Eat All About It

With all the food writers in Seattle using Oddfellows as a second office (and one with better pastries than the home version), how did I miss the news that Ericka Burke is no longer in the kitchen? Burke told Seattle Metropolitan that she had no conflicts with owner Linda Derschang (see under: Stranger comments?), but that she left because her Volunteer Park Cafe needed more of her time. Derschang noted that the mighty Matt Dillon is offering a helping hand in the interim.

I’m down in California for a few days, but checking in often enough to notice that the weekend of May 16-17 is filling up awfully fast. Ruth Reichl is speaking about her latest book, the International Food Bloggers Conference is taking place (with a Reichl event as part of its festivities), and it’s also the fifth annual Seattle Cheese Festival at Pike Place Market.

(more…)

I love CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), where customers pay for a weekly box of whatever’s fresh from a given farm’s fields. I also love gardening, though, and I especially love regular browsing trips through the farmers markets — and there isn’t room in my budget or refrigerator to do all three.

(more…)

Fans of the lovely and departed Veil, here’s a chance to bring a piece of the restaurant home. Co-owner Erik Lindstrom is holding a sale at the closed restaurant (555 Aloha) from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 11, noting that the space will soon be changing hands and that he needs to clear out his china, glassware, and silverware. He wrote: “Among the lot, I have china from top of line Rosenthal to Crate and Barrel. A variety of glassware will be on hand, including Riedel Stemware, Inncrystal water glasses, and a variety of martini & cognac glasses.”

Note that it’s cash only.

Speaking of bacon, Tom Douglas is hosting a “Baconopolis” event on April 24 at the Palace Ballroom, featuring “bacon tastings from artisan producers and creative bacon bites from Tom Douglas Restaurants.” The menu so far includes bacon hash, Bloody Marys with bacon garnish, BLTs, “butterscotch bacon bites,” and, just to get fancy, a “lardon salad” with poached quail egg. Producers include Palace Kitchen alum Duskie Estes, Nueske’s (highly recommended for bacon donuts), Pike Place Market’s Bavarian Meats, and local bacon-ators TBA. The porky shindig begins at 6 p.m.. Cost: $20, which also includes one drink ticket for wine or beer. Tax and tip not included. For reservations call Christy at 206-448-2001 or write christinal@tomdouglas.com.

You realize what must be next, don’t you? Baconopoly.

For 10 years, Kim O’Donnel’s weekly live chats at the Washington Post were like a convivial cooking class. Reading the weekly transcript was an education in itself: Regulars from around the country typed in questions about ingredients and recipes and techniques; O’Donnel, a culinary school graduate as well as a writer, offered answers and encouragement and general practical kitchen advice, as well as producing how-to videos.   (more…)

Gabriel Claycamp of The Swinery and Culinary Communion announced yesterday that (after various delays) the King County Health Department “has fully approved our bacon” and that it is now available for pre-order (e-mail him at sales@swinerymeats.org). Claycamp also also urged “any haters out there” to call the health department and verify that he is 100% legal.

Not being a hater, but being a journalist, I checked in with the health department, and got this caveat: While Claycamp has indeed received a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points permit to make and sell bacon at his Beacon Hill business, a different permit — his annual permit to operate a food establishment in that space — has actually expired. It was only good through March 31.

(more…)

Mike Davis, former chef at the Salish Lodge, helped establish Walla Walla as a mini-Napa of the Northwest when he opened 26brix in 2004. The restaurant went through redesigns and growing pains, finally closing earlier this year. But Davis, whose food won acclaim, is now returning to the Seattle area to join the team that operates the Purple Cafe & Wine Bar and other ventures. At the Heavy Restaurant Group, Davis will oversee the kitchens of the three HRG restaurants set to open in Bellevue Towers this year: A fourth Purple Cafe branch, a second Barrio branch, and a cafe called Bliss. So, technically, I suppose he’s returning to Bellevue, not Seattle, but I suspect he’ll make it over to our side of the water too.

We took the ferry to Vashon Island to visit friends, but as long as we were there, we didn’t want to miss the Vashon farmers market and a stop at La Boucherie, the restaurant run by Sea Breeze Farm. I’m accustomed to buying raw materials such as meat and milk from Sea Breeze at Seattle venues; I liked the idea of sampling how they would cook and serve their own products, in their own island environment.

This early in the season, we were glad just to wander without fleece or raincoats; we knew we’d be lucky to find even salad greens to contribute to our friends’ kitchen. By the time we arrived around 1 p.m., though, even the greens were gone — but, unlike the Seattle markets, where eggs sell out post-haste, we still could have scored a basket of pastel beauties practically custom-laid for Easter.

Eggs at the Vashon Island Farmers Market

Hogsback Farm table: "Sorry! We sold out!"

Some markets stick purely to harvest goods, but I’ve always liked a mix of vendors. I was glad to see, especially in this spare season, some crafts, a Vashon winery, a chocolatier, and homemade caramels, among other tables. 

(more…)

Diane LaVonne, who runs a cooking school near Pike Place Market is hosting a meal and conversation on “sushi and sustainability” April 20. The event will involve 2+ hours in the kitchen with Kin Lui and Casson Trenor of Tataki in San Francisco, billed as the country’s first sustainable sushi restaurant. (Trenor is also the author of Sustainable Sushi, and runs a site with a handy up-to-date guide on the same.)

(more…)