The summer months are supposed to be slow, but we’ve got an onslaught of can’t-miss food events coming up the next few weeks. Burning Beast is sold out, but you can still head out for free cupcakes or win a year’s worth of free chocolate or free tickets to a big-time dinner; you could learn about sustainable seafood or network with fellow food-lovers or snack on specialties from dozens of fine Seattle restaurants. Here’s a sampling of what’s in the works:

As we mentioned, there will be a book signing and food samples at 6 p.m. Friday (July 10) at Third Place Books for Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee’s new book, Quick and Easy Korean Cooking. Lee will also be at Elliott Bay on July 14.

Seattle’s Bastille Day celebration will be held July 11 and 12 (more soon on the tart-baking contest that preceded the event), featuring “le bistrot” munchies as well as a full schedule of events at Seattle Center. Details here.

Chocolopolis is celebrating its first anniversary with a host of free chocolate-tastings, chocolate pairings, and other events, starting July 12. The full schedule is here, but the biggest prize of the week is a chance to win a “Golden Ticket” entitling the recipient to a free chocolate bar every week for a year. Two tickets will be hidden in chocolate bars sold in the shop; the third will be raffled off July 18.

Head to the W Hotel for an exclusive one-night Seattle screening of The End Of The Line, the new documentary on the devastating impact of overfishing, followed by an all-star panel discussion on sustainable seafood. The panel, organized by six-degrees-of-Traca Savadogo,  includes Casson Trenor of the Sustainable Sushi Guide, tastemaker Jon Rowley (who needs no introduction, but here is a good one anyway), chef Becky Selengut of Seasonal Cornucopia, who’s writing a book on sustainable seafood, and Shauna MacKinnon of the Living Oceans Society. Cost: $10, including seafood appetizers prepared by Earth & Ocean’s Adam Stevenson. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with a no-host bar. Seating limited, reservations required, email wseattle.rsvpevents@whotels.com

Mark Caro of The Foie Gras Wars will be at a Words & Wine event starting at 6:30 p.m. July 14 at the Pan-Pacific Hotel.

FareStart’s “Guest Chef On The Waterfront” fund-raiser starts at 6 p.m. July 15. More than 70 chefs will cook up  bite-size dishes and drinks, with eateries participating from Canlis to Skillet. All proceeds benefit FareStart’s inspiring job training and placement programs. Tickets must be purchased in advance, and — fair warning — it usually sells out, so get yours now if you’re interested. Cost: $70. I’ll be judging the event, along with Nancy Leson and some other fine food-lovers. If you want a look at how it works, here’s what I wrote about the event after judging it last year.

Outstanding In The Field, known nationally for farm dinners meant to “celebrate food at the source,” has Seattle events on July 15 (Seth Caswell, at Full Circle Farm), July 16 (Brian McCracken and Dana Tough of Spur, at Oxbow Farm) and July 22 (Matt Dillon, in a benefit for Seattle Youth Garden Works). Ticket prices are weighty — $180 to $220 — but you have a chance at  two free tickets for Spur’s July 16 dinner through this Daily Candy giveaway. Enter to win by 5 p.m. Sunday, by e-mailing information@spurseattle.com.

The newest branch of Cupcake Royale is set to open July 22 (at 1111 E. Pike St., on Capitol Hill), and owner Jody Hall is handing out free babycakes while supplies last. To get one, stop by and say the magic words: “Legalize Frostitution!” The new shops sounds lovely, with Roy McMakin tables and countertops, and — good heavens, paging Cakespy! — a five-foot-high stained-glass cupcake. We wrote recently about CR’s new cupcakes, reworked by pastry queen Sue McCown, Jonathan Kauffman just wrote about their quest to go local in their ingredients — harder than it sounds when dealing with the chemistry and variables of baking — and Eli Sanders at The Stranger is covering the heck out of Hall’s other, national, quest, pushing for health care that’s affordable for small business owners. (Hall currently pays about as much in health care premiums as she does in rent.) Last I heard, CR was even going to start carrying a freezer case of pints from neighbor Molly Moon Ice Cream. That’s a lot of news for one powerfully sweet little company. 

“Frantic Foodie” Keren Brown, an organizing force behind Seattle’s food bloggers, is throwing open the doors to everyone for “FoodPortunity,” a networking event for all things food, starting at 6 p.m. July 22 at the Palace Ballroom. Writers, restaurateurs, farmers, and other food-lovers should be there to mingle and eat and make new connections. The event includes speed-networking, plain old chatting over nibbles and drinks, and a panel discussion on using new media to reach readers. I’ll be speaking on the panel, with Nancy Leson, Matthew Amster-Burton, and Ronald Holden. Mina Williams, editor of Northwest Stir, will be the moderator. Keren says the nibbles include appetizers from Tom Douglas’ restaurants, “along with a line up of Seattle gems such as Rovers, Andaluca, Olivar, Art of the Table, Dinette, Maximus Minimus and Serafina,” plus two glasses of wine. More info here. Cost: $25, tickets available here. And if you’re there, make sure to come up and say hi.

Anything I’ve missed? Feel free to add it on below.

Bookmark and Share