Beaujolais Nouveau on Friday: For the People

Dine-Arounds are popular in November; here's one more: the 16th annual Beaujolais Nouveau festival, sponsored by Seattle's French-American Chamber of Commerce. Used to be, the FACC counted on Beaujolais to raise a ton of cash, so they gussied up what's traditionally an informal country fair, turning it into a black tie event in a glittering hotel ballroom.

This year, not so much. The dress is more casual, the venue now the plain-Jeanne Lake Union Armory. But the food...ah, the food! This is still a showcase for all things French, so you know there's going to be excellent edibles. Oysters, prawns, smoked salmon; pâtés, fromages. Then sausages from Uli's with potato gratin and an endive salad followed by cinnamon-honey ice cream and crèpes suzette. To be sure, there's a raffle, of course (win a wine cellar!), a low-key silent auction, and a modest live auction, but the whole idea is to relax and enjoy the (perfectly decent) new wine.

Takes place this Friday, November 21st. Tickets are $60 for members, $70 for non-members, big discount for tables of 10. Reservations online at beaujolaisnouveau.wordpress.com.