Flavourful Saskatoon, May 27, 2013

Food Trucks 
Food trucks are coming to Saskatoon, possibly as early as next month.

Dan Walker of Weczeria is the first one to announce details of his food truck. It’s called Joy Ride and will serve mostly healthy food, with some vegetarian and vegan options.

Follow @Joyrideyxe on Twitter to find out where the food truck is located. They expect to be in the downtown/north end for lunch, 8th Street for dinner, and late nights will be on Broadway.

Bon Temps Cajun Café
I’ve been reading good reports on social media about the Bon Temps Cajun Café that has just opened at 223 2nd Avenue South. If you’ve been, let me know what you thought.

New Microbrewery?
I’ve been hearing rumours about a new microbrewery opening soon in Saskatoon. If anyone has more details, please email me. I’d love to spread the word.

Vegetarian Options
Chipotle is testing a vegetarian menu item. They believe it’s so delicious that it will have crossover appeal.

Edmonton’s vegan food truck, Sailin’ On, has opened to very positive reviews, supporting my claim that so long as vegan/vegetarian food is good, it will be popular.

Yes, it is possible to have a vegetarian tapas tour in Barcelona. The New York Times’ Frugal Traveler proposes a wide variety of options.

Establishing a Culinary Business
Amy Scherber, a New York City baker, offers advice on establishing a culinary business:
  • Start from a small base; 
  • After expanding, spend 3 years at a plateau to make sure you can manage; and 
  • Constantly analyze food costs, labour costs and the unexpected costs. 

Natural Wines 
Most wines are produced to be consistent and use industrial production techniques. On the other hand, “the joy of natural wines is that each one is living and every bottle is unique, even those from within the same vintage,” says Giulio Armani, the winemark at La Stoppa and founder of the new domain, Denavolo.

Patricia Nelson, the author of the Slow Food International article, concludes that there is room for both mainstream and natural wines: “Natural wines counter what seems to be increasing homogeneity, and it is heartening to see producers and retailers embracing craft practices while creating products that do not present an ever-pervasive sameness.”

Bitters
I don’t normally drink cocktails, so I don’t know much about bitters. This Globe and Mail article, highlighting Victoria Spirits in Victoria, BC, provides some useful background information.

I was interested to learn that you can use bitters in cooking. Anna Hunt, of Victoria’s Charelli’s Cheese Shop and Delicatessen, uses orange bitters in pancakes and cookies, and black pepper bitters in a compound butter.

I visited Charelli’s when I was in Victoria three years ago and am pleased to see them expanding their business. I also tasted several of Victoria Spirits’ products.

Flavourful Saskatoon is a weekly Monday feature. I also post regular profiles of culinary entrepreneurs, new restaurants and new food products.

You can follow Wanderlust and Words on Facebook, Twitter, or by email (top right corner).

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