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. A Pizza-and-Beer Gathering Preview Yesterday we made a pre-holiday meal of barbequed chicken......

Sunday morning we were looking for a top-of-Capitol-Hill brunch alternative -- we've overdone Coastal Kitchen. Now everything tastes the same to us there, plus we've never been a fan of their hashbrowns. We walked down to Volunteer Park Cafe, but it was overrun by middle-aged men in lycra biking gear, which is not really appropriate apparel for breakfast, guys, if you're wondering. And then we had a brainstorm: why not try Kingfish? We've been for......

Will every software guy in the audience who's ever thought about cashing in the badge and putting on a chef's coat raise your hand? Wow, a lot of you, great! Some of you aren't so sure... You there in the front, did you read Kitchen Confidential? Yeah? Did that help push you out the door or keep you in front of the keyboard? OK, keep them up there. Now, keep them raised if you've actually......

Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner's Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest's crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods. LAist saw national headlines soar this week with......

Apparently the same kind of PR firm that emails proposals from a yahoo account. So says our confidential source at Coastal Kitchen, who told us that, just minutes after Ronald Holden's hilarious, pun filed Seattlest screed showed up in her RSS feed, she was immediately bombarded by PR companies offering to help her "spin" this story. Here's one that showed up via email (note the time stamp proximity to Ronald's post): From: Date: Wed, 5......

Quoting the Letters of Transit, er, email:Casablanca Menu Begins Starting August 1st the diverse delicacies of Moroccan cuisine will be showcased at Coastal Kitchen. Come visit us as the decorations go up and you are transported to the famous romantic hideaway. So, accompanied by friends who've long lived in Morocco, we drop by. Uh-oh. Decorations, good. Romantic hideway, not so much. Diverse delicacies, no way. Of all the gin joints in the world, we've walked......

After living 56 steps (Yes, we counted several times) from this branch of the Elysian Brewery, Elysian Tangletown will always be one of our favorites. The beer: Most Seattle beer drinkers have tried at least a couple of Elysian's beers. Their standard lineup ranges from decent to great, and we love some of the special releases they put out. The Dragonstooth Stout is top notch, as is their Porter. Tangletown gets to brew some of......

Bacon Salt? Seattlest first heard of this a few days ago, but the locally produced vegetarian kosher zero-calorie seasoning salt that tastes just like bacon has been igniting the blogosphere. One of Seattlest's foodie friends let us try some Tuesday night when we were playing trivia. Our response? "Yummy." His response? Extensive cooking notes, America's Test Kitchen-style. Is Bacon Salt as tasty as it sounds? Read on. Overall, Bacon Salt is quite good. It produces......

We spotted Jim from The Office--real name: John Krasinski--having drinks at the Crocodile Friday night with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie (who Seattlest Jack chatted with last week). Messrs Krasinski and Gibbard commandeered a booth in the back along with a retinue of dudes and girls. Outside, we saw Krasinski very patiently and very politely agreeing to appear in photos with various Croc patrons. One mid-30s skater dude announced that his was "goin'......

When we found that Gorditos was getting out of the lukewarm kitchen that is Queen Anne hill’s restaurant business, we started keeping tabs, via a biweekly stroll, on the eateries closing (and, less frequently, opening) in the neighborhood. That wasn’t often enough. Down went Banjara. Firefly croaked, but from its chrysalis came the more expensive, presumably more flavorful Sorrentino. Pete’s Pizza was shuttered—long live the Calzone King. On last pass, Q’s window still bore a......

This past weekend Seattlest visited Gothamist's stomping grounds. We were there for the farewell shows of Rainer Maria, but had our days free to see the sights and take in the New York experience. We stumbled upon a once-in-a-lifetime event in the world of street art, and amazing as it was, we couldn't help but to be struck by what lessons it could have for Seattle. The building at 11 Spring Street was a......

We had thought our 15th Avenue breaking news this morning would be pointing out that Coastal Kitchen is still closed from last night's flooding. But that was before we got to 14th Avenue East and East Thomas, and noticed something ... different. Luckily we had our camera phone with us. A fairly large tree was blocking 14th, and had nearly reached the retirement living complex across the street. Old people were excitedly telling passers-by......

About 5 o'clock tonight we were walking through the monsoon, and decided to duck into Coastal Kitchen for a drink to weather the storm. But we were turned back out onto the street because Coastal Kitchen's basement was flooding. On the street, water had overflowed the gutters and was taking over the sidewalk. We continued down to Hopvine (is that a new website?), which was also closed due to flooding. Finally, we arrived at......

In Bellevue, no less than in Belltown, you are where you eat. Tasting notes from two opening nights. Basil's Kitchen describes itself as Mediterranean. It's in the atrium of the newly renovated Bellevue Hilton, formerly the Doubletree. "Casual yet sophisticated ... with a menu to suit all tastes." The Belllevue Hilton's management company, Dow Hotels, are so thrilled with the concept that they're looking into franchising Basil's Kitchens beyond the six they've already opened in......

To your roster of historic and colorful rhizomes (Russets, White Rose, Blue Victor, Yukon Gold, Yellow Finn, Red Ruby...Cascade, Nooksack, Ontario, Seminole) you can now add the Ozette. It's a fingerling grown for centuries in the gardens of Makah Indians on Washington's most western coastline, brought there, it's believed, by Spanish conquistadors who had discovered all manner of edible tubers in the South American Andes. Thus the humble Ozette was in all likelihood the first......

With the first feel of fall and temperatures struggling to get out of the 60's, Seattlest had a hankering for a hearty soup. Something healthy to stop the sniffles ahead of a cross-country flight the next day. We found it in the International District. We've been curious about a cluster of activity around the public library in the I.D. There's a rather upscale-looking new restaurant on the corner with a name that eludes us (something......

Seattlest doesn't find this picture funny at all. We know firsthand how hard those awkward years of high school can be. The pimples, the pants that didn't fit right, the God-awful hours spent wishing Heather Cannon would think of us as more than that creepy guy staring at her. If you think this picture is funny, well, you're a bad person. Tuesday 22nd >>> Reigncraft Vol. 6 Record Release Party at Chop Suey. It's......

Saturday night [Ed. note: "S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night! S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night!"] the mood came over us to see some Parisian-style hoofing, so we trundled ourselves downtown to the new-ish nightspot the Can Can. Serving a Med-Italian menu and featuring decor "reminiscent" of turn-of-the-19th-century Paris (or reminiscent of a kitschy 1970s movie reminiscent of turn-of-the-19th-century Paris), the draw is a troupe of Cornish ballet dancers who alternate between waiting on tables and shaking their ruched and frilled booty with......

Seattlest's newfound fascination with cook book tours will likely be short-lived, but right now the fires of our interest burn hot and we have another something-something for you to attend tonight along those lines. Tonight at Elliot Bay Books Anna Lappé will be taking the stage to read from her book on sustainable food Grub: Ideas for an Urban, Organic Kitchen. Alright, we just purchased Grub from Amazon. It looks like the book spends a......

An email from a reader posed a relatively simple question: Where can I get a good waffle? Turns out said reader was from Houston, where they'd managed to find themselves a waffle sent straight from some whole-grain, nutty heaven, and they hadn't yet found themselves a suitable alternative here in the Northwest. So the call went out across Seattlest HQ, but rather than the expected torrent of praise for various Jet City waffles, the response......

You put it off and put it off, choosing instead to enjoy the new season of Project Runway, and now you need some Christmas gifts and fast. We, at Seattlest, are here for you. Welcome to our first annual Holy Shit Gift Guide. Everything in the guide can be obtained in minutes: Supermarket sweep: Regardless of the recipient there's something for everyone at Whole Foods. For your friend the gourmand: select a nice large bowl......

Monday, Dec. 5 10:30, Third Place Books: Sandra Boynton, Dog Train: A Wild Ride on the Rock & Roll Side noon, Seattle Mystery Bookshop: Lono Waiwaiole, Wiley's Refrain 5:30, Elliott Bay Book Co.: James D. Porterfield, From the Dining Car: The Recipes and Stories Behind Today's Greatest Rail Dining Experiences 7:00, TPB: Jerry Traunfeld, The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance & Flavor 7:00, University of Washington Bookstore: Bruce Fulton, Modern Korean Fiction: An Anthology......

No comments, just schedules. (Because we're lazy, that's why.) At Center on Contemporary Art, 410 Dexter Ave. N.: Wednesday 11/9: Charles Burns promotes Black Hole at 7 p.m. (More details below.) At Elliott Bay Book Co., 101 South Main Street: Tuesday 11/8: Joshua Wolf Shenk promotes Lincoln's Melancholy at 7:30 p.m. Thursday 11/10: Dan Savage promotes The Commitment at 7:30 p.m. Friday 11/11: Doug Peacock promotes Walking It Off at 6 p.m. Friday 11/11: Daniel......

Seattlest's favorite cooking show doesn't star Rachael Ray or Iron Chef Morimoto. No, we're partial to America's Test Kitchen, the public television sibling of our favorite cooking magazine, Cook's Illustrated. Host Christopher Kimball doesnot make up words such as "jambalika" or forcefully oppose the rigid culinary doctrines of the Ota Faction. America's Test Kitchen is less about charming the audience and more like Highlander: there can be only one best recipe for Denver omelettes, and......

Seems like everybody and their mama has been raising money for the Red Cross or other agencies helping in hurricane relief efforts. Even Seattlest's local karaoke dive bar was taking cash for the cause last Sunday night. What follows is by no means a comprehensive list, but just a smattering of upcoming events by local businesses where your money can make a difference: · Restaurants: If you dine at any Chow Foods eatery (5 Spot,......

Were you at Bumbershoot on Friday? We were. Here is what we saw… 1) The Perfect Sized Crowd - enough people to make people watching interesting, but not so crowded that we were fighting tides of people around the corners. There were hippy folks, beer bellied guys with big beards and short, teens and 20ish-30ish hipsters of every subculture, families with fancy strollers or middle school kids just psyched to be able to get $10......

Seattlest is thrilled to welcome yet another sibling into the fold: Today marks the debut of Shanghaiist. (Actually...figuring out the date and time of their debut makes our head hurt; we think they may have debuted yesterday for them, which is today for us, and...you get it, maybe, even if we don't.) And--although that sentence is barely in English--Shanghaiist consistently is in English. We've been admiring them for a little while, using our secret......

Seattlest was invited by a friend to try a new Puerto Rican restaurant in Ballard called Sofrito Rico. Seattlest had recently been in Ballard and hadn't seen any new restaurants, so we couldn't quite picture where it was located. But when we walked in we realized that it was the old MiYi (Australian Pies) place, next door to Kitchen 'N Things on Market Street. Sofrito Rico has made some improvements to the space, but it......

Remember the Reno 911 episode where the cops give a classroom demonstration on how to shoot someone without hitting a bunch of bystanders? That was hilarious, right? Because it was on TV. Fiction, then. You wouldn't really teach driveby skills to a class full of high school kids, just like you wouldn't teach them how to hotwire a car or whip up a batch of meth. YOU wouldn't. A member of the Grey's Harbour drug......

Who are the 11:30pm girls? When you’re really hung over, you want some breakfast in your belly asap. You don’t want to stand under the hot sun amidst a crowd of loudly talking strangers as you wait 30 minutes for a table at Coastal Kitchen. If you’re confined to eating on the strip on 15th St. in Cap Hill because you need_food_now, your only other option for bacon and eggs is Canterbury Ale & Eats.......