Seattle Foodies

Cantinetta waits for unsuspecting foodies.

Some people are saying Cantinetta’s Chef Brian Cartenuto has lost his mind. But it might be more accurate to say that he merely went nuts. I leave it to you to decide. (Caution: the following is a true story.)

For our June First Friday Lunch Club, Cantinetta generously agreed to open their dinner-only restaurant for a special lunch event. They sent a mouth-watering sample three-course menu, promised they could do it for only 25 bucks, and then cautioned (in hindsight, this was the first sign of trouble) that Brian wouldn’t settle on the menu until the day, so he could take advantage of what would be in and fresh that very morning.

The first wave builds in the kitchen.

Spurred by the double-whammy of Cantinetta’s tweets to their dedicated following and Lorna Yee’s blurb in Seattle Magazine, a record-shattering number of foodies came. The restaurant filled. New friends met. Eating stories were shared. Spirits were high. And none of us saw it coming.

Soon we were seated and the food started coming. And coming. But it wasn’t three courses. Heck, the first course alone had more than three courses. It was more like three waves. Except the second wave had three waves. And all of it impossibly delicious. It went like this:

ANTIPASTI

Shaved fennel salad, oil-cured olives, tangerines, fennel pollen

Green beans, anchovy vinaigrette, hard-boiled eggs

Grilled asparagus risotto

Insalata mista

PASTA

Veal francobolli (veal brains stuffed pasta envelopes)

Ricotta ravioli, tomato fondutta

Golden beet pansotti, arugula, pine nuts

CONTORNI

Braised greens, pancetta

Roasted cauliflower, 15-year balsamic, grana

SECONDI

Grilled Painted Hills teres major (beef shoulder tender), 15-year balsamic, sea salt

DOLCE

Lemon panna cotta, blackberry sauce

Chocolate ricotta tart

A thrilling food tsunami, so we ate and ate. Then ate some more. I could try to describe the deep flavors of the fennel and olives and tangerines in that fruity olive oil, the crisp beans and eggs richened with anchovy vinaigrette, tender just-made pastas, and on and on, but I would quickly run out of superlatives. Yet it seems insufficient to say it was completely unexpected and enormously satisfying. The pictures speak volumes, so click on any one to jump into the slideshow (huge thanks to foodie Bruce for taking most of them).

Eventually, after the waves receded, the electron cloud in the kitchen slowly resolved into Brian and his staff. Taking a short pause before spinning back up for dinner service, he deflected our praise and gratitude by explaining that he had simply wanted to give us a sense of what a true Tuscan lunch was like.

So my only question is: Has anyone seen my passport?

To make a bunny hop, you've got to break some eggs.

This is a heady time of year. The sun-warmed soil is bursting with promise, and the thought of all those spring flavors pushing mouth-ward makes me feel like dancing. Problem is, with two left feet (and one usually in my mouth), I’m no dancer.

Apparently, I’m not the first person with that problem. Why else would they have invented the Bunny Hop? Tap your foot, jump gracelessly back and forth, and hang on to someone else for stability. Sounds perfect, except for one thing: there’s no food involved.

So we’re reversing the imbalance on Sunday, May 2nd with Seattle Foodies’ version of the Bunny Hop. Dancing is strictly optional for this culinary plunge into rabbits and eggs, which will lead us through the following wine-paired steps:

rillettes de lapin, spring greens, tarragon mustard, crusty bread

asparagus soup, poached duck egg, pumpernickel

rabbit terrine, crisps, easter egg radishes, pickled baby carrots

wild rabbit ragù, pappardelle, parmigiano reggiano

celery and fennel sorbet intermezzo

rabbit loin, prosciutto, thyme-roasted morels, bay turnip purée, turnip greens

armagnac-braised rabbit, cherries, morello vinegar, almonds

tipsy “peeps,” orange shortbread ganache eggs, lemon “grass”

Of course, we’ll tweak the details to reflect the farmers’ market that week, and select wines with the help of our friends at Pike & Western. (Also note: depending on how many people join, we may need to vote a couple of the above dishes off the island.)

What’s more, we’ll get sharp by organizing a knife skills class on April 25, so we’ll be ready for the new-and-improved prep sessions (this time with “family meals” and wine built in). Check back for the full schedule and detailed plans, and please R.S.V.P. if you’re planning to come (which prep sessions, if any, and how many for dinner). As with all plunges, we’ll divide the cost between diners.

Hope to see you there. But until then, be vewy, vewy quiet . . .

Q: What could possibly be better than Beer Week?

A: Nothing. Excepting ending Beer Week with a whole roasted pig, and eating it one taco at a time.

I’m talking about the Palace Kitchen’s special lunch on May 22. Think green garlic guacamole, lime crema, pickled red onions, tomatillo salsa, jicama slaw, and handmade tortillas. Oh, and roast pork. And maybe even some beer (or wine, or whatever).

Seattle Foodies is reserving a block of 20 30 seats. We’ll start at noon. Tacos are three bucks each.

So now you know. Just let us know how many seats you’d like, before we run out!

I woke up this morning still a bit depressed at having missed Mobile Chowdown III this weekend. Hardly soothed by reports of too-long chow lines, I am resolved to make it up to my mouth. The solution? Pedro Vargas’ Paladar Cubano sandwich truck on 90th and Aurora, which is reported to have the only authentic Cuban sandwiches in Seattle. I hear they also make a mean cafe Cubano, to get you back in action for the afternoon. (And Foodie Chuck swears by the fried plantains.)

So join us this Friday at 11:45 at 90th and Aurora for a street food fix. Until then, I’ll be day-dreaming about crunchy-crusted Cuban bread, succulent roast pork, salty ham, tangy mustard, oozing cheese, and crisp pickles.

Dahlia does Dim Sum!

As you know, March is Dine Around Seattle month, where restaurants jam with the hubbub of deal seekers. And Dahlia Lounge will be no different, bless their hearts, feeding the masses on the cheap.

But don’t worry. Because Seattle Foodies has your back, you won’t be elbow-to-elbow with the herd for the March First Friday Lunch Club. We’re getting a double dose of exclusive: we’re taking over the private dining room at the Dahlia Lounge, plus we’ll feast on a custom session of dim sum creations from Dahlia’s sous chef (and Lovefest! wizard) Adrienne Lasko!

The drill: arrive at 11:30am on Friday, March 5th, and start gorging. The cost is $25/person (before tax & tip) and includes drinks like coffee, tea, and juice. But go ahead and fortify yourself with additional beverages if you like—they’ll keep track with separate checks.

So finally. Will Seattle have an awesome dim sum joint? You be the judge. Adrienne will be looking for your foodie feedback, so please join us and help shape the future of delicious dim sum in Seattle!

And please R.S.V.P. by next Wednesday so we can get a headcount to Adrienne.

UPDATE: Adrienne just sent this menu proposal:

Soup:

• Family-style congee with all the fixings

Fried:

• Curried samosas
• Shiitake chopsticks
• Five-spice duck wontons

Steamed:

• Eggplant humbao
• Pork momo (dumplings)
• Banana leaf ~ sticky rice

Veggie:

• Chinese broccoli ~ miso hollandaise
• Ginger ~ scallion Hong Kong soba noodles

WOW! Now I am drooling!

Learn how Hank combines lust and chocolate.

Lovefest! is just two weeks away, and we’ve been nailing down the details, schedule, and costs. Adrienne (Dahlia Lounge), Molly (Dahlia Bakery), and Robyn (Tom Douglas Marketing) have generously donated their time and energy as mentors. Seattle Foodie Mitch is letting us invade his gorgeous home. So all that’s left is the fun of learning and doing, eating, and splitting costs ($80 per person for food and alcohol).

So to confirm you’re in, I’ll need four things from you by Tuesday, February 16th:

1. How many you’ll bring to dinner, including yourself (and names for extra credit)
2. Which classes/prep sessions you will attend (not required, but you’ll miss the best part
3. Choose your booze: big pink cocktail, martini (gin or vodka), or some of each
4. Arrange to pay $80 for each person you’re bringing

Some fine print:

• If you’d like something that’s not on the drink menu, feel free to bring it
• Since we’re sharing costs, and we’re buying or committing to buy all the food and supplies starting Wednesday, refunds won’t be possible after Tuesday

Final note: if you absolutely don’t eat raw oysters, sushi, caviar, or tartare, please let me know. We’ll trim those back and bulk up the Bacchus Board with extra cheeses, meats, and breads so you won’t go hungry!

Saturday, February 20th

10:00am – Roses for Little Tarts

• chocolate tart shells
• pinot noir and rose water gelée
• candied rose petals

2:00pm – Raising the Bar

• martinis & big pink cocktails
• fruits and vegetables
• hand-made cultured butter
• infused oils

4:30pm – Oysters and Oh. My. God.

• Adrienne’s oyster class
• mignonettes
• geoducks (for adults only)

Sunday, February 21st

10:00am – Chocolate & Lust

• chocolate class
• luster-dusted bars
• herb-infused truffles
• ganache for tarts

2:00pm – Flesh Pots

• tartare & eggs
• blini
• plin
• staging house and dinnerware

4:00pm – Ritual Madness and Ecstasy

• Bacchus board
• chocolate gift bags

4:59pm – Deep Breath

• cue music

Lovefest!

5:00pm – Reception

5:30pm – On the Beach and In the Raw (with Bubbles)

6:45pm – Rich and Seductive

8:00pm – Hide The Children

9:15pm – Better-Than-Sex Dessert

10:30pm – No Regrets Cleanup

There are limited spots available, so don’t wait!

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we’ll all be getting our hopes up for some love. But don’t let the pressure get to you, because no matter what happens on the 14th, you’re definitely gonna score the following weekend. (Cue music: bow chicka bow wow . . .)

Oysters are just the beginning at Lovefest!

It’s Seattle Foodies Lovefest! Pin a big red heart to your calendar on Sunday, February 21st. We’re planning an evening of aphrodisiac-themed foods, including oysters, caviar, champagne, eggs, lurid vegetables, sumptuous fruits, and, of course, chocolate. And in case that’s not sexy enough, we’ll have a swanky martini bar, too. Just like Poultrygeist, the focus will be on participation and learning (and, of course, eating), so we’ll be doing a pre-fest oyster-shucking school plus a mini-version of Garrett’s chocolate class for those who want to limber up.

So get ready for Lovefest! Love in five easy moves:

On the Beach and In the Raw (with Bubbles)

• Shigokus (the “ultimate”), Kumamotos, Totten Inlet Virginicas, Olympias
• three mignonettes (classic, pink grapefruit & yuzu ice, pickled Meyer lemon)
• geoduck sashimi (plus one live, please touch it)
• the “Bacchus Board” (if you don’t like it raw)
• champagne

Rich and Seductive

• three caviars
• warm blini, cultured fleur-de-sel butter, crème fraîche
• tartare, quail egg
• seed-filled breadsticks (twelve inches!)
• wet martinis, big pink cocktails

Hide The Children

• lurid vegetables
• long, cured meats and olives
• hard nuts, ripe fruits
• pinch me, pork me (pork and chard plin)
• luxurious loaves
• sensuous butters and oils
• seductive wines

Better-Than-Sex Dessert

• herb-infused truffles
• ganache bars with luster dust
• chocolate tarts (yes, of course we’ll use the blow torch!)
• banyuls

Morning After, No Regrets

• truffles and chocolate bar take-home bags

Specific times, locations, and more menu details are in the works, but let us know if you’re interested in joining us. Show up for the party, or dive in with the advance prep. Either way, we’d love to see you there!

Lip-smacking house salumi, Walla Walla onions, Sardegna.

Today the First Friday Lunch Club finally got serious. Not because we clubbed Serious Pie, but this month we did some advance planning (and “research”) with the restaurant manager (Scott) and chef (Gray Brooks). The result was a pre-planned appetizer and pizza tasting that ranged deliciously across (nearly) the entire menu.

But we weren’t too serious. When Grace ordered a glass of wine, the rest of us fell like dominoes (the game, not the abominable pizza). And with wine all-around it was a good thing that the appetizers and pizzas were on autopilot. And what appetizers and pizzas they were.

The apps were rich and generous, filled with a variety of seasonal flavors. Sweet sour winter squash “caponata” (traditional caponata is made with eggplant) with cipollini onions and pine nuts. Cute thumbelina carrots with sage and chunks of ricotta caprina. Even the foods we wanted to hate as kids: Baby beets richened with anchovies, crunchy with pistachios, and brightened with mint. Brussel sprouts with pork belly and crisp croutons. And then there was the crazy good (and crazy fun) toasted apple sandwiches with truffle fonduta for dipping.

We'll have the lot. (Almost.)

Not bad for a warm up. But the pizza . . . well, it’s no wonder Serious Pie’s been in the middle of a snowstorm of accolades recently (One of Seattle Met’s Top Ten Restaurants, Nancy Leson In Lust with Serious Pie, Andrew Zimmern: “easily the best pizza I ate all last year”).

One reason, and my favorite thing about Serious Pie, is that they don’t “break” the cheese. Most places load up uncooked pizza dough with toppings and cheese, slam the whole mess in the oven, and cook it til the crust is done. The result? The cheese goes beyond melt and breaks, just like a bad mayonnaise. The oil-and-milk-solid emulsion separates, leaving greasy pools of oil soaking the pizza (and your hand). Serious Pie cooks their crusts and toppings first, and adds the cheese for the last minute or so. The result? Creamy, melted cheese goodness. At Summer Camp 2008, we did a side-by-side taste test. The broken cheese was a disgusting mess compared to the rich, velvety cheese-done-right. (Other pizza joints, please, pretty please take note!)

My other favorite thing about Serious Pie is the fantastic flavor combos. Cherry bomb peppers and sweet fennel sausage. Roasted chanterelles and truffle cheese. Penn cove clams, house pancetta, and lemon thyme. House salumi, Walla Walla onions, and Sole de Sardegna cheese. Guanciale, soft egg, and arugula. Delicata squash, garlic, and gorgonzola lucifero (with chili peppers). They speak for themselves. And none of which, by the way, are allowed to make the crust soggy. (Other joints, pretty please?)

I’m drooling.

As if things couldn’t get better, we welcomed two Christinas and Kathy as new-comers to the Club. Next month we’ll be lunching on December 4. So just holler if you’d like to join us!

Reducing a pint of dry sherry with butter and shallots.

It was raining, of course. A day for ducks. And a fitting start for Poultrygeist, our pre-Halloween celebration feast of all things duck. I mean, why do the kids get to have all the treats? The plan was simple: a seven-course, wine-paired dinner for twenty-four people. Add a sorbet intermezzo. Throw in a pumpkin-carving contest with alcohol-based prizes. In case that’s not scary enough, put the whole thing completely in the hands of amateurs. Still not frightened? Create most of the recipes ourselves. And then invite Tom Douglas, his business partner and Executive Chef Eric Tanaka (“E.T.”), his marketing manager Robyn, and several more of his chefs, just to raise the stakes.

Now that sounds like fun. (Or, I need a drink.) But first we’ll need a few groceries. Like five Moulard, two Muscovy, and two Pekin ducks. Eight more pounds of Moulard duck breasts. Five dozen duck eggs. A tub of duck fat. A case of blood oranges. And a couple cases of wine.

Roulades nestled in butter, herbs, and mirepoix.

Although, we started two weeks ago, we dug in Friday afternoon at Bruce’s house to get the roulade out of the way. Meaning “roll,” it’s a time-consuming dish that starts with skinning a couple ducks, boning them out, and grinding, chopping, and stuffing everything in the skin to be poached in a pound of butter and herbs. While that was in the oven, we finished the duck liver paté and turned the two carcasses into a brown duck stock. Not a bad start.

On Saturday we moved the work party to Becky’s home, and with a larger crew, the real heavy lifting began. Holly dove into a “ripening” tray of duck fat to retrieve our previously made confit legs, and working the wings into rillettes. Jordan took on the blistering work of cleaning out twenty sugar pie pumpkins. Becky made, broke, fixed, broke, fixed, and again broke a lemon ginger duck-fat mayonnaise before we decided to trim that unstable emulsion from the menu. We took a well-deserved “family meal” break to devour Trina’s salmon frittata and some duck sliders Bruce made from the leftover roulade stuffing.

A platoon of duck sliders. At ease, soldiers.

Back at the grinder, Dana transformed the Moulard breasts into fifty sliders (mini burgers). Trina made cherry jam, perfected her blood orange martini, and finished Chuck’s Asian plum sauce with homemade blood orange marmalade to pair with the ducks Bruce was packing with spices and more blood oranges for roasting Sunday. Most of the sauces, garnishes, and dressings made, or nearly completed. Fresh pasta mixed and resting in the fridge. Shallot rings and sage leaves fried in duck fat. Cracklings crisped. Cranberry, blood orange, thyme sorbet frozen. To finish the day, pear sabayon, spiced pears, and duck brittle.

Sunday was the final push. Ducks on the rotisserie. Breasts seared off and sliced. Beans for the roulade simmered with the brown stock, and the resulting broth reduced all the way down to finish a mustard sauce. Confit jelly coins. Twenty-five duck egg yolk raviolos. Menus printed, house decorated. Wine pairings ready (by maniacal foodie Kyle at Pike and Western). And everything portioned and ready for service, just in time for guests to begin arriving.

So how did it turn out? Click on the photos to start the slide show, and see for yourself.

(Huge thanks to Bruce for providing many of the photos.)

Poultrygeist is almost here!

When Chuck’s chickens stage a haunted coop, you know Poultrygeist is so close it’s scary.

The mayhem will continue at Becky’s this Sunday, with our day of mise Saturday. Can’t think of a costume idea? An apron or chef’s hat will do. Or follow my example and wear a body-sized bib.

Here’s how it’s shaping up (costumes not required):

• reception: five-spice duck lettuce wraps, cilantro, plum sauce, sechuan pepper salt
• scary sugar pie pumpkin carving contest (categories: creative, scary, fun, elaborate, duck)
• duck roulade, cannellini beans, brown mustard sauce
• three preserves: crisped confit, rillettes, paté, toasts, greens, warm duck vinaigrette
• duck-egg raviolo, lemon sage butter, magret prosciutto, fried sage leaves
• sorbet (cranberry, blood orange, thyme)
• duck meatball sliders (2 sauces, sweet pickle chips)
• seared duck breast, red wine reduction, kale (duck cracklins), duck-finished thyme potatoes
• sabayon, pear, duck brittle
• pumpkin-carving awards – bottles of arancello (limoncello’s orange cousin)
• take-home bags (prosciutto, duck fat, confit)

See you there!