I am still awaiting the media release from Carrie Irvine of Blackbird Communications to properly fill in this post for Media Release Thursday.

In the meantime, Ottawa is seeing a significant milestone in its passion for cupcakes, its first brick and mortar "cupcakery." Yes, New Edinburgh has Isobel's (117 Beechwood Avenue). But, Isobel's started off as a gourmet bakery. And, Westoboro's Candy Store (350 Richmond Road) resells Ottawa Cupcakery's cupcakes. The Flour Shoppe is dedicated to the art of cupcakes.

For those who haven't come across the Flour Shoppe, it has been selling cupcakes for a while now through its website and donating countless cupcakes to various fundraisers. The most recent I am aware of was the "It's Girl Thing" event at the Third Avenue Spa (784 Bank Street) for United Way Ottawa.

That said, the Flour Shoppe's grand opening is scheduled for Saturday, June 5, 2010. There will be cupcakes.

Baker/Owner Melissa Somers will be on the A-Channel, June 3, 2010 to promote the opening.

I will add to this post when I come across more information.

Particulars:
The Flour Shoppe
617 Bank Street (@Stratchcona)
(613) 695-3752

As per our previous Media Release Thursday post, we come across a number of media releases for food-related events from communication and event firms like Ottawa's own Knock on Wood Public Relations. Since we can't attend all the events because of time constraints or logistics, we would like to encourage others to, be they local foodies or food bloggers.

Let Go at Lago Launch and Charitable Campaign
It was Stacey Diffin-Lafleur (@thestacey), United Way Ottawa's marketing lead, who first made us aware of this event at Lago. A media-release showed up in our e-mail days later.

According to it, Lago Bar and Grill View, which often boasts it has Ottawa's largest waterfront patio, is hosting a customer appreciation event this evening (May 20, 2010) for media, "VIPs", and regulars. Dubbed "Let Go at Lago", the event will introduce its new naked menu, which will be prepared by Chef Joe Pirie. Lago will also use the opportunity to show off renovations, unveil two new VIP areas, and launch its new wraparound deck patio, overlooking Dow's Lake.

The "naked" menu is a piece-meal approach to ordering. It invites patrons to choose an entrée, an accompanying sauce, and two sides. Additional sides are available for "family-style" sharing. I hope the servers share some suggestions regarding the pairings.

Tonight, all valet revenues ($12/car) will be donated to the United Way, courtesy of Responsible Choice. During the rest of the weekend (Thursday-Sunday), 20% of food and beverage sales will also be donated to the charity and patrons will have the opportunity to decide how the funds will be dispersed. Survey inserts will be distributed with bills to ask patrons where they would like donations focused: Growing up Great, Turning Lives Around, or Belonging to Community. Results will then be tabulated, and funds distributed as per the responses.

The LAGO restaurant itself has 250 seats in the main restaurant, 175 seats on its patio, and a second floor "Vista" room for private functions. The Vista room can accommodate 140 people for a sit down dinner or 220 people for a cocktail style reception. An additional seating of 70 people can be made available on an adjoining private second floor patio.

Lago has hosted a number of community events including United Way's Schmoozefest.

Boston Pizza Orleans Community Taste Testing Party
Yesterday afternoon, we received a generous invitation to Boston Pizza Orleans' "Community Taste Testing Party" on June 7, 2010 (11:30 am). The event will unveil new dishes from its new menu to invitees.

Invites to the event are being distributed via Boston Pizza Orleans' Twitter account, @bporleans. Accordingly, for a chance to win an invite, you need to unscramble the tweet about a scrambled new menu items and re-tweet. One lucky winner will be announced everyday.

We at foodiePrints are honestly impressed by the social media footprint Boston Pizza Orleans has established and the network they have built. They are on Twitter and they keep the account interactive. They have a blog, which they update regularly. They are even on Facebook.

It has been almost 10 years since I set foot in a Boston Pizza. If I can work out the logistics for a Monday lunchtime sojourn to Orleans, I look forward to seeing new menu developments. I consistently hear service at Boston Pizza Orleans is quite good for a chain restaurant.

Particulars:
Lago Bar & Grill View
1001 Queen Elizabeth Drive, Ottawa
(613) 235-5246

Boston Pizza Orleans
3884 Innes Road, Orleans
(613) 590-0881

foodiePrints seems to be coming across a number of interesting media/press releases, relating to food, restaurants, and eating in Ottawa. I hereby designate Thursday to be the day we post a roll up, summarizing openings and interesting events.

Fresco's Guest Room Opens
Firstly, the Fresco Italian Bistro at 384 Elgin Street is opening its upstairs "Guest Room" today with an invitation-only grand opening party, organized by Knock on Wood Communications. The event will be candle lit to observe Earth Day. Some dishes will be prepared by "blow torch." Music will be provided by Doozy Candle.

The Guest Room is envisioned to open "late" every night. It will serve patrons Fresco's bistro menu during regular hours. Afterward, it will serve small plates, including an exclusive charcuterie menu designed by Chef Steve Vardy, formerly of Beckta Dining and Wine, Whalesbone Oyster House, and, most recently, the Black Cat Bistro. Both menus will be prepared under the direction of Chef Brent Pattee, formerly of The Empire Grill and Bacci Bistro. Wine served will come from a rotating menu that includes selections from international small batch wine makers.

Fresco Bistro is owned and operated by brothers Matt and Jim Bickford. Interior design of the Guest Room was done by Crawford Alexander of Designs by 2. Materials used were recycled or re-purposed from storage and the Bickford cottage.

The Growing Up Organic Coffee Blend Returns to Bridgehead
The "Growing Up Organic Blend" of coffee returns to Ottawa's Bridgehead coffeehouse today. This year, as last, proceeds from the sales of the limited edition coffee blend ($2/lb) will go to fund school food gardens in neighbourhoods in which there is a Bridgehead location.

Last year, 9 school food gardens were either built or expanded. This includes Cambridge Street Community Public School in Centretown, Le Trillium and Trille des bois in Vanier, First Avenue Public School in the Glebe, and Heritage Academy in Hintonburg, and Elmwood in Rockcliffe Park.

The re-launch was marked this morning by Bridgehead owner Gina Becker and Canadian Organic Growers (COG) staff assisting students with building and planting a garden at Woodroffe Avenue Public School (235 Woodroofe Avenue).

"Growing up Organic" is a project launched by COG in 2007. Its purpose is to encourage organic food production by increasing the amount of organically grown food in Canadian institutions. It promotes alternatives to more industrial methods of agricultural production and distribution. According to its website, the project is now in Phase II. Its project sponsors include Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Ottawa is one of four Growing Up Organic Sites.

Particulars:
Fresco Bistro Italiano
354 Elgin Street
(613)235-7541

Bridgehead
Various Locations

As a foodie, one of my frustrations is following the many blogs in the growing food blog community, local or otherwise, and reading about food or food-related events I could have attended had I known beforehand.

As a local food blogger whose goal is to make Ottawa a foodie destination, I blog to highlight our growing restaurant scene and encourage people to visit our eateries and attend events. To date, I have been mildly successful via Twitter, a calendar application, and Post-It notes.

Yesterday, I discovered BeTidings. According to the Webster's dictionary the verb "betide" means "to happen (to); befall." Aptly named, BeTidings (@betidings) is a free online social calendar, built by local entrepreneur Treena (@TGrevatt), to make events accessible. It allows registered users to setup calendars, add events, share events, "collect" events, and "follow" other users' calendars. Best of all, individual calendars are publicly accessible and the web application is really easy to use. Though, I have not tested the GCal integration yet...

Here is a screen capture of the calendar I setup for Ottawa food/food-related events.

foodiePrints on BeTidings
Click here for the live calendar.

To date, I have added the events I know about. And, I have tweeted several local event organizers, caterers, and restaurateurs to send me lists of upcoming events, which I will add as I receive them.

As time permits, I will also add a widget to foodiePrints’ layout to list the 5 upcoming events.

In the meantime, if you know of a food or food-related event, feel free to drop me a comment. If you see us on twitter, drop us a tweet too.

We at foodiePrints were very excited when we discovered that when you enter "f-o-o-d-i-e-p-r-i-n-t-s" into the Google search field, it auto-completes when the "p" is entered.


foodiePrints Auto-Completing

This means that the most popular search engine on the Internet suggests "foodiePrints" from time to time.

To Google, I apologize for the multiple times I submitted the search. I just couldn't believe what I saw!