Pike Place Market

The Big List of Valentine's Day Dinner Options

Valentine's day is just around the corner. I put together a list of some of the Valentine's Day dining options. Make your reservations quick. Come on, before it's too late.

Volterra
5411 Ballard Avenue, Seattle
A four course meal for $65 plus 20% gratuity and sales tax
(206)789.5100

0/8 Seafood Grill and Twisted Cork Wine Bar, 900 Bellevue Way, Bellevue
The soft, acoustical guitar from Angelo Pizarro will serenade the dining room and create the perfect mood for lovers.
(425) 637-0808

Ponti Seafood Grill
3014 3rd Ave.N
5 course menu
$70 per person exclusive of beverage, tax and gratuity.

Valentine's day dinner for the vegetarian at Cafe Flora
2901 E. Madison St., Seattle
45$ per person, tax included
(206) 329-9100

Icon Grill, 1933 Fifth Ave., Seattle
Have a romantic dinner and some decadent desserts ....


Sorrentino
2128 Queen Anne Ave. N
50$
Highlight: Fettuccine with salmon & peas & Ravioli with rose-petal ricotta & pomegranate seeds
206-694-0055

How to Cook a Wolf
2208 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle
5-courses and a glass of prosecco for $65/person
(206) 838-8090

Union
1400 First Avenue, Seattle
The 7-course menu is $95/person

The Oceanaire
1700 7th Ave, Seattle
Chef Eric Donnelly will be creating a number of special items for the special occasion.
206-267-2277

His and Hers' Desserts from Purple Café and Wine Bar
Examples...
His: Chocolate Hazelnut Cigar with Brandy Anglaise, Chocolate hazelnut roulade cake, rolled in chocolate, covered in cocoa nibs, drenched in a liquor sauce
Hers: Honey Panna Cotta with Raspberry & Rose Champagne Sauce, Creamy panna cotta filled with a raspberry mousse, drizzled with a rose champagne sauce, sprinkled with toasted options

Valentine's beer lover's dinner at Pike Brewing Company
Full dinner and lots of beer (sneak peak: Pike Chocolate Salami).
Beer only(65$+tax and tip)
Wine or beer(75$+tax and tip)
206 622 6044

Troiani Ristorante Italiano, 1001 Third Ave, Seattle
206.624.4060

Valentine's Day Dinner at Tavolàta
2323 Second Avenue, Seattle
Tavolàta will be offering a 5-course menu in the dining room for
$65/person.
(206) 838- 8008

Valentine's dinner for a great price- $79.99 per couple(excluding tax and tip)
Zephyr Grill & Bar, 240 W. Kent Station St. #104, Kent

35th Street Bistro
709 N. 35th St, Seattle
Five-course prix fixe menu will be offered from 5 p.m. for $65 exclusive of beverage, tax and gratuity. Vegetarian options are available as well as optional wine pairings ($35).
206-547-9850.

Beato
West Seattle at 3247 California Avenue SW
special five-course tasting menu for $70 per person, With wine pairings, the cost is $90

Live music and latin love feast at the Palace Ballroom
2030 Fifth Ave, Seattle
Early Show
$105 (plus gratuity and tax) per person and includes entertainment, 3 flights of tapas, dessert, and 1 drink.
Late Show
$55 (plus gratuity and tax) and includes entertainment, 1 flight of tapas, dessert, and 1 drink.
For Reservations contact Christina Logman 206.448.2001 or click here for more info

For those who don't like the crowd on Valentine's Day, the celebration continues.....

Sunday, February 17
Sweetheart Brunch at Waterfront Seafood Grill
2801 Alaskan Way, Pier 70, (206) 956-9171
For $150 per couple, enjoy a bottle of bubbly and roses at the table, the restaurant's spectacular view, live New Orleans flavored jazz and an interesting menu.
2801 Alaskan Way, Pier 70, (206) 956-9171

Post-Valentine's Day Lunch at Rover's, $50 (Valentine's day is booked)
2808 E. Madison, Seattle
Menu will feature amuse bouche, 3-course lunch, champagne and mignardises. Wine, tax, and gratuity are not included.

If you have more options, please add them in the comments section.


Last Week before the deadline for Greek Gods Yogurt Contest, click here for more details.

Wine Dinner at Columbia Tower Club.

Check out this wine event.... Friday, February 1st

Fifth Annual Platinum Wine Dinner at Columbia Tower Club

Eric Degerman, Associate Editor of Wine Press Northwest and his panel of judges chose
fifteen Platinum Wines from the Pacific Northwest.

Braiden Rex Johnson, Wine Press Northwest columnist and author of Pacific Northwest Wining and Dining, will be available throughout the evening to sign her new book.

The wine dinner begins at 6 p.m. with a wine and hors d’oeuvre reception.
Seating is at 7 pm.
A five-course dinner paired with five wines, prepared by Executive Chef James Hassell. Tickets are available to nonmembers for $130, plus tax and gratuity, including a one-year subscription to Wine Press Northwest. For reservations and more information, call the Columbia Tower Club at (206) 622-2010.

Food TV For Seattle Bloggers

I videotaped each blogger's dish at the Food Blogger Event. Here they are!

Here is the Yemenite pita that I made from the recipe found in the December issue of Gourmet.
Lachooch

I made Iraqi Style Kuba, looks bad but tastes good

Sweet Potato Pancakes, Labane,Lachooch and Zaatar

Winewall

Anticiplate


Herbivoracious(listen to Michael's daughter saying "I want some water).


Italian Woman at The Table


Listen to Ronald from Cornichon give tips on Italian Cocktails and where to buy cheap wine.

Cakespy

Madeleine

Seattle Food Bloggers Event

All the recipes had been building up inside, the food obsessiveness was starting to show exterior signs, the foodie twinkle in our eyes was starting to shine, our mouths were watering waiting for the next dish and most of all we needed other food obsessed bloggers to assure us that it is okay to immerse yourself in the food obsession.
It was time to release all the foodie tension. What a better way to do it? Another food blogger event!
This time we had a potluck brunch. Michael from Herbivoracious brought a white bean salad with grilled onions and his gorgeous daughter.
Chef Paul Redman and Helen Redman of Winewall brought country style pate made of pork from a pig that Paul actually butchered himself.
Kari of Anticiplate brought a fig and goat cheese crostini and her taste tester husband Eric.
Catherine from the Madeleine was a little late because she was taking her dish out of the oven, Saffron Fideos con Chorizo y Piquillos en Cazuela (Spanish Macaroni & Cheese). Her hubby Ken has all the tasting qualifications since he has worked as a chef himself.
Mr and Mrs Cakespy brought fruit scones and some of Mrs. Cakespy's uber-cute artwork. Candace of Italian Woman at the Table brought biscotti with chocolate chips.
Ronald of Cornichon made Italian Cocktails for everyone. Actually he set up his own little bar which was just what we needed to wash down the the gargantuan amounts of food. Not a blogger, but foodie, Lucy Mohl of Crosscut brought roasted beets from Porcella Urban Market.
I brought Iraqi Jewish style kube which are meat filled semolina dumplings and Orna and Ella Sweet Potato Pancakes. I also made Labaneh, a yogurt cheese.
My hubby made Lachooch, a Yemenite bread that is a pancaky flatbread with a sour taste. We had a few little raffles for prizes, a gift exchange and a supertasting contest. I am working on uploading videos of all the dishes so hopefully in a few days I will succeed to put them up. All in all the eatoggers(people who eat to blog and blog to eat), had a great time and love was in the air!



Seattle Food Bloggers meet up once a month for a foodie event. If you have a blog and want to be added to the list, please send me an email to Kerenlovestocook@gmail.com.

Boots in Cheese at Beecher's

A while ago, I posted that I would love to stomp in the cheese at Beecher's while wearing yellow boots. Dreams do come true! Actually, pretty close. So I don't have yellow boots but I have these blue and white ones.
Yes, I got to put my feet in the cheese, actually in the leftover milk that was going through the drain on the floor(it felt so warm).
Did you really think that they would let me stomp in the cheese?
The place was squeaky clean which I didn't expect. I always imagine that behind the scenes you find out about some nasty hygiene secrets that you weren't aware of. Nope, not here. The only secret here is that you could probably eat of the floor.

The people were extremely friendly. Brad, the head cheese maker made sure that I felt like a part of the cheese making family.




My dream came true! I got to witness the cheese making process.

Here is my Beecher's Story. I hope that the pictures tell it all.

The Big Cheese: Beecher's Flagship Cheese, a cheese made of Gruyere and Cheddar cheese cultures(this is the cheese that they made that day). Read more here.


Meet the Cheese makers.....
There is Blaine. Blaine studied communications at Arizona State University.
He worked in the fish section of the market and decided to move into the cheese direction. He couldn't handle the dirty looks that he would get for smelling like fish on the bus. He loves making cheese and invests all his passion into the cheese.

There is Bjorn. He studied molecule biology at Washington State University. He has a unique choice in music and a real love for cheese.


This Cloth is used to filter any debris or grass from the milk.




The Test
This test checks for antibiotics in the milk. The test looks like a pregnancy test, a certain color comes up if antibiotics are found in the milk.
If antibiotics are found, all the milk is dumped and the farmer gets in trouble. The
farmer then finds the cow responsible for this. Poor cow!

Cheese Components

1)Pasteurized whole cow's milk
2)Cultures
3)Rennet- used to thicken milk(they used a vegetable based Rennet)
4)Salt- They used kosher salt(large grains of salt)

Cheese Fact: Ten thousand pounds of milk makes about one thousand to eleven hundred pounds of cheese.

In the pictures, you can watch the cheese change textures(say it fast, 10 times).
I started my day at 8 A.M but the ingredients really transformed into cheese at around noon.
That's it, now you know the secret. The best time to peek through the window is at noon or 12:30 when you can really get a glimpse of the action.
You can grab a serving of the World's Best Macaroni and Cheese and sit right in front of the window to savor the beauty of the cheese.
Being inside was really interesting, I felt like a fish in a tank. Everyone stared as they walked by. Oh and from one angle, there is a machine in the way. So all I could see were jeans lined up on the window. I couldn't see the people's upper bodies or heads. I wanted to take a picture but I didn't want to scare the people away.

After a day of cheese, only one thing was on my mind. Poutine. Since I grew up in Montreal, I am used to eating big plates of fries, drowned in gravy and covered in melted cheese curds. I guess I'll get some Beecher's curds this week and make myself some Canadian comfort food or maybe I'll head to the Steelhead Diner where they serve Poutine made from Beecher's Curds.
Beecher's Handmade Cheese
1600 Pike Place
Seattle, Washington 98101
206.956.1964

When Food Obsessed Crazies Get Together- Seattle Food Blogger Dinner

After two weeks of planning the day finally arrived. The Food Blogger Dinner was an extensive menu of foodies all under the roof of Quinn's, the restopub created by the owners of Zoe, Chef Scott Staples and his wife Heather.
Some of the foodies had to cancel because there is a terrible flu going around. All I can say is that the round up was nothing short of the perfect amuse bouche. A combination of blogalicious flavors and lots of amazing bouche action, in other words: excessive foodie chatter.

The Menu:

Italian: Candace Dempsey from Italian woman at the table is proof that food bloggers can be great friends even before they actually meet. We have become close merely by reading each other's blogs and she gave me a beautiful present, a huge amount of Tunisian saffron leaving me feeling like a queen holding a stash of gold. Candace is currently teaching a food writing course online,
a great opportunity to get a bite of her expertise. You can also find her in The Seattle PI, right next to my Frantic Foodie blog.

Vegetables: What would a dinner be without the best choice of seasonal vegetables.
Michael Natkin from Herbivoracious knows how to turn vegetables into a meal with motivating dishes and story-telling pictures.
His glorification of vegetarianism actually motivated me to create my birthday dinner without an ounce of meat.

Cornichon. What would life be without the saltiness of a Cornichon. Ronald Holden of Cornichon needs no introduction.You can find him in Seattlest and in Delicious City as well.
Don't expect Ronald to hold back if he doesn't like your food, pity is not his thing. He speaks out with plenty of sarcasm and manages to write about virtually every food related event around.

SEX: Ha, I got your attention. You can count on Jay Friedman for an original take on sex education comparing women to crock pots(slow cooking) and men to microwave ovens(heat up fast)in the sexual arousement area. You can catch his food writing in Seattlest. Decadent!

Menu:
Now what is a restaurant without a menu. Katrin Rippel specializes in menu translation and other cultural issues associated with food. She has worked as a chef in restaurants and knows the food world from behind the scenes.

The Gastrognome:What would an event be without someone to eat and tell? Naomi Bishop tells is like it is on her blog, Gastrognome where her keen palate shows through. She also works as a Marketing Coordinator at Chow Foods.



Food Writing: Now comes Anne Beckham, writer and editor at Antioch University. She wooed us with her food stories especially the one where she got to travel to Jordan. That is where her friendship with Candace started and I have one word to say. Lucky!

Stick a Fork in it: Rachel Belle is a reporter who also co-hosts Stick a Fork in it, where she reviews food in a unique, comical and interesting way. You can download the shows online. Now you know why it took me so long to post this.

We also had a gift exchange where people got interesting second-hand cookbooks, hand made chocolates by Katrin herself and some other foodie products.

Quinn's was the perfect choice for the dinner. The place had a positive vibe, a kind of bistro meets chic lacking the pretentiousness sometimes found at places with great food. I ordered the 8.oz snake river farms wagyu beef burger with cheddar, bacon and fries. I ordered this after reading on food forums that this is a a generous pick. I was ridiculously hungry. It sure was. The burger was tender and the bun! Oh my, the bun! It was kind of sweet, a combination between a brioche and a doughnut. There were lots of fries. One fellow foodie remarked that all he could see were fries from across the table. That's because I devoured the hamburger, buddy.
My hubby ordered the cheese plate, the rabbit pate and the pear salad, endive, frise, green beans and stilton. Everything tasted marvelous. I am already planning my next visit. I am curious to see the Quinnesque take on a Sloppy Joe(Yes, Ronald) and fish and chips.
The prices were quite reasonable which you can see on the menu.

The next blogger event will be in a few weeks so if you want to be invited, this is the time to send me an email. I got so many emails from people the night of the event which was too late. Kerenlovestocook@gmail.com

For another take on the dinner Herbivoracious.

Quinn's
1001 East Pike Street
206 325 7711

Seattle Food And Wine Festival

Yesterday I decided to stop by the Seattle Food and Wine Show. The teacher traits in me suddenly emerged. I felt like saying " you have so much potential. Too bad you are not fulfilling your potential". This city is packed with foodies just looking for some new food ideas. Unfortunately, there were not enough products to taste, not enough booths and just not enough of anything! I have to admit that the list of
chef demos was pretty impressive though.
Some interesting finds..........

1. Poggio la Noce, A great tasting organic olive oil. It can be found at McCarthy and Shiering .
2. Tasty and cute handcrafted chocolates from Cantare Chocolate Company.
3. Kagome Juice- A sweet tasting juice that is made with veggies. Try the Yellow Mango Orchard.
4. New cooking videos by Sizzleworks cooking school. Formerly known as Rain City Cooking school. Instructional videos like poultry 101.
5.Oil and Vinegar- Interesting flavored oils and vinegars. All the oils and vinegars can be sampled at the store in Bellevue square.

Nigella in Seattle

Hey foodies,
Just a reminder: Nigella Lawson will be signing books in Seattle tomorrow. November 13. If you don't have time to go then you can catch her on Northwest Afternoon.

Correction: The taping will be tomorrow but the show will air another day. You can call and still get tickets to see the taping.

Dine Around Seattle

The Seattle restaurant promotion is back again this month. You can enjoy a 3 course dinner for 30 dollars. Last time it was 25 dollars! I guess the 5 dollar difference won't hurt anyone.
Plus, this time there are more restaurants to choose from.
Some of the places have lunch for 15 dollars as well.
The promotion started November 1st and ends Nov 29 th(Sunday through Thursday).

Beecher's Cheese

I was walking around the market on a really hot day. Yes, this happened in Seattle. I decided that it's time to grab a snack. I got this Beecher's cheese stick and Flagship tomato soup, which is also made with cheese. What a combination! Perfectly dunkable dough infused with the aroma of cheese paired with a slightly cheesy tomato soup. Then I eyed the new book on the counter that contains the recipe for the " World's Best Macaroni and Cheese".
The book titled "Pure Flavor" was written by Kurt Beecher Dammeier. For more details on the book, read this post in Cornichon. So back to the mac and cheese. I tried to sneak a peak at the recipe, cheese stick in hand. I was ready to challenge anyone who dared to bother me in the process,sneaking peak after peak trying to make it unnoticeable. Then I looked into the window and saw the machines creating cheese. My A.D.H.D mind was on another path, imagining how much fun it would be to put on yellow rain boots and play in the cheese. The truth is I don't remember anything about the Macaroni and Cheese recipe so I guess I'll just have to get the book. Another proud moment in Seattle, we got the big cheese.
Word!

Chateau Ste. Michelle Winemaker Dinner at Icon Grill August 30

6:00 PM
There will be a question and answer with Chateau Ste. Michelle Winemaker, Bob Bertheau, and moderated by Sommelier David LeClaire.
Free

7:00 PM
The guests can move upstairs to the Icon's private dining room for dinner.
Cost is 79$ not including tax and gratuity.

Executive Chef Nick Musser's menu includes:
Green Peppercorn Duck Pate En Croute with summer vegetable salad
Eroica Riesling 2006
Chile Cured Bacon Wrapped Seabass with creamed lobster and sweet corn
Chateau Ste. Michelle Canoe Ridge Estate Chardonnay, Horse Heaven Hills 2005
Venison Tenderloin with Manchego and barley risotto, black currant jus and grilled delicata squash
Ethos Syrah 2004
Basil Sorbet Stuffed Heirloom Tomato with Micro Greens
Sweet Goat Cheese Tart with almond-shortbread crust and summer berries
Kobe Beef Sirloin with Stilton bleu cheese and Yukon Gold potato gratin, roasted sweet onion and mushroom demi glace
Château Ste. Michelle Artist Series Meritage 2004
For reservations, Icon Grill at (206) 441-6330

I Found this via Randall Pr

Art of the Table

Seattle foodies come together. The Art of the Table has a great restaurant concept,
communal dining.

The Weekend Supper Club
A dinner with guests sitting together. Every supper has a different theme. A great
way to meet other guests who like to eat while savoring a dinner composed of local ingredients.
48 dollars for a four course meal.

Sounds great, doesn't it?

Kirkland Uncorked 2007
July 13 - 15Th

Another food event close to Seattle. Wow, this summer is going to be a food fest. This time Kirkland's living it up! There will be food demonstrations, wine sampling, artist demonstrations, art for sale and of course all this next to the Kirkland waterfront. What a great way to enjoy the heat wave!
Admission is free! Tasting garden admission is 25 dollars in advance and 20 dollars at the door. Price includes a souvenir wine glass , 5 wine tastings or food sampling tickets.
For more info.......