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If you like your doughnuts airy and lacquered, listen up. Krispy Kreme lovers need no longer trek to Issaquah and wait in long lines of hungry SUV occupants. Instead, they'll trek to North Seattle and wait in long lines of hungry Subaru station-wagon occupants. That's right, Krispy Kreme, the North Carolina-based chain of glazed, doughy, light-as-air sugar bombs with holes, is coming to Aurora Avenue North and 125th Street this April. We'll take a powdered blueberry-filled, a chocolate-iced custard-filled, and a couple of glazed sour creams, thanks.
STEAK ON THE RUN
In other corporate food news, the freshest joint in town for a Philly-style cheese-steak sandwich is—Jack in the Box? For $3.29, they'll serve up sliced steak marinated in pepper, onion, and garlic, with seasoned onions and precisely three slices of Swiss cheese on a hearth-baked roll. Seem like another odd choice from the chain that's experimented with everything from tacos to teriyaki? Says product manager Teka O'Rourke: "While they're not that common on fast-food menus, we know that our customers love lots of meat and cheese, so the Philly cheese steak seems quite at home beside our burgers and fries." Maybe she's got a point.
NOT-SO-SUBLIMINAL SUPPER
Nothing jump-starts our appetite quite like blatant commercialism. That's why we're excited about Gourmet Impression's new set of food embossers. Unveiled at the International Restaurant and Food Services Trade Show this month, the handheld tools employ complex "rolling" and "stamping" technologies to personalize food with messages (like "Happy Birthday") and, more probably, advertisements and company logos. The Gourmet Impression Web site (www.gourmetimpression.com) features a disturbing image of bologna cold cuts, stacked and emblazoned with a brand name and a decorative border. Other foods with embossment potential, according to GI, are pizzas, calzones, bread sticks, cheeses, melons, breads, pies, butter sticks, and baked potatoes. And the potential for cross- promotion is endless. Soon, at a fast-food joint near you: the Harry Potter burger, branded with Daniel Radcliffe's likeness.
CHILD'S PLAY
Before there was Emeril, before the Naked Chef, there was Julia. No doubt about it, Julia Child is the TV chef. Even in retirement, she remains high on a pedestal in the minds of culinary TV watchers far and wide. Everyone, it seems, has a favorite Julia memory: her generosity in making herself look silly so at-home amateurs didn't have to feel foolish; her love for butterfat; the sometimes-manic gusto that caused her to drop at least one whole bird on the floor; Dan Aykroyd's Saturday Night Live skit in which he, as Julia, cuts his hand and proceeds to cook as if nothing's happened; her unusual stature (6-foot-2); and, of course, that famous warble. This February marks the 40th anniversary of the first airing of her show, The French Chef, on PBS. The American Institute of Wine and Food—which Child co-founded in 1981 with Robert Mondavi—is celebrating, and local chefs like Thierry Rautureau of Rover's are heading up the Seattle festivities. On Monday, Feb. 10, Rautureau's preparing Julia's classic beef bourguignonne recipe. Join him at Rover's (2808 E. Madison St., 206-325-7442) at 6:30 p.m., or call the Seattle AIWF (206-749-0048) for more Julia-centric happenings.
Food and/or beverage news? E-mail Hot Dish at food@seattleweekly.com.
