One Man's Meat

Lawyers are widely regarded as sharks, but Mark Nuckols, a 2002 Georgetown graduate, matches the metaphor and then some. Now at Dartmouth's business school, Nuckols has created the Web-based business Hufu LCC, catering to "the discerning cannibalism enthusiast." Hufu, described as the "legal and healthy human flesh substitute," will be available in three "flavors": Hufu Classic Strips (recommended for use in Aztec human stew and New Guinea yam-and-human dumplings), and, coming this summer, "Hufu Healthy Heart" and "Dr. Lecter's Liver," served with its traditional side of fava beans. Nuckols' Web site, www.eathufu.com, provides all the information you're likely to want about cannibal cuisine through the ages (yes, recipes, too) and an opportunity to order a mess o' Strips for your next cookout. If that seems a little more than you're ready for, you can order a T-shirt with the Hufu logo, guaranteed to upset almost everyone.

Before and after sunset

Can't get enough of Pike Place Market during normal hours? Can't get enough art and people watching at Pioneer Square's first Thursday? During the summer months, the Market has a two-in-one solution: Sunset Thursdays. Beginning June 2 and continuing on the first Thursday of July and August, vendors will be on Pike Place—the brick road usually used for loading, unloading, and parking—between Stewart and Virginia streets from 5 to 9 p.m., prime time for catching the gorgeous colors of the day's last few moments. While most Market produce, meat, and seafood vendors will be gone (that is, unless the buzz is loud enough to coax them into staying), patrons can look forward to arts and crafts, specialty produce (watch for the first strawberries of the season soon), and what the Market's Scott Davies calls "value-added produce." (That's jams, jellies, roasted nuts, and the like to you and me.)

Coffee catalysts

Some business inspire a sort of faux family to grow up around them. The University District's Cafe Allegro, 30 years old this month, is that kind of business, according to co-owner Chris Peterson. "One of the things that has always attracted people to the place is its cultural/ community life," he says. The first coffeehouse in town to serve espresso (though Starbucks opened four years earlier, it was merely a roaster and retailer until the '80s), Allegro has been a wellspring of coffee culture in a city now famous for it. As Peterson points out, "quite a few former Allegro customers went on to start coffee businesses of their own," and the shop's influence cannot be overestimated—Stewart Brothers, Monorail Espresso, and B&O Espresso all opened in the late '70s, following Allegro's espresso-serving lead. To celebrate three decades in business, Peterson and co-owner Nathaniel Jackson offered espresso drinks at 1975 prices (including mochas for 65 cents apiece!) on Saturday, May 14 and hosted various musical guests during the weekend of the University District Street Fair (May 21–22). Peterson says he considers himself and Jackson, who has worked at Allegro since its inception, "more stewards of the place than owners."

Food and/or beverage news? E-mail Hot Dish at food@seattleweekly.com.