It really sucks for Top Chef watchers in Canada – not only do we get a delayed finale (five days late), but there are ample opportunities for us to be spoiled of the result, as I was watching Conan O’Brien last week (“…and the Top Chef winner, __!”). Worse than that, they just aired part one of the finale a second time! Arg. Anyway, on to this week’s food notes:

• Week 2 of Planet Organic’s Meet the Locals Food Festival kicked off today and runs until December 20. Check the schedule for tasting tables and cooking demonstrations! I checked out the festival back in November, and highly recommend it.
• Guru Restaurant, located in the old Julio Barrio’s building in the west end (17021 – 100 Avenue), is now open. It looks very sleek from the website photos. Anyone give it a try yet?
• L2 Grill, the revamped Fantasyland Hotel restaurant, received a glowing review in the Journal this weekend.
• Early reviews of The Bothy: from Foodie Suz and Chowhounders.
• Liane had several great heads-up posts on her blog this week, including word of a new foodie group called Les Marmitons coming to town, the impending relocation of Skinny Legs and Cowgirls to the space formerly occupied by Ziveli (12202 Jasper Avenue), and the chance to get a $10 Culina gift certificate simply by bringing in a donation for the Food Bank. And of course, Liane also had a lovely write up about the darling cookbook of the moment, We Eat Together (it made #4 on the local bestsellers list!).
• Via Eating is the Hard Part – is the Motoraunt, aka the Monster Burger purveyor, about to close?
• This gathering of Calgary food bloggers as a means of celebrating the release of Julie/Julia looked like so much fun! I especially love the photo of the cameras out in full force, heh.
• If you love soup, then this NY Mag guide’s for you.
• We (okay, I) was determined to get to the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market this weekend, to pick up some groceries as well as some gift items. And though it shouldn’t be surprising, it seemed the cold scared many regular patrons away!

A veggie rainbow at Riverbend Gardens

• A quick stop at Flirt Cupcakes for a gift resulted in a cupcake each for Mack and I. I’ve said it in the past, but I’ll say it again – Flirt really excels in choosing whimsical embellishments for their cupcakes. I liked the cinnamon cake base of the Sweet Georgia Brown, but the icing was actually a bit sweet for me this time around. Mack liked his Eggnog Spice, but would have preferred a stronger eggnog flavour in the icing.

Cupcakes from Flirt

• We also ran a few errands in the west end, including a trip to the Doggie-Style Deli to pick up some dog treats for a few furry friends. It was our first visit, and more than anything, I’d compare it to an indoor play area for dogs. Apparently they are a popular location for dog parties, and while we were there, a pug group had gathered for their weekly play date. They had an extensive freezer of food as well as dry biscuits. We bagged a half dozen, and the owner was nice enough to waive the charge, saying we should simply come back if the dogs liked the treats. It was a very nice gesture!

Doggie-Style Deli

• St. City Roasters has been on our coffee rotation for the last number of weeks. Although we just picked up our third variety (their festively-packaged Holiday Blend), my favourite so far has been Tica Toucan. I really had no idea they had such a variety until we were looking through the shelves at Sobeys Urban Fresh.

St. City Roasters’ coffee tree at Sobeys Urban Fresh

Stay warm everyone!