Subject: Food and Cooking

• A Pre-Taste of Calf & Kid Cheeses, at Poco Wine Room

  On Thursday, from 7 to 10 p.m., Sheri LaVigne, owner of the soon-to-open Capitol Hill cheese shop Calf & Kid, teams up with Poco Wine Room's Peter Moore for a wine and cheese tasting. At the event, LaVigne will be previewing some of the local artisanal cheeses her store will stock, including Estrella Family Creamery's super stinky Wynoochee River Blue as well as Blue Rose Dairy's Black Jewels, an aged goat's milk cheese similar to a Parmesan (only milder). Meanwhile, the Washington wines tasted

  September 16, 2009

• Search & Distill: Seasonal Syrup’s In Order

  September 16, 2009

• Sweat and Pain in Bellevue

  September 16, 2009

• Openings & Closings: Fresh Flours Moves, Urban Opens

  ​Sweet aromas will soon be floating through the air in Ballard -- Fresh Flours, the boutique pastry shop located in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood, plans to expand into the space next to Bastille on Ballard Ave. My Ballard News spoke with owner Etsuko, who hopes to serve a bigger menu, possibly including baguettes and sandwiches. Queen Anne View reports that Urban Cafe is opening at 351 Elliott Ave. W. Chef Bruce Pinkerton, the brain behind Urban Wine Cafe in Belltown and the ready-to-co

  September 17, 2009

• Plum Bistro: Vegan Fare That’s Too Flavorful?

  September 23, 2009

• Georgetown’s Serving Up the Ferrari of Espresso Machines

  September 23, 2009

• This Week's Recipe: The Herbfarm's Oven-Dried Cherry Tomatoes

  ​Before becoming sous-chef at The Herbfarm in Woodinville, Lisa Nakamura worked abroad at restaurants in Seoul, Munich, and Paris and spent three years as sous-chef at Thomas Keller's famed French Laundry. These days Nakamura uses ingredients from the Herbfarm's kitchen gardens and from nearby farms and purveyors to craft the restaurant's signature nine-course nightly menus. "As the weather changes," says Nakamura, "I try to hang on to summer for as long as possible. Even as the rains begi

  October 5, 2009

• Versus: The Banh Mis on Broadway Square Off

  Pho Cyclo's pork banh mi​It's widely known that Seattle has its own little banh mi heaven. When French baguettes and pickled daikon radishes cross paths anywhere near the corner of 12th and Jackson, delicious things happen. Who knew colonialism could produce something so tasy and budget friendly? Outside of Little Saigon, though, there's a relative dearth of these Vietnamese sandwiches. But as the popularity of banh mi grows, it appears the sandwiches are making their way into more and mor

  October 6, 2009

• Cafe Cubano: Great Drink, But May Get You Bad Will From Barista

  ​Baristas have different methods for making a cafe Cubano, but the common denominator is a sweetened shot of espresso. You've probably been in line behind someone who's asked for an espresso shot with one sugar, meaning the barista puts the sugar in the cup before the shot is pulled. This is basically a cafe Cubano. The other way to make a cafe Cubano involves putting the sugar in the grounds within the filter basket of the portafilter, creating a sweeter, softer shot of espresso. You can

  October 6, 2009

• Search & Distill: A Rookie Winemaker in France

  October 7, 2009

• Hype, Orangette, and a Pair of Meals at Delancey

  October 7, 2009

• The Bartender Knows All: Sex, Tips, and Mixes

  October 7, 2009

• Grillaxin' with Joey Serquinia of Txori

  ​When Voracious catches up with Joey Serquinia, chef de cuisine of Txori, he is at the restaurant on what is technically his day off. He's just here, he says, to help the staff implement the new menu, which Serquinia changes every two weeks, but he'll be out of the restaurant early enough to catch his son Django at his taekwondo belt test later this afternoon. Serquinia runs the day-to-day happenings at Txori for chef and owner Joseba Jimenez de Jimenez, whom he's known for more than 12 ye

  October 7, 2009

• Openings & Closings: Farewell Winchell's, Unicorn lands in Capitol Hill

  ​If bringing donuts to a hungry work crew is your Monday routine (to battle those beginning-of-the-week blues), then perhaps this latest news will come as a shocker Winchell's Donut House (211 N.E. 45th St.) has disappeared from its Wallingford location. Wallyhood news ran into the owner of the shop, Brian Peeples, who confirmed that its sudden closure came as a result of a third-party buyer who backed out last minute. In Fremont news, a new cafe has replaced the Speedy Reedy at 34th and

  October 8, 2009

• Do Good on Wednesday, October 14: Baked Goods & Happy Hour

  Columbia City Bakery has been selling Equality Cookies--1,676 at last count--in support of Referendum 71, donating $1 for each cookie sold to Washington Families Standing Together. This coming Wednesday, October 14, for its fourth anniversary, every dollar you spend all day long at Columbia City Bakery will go to the Rainier Valley Food Bank. Looks like bagel dogs for lunch next week. (Columbia City Bakery, 4865 Rainier Ave. S., 723-6023, Mon-Fri 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Sat-Sun 7:00 a.m. to 5:00

  October 9, 2009

• This Week's Recipe: Dalis Chea's Cornish Hens with Quince Reduction

  ​Dalis Chea began his culinary education working at his parents' bakery as a child. Chea's formal training includes graduating from the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts Program in Portland and working under executive chef Greg Atkinson at Canlis and chef Kevin Davis at Oceanaire. As executive chef of Herban Feast Catering, Chea helped build the company into one of Seattle's largest catering businesses. This summer, Herban Feast launched Fresh Bistro in West Seattle, where Chea helms the kitche

  October 12, 2009

• Versus: When Steak Frites Meet Outside the French Bistro

  Tin Table's beautifully composed steak-frites​Steak frites. For many the dish calls to mind romantic visions of wiling away hours in the most perfect Parisian brasserie, where time floats away on a river of red wine and calories are meaningless. But for less Francophilia-addled folk, steak frites speaks a more universal language: meat and potatoes. Specifically, an indulgent steak and the golden glory of French fries. Steak frites crosses the usual borders between the halls of fine dinin

  October 13, 2009

• Chaco Canyon Goes Completely Organic, BOKA Stays at 85%

  ​Six weeks ago, Chaco Canyon Cafe, the mostly organic, partially raw-foods, all-vegetarian restaurant in the U District, went whole hog and got USDA organic certification. That makes it one of only a handful of certified restaurants in the country. Like Tilth Restaurant, Maria Hines' Wallingford bistro, Chaco Canyon applied through Oregon Tilth, one of 55 certifying agencies in the United States and certainly the most prominent in the Northwest. The certification means that the restaurant

  October 13, 2009

• "I don't want another damn salad." Grillaxin' with Makini Howell of Plum Bistro

  ​Just over two months ago, Makini Howell opened Plum Bistro in the Piston & Ring Building on Capitol Hill. "I've always wanted to be in this area," says Howell, who was (and still is) running the show at The Cafe by Hillside Quickies, one of the three outposts of her family's local mini-empire of vegan sandwich shops. "It reminds of where I used to live in New York, with lots of different kinds of people, lots of great restaurants." At Plum, Howell is moving beyond the sandwiches and salad

  October 14, 2009

• Top 5 Microbrews of the Moment (This Fall, That Is)

  Early fall brings a beer convergence zone. Some breweries celebrate the harvest with beers that shout hops to the treetops while they take to your tongue like a rake. Other breweries knock out seasonals that pluck at the little kid inside you--thick, malted, and fit for a stick if they were in solid form. Here are five of the best beers to drink while wearing a wool sweater, staring out the window at autumn leaves from your horizontal spot on the couch. Some of these beers will be gone by the en

  October 14, 2009

• Search & Distill: Post-Modern Pubbin’

  October 14, 2009

• The Seattle Food Scene’s One-Hit Wonders

  October 14, 2009

• Openings & Closings: Sharif's Replaces Locks Deli, Serafina Opens Cicchetti

  ​It was a quick turnover for Locks Deli & Grocery (2804 NW Market St), as a new name has already been put up. Sharif's will still remain a grocery, although it will expand its selection to include beer from around the world, gourmet cheeses, espresso, and Philly cheesesteak sandwiches. My Ballard reports that new owner Steven Saleh, who also operates the corner store Saleh's (24th & 80th), says he'll stock items customers want, so be sure to bring requests. Also in My Ballard news, a new

  October 15, 2009

• Search & Distill Addendum: Doug the Lionne Hearted

  Sometimes 600 words isn't enough for one column. In the case of Doug Graves ("A Rookie Winemaker in France," Oct. 6, 2009) that was certainly the case. Graves was an amateur winemaker in Seattle for almost a decade before he left it all behind and bought a vineyard in the south of France. I got tons of email about his story, so here's more of his story:

  October 15, 2009

• Katy's Corner Cafe: Surrogate Neighbors

  ​Human cloning would get greater support if it meant a Katy in every neighborhood. Katy's Corner Cafe is on that little stretch of Union near 20 20 Cycle and the Central Cinema. They bake their own pastries and make their own brunch items (try the quiche), and the baristas are as unfailingly sweet as Katy herself, who works weekend mornings. What to get: Katy's is one of the only cafes in town to offer white coffee, made from less-roasted beans. They yield a lighter brew, almost tealike in

  October 16, 2009

• This Week's Recipe: BOKA's Halibut with Braised Artichokes and Tomato Cardamom Broth

  ​Chef Angie Roberts is a Pacific Northwest native who grew up on a family farm in Northern Idaho. Roberts cooked for six years the W Hotel's Earth and Ocean Restaurant, working alongside James Beard Award-winning chefs Johnathan Sundstrom (now chef-owner of Lark and Licorous) and Maria Hines (now chef-owner of Tilth) and eventually served as sous-chef. Prior to joining BOKA as executive chef, Roberts was the chef de cuisine of Flying Fish under Christine Keff, where she helped develop a re

  October 19, 2009

• Cafe Nordo at Theo Chocolate

  The roving experimental restaurant Café Nordo, founded by Nordo Lefesczki, is coming to Seattle for 17 seatings. Hosted in the Theo Chocolate warehouse, The Modern American Chicken at Café Nordo is a five-course chicken-fest. Lefesczki will be aided by local artists including two Circus Contraption alumni and composer Annastasia Workman, last seen playing a piano nestled in the woods at Smoke Farm. Expect crazily dressed servers and a bit of theater with your wine-paired meal. 7 p.m. Thurs.-

  October 19, 2009

• This Friday: Kim Ricketts Launches New Bakery-Book Event

  Kim Ricketts' Cooks and Books series snags every A-list food writer passing through town (coming up: former NY Times critic William Grimes, Momofuku chef David Chang, and French Laundry chef Thomas Keller) for $200-a-person dinners at Seattle's A-list restaurants. This week, she's starting up a new series of much less expensive happy hours in the back kitchen of the Dahlia Bakery. The first "Behind the Bakery Door" gathering (um, Kim, riffing off 1970s porn?) will be this Friday, October 23, fr

  October 20, 2009

• Search & Distill: A More Perfect Potluck

  October 21, 2009

• Nostalgia, Fantasy, and Questionable Taste Collide

  October 21, 2009

• Openings & Closings: Coveyor-Belt Sushi Craze & Midwestern Delights

  ​It's a busy week for restaurant openings in Seattle: Craving some conveyor-belt sushi, but too far from the nearest Sushi Land? Blue C Sushi has just opened its sixth store at 7th and Pike, across the street from Gameworks. The Seattle Times reports on the opening as well as the fact that Whole Foods will begin selling the chain's sushi under a new retail label, Otokyo Sushi. More information about hours and directions are listed on Blue C's website. According to the Rainier Valley Pos

  October 22, 2009

• Are Seattleites Really the Nation's Worst Tippers?

  According to a blurb in the Puget Sound Business Journal, Zagat just came out with the results of its 2010 America's Top Restaurants Survey. And apparently, of the 45 urban areas polled, Seattle scored at the bottom of the ranks when it came to the percentage of the check that Zagat contributors admitted giving as a tip. The bottom. Like, 45th out of 45. We supposedly tip an average of 18.4 percent, while diners in St. Louis and Philadelphia average 19.6 percent. Waiters and bartenders who've

  October 22, 2009

• Tonight: Some Seattle Clubs Go Silent "In Fear" of Carr

  ​"For one minute, nightlife as we know it will cease to exist in Seattle," states a press release posted a few hours ago to the website of the Seattle Nightlife and Music Association, a collective of bar and music industry entities. Tonight, participating clubs will have a "minute of silence" tonight at 11:30 PM to protest the possible re-election of City Attorney Tom Carr, whose Operation Sobering Thought has garnered significant media attention as a perceived threat against the vitality

  October 23, 2009

• Monday Morning Announcements: Dow Special, A&O's Oyster Hours

  CHOW's Dow Promotion - Wednesday, October 28th, someone will win at least $9,500 in gift certificates from CHOW restaurants in their Guess the Dow program. All entrees in all CHOW restaurants will cost as many pennies as whatever the Dow reads at close on Wednesday; so 10,000 means everything's $10. Draft beer, house wine and well drinks will cost the close of the NASDAQ (so around $2!). CHOW's Dow promotion is a benefit for Artcorps. Participating restaurants: 5 Spot (1502 Queen Anne Ave. N.),

  October 26, 2009

• This Week's Recipe: Amy Pennington's Apple-Quince Butter

  ​Amy Pennington is the wise-cracking, one-woman show behind GoGo Green Garden, the edible gardening business that's got her driving all over town in a Volkswagen whose trunk is overflowing with tarps, seeds, and shovels. Pennington, who grew up on Long Island with a front yard full of goats and a back yard full of vegetables, now builds, plants, and tends edible gardens for her clients in their Seattle backyards, with a special focus on regional and native foods. (Pennington's client list

  October 26, 2009

• Jimenez Leaving Harvest Vine, Serquinia Taking Over

  As Nancy Leson reported today in her Seattle Times blog, Joseba Jiménez de Jiménez is leaving Harvest Vine and Txori, the restaurants he founded. He and wife Carolin Messier have divorced, and she is buying Jimenez out of the business. The Basque chef will stay on as consulting chef for at least the next 12 months, and, says Leson, is planning a new restaurant on his own. Taking over as executive chef of both restaurants is Txori's chef de cuisine, Joey Serquinia (meanwhile, Kylen

  October 26, 2009

• Versus: The Battle of the Steak Frites

  October 28, 2009

• Search & Distill: Slip Yourself a Rooibos

  October 28, 2009

• Seattle's Happy-Hour Hall of Fame

  October 28, 2009

• Versus: Battle Bubble Tea

  Gossip's Honey Milk Tea with Tapioca​It should be easy to remember the first time you spotted bubble tea: an over-sized clear plastic cup topped with a giant neon-colored straw (most likely clutched in the hands of a stylishly-clad Asian teen) filled with a pastel-hued milky substance and hundreds of little black floating balls at the bottom. A "WTF" sort of moment, no doubt. But times have changed. What was once a novelty drink is now a fixture in many Asian restaurants in neighborhoods a

  October 28, 2009

• To Serve Vegetarians, Top Chef Edition

  Just caught up on Top Chef, and remembered why I don't watch it, which is mostly because it's more aggravating than relaxing to watch what you're around every day for a living. The nugget from this week's episode, built off of a vegetarian entrée challenge, was definitely actress Natalie Portman saying, "I'm walking into restaurants all the time that don't have vegetarian entrees, and chefs have to improvise." A collective look of "oh, shit" rang out from the contestants, and a ravaging of the

  October 30, 2009

• This Week's Food Debate: Things Waiters Can Do

  Yesterday, on the NY Times' small-business blog, restaurateur Bruce Buschel posted items 1-50 in his list of "One Hundred Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do." The post (the next installment comes next week) is now ricocheting around the food blogs. At first glance, it seems like an overwhelming rundown of persnickety points -- and some of them are -- but many of the items make perfect sense for restaurants where customers are paying upwards of $30/person for a meal:

  October 30, 2009

• This Week's Recipe: Pumpkin Empanadas from Farmer Carey Hunter

  ​Tis the season of for pumpkins, gourds, and other squashes, and if you're looking to cook some up, consider this week's recipe for pumpkin empanadas. This recipe comes not from a Seattle chef, but from farmer Carey Hunter of Pine Stump Farms, a goat dairy and livestock ranch in Okanogan County. Hunter (that's her above, tending to her flock), has been milking goats for 38 years, but also taught English as a Second Language for 14 years. The empanada recipe comes courtesy of her friends fr

  November 2, 2009

• Dine Around Seattle, aka 30 for $30 in Swing

  ​When Dine Around Seattle's 30 for $30 first started, it was a cheaper 25 for $25, but it was also a crap shoot. Boring salads and far too much chicken abounded as not every participant took the promotion seriously, and neither did their staff. (I say this from first hand experience on both sides of the promo.) I never understood why a restaurant would sign up for this thing only to provide food that underwhelmed. The point of the promotion, much like any "taste of" event, is to showcase y

  November 2, 2009

• The List: October 2009 Restaurant Openings & Closures

  ​The housing market's starting to show signs of life, the Dow's back up (and down, and up), and the restaurant openings and closures right now seem to keeping pace with one another. Here are the comings and goings Voracious learned about this month...

  November 3, 2009

• Ask the Bartender: Restaurants Adding, Not Adding Gratuity?

  It's that time of week when we answer the questions you're too drunk or shy to ask...This one came from Geoff: There's a certain restaurant we frequent after nights out on the town. Sometimes when we've dined in a large group, we see a gratuity pre-added to the check but not always. Why would this be? Adding gratuity to large parties is a very common practice among restaurants. It should be plainly posted. Once you know to look, you will see at the bottom of most menus something along the line

  November 3, 2009

• Kobe, Cognac, and Crumbers

  November 4, 2009

• Seattle's Top 5 Places for Mac and Cheese

  Picking the city's top bowls of mac and cheese is no easy task, mostly because just about every restaurant has a variation on the dish on its menu these days. This is where Facebook and Twitter prove their worth. An informal poll of Seattle's best mac and cheese spots yielded answers ranging from "Beecher's, hands down" to "That restaurant in Hotel 1000" [aka BOKA]. There were also recommendations for Geraldine's Counter, Norm's, Six Seven, and Purple. After visiting 12 of the nominees, here are

  November 4, 2009

• Openings & Closings: New Tom Douglas Restaurant in the Works, Gator to Go in Shoreline

  ​Looks like Tom Douglas will be whipping up a new restaurant set to open around April of next year. Douglas had been spotted poking around Ballard, but not for long. Nancy Leson reports that Douglas and partner/wife Jackie Cross are sticking to their keep-em-close strategy, opening the new place next door to Etta's on the edge of Pike Place Market. Douglas emphasizes that the new location will not be an extension of Etta's, as it will offer an entirely different menu concept. What is that

  November 5, 2009

• Culture & Giving: After Hours at S.A.M., Happy Hour for Hope

  ​SAM After Hours Tonight - On certain Thursdays and Fridays after the work day and sometimes late into the night, the Seattle Art Museum hosts an assortment of lectures, DJs, and readings. Tonight, as part of SAM's Day of the Dead celebration the museum presents Art for All: El Dia de los Muertos, with traditional Oaxacan music from La Banda Gozona. Combine it with happy hour at TASTE, the museum's restaurant. Everything on their bar menu is $6 from 3:00-6:00 p.m., which includes one of th

  November 5, 2009