Michael Pollan's Manifesto for Our Next President

Posted today at 6:54 pm by Adriana Grant

Image: http://www.factmonster.com/images/photosynthesis.gif

This food guru's nine-page position paper is composed of brilliant, down-to-earth advice for a president who might just be willing to legislate better access to local arugula. (Referred to by Midwestern farmers, as Pollan reminds us, as rocket.)

A few of the issues Pollan puts forth include soaring food prices, "food security," upgrading school lunches to include local produce, and farming by old fashioned sun power instead of petrochemicals. His ambitious approach to American food policy takes on issues of factory farming, oil consumption, climate change, as well as health, nutrition, and taste. A few highlights: stop subsidizing soy and corn and instead encourage a variety of produce and farms animals, establish a Strategic Grain Reserve, and plant a victory garden on the White House lawn — with a nod, of course, to Eleanor Roosevelt.

Pollan suggests Pike Place Market might serve as a model for indoor farmers markets nationwide, and encourages the implementation of a Local Meat-Inspectors Corps, expanding the mobile abattoir program on Lopez Island.

If you want to hear more, Pollan will speak at Bastyr University on October 30, in a talk entitled Live and Unprocessed.

Topics: Events and News

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You Heard It Here: Restaurant Openings on Other Blogs

Posted today at 12:08 pm by Jonathan Kauffman

Restaurant gossip from the blogs:

1. Nancy Leson announces that Ethan Stowell (Union's chef-owner) and Patric Gabre-Kidan, who together own Tavolata and How to Cook a Wolf, are opening up a third joint restaurant on 15th and Pine called Olives and Anchovies. (P.S., Nancy: Stowell may be telling you that he's not hurting for talent, but two other chefs told me differently. Where'd you think half of Spring Hill's line cooks came from?)

2. Over at the Seattle Magazine food blog, Allison Scheff reports that Smarty Pants' owners are starting up a second place on the other side of Georgetown. It'll be called Hudson and it'll be a diner.

Topics: Blogwatch

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Homegrown: New Sandwich and Salad Shop to Open in Fremont

Posted today at 11:27 am by Adriana Grant

Photo by Adriana Grant

A new place to nosh, while keeping your food politics in place: Homegrown will focus on local, organic, and sustainable lunch offerings. This new sandwich shop is moving into the north side of the old Sonic Boom location (next door to Mooberry) and plans to open in Spring 2009.

As the sign in the window says: Homegrown is built on the principal that Seattleites who live the organic lifestyle at home shouldn’t have to sacrifice their ideals when they're eating out for breakfast, lunch or appetizers after work.

I’m all for this approach, though I’m wary when politics are put before taste. There’s a mission statement posted; I want a menu.

Topics: Restaurant Gossip

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Now I Know Why I Was Getting Those Dirty Looks at Zaina

Posted today at 10:52 am by Mark Fefer

(Photo from UW Daily)
I ducked into the basement restaurant Zaina in Belltown one night last week, hoping that a little hummos sandwich would give me the Zohan power to complete my walk home. But nobody was manning the counter, and it looked as though no sandwiches had been made in a very long time. Everyone there (a largely Middle Eastern-looking crowd) was enjoying their hookah smokes. And not only did they not appear to be in the mood to serve sandwiches, they looked at me like maybe I was some kind of federal agent. I'm not used to bright friendly smiles when I enter a room, but this was an impressive level of suspicion and hostility, even for me.
This weekend it all become clear. They must have thought I was from the Health Department!
A story in the UW Daily just a week ago talked about the hookah scene and was kind (or naive) enough to say that it was all taking place in the outdoor courtyard. Sadly that was not the case.

Topics: News

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Beef, Beer and the Pigskin at Alki Tavern

Posted today at 8:20 am by Laura Onstot

The right side of the bar at Alki Tavern features a painting of a motorcycle, except instead of a roaring engine, tubes and pipes, the body of the bike is a g-string-clad woman. Other late-eighties pinups—neon halters, chunky bangles, strategically placed snakes and all—adorn the walls. And a giant American flag drapes over the tables. It's hard to imagine a better spot for gridiron gazing—no one is here to watch football as an act of artistic irony or a chance to hit on their frat brother's sister, in town from Michigan. True, the one television is a little small and definitely not Hi Def, but if you want to hang with the popped collars at the Fox Sports Grill, be my guest.

The Game: Green Bay - 27, Seahawks - less than 27 of course.

The other game: Arizona 30, Dallas 24. But don't let the final score fool you, this was a nail-biter. The Cowboys came back with a touchdown in the final two minutes of the game, forced a turnover, and battled back across the midfield where Nick Folk booted a 52-yarder to send it into overtime. We should have just started with this match-up and skipped the Seattle game completely.

Continue reading "Beef, Beer and the Pigskin at Alki Tavern"

Topics: Pigskin Pigout

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Local 2008 Great American Beer Festival Winners

Posted Oct. 11 at 8:32 pm by Maggie Dutton

I'm bummed I missed the Great American Beer Festival this year, but even I have a hard time justifying the yearly malty binge. While I'm against most large consumer tasting events, GABF has it down. Everyone is so friendly (gee, ya think?). Whether your a brew nerd or someone who uses party as a verb, I highly recommend attending GABF at least once.

Medals for this event rank somewhere between an Oscar and a Screen Actor's Guild Award. Many of the brewers in competition act as judges for other categories, and take the process as serious as a heart attack.

Announced today in Denver, Colorado... from a pool of 432 breweries and 2,902 beers:

Craft Beer Distributor of the Year went to Click Distributing of Seattle, WA, whose foamy stable lies virtually unmatched on either coast, and that's just their Belgian Collection.

GOLD Pro-Am Beer (Home brew recipe paired with a craft brewery): Barking Dog Scottish Ale, Big Time Brewing Co., Seattle, WA (Bill Jenkins and AHA member Jeff Niggemeyer)

GOLD American-Style Wheat Beer: Pyramid Crystal Wheat Ale, Pyramid Breweries, Seattle, WA

GOLD Fruit or Vegetable Beer: Pyramid Apricot Ale, Pyramid Breweries, Seattle, WA

SILVER: Other Strong Beer: Imperial Oatmeal Stout, Boundary Bay Brewery, Bellingham,WA

GOLD Brown Porter: BlackWatch Cream Porter, Pyramid Breweries, Seattle, WA

BRONZE Robust Porter: Pacemaker Porter, Flyers restaurant and Brewery, Oak Harbor, WA

Congratulations to all!

Topics: Beer

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"Upscale Pizza" Opens Softly On Sunset Hill

Posted Oct. 10 at 12:28 pm by Mike Seely

Picolinos, a lovey-looking pizzeria located in one of the few subsets of Ballard that isn't built out to high heaven, staged a soft, invite-only opening last night. Meanwhile, I enjoyed a pre-Stars pepperoni, mushroom, sausage, and olive pie in the Rainier Valley at Vince's Cocktail Lounge, which features a fine selection of Otis Redding on the jukebox and Moretti on draft. The grub there is on par with Pazzo's, which is absolutely delicious.

Topics: Openings & Closings

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Whym Will Cure You of the Shakes, but Not the Cranks

Posted Oct. 10 at 6:00 am by Jonathan Kauffman

Apothecary: Whym Diner, 101 Denny Way, 269-9496. LOWER QUEEN ANNE. The name rhymes with time, by the way.

Time of entry: 10 on a Sunday.

Level of hangover (1–10 scale, with 10 being a paralyzing head-thumper): 5. One of those morning-afters when you wake up without a headache or a bum stomach, but are spaced and seriously cranky. I credit/blame white wine.

Level of waitstaff hangover: Nix. Ours seemed almost as spacey as me at first, but she was super-considerate, brought the plates out quickly, and remembered when I switched to decaf.

Prescriptions: My teen-punk years were spent in the Midwest, so I felt no sorrow when teen-punk sanctuary Minnie's shut down. Newly remodeled in bold colors and whymsilicious accents (starburst clocks, round doorways), Whym is now the cleanest 24-hour diner in Seattle right now. There is something cleansing about sitting in a room wrapped in large plate-glass windows, even when the view outside is condos and clouds.

The breakfast menu, flush with quotes and quips, has all the breakfast standards and the accepted number of standard gussiments. The two signature items seem to be chorizo, which shows up in many of the breakfast dishes, and "Whym Skillets." I ordered both in the form of the Mexi-skillet: a ceramic dish layered with cubed breakfast potatoes, chorizo (spiced-up but not spicy), melted jack, scrambled eggs (nicely done, mind you), half a ripe avocado, and pico de gallo. It was 100 percent edible: heavy but not greasy, and with some salt and lots of hot sauce, perfectly serviceable. That and a fruit salad would have served two.

My friend got the eggs Benedict, which was 60 percent disgusting. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but the hollandaise had broken, so the yellow pool around the eggs was melted butter speckled with bits of cooked egg. While the poached eggs and breakfast potatoes were correct, whoever mixed up that sauce should have tossed out the batch and started afresh. It's called professional pride.

Continue reading "Whym Will Cure You of the Shakes, but Not the Cranks"

Topics: Soak It Up

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First Call: The Capitol Club

Posted Oct. 9 at 7:00 am by Erika Hobart

A weekly Voracious feature in which our writers walk into a bar and ask the bartender to make us his or her favorite drink.

Locale: The Capitol Club, 414 E. Pine St., CAPITOL HILL

Bartender: Joshua Parshall

Serving Seattleites Since: 1999

Parshall is enthusiastic when we explain the rules for First Call and serves up a ruby-colored drink he invented that recently debuted on the bar’s cocktail menu as “The Hello Kitty.”

C’mon now—what’s with the name?
[Laughs] I actually didn’t come up with it. One of our regulars called it a “Hello Kitty” and the owner let out a squeal because she loves Hello Kitty. The name sort of stuck. Unfortunately, it’s alienated quite a few of the guys.

That’s too bad, because it tastes incredible. What’s in it?
It depends on whether you order it as a cocktail or a shot. The ingredients are Finlandia grapefruit vodka, pomegranate syrup, a splash of cranberry juice, and muddled lemon. I won't muddle the lemon in the shot version though, so that it’s easier to shoot. It’s become a favorite with the bachelorette parties that come through here. We see a lot of boobies each week, which wasn’t the case when I was working in Red Lodge, Montana.

What’s bartending like in Red Lodge versus Seattle?
The hardest drink I ever had to make in Montana was a margarita. I poured a lot of beers. I made plenty of rum and Cokes, Duck Farts, and Jager Bombs. People there don’t want anything cucumber infused. In Seattle, people have a wider knowledge of what can be done with their drinks. The muddled limes, basil, hibiscus—they want to try all of that.

Yeesh. We sound totally high maintenance.
It’s actually fun and I think it’s a great way to become a better bartender. It’s kind of like if you’re at a nice restaurant and you ask the waiter how the lamb is. He’s either going to give you a very generic “Oh, it’s wonderful” or he’ll be able to really describe the flavor. The latter is the way it should be for cocktailing. If I’m at the front of the house interacting with people, I want to know my shit.

That you do, Joshua. Have you had any slip-ups along the way?
A couple weeks ago I actually ended up at the emergency room. I was pulling a Stella glass in the dishwasher and somebody distracted me. I dropped the glass and looked down just in time to get nicked in the eye. I got pretty scared because I thought a piece was embedded in my eye. Luckily, it was just a small scratch. If you work with glass and knives, I guess something like that is bound to happen at some point.

Did you have to spend an entire evening at Harborview?
I don’t know why everybody keeps asking me that! I actually went to Swedish and was in and out of there in 45 minutes, tops.

Topics: First Call

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OK Corral Coming to West Seattle

Posted Oct. 8 at 10:46 am by Mike Seely

West Seattle has a barbecue deficiency, and Otis Austin's about to fill that void by opening a peninsula version of Greenwood's OK Corral.

Topics: Openings & Closings

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Pass the Bong, I Need a Shot

Posted Oct. 8 at 9:35 am by Mike Seely

Coming soon to a bar near you, liquor that you can literally inhale. Think of it as freebasing for hard-core lushes.

Topics: Boozamahol

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Hot Spots, Tear Reduction Strategies, and Other Food News

Posted Oct. 8 at 8:29 am by Jonathan Kauffman

Cravings: Why We Have Them and What They Mean by Devra First (Boston Globe): A feature accompanied, of course, by a sexyporn shot of a bar of chocolate. Because you're more likely to read about food cravings while you're having one.

What's Hot, What's Not, in Pans and Pots by Harold McGee (NY Times): The eminent food scientist tests out the new Thermalon cookware (finally, a replacement for my old omelet pan) and has a d'oh moment over Bénard-Marangoni convection.

Kitchen Essentials and Items You Can Pass By by Russ Parsons and Amy Scattergood (LA Times): There's been a flurry of these stories around the country lately, which I find a little yawny, but when Russ Parsons, one of my icons, gives out advice on what to buy and what to avoid? I'm paying attention.

Put Next to Water, an Onion's Not So Hostile by Andreas Vierstad (Wash Post): Running the tap while you cut onions sounds like superstition, but the author swears it works. I've found thick contacts even more effective.

Finally, the cookbook you have all been hungry for. Do I sense a future One Pot?

Santa Cruz Organic Farm Wins Pesticide Suit by Bob Egelko (SF Chronicle, via Grinder): California courts assign a dollar value — $1 million — to the loss of income when pesticide drift from a large commercial farm onto an organic one nullifies the organic farmer's certification.

Speaking of melted chocolate, drinking it straight is now apparently a YouTube meme. If you'd like a slightly more appetizing/disturbing sight, watch this:

(And here's the death metal remix.)

Topics: The Food Section

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Web Nuggets: High paying restaurant gig? Mail Goggles.

Posted Oct. 8 at 7:23 am by Maggie Dutton

What the hell kinda restaurant is this? I've always wanted to conduct an experiment as to whether you could communize a restaurant staff, redistributing tips throughout the kitchen for a real all for one and one for all staff. I was line cooking at the time. Has someone finally done it? When faced with washing dishes for $18 an hour, as opposed to waiting tables? No contest...pass the Palmolive and a scrubby.

I could use this feature at least twice a month: Mail goggles

Google labs has a feature that kicks in late night weekends to help you stop drunken emailing. After you press send, a text box pops up asking you if you're sure you want to send it, forcing you to solve a few math problems first for your own security. Genius.

You can turn on the feature any time, if you tie one on during the week. Someone please steal this app for Facebook.

Topics: News

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Ask The Bartender: Aquired Tastes

Posted Oct. 7 at 5:15 pm by Maggie Dutton

Each week we answer all those burning questions that you've always wanted to know the answer to, but then get too drunk (or shy) and forget to ask. From Robert:

Once every few years I revisit Campari. A bartender told me it was "an acquired taste." How does one exactly acquire it? I think the stuff is awful, like the liquid expression of b.o.

Robert, don't feel bad. I lose my taste for certain kinds of Scotch all the time. That old "acquired taste" chestnut can sound rather condescending, and no doubt delivery aids to that impression, but you acquired a taste for beer or maybe coffee at one time. The Italians are bred with a thing for bitters, but that's one flavor that's historically non-celebrated in the American diet. There's no law that says you'll like it; so don't force it. We'll still like you.

If you really want to get to know Campari better, try it with a big splash of grapefruit or orange juice. The sweet and tart of the juice will moderate that raspy bitterness. Then move on to a Campari and soda. One of my favorite bitter beverages is Aperol (similar bottle style and bright red color). I consider it Campari with training wheels. Very popular in Sicily, it has a subtle bittering paired with a vibrant strawberry rhubarb like taste.

If you have a nagging booze question you want answered, email me HERE.

Topics: Boozamahol

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Service with a Chirp

Posted Oct. 7 at 12:15 pm by Damon Agnos

A Japanese restaurant uses monkeys as waiters.

(Thanks for Nirav for pointing out that the sound on the BBC video player goes up to 11.)

Topics: Food Tourism

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