Recent Stories in Food

Tuesday, May 4, is National Teacher Appreciation Day, and Chipotle Mexican restaurants realize you didn't get 'em anything (no, that gift basket of Aplets & Cotlets for the holidays doesn't still count). Happily, they can stop in at a Chipotle for Buy One, Get One for Teacher. Any faculty or staff member (with school ID!) who buys a burrito, burrito bowl, salad or order of tacos, will receive a second order for free. Offer is good from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. I guess lunch is already plenty busy.

On Wednesday, TASTE at SAM "celebrates its third anniversary with a day of special offerings." Special, eh? But they don't say what, very cagy down there. A local-food sourcer (I'm told  89 percent of all ingredients come from local, organic sources), TASTE has kept more than $2 million in the local economy over the last three years. To make a reservation, call 206-903-5291 (NB: they close at 8 p.m. for a private event on Wednesday, and to mark the anniversary, SAM admission is just $3.)

The SunBreak Breakfast Team had heard tales of restaurant on Lower Queen Anne that was offering weekday breakfasts for $6. Étonnant! The only catch was the hours, 9 to 11 a.m. Committed to our readers as we are, could we spare an hour of the actual weekday for breakfast reportage?

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I told Roger. $6 is a great deal, Roger admitted.

So last Friday morning we sat down at Toulouse Petit (introduced to you by Cornichon and rated four to five stars by everyone else). The restaurant was already three-quarters full when we arrived, at 9:15 a.m. It's named for rue Toulouse in New Orleans, and a great deal of attention went into the interior's faux-Big Easy decrepitude--the walls are scabbed with "crumbling" plaster. Ersatz culture isn't that appealing to me, but we weren't there to eat the walls.

We were there for breakfast. I don't believe all the items on the breakfast menu are $6--plates that go for $15 normally may not be. But in general, options in the $9-$12 range are, and the dilemma you then face is how to choose from between them all. Roger decided on the Biscuits and Spicy Creole Sausage Gravy (with two eggs over easy), and I could not resist the "Big Easy" Andouille Scramble.... (more)

The SunBreak's own Rachael Coyle--also the Pastry Chef at Restaurant Le Pichet--is making a houseparty out of cooking school. She's beginning a series of pastry classes (held at a friendly house on Phinney Ridge) on Saturday mornings, focusing on baking fundamentals. Classes are limited to six students, and include a light lunch.

Rachael was previously a pastry instructor for Sur la Table for five years, and designed pastry classes that are used in their culinary programs nationwide. (Her degree in Pastry Arts is from the French Culinary Institute in New York, but she's not snooty at all.)

Says Rachael:

In the first class, we'll be making pie crust, and because it is April, we will be making Rhubarb Pie. We'll cover: technique for making delicious flaky, all-butter crust, tips for rolling dough evenly (and into a shape that resembles a circle rather than a continent), and pie-assembly, as well as discussing all sorts of other, later-summer-type fillings. Each student will be making his/her own dough and with it, a rhubarb pie to take home. If this class fills up, please don't fret, I will add another one.

I don't particularly care for rhubarb pie, so if you go, see if you can interest her in a nice chocolate mousse, for the next lesson.

The class is Saturday, April 24, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., on Phinney Ridge as I've mentioned, and again, a light lunch is provided. Tuition is just $35 (cash or check only), which beats the hell out of the UW, who never include a light lunch. Bring an apron and a pie plate! To RSVP, email (or ask for information about other upcoming classes).

In the springtime, a young man's thoughts turn to seafood.  See: Jeremy's recent trip to Chinook's and this image (care of photocoyote) recently placed in our Flickr pool.  So it's a good thing then that Pier 70's Waterfront Seafood Grill was just offering up their annual crabtravanza menu to celebrate the Cult of the Crab.  I got to sample several of the dishes--check out my takes on the dishes in the photo gallery. More about sustainable crabbing after the jump.

Right now with crabbing, as with all of fishing, the buzzword is sustainability.  Frank Ragusa, a General Manager at local seafood company Ocean Beauty was on hand to talk about sustainable practices in crabbing.  Ragusa's a third-generation crabber from Gloucester, Mass (a dooly-appahnted fehdral mahshall, no doubt), who moved to the West Coast to continue in his family's tradition, as we still have crabs in the Pacific Ocean, while the Atlantic population has been decimated by overfishing. ... (more)

When there is something newsworthy going on in the busy world of bars and restaurants on Capitol Hill, you can always count on CHS's seadevi to have the scoop.  But when I saw yesterday that there is finally something going into the space formerly occupied by Crave--pause for a second here to shed a single tear and pour out a little liquor for Robin Leventhal and Co.--I finally thought I'd beaten seadevi at her own game.

And then I checked CHS and found that she had already mentioned on Monday that Octo Sushi is coming to 12th Ave. You win again, seadevi! *shaking fist*

If you haven't been in recently, or have been waiting for someone to offer you their chocolate dessert named El Diablo, you're in luck. Throughout April, Tango has a full slate of special events in celebration of turning ten years old. The party begins April 1, with free El Diablos, and continues $5 pairings of El Diablos and specialty tequilas, live tango, extended happy hours, and participation in the meal deals of Seattle Restaurant Week.

To get out the word on Tango turning ten, Travis Rosenthal had a swarm of food writers down to the corner of Boren and Pike this week to preview the cause for celebration. Rosenthal's owned Tango since 2006--he originally arrived in Seattle to help open Pacific Place's Il Fornaio, and was general manager at the U Village's popular Piatti, until making the leap to Tango's Latin American and Spanish small plates.

Rosenthal and his executive chef Michael Bruno were confident enough in their offerings that they opened the whole menu for review (see the photo gallery above). Missteps were few and far between, and I began asking myself more and more stridently why it had taken me ten years to darken their door. To read the reviews, everyone else clued in long ago. The candlelit ambiance draws everyone from canoodling couples and Paramount showgoers, to carafe-quaffing tables of ya-ya sisterhoods.

This being St. Patrick's Day, it seemed appropriate to consume some sort of corned beef, even if--avoiding the Irish pubs as we are tonight--my girlfriend and I are not going to get our yearly dose of corned beef and cabbage.

Instead, we finally took the time to walk down to Market House Corned Beef at Minor and Howell, which we'd driven past about a million times but never stopped at.

Big mistake.

Open for over 60 years, the lunch menu is simple--about five sandwiches, $7.95 each. Take an order form, fill it out, and leave it on the counter top for them to grab while you sit back and watch mounds of corned beef and onions get seared on the stove. (A note: for a cold corned beef sandwich, you don't have to wait, just go to the register.)

We decided to experiment and share, and ordered what was billed as "Seattle's best reuben" (yes, it is) and a brisket sandwich. Both are worth it, though I'd choose the reuben any day. Served with potato salad, a pickle, and, today, a St. Paddy's Day cookie.

Chinook's cioppino is delicious and will rob you of your dignity.

Saturday noon-time my girlfriend and I are discussing where to get seafood for lunch, which has always proved problematic in Seattle, where a proximity to water and a supply of talented chefs rarely seems to result in a decently priced seafood meal. So we decide to bank on a proven commodity—Chinook's at Fishermen's Terminal in Magnolia.

Just to make the drive over a little more exciting, once we're in the car we decide not to map the route using our iPhones and just wing it by memory and luck. We've only lived in Seattle for seven years, which means I've only ever had to go to Magnolia twice: once for our first visit to Chinook's, and once a few years earlier to attend the filming of a hardcore porno.

We take Highway 99 north to the south end of the Aurora Bridge, where we turn off at the sign for the Queen Anne U-Turn, which nevertheless leaves us headed vaguely northwest rather than south. From there, we follow the signs toward Seattle Pacific University until we hit a street called Nickerson that jogs a memory of some sort, and leads us to the MC Escher-designed Ballard Bridge, where—in a rare instance of public art taking precedence over urban efficiency—motorists get to enjoy taking two lefts through an intersection in the sky in order to go straight on the same road. And then you're pretty much at Fishermen's Terminal.

Congratulating ourselves on getting less lost than the last time, when we actually did use Google Maps on an iPhone to get there, we wait for a moment at the front until our waiter comes to seat us. A baby-faced man whose name I later learn is Oliver, he sort of squints at me as he leads us to our table and then asks, "Have I served you before?"

Oliver was, in fact, the man who served us the previous time, and although I'm suspecting this is some sort of gimmick, I compliment Oliver on his memory. Laughing and shaking his head in a self-deprecating manner, he demurs: "Well, you did remember me, too."... (more)

A brief timeout from the important business of war and teh Twitter and high school sports for this bulletin: This Grace Harbor Farms Golden Guernsey yogurt, which they just started selling at Ballard Market and I'm going to assume the other Town & Country markets, is freaking delicious.

Because it's non-homogenized, the cream rises to the top of the yogurt. "You can scoop the cream off and use it like butter, or stir it in," says the package. YES PLEASE!... (more)

They say the pizza in New York City is so good because of the quality of the municipal water used to make the pizza dough. Well, if that is true, then White Center must have some of the best water in the state. I say this because Proletariat Pizza is some of the best I have ever had in my life. Though to be fair, I should point out that I have never been to New York. But based on online reviews, I'm not alone in thinking this way. The pizzas are consistently delicious. I have been back five times now, and not once did I finish eating and think, "It was better last time."

The pizzas are all 18-inch thin crust pies. You can order a 1/2-size of any pizza if a full one is too much. As far as toppings go, you can build your own with most of the traditional fare along with some surprising extras, like Mama Lil's peppers and Spam. However, the signature pies are all pretty good too. Personally I have tried The Favorite (Italian sausage, fresh chopped garlic, Mama Lil's peppers), The Real Hawaiian (pineapple and Spam), Margherita (basil, fresh tomato and fresh mozzarella), and the Cinco. The Cinco is my hands-down favorite, consisting of fontina, provolone, asiago, gorgonzola, and mozzarella cheeses. The full menu can be found on their website.... (more)

Time keeps ticking along, and that means that somehow, though it seems the cozy little bar on Madison just opened its doors, The Bottleneck Lounge is celebrating its third birthday. This past year has brought some changes to the bar, with their expansion into what used to be a barbershop next door, and their latest cocktail menu debuted just last week.  But that kind of change and renewal is all part of growing up.

Tonight's their big birthday party and everybody's invited.  Starting at 8 p.m., there'll be cocktails galore ($1 off everything on the Hair of the Dog Menu) and Skyy Vodka specials all night, not to mention $3 glasses of champagne for the first hour.  Come for the drinks and stay for the party favors--while you're there, be sure to entire to win prizes, including a night's stay at the Ace Hotel in Portland. 

And if you can't make it tonight, no worries; just stop by the Bottleneck tomorrow for the Oscars and wish them many returns.

Ballard's Original Pancake House is part of a nation-spanning, pancake-purveying chain, but you wouldn't know it from the old-school neon sign out front at 80th & 15th Avenue NW. Yelpers are giving it a respectable 3.5 stars, and Urban Spoon likes it 88 percent.

The first impression you get is that they're expecting company: part of the entryway is a large walled-in porch for hordes to take shelter from the weather in before being admitted to the restaurant proper. Our waiter Juliann said the weekends get a little crazy.

Inside is an expanse of tables made of blond wood ("summer camp ambiance" says Ballard Bites), seating Ballardites with sizable appetites who don't demand much from interior design. You can get pancakes, yes, but there's also waffles and crepes for those with a wandering eye. If you want to break all the rules, there's corned beef hash and more. But--and here is where the sizable appetite part comes in--the corned beef hash comes with pancakes. Just when you think you're out! They drag you back in.

The SunBreak Breakfast Team was three this day (Ballard resident Troy J. Morris sat in), and we ordered the Links & Eggs, Corned Beef Hash, and Buttermilk Pancakes (six). The pancakes came solo, but the Links & Eggs and Corned Beef came with a choice of two sides (we went with 3 pancakes and fruit). That, plus two coffees constantly refilled and a Diet Coke, came to $36, plus tip. The Corned Beef Hash was the most expensive option ordered, at $10.95, I believe.... (more)

Yesterday was National Pancake Day according to IHOP, who were offering free pancakes. The crowds of pancake dilettantes meant that was out as a breakfast option. The SunBreak Breakfast Team are not amateurs, however. Our list is deep, and on it is the University Village Burgermaster.

Yelper Ryan sets the Burgermaster breakfast table for you: "It was a whole different scene. Old people sat, reading the newspaper, and the menu was expansive. The Burgermaster I usually go to in Bellevue is a Drive-In only, but this place is an actual restaurant."

I got the short stack, eggs over easy, and bacon; Roger got the short stack, scrambled eggs, and sausage. Both $6.99 (see menu in photo gallery). The serve-yourself Boyd's coffee was...mildly coffee-flavored. We joined a row of mostly men of a certain age, all with the morning paper spread out, at the tables next to the window.

Two retirees shuffled in. One sat down, one kept heading for the order counter, then turned. "You're not gonna eat?" he called to his friend. "You don't eat nothin'. A muffin, what's that?" He paused. "You want somethin'? Well, I'll get ya somethin'."

Burgermaster's pancakes are "fluffy," the high-rising style, and don't come around here trying to peddle your multigrain. My over-easy eggs were cooked just right, but it was hard to discern if actual eggs were involved with Roger's yellow scramble. In compensation, his two greasy brown sausage links had it all over my two dry, chewy slices of bacon. The heat lamp extracts a costly due.

At $6.95, this breakfast runs a little high given the quality, but you are paying for the University Village ambiance, don't forget. And without irony, men of a certain age need all the diner-style breakfast spots they can get.

Today about wraps up our sunny spell. Tomorrow afternoon we return to more conventional Pacific Northwest weather fare. Cliff Mass says, "On Tuesday a weather system will approach with a chance of showers later in the day. Then we switch into a cloudier, wetter pattern...but not too extreme." So if you have an "errand" to run, better get to it. And bring your camera.

You can almost smell the Fernet Branca.

I made it into Tavern Law for the first, belated time last night. The neo-speakeasy with an "encyclopedic drink menu" opened back in August 2009, but I get grouchy in crowds of sightseers, so I kept putting off a visit. That may have been a mistake. Their cocktail list makes for fine reading, and the talent behind the bar is first-rate.

I've been on a Fernet Branca jag for about a year and a half now--purely medicinal--so I asked barman David Nelson for a Kemper House cocktail to begin with. It's a lighter take on Fernet Branca--whose  secret ingredients Jamie Boudreau says include "myrrh, chamomile, cardamom, aloe, gentian, and peppermint [...] definitely saffron"--that in a solicitous way restrains rather than amplifies the crush of bitter flavor.

After a plate of roasted brussel sprouts and turnips (a vegetarian dish, in my mind, with the bacon just as a garnish), I asked David for something else in the Fernet Branca line, adding that I was a fan, by way of encouraging him to throw some high heat.

He delivered a drink in a highball glass, manly looking below (glaciers of ice in a dark, molasses-looking liquid) with a movable feast on top (two dark cherries and an orange twist). Ingredients: Fernet Branca, angostura bitters, rum (Blackstrap?), simple syrup. In theory we were in line for the clandestine upstairs bar, but after we had received our second round of drinks, we all agreed we were not leaving the downstairs bar while David was there.

I didn't recognize the concoction, but I knew I wanted to order it again. I called Zig Zag's Ben Dougherty later to pick his mind about its provenance. "Sounds like a rum version of the Toronto," was his near-instantaneous verdict. This means that I will have to try the Toronto (rye instead of rum) as well. Well, the work is never done.

An expedition to West Seattle for a Lincoln Park getaway led me, on the way back, through the hallowed burger shack doors of Zippy's Giant Burgers. The hallowing has come early, since Zippy's was just born in spring of 2008, but there was no question from day one that the burger shack was a winner. At the moment, they've won over 93 percent of Urban Spoon visitors, and they're a solid four stars on Yelp.

The owners claim to be vegetarians, personally, which might strike you as odd. But then you probably don't charbroil over 85 pounds of hamburger a day. I can see how that might quell your appetite.

My group ordered the Zip Burger ($4.25), Zip Royale ($6.50), and the Zip with bacon and cheese ($5.50). Zippy's is a with-all-the-toppings kind of place: secret sauce, tomatoes, red onions, pickles, iceberg lettuce; but the burger is where they do themselves proud. They grind the chuck fresh each day--no frozen patties allowed. And as the pictures indicate, they taste deeply, smokily of the grill where they were forged.

The interior is tiny, and there's very limited parking in front. Regulars advise ordering by phone (206-763-7347) and getting your order to go at busy times. The guy at the counter was friendly and helpful. Payment is cash-only, but there's a small ATM that--sit down, you won't believe it--charges $0.25 per transaction. (That's right, a quarter. Not $2.50. A quarter! I almost want to go back just for the ATM. It also politely asks if you'd like to check your balance before you withdraw, to prevent overdraft.)... (more)

Seattle's first Hard Rock Cafe, located at 116 Pike Street, is open for business today, as of 11 a.m. Josh and Audrey went on a tour yesterday (see full photo gallery); after the fact, they discussed the tech-heavy new digs, the tons of memorabilia, and the unironically awesome rooftop deck.

The third floor is home to a magnificent roof deck with views of the market and sound and populated with weatherized couches and firepits. This is the feature most likely to make you a Hard Rock Cafe regular.

Josh: Let me begin by saying that before I saw that this place was under construction, I was not entirely aware that the Hard Rock Cafe was still in business, let alone opening new stores. Score one for the themed casual chain dining economy; times aren't as tough as I'd assumed.

Audrey: According to the Hard Rock's Wikipedia page, these are the other cities getting a new Cafe this year: Costa Maya, Los Angeles (Hollywood Blvd), and Krakow. To which I say: Seattle: Slightly More Culturally Advanced Than Krakow. Even Ho Chi Minh City got their Hard Rock last year!

Josh: We had no idea what we were missing! But I wonder if the EMP was strong-arming them out of the city for all of these years?

Audrey: A knife fight between the two awaits for sure. How did the EMP not get custody of Jimi Hendrix's green hat? Which brings us to a very important topic: memorabilia, though everyone at the Hard Rock likes to refer to it as "memo."

Josh: That's what it's all about: the stories. It is also the part of the HRC experience that is kind of baffling. It's as if someone realized one day that the biggest flaw in most museum experiences is the absence of a Hickory BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger on hand. Or, that what most restaurants were lacking were sufficient distractions from the usual dining experience. This is where the revamped HRC really shines. They know that obsessive music fans can be a little introverted.

Audrey : The Hard Rock Cafe seems to be the best place to go if you don't wish to interact with your dining companions (in other words, families on vacation).

Josh: TRUE. So they answer this by setting up those booths with the family/friends/social contact avoidance devices.

Audrey: Why talk as a family if Bobby can be voting on which video should be shown throughout the restaurant, while Mom takes a handheld survey on her dining experience thus far, and Dad is on his phone having a voicemail tour of the objects around him?

Josh: The family that avoids together stays together. Those screens are perfect for the surly teen who doesn't yet have an iPhone/iPad/iPod but still wants to see pictures of "memo" on display in Fiji, where he would have preferred the family take its annual vacay.... (more)

Seattle's first Hard Rock Cafe, located at 116 Pike Street, is open for business today, as of 11 a.m. Josh and Audrey went on a tour yesterday, and here are the photographic results. Here, they chat about what it all means for Seattle.

+Russ brings us this portrait of a statue at Lake View Cemetery. Fresh from our Flickr pool--which is where your photos of Seattle should go, too. Join in!

In honor of screaming chicken day--and the offer of a free Denny's Grand Slam until 2 p.m.--we skipped the potential clustercluck at Seattle's one Denny's and headed to IHOP #612, the venerable 24-hour establishment (950 E Madison) now, the sign informed us, under new management.

The SunBreak breakfast team--RvO and MvB--came equipped with a Seattle Times to flip through and a reasonable appetite to satisfy. We hadn't experienced the old management, but new management was running a tight ship, to our eyes. Tables were clean and fully stocked, and our waiter Victoria stuck to us like maple syrup on a waffle. Granted, only two other tables were seated.

"I'm disappointed with the feeble sports coverage in a major U.S. metro area," announced Roger, brandishing the Times, to which Victoria responded, "You and me both." Placated, Roger ordered a Two by Two by Two (eggs, pancakes, bacon/sausage). I got the Rooty Tooty Fresh 'n' Fruity (essentially the Two by, but with two bacon and two sausage, and fruit on the pancakes).

Both were under $10, but I should note that "all you can eat" pancake offerings start at $4.99.

The market had climbed back to the sunny side of 10,000. Our pot of coffee was bottomless. The eggs were over easy. The pancakes, fluffy. The whipped cream on top of the cinnamon apple compote towered Everest-like. It seemed unlikely that much of it was, by any stretch of the imagination, healthy. I only wished I had ordered a side of toast to mop up the eggs.

Over the weekend I stopped in at the Varsity for District 13: Ultimatum, which gave me the chance to eat at Ruby's, closed for renovation the last time I visited the Ave. Just across the street from the Post Office, Ruby's used to look like a dorm basement that had fallen on bad times, but after being turned on to the rice bowls, I learned to ignore the sketchiness (which makes me just like 78 percent of visitors, I guess).

A few months after renovation, I almost didn't dare walk in. Why would such an upscale-seeming spot be serving my delicious rice bowls? A full bar gleamed. The lights were low. I was seated (another first!) and ordered a Manny's while I perused the menu. The tables, happily, were still mismatched.

There was a red coconut curry rice bowl (with pineapple) that caught my eye at first, but eventually I settled on the yellow curry dahl. "We're out of spinach," the bartender/waiter told me. I fixed him with the van Baker stink-eye. "I guess we could use some of the fresh spinach for the salads," he said, displaying a sterling brand of adaptability. Ah, problem solved. In a few minutes, a bowl as big as my head, piled high with curried rice, potatoes, and spinach was plunked down. You can choose your carne (or tofu) and the price varies accordingly. My chicken version came to $9. Lamb I seem to recall being $11? There's also salmon, in between, price-wise.

"2009.276 - One Drink Too Many" by Shawn McClung, via the SunBreak Flickr pool.

Men's Health is set to publish their annual list of "America's Drunkest Cities" in the upcoming March issue.  For whatever reason, they don't have the new list up on the website just yet, but they've released their results to the rest of the media (full list here, care of yesterday's the USA Today). 

Denver has been stripped of its "Drunkest" crown, but the majority of the top ten are still located in the West, with the bottom ten mostly being in the East (one exception: those Mormons in Salt Lake City, of course).  Seattle comes in as the 64th-drunkest city, with Portland out-drinking us at #40.  The rankings come from stats like "death rates from alcoholic liver disease, booze-fueled car crashes, frequency of binge-drinking in the past month, number of DUI arrests, and severity of DUI penalties."  See the Men's Health website for a more in-depth explanation of the data they use. 

And while you're there, check out the map of last year's rankings.  It's confusing and counterintuitive, but consider the numbers in a backwards fashion--so Denver, last year's #1 drunkest city, shows up with an overall rank of #100.  Or as Men's Health puts it: "For the overall ranking, a lower ranking is better. That is, a city ranked No. 17 is less drunk than one ranked No. 89. For the individual criteria, however, a higher ranking is better. So a city ranked No. 92 for DUI has fewer drunk-driving arrests each year than a city ranked No. 3."

In that case, last year Seattle came in at #79 (the 21st-drunkest city) and Portland was right there with us at #80 (the 20th-drunkest city).  So Portland is now twenty slots less drunk than in last year's survey, and Seattle's moved down the drunken list past a whopping 43 cities?  I'll drink to that.

Generally speaking, I avoid beer festivals. They're always crowded, usually overpriced, and often the beer list isn't all that different from the top two shelves found in one of the many beer shops around town. Belgianfest, however, took no arm-twisting at all for my attendance.

Twenty-five Washington breweries--an impressive figure on its own--came together for one day to showcase a common love: Belgian beer. To have this many breweries on hand offering up their take on over fifty different Belgian style beers is a dream come true. And to top it off, also in attendance were Dante's Inferno Dogs, Bluebird Homemade Ice Cream, and oh-my-god-amazing Sweet Iron Waffles.

First, the space. The Engine Room at Georgetown Studios (the original Rainier Brewery in Georgetown) was the perfect space for this festival--a large, airy room with sky-high ceilings and lofty windows filling the festival with natural sunlight. This made the crowd only more happy to be here.

The only downside to this festival was the epic fail of restroom planning. Hundreds of people drinking ten healthy samples each of beer equates to a hell of a lot more than the two single-stall restrooms on the premises. Luckily, the Jules Maes Saloon across the street was very accommodating to the folks who simply could not wait to do their business. To their credit, the organizers did realize the error of their ways and ordered up a truckload of porta-potties for the evening session.... (more)

Ah, breakfast. It sits right at the heart of mealtime ironies: widely considered essential for a healthy day and almost universally skipped by everyone beyond the age of ten.

The gap between importance and neglect is probably due to a traditionally narrow range of breakfast options. Let’s face it, not much has changed in the morning meal in the centuries since someone discovered that an egg can be scrambled, fried, boiled and beaten, and bacon and sausage come from our friend the pig.

So it came as a pleasant surprise when our friends at vegetarian-oriented Café Flora invited us in to try out their new breakfast menu, now being served every day during the week, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with their always popular brunch still going strong during the weekend.

The restaurant has been serving weekday breakfast since the beginning of the new year, and MvB and I, who sampled the Flora breakfast menu this morning, were told that business is steadily growing.

The coffee, from Stumptown, was the perfect eye opener. Michael remarked that it was hard to tell it was drip. The compact breakfast menu features seven items, four egg scrambles, a breakfast quesadilla, biscuits and gravy, and an old-world-style porridge served with dried fruit and almonds. The menu also includes a fruit parfait, a cinnamon roll, and a fresh pastry.... (more)

I believe the Pale Ale standard was set back around 1990 (like so much local rock music) by Sierra Nevada's now-classic green label offering. So it's with a mix of skepticism and excitement that I greet any new Pale—even those originating in the beervana that is the PNW. Append Pyramid Brewing Co.'s name to the style and I'm even more divided.

The Seattle-born macro-micro has done IPA, Hefeweizen, and apri-hefe amazingly well for years—setting standards of its own—but its other labels, especially seasonals, are either less memorable or short-lived. (Curve Ball was once a Kolsch; Coastline died; Broken Rake died; etc.) So, Pyramid's new spring brew, Fling Pale Ale?

Sounds like an advertisement of its tightrope existence.

The press release claims, amid its loquacious superlatives, "a big, fresh hop nose followed by the perfect blend of malt sweetness and hop bitterness." And hey, it nails the latter half. I didn't detect much of any aroma after popping an advance bottle, but Fling does piggyback a very nice, crisp hop bite on an initially, briefly, sweet flavor. The first few swallows didn't do much for me, but a lingering, tongue-coating bitterness grew stronger with each (modest) gulp.... (more)