Adventure at Taste of Edmonton

Last week, Lucas, Dan & I went to Taste of Edmonton for "dinner". The moment we walked on site I knew this was going to be a bad idea, as Dan does not like crowds. It's in a new location this year, due to the construction around Churchill Square, so I thought they would work out some of the major issues from previous year's festivities. They did okay, but there is still room for improvement.

First you have to try and find where to buy food & beverage tickets. All the ticket booths are in a centralized location this year, and if memory serves, there were less booths than in previous years. I think this is because you can buy your tickets ahead of time online, so they anticipated less people using the onsite booths. From the lineup we watched snake through the crowd throughout the night, I think it's going to take a hot minute for this to catch on.

TELL ME ABOUT THE FOOD!
We spent $67, which got us 40 tickets. Each item ranges in "price" from 3 to 6 tickets, and six tickets doesn't always mean you get a bigger item. I have no idea how many vendors there were (no more than 100 I think), and each vendor decides which of their menu items to offer to a maximum of two items. It looks like some vendors offer specialty items that aren't on their regular menus, or a smaller version of a standard. The variety of items is high, as Edmonton has been expanding our variety of restaurants in town overall. I remember when the "variety" used to be Chinese food and maybe an Indian joint! You can get bar fare like burgers and deep fried pickles, "pan-Asian" items like green onion cakes - an Edmonton original - tempura, and sushi. And there Indian, Ethiopian, and fancy hotel fare. And the ice cream line ups are always long! The vegetarian options are sparse, but not impossible to find. And thanks to the addition of a few vegan restaurants to the Edmonton scene, there were some easy choices for those folks as well.

40 tickets got each of us a couple of "entrees", a dessert, and beverages for the guys. I brought my own water because I am trying to be thrifty! Lucas wanted to eat and run. No exploring, no waiting for the band to start. He ate his last item (beef & sesame sauce on rice) and said "okay let's go". And then we went home and made soup, because we were still hungry.

PROS AND CONS
Cons: Crowds and lineups. Expensive for the amount of food you get. Generates a lot of garbage.
Pros: Experience restaurants that you might never go to otherwise in a casual atmosphere. Free music. Beer garden. You can bring your own reusable dishes.

PLAN FOR NEXT TIME
If there is a next time...but who am I kidding, there will be a next time. I'm going to leave the boys at home, grab a friend and a beer, a fun new snack, and catch a band or two!

xo

p.s. I do think they could benefit from some sort of organized queue system at each booth...