Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine and follow her on Twitter @fateemasayani

CHEFS AND BEATS
TacoLot is not just a converted West Wellie shack offering quick eats; it’s practically a movement. It’s the place where trendy folks congregate as it perfectly mixes high and low culture to create a sense of unintentional irony. Hipsters love that.

Want food snobbery? You’ll find it here when guest chefs come to prepare a special taco every Sunday in support of their favourite charity. Want reference to the hip ‘hood of yore (as in Hintonburg B.G. — before gentrification)? You are in the right spot when you’re at TacoLot — it’s located on the site of an old car lot and serves as a visual reminder of pre-trendy ‘hood zoning rules.

That big old lot is just begging for a block-party-style bash and Joe Juarez, who cooks at Canvas on Holland Avenue and has been a floor-filling DJ since the days of Atomic Nightclub (’97-’01), has the right idea. This Sunday, he’s the guest cook at Chefs Playground at TacoLot from noon to 3 p.m. Juarez will prepare a panko’d white fish taco with napa cabbage and daikon radish slaw. He’ll top his dishes with a coriander-based tartar sauce and a ginger chipotle maple chili sauce. The dish will be available for around 10 bucks with proceeds going to CHEO. Juarez’s DJ pals Trevor Walker and Martin Villeneuve will set up their decks on site playing some “uplifting, happy, groovy, Sunday-afternoon house music,” Juarez says. The trio of DJs are original Atomic Nightclub residents. The old rave club on Besserer Street brought together a group of people in the glow-stick era. While many of those people stopped clubbing, Juarez hopes they’ll come back to reunite with their old pals on Sunday afternoon.

Juarez deftly mixes his two careers: cooking and DJing. Last year, me and Craig Conoley of Partus Films prepared a piece on his work called Mad Platters, which you can check out here.

Find details on this week’s Chefs Playground here.

THAT BIG FEST AT HOG’S BACK
Folk Fest is much like Bluesfest, with a different name and different location. The same people book both festivals and each name has little to do with the genre of music being presented. Just like you saw a number of electronic acts at Bluesfest this year, you’ll see a number of melancholic rock acts at Folk Fest — but, y’know, The Angry Whiny Indie Rock Fest doesn’t fit so well on the ticket stub ($40-$50/day). Most folks I know are super excited to see Bon Iver, Dan Mangan, Timber Timbre, and Whitehorse. I’m chuffed to see Patrick Watson and Brock Zeman. If you can’t make the shows, you can check the festival’s website next week for reviews by Cormac Rea. He used to edit the Ottawa XPress (RIP) and contributes to Ottawa Magazine.