Flavourful Saskatoon, August 22, 2011

Foodie news and events in and around Saskatoon – bakeries, coffee shops, espresso, fine dining, farmers, and cider

Caffe Sola
Caffe Sola has new windows! The large windows and corner location have been a blessing and a curse for Caffe Sola. The new windows are treated to reduce the negative impact, and wooden benches along the window provide additional seating. Looks awesome. (And the baked goods are pretty awesome too.)

Il Secondo
Il Secondo, Christie’s Bakery’s location just off Broadway, is now open until 9 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. And they have a liquor license, so you can enjoy pizza straight out of the wood oven along with your choice of Italian beer or wine (at least 2 red and 2 white).

EarthBound Bakery
What would Saturdays be like without a stuffed croissant from EarthBound Bakery? The croissant this week was exceptional – the filling was roasted pattypan squash with arugula-walnut-garlic pesto. Trent Loewen, the baker, uses as many local, organic products as he possibly can. All summer long, the vegetables are from his brother Paul’s farm.

Commercial Kitchen - Saskatoon Farmers’ Market
The Saskatoon Farmers’ Market has received a substantial sponsorship cheque from Agrium for the construction of a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen. The kitchen will host local cooking classes, workshops, catering events, and other food preparation. The Market hopes that the kitchen will be up and running by October.

Wild Serendipity Foods
The French macarons from Michelle at Wild Serendipity Foods (Saturdays at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market) are a delight – chewy and flavourful with a rich, creamy filling. She’s introducing two new flavours – praline and marzipan.

Macarons are really fussy, and Michelle has taken the time and effort to perfect them. (photo credit: Cindy La)

Living Sky Winery
Living Sky Winery is now making rhubarb cider. It should be available in a couple of weeks. And they’ve frozen a big batch of local raspberries – something to look forward to in the winter.

Weczeria
I had dinner at Weczeria last week. The focus on local, seasonal food is noteworthy. There was fresh mint in the cream sauce on the gnocchi, kale alongside the ratatouille and polenta, transparent onion slices marinated in maple balsamic vinegar and crispy roasted chickpeas in the salad.

The chocolate mousse with chai ganache and ginger ice cream for dessert was fabulous, and I loved the raw rhubarb slivers on top of the pannacotta (reminded me of when I was a little kid dipping rhubarb stalks in a bowl of sugar). The macarons – not so good – I’ll stick with the ones from Wild Serendipity.

Ag in the City
Ag in the City is a two-day event to show urbanites the role agriculture plays in all our lives. It is being held at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market on September 11 and 12.

Sunday, September 11 is open to the public and features a breakfast of locally-produced food, information about farm groups and products, a pie auction and a harvest picnic on the riverbank. Elementary and secondary school groups will tour the exhibit and cooking demonstration on Monday, September 12.

Duck Duck Goose
Too early in the day for wine and tapas? Duck Duck Goose has an espresso machine and uses organic milk in all their coffee beverages.

Flavourful Saskatoon is a weekly Monday feature. Email me (penny@axonsoft.com) if you have products, events or places that you would like me to include.

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