GIRLS WITH STRONG GASTROCS: The Pacific Northwest Highland Games are up in Enumclaw this weekend! Have you ever seen a troupe of Highland dancers, or examined any of their calves? Those ladies have serious plantar flexion skillz. And the National Highland Dance Competition's not all that's going down. We're talking pub piping, Scottish sing-alongs, a full-blown ceilidgh (it's more than just a barn dance!) and of course the field games! Seattlest's Scottish blood thrills to......

Starting this Sunday, Joule restaurant is transforming its dining room into a walk-in backyard for its Urban BBQ Series. To help celebrate the summer, every Sunday through mid-August, chef/owners Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi have planned a different theme (we especially like the sound of “Food on a Stick” and “Dreaming of Pigs”) that will offer a variety of grilled dishes. For example, this Sunday is "Operation Clam Bake," featuring oysters on the half......

Some lucky ducks went to Sasquatch this weekend, and others went to Folklife. We, on the other hand, stuck very close to home: on our couch, with a painfully twisted and inflamed ankle. This happened because on Saturday, instead of celebrating international "Urban Indian"-themed arts and music at the Seattle Center, we went to a BBQ in Northgate. That night, we did the traditional Memorial consumption of short ribs and okra (seriously! Okra!! Big......

Last month, Ron from Beacon Hill commented that he prefers Roy's BBQ to the nearby Jones BBQ. This spurred us to get off our ass and finally check Roy's out. The verdict: hot damn, that's a good sandwich. That's the biggest difference between Roy's and a place like Jones: Roy's is all about sandwiches--pulled pork, beef brisket, pulled chicken, even the oyster po' boy. As usual, specialization pays off. The Georgia Gold (a favorite......

Seattlest has long been an on-again-off-again vegetarian. Our last fall from herbivorous grace came in our New York City-living days, when our girlfriend at the time's dad cooked us up a burger and some hotdogs. We didn't have the heart to say no, and they just smelled so good. Thank God, because we wound up moving to New Orleans, where life is meaningless without a good roast beef po-boy and all the juice it......

Ever since we read Frito Pie 101 in the Stranger, we've been itching to try a Frito pie and last night at Georgetown's Smarty Pants we sealed the deal at last. It's not a deal we'll be renegotiating any time soon. We're far from experts, of course. All we can say is that when rating it on its "appeal," we're Russian judges. Nyetch. It was a Seattlest meet-up, so we bought a Frito pie for......

Pecos Pit BBQ is so fucking good it still smells great after sitting in the office garbage can for three hours. Pecos Pit is like the best cocaine in town, you’re willing to drive way out of your way to get it and you won’t balk for a second at the fact there are no accommodations or cute amenities to make the experience feel more complete. There are maybe five things on the menu.......

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer's market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks' opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs. Seahawks vs. Kielbasa and Cheese preview Our Kielbasa & Cheese recipe called for name-brand kielbasa,......

Instead of focusing on what Belltown has lost, we’d like to inject some positivity in the form of BBQ sauce on an overlooked aspect of this scrutinized neighborhood. ...

For some reason, though we are committed Capitol Hill brunchers, we had not discovered what wonders Monsoon has going on in their little 19th Ave E hideaway. Behold, the Monsoon brunch menu (pdf)! Last Tuesday night, Eric and Sophie Bahn, the chefs, invited a passel of foodie blogging folk over to try out the brunch menu. You had people like Matthew aka the rootsandgrubs guy, Angela from the Stranger -- and somehow we made the......

Yeah, yeah, yeah… we’ve bawled a bunch about the blahness of Queen Anne cuisine, from the "exotic" Chinoise at the top of the hill to the "exotic" Racha at the bottom of the hill. So we lowered our expectations a bit to try some good ol' American food at Floyd's Place, which reviewers consistently Yelped as, well, "decent." "Decent" is a decent enough descriptor of the BBQ pork loin sandwich, served with sides of slaw......

The "I'm not ashamed" angle to the unsanctioned whale hunt perpetrated by members of the Makah Tribe over the weekend hit the papers this morning. "I'm not ashamed. I'm feeling kind of proud. ... There is only a few guys in Neah Bay that can get a whale and bring everyone home safely. This blog seems to have the extended remix version of the quotes that Johnson gave the Seattle Times--Maybe it's an earlier......

If you have not had the pleasure of trying this wonderful concoction from Big Time Brewing, you should get down to their brewpub on the Ave. as soon as possible. The Old Sol is a wheatwine, similar to a barleywine, but brewed with about 50% wheat malt. This year's batch weighs in at about 11% alcohol, which makes this beer a very nice sipper. The malt is rich and sweet to start out, but......

So, the Seattle P-I restaurant critic writes that "Safeco's got some of the worst food in the major leagues." That statement struck a nerve with this Seattlest, as we tend to think that Safeco has some of the best food in MLB parks. The variety and quality of food you can get at Safeco just cannot be matched by very many stadiums around the country. Just a sample of what you can get:Dixie's BBQ -......

Yesterday Seattlest stopped by Chop Suey on the walk home to see how the inaugural edition of the Sunday Summer BBQ Series was going. It was empty. It wasn't terribly surprising, since marketing for the series was pretty minimal, but we do fully support the concept: early shows, with grilled fare available outside. We only stuck around for the first band, Bellingham's The Love Lights, who switch up the indie-pop formula with the addition of......

With the nice weather this morning, we were inspired to continue our profiles of summer beers. None of these are overwhelming in the taste category, but a summer beer does not have to be. Alaskan IPA and Alaskan Summer Ale - Alaskan makes some quality brews (God bless their Smoked Porter), and we have really come to enjoy these 2 light drinking beers. Their Summer Ale is a light German style Kolsch beer that is......

Ok, we're going to do the classic oddball story. He's a weirdo, he doesn't fit in. People love that shit. Everyone thinks they're the weirdo. This guy we'll give some strange skill, some kind of physical deformity. Whatever, we'll give him fucking scissors for hands or something. Add two of Hollywood's legit oddballs J. Depp and T. Burton and a classic in the key of goth was born in 1990. Everyone loves Edward Scissorhands.......

Today's front page [pdf] is an attempt to spread the word that bringing your generator or BBQ inside is a bad idea. We would've put "don't bring your generator or your BBQ inside" in red, but hopefully this does the trick.......

KARAOKE: Wednesday night is always karaoke night at the Little Red Hen, an outpost of country music that's inexplicably smack dab in the middle of Volvo-driving, NPR-listening, holiday-tree-owning Green Lake. The crowd veers toward the early-20s spectrum, so if you need a break from parties where people discuss mortgages, the new Whole Foods, and their fucking jobs, this is the place to go. Tip: Bring cash so you can buy beer from the guy with......

The Tyde/Brian Jonestown Massacre/Dandy Warhols show Friday night was amazingly incident-free. Seattlest, like others in attendance, was there as much for the potential carnage resulting from the BJM/DW rivalry and BJM lead singer Anton Newcombe's instability as the music, so while there was nothing to report in the way of shenanigans, the music made the evening more than worthwhile. Openers the Tyde played a brief set, but managed to set the mood for the evening,......

Note to editors of Seattlest: not all your readers (or contributors) care that much (i.e., to the exclusion of all else) about outdoor festival music. [Ed. Note: We took a vote and after this post we're all Bumber all the time. Sorry.] No matter. Labor Day weekend has come and gone, signaling the end of Bumbershoot (see the last 27 Seattlest posts), summertime picnics and backyard BBQ. No worries, though, for us yardless Belltowners. They......

The fourth annual KEXP BBQ took place on a day that couldn't have been much prettier. Not a cloud in the sky, so Seattlest was diligent about applying tons o' sunblock and sticking to the shade. This year, the event was all ages, meaning that the area in front of the stage was divided into drunk and sober sections, and the audience featured a lot of cute wittle babies. We witnessed a grand total......

With both the South Lake Union block party and the KEXP BBQ this weekend and Bumbershoot less than a month away, there's another festival coming up, one that requires taking a couple vacation days. How does Las Vegas at Halloween sound to you? If over the top is your cuppa tea, you might want to look into attending the second annual Vegoose, held this year October 27-31. Vegoose proper is a huge two-day outdoor......

Tuesday 8th >>> The Blackpool Lights at El Corazon. Made up of parts of the Get Up Kids, Creature Comforts, and Ultimate Fakebook. 7pm; $10 >>> Manchester at Victrola on 15th Ave. "Pseudo-British" "indie folk pop" who sound a bit like more cheerful "Decemberists." 8pm; free. All ages. >>> Molly Rose with Pablo Trucker and J. Wong at the Green Room (at the Showbox). Victrola's own Molly Rose takes her singer/songwriter skillz downtown, with......

Even as the stores sport back to school sales (which depress us, even now), summer lingers on your friends the -ists. This week's collection of links provides some of the best, worst, and oddest bits of summer fun. So, bring your laptop up onto the roof, make yourself an umbrella drink or ten, and enjoy this week's choice posts from across the Gothamist network. Torontoist (where it's 75 degrees F as of this writing)......

It’s probably been more than a year since we hauled our butts over the bridge for some Dixie’s BBQ, and we are thrilled to report that almost nothing has changed. We lived in Bellevue a very long time ago and used to line up at least once a week in the parking lot under the 405/520 interchange for a heaping helping of luscious, generously sauced, falling apart beef brisket barbecue served on a wonderfully......

Keep your eye out for a Flat black 1959 Apache Longbed truck, stolen on the night of Tuesday June 27th outside Pig Iron BBQ on 1st Ave S. If you have seen this truck please contact Pig Iron owner Mike - owner of said truck - at 206-768-1009. Also, if you are an auto painter and someone has inquired about getting paint done on one, please stall and get as much info as possible......

With the first days of summer already on us, it's a perfect time to start thinking about your summer music plans. There were two recent pre-sale ticket announcements that got the gears turning in our heads at Seattlest: Bumbershoot (Sept 2-4) and the KEXP BBQ (Aug 13). While the complete line-up for both of these events has yet to be announced (We aren't overly hyped on the initial Bumbershoot line-up!), both events will give more......

In which Seattlest contributors divulge their weekend plans and disclose their favorite things to BBQ. Friday afternoon means it's time for the MADCAP Hill Farmer's Market at Madison and 20th, 3pm - 7pm, so MvB is off to find ingredients for his mad scientist smoothies. Saturday at 4pm The Real Dirt On Farmer John plays at the NW Film Forum (free if you RSVP). MvB grew up on a farm, and you'd think he'd be......

It's rained--hard--five out of the last six weekends. And after a week of beautiful weather, it's supposed to cloud over Saturday and rain Sunday. Along with the byplay of their weekend, the Seattlests answer the question "Why does God hate Seattle?" James is by no means a stereotypical NPR liberal. No, he's a stereotypical PRI liberal, and he's flaunting that on Saturday night at the Julia Sweeney/Ira Glass conversation at the Paramount. He's also going......