Back in 2012 pop up dinners were immensely popular and The Common was the main restaurant to host these one-night-only type of events. From Korean food to breakfast for dinner, if there was a pop up at The Common, I was there too.

On May 26 pop up dinners are returning to The Common and the theme this time around is honey & hot sauce. Sweet and Spicy is a classic pairing and is perfect for summer weather. I can't wait to taste what Chef Jesse Morrison-Gauthier has planned for the menu.

For the pop up two seatings at 6:00 and 8:30PM are available and the night will consist of 4 courses for $40. It's such a great deal! I've always had great experiences at The Common both in terms of food and service, so Honey & Hot Sauce should make for a great night!

One thing I love about pop up dinners is the element of surprise. If you want to be surprised, stop reading now! Otherwise, continue :). The menu is often kept a secret until you're seated at your table, but here's what will be on the menu for Tuesday evening:

• Wings ‘n Things: Chicken wings, sweetbreads & rabbit wings with honey walnuts, sriracha, and green onions
• Honey Glazed Bacon with hot & sour cabbage salad
• Chili rubbed lamb popsicles with honey caramel
• Chili chocolate doughnuts with foraged honeysuckle

The menu sounds fantastic, right? I'll be there on Tuesday night and The Common has given me the opportunity to give one of my readers two tickets to the 6:00PM seating. All details are down below, but if you don't want to take your chances, some seatings are still available and you can make your reservation for the pop up through Kyla at kyla@thecommon.ca.

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THE GIVEAWAY

Two Tickets to Honey & Hot Sauce at The Common - 6PM Seating
$80 value

Mandatory Entry: To enter, tell me which pop up menu dish you're most interested in by commenting on this post. Please make sure you leave a valid email address in the giveaway widget as this is how I will be contacting you.


ADDITIONAL ENTRIES

1. Follow me via Twitter (@littlmissandrea) (+1)
2. Tweet about the giveaway: "I'm excited for the Honey & Hot Sauce Pop Up at @TheCommonYEG! Enter @littlmissandrea's giveaway for tickets #yegfood" and link back to this post (+2)
3. Follow me via Instagram (@littlmissandrea) (+1)
4. Visit my Facebook page, like and share the giveaway post (+3)


a Rafflecopter giveaway


This giveaway is open to anyone 18+ years of age. You have until May 24 to enter and the winner will be selected by random and be contacted via email. Good luck!

Edmonton is a cold, snowy city for the majority of the year. During the winter months I'm always looking for ways to warm up from the cold, and nothing is more comforting to me than a bowl of steaming noodle soup. Starting today I'm going to be highlighting some of my favourite noodle soups in the city, and I'd love for you to share yours with me so I can try them too. Follow along with #YEGNoodleSoups and let the fun begin, starting with this post!

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Noodles with bite. Broth full of flavour. Know what I'm talking about? Prairie Noodle Shop's (PNooSh) second pop-up! I gave you a sneak peek of what PNooSh had in mind for the second pop up a few weeks back, so hopefully you had a chance to get your hands on a bowl. If not, keep on reading!

On the evening on November 12th Prairie Noodle Shop tested out a new method for customers to get a taste of their ramen. Through the ticketing service Eventbrite, tickets could be reserved for one of four seatings at 6, 7, 8, or 9 PM. In just 8 minutes the tickets were sold out. I honestly can compare the excitement and anxiety of securing a ticket to being a teenager trying get One Direction concert tickets. So stressful, but so satisfying when you know you've secured your ticket!

Prairie Noodle Shop stuck to their roots and pulled inspiration from beer can chicken for their second bowl, because what's more Albertan than that? The soup, like last time, was made up of two components: dashi (konbu, dried shrimp, anchovies and bonito flakes) and chicken stock. The tare was meant to give the palate those earthy flavours found in beer, as it was made using three different types of toasted barley and sweetened with local Albertan honey. As with the first pop up, the chicken was highlighted in the bowl three different ways: a deep fried chicken wing marinated with the tare, a tare marinated yakitori chicken thigh, and a piece of baked chicken skin. Other toppings included some pickled pearl onions, smoked kale, green onions, and that delicious umeboshi egg.

Just like the first bowl I ever had, one bite and I was done for. The soup had depth, umami tones, and hints of the earthy flavours thanks to the barley. The noodles are still sourced locally and have a great bite that lasts through the entire bowl. All of the chicken was flavourful, cooked perfectly, and I loved the sweetness from the honey in the marinade. It was quite the surprise to see kale and the pearl onions in the bowl, but they both provided different texture and flavour elements to the bowl. The pickled onions gave a crisp punch of tanginess, while the kale imparted smoky flavours to the bowl. And as always, that egg with soft whites and an oozing yolk was killer. Every bite of ramen was full of flavour, and reaching the end of the bowl made me just a little sad.

Congrats to the PNooSh team for another successful pop-up and for knocking the socks off everyone's feet. This bowl of ramen was fantastic and the team is really setting the bar high for ramen here in the city. If you missed this pop-up, never fear! The next pop up should be scheduled sometime in March of 2015, so keep your eyes peeled on Twitter and Instagram through @YEGNoodles (and me of course!). With all the demand for a good, hearty bowl of ramen, I think they should just open up shop! It's time for this city to have a dedicated ramen shop. What do you think?

*Disclosure: This bowl of ramen was provided to me free of charge by Prairie Noodle Shop to celebrate my birthday. This post is 100% my opinion, and as always, my priority is to you, the reader, to present an unbiased, thorough review.

Two weeks ago I was able to attend a pop up dinner hosted by Shovel & Fork and Slow Food Edmonton (SFE) at RGE RD. Shovel & Fork is a local organization working towards educating the community about local food and sustainability. Working together with Slow Food Edmonton, the funds raised from hosting the 9 course meal are going towards sending some SFE members to the national conference later this year. It was great to see that the pop up was sold out, and I had no idea what the menu was going to be like. But what was better yet? Chef Robin Wasicuna came in from Yellowknife to cook for this event too! Mr. G and I were rooting for him to win Chopped Canada and I was excited to see him in action in the kitchen.

Before the meal began we started with an amuse bouche that featured one of my favourite cheeses: one bite of The Cheesiry's pecorino paired with House Honey Crafts honey. I love the flavours of this cheese and the pairing was lovely. I could eat it all day (but good thing I don't :))

Most of the meal was pizza themed given that Chad Moss, cofounder of Shovel & Fork and current SFE president, used to host a pizza club in Edmonton. First up was a margarita pizza, a classic and tasty savoury pie.

Next up was a pairing of mitake mushrooms with miso butter and a 62 degree egg. The mushrooms and eggs were delicious together, especially with that beautiful runny yolk binding the ingredients together.

Another pizza course was up next, this time with four different local cheeses, pea shoots and Shovel & Fork apple cider. The pizza had a sharp cheese flavour and was amazingly garlicky, making me feel that I need to have this combination more often!

Switching things up between the pizza courses, the next dish featured ling cod from Great Slave Lake, which Robin Wasicuna caught himself! Super cool. I love the firm texture of ling cod, and without a doubt this fish tasted delicious! The ling cod sat upon a bed of savoury kale and garnished with cilantro, burnt lime, and birds eye chilies.

Our next pizza course featured housemade chorizo, The Cheesiry's pecorino, and arugula grown in Morinville. The combination of salty and peppery ingredients made this my favourite pizza of the evening.

The seventh course was one that I thought didn't match with the theme of the dinner, but it was delicious nonetheless: a bulgogi pork shoulder paired with a Fuji Apple kimchi, fish sauce, crackling and guanciale. The pork shoulder was a little too salty for my liking but it was so moist and tender and I loved the kick of heat from the kimchi.

The second last course of the night was a pizza featuring morel mushrooms. The earthy flavour of the mushrooms really came through, but I would have loved to have more on the pizza for some different texture with each bite.

The last course of the evening was a dessert pizza - we definitely had an overdose of carbs this night! A combination of Saskatoon berries and honey raspberry coulis gave the pizza some sour and sweet bites, which I really enjoyed. It definitely gives the traditional dessert pizza a spin - one can only have so much nutella & banana on pizza dough!

Thank you to Shovel & Fork, Slow Food Edmonton, RGE RD and Robin Wasicuna for coming together to host this delicious pop up dinner! I may stay away from pizza for some time, but my stomach was definitely happy this night. Slow Food Edmonton will be hosting more events in the future, and I highly recommend checking them out for some great chef collaborations and delicious eats!

Who likes breakfast? I'm sure most people do. I love breakfast. But I also love my sleep. So really, the big problem in my life is that as much as I really love breakfast foods, I love sleep more, and love to sleep in til the very last minute I can, then dash around to get ready in the mornings and I'm out the door without any food in my stomach. Oops. So when The Common announced their Breakfast For Dinner pop up event for November, it was the perfect way to catch up on breakfast foods that I miss!

The Common - 9910 109 Street - Edmonton AB

So the pop up dinner at The Common was a little bit different, as it was featuring the culinary genius of their own Chef, Jesse Morrison-Gauthier. While I have had some dishes from him before, it was never the entire meal planned out and executed by him.. I was definitely excited to see what was in store, as it would be a pretty good indication of the quality and standards of food normally served at The Common.

The night started off with an amuse bouche: Fondant potato, hollandaise & smoked salmon. This dish was an excellent start, as the potato had a crisp interior, breaking away to reveal a tender interior. The hollandaise was thick with a tangy zing, and the smoked salmon tied it all together. I could sit and eat a couple of these by myself.

The next course was what I deem the best dish of the night: Muesli with black sesame yogurt, elderberries, honeycomb and prunes. This to me was a yogurt parfait taken to the next level. I had imagined the yogurt would be a black sesame yogurt, but instead it was served as a very tart plain yogurt with a clump of black sesame on the side. I enjoyed it this way, as it gave me a chance to try to balance the tart yogurt with each component separately.. and everything worked so well. The black sesame wasn't too strong, prunes and elderberries gave a nice sweetness, strawberries very sweet and the honeycomb sweet and chewy. Add in the crisp Muesli with everything, and I would like to have this every morning for breakfast. I promise I would wake up a little earlier!

The third dish was packed with protein: Oeufs en cocotte: eggs, truffle, asparagus, Gruyere, prosciutto. To be totally honest, I'm not a big truffle fan. I find that the taste can be very overwhelming, but the amounts in this dish were perfect. The truffle was present without being too prominent, sitting amongst two eggs, asparagus pieces, and Gruyere cheese melted within. I loved the crisp proscuitto topped with herbed breadcrumb - crumbled and mixed in with the eggs gave the dish the flavour it needed.

So dish number four had me quite excited. If you've read for long enough, chicken and waffles served in front of me is something I've wanted to have for SO long. And this dish did not disappoint: confit chicken, amaranth bacon waffle, maple, watermelon, persimmon marmalade. The chicken was literally the size of my hand and I didn't know how I would eat it all, but I definitely had the desire and drive to finish it. The chicken was tender, and the coating was golden and crisp. The waffles were a little soft, but studded with bacon, and this dish was what I would have hoped for as my first real chicken and waffles. The fresh fruits were a nice addition to eat inbetween to cleanse the palate, and really helped the dish along. Luckily this is a permanent dish on the menu for The Common too - definitely try it out!

Last but not least was the dessert: espresso panna cotta, mini doughnuts, nutella. The panna cotta was firm but smooth, with a prominent espresso flavour throughout. The warm fresh donuts were light and soft, not too dense and delicious dipped in the nutella. Such a great end to the meal.

All in all, I have to say that this popup dinner has been the best to date for me. The portions were perfect and you were getting such a good deal! I love that it really featured what Chef Jesse Morrison-Gauthier is able to do, and gave me an indication of what the food at The Common normally is like. If anything, I can't wait to go in on a regular day to try things out.

If you've followed my blog long enough, you'll know that I love pop up dinners! Back on October 16 (oh my gosh, where did this month go?!) was Occupy Common 2.0, where five different chefs came together to put a pop up dinner together! So much fun. As the food will never be replicated, I thought I'd share some quick thoughts & pictures of the yummy eats from that night!

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First plate of the night was by Chef Andrew Cowan of Hundred Bar Kitchen: pickle brined, duck fat fried chicken with kimchi & honey drizzle. Unfortunately, having to plate so many dishes meant that the chicken arrived to the table cold, and the skin soggy. However, there was no trace of duck fat smell or taste in the chicken - quite peculiar as it was what I was most looking forward to. The kimchi was spicy and crisp, but without the familiar fermented flavour, so this dish was unfortunately a miss for me!

Second up was Nathan Saurette's of the Enjoy Center's creation: charred brussels sprouts and lentil salad tossed with maple dressing, topped with porchetta and squash bread. This one I was dreading. I hate brussels sprouts with a passion. But after tasting this dish, maybe I don't hate brussels sprouts themselves, but rather my mothers brussels sprouts. The miniature cabbages were charred to perfection, while the maple dressing gave them a sweetness that paired perfectly with the smoky flavour. The porchetta was tender and had delicious crispy skin attached to it - the dish left me wanting more!

Next to the table was by Edgar Guitterez of Tres Carnales Tacqueria: steamed lamb shoulder with tamal de elote, chile de arbol and pumpkin seed sauce. I'm still debating whether this dish or Nathan's was my favourite for the night. The tender, flavourful lamb atop the soft tamal de elote was so tasty, I'd eat it again in a heartbeat.

Stu Chell from Amber's Brewing cooked up the fourth dish: stout brined corned beef on rye with a waldorf slaw. Let me tell you this, I was SO FULL at this point, I had no idea how I was going to finish this plate! Thankfully my food baby was prepared to grow and I was able to taste the mustard and corned beef together. It was a nice dish, but definitely too big of a portion to eat this far in the meal. Need I mention that every single dish had protein up to this point? I was ready to explode and was begging for dessert to come.

Last but not least was the dish from executive chef of The Common, Jesse Morrison-Gauthier: shropshire blue cheese with syrup & oat biscuits, rhubarb, celery and cherries. I was hoping for more of a dessert to end off the meal, but this one was nice too. Not being a big blue cheese girl, I did try it, and it was waaaaay potent! Where were my cheese loving friends when I needed them? Anyways, the biscuits were tasty - soft and pliable, and not too sweet. Topped with the rhubarb and cherry jam, I was a happy girl.

The next pop up dinner at The Common is happening this upcoming November 20, 2012. Breakfast for dinner! Who's in?!

Pop Up dinners. I'm a big fan. There's just something I love about not knowing what menu is being prepared, something I love about trying something new in a familiar setting. Back in August, The Common (which I think is notoriously known for hosting pop up dinners - my last one was Filistix) hosted a four course Korean meal, featuring the talents of their new Korean chefs Jake & Julie Kim.

Our first course was Modeumjeon, a trio of meat, vegetable, and seafood Korean pancakes. First off, how ingenious was it to garnish this plate with a deep fried piece of lotus root? This sparked conversation at our table, about how we should make chips out of them. Definitely need to try this out soon. Anyway, this dish was a nice light start to the meal, and my favourite had to be the faux crab combined with pickled radish & asparagus. The vegetable portion added the different texture that made it so much better.

Next up was Bibimbap, a traditional dish consisting of beef and assorted veggies atop of a bed of rice, all mixed together with a red chili paste. I had been wondering exactly how big this course would be, since bowls of bibimbap run quite large, so the small bowls were something new and cute. I discovered that the bits of ground beef weren't sitting in the bowl with the other toppings, but rather was being incorporated into the red chili paste - therefore it was hard to find in the dish. The beef was there, just in minute proportions. Unfortunately, the amount of red chili paste wasn't enough to give the whole dish flavour, so our server gladly ran to bring out a big bowl for the whole table. More sauce, more flavour, great dish.

The star of the night, in my opinion, was the third course: Galbijim, soy braised short ribs. The beef was so flavourful and fall off the bone tender, while the vegetables braised along with the beef also fully absorbed the flavours. The kimchi wasn't very spicy, but hadn't been fermented for long enough to have that sour zing to it that I love. I really only wished that this dish was served along with a bowl of rice, as eating the dish alone was saltier with each bite, given the nature of the sauce.

Finishing off the night was our dessert: Gyung Dan & Maejakgwa, crispy rice balls in fruit juice & crispy pastry with honey. Wow, I really had no idea what to expect, and I have to say the presentation was lovely. The mixture of the warm reds and orange contrasted with the blues was really pretty! Upon eating it, I was completely surprised. Watermelon, canteloupe, raspberries and blueberries were floating in a grapefruit juice, which made the seasonal fruits a little bit sour - something I'm definitely not used to. In reality, the "crispy rice balls" were soft, but chewy, and the honey pastries were quite hard to bite into. Not the best dish for me, but it was my first time being exposed to Korean dessert (unless you count Melona? Mm.)

At the end of the night, I wasn't full, but my stomach was content and happy with the meal. Chef Jesse Morrison-Gauthier stepped out of the kitchen along with Jake & Julie to give us their story and background - which I was surprised to learn that the duo had just moved to Canada from Korea a mere four months earlier. Prior to the dinner I had wondered exactly who these two chefs were and where they were coming from, so it was great to have this introduction, and it is so wonderful that The Common was able to give them a chance to showcase their talent!

The next pop up dinner at The Common is coming up on October 16 - Occupy Common 2. If you're interested, follow the link to get your tickets - hope to see you there!

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending Filistix's first pop up. What's a pop up, you may ask? When associated with the culinary world, it can be a kitchen takeover by a different chef for the night, a temporary restaurant that exists solely for a night, or a temporary dining space where food is served in an unconventional place. They've become increasingly popular in metropolitan areas, and a few have actually taken place in Edmonton as of late. The pop up event took place downtown at The Common - an environment usually occupied by DJ's, mixing beats for partiers throughout the night.

Our seating was at 6 pm, with a booth reserved for Vince & I. The menu consisted of five different preset dishes, all Filipino with the siganture Filistix twist. I love trying out the unexpected.


If you follow me via Twitter/Instagram, you've probably seen the pictures of the amazing food already. But in enlarged form, they look so much more delicious, right?


Lumpia Pembina Pork spring rolls with a mango and jicama salad


Kare-Kare Braised Spring Creek Ranch Beef brisket in a rich peanut sauce


Adobong Liempo Pembina Pork belly adobo


Pancit Canton fried noodles with roasted chicken & shrimp


Leche Flan Creme Caramel

Out of all the dishes, I'd have to say the pork belly adobo was my favourite. So yummy with the added lime! The crew behind Filistix (Ariel, Roel, Kevin & Lauren) did a wonderful job for the night! Everything ran smoothly, and couldn't have been better in terms of having great food & company! Thank you, and hope to do this again with you in the future!