Eat All About It

When the woman who helped make Seattle a serious place for desserts sits quietly at a corner table of your  shop, pinching a bit of vanilla cupcake between her fingers, judging the angle of the crown and tasting the pink frosting, this definitive reaction is what you want:

“It’s yummy!” Sue McCown said. “If I may say so myself.”

McCown has more than the usual interest in weighing in on Cupcake Royale, because the pastry chef — you remember her Sex Lies, & Apricot at Earth & Ocean and her “hot cocoa” pasta at the short-lived Coco la ti da — is responsible for a serious makeover of the cupcake empire’s recipe. The creative perfectionist baked dozens upon dozens of batches of Cupcake Royales in recent months, joining owner Jody Hall’s quest for a moister, tastier cake. 

McCown kept careful field notes on the results of changing the recipe’s leavening by a fraction, or substituting dried buttermilk for fresh, or altering the order in which ingredients were mixed. Struggling with one crumbly impasse, she would wake up in the middle of the night, debating what to try next. Her landlord, hearing this, told her “It’s just a cupcake!”

“No,” she said. “It’s not just a cupcake. It’s a really good cupcake.” 

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This contest giveaway thing is catching on. Next up is Boom Noodle/Blue C Sushi, offering $200 in gift cards to the winner of a contest to name the bar connecting its Bellevue Square restaurants. The 1,600-square-foot mezzanine lounge “is suspended above the Blue C and Boom Noodle spaces, and offers a birds-eye view of both,” if you haven’t been and you’re looking for inspiration. Besides food and drink, it’s got four Xbox gaming pods.

1. East meets Eastside? No.
2. Sky Slurp? No, no, no.
3. Drink+Ponder What Other Restaurants Are Loved By Both Marcella Hazan and Iris Amster-Burton? C’mon, everyone reading this has at least ten better ideas. Send them to nameourbar@bluecsushi.com until May 29. Winners will be announced June 1.

Good news for everyone awaiting Emmer, the new restaurant from Seth Caswell, president of Seattle Chef’s Collaborative and former chef at Stumbling Goat: He’s aiming for a summer opening for his own place, and he’s added something more to the menu: The food is still the locally sourced, seasonal menu he’s always planned — a sample menu  had me at  ”pickled fiddleheads” before he even got into “porcini tart” and “oyster pan roast” and “emmer farro fries”– but the name is now Emmer & Rye, the rye part referencing whiskey. Caswell is teaming up with Benjamin Hodgetts, former GM at the Alibi Room (and currently at Matt’s), adding “innovative, yet classically prepared cocktails” to the mix.

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Rob Sudar, a.k.a. “Fishmonger,” who kindly answered readers questions on all areas of buying and cooking fish, has alerted me that fish are arriving in the Seattle markets now for the last Columbia River spring Chinook likely to be available until mid-May. The fish are carried by PCC, Metropolitan Market, and Wild Salmon Seafood Market, among others. I just called Wild Salmon, and was told their supply just arrived, with whole fish going for $17.99/lb. (If you walk in right now they won’t be out in the case yet, but you can ask for them.) PCC’s got fillets at $19.99/lb.

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After years of reading food blogs and forums, some names become as familiar and reliable as acquaintances and colleagues. I didn’t know “elswinger,” any more than I know the movie stars I read about in celebrity magazines, but I shared enough of his interest in Seattle restaurants to make a point of reading what he had to say on sites like eGullet. I never knew he had a blog of his own, or hardships that made him give the blog this subtitle: “LIFE IN SEATTLE FOR A 40-SOMETHING WHO IS LEARNING TO LIVE ON HIS OWN IN A WHEELCHAIR AFTER A YEAR AND A HALF IN A NURSING HOME.” And I certainly didn’t realize how much he struggled, or how ill he was. The Stranger’s blog, where he was a frequent commenter, reported over the weekend that he died on April 8.
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I just got back from California, finishing up my own travel and leisure just in time to find Travel & Leisure’s new article on the “50 Best New U.S. Restaurants.”
When I see a lead-in like this, I know Seattle’s going to do well in the rankings:

“You know the American restaurant paradigm is shifting when communal benches become more desirable than leather banquettes. When humble kimchi is suddenly chic, and the words local and seasonal are recited as routinely as fried or sautéed.”

Indeed, we’ve got seven of the top 50, and the editorial commentary that “You don’t need a crystal ball to divine that American restaurants of the future will probably resemble Seattle’s new crop: quirky spots defined by chefs’ personalities and the region’s agricultural bounty.” The winners are:

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The old Crocodile Cafe had some surprisingly decent omelets and burgers, but the reincarnated Croc has its teeth in something else entirely. It’ll boast the latest branch of Via Tribunali, which the Friend from Trieste once called the most authentic Italian pizza she’s found in the U.S. Look for the fifth VT to open on Thursday (April 16) at 2200 2nd Ave.

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.

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.

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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.