Nosh Pit

The Wurst Place Opens

The occasion takes place February 3.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Feb 02, 2012 at 10:45AM 0 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

The Wurst Place: sausage, beer, and eclectic design.

Really truly finally—it’s happening.

The Wurst Place, the South Lake Union restaurant and deli serving sausages of all stripes, is set to open on Friday, February 3 at 5pm.

It’s been a long haul for owner Bob Liptak, who first revealed his plans to Nosh Pit in late April. Numerous delays and construction hiccups would ensue, as would a relentless stream of inquiries from fans and bloggers (yep, guilty). But the wait appears worth it. The distinctive interior, the impressive selection of beers, the exhaustive and carefully curated menu of franks and frites all suggest good things.

Gander at that interior in this First Look, and get more on Wurst Place beer here.

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, South Lake Union, The Wurst Place

An Opening Date for Skelly and the Bean

This most unusual of restaurants opens officially on February 23.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Feb 02, 2012 at 09:30AM 3 Comments

Don’t let that insouciant pose fool you: This woman has been busting her posterior to open later this month. Photo courtesy of Skelly and the Bean.

Zephyr Paquette, a memorable personality in Seattle’s already colorful world of chefs, is less than a month away from opening her restaurant Skelly and the Bean. She has amassed tables and chairs and burnished the floors in rice bran oil. Upended old barn planks now line the walls like some sort of bucolic wooden fence beneath a sky-painted ceiling. She has also set a February 23 public open date.

To say this Capitol Hill establishment is community-driven is a comical understatement. Thanks in part to a membership program she devised last year, Paquette, a veteran of Cafe Flora, Elliott Bay Cafe, and the former Dandelion, is somehow managing to open a 50-seat restaurant without taking out a single loan. She has relied instead on member contributions, the kindness of strangers, and support from friends and acquaintances acquired through her career. And lots of her own manual labor, of course. Paquette won’t say exactly how many members she has, but she’s planning on capping the list soon and releasing a few memberships each subsequent season. She also meets each member in person before bringing them on.

The former Easy Joe’s space on 10th Avenue is now home to a most decidedly mismatched assortment of tables and chairs. Every item in the dining room, says Paquette, was donated or purchased with member contributions. This means every piece of furniture has a story, from the table some friends grabbed from the side of the road while en route to the airport (they still made their flight), to the freebie table from Craigslist. The owners originally promised it to another taker, says Paquette, but revoked the offer once they read about the restaurant.

The menu will also contain its share of stories, like the “Rowley bites” mussel po’boys and geoduck salad, named in honor of sustainable shellfish superstar Jon Rowley. Other items sound like the chef herself: deadly serious about sourcing, but pretty damn fun. There’s the “buckets of rain” dessert (yes, named for the Dylan song) that’s an actual bucket of raindrop-shaped doughnuts with chocolate and jam to dip. Or the secret half-chicken: It could be stuffed, fried, braised—you won’t know till it arrives at the table. But do know this: There will be tater tots, made in-house and dubbed “petit paquets” (har).

In addition to dinner service, Paquette plans to open her space to classes and an incubator series that give young chefs and other un-restauranted talent a chance to do their thing. She’s already signing up chefs for the incubator calendar but is looking for more “upstarts” who might be interested.

Members get a monthly dining stipend and a few other perks, but the rest of us can start making reservations shortly after Valentine’s Day.

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Tags: Coming Soon, Skelly and the Bean, Zephyr Paquette

More Details on Ma’ono

Marjorie Chang Fuller explains the reason behind the big changes at the Restaurant Formerly Known as Spring Hill.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Feb 01, 2012 at 12:00PM 0 Comments

Ma’ono’s fried chicken: kind of a big deal. Photo by Geoffrey Smith.

Yesterday I caught up with Marjorie Chang Fuller, who was busy fielding a torrent of calls after she and husband Mark Fuller broke the news that Spring Hill will be Spring Hill no more as of next week. It seems the public’s unbridled love for fried chicken helped inspire the decision to change the destination restaurant into the more casual, Hawaiian-focused Ma’ono Fried Chicken and Whisky.

Fuller says the couple was considering the name and concept change this past fall when they re-launched the revered Monday night fried chicken dinners under the Ma’ono name (the Southernist original recipe remains on the menu, along with more Asia-fied preparations). The chef-owner decided to retire these weekly feeding frenzies a few months earlier, prompting a torrent of emails, comment cards and even in-person visits from diners who objected to a world without such brined and battered goodness.

“It was so popular and when we took it away, we didn’t realize the impact that would make,” says Marjorie Fuller.

But flipping back and forth between elegant destination dining and greasy-fingered fried chicken fest didn’t sit right. “I think people got mixed messages as to what we were about,” says Marjorie Fuller.

She describes the new incarnation of Spring Hill as her husband’s style of comfort food. Mark Fuller grew up splitting his time between Kauai and the Puget Sound area. Some of the menu items, according to his wife, are riffs on the picnic lunches Fuller would back with his grandparents before setting off for the beach. Front and center on the new Ma’ono website is a family photo of Mark Fuller’s grandparents, mother, and uncle.

The new menu does maintain some other original dishes, and brunch is largely unchanged (for now). The restaurant’s interior will mostly stay the same, says Marjorie Fuller, save the handy substitution of paper napkins for linens, a savvy idea when trading in mass quantities of fried fare.

As for the Whisky part of Ma’ono, Mark Fuller is a big fan of the spirit, and has been working with bar manager MiNan Ahn to expand the liquor inventory and create a list of more than a dozen whiskey-based cocktails. Ahn, whose bar experience includes Tamara Murphy’s former restaurant Brasa, is also focused on food and spirit pairings, says Marjorie Fuller. According to Eater Seattle, Ma’ono will also add a counter to the bar for more seating.

And in case you’re wondering, the Fullers did consider changing the name to Spring Chicken.

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Tags: Spring Hill, Fried Chicken, Ma'Ono Fried Chicken and Whisky, Mark Fuller, Marjorie Chang Fuller

New Food Truck: Happy Grillmore

The Portland transplant is big on burgers.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Feb 01, 2012 at 10:40AM 0 Comments

Ingredients are locally sourced and organic whenever possible, says McGill. Photo courtesy Happy Grillmore.

Among the fleet of trucks at the new Microsoft pod is Happy Grillmore, which comes here by way of Portland.

The menu is heavy on burgers and fries but rotating items highlight the foods Darren McGill and wife Kryse Martin-McGill grew up eating. He’s Hawaiian a member of the Miwok tribe, she’s Filipina. Past specials include a chicken adobo sandwich, a salmon teriyaki burger, and pork sliders with heaps of pineapple slaw. The duo also runs a cart in downtown Portland but have momentarily shuttered operations there. Worth noting: last year that cart won an Eater Portland best burger contest for its Chubs angus patty finished with Tillamook, spinach, arugula, red pepper aioli, and spicy mustard.

Yes, the Chubs is available up here. But Darren also suggests trying the Happy burger. It comes with bacon, those same greens, and “really, really creamy” Gorgonzola on a ciabatta bun, which soaks up the sauces nicely.

Seattleites may remember Grillmore from last year’s Mobile Food Rodeo, where Darren says he was pleasantly surprised with the enthusiastic response. So far Darren and Kryse have found similar success at Microsoft, he added.

Happy Grillmore is slated to serve the Redmond crowd through mid-May; the truck is parked on campus weekdays 11–2. After that the couple hopes to settle elsewhere in Seattle (maybe they could team up with fellow Portland transplant Crème de la Crème?) Darren mentioned South Lake Union, Fremont, and a forthcoming downtown pod, and possibly some late-night spots.

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Tags: Street Food, Seattle Food Trucks, Happy Grillmore

Neighborhood Food News: Globetrotting Mondays at La Bête, Late-Night Cheese at Art

Plus: A Super Bowl Facebook competition at Skillet, Raclette at Cafe Presse, and Valentine’s Day plans.

Posted by: Anne Larkin on Feb 01, 2012 at 09:45AM 0 Comments

TASTE at SAM has a new Polynesian-inspired menu to go along with the Gauguin exhibit. Photo courtesy of the SAM website

CAPITOL HILL
Skillet is celebrating the Super Bowl with a Facebook competition. Help them get to 10,000 likes and suddenly become the most popular person on the block with a Skillet-catered party this Sunday. If the restaurant and food truck empire achieves 8,000 likes, it opens up a drawing for dinner for two at the diner, while 9,000 likes means dinner for four.

Mondays are going international at La Bête. The two chefs at the helm of the French-influenced restaurant have started a series of global Monday night menus—they’ll be exploring India through March, then on to Eastern Europe, Mexico, Japan, Italy…

Raclette, the perfect warm dish for a cold February evening, is back at Café Presse. Loosen your belt and prepare for some bubbling melted chalet cheese with potatoes, salami, and two kinds of ham.

DOWNTOWN
The new late night happy hour at Four Seasons restaurant Art starts today, reports Eater Seattle. The insane spread of cheese and antipasti that lures crowds in the early evening resumes once again between 9 and 11. The all-you-can-eat spread runs $7, with discounted wine selections to boot.

SAM’s Taste restaurant has developed a Parisian-inspired, Polynesian-based, Northwest-leaning menu to complement the Gauguin & Polynesia: An Elusive Paradise exhibit, on display through April 29. A good example of this three-pronged inspiration: seared scallops with ginger and pine.

Boka is joining the dollar oyster club. Sunday through Thursday, 9:30 to close, stop in for $1 oysters and $5 glasses of sparkling wine.

EASTLAKE
To make sure all their pals working a restaurant industry schedule can make it in, owners Rene Gutierrez and Charles Walpole have extended the hours of Blind Pig Bistro. Walpole and new arrival Matt Fortner will be in the kitchen Monday through Saturday, beginning February 6.

PHINNEY RIDGE
418 Public House is now family friendly, till 8 o’clock at least, ways the PhinneyWood blog. The restaurant is now open to those under 21 until 8 pm, and has a new kids menu too.

MULTIPLE LOCATIONS
We’ve rounded up some Valentine’s Day dinners from around the city. Your guide to everything from chocolate cherry jubilee to caramelized shallot consomme with braised oxtail is right over here.

Don’t forget—Savor Seattle’s foodie hunt begins today. A puzzle and a prize a day, leading up to the grand prize at the end of the month: a tour for two through every Tom Douglas restaurant.

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Tags: Valentine's Day, Contests, Skillet, Spring Hill, Fried Chicken, Neighborhood Food News Roundup, Cafe Presse, La Bete, Ma'Ono Fried Chicken and Whisky

Asian Night Market Coming to South Seattle

Come for the celebrating, the beer garden, and some secretly awesome vegetarian food.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Jan 31, 2012 at 03:00PM 0 Comments

For a certain subset of food geeks, the term “night market” is code for “lots of awesome food,” as evidenced by the annual event in the International District, or Capitol Hill’s short-lived food truck version.

Now South Seattle’s new-ish Othello Public Market is celebrating the Year of the Dragon with a four-weekend Asian night market starting February 17 (recent weather shenanigans resulted in a slight delay). This means the normally utilitarian market space is gearing up for a multicultural influx of food, games and festivities. Oh, and a beer garden on opening and closing nights.

The converted warehouse near the Othello light rail station is already home to craft vendors and a diverse array of food stalls indoors and out. Organizers are teaming up with Washington Night Market, which put on a similar event in Bellevue in September. Thomas Ho, who organized the Eastside event, says many of those same vendors and performers will be coming to the Othello Public Market.

One of the food offerings that has everyone excited is Co Lam Pagoda. The Vietnamese Buddhist temple apparently has a bit of a reputation for putting on destination-worthy vegetarian meals. Ho also says the food vendor roster is heavy on desserts and sweets.

The fair runs Friday and Saturday nights from 5pm till midnight through March 10. The opening ceremony happens February 17 at 4:30pm.

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Tags: Night Markets, Othello Public Market

New Pod Alert: Microsoft Campus

The Eastside finally gets more food truck action.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jan 31, 2012 at 11:29AM 0 Comments

Take note, Microsofties: a Street Treats ice cream sandwich makes for an ideal midday snack. Photo courtesy Street Treats.

Food trucks have largely stuck to Seattle proper, but as of late last week the Eastside is getting a slice of the action.

Renovations of several cafeterias on the Microsoft campus have prompted pods at three locations throughout the Redmond facility. According to a flack for the company, more than a dozen trucks are rotating through the three spots, with at least three operators at each one. It’s an impressive roster, with the likes of Where Ya At Matt, Bigfood, and Street Treats, to single out a few.

This all happens on weekdays at lunchtime and is expected to continue for four months. The pods are open to the public, but the rep hastened to say the trucks are primarily intended to serve Microsofties.

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Tags: Street Food, Seattle Food Trucks, Food Truck Pods

New Name, Concept for Spring Hill

Say hello to Ma’ono Fried Chicken and Whisky.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Jan 31, 2012 at 10:00AM 1 Comments

The name may change, but the fried chicken remains the same. Photo by Geoffrey Smith.

Well here’s something that jolted me awake far more effectively than my morning coffee: West Seattle restaurant Spring Hill sent out a release this morning announcing that the highly accoladed restaurant is changing its concept. And its name. As of February 8, Spring Hill Restaurant and Bar becomes Ma’ono Fried Chicken and Whisky.

As the new name suggests, the menu takes more than a few cues from the newly reinstalled fried chicken dinners that chef/owner Mark Fuller offers on Monday nights. The new Ma’ono will serve that same menu seven nights a week, meaning access to the Japanese, Korean, or original recipe chicken may not require a crazy-advance reservation.

While the presser says that the dinner menu “will circle around fried chicken dinners for two or four," the remainder of Ma’onos dishes are Hawaiian-inspired and highly shareable. Fuller has long included these flavors on his menu, but now dishes like saimin noodles and fried chicken musubi hand rolls are at the forefront. No doubt the trip he and wife Marjorie Chang Fuller took to the Aloha State over the holidays included some R and D. Not to worry, the acclaimed burger is still there. And apparently brunch isn’t going anywhere either.

Side note: Dessert looks intruiging. Hello, popcorn ice cream and peanut butter Sriracha pie.

Marjorie Chang Fuller couldn’t be immediately reached for more details on the transition, but this new website has basic details and food pics.

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Tags: Spring Hill, Fried Chicken, Revamps, Ma'Ono Fried Chicken and Whisky

Valentine’s Day Dinner, Part I

Time to reserve for date night. Here’s what restaurants around town are cooking up.

Posted by: Emily Dhatt on Jan 30, 2012 at 02:40PM 0 Comments

The Hunt Club at the Sorrento

Boka Kitchen and Bar
Boka’s prix fixe menu for two includes four hearty courses of beet-cured salmon, citrus winter salad, a 24-ounce porterhouse, and chocolate cake with passion fruit pate. Local wines are paired with each course for an additional $40.
Price: $120/couple; $160 with wine pairings
When: Feb 10–14 from 5–10
Menu

Cafe Flora
For lovers who don’t adore meat, Cafe Flora has a four-course vegetarian meal (available vegan as well). Find fresh cress salad, gingered shiitake-stuffed phyllo, and chocolate cherry jubilee.
Price: $45/person
When: Feb 14 from 5–10
Menu

Hunt Club
Hunt Club at the Sorrento offers up a traditional menu of lobster bisque, roasted game hen, seared scallops, and more—including love-ly desserts like raspberry pot de creme and mini croque-en-bouche.
Price: $79/person
When: Feb 14 from 4–10
Menu

Lark
Lark celebrates sweethearts with a prix fixe bill of rich, deep flavors: blood orange-infused frisee salad, fennel and green olive crudo, and ricotta gnudi with porcini cream and wild mushrooms.
Price: $85/person
When: Feb 14 from 5–10
Menu

Marjorie
Marjorie’s special menu has a comforting winter vibe, with its Yukon potato soup, black trumpet raviolo, pork belly with Parisienne gnocchi, and winter squash cannelloni.
Price: $75/person
When: Feb 14 from 5–10
Menu

Portfolio Restaurant at the Art Institute of Seattle
The Art Institute’s student-operated “dining lab” offers a frugal option for date night. Enjoy classics like oven-baked Penn Cove mussels, coq au vin, and braised English-cut beef short ribs, plus special V-Day desserts.
Price: $23/person
When: Feb 8–10 from 5:30–7
Menu

RN74
RN74’s menu comprises truffled Maine lobster bisque, seared diver scallop, wagyu beef with sauce Perigourdine, and black cherry chocolate petit fours. Supplemental courses including cheese and foie gras terrine are available.
Price: $75/person; wine pairings for $47–$74
When: Feb 14 from 5:30–10; menu available Feb 10–13
Menu

Rover’s
The five-course dinner menu is stuffed with whimsical takes on French dishes, like hamachi and quail egg with white sturgeon caviar, caramelized shallot consomme with braised oxtail, and seared wagyu with chestnut-celery root gratin. For dessert, enjoy a sultry giandju-hazelnut-caramel bar or a luscious coconut bavarois with blood orange compote and pomegranate gelee.
Price: $125/person; wine pairings for $60; reserve wine pairings for $120
When: Feb 14 at 6
Menu

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Tags: Valentine's Day Dinners 2012

Nosh Pit Weekly Planner

Andrew Zimmern puts Seattle on TV, Ethan Stowell, Deming Maclise, James Weimann, and more talk restaurant design.

Posted by: Brian Colella on Jan 30, 2012 at 01:05PM 0 Comments

Let Lisa Dupar plan your Valentine’s Day dinner.

MONDAY January 30

Magnolia Italian spot Mondello hosts a prix-fixe dinner paired with Sozo wines to benefit the Ballard Food Bank. The four-course menu includes house-made tagliarni or papardelle for the primi (pasta) round, and all-natural lamb chops or roasted butternut squash secondi. Dinner starts at 6:30 and costs $65 per person, call 206-352-8700 to reserve your spot.

WEDNESDAY February 1

Founder of California vineyard Bonny Doon Randall Grahm comes to Volunteer Park Cafe for a wine dinner and chat at 7. The $75-per-person menu, by Ericka Burke of VPC, includes a few different meats—seared sea scallops, duck trio, braised beef cheeks—paired with Bonny Doon wines. Make reservations by calling or 206-328-3155 or visiting Volunteer Park Cafe online.

Make this Valentine’s Day a memorable one with a little help from chef and cookbook author Lisa Dupar. The caterer and proprietor of Pomegranate Bistro in Redmond brings recipes from her latest book, Fried Chicken and Champagne, to Book Larder at 6:30 (she’ll also be signing copies). Slated dishes include bourbon braised beef and burnt caramel cheesecake.

FRIDAY February 3

James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award winner and two-time Pulitzer nominee Molly O’Neill talks her newest cookbook, One Big Table, the result of ten years’ research into the variety of food we eat in America. O’Neill shares the demo stage with the makers of Four Sisters Vietnamese Hot Sauce. The event is at 6:30 at Book Larder and costs $10 per person.

SATURDAY February 4

Over 70 Washington-brewed Belgian beers will be on display at the Bell Harbor Conference Center for two sessions on Saturday the 4th. Tripels, dubbles, wits, and more come from all over the state for some serious, beer-focused celebration. The first session runs noon to four and second from 5:30 to 9:30.

MONDAY February 6

This one is easy. Hop on your couch and tune in to the Travel Channel at 9 to catch Andrew Zimmern’s Seattle episode. Watch for Nathan Myrhvold of Modernist Cuisine and geoducks at Taylor Shellfish Farms, which I guess fulfill the bizarre foods label—the geoducks, not Nathan Myrhvold.

TUESDAY February 7

Head to Town Hall for a discussion of Restaurant Design: How Design Affects the Dining Experience with local chef and restaurateur luminaries such as Chad Dale, Ethan Stowell, Deming Maclise and James Weimann , and oh by the way, it’s moderated by Seattle Met’s own Allecia Vermillion. Get your tickets now for the fourth of six panel discussions on how people interact with design every day, presented by Seattle Architecture Foundation.

Twenty-four guests will join James Beard–award winning master sommelier Larry Stone of Evening Land Vineyards at John Howie Steak for an exclusive six-course dinner with menu designed by John Howie and chef Mark Hipkiss. Spots are $150 each and dinner starts at 6:30.

BEYOND

Feb 25 Love cider? The Northwest Cider Association’s second annual cidermaker’s dinner lets you get up close with cidermakers and cidery experts. Chef JoAnn Cruz of Ravishing Radish presents a three-course, cider-paired menu, following an hour of casual open bar and appetizers to kick things off. Buy tickets online now for $85.

Feb 25 The second year of the beer open house sees breweries across the state once more opening their doors to the public. After that, there are no rules. Except maybe two: there will be food, and there will be beer. Last year’s event had over 30 participating breweries and saw limited taps of vintage or award-winning beers. Check the official site for a list of participating breweries.

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Tags: Drinking Events, Culinary Events, Seattle Food Events

Terra Plata’s Tamara Murphy Didn’t Invent the Happy Hour…

…well okay, in this town she kind of did. We spoke about that legendary happy hour’s effect on her late, great Brasa—and its effect on Seattle.

Posted by: Kathryn Robinson on Jan 30, 2012 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

Murphy at work in Terra Plate. Photo courtesy of the Terra Plate Facebook page.

On the phone with Terra Plata owner and chef Tamara Murphy last week, I asked her about her former restaurant, Brasa —the Belltown Iberian restaurant that held down the 2100 block of Third Avenue from 1999 to 2010—and the happy hour that set off a city-wide frenzy.

“We survived WTO, we survived 9/11,” Murphy reflected. “Brasa was a big restaurant; it was difficult. I’d periodically thought about selling, but I wanted to get to the end of my ten-year lease. Right after 9/11, we started happy hour. I’m not the inventor of the happy hour, but I think Brasa was the first that took its menu and said, ‘We’re gonna do it with food.’”

Here the restaurant critic interjects: Do you remember that food? In what was then a brazen move, Murphy slashed her bar menu prices in half between the weekday hours of 5pm and 7pm, luring in half the city for big $7 preparations of steak-frites and chorizo clams and Spanish pork sandwiches called bocadillos…and more. These careful preparations not only represented the dinnertime steal of the century, they lit a fire across the city. Now every joint from Barolo to Japonessa makes happy hour food deals a major part of their draw, having learned well the lesson of Brasa: Lure ‘em with food, lube ‘em with drink—and watch ‘em stay for dinner.

Er…sometimes. “Yes we wanted bodies, and people did drink,” recalls Murphy. “But it became a bit of a Catch-22. We’d get so many people in for happy hour we’d have to seat them in the dining room. Sometimes it was hard for diners to get a seat for dinner.”

She shuttered Brasa and now can be seen lunch, dinner, and brunch at Terra Plata. Which has, as of this writing, no happy hour menu.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Critic's Notebook, Terra Plata

Yogurtland Hands Out Freebies

Get free froyo on February 6.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jan 27, 2012 at 02:43PM 0 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

How much froyo can you fit in a five-ounce cup?

The powers that be at Yogurtland have decided to hand out free froyo in honor of National Frozen Yogurt Day. Yes, such a thing exists. Stop by one of the locations (FYI: the Bellevue branch just opened) on February 6 between 4 and 7 to get the complimentary goods.

Alas, it’s not those ridiculously large tubs Yogurtland is providing, rather five-ounce cups. Lest you find that portion prohibitive, a rep says “the cup is theirs [Ed note: meaning yours] to fill with a combo of frozen yogurt and toppings—all included.” Game on.

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Tags: Free Food, Froyo, Yogurtland