Love for the Locals: Taste of Edmonton 2016

Somehow, the summer has whizzed by! Hopefully some of you have been able to catch the annual Taste of Edmonton!

This year, I was on somewhat of a solo mission. P took an out-of-town friend to the festival on an earlier day, so that they wouldn't miss the whole thing. So, I snagged a full sheet at the "sale price" of $50 for 40 tickets, and split it with a friend instead. P joined me, said friend, and couple others when we decided to go, along with his few remaining tickets.

I tried to be a bit more prepared this year, and brought my own water, while trying to spot restaurants that offered a good ticket to food quantity and quality value. By the end of Sunday, I decided to split my excursion over 2 days, so that I didn't have to worry about packing a lunch on Monday. Working downtown sure has its perks!

Here was my haul from this year:

This year, Farrow Sandwiches made its first appearance! This was their Roast Beef, Horseradish Mayo, Arugula, Pickled Onion, Chips (3 tickets). While its fillings were on point as usual, the bread could have been toasted or something to take it up just a notch.

The Freson Bros. Markets, another newbie offered two types of meat, of which I opted for the Alberta Beef Smoked Brisket w/ Country Hearth Bread & Home Style Pickled Onions (3 tickets). Boy, it was so moist and tender. The pickled onions and dijon mustard complemented it so well, that I didn't even realize until afterwards that the first two plates I tasted consisted of beef and pickled onions.

This was the Spanakopita (Spinach Pie) w/ Tzatziki Dip (3 tickets) from Koutouki It's All Greek To Me. P was looking a little abandoned, and has a strange affinity to spanakopitas, so I took pity on him, threw in one of my tickets, and got one to share. He pointed out that this year's spanakopita was actually better than the one we had a few Taste of Edmontons ago, and he was right! It even changed its shape!

By this time, I was feeling a bit muddled due to how my stomach only had oil, meat, and bread in it, and opted for the Canada Maki (3 tickets) from Kyoto Japanese Cuisine to lighten things up. While P gave me a strange look as I came back with this, it really did hit the spot.

That said, I ended my first day with more meat in the form of Fairmont Hotel Macdonald's Pork Taco w/ Kimchi Slaw & Lemon Thyme Aioli (3 tickets), a reprise from last year, but still pretty good stuff. Now that I think about it, Normand's Bistro, its festival neighbour also had the same offerings as last year. Hmmm...

To start off my lunch the next day, I opted for something my friends got on Sunday night. Pampa served up a mean Garlic Rumpsteak w/ Chimichurri Sauce on Focaccia (4 tickets). It was a pretty decent helping of meat, and flavours were good too!

I had meant to save my last few tickets for La Mar's Shrimp Tostada, but I couldn't find the food truck anywhere, while I still had time to spare. I figured that it just hadn't shown up yet, as other food trucks were still setting up at the time, and ended my lunch break with the Tequila-Lime Chicken Tacos w/ Mexican Rice (3 tickets) from The Three Amigos. Having been there before for dinner, I knew I couldn't go wrong. I admired the choice between mild and hot salsa, which was kind of nice. I got the hot one, of course!

Taste of Edmonton is becoming more costly, and this year's offerings consisted of some repeats, much meat, and many tacos, but it's still a fun way to have a little bit of everything from around the city, while enjoying the sun with some friends. A tip I might have for this year, and potentially for years to come is to maybe bring your own salad.

Go out and grab some grub, but don't forget your sunscreen and/or an umbrella!

-M