here is the latest cookbook from the smart cookie
Cookies I Have Loved is a compilation of Julie Van Rosendaal’s best cookies, her 12th cookbook and second in the series of small format books. Julie published it right before Christmas last year and she’s doing something different. The book is only available from local indie books stores (Audreys and Knifewear), or from dinnerwithjulie.com. She is bypassing large retailers like Amazon and using the money saved to donate $1/book to local food community initiatives. The other reason? She hopes to encourage all of us to go to our local bookstores more often. If your copy of One Smart Cookie (her first book) is as bedraggled and flour-dusted as mine, you’ll want this book.
new bottlings from lone pine
Lone Pine debuts two new spirits early this year. “Keeping it a bit secret, but not totally,” says Bryan Anderson, proprietor. What we do know? To look forward to an oak barrel-aged gin (14 months) and a young whisky.
new resto in cameron heights come spring
“I can’t believe I’m opening another restaurant,” says chef Paul Shufelt (Workshop Eatery, Woodshed Burger and the Greenhouse). “But a friend told us about a space in Cameron Heights. It turned out to be a good fit; we will open Hayloft Steak and Fish in early March.”
The lounge will be a Woodshed Burger, offering a casual, affordable menu for everyday, with take-out and delivery. The main room’s focus is on steak and fish. “We will expand the Nonay beef program, offer different cuts and playing with aging, from 30-day dry-aged to 60-100-day Wagyu Holstein cross.” The seafood? “We have a great working relationship with Effing Fish and expect to offer oysters, crab lobster, seafood towers, fresh fish, a daily catch.”
“Our idea to go to the neighbourhoods (Workshop Eatery in Summerside has been open for six years) has worked so far,” says Paul. “Cameron Heights only
has about 800 homes and across the overpass is another 1000.” Hayloft Steak + Fish, 637 Cameron Heights Drive.
dine at may
A new restaurant called May has opened in the Art Gallery of Alberta. Expect really tasty food from exec chef Doreen Prei, sous chef Shane Loiselle and team. The idea is seasonal, mostly local food, like a grilled salad chock full of local veg, toothsome quail and a sublime wild mushroom dish.
Experienced hospitality veteran Flavius Iulian Joita is the GM and Happy Byrne heads up the bar program.
Jimmy Shewchuk’s company Prairie Catering operates May (and all catering at the AGA).
“It’s a never-ending question, what is Canadian food?” says Jimmy. ” To us it’s the land and all the people who have come here—Vietnamese, Europeans, Middle Eastern, south Asian—who take local ingredients and make it taste like home.”
Why May? “Everyone talks about the harvest. But I remember growing up in Vegreville; my grandparents were farmers and we looked forward to May after the long winter,” he says. “It was a positive time, time to plant the gardens and the fields. It was the rebirth, optimistic, the vison forward.”
The room has a simple and sleek look, 55 seats in a flexible layout, an improvement on the former Zinc, where chef Prei also headed up the kitchen, so a homecoming of sorts. May is a serene, less corporate space. “We wanted to brighten it up,” says Jimmy. “We wanted it to be clean and to reflect the locally driven menu roots in Alberta and Canada.”
Expect a rotating selection of art on the wall. The pieces are from Art Rental, a project of the AGA which has been running for over 60 years. Lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. It’s wonderful to have this space back on downtown dining scene, #2 Sir Winston Churchill Square, 780-392-2501, restaurantmay.ca.
monolith tap room now open
Check out the new intimate space at Monolith, the other Blind Enthusiasm project, 9918 78 Avenue. Barrel-aged beers and bar menu by exec chef Christine Sandford.
jasper dreaming: a skate on lake mildred
The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge debuts La Cabane, a spot to warm up after skating and pond hockey, with fire pits, hot choc and mulled wine, s’mores and chili, beside Lake Mildred.
If gazing upon the winter wonderland is more your style, take the strawberry or apple-themed Afternoon Tea (with a glass of Cliquot) in the Great Hall, Saturday and Sundays.