Nosh Pit

Australian Wagyu Arrives at The Metropolitan Grill

Just four restaurants in the country carry this premium beef.

Posted by: Anne Larkin on Feb 10, 2012 at 02:15PM 0 Comments

The rich cut of meat is served rare at The Met.

The Metropolitan Grill prides itself on being old school. Green plush booths, dark wood counters, white-jacketed bartenders, chop salad and steak old school. But there’s a notable new addition to the steak display case that greets you at the door—Australian Wagyu, the ultra-marbled and highly prized beef that comes from full-blooded Wagyu cows whose ancestors just happened to be dispatched from Japan to Australia in the 1990s. This beef rings in at $85 for a five-ounce cut.

The Met was chosen by producer Mayura Station as one of four restaurants in the States (along with two locations of Wolfgang Puck’s Cut and the Wynn Encore Resort in Las Vegas) to carry its limited-quantity luxe beef imported from the southeast coast of Australia. According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, it’s the first time full-blooded Wagyu has appeared on the Met’s menu since hoof-and-mouth disease halted beef exports from Japan in 2010. Back then the restaurant was one of about a dozen nationally that offered the particularly prized Ohmi Wagyu, which cost $100 for six ounces.

Wagyu has attained designer beef status thanks to its generous marbling—the way the fat exists within the meat, infusing it with tenderness and taste. And not only is the marbling exceptional in the meat of these ancestrally Japanese cows, they have entirely different kinds of fats, fats that melt at a lower temperature. That old adage about something melting in your mouth as you eat it? That actually happens with this fat.

This is not a steak to serve charred, like a big New York or a ribeye. It’s a delicate thing—the product of a carefully raised cow, a cow fed tiny sips of beer before each meal. Met chef Eric Hellner says each precious steak is pan seared, finished in the oven, and served rare. The first easy cut into the succulent steak reveals a dark pink interior, the first taste a far richer-than-average, earthy, intense flavor.

“This is much more like something of a foie gras or a delicacy…you’d only eat it once in a while,” said Hellner. “You can’t eat it every day, it’s super rich.” Well you can, if you’re super rich.

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Tags: Beef, Metropolitan Grill, On the Menu, Eric Hellner

Restaurant Shifts and Shakeups

This week: Regent Bakery and Café opens in Capitol Hill, West Seattle loses Avalon, and Branzino’s new chef has big plans.

Posted by: Anne Larkin on Feb 10, 2012 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

Brightly colored pastries keep company with savory hot pots at the new Capitol Hill Regent Bakery and Cafe. Photo courtesy of their website.

OPENINGS

Pomegranate Bistro
The sunny Redmond restaurant is adding a bar—Pombar —on Thursday, February 16. The Bistro website says that to celebrate the opening, happy hour will go on all night, from 3:30 till the bar closes at 10.

Ben and Jerry’s
The Greenlake ice cream shop re-opened Thursday after getting new owners and a remodel, says My Green Lake. Now we just need another sunny ice cream-worthy weekend.

Regent Bakery and Café
The new Pine Street outpost of the famed Redmond bakery opened Wednesday on the corner of 14th and Pine, reports Capitol Hill Seattle. The shop does, of course, have pretty Japanese-meets-French pastries, but to our happy surprise, also a full-on savory Chinese lunch and dinner menu with items like hot pots and fried rice. And booze! The new restaurant plans to capitalize on the neighborhoods nightlife, with hours from 11 to midnight and a full bar.

The Amber Den
After a softly-open first week, the laid-back Ballard spot is now officially open. Eater Seattle’s got photos, and it’s the sunniest wine bar we’ve ever seen.

Paseo
Fremont Universe brings the good news that Paseo reopens today, after a long, Cuban sandwich-less winter break.

COMING SOON

Hot Cakes
For the past 4 years, former Theo chocolatier Autumn Martin has been providing Seattle with decadent treats, first in the form of chocolatey bake-at-home jarred cakes, more recently with cookies, hand pies, and sauces. She’s been selling at farmers’ markets and in a few retail locations, but Rebekah Denn of the The Seattle Times says that Martin just signed a lease for her very own space on (where else) Ballard Ave and has plans to open in May.

Five Hooks Fish Grill
Recently shuttered Tenoch Mexican Grill atop Queen Anne will soon be replaced by a “renewable seafood” restaurant, according to Eater Seattle.

CLOSINGS

Big news. Le Gourmand and Sambar
Bruce and Sarah Naftaly are are closing down their seminal Ballard restaurant and companion cocktail spot in June, after 27 wonderful years. Cookbooks, baking, and family time will replace the bustle of kitchen life for the Naftalys. More here.

Avalon
After just over a year, this fine-dining option in West Seattle is closing its doors. Owners told the West Seattle Herald that the rent was too high, the location was far from ideal, and that maybe there’s only room for one fancy restaurant in West Seattle. Or maybe not.

663 Bistro
One of Tom Douglas (and our) favorite I.D. BBQ spots was temporarily shut down by the Health Department, says The Stranger. …We did say “dodgy.”

SHIFT CHANGES

Branzino
After hopping around from Verve to Oddfellows to Terra Plata, Chef Garrett Michael Brown seems to have finally settled at Branzino, where he’s planning to revamp the menu and revivify the restaurant.

RN74
A new chef and perhaps some big menu changes for Michael Mina’s Downtown French restaurant. Seis Kamimura of Spago and Boka (among others) is taking the helm, and though he was trained at the French Culinary Institute, expect “bold interpretations” of the classics.

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, Shift Change, Pomegranate Bistro, Ice Cream, Sambar, Le Gourmand, Seattle Restaurant Closings, Bar Openings, Bar Openings, Closings, Branzino

Nook Does Japanese For a Week

Don’t worry, the biscuits aren’t going anywhere.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Feb 10, 2012 at 09:52AM 0 Comments

Soba noodles. Photo courtesy justhungry.com.

Nook, the breakfast and lunch den known mostly for its biscuits, is throwing us for a curveball and hosting a series of Japanese dinners starting February 22.

Owners Aki Woodward and Alex Green have invited several restaurateurs from Japan to craft three-course meals with soba noodles at the center. Green worked with the guys in Japan, where apparently they own a slew of soba joints. The buckwheat noodles will be made from scratch each day; the main dish comes with either duck or oysters. (Sorry vegetarians, no substitutes.) The dinners are cheap (reserve in advance and the cost is $10, at the door it’s $12), and making reservations would be prudent—not only is Nook tiny, Woodward says the chefs are making only 25 batches each day. The pop-up runs through the 26th from 5 to 8 and concludes on Tuesday the 28th.

If the response is positive, Woodward says she and Green will consider organizing more such feasts. Not to worry, business will continue as usual during the day—that is, the biscuits aren’t going anywhere.

Call 206-268-9154 to reserve a spot.

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Tags: Seattle Pop-Ups, Nook

Seis Kamimura Is the New Chef at Michael Mina’s RN74

Expect some “bold interpretation” of France’s classics.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Feb 09, 2012 at 04:05PM 0 Comments

Seis Kamimura is the new exec chef at Michael Mina’s RN74. Photo courtesy of Midori Jordan Photography.

There’s a new chef in the kitchen at RN74, Michael Mina’s stylish downtown wine restaurant that arrived in June and has since challenged that adage that this town doesn’t cotton to big name chefs from other cities.

As of February 6, Seisuke (or Seis) Kamimura is running the show as executive chef. Original chef Michelle Retallack, who has spent most of her career cooking for Mina and waited for years for the Seattle job, is having a baby. It’s a process highly incompatible with the long hours and on-your-feet nature of kitchen life.

Kamimura’s resume incudes Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, Boka, and Terrance Brennan’s Artisanal Brasserie in Bellevue, a place that did fall victim to our skepticism toward outside chefs. Most recently he was at Munchbar, the loud club-like establishment that came to Bellevue Square by way of Vegas.

Per the press release, Kamimura cooked for Mina back in his Spago days. He trained at New York’s French Culinary Institute, which should be helpful in a French-focused restaurant, but the release also flat out says that the new chef will be applying some “bold interpretation” to the classics.

Though Mina, who grew up in Ellensburg but made a name for himself in San Francisco, has his hands full opening a big project in Baltimore, a rep says the chef will be spending more time in Seattle in the coming months while his new exec chef gets settled in.

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Tags: RN74, Shift Change, Seis Kamimura

Regent Bakery and Cafe Opens on Capitol Hill

Don’t let the name fool you, this sweet shop is also a Chinese restaurant. And a bar.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Feb 09, 2012 at 03:10PM 0 Comments

Capitol Hill has a new location for cake slices, flaky pastries and hot dogs wrapped in croissants.

As Capitol Hill Seattle blog reported yesterday, Wednesday marked the quiet opening of Regent Bakery and Cafe at the corner of 14th and Pine. The location is a second outpost for the Redmond original, which inspires rapt devotion, especially among employees of the ‘Soft.

Regent is mostly known for its bubble tea and sweets, an Asia-meets-France array of pastries, cakes, and breads. It’s not unlike Fuji Bakery in Bellevue and the I.D. (if you’re not familiar with Fuji, you should probably turn off this computer and go there immediately).

The Capitol Hill location does indeed have a mega-lit case of whole cakes and fruit-festooned individual slices. There’s also a wall of baked goods you access cafeteria-style, taking a pair of tongs so you can pile your plastic tray with chocolate buns, olive-studded brioche, and hello hot dogs and pieces of ham, each wrapped in a croissant.

So yes, Regent has baked goods. What I didn’t fully realize before I walked in: Regent is also a full-on Chinese restaurant with a sit-down menu for lunch and dinner. There’s also an entirely separate bar area, its status confirmed by two large flat screens. The space, located on the ground floor of a condo building, is bright and rather sterile, though I’m guessing the lights go down at night.

I’m curious to hear the general consensus on the restaurant food, but the pastries are a nice new addition to a neighborhood already filled with things that taste good. The CHS post has all sorts of pastry photos for your ogling pleasure. And remember, the neighborhood is getting more baked goods in the spring.

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Tags: Seattle Restaurant Openings, Bakeries, Regent Bakery and Cafe

Valentine’s Day Desserts

Sweet suggestions from 10 local bakeries.

Posted by: Emily Dhatt on Feb 09, 2012 at 02:51PM 0 Comments

Hoffman’s frosted cookies.

All photos courtesy the bakeries.

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Hoffman’s frosted cookies.

All photos courtesy the bakeries.

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A la Mode’s Sweetheart Cherry pie.

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Belle Pastry’s chocolate shoes.

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Belle Pastry’s strawberry tart.

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Cupcake Royale’s Deathcakes.

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Bakery Nouveau’s pink frosted cookies.

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Trophy’s dark Valrhona chocolate cupcake, plus “his and hers” chocolate stout and pink champagne cakes.

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Cupcake Royale’s strawberry champagne cupcake.

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High 5 Pie’s El Caliente mini pie.

A la Mode
A la Mode’s patriotic Star-Spangled Sour Cherry is reborn as the Sweetheart Cherry, underscored with almond and topped with a buttery crust of heart cutouts.
When to order: A day ahead; will also be available in store
Price: $25

Bakery Nouveau
Choose from an array of chocolates and pink-frosted shortbreads or the Aphrodite cake: lemon fromage blanc mousse over a thin layer of cherry-soaked sponge cake and raspberry gelee; an apricot glaze, madeleines, and a pink rose petal finish it off. The cake also comes in a three-inch mini size.
When to order: Two days ahead
Price: $33/large Aphrodite; $5/small Aphrodite; $1.75/cookie; chocolate boxes range from $10.50–$50

Belle Pastry
Belle Pastry goes the traditional route and serves up a ton of chocolate options. There are also strawberry tarts in small and large sizes and heart-shaped strawberry cake.
When to order: 24 hours in advance; large tarts are available by advance order only
Price: Chocolates $4-$40; small tarts $6, large tarts $10.50

Cupcake Royale
CCR’s cupcake of the month is strawberry champagne—a perfumy vanilla cake spiked with bubbly and smothered in strawberry buttercream, then finished off with edible gold sequins. And available till Valentine’s Day is the frighteningly rich Deathcake Royale: a Theo chocolate base infused with Stumptown espresso ganache and topped with a band of fleur de sel.
When to order: 24 hours ahead; strawberry champagne available in-store the whole month of February; Deathcake Royale available through February 14
Price: $3/Deathcake; $3.75/cupcake

Essential Bakery Cafe
Essential Bakery offers tarts for two in salted caramel or mixed berry flavor, plus a bigger berry tart with a chocolate base and cream filling. Grab a couple of raspberry whoopie pies on your way out.
When to order: Two days in advance
Price: $6/small tart; $12/large tart; $3.25/whoopie pie

High 5 Pie
The butter-crusted El Caliente is a Mexican chocolate mini cream pie spiced with traditional cinnamon and cayenne. “Piepops” come in apple or cherry-almond.
When to order: By February 12
Price: $3.50/pie; $5/piepop, $15/bouquet of three piepops

Hoffman’s
The February special is Strawberry Kisses cake: three layers of devil’s food and strawberry mousse with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Also find heart cookies of all sorts and chocolate-and-buttercream petits fours.
When to order: 24 hours in advance
Price: $24/Strawberry Kisses cake; $0.55-1.50/cookie; $5/petit four

Shoofly Pie Co.
Shoofly’s pie of the month is a brownie-esque black forest tart over a layer of cherry gelee, topped with whipped cream and fresh cherries.
When to order: Three days in advance
Price: $4.25/slice; $32.95/pie

Sugar Bakery
Pick up a flourless chocolate cake embellished with raspberry puree and freshly whipped cream, or a box of baked goods complete with chocolate and sugar cookies, Linzer sandwiches, and brownies accessorized with hearts.
When to order: Available through the 15th; order 24 hours in advance
Price: $14/cake; $2.25/cookie; $22/dozen cookies

Trophy Cupcakes
Trophy’s got three specials this V-Day season. For him: a chocolate cake made with Pike Extra Stout. Hers is baked with pink champagne. Also available is a dark Valrhona chocolate cake stuffed with raspberry buttercream and layered with Callebaut chocolate ganache.
When to order: His and hers cakes available in-store February 10–14; raspberry chocolate cake available through February
Price: $4/cupcake

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Tags: Valentine's Day, Desserts

Le Gourmand, Sambar to Close

A pioneering laboratory of Northwest cuisine says adieu June 2.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Feb 09, 2012 at 11:10AM 6 Comments

Bruce and Sara Naftaly at Le Gourmand. The restaurant will spend its final months regaling diners with a menu of greatest hits.

June 2 will be the last day of business for Le Gourmand, the pioneering restaurant that has stood on NW Market Street for 27 years, as well as its adjacent cocktail den Sambar.

Calling someone out of the blue and inquiring into various personal and business affairs is not my favorite part of this job. But when I reached chef-owner Bruce Naftaly this morning, he sounded downright excited. You see, Naftaly and his wife and business partner Sara are very hands-on. So much so that there’s no taking the night off and leaving the kitchen in the hands of a sous chef. Bruce Naftaly says he has cooked every dinner Le Gourmand has served, except for a few weeks eight years ago when he landed in the hospital. Dining at his restaurant “is like having people coming into your studio."

That pace, that schedule, get rather tiring.

“It’s wonderful and passionate and intense,” says Naftaly, “but you can’t do anything else.”

After Le Gourmand and Sambar bid Seattle farewell in June, the chef plans to finally write that cookbook he’s been planning for a decade or two, and continue teaching classes. Sara is interested in pursuing a bakery, and plans to work on a cocktail book with longtime Sambar barman Jay Kuehner. Also high on the couple’s to-do list: Spending more time with their son.

When Naftaly opened Le Gourmand back in 1985, his concept was a bold experiment for the time—classic French fare, made with seasonal, locally sourced Northwest ingredients. Today, the farm-to-table concepts he helped pioneer are practically gospel to the current generation of chefs, many of whom were born after the restaurant opened. When the Naftalys opened Sambar in 2003, no bars “were handling cocktails like you would an haute French sauce,” says Naftaly. Now the spirited experimentation espoused by Kuehner and other bartenders is all but expected when Seattleites go out for cocktails.

And while the economic downturn and the current trend toward casual dining have affected the Naftalys’ bottom line, Bruce says the decision was personal rather than financial.

So, Seattle, you have little more than three months to make a final visit to Le Gourmand. Starting in March the restaurant will offer a farewell menu featuring the greatest hits of nearly three decades. “I’m still extremely passionate about the whole thing, and I want to go out while I’m still feeling that way,” says Naftaly.

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Tags: Closings, Seattle Restaurant Closings, Le Gourmand, Sambar, Jay Kuehner, Bruce Naftaly, Sarah Naftaly

Marisa Lown Plans New Candy Company

Seattle Sweets and Company: Gluten-free caramels and confections from the baker behind The Radical Cupcake.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Feb 09, 2012 at 09:32AM 1 Comments

Gluten-free, and probably very delicious. Photo courtesy Seattle Sweets and Company.

Last we heard from Marisa Lown she was gearing up to launch an allergy-friendly mobile bakery. Those plans are temporarily on hold, but Lown does have another exciting project in the pipeline: Seattle Sweets and Company.

The “urban candy company” will specialize in organic, gluten-free caramels, both vegan and regular. Other products she’s working on include chocolate confections and dessert sauces.

Lown is known around these parts—and especially among wedding folk —for the baked goods she made while running The Radical Cupcake. Lown is phasing out the baking business but says she will happily consult those seeking an allergy-sensitive diet.

Lown currently has a few products on Etsy as part of a Valentine’s promo. By April Lown estimates Seattle Sweets will be fully operating, and once that ball is rolling she’ll probably go wholesale.

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Tags: Candy And Sweets, Marisa Lown, Seattle Sweets and Company

Ethan and Angela Stowell Launch Eat. Run. Hope.

Lace up your shoes and loosen your belt: The new 5K and food fest will benefit the Fetal Hope Foundation.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Feb 08, 2012 at 03:00PM 2 Comments

Chef Ethan Stowell and wife and business partner Angela have organized a new 5K run April 1 to benefit the Fetal Hope Foundation. And because this is Ethan and Angela Stowell we’re talking about, the run also happens to be a food event, complete with a beer and wine garden, all in Seward Park.

No surprise, the food tent will be packed with culinary heavy hitters. Brace yourself for a ridiculously long list of great chefs, including Canlis’s Jason Franey, Renee Erickson of Walrus and the Carpenter, La Bête’s Tyler Moritz (a Stowell alum), Rachel Yang of Joule and Revel, Maria Hines of Tilth and Golden Beetle, Daisley Gordon of Marché, Terra Plata chef Tamara Murphy, Bastille’s Jason Stoneburner (also a Stowell alum), Miles James of Dot’s Delicatessen (yep, him too), Taste chef Craig Hetherington, Ericka Burke of Volunteer Park Cafe, and pizza from Via Tribunali.

Last summer the Stowells lost their unborn twin sons to Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, a rare and deadly disease that occurs only in identical twins. This event is the couple’s way to effect change in memory of their sons—and the Seattle restaurant community’s way to express support for one of its most visible members.

On a lighter note, the participating restaurants will be running a bacon relay, a prospect that sounds both entertaining and kind of greasy. Angela Stowell will be crafting bacon batons for this less athletic follow-up to the actual 5k which apparently arose from Maria Hines throwing down a challenge to her fellow chef participants.

Registering for the run costs $35, and the food tent is $70. Interested in both? That’s $95. Register for Eat. Run. Hope. right over here.

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Tags: Good Cause, Ethan Stowell, Seattle Food Events, Angela Stowell

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

Truck Stop: Barbara Pagarigan of The Bistro Box

“I love the creativity behind this new world,” says the sandwich and slider chef.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Feb 08, 2012 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

The Bistro Box: sliders, sandwiches, and more.

In Truck Stop, we meet the folks at the wheel of Seattle’s food trucks.

When the economy spiraled downward and Barbara Pagarigan found herself without a job, she did as many have done and turned to trucks. “Loving the idea and excitement they were stirring up, I started checking them out,” says the Washington State native. “I love the creativity behind this new world and the ‘location, location, location’ factor, so I made the leap.”

Said leap was launching The Bistro Box, a trailer dedicated to sliders, sandwiches (including—awesomely—breakfast varieties), and Belgian-style frites. Pagarigan is most often found shilling in Renton but recently joined the pod at Microsoft. Here, she pulls over for a few questions.

What item sells out first? Our french dip: toasted baguette loaded with natural roast beef, horseradish sauce, and au jus—customers say they drink it to the last drop.

What else should I try? The OMG sliders (because they are OMG astonishingly delicious): kobe beef with peanut butter, thick crispy bacon, and pepper jelly.

Where do your recipes come from? They usually start with one key ingredient or flavor and emerge into a sandwich, spread, or entree. I consult the Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg quite often for inspiration combining flavors and ingredients. The best items on our truck didn’t take long to develop, if I have to work on it too hard it isn’t going to come together.

What, if anything, would you like to change about the city’s new street food regulations? Even with the new regulations there are still a lot of hoops to go through: permission from business owners, restroom agreements within 200 feet. I’d like to see those loosened up.

When I’m not in my truck you can find me eating at… My dining room table.

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Tags: Street Food, Seattle Food Trucks, Truck Stop, The Bistro Box

Slideshow: Foodportunity Returns to Palace Ballroom

Check out what everyone was eating at Monday night’s networking event.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Feb 07, 2012 at 01:20PM 0 Comments

Metropolitan Market whipped up mac and cheese made with a nutty-sweet gouda.

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Metropolitan Market whipped up mac and cheese made with a nutty-sweet gouda.

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It’s Tulalip time: the casino and resort’s David Buchanan put out smoked sockeye salmon with shallots, dill, capers, and cucumber on chèvre.

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Pasta (and amaro) man Mike Easton of Il Corvo prepares fresh garganelli.

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Inn at Langley satisfied sweet teeth with smoldered spruce cream on a bed of walnut sugar. That’s aerated truffle honey on top.

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Cupcakes, grain and gluten on the side, courtesy Wheatless in Seattle.

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Mt Townsend Creamery offered up fromage blanc on apple chips alongside the very delicious Off Kilter, made with Pike Brewing Company’s Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale.

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More cheese, please: Kurt Beecher Dammeier schooled event-goers on the difference between cheese made with raw milk (above) and pasteurized milk (background).

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Il Fornaio’s Franz Junga grills veggies for an eggplant-zucchini-pepper panini.

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Among the night’s top bites were these puff pastries from Volunteer Park Cafe. They were filled with caramelized onions and goat cheese and topped with roasted black trumpet and hedgehog mushrooms.

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Also a hit: pickled celery root wrapped in cured salmon and finished with sherry gastrique. Rover’s was to thank for this one.

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South American specialty food store Magic Road International provided an Argentinian chimichurri sauce—especially tasty when mixed with hummus.

Gastronomes and media folk descended upon Palace Ballroom Monday evening for Foodportunity, the network-and-nosh event put on by Keren Brown (aka Frantic Foodie).

Brown has organized Foodportunity for several years now, both here and in Portland. The idea behind these events is to come and converse with fellow food obsessives while sampling bites from top-notch restaurateurs and local purveyors. The chefs talk attendees through the dish they chose to prepare, which is a neat opportunity to get inside their heads. Name tags facilitate the networking side of things, as does the cash bar (it’s amply stocked). So convivial is the atmosphere even foodportunists flying solo will find someone with whom to chat.

Many of the people at Foodportunity are repeat attenders and will eagerly share lessons learned from past events. For example, they’ll tell you it’s best to arrive when doors open at 6, when few others are there. That way you can go nuts with the food and avoid the awkwardness of trying to converse while doing so. (Or worse, getting grub stuck between your teeth during a gab session—definitely a networking no-no.) Also: it’s easy to miss the booths hidden in the back right corner of the foyer, but they’re some of the best of the bunch.

Check out the slideshow for more from the event and a sampling of the food on offer.

All photos by Seattlemet.com photographer Lucas Anderson.

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Tags: Palace Ballroom, Seattle Food Events, Foodportunity