Greatest Hits and What You Missed: Wrapping Up the Week in Food

Not deadly enough to take down the Surly Gourmand

It's been a god week over here at Voracious World Headquarters. We've had tales of deadly fish and DUI's, hippies, hipsters and hot-ass chicken wings. We've tracked the restaurants that are opening in and around Seattle, those that couldn't quite cut it, and told you about all the best places to get your fix of gyros, pizza, cheeseburgers, tacos and everything else under the sun.

But we understand that you are a busy little gastronaut. Maybe you haven't had time to check in with us ten times everyday (even though you should). Thus, we've got this: our new Friday wrap-up of everything that went down on the Voracious blog this week while you were out living your life. Think of this as the Reader's Digest condensed version of the week in food news. All you have to do is click through any of the links that pique your interest and read all about the puffer fish that almost killed the Surly Gourmand, the memorializing of the famous Admiral Benbow Inn, tapas, food trucks or poutine pizza.

For starters this week, here's hoping you didn't miss our list of favorite restaurants. Assembled by the entire staff, this is a massive collection of everything that's great, food-wise, in the Emerald City and beyond. (p.s. If you're smart, you'll run out right now and pick up a copy of the actual paper from the stands so you'll have the nice, glossy insert to have with you all year long.)

On Monday, Versus had a head-to-head battle of hot-ass chicken wings from Sport Restaurant & Bar and FOX Sports Grill, and Bottomfeeder sampled the tacos and burritos from Rancho Bravo--a Mexican restaurant that opened inside a former Capitol Hill KFC.

There was also news of one tapas bar (Txori) being replaced by...another tapas bar in Belltown. This inspired the trend-humping question: Is the tapas and small plates craze played out, over-blown or just starting to heat up again?

Over in Queen Anne, the Surly Gourmand did battle with the deadly puffer fish--and lived to make "your mom" jokes about it. Meanwhile, in West Seattle, the Heartland Cafe made its debut, bringing chili, casseroles, tater tots and pirates to legions of fans of artery-clogging Midwestern cooking (and fans of the former Admiral Benbow Inn, in whose former home it opened).

Tuesday saw the first of our 3-part Grillaxin' feature with Sedat Uysal from Cafe Paloma, a story about how the new home of the West Seattle Water Taxi will be a boon to drinkers, and a tale of shameful confessions and Mad Men addiction from the Crocksman (who also admitted to not having cable at his house, which I find just terrifying).

Mmmm...clam legs.

Tuesday also saw an update on the Yelp lawsuit for those of you keeping track of that particular slap-fight, the news that our own Jason Stratton of Spinasse had been tagged by Food & Wine magazine as one of the ten best new chefs in the country, and an awesome list of Seattle restaurants that sound like sex shops (all of which made me oddly hungry...).

Wednesday was review day. This week's offering? Mawadda Cafe in Hillman City for some of the most addictive gyros known to man. For those of you not interested in eating cute little lambs, Top Five listed the city's best veggie burgers (the researching of which almost exploded the brave writer who took this on). The Surly Gourmand visited the Malay Satay Hut and suffered some kind of opium-induced fever dream that sent him back in time to 1797, and I reported on the cutting-edge anti-hipster technology being employed by a Portland coffeeshop, then made suggestions on how we in Seattle might keep our restaurants and dive bars free of yuppies, wine snobs, bums and restaurant critics. No sooner had I gotten that out of my system, than I heard about a Vancouver restaurant serving poutine pizza and began making plans to defect to Canada.

Oh, baby...

On Thursday, we discussed the plan by Washington Democrats to balance the budget by raising the tax on beer (boo!), and Taco Del Mar offering free tacos on Tax Day (yay!).

Seattle may be screwed when it comes to the dream of thousands of food trucks prowling the streets bringing burritos and noodles and pho right to our doors, thanks to the fact that neighborhood groups are proving hostile to the idea. And one guy who probably won't be driving a food truck (or anything else) any time soon? Michael McConnell of Via Tribunali and Caffe Vita, who got popped for a DUI (among other things) on March 31.

Super geek-hot.

Finally, with the weekend coming, the Serb was treated to a Japanese feast at Maneki in Serving Sake to a Serb (where he pretty much cleaned them out of sushi) and Dinner & a Movie did a Date Night two-fer, hitting McCormick & Schmick's for eats before settling in to watch Tina Fey and Steve Carell ham it up on the big screen.

So that's it, kids--all the news that fit in print for the past week. And we'll be back, bright and early Monday morning, to do the same thing all over again.

Well, not the same thing, but you know what I mean...