Nosh Pit

Nosh Pit Weekly Planner

This week: rhubarb in Columbia City, free fries on Pike Street, the Seattle Cheese Fest, and more.

Posted by: Anne Larkin on May 14, 2012 at 12:45PM 0 Comments

Free Fry Friday. It’s definitely got a ring to it.

WEDNESDAY May 16
Rhubarb Festival
The tart pink stalk is finally getting its 15 minutes of fame. The Columbia City farmers market is hosting a sweet vs. savory recipe contest, judged by Edible Seattle editor Jill Lightner, and cooking demo with chef Nat Stratton-Clark of Cafe Flora. Also: live music and a kids tent. Fingers crossed for slices of strawberry rhubarb pie. The event runs from 4 to 6 pm.

FareStart Celebration with Thierry Rautureau
The chef in the hat is putting on a three-course meal to benefit FareStart and celebrate its 20th year. The decadent menu ranges from oxtail terrine to almond caramel, and although the VIP reception is sold out, there are still tickets up for grabs for the $150 dinner.

THURSDAY May 17

Fishmonger Face-Off
The Pacific Northwest’s best fishmongers will meet for battle at the Interbay Whole Foods from 1 to 3 this Thursday. Their knowledge and skills will be put to the ultimate test, and the victor will continue on to garner more glory at the national competition in Aspen in June. And there will be free seafood bites.

Syttende Mai
It’s everyone’s favorite holiday: Norwegian Constitution Day. Get back to your Scandinavian roots (real or imagined) at Copper Gate Tavern with happy hour from 5 to 7 (cheap Aquavit) and live music from 8 to 11. The parade will roll right by too, sometime after 6.

FRIDAY May 18
Free Fry Friday
Aka, the perfect excuse to forget the quinoa and steamed veggies you were planning on consuming, and head down to Pike Street Fish Fry for some fish and chips. From 5 to 7, two-buck New Belgium beers, free fries, and a complimentary good start to a Friday night.

SATURDAY May 19
Seattle Cheese Festival
It’s here, it’s finally here! The weekend that Northwest dwellers with the soul of a Wisconsin cheesehead all pine for. Cheese seminars, mozzarella demos, and tastings galore. Cheesemongers from around the world will set up temporary tasting shop on the cobbled street just outside the market for the two-day fest, starting at 10am both Saturday and Sunday and ending at 5 Saturday, 4 Sunday.

Classic Cocktail Course
SAM’s Taste is hosting Cocktails 101 with Duncan Chase, the restaurant’s veteran bartender. The class will cover everything from how to smoothly order at the bar to how to make and present the classics. The $30 class runs from 6:30 to 8.

SUNDAY May 20
John T. Edge at Elliott Bay
The nation’s best food truck chronicler (officially—he just won the MFK Fisher writing award from the James Beard Foundation) will be at Elliott Bay Book Co., talking about his recent release, The Food Truck Cookbook, and making everyone drool with his recipes gleaned from the nation’s best rolling chefs. He’ll be at Elliott Bay at 2pm Sunday, and at Village Books in Bellingham at 7 on Monday, for you northerners.

MONDAY May 21
Meet the Producer
The third installment of Bastille’s “Meet the Producer” happy hour will bring winemaker Tim Sorenson of local winery Fall Line Winery into the restaurant. There will be a special informational happy hour from 4:30 to 6. (Up next, on June 11, Steven Stone of Sound Spirits…aquavit cocktails?)

WEDNESDAY May 23
Magic and Wine
Though wine alone is usually all the magic anyone needs with dinner, tonight the Schwartz brothers are stepping it up, pairing Château Ste. Michelle wines with nibbles and…a magician. Local wizard G. G. Green will grace the dining room with his sleight of hand at 6:30. The enchantment occurs at Daniel’s Broiler and tickets are $70.

BEYOND

June 2
Cafe Flora’s 20th Anniversary
The sunny vegetarian cafe, beloved by vegans and carnivores alike, is celebrating its second decade with a farmers market-inspired party: bites from some of the restaurant’s local vendors, live music, CSA sign ups, and something that many farmers market are sadly lacking: beer and wine (and special anniversary cocktails for VIP guests.) VIP admission is $50, general is $30, and ticket proceeds will benefit the Bailey-Boushay House.

June 11
Naomi Pomeroy at Matt’s in the Market
Chester Gerl, the head chef at Matt’s in the Market, has been making space in his kitchen for a variety of chefs over the past few months. Planes, Trains, and Traveling Chefs has brought multiple west coast chefs to Seattle already; Portland’s Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon and Vikram Vij of Vij’s in Vancouver, to name a few. Up next Naomi Pomeroy, a heavily lauded Portland chef known for her fantastic restaurant Beast, will walk through Pike Place Market and put together a market-inspired dinner at the restaurant. The dinners are $125, and reservations can be made by calling Matt’s.

June 25
Foodportunity
The semiannual opportunity to rub elbows with the big names in Seattle food (and hey, maybe take the first step to becoming a big name yourself) is coming around again this June. Thierry Rautureau, Jess Thomson, and a variety of other writers, chefs, and industry folks will be there to chat and nibble with. Tickets are $25 now, $32 later, and they usually go fast.

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Tags: Pike Place Market, Daniel's Broiler, Pike Street Fish Fry, Thierry Rautureau, Farestart, Matt's in the Market, Taste Restaurant, Bastille, Cafe Flora, Elliott Bay Book Co, Free Food, Farmers Markets, Columbia City, Foodportunity

Restaurant Shifts and Shakeups

This week: Yet another opening in Ballard, Bastille gets a new global cocktail menu, and news of a gourmet grilled cheese truck.

Posted by: Anne Larkin on Jan 27, 2012 at 09:15AM 1 Comments

Brand new cocktails from around the world at Bastille.

OPENINGS

The Amber Den
Yet another opening in Ballard: this one a casual wine bar with a Mediterranean menu, set to open in just a couple weeks. Inspired by his mother’s uneasiness at a pretentious wine bar, owner Nick Simonton plans to create a decidedly welcoming space, says Eater Seattle.

Savage Street Cuisine
After a successful fall, Savage Street Cuisine, headed by Rover’s chefs Kalen Schramke and David Howe, is stretching the monthly dinner series at Volunteer Park Café through June. The ambitious chefs have plans for even further growth—more dinners and eventually a food truck.

Henry and Oscar’s
Old-school upscale American dining has come to Belltown, says Inside Belltown. Named after the owner’s grandfathers, the supper club-style restaurant will serve classic fare like filet mignon and buttermilk chicken, accompanied by generous martinis (in a glass etched with your name, if you become a supper club regular).

CLOSINGS

Splash Lounge
It was a short run for this one—the Belltown lounge has closed after just 5 months, reports Seattle PI.

Tenoch Mexican Grill
Another closing in Queen Anne. Eater Seattle reports that the Mexican restaurant on the corner of McGraw Street and Queen Anne Avenue has met its end.

SHIFT CHANGES

Bastille
As first announced back in December, Erik Carlson has now officially taken over managing Bastille Café and Bar and has created an eclectic new cocktail menu that takes bar patrons for a global spin. Classic French cocktails remain on the menu, now kept company by Haitian rum drinks and Italian apertifs.

Canon
Canlis alum Andew Cross has moved from his most recent position at Tavern Law to Capitol Hill’s Canon. Cross and Canon owner Jamie Boudreau have plans to expand the menu and shake up the food offerings more often, and create a food program that’s just as noteworthy as the drinks.

Taste
SAM’s restaurant director Danielle Custer is saying goodbye to museum life and hello to the streets with plans for Monte Cristo, a cheese-dedicated food truck. Custer has a James Beard award and plenty of other accolades on her resume, and her melts will undoubtedly be delicious.

Mulleady’s Irish Pub
The Magnolia bar has two new staff members with serious bartending bona fides, Thomas Bondesson of Spur and Brian Lee of Canon, according to Seattle Times writer Tan Vinh.

Wild Ginger
Two long-time Wild Ginger have moved up in the company—Mat Hayward will be taking over as general manager in Bellevue and Cortney Lease will become the company wine director for the family of restaurants.

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, Cocktails, Bastille, Bastille, Wild Ginger, Canon Seattle, Shift Change, Savage Street Cuisine

Favorite Seattle Salads

Good places to get your greens (and fried chicken, too).

Posted by: Seattle Met staff on Jun 29, 2010 at 11:44AM 4 Comments

Salade verte from Bastille recreated at home
Photo: Jess Thomson

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Salade verte from Bastille recreated at home
Photo: Jess Thomson

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Baguette Box, home of the drunken chicken salad.

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Goi is good at Tamarind Tree in the ID

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The salade verte at Le Pichet downtown: a hazelnut-enhanced classic

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The big salad changes daily at Nettletown and may take longer than an hour to eat.

Seattle Met recently featured a recipe for Bastille’s salade verte, I highly recommend you try it at home. When the French decided that hazelnuts should be a regular ingredient in salad dressing they were very much onto something.

Here are some more of my other favorite everyday, easy-to-come-by salads around town:

A salad need not be light. The drunken chicken salad at Baguette Box is a total calorie whore, but who really cares when you’re looking at a bed of mixed greens—spruced up with orange slices, almonds, croutons, and caramelized onions, and covered in fried balls of chicken that have been crisped to perfection? Nobody, that’s who cares.

On the lighter side are shredded-veggie Vietnamese salads (gỏi), although my favorite does come topped with beef. It’s the gỏi bò at Tamarind Tree: slices of tender beef in an herby fish sauce lie on a bed of shredded cabbage, carrots, herbs, pickled onion, and roasted peanuts.

Le Pichet is a great place to remember when you’re downtown on the weekend in search of a late lunch—the menu is available from 11:30 to 5:30. When I’m there, I must order the cafe’s version of the classic salade verte with hazelnut vinaigrette. It’s basically a ball of bibb lettuce drizzled in perfect vinaigrette with a smattering of toasted hazelnuts tossed on top for good measure. On Capitol Hill, an identical salad is to be had at Cafe Presse (same owners).

It’s been a few months, but I’m still freaking out about Nettletown. The big salad changes daily, and features whatever foraged goodies have made their way into Christina Choi’s kitchen. The first time I went for lunch, I ordered a sandwich and one of my dining companions went for the salad. I actually had to leave her there after an hour to go back to work, she was still digging her way through that big old bowl of greens, and happily.

The insalata mista at Tutta Bella gets big points from me for having white beans as well as white balsamic vinaigrette. White balsamic is less syrupy than its brown counterpart, and when it has its zippy way with a plate of raw veggies the results are mighty fine. It also has carrots, olives, sweet red onions, roasted peppers, and the option to add Gorgonzola cheese. By all means, add it!

So there you have some of my favorites. But come now, good readers. Surely you have some favorite salads of your own. Please, tell us about them.

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Tags: Vegetarian/Vegan Whatnot, Nettletown, Le Pichet, Salad, Vegetables, Summer Eating, Tamarind Tree, Bastille

Indian Summer Supper

Where to enjoy the last of Seattle’s alfresco dining?

Posted by: Kathryn Robinson on Sep 21, 2009 at 05:00AM 0 Comments

Dear Critic,

I can’t let summer go! I know it’s officially leaving us today but the weather forecast for the week isn’t exactly putting me in an autumnal spirit. Where can I dine well this week while soaking up the last of the season’s fresh air?

Signed,
Outdoor Lovin’ Diner

Well O.L.D…

To this diner, Indian Summer begs for outdoor stage sets more rustic and cozy than brazen with sunshine.

Myself, I’ll be heading straight for the leafy courtyard behind Serafina this week, where the heaters are out if you need ’em but the wine and slow-roasted pork belly with sweet corn will do their best to warm you.

The cobbled patio of Tilth has a similarly autumnal feel, abetted by Maria Hines’ to-the-minute seasonality. Which means lobster mushroom risotto and corn-embellished poussin, among other glories.

Or, if you haven’t yet been, beeline it to Bastille, where the line between indoor dining and outdoor dining is happily blurred, thanks to the heated, covered, and just about glassed-in (but awaiting thumbs-up from the bureaucrats) side patio. Somehow steak-frites just taste better in the breeze of a warm fall day.

MORE ADVICE FROM THE CRITIC: Where to grab a quick weeknight dinner.

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Tags: Outdoor Dining, Recommended, Bastille, Tilth, Serafina

Packaging the Leftovers

What’s a restaurant to do when a diner wants to take home…the butter?

Posted by: Kathryn Robinson on Sep 14, 2009 at 10:00AM 1 Comments

At Bastille over the weekend, one table full of little cochons were so thoroughly relishing their Plugra butter they asked to take the remainder home in a doggie bag.

Rude? Reasonable? What do you think?

But first…have you tasted Plugra butter? The European-style butter that’s lower in moisture, creamier in texture, and higher in butterfat than the American standard? Some, ahem, have been known to eat it with a spoon.

After said request, the waiter came back with the doggie bag. When the butter-eaters got home, they found their butter and orange marmalade (yeah…asked for that too…divine) had been placed in the same to-go container as their macaroni and cheese.

Mac ‘n’ cheese with marmalade and Plugra butter—let’s hope the chef never finds out.

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Tags: Bastille

What did you do on your day off, chef?

Even when he’s not in the kitchen, chef Shannon Galusha has to put out fires.

Posted by: Kristin Cordova on Aug 20, 2009 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

Shannon and Jack. Probably not going to find any kefir at Denny’s, guys.

What’s downtime like for the guy who cooks at the hottest new French restaurant in town? “Last week on my day off, I literally got a call saying, ‘The wall is on fire. What do I do?’” says Shannon Galusha, chef at Bastille in Ballard. Wow, sounds relaxing.

On top of that, there is fatherhood. Galusha (whose previous toque post was at now-shuttered Veil) has a 14-month-old son with wife Lynn. And someone has to feed the cats.

Here, a day off with chef Shannon Galusha.

Since I work 100-120 hours per week, my wife is basically a single mom. So whenever I have time off, I help out by pre-cooking food for her—lime-chicken Thai soup or smoked pork for tacos. Then there is my “Honey Do” list. I have to scoop the cat box, hang a baby gate, and of course clean the kitchen top-to-bottom.
I get up around 6 or 6:30am. The cats are hungry and walking all over my face. The other big thing is getting my son Jack breakfast, usually Kefir, a cultured milk drink. Then there are his cereal bars and fruit leathers in apricot or strawberry. We try to give him a lot of fruits and grains in the morning.
We all go run errands in Issaquah, we buu groceries at PCC or Trader Joe’s and stop by Home Depot. And during that time I probably get like 20 calls and 30 emails related to the restaurant.
Later, we cook. Sunday has traditionally been our night for dinner with friends. Lynn is a really good cook. The crowd favorites are usually “roach-coach” [slang for street vendors in Mexico] Pastori tacos or Oaxaca-style food. Pastori comes from the Yucatan peninsula. The Roach coaches there have gyro-like chicken rotating on a hanging spit with a big chunk of pineapple above, allowing the juice to drip down into the meat. We went to Isla Las Mujeres for our honeymoon, and ate at this roach coach every day. Finally I got up the guts to ask the guy about his chicken. He marinated it in beer, cinnamon, onion, and dried chiles. Then the chicken is braised up for a long time. When we make them, we do a heavily charred chicken that’s different, but good.
Another thing we like to do on Sundays is go to the Ballard farmers market. I always visit Ishmael at Turkish Lavash Bread Company. Jeremy Faber of Foraged and Found Edibles always has mushrooms and other seasonal finds—right now he has wild arugula and huckleberries. And I always buy flowers for my wife, usually Gerbera daisies with herbs mixed in.

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Tags: Bastille, Chef's Day Off, Shannon Galusha

Bastille Opens Today…

…and it’s a little slice of Paris in Ballard

Posted by: Kathryn Robinson on Jun 29, 2009 at 04:00AM 0 Comments

Can’t remember last time a Seattle restaurant was as breathlessly awaited as Bastille, the big new Ballard brasserie from James Weimann (Pesos, May Thai, El Camino, Triangle Tavern, Talarico’s Pizza) and Deming Maclise (Caffe Fiore), with Shannon Galusha (Veil) in the kitchen and Peter Lewis (founder of Campagne) mastermind of the front of the house.

It opens tonight. Bistro faves (steak frites, Croque Monsieur, poulet roti, French onion soup, etc.) dominate the menu; falafel and suchlike the Ballard Ave takeout window; nibbles and aperitifs aplenty the breezy patio; late-night eats (til 1am nightly) the intimate Back Bar.

Mostly, the place is a looker. Salvaged Parisian appointments set a Musee d’Orsay tone, from the Paris metro tiles to the vintage light fixtures, some from French churches. Other stuff was reclaimed from our back yard, like the 3,000-piece chandelier from an old Ballard mansion.

And check the 45-foot zinc bar. Yeah. Forty-five feet. And the 2,500-square-foot rooftop garden, whose 12 raised beds will produce much of the menu’s greenery.

The size and vision of this joint are what sets it apart in these lean times. There is nothing small about the scope of Bastille.

The place, including bars and patio, will seat some 200 comers.

If you’re one of them, tonight…do let us know, won’t you?

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, Bastille, French Food