  I had never been able to make it out there when I worked downtown unless I was taking a flex day.  They are open for lunch – that’s it.  So one day, I did exactly that.  I took myself out for lunch and met Gerry Graziano, the face of Little Italy Pasta.

Pasta is a weakness of mine.  When I am craving comfort food it is usually pasta.  So when I got my piping hot serving of pasta and sauce with a side of espresso and Tiramisu.  I got to have a lovely chat with Gerry AND I inhaled all of my food before taking pictures of it!

So when the news came that I would be changing gears and moving out to Acheson, things weren’t so bleak because I knew that I could depend on Little Italy for a great meal.

…

Read More Read More

Cafe Del Sol: Comfort Food – Mexican Style!

Cafe Del Sol: Comfort Food – Mexican Style!

By | | Comments 0 Comment

Somewhere on my journey to find that next experience, a friend mentioned a restaurant that I would probably love called Tres Carnales.  Indeed. (Thanks Jake!)  I have had a love affair with the food of the three gentlemen that own the eatery.  They keep it simple with great, fresh ingredients.  The restaurant is casual with great sugar skulls, calaveras and luchadors everywhere.  The food served is what you would find at a Mexican street vendor while browsing in a market.

The boys know how to promote themselves and have won many awards for their food.  The restaurant is usually very busy and it can sometimes be hard to find a table.  I do love their fish tacos!

Yelp has been helping me find some great new places to try out.  One of my fellow Yelpers suggested that if I liked Tres Carnales, I should try a little place called Cafe del Sol.  I always do my homework before I try a new place now.  I read the reviews and see what the menu looks like.  I have learned that everyone’s palate is different and to always take the reviews and average them out.  They looked good!

…

Read More Read More

Cafe Del Sol: Comfort Food – Mexican Style!

Cafe Del Sol: Comfort Food – Mexican Style!

By | | Comments 0 Comment

Somewhere on my journey to find that next experience, a friend mentioned a restaurant that I would probably love called Tres Carnales.  Indeed. (Thanks Jake!)  I have had a love affair with the food of the three gentlemen that own the eatery.  They keep it simple with great, fresh ingredients.  The restaurant is casual with great sugar skulls, calaveras and luchadors everywhere.  The food served is what you would find at a Mexican street vendor while browsing in a market.

The boys know how to promote themselves and have won many awards for their food.  The restaurant is usually very busy and it can sometimes be hard to find a table.  I do love their fish tacos!

Yelp has been helping me find some great new places to try out.  One of my fellow Yelpers suggested that if I liked Tres Carnales, I should try a little place called Cafe del Sol.  I always do my homework before I try a new place now.  I read the reviews and see what the menu looks like.  I have learned that everyone’s palate is different and to always take the reviews and average them out.  They looked good!

…

Read More Read More

Deathtrap – A Murder Mystery

Deathtrap – A Murder Mystery

By | | Comments 0 Comment

I am a huge fan of the Mayfield Dinner Theatre.  I have gone several times over the years and always had a great evening out.  This season has been phenomenal and stepped up a few notches from when I used to go on a more regular basis.

There is new management in town.  The Mayfield has been a staple of Edmonton entertainment since 1975.  A few months ago they were purchased by the Hilton family and are now managed by Silver Birch.  Thankfully the new owners managed to see the brilliance of the dinner theatre and have left it with it’s infamous name.  The restaurant inside the hotel has been dubbed “Stages” to keep in a partnership with the Dinner Theatre.  So we are left with some old, some new.

What’s old?  The live theatrical entertainment is still there to thrill and entertain you with broadway quality shows and famous actors.  What’s new?  The level of service that you receive and the quality of the food has been stepped up several notches.   It is no longer “just” a buffet.

…

Read More Read More

Stages Kitchen – Big Business Supporting Local

Stages Kitchen – Big Business Supporting Local

By | | Comments 0 Comment

Recently, a group of local bloggers and media were invited to a tasting event put on by the brand new “Stages Kitchen and Bar” which is being run by the Silver Birch Hotels Management Group.  This is the former “Mayfield Hotel”.   The Mayfield Dinner Theatre has been an Edmonton staple since 1975 and thankfully will remain the “Mayfield Dinner Theatre”.  Stages of course was named and themed to be a partner to the already established dinner theatre.

Silver Birch has done a BEAUTIFUL job of renovating the aging building.  They tried to use natural light wherever possible and modern conveniences are everywhere.

…

Read More Read More

Rosario’s: Go for the Karaoke, Don’t Stay for the Food

Rosario’s: Go for the Karaoke, Don’t Stay for the Food

By | | Comments 0 Comment

We used to go to Rosario’s on a weekly basis, it was in our ‘hood and the manager at the time knew us by name. We mostly went for the wings and the pint specials that were on during happy hour.

We had stopped going because the service was always hit and miss.  The bar took away all of the specials on the food menu, and the quality of the food went downhill fast.  Who wants to pay $11 for 12 wings that have been fried so long that there is nothing left to them?

Just for nostalgia’s sake, we thought we would go back and give it another try.  We heard that the management had changed.  The place was empty with the exception of a group of pool players.

Go to Rosario’s for Karaoke and pool.  They have a decent selection of brews on tap.  Rosario’s is popular on the weekend for it’s Karaoke “bible”.  There are a lot of songs to choose from and it is usually a fun night out with friends.  Due to the popularity though, you will usually only get a few chances to sing.  The queue can get quite long with the weekend regulars.

Don’t go to Rosario’s for the food.  It is average pub food at best, with above average pricing.  You just don’t get the same quality that you would be paying for at a similar pub.  The menus have not been re-printed or changed in years.  They used white-out to cover up the old prices and the new prices are hand written.

There were 7 of us.  The kitchen managed to mess up 3 of the seven meals:

The patties on the burger were of the frozen variety.  He asked for no condiments – he got all kinds!

The Philly Cheese Steak was served lukewarm and he still got onions when he had asked for none.  The solution offered was to microwave the sandwich and bring it back out. My guest just refused the sandwich and went home hungry.

The “house made” lasagne I suspect was a frozen product as well because it was also served cold in the middle.

Service was also an issue on this visit.  Empty glasses and plates littered the table.

Will I ever go back for the food?  No.  I have been disappointed too many times.

Will we go back for Karaoke on the weekends?  More than likely, yes.  We will make sure we are properly fed before we go!

Rosario's Pub Karaoke Central on Urbanspoon

Cognac Passion at the Pourhouse Bier Bistro

Cognac Passion at the Pourhouse Bier Bistro

By | | Comments 0 Comment

Two of my strongest passions in life are food, and charities.  I don’t settle for the ordinary in either.  Food needs to be an experience.  Any charity that I support needs to be supporting youth or animals in need, and, needs to provide a lion’s share of a donation to the cause and not to administration.

Chef Daniel Huber managed to combine two of my favourite things into a fundraiser; food with proceeds going to YESS.  YESS stands for Youth Empowerment and Support Society.  They help get homeless youth off of the streets and back into productive, healthy lifestyles.  I highly encourage anyone reading this article to contact them and go for a tour of the main shelter facility.  I could go on for days explaining the programs and what they do.  To keep it short – they are phenomenal.  With one of the volunteer organizations I work with, we have a young man that is a YESS graduate and he says he wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for YESS.

Chef Daniel Huber is half of the culinary team that is the Pourhouse Bier Bistro. They are a gastropub located in Old Strathcona.  One of the many places you can go for some great eats and a wonderful selection of craft brewed beer.  Since he works in the same neighbourhood as the shelter, he has seen the struggle of the youth with homelessness, gangs and abuse.  Chef Daniel decided to try and make a difference and use his culinary talent to hold a fundraiser with proceeds going to YESS.

…

Read More Read More

CRAFT Beer Market – Beer With Class

CRAFT Beer Market – Beer With Class

By | | Comments 0 Comment

The new Craft Beer Market is located in downtown Edmonton just off Rice Howard Way.  It is tucked away in the same block as Wood Work and 100 Bar and Grill.  I am a huge beer fan, and “on tap” is the best of the best that a beer drinker can experience.  The original Craft is located in Calgary; my Calgarian friends rave about how much they love it there.  I have been waiting for Craft to open for months and carefully watching the social media feeds for opening day.  Today is the day.

…

Read More Read More

Hawkers Market Comes to Edmonton

Hawkers Market Comes to Edmonton

By | | Comments 0 Comment

Hawkers Market is based in Vancouver, BC.  They have most recently set their sites on Edmonton as a place to launch their event.  A Hawker Centre or “Cooked Food Centre” is usually in an open-air market format.  Thanks to our lovely Alberta weather, this particular version of the market was held indoors.

Hawkers Market’s Edmonton edition was held in the Mercer Warehouse basement.  If you are a patron of the “Mercer Collective” popup events featuring local artists, then you are familiar with the space.  The walls have some great graffiti art that gives the space that “underground” ambiance.  The market’s intention is to introduce food makers to the consumers to help launch local businesses.  All done with some great live DJ’s and some of the city’s best and future best eateries.

With Hawkers Market, you pay an admission fee to cover the rental of the venue and the entertainment.  You need to bring cash for payment for the dishes and the wares from the vendors.

…

Read More Read More

Upcoming Events

There are no upcoming events.

Random Listings