Bars Showing Playoffs: Help Us Displaced Fans

OK, normally I like the fact that not every Seattle bar is decked out in flat screen bling. In Chicago, it can seem that broadcasting sports is a requirement for a liquor license.

But it's playoffs people, and I want to be surrounded by my relocated Cubbie brethren because there's no way a (scoff) Mariners fan can ever understand what I'm going through right now. No, seriously, you can't. 100 years, OK? My grandmother lived her entire life never seeing a Cubs championship—88 years.

So anyone know a really good bar that's showing the Cubbies or showing the MLB Playoffs with a particularly north side of Chicago bent? I don't give a rats ass about the other games, but I guess you could leave those in the comments, to be fair and balanced. I'll buy you a pitcher for the tip, and extra points if the joint serves nachos.

Much obliged.

Topics: Events

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Tomorrow: Eat Local Now! Festival

Over at her blog, Seattle Food Examiner, Traca Savadogo has a post about a sustainable-food festival happening in the U District tomorrow. Eat Local Now: A Hands-On Festival, which takes place at the University Heights Center (5031 University Way NE), sounds like a great event, full of workshops on gardening, composting, and cooking.

I found out about the event from Traca. Unfortunately, the organizers didn't send out much press info, so we weren't able to put the event in our Food Files calendar. And Traca's blog seems to be the only online source for a conference program. So check it out, and if you've got the afternoon free, order tickets here. Let me know how it went!

Topics: Events

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Two Craft Beer Events, North & South

AHA Rally at Big Time Brewery in the U-District

Big Time Brewery is holding an AHA Rally (American Homebrewers Association). Homebrewers will be in attendance, sharing their best batch and trying to hook up with breweries to get their concoction brewed for Pro-Amateur competition. A Pro-Am pairs a home brewed recipe with a commercial brewery, to produce the beer at scale.

Homebrewers aren’t the only ones invited. Beer lovers of all levels are welcome and will be able to taste a ton of Big Time beers along with at least six potential Pro-Am beers, and get a tour of Big Time’s facilities. Learn more about homebrewing, catch the fever, or just drink and judge.

Saturday, August 23rd
Big Time Brewery, 4133 University Ave. NE, 5pm
Free for current AHA members, $33 for new memberships

Petit Beerfest at Laughing Buddha in South Seattle

Laughing Buddha is hosting a four brewery tasting in South Park at their new brewery expansion. Neighbor Baron Brewing will be there pouring, along with nanobrewery Schooner Exact and NKOTB Two Beers Brewing. Patrons of Beveridge Place will be familiar with Schooner Exact and their IPA, and I profiled the Asian-inspired beers of Laughing Buddha a few weeks ago, which are indeed inspired. Baron Brewing concentrates on German-style beer, and I spot more of their tap handles every month, especially and gleefully that of their Schwarzbier. Two Beers is brand-spanking new, and I’m excited to try them after hearing lots of buzz about their Belgian Wit. (And they have a super cute website.)

Saturday August 23rd
Mini Beerfest, 9320 15th Ave S, Unit CE2, South Park, 3pm to 7pm
Cost is $13 online or $15 at the door, and tickets are available HERE.

Topics: Beer and Events

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Who Couldn't Use a Picnic?

Topics: Events

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Ethical Dilemmas at the Ballard SeafoodFest

The Ballard SeafoodFest is coming up this weekend, and I’m probably going as I always do for the smoked salmon dinner.

In past years, I've also come home with a fresh, whole 5- to 10-pound Alaskan silver salmon, at $2 a pound, from a very sweet couple who stand in front of Olsen’s Scandinavian Foods. (I just contacted Olsen's, and the price has gone up to $3 a pound. Still a bargain!)

According to this Ballard News-Tribune article, Bob and Janet Jones are retired missionaries who spent 25 years in Italy working on projects to “evangelize Italians” through the Presbyterian church. The Joneses send the proceeds from the sale back to Italy.

I feel so conflicted about my purchase, even as I'm stuffing the fish with chermoula sauce and grilling it up at my sister's house for our Sunday dinner. I don’t contribute to any religious organizations that proselytize. But it’s only $10-15. And they’re Presbyterians, just like my parents are now (though Mom and Dad are with me on the proselytization thing). And the money is being sent to Catholic Europe, not a postcolonial nation with a long history of religious "conversion" attempts. But it’s funding bible distribution. But it’s only salmon, and it's so good...

All ethical (or culinary) guidance welcome.

Topics: Events

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One Pot at Bumbershoot

Image: onepotblog.blogspot.com

Michael Hebb (of One Pot and Pike Street Fish Fry fame) is taking over one of Bumbershoot's gallery spaces on Labor Day (September 1) for a dinner-related residency.

The theme is 1968, now forty years ago, and the intent: talk of cultural revolution at a forty foot table. You are invited to share a meal, and share a discussion, and/or send footage of your own (pre-Bumbershoot) 1968-themed dinner to become part of the installation.

He's already got some dinners lined up, with participants from across the globe:

someone is making dinner in prague, someone is eating on the steps of the plaza de las tres culturas in mexico city, and someone is doing something of the sort in new delhi. the more the merrier.

Volunteers wanted too, to chop, edit film, and be part of the event.

More information here.

Topics: Events

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Seattle's Next Top Salumist

The Salumi situation is getting out of control. Yesterday I walked by at 1:30 p.m. — well past lunchtime — there was at least a 40-minute line out the door. Today — yes, I know it's a Friday in July — I figured by 2:40 p.m., I could be in-and-out. Nope. Line was even longer.

So, I'm taking matters into my own hands. Starting this evening, when I remove three pounds of cured pork belly my fridge, I'll be curing my own meat. I don't expect it to be great. (How bad can you screw this stuff up, eh?) But, it's a start. Someday there will be salami. Maybe even prosciutto. Maybe I'll even enter the Third Annual Salumi Curing Contest. I'm sure I'm too late to get anything started for the Secon Annual, going down in September during Festa Italiana. But you can bet I'll be there taking notes, tasting, and doing my best to convince one of the winners to opening up shop. I'm tired of planning my days around the line at Salumi.

Will Seattle's Next Salumist please stand up!

Topics: Events

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Booze and Best of Seattle Ballots

If you've been meaning to vote in this year's Best of Seattle Reader Poll but can't bring yourself to fill out the ballot, the Weekly's events staff is throwing a voting party this Thursday night from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Showbox's Green Room.

Drink specials have been promised. A few of the staff-created cocktails that we're petitioning the Green Room to put on the menu:

The Cindy McCain
Tecate beer mixed with tequila, lemonade, and Percocet

The O-bama Slammer
Rebel Yell, gin, Jager, and lemonade mixed with Old Style beer. (You may not think you can drink it — but yes, you can.)

The Clinton Impeachmint
Peach schnapps, vodka, and a sprig of mint served with a cigar

The Eliot Spritzer
Champagne and vodka. Garnish with antibiotics. Charge $10,000 per glass.

The McCain Mindfuck
Saigon Export beer, served warm to a blindfolded customer who's locked in a bathroom stall with the lights off and an M-80 with a lit fuse dropped in the commode

The Michelle Obama Smear
A Bahama Mama topped with Babycham

The McCain Quip
A shot of liquor — you never know what you’re going to get — served flaming

The Nader Run
A pousse-café layering (from top to bottom) Clear Creek Pear Brandy, Midori, and Fernet Branca. The first shot smells enticing, the second shot looks Green, and the third shot is very, very bitter.

And last but not least, submitted by two separate staff members locked in mindmeld:

The Hillary Appeal
A mug of Schlitz and a shot of Jim Beam, which you have to down while someone’s taking a picture of you.

Topics: Events

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Saturday: Burien Strawberry Festival

Burien Strawberry Festival
Saturday 10am to 6pm
Sunday 10am to 5pm
Downtown Burien
www.burienstrawberryfestival.org

"Strawberry" is one of the English languages happiest and cutest words to say, "Burien" not so much. This Saturday Burien sweetens up their cute as a button downtown with tons of music, performance art, visual arts, plenty of stuff for kids, and a fun run.

And if you're like me and see the term "fun run" as an oxymoron...please to enjoy a pastime that just doesn't happen nearly enough these days.....

The Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast!!!!
8am to 11pm
Burien/Normandy Park Fire Station
15100 8th Avenue SW
(Kiwanis....AND firefighters, bonus!!!!)

I dream that we could solve all the world's problems, if only we had enough pancake breakfasts.

Topics: Events

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Summer Sunday Chef Demo at Pike Place Market

http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/tour/pikep_photos.htm

Every Sunday, now through September 28, it's summer at the Market, with chef demos on the cobblestones at Pike Place. This year's debut demo is led by Eva Restaurant's Dana Bickford. As our own Maggie Dutton wrote in the Weekly's 2008 Favorite Restaurants issue, Eva "excels at the kind of food that a really good chef might make at home." A very good reason to meet the chef.

The chef line-up for the summer offers more reasons to brave the crowds:

June 8: Dana Bickford - Eva Restaurant
June 15: Frans Junga - Il Forniao
June 22: Bruce Naftaly - Le Gourmand
June 29: Jim Drohman - Le Pichet
July 6: Seth Caswell - Stumbling Goat Bistro
July 13: Robin Leventhal - Crave
July 20: Dick Schouweiller - Buca Di Beppo
July 27: Carrie Christensen - Marjorie
August 3: Marvin Smau - Japanese Gourmet
August 10: Josh Westcott - Il Bistro
August 17: Renee Erickson - Boat Street Café 11:00 a.m.
Daisley C. Gordon - Campagne 12:30 p.m.
Joseph Conrad - Qube Restaurant 2:00 p.m.
August 24: Aaron Wright - Canlis
August 31: Peter Birk - Ray's Boathouse
September 7: John Sundstrom - Lark
September 14: Pranee Kruasanit Halvorsen - I Love Thai Cooking
Gaile Moe, PhD., RD - Seattle Pacific University 2:00 p.m.
September 21: Wayne Johnson - Andaluca
Bobby Moore - Barking Frog 2:00 p.m.
September 28: Kevin Davis - Steelhead Diner
Scott Lents - Barking Frog 2:00 p.m.

Sundays at noon, June 8-September 28. Free.

Topics: Events

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How about some wine instead of cheap beer with your Memorial Day?

Image: http://www.washingtonwinefoundation.org/

The Third Annual Washington Wine Highway offers a sample of the culinary, gustatory, and travel options on offer in Yakima Valley, Walla Walla Valley, Columbia Valley, and Red Mountain.

See what it looks like to drink local. A slideshow of last year's blow-out event, here.

Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates
11141 N.E .145th, Woodinville

Sat., May 24, 12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Sun., May 25, 12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
$75 one day, $125 two days.
21 and over only. Tickets cover wine, food, and entertainment.

For more food-related events, check Food Files.

Topics: Events

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Want to Eat the Greatest Meatball Ever?

Way better than the ones at Ikea.

Last month I had buffet-side seating at As You Like It's Ultimate Kottbullar (Swedish meatball) contest at the Swedish Cultural Center. The winning recipe came from Brigitta and Gunnar Wallin, true Swedes through and through, who stuck to the basics and pulled off a ball that even the toughest critics were happy to snack on.

To celebrate the Wallin's achievement and bring their kottbullar to the masses, As You Like It is holding an open-to-the-public dinner at the Center on June 14. Tickets are $30 and get you access to the no-host bar at 6 p.m. followed by the meatball buffet at 7. More information is available by calling 206-523-9570.

Topics: Events

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Shop the Farm

Image:all-creatures.org/recipes/images/i-asparagus.jpg

Asparagus has finally arrived at the markets — not just here and there but reliably — so you can safely venture out to get your spring fix. Also on the tables this week: delicate greens like watercress and miner's lettuce as well as radishes, fiddlehead ferns, and sugar snap peas.

Recently opened markets:
Bellevue: Thursdays, 3-7 p.m., at 1717 Bellevue Way N.E.
Phinney: Fridays, 3-7 p.m., at 6532 Phinney Ave. N.
and Crossroads: Opens Tuesday, May 27, noon-5 p.m., located in the mall parking lot at N.E. Eighth St. and 156th Ave. N.E., also in Bellevue.

For a list of more markets — already running, and soon to open — check here.

Topics: Events

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Cook! and win

There's still time to enter Tillamook Cheese's fourth annual macaroni and cheese recipe contest. I hear you: Who would want to rustle up a pan of that in this weather? Does $5,000 (plus 25 pounds of Tillamook) make it worth it? Official contest rules and regulations are here.

Last year, I was a judge for the local round of the Tillamook contest. I'll be honest: When I left, all I wanted was a box of Annie's. (Here's my personal tip: Focus on the mac and cheese, not on what you add to make it something other than mac and cheese.)

If you're more into celeb status than cold cash, focus your efforts on something that will impress Bobby Flay. The Wine Press Northwest blog reports a new recipe contest called "Flayvors of Washington". Entries must be inspired by a Columbia Crest wine and include at least one "Washington ingredient." The winner gets to cook with Bobby Flay in NYC.

If I had to enter one? It's a toss-up. New York is great, but with five grand from the mac and cheese contest, at least I could pick my own wine.

Topics: Events

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The Romans are leaving, which means more time to TASTE.

This weekend, May 10th and 11th, TASTE restaurant and the Seattle Art Museum will be open for 35 hours straight, when SAM gives folks one last chance to see the Roman Art exhibit before they ship her back to the Louvre. The restaurant will cook around the clock, adding an extended happy hour menu after the usual lunch and dinner service on Saturday, followed by a late-night menu from midnight to 4 a.m., then an early morning menu until lunch rolls around again on Sunday. We’ll head over around 3:30 a.m., when those killer frites with rosemary and remoulade are still available, then hit the museum’s “marathon weekend” mid-stride. If all that marble makes us hungry again, we’ll go back downstairs just before dawn for TASTE pastry chef Elise Fineberg’s spring frittata with sweet peas and Quillisascut chevre.

TASTE ‘Marathon’ Hours & Menus:

SATURDAY
10 am to 11 am: Pastries
11 am to 3 pm: Lunch menu
3 pm to 12 am: Happy Hour / Bar menu
5 pm to 10 pm: Dinner Menu

SUNDAY
12 am to 4 am: Late night menu
4 am to 11 am: Early morning / Pastry menu
11 am to 3 pm: Lunch menu
3 pm to 9 pm: Happy Hour / Bar menu / Dinner menu

TASTE “Marathon”, 10 a.m. May 10th to 9 p.m. May 11th. 1300 First Ave., 903-5291, DOWNTOWN.

Topics: Events

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