WARM ON WALLA WALLA
Location Info
Related Content
More About
A lot of Northwest winemakers think the tasters at Wine Spectator magazine don't usually give sufficient credit to wines from Washington and Oregon, but you won't hear much complaint from producers in Walla Walla. Perennial Walla Walla favorites Dunham and Reininger picked up 90 points in the influential magazine's most recent rating of Northwest cabernets. Even more impressive, two total newcomers (both founded in 2001) picked up 91 Spectator points for their first releases: Cougar Crest wants just $30 a bottle for its 180 cases of Walla Walla Valley cabernet, while Saviah's "Une Vallée" red blend (192 cases) costs just $28. With 90-plus Walla Walla reds tending to run in the $45-$50 range, the new kids on the block won't last long. Try Madison Market and the U Village QFC for the Cougar Crest; for Saviah's wine, try Esquin in SoDo or West Seattle Cellars.
EATIN' EAST
Next time someone tells you there's no place to eat in Bellevue, just tell 'em they're full of beans, and if they don't believe you, to take a squint at www.bellevuedowntown.org/restaurants. This Web version of the Bellevue Downtown Association's summer magazine supplement contains entries for over 120 downtown eateries, searchable by cuisine and as replete with useful information as the Guide Michelin.
ISLAND DINING
For nearly 100 years, Coupeville's Captain Whidbey Inn has been offering sweet surcease for city-frazzled Seattleites. Now it's offering something more: four-star food, catered by James Roberts, late of Rover's, Campagne, and Saleh al Lago. Roberts and wife/business partner Selina have dubbed their enterprise the Cove Restaurant and will continue to provide breakfast for Captain Whidbey residents, but they plan to make their waterside dining room a destination in its own right. The Cove is open seven days for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with a nightly bar menu after 4 p.m. Next time you're in the neighborhood, drop by. Reservations: 360-678-9325.
ANIMAL PORN
"Would you keep your cat permanently confined to a waste-filled cage the size of a file drawer? Would you neuter your dog without anesthetics? Would you cut off your parakeet's beak with a hot blade?" If you can answer these questions (taken from a PETA press release) without getting smart-alecky, you are either seriously warped or just the kind of humorlessly self-righteous person People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals made its new video for. A 13-minute survey of the agonies food animals experience on their way to slaughter, Meet Your Meat (still not tempted to wise off?) can be viewed on PETA's Web site at www.meetyourmeat.com. Or, for maximum replay value, PETA will provide a copy of your own, with a picture of narrator Alec Baldwin on the cover: Just call 800-483-4366. How does this further the cause of vegetarianism? Hard to say, but at least it's less counterproductive and offensive than a recent PETA billboard campaign titled "The Holocaust on Your Plate" (viewable at www.masskilling.com). Or confining your cat in a file drawer, for that matter.
food@seattleweekly.com
