Food: July 2009 Archives

Experiment with zucchini flowers while there’s still time. They are especially difficult to transport in pristine condition so unless you’ve got a steady supply in your garden, your local farmer’s market is the best bet. The male flowers, those without the squash attached, are preferred for stuffing and should be completely open when purchased. Once the flower closes up, the petals start sticking together and are difficult to separate without tearing.

From an office in West Seattle, Dave and Rebecca Makuen are igniting a hamburger revolution. In the midst of an economic upheaval, while so many local companies a cutting back, scaling back plans, or just plain vanishing, the Makuens have started a new business called BuiltBurger.

Yes, that's Bob Giles, managing partner of Perkins Coie, Seattle's largest law firm (700 attorneys), pouring wine last night at a dinner for the firm's summer associates.

Farmers started seeing themselves as producing a commodity, not growing food. Unfortunately, just as sourcing the most affordable car parts may result in components coming from all over the country, producing the cheap ground beef in huge quantities means that the meat comes from many different cows. The result being that one tracking error would result in all the beef being untraceable.

So the recession has got everyone rethinking how they spend their spare change, even beer lovers. Seattle, much like Portland, is a town overwhelmed with craft beer options at bars and brewpubs, but despite the welcoming waft of citrus, pine, and toffee, there is still a pang of pennypinchers' remorse when you drop six bucks on a pint. Adding happy hour to your craft beer craving solves that problem, so here's the first installment of our craft beer happy hours series. (If your local bar is missed, speak up in the comments, and we will make sure to get it in.)

Yesterday, as the mercury went from "uncomfortable" to "unbearable," the search was on for a patio that could serve up the required survival items at a time like this: chips, salsa, and stiff margaritas. Fortunately we found ourselves near El Camino, one of Seattle’s most overlooked outdoor sanctuaries.

He's Brandon Pettit, musician from New York. She's Molly Wizenberg, the voice of Orangette. Their romance is chronicled in Molly's book, A Homemade Life (a title that makes you think it's going to be about an old lady's patterns for quilts, while it's actually two interwoven stories about Molly's dad and Molly's boyfriend). Anyway, Brandon--a composer and lecturer who studied in France (as did Molly)--moved to Seattle and, wouldn't you know it, decided that his calling life was (wait for it) pizza.

More than 70,000 beer lovers are expected to make the stumbling pilgrimage to Portland’s Oregon Brewer’s Festival, running today through Sunday at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. If you love beer, this is the place to be, whether you’re an aficionado or a swiller; a spitter or a guzzler.

    

Ah, summer, when a chef's fancy turns to thoughts of fruit-filled pastry. So here's the sweet suite.

Portland, how did this food-lover overlook you for ten years? We took the train down, which was a pleasant, relaxing experience--except that the last couple of miles or so took about about 20 minutes due to work on the tracks. No big deal, except that instead of arriving at 1:50 p.m. as planned (perhaps even earlier), we were late and unable to get to Park Kitchen ahead of its 2 o'clock closing time, even though it's mere minutes from the station. Instead, we rolled the luggage through Chinatown to Ping, where we picked out a few Asian eats for late lunch. And then rolled our way to our first hotel. We were told it's too far to walk, but walking was good exercise after being on the train, allowing us to get our bearings and enabling us to ogle some food carts with jealousy.

Question: What's better than a taco truck? Answer: A Korean/Hawaiian taco truck. Exactly one month ago, we gave you the scoop on Marination Mobile, just as it was about to open. Today, we're back to tell you that Marination Mobile is simply marvelous.

We know how it is. When we used to spend our afternoons taking some sun at Madison Park, we only left our spot--grudgingly--for water or ice cream. That's prime real estate! Luckily an entrepreneur has felt your pain. Now you only have to walk to the top of the grassy knoll to purchase an assortment of ice cream bars, potato chips, and beverages.

While we're still rejoicing that two area chefs will be competing on Top Chef starting next month, how about a little instant gratification? We've got a top pastry chef, of sorts. Mei-I Funtanilla, former pastry chef at Serafina, is not a big fan of the big cookie, so she developed her own line and called them Sweet Miniatures. And today, these tiny cookies have found their way to the Rachael Ray Show. (In Seattle, tune to KIRO-7 at 3 p.m.)

Yesterday, a tipster reported there was a random but really cute ice cream truck parked outside her home. Come to find out, the fancy-schmancy, custom-built ice cream truck was home to Parfait, an upscale mobile ice cream parlor serving up artisanal organic ice cream.

Taco truck! El Camion is conveniently parked in front of the Home Depot on Aurora Ave, and we knew that a couple of cheap tacos could tide us over. And when we order two tacos, you should know by now that likely means one tongue and one tripe. (Unless we go for crazy for cabeza—the beef cheeks.) Quick wait at the window, place the order, sit at one of the umbrella-ed tables, pick up upon being called, add salsas (they have a good variety) and some radishes and jalapenos to the plate, and then back to the table to squeeze some lime and enjoy the al fresco dining. Close your eyes, and you’re in Mexico.

Fortunately, Japan has just liberalized its regs and will now import cherries from Washington orchards with pheromone-scented moth traps. The moths have a more interesting (if much shorter) sex life, the cherries have a longer shelf life...and get to travel to the Japanese market on a slow, inexpensive freighter.

      

There's a Place Balard (one "l") in southwest Paris, about 20 minutes from the Bastille, the one-time prison at the figurative center of the French Revolution. These days (a week ahead of Bastille Day) the Place de la Bastille is a hub of music and nightlife, much like Seattle's Ballard Avenue on these warm July nights. At the brand new Bastille Café & Bar, a bustling crew of 60 tends to the needs of swarming drinkers and diners. Owners James Weimann (Peso's, Triangle) and Deming Maclise (Caffè Fiorè) recruited industry veterans Shannon Galusha (Veil) to run the kitchen, James Lechner (Café Campagne) to run the dining room and Armin Moloudzadeh (Black Bottle) to run the bar.