Nosh Pit

Neighborhood Food News: Full Tilt Gains an Ice Cream Lab, Trophy Cupcakes Delivers

Plus: Met Market gets in the Valentine’s spirit, Tom Douglas Wants to Send You to Hawaii, Wild Ginger riffs on the Gauguin exhibit, and more.

Posted by: Anne Larkin on Feb 08, 2012 at 10:30AM 0 Comments

Trophy Cupcakes now delivers. Photo courtesy their website.

BELLEVUE
John Howie is getting in on the Sunday supper trend. These new weekly meals will be sized for four and, of course, centered on a shared steak.

CAPITOL HILL
Eater Seattle reports that tonight at Bako there will be both free snacks and fashion. It’s a Wednesday night grab-bag of an event: a DJ, a fashion show, vodka drinks, and $5 Bako gift cards.

DOWNTOWN
Another downtown restaurant is finding menu inspiration at the Seattle Art Museum. Wild Ginger is creating a menu inspired by Gauguin’s Polynesia, on exhibit at SAM through April 29. The menu will be available tomorrow, but here’s a teaser: twice-cooked Indonesian wings, first simmered in a myriad of Southeast Asian spices, then fried and coated in hoisin barbeque sauce. Even better, these dishes are accompanied by a new tropical cocktail.

GREEN LAKE
Free babysitting at Café Bonjour on Valentine’s Day. Parents eat, kids play under supervision. (But if you have scored a sitter, boy have we got Valentine’s dinner ideas for you. Here and here.)

QUEEN ANNE
Metropolitan Market is going all out for Valentine’s: from 5-7 on Thursday there will be a champagne tasting, crab cakes, oysters, and chocolate covered strawberries at the Mercer Street location. And from 4-7 that same day, sample Cupcake Royale’s Deathcake and Macrina Bakery’s chocolate cherry heart loaf. Both pastries will be at the Queen Anne Ave location for sample and for sale on Saturday.

WEST SEATTLE
Full Tilt Ice Cream is expanding, though not with a new retail location this time (yet.) According to the West Seattle blog, the ice creamery is taking over a 6,061 square-foot space to use for manufacturing, storage, and as a laboratory, with tentative plans for retail space and perhaps a gallery in the future. The new space will allow Full Tilt to crank out more goodness, as well as give kids mouthwatering tours.

MULTIPLE LOCATIONS

Tom Douglas wants to send you to Hawaii. Two tickets to Kona, three nights at a swanky hotel, and a big seafood dinner are up for grabs. Drop by any of his restaurants to pick up the contest questions, or download it here and drop it off.

Dangerous: Trophy Cupcakes are now available by delivery. A day’s notice and a minimum order of a dozen cupcakes (maybe a batch of February’s special dark chocolate raspberry cupcakes…) will get you delivery for $15 in Seattle, $20 in Bellevue.

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Tags: Tom Douglas, Full Tilt, Neighborhood Food News Roundup, Cupcakes, Food News Roundup, Wild Ginger, Sunday Suppers, Free Food, Contests, Trophy Cupcakes

Neighborhood Food News: Fire at Amore Infused, Big Mario’s Goes Dark for SOPA

Plus: Where to eat and drink in the snow, and burgers get creative at Brave Horse Tavern.

Posted by: Anne Larkin on Jan 18, 2012 at 11:30AM 0 Comments

Amore Infused owner Sean Langan took to Facebook to share images of his fire-ravaged restaurant with fans and regulars.

BELLTOWN
Eater Seattle says that the fire that broke out January 15 at Italian food and cocktail spot Amore Infused was caused by an electrical outlet. The blaze caused an estimated $300,000 of damage, and left owner Sean Langan without a kitchen in which to prepare for his five upcoming catering jobs. Langan isn’t sure how long his restaurant will remain closed for repairs and remodeling, but still plans to participate in FareStart’s guest chef night on January 26.

CAPITOL HILL
If it’s good enough for Google and Wikipedia, it’s good enough for Big Mario’s. The pizza shop that delivered hot pies to Occupy Seattle protesters this past fall has temporarily shut down its website in support of today’s protests of the federal House and Senate’s Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act.

SOUTH LAKE UNION
Tom Douglas’s gastropub Brave Horse Tavern has been calling for burger of the week submissions from patrons, and Seattle Weekly‘s Hanna Raskin reports on some of the more memorable concoctions. The entries have ranged from latke-topped burgers to peanut-butter heavy Elvis burgers. This week’s winner: Jalapeno Heater, a bacon and chuck patty topped with jalapeno poppers, Calabrian aioli, and red cabbage slaw.

EVERYWHERE
In case you haven’t seen Twitter, Facebook, the actual news, or the actual outdoors, it’s snowing today. Some bars and restaurants have called in a snow day (as have most food trucks) but plenty of places are open and catering to the hungry, thirsty, and snowbound.

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Tags: Tom Douglas, Neighborhood Food News Roundup, Brave Horse Tavern, Amore Infused, Big Mario's

Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau Return to the Airwaves

Catch the chef/restaurateur duo Saturdays on KIRO

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Jan 04, 2012 at 03:20PM 2 Comments

Remember this sketch? Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau are resuming their radio show under a new name, Seattle Kitchen.

Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau are back on the radio. An announcement on the Tom Douglas Restaurants blog says that the duo, two of the most prominent chefs and restaurateurs in the city, will hit the KIRO airwaves once again this Saturday. The new weekly incarnation, “Seattle Kitchen”, debuts January 7 at 8am and airs the next day at 10am. A Seattle Kitchen Facebook page and Twitter account are in the works.

Co-host Rautureau, aka the Chef in the Hat, says that the hourlong show “will have us talking food, restaurants, what’s in the news, and basically having fun.” The setup is similar to his and Douglas’s original show, “In the Kitchen with Tom and Thierry,” he says. However the new version puts more emphasis on the two chefs’ differing culinary opinions, specifically how a guy from France and a guy from Delaware, both ardent fans of Northwest ingredients, approach certain foodstuffs like duck or beets.

Recording an hourlong weekly show is no small time commitment for two men with already packed schedules. Jokes Rautureau, “We’re professionals, it should only take us 40 minutes.”

From 2004 to 2010, the duo hosted a weekly show on KIRO dishing up entertaining (and sometimes endearingly dopey) banter and a parade of local food notables that was mandatory listening for Seattle food nerds. Seattle Met’s own critic Kathryn Robinson was a regular guest and says she continues to marvel at how many people missed the show after it left the air

Rautureau says that listeners should submit questions via Twitter.

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Tags: Tom Douglas, In The Media, Thierry Rautureau, Radio, Seattle Kitchen

The Gastro Gift Guide Part 2: For Those Who Slather

Rubs, jams, jellies, and condiments galore for a tasteful stocking.

Posted by: Stephanie Rubesh on Dec 08, 2011 at 11:15AM 0 Comments

Tom Douglas dishes out the love freely (well, almost) for happy plates.

Photo Credits: tomdouglas.com

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Tom Douglas dishes out the love freely (well, almost) for happy plates.

Photo Credits: tomdouglas.com

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Pork in a jar for easy Christmas giving.

Photo Credits: Mark Pascua

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Get Dark chocolate, Classic Caramel or Raspberry according to your sweetie’s taste

Photo Credits: Fran’s Chocolates

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Joy in a jar. It’s peachy.

Photo Credits: Zachary D. Lyons

Sometimes Seattle and its sobering rain stats can rub people the wrong way. But believe us when we say Seattle knows how to do rub right. Jellies, spreads, and sauces too. A host of area restaurants, including Skillet, Wild Ginger, and the Tom Douglas empire, have achieved local condiment fame by offering their trade secrets in little containers for you to purchase. And then there are the offerings from our farmers markets, food boutiques, and specialty food shop. Yep, Seattle has rubs, condiments and spreads galore; and for (mostly) under $10, they happen to make excellent small gifts or stocking stuffers.

For the spice lover:

Curry powder from Wild Ginger is a signature spice blend of cumin, anise, ginger, and fennel among others. At $5 a bottle, it can be used as a marinade, in a sauce, or just to kick the flavor up a notch or three in any chosen dish.

The African Peri Peri Rub is a Tom Douglas concoction and part of his Rub with Love line; it’s infused with garlic, black pepper, citrus bursts, and chipotle chilies. Check out Douglas’s online store for more rubs, sauces, or snack mixes.

Pepper-jelly shop Mick’s Peppourri gives you a Red Hot Pepper Jelly: a delicious jalapeno jelly, light on the hot, heavy on the flavor. This is one of their flagship bottles, but go for raspberry pepper jelly, cabernet wine jelly, or hot garlic pepper jelly for a twist on the traditional. Order online or pick them out at Pike Place Market.

Food-truck phenom Marination finally buckled down and bottled their famous Nunya Sauce, a blend of mayo, onions, and a stash of spices that will remind your mouth what it means to be alive. Bottles are available at Marination Station or at the truck.

For the salt fanatic:

If you know Skillet, you know Skillet’s bacon jam. Really though, what’s not to love about bacon, onions, and spices in spreadable form? There was much fanfare and celebration when it hit the shelves in 2010, and now everyone (all but the vegetarians) on your Christmas list can find out why.

Volunteer Park Cafe made a splash in the NY Times with their bottled mac-n-cheese sauce (aka Mac Daddy) and we hear that it may be rolling back into town in time for the holiday season.

For the sweet tooth:

“Try us on toast” is their tagline, and after skimming a list of Deluxe Foods
jams that covers apricot vanilla, almond tea, jeweled strawberry, grape and walnut, gingered rhubarb (among others), all we can say is, “yes, please.” Rebecca Staffel is a jamming authority in these parts, and her creatively combined, locally grown fixings can be found either online or at a crowd of neighborhood shops and markets. Your toast may have met its renaissance.

Local chocolate artist Fran Bigelow transformed her renowned handmade truffles into delectable flowing form to top desserts (or oatmeal, or spoons, or milk) with ease. Fran’s Dark Chocolate Sauce is rich and creamy; buying it supports the work of Neighborhood House, helping with the fight against poverty—so really, you’re giving two gifts in one. Bravo.

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Tags: Tom Douglas, Skillet, Seattle-Made Condiments, Seattle Food Trucks, Holidays 2011, Gastro Gift Guide 2011

Nosh Pit Weekly Planner

A very Ikea Christmas, Tom Douglas teaches holiday cooking, and Nathan Myhrvold at Town Hall.

Posted by: Brian Colella on Dec 05, 2011 at 09:30AM 0 Comments

Tonight: MistralKitchen’s Arabesque dinner series.

Photo: Andrew Waits

MONDAY December 5

MistralKitchen’s Arabesque series of Monday-night dinners continues tonight with an Israeli-themed menu. Meals come two ways: a $45 tasting menu or a modified version of the a la carte menu, served in the restaurant’s casual-side dining room, along with regionally inspired drinks. This is the last of the Israeli cuisine’s four dates, the next four special dinners will focus on North Africa’s Maghreb region (Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco).

Future Top Chef guest judge and coauthor of the six-volume, Homeric-level food epic Modernist Cuisine Nathan Myhrvold will be at Town Hall from 7:30 to 9. Tickets are $5 through Brown Paper Tickets,.

TUESDAY December 6

The Harvest Vine and PCC are teaming up for a special dinner event at 6:30 featuring Spanish wines from Casa Ventura Imports. The four-course, $65-a-plate dinner menu includes butternut squash soup, pear salad, roasted trout, braised lamb shank, and spaghetti squash–preserves filled crepes to top it off. Each of the nonsoup courses comes paired with wine.

WEDNESDAY December 7

Tom Douglas is going to be at the downtown Macy’s to demonstrate some of his favorites from the Macy’s Thanksgiving and Holiday Cookbook. If you’re excited about holiday cooking, don’t miss this opportunity to get up close with Seattle’s most admired, most overrated, most titanic chef. Reservations can be made by calling 800-786-2665; space is limited.

Free at the Book Larder, Donia Bijan shares her book Maman’s Homesick Pie, about her youth in Tehran and culinary training at Le Cordon Bleu. The event runs from 6:30 to 8 and guests will enjoy samples of flavors from the book’s 30 recipes.

THURSDAY December 8

From 4 to 5 at the Book Larder, the British Baking Awards’ Continental Patissier of the Year Eric Lanlard brings his new book Cake Boy and discusses life as a top baker. The event is free to all and will have samples of a treat from the book, which features home recipes for meringues, cheesecakes, pastries, and more.

FRIDAY December 9

Ikea Seattle is getting into the holiday spirit with a Swedish Christmas Julbord Celebration from 5:30 to 8. Prices are stereotypically retail—$9.99 for adults and $2.49 for kids 12 and under (13-year-olds are adults?). Contact the restaurant at 425-656-2980 to make a reservation.

SUNDAY December 11 SATURDAY December 10

Art Restaurant and Lounge is hosting a chocolate buffet for families that will include triple chocolate mousse cake, double chocolate cheesecake, chocolate tiramisu, and more. For $20 (adult) chow down on chocolate from 3 to 5 while your kids listen to John Skewes read from his children’s book Larry Gets Lost in Seattle. If you miss it there’s another one on the 18th.

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Tags: Tom Douglas, Nathan Myhrvold, Weekly Planner, MistralKitchen

A New Name for Dahlia Workshop

The SLU counter is now known as Serious Biscuit.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Nov 07, 2011 at 11:52AM 0 Comments

Photo: Olivia Brent

Serious Biscuit is serious about its biscuits.

The corner of Westlake and Harrison is something of a mecca for biscuit lovers, so it’s fitting the craggy pastry get marquee action.

Dahlia Workshop, one of two Tom Douglas operations anchoring that corner and the bakery bringing the crowds, just got a new name: Serious Biscuit. Marketing rep Katie Okumura says the moniker is a play on the “huge popularity” of the counter’s staple item. It also jibes nicely with the address’s upstairs resident, Serious Pie —where weekend brunch now will be served.

The production leg of the bakery will maintain the former handle, adds Okumura. The retail side of things are taking the new one.

You may recall this isn’t the first Douglas joint to recently undergo a rebrand.

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Tags: Restaurant News, Tom Douglas, Biscuits

This Year, the Rub with Love Shack Will Stay Open Through Winter

And host monthly pop-ups.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Oct 25, 2011 at 01:30PM 0 Comments

Photo: Lindsay Borden

Rotisserie chickens at Rub with Love Shack.

Tom Douglas’s Rub with Love Shack opted to sideline operations last winter, but this year the rotisserie counter will keep at it year-round, thanks in part to a new series of pop-up dinners.

The theme will rotate with each monthly feast, and the first one takes place this coming Wednesday from 6:30 to 7:30. The focus: American Roots BBQ. Reservations aren’t necessary; rather the idea is to just “walk up and get your plate of food,” says TD marketing manager Katie Okumura. Making up the menu is an $8 barbecue plate served with cornbread, braised greens, and boiled peanuts. You get to choose from several sauces, and you can also order a la carte.

The pop-ups will each highlight a different flavor from Douglas’s line of rubs. Future dates and themes include Chinatown on November 30; South Africa on December 28; on January 25, Tokyo in the Market; and for the February 29 dinner, East India.

The offerings will also grace the happy hour menu at neighboring Seatown for a month following the pop-up. As for the day-to-day offerings at Rub with Love, it will continue to carry several rotisserie meats (half and whole chickens, porchetta-style pork loin, roasted turkey) and made-to-order lunch sandwiches.

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Tags: Special Dinners, Tom Douglas, Seattle Pop-Ups

The Weekly Spread: Ancho and Molasses BBQ Sauce at Rub With Love Shack

Tom Douglas reveals the formula behind his most popular barbecue sauce.

Posted by: Saba Sulaiman on Aug 11, 2011 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

“It’s spicy,” says Tom Douglas, succinctly summing up this three-kinds-of-pepper-enhanced sauce.

Photo: Tom Douglas Restaurants

Remember the Weekly Spread series? Yeah, it hasn’t so much been weekly. But if we call it the “Whenever-We-Can-Get-Around-To-It Spread” we might seem lazy. Anyway, the condiment coverage is back. Let’s get saucey.

The condiment in question Rub With Love’s Ancho and Molasses BBQ sauce, a rich, rusty-red concoction that packs a smoky-sweet punch.

Made by Rub With Love Shack’s owner Tom Douglas, who recently made his spice rubs and sauces available for purchase, just to compliment his—how many now?—oh yeah, twelve restaurant ventures. This man will one day rule the entire universe. Or at least the better part of downtown Seattle.

Local—and international—garnishing needs are met by producing 10,000 jars per three-month cycle. That’s a lot of sauce, not to mention beer: porter-style ale from Portland beer supplier Deschutes lends extra kick.

Made with molasses, ancho peppers, chipotle peppers, green chili peppers, porter style ale, brown sugar, tomato paste, vinegar, onions, black pepper, cumin, coriander and natural lemon crystals. The sauce is never strained, making it thick and creamy, with occasional bits of onion for crunch.

Available online and at select grocery stores around the country. You can also try it at the Rub With Love Shack by ordering the BBQ Chicken Sandwich.

Parting thought Tom recommends it with Rub With Love’s Pork Rub in a recipe he’s made available online. Or, he says, smoky beef brisket….We like it when he says “smoky beef brisket.”

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Tags: Tom Douglas, Seattle-Made Condiments, The Weekly Spread, Seattle Condiments

New Restaurant Review: Cuoco

The South Lake Union pasta house “lacks a fresh vision.”

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Aug 01, 2011 at 10:30AM 0 Comments

Photo: Olivia Brent

The pasta station at Cuoco.

As was mentioned in this post re: Tom Douglas’s SLU coup, Kathryn Robinson dedicates her most recent review to TD’s Terry Ave pasta house, Cuoco.

It’s Douglas’s 15th venture and “visually it may be the showpiece of his entire collection,” the Seattle Met critic decides. Though some of the pastas were “sticky, even gummy,” Robinson does discover two dishes she likes: a Yukon gold ­gnocchi and lamb-stuffed ravioli. In the bistecca—“a major romp for the palate”—she tastes Douglas’s visionary flair, but the plate wasn’t enough to salvage Cuoco from what she deems a lack of originality: “Cuoco feels derivative; as if Douglas cast his hungry eye around town cherry-picking concepts he admired.”

For more, read the full Cuoco review.

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Tags: New Seattle Restaurants, Tom Douglas, Restaurant Reviews

Breaking Down Tom Douglas’s South Lake Union Empire

The man opened five new joints there this year.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jul 29, 2011 at 10:15AM 0 Comments

Photo: Olivia Brent

A pretzel from Brave Horse Tavern.

Yes, five, and in typical TD fashion, they’re all nestled close to one another. Serious Pie and Dahlia Workshop share quarters on Westlake and Harrison, while Brave Horse Tavern, Ting Momo, and Cuoco are housed in a rehabbed warehouse on Terry Avenue.

If your brain is overwhelmed by that much Douglasness in not very much space, Seattle Met critic Kathryn Robinson has a guide to all his new nosheries (well, all of them except one: Cuoco gets its own review.) In it find a breakdown of each joint with handy details like optimal times to visit, Tom’s favorites from the menus as well as hers.

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Tags: New Seattle Restaurants, South Lake Union, Tom Douglas

Seatown Takeout Counter Now Named Rub With Love Shack

The Tom Douglas product line gets a dedicated retail outlet.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jul 06, 2011 at 12:41PM 0 Comments

Photo: Lindsay Borden

Chickens roast at Tom Douglas’s Seatown.

When Seattle Met critic Kathryn Robinson wrote of Tom Douglas’s Seatown Seabar in her 2010 Best Restaurants roundup, she made mention of the swoon-worthy foods on offer at Seatown’s neighboring to-go counter: “English muffin sandwiches by morning, then creamy turkey potpies and Southern corn grits and fragrant rotisserie chickens, and chocolate chip cookies for after.”

But as Hanna Raskin reported several weeks ago, the takeout branch is now operating on a stripped-down scale, so some of said chow is no longer available. One bit of info Raskin didn’t mention, however: its new name, Rub With Love Shack.

Seatown general manager Gretchen Geisness says the moniker has been in place since the beginning of June. While chickens and three sandwiches—a turkey, barbecue, and porchetta variety—can still be ordered on the fly, the changeover makes way for a dedicated retail outlet for the entire Tom Douglas product line. Fifteen of the eponymous meat, poultry, and seafood rubs, four sauces, and two gift sets are in stock.

Why the rebranding? Geisness said TD’s team wanted to create a distinction between the sit-down restaurant and its sidekick—customers couldn’t tell one from the other, she noted. She added the Shack now has a “warehouse-y” feel and picnic benches out front.

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Tags: Restaurant News, Tom Douglas

Ting Momo Opens in South Lake Union

The trifecta of new Tom Douglas eateries is complete.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Apr 18, 2011 at 09:40AM 1 Comments

Dumplings come to South Lake Union. Photo courtesy Ting Momo.

If you’re looking for a new place to lunch, Tom Douglas’s Ting Momo opens Monday, April 18 at 11am. The Amazon campus cafe deals in Tibetan dumplings, particularly of the steamed and fried sort, and is helmed by chef Deyki Thonden. A ten-spot suffices for most of the entrees, plus the rotating daily specials.

Momo is the latest in T-Dawg mojo, what with his two other SLU joints, Cuoco and Brave Horse Tavern, both within a stone’s throw of Ting, opening as well. And before those debuted, pop went Serious Pie II and Dahlia Workshop on Westlake and Harrison.

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, South Lake Union, Tom Douglas