bus barn café now open at osfm
The Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market (OSFM) has transformed Paperbirch into the Bus Barn Café, serving breakfast and lunch every weekend. Enjoy cinnamon buns, house-made soups, croissant sandwiches, the Bus Barn burger and market breads from 8am-3pm on Saturdays and 11am-3pm on Sundays. Check it out!
eau claire releases its first seven year old malt
What makes Alberta-aged whisky unique? It’s the weather. In humid climates, such as Scotland, alcohol is lost to evaporation (the angel’s share). In our dry climate most of the loss is actually water. “A Chinook can move the temperature in our warehouse by several degrees in a day, and every swing pushes the spirit deeper into the wood,” says Danny Gowrie, Eau Claire’s VP of production and Master Distiller.
The result? A spirit that reflects terroir like no other. There is nothing forced or harsh about this malt—it speaks softly and leaves an unforgettable impression. Waves of baking spices, tangerine, lemon and honey aromas unfold to elegant and complex flavours of vanilla, black pepper and cloves with a lingering silky finish. It’s a lovely spirit.
Made from 100 per cent Alberta-grown barley and Sheep River water, pot and column distilled, non-chill filtered with no colour added; aged in ex-bourbon and European oak with toasted heads for a minimum of seven years.
It handily fits the new Alberta spirits designation.
Nine years ago, Eau Claire released its first single malt, which sold out in two weeks. Now, the distillery has enough whisky aging to make this a year-round project. Find at better shops across the province and at Eau Claire Distillery in Turner Valley, eauclairedistillery.ca, $80.
nineteen opens in valleyview
Chef Andrew Fung has opened a third location of XIX in the Valleyview Shopping Centre. We love chef’s restaurants for their ease, eat a little or eat a lot, ideal for after work, a quick bite, or a blow-out celebration. And, of course, for the tuna twists. Comfortable contemporary room, easy breezy service, just what you want in a neighbourhood resto. Open daily, 9112 142 Street, 780-670-0379, dinenineteen.com.
bravi chefs!
Podium from left: chefs Jason Green, Ryan OFlynn, Blair Lebsack and Tyson Wright
A packed house cheered on their favourites as seven previous Kitchen Party champions competed for the opportunity to represent Edmonton at the Canadian Culinary Championships in January. Bronze: Chef Tyson Wright’s, Duck Duck Goose, was as delightful as the game it evoked. Holden Farms duck breast with a barley miso, duck leg confit with a lovely contrast in texture between the silky beet ‘pastrami’ and the crispy duck skin. Then the goose, a clever little play on an Evans cherry stuffed with a silky goose foie gras—the cherry on top.
Silver: Chef Jason Greene’s dish, A Walk in the Park, featured Hogs and Horns heritage pork which he had butchered himself, coupled with wild herbs and hay found on the farm, and crabapples from his neighbours. The 2022 Haywire Pinot (Okanagan Valley) was the perfect foil for the richness of the pork
Gold: Absolutely impeccable technique put chef Blair Lebsack’s dish, Flora & Fauna, into the top spot. Dry-aged North Country petite tender along with the flavours of fall—celeriac, caribou moss soaked in black currant juice and chanterelle mushrooms, paired with the 2021 Rosehill Run Pinot Noir from Prince Edward County. The conventional choice would have been a Cab or Merlot, but this Pinot created the ultimate pairing of the night.
Chef Paul Shufelt
Chef Paul Shufelt took the People’s Choice Award with Time + Place, a home-grown study of beets—braised golden medallions, quick pickles, a raspberry-beet fluid gel, a crisp crackling and a dust made from juicing the pulp, with only the peels left behind. Paired with a cocktail, Fortunella gin infused with rhubarb, raspberry and foraged flowers, finished with Benjamin Bridge Nova 7. A beautiful dish—delicious and truly local.
Chefs Blair and Ryan will be a formidable team. Congratulations to all the wonderful chef competitors, you gave it your all. Well done chefs!
appleton’s hearts collection 1999 is here
The last 24 bottles of Appleton’s Hearts Collection 1999 are coming to Alberta. This limited-release 100 per cent pot-still rum is a collaboration between master blender Joy Spence and rum collector Luca Gargano. Distilled in 1999 and aged for 26 tropical years, what can you say but wow! The colour of treacle, with rich aromatics of brown sugar fudge, dried orange peel, hit of lime, espresso, some salinity. It’s remarkable. Drink with your fave Christmas sweets or with savoury charcuterie and cheeses. Some lucky rum lover will find this under their tree. Let’s hope they share. Find at select Wine & Beyond stores in Edmonton and Calgary, $850.
