Your Daily Dose of Food News, Events and Must-Read Miscellany
1. Brimmer & Heeltap officially opened in the late Le Gourmand/Sambar space in Ballard. The bar-meets-bistro from former Joule/Revel chef Mike Whisenhunt and Jen Doak has been serving patrons during a soft opening for the past two weeks or so. Veggies, seafood and meats are available in small or large portions for sharing, plus a late-night menu featuring pickled oyster shooters and cauliflower salad gets going nightly at 10:00 pm. We got a sneak preview and highly recommend the Chinese-style vegetarian baked buns filled with kabocha squash, walnut and seaweed crumble and glazed with carmelized sherry. Ditto the braised turnips, broiled pork shoulder and the chocolate mousse parfait with earl grey crumble. Hours may expand down the road, but for now Brimmer & Heeltap will be open from 5:00 pm to midnight every day except Tuesday.
2. In honor of National Popcorn Day this Sunday, KuKuRuZa is selling all eats and merch for 15 percent off both in-stores and online. And starting February 7, when you fill a heart-shaped tin with a seasonal V-Day flavor like Tuxedo (caramel corn drizzled with dark and white chocolate) you’ll also receive a free flight bag of Dark Chocolate Kettle Corn or Black Raspberry popcorn.
3. Victoria, B.C.-based Eat Magazine rounded up picks from Seattle food folk for its new “Ask A Local Expert” series. The Herbfarm founder Ron Zimmerman shares his favorite coffee spot, dining neighborhood and more in the feature. While he’s “Tired, tired, tired of ‘trendy’ mango this and that with everything,” Zimmerman is all for finishing dishes with locally sourced acids, oils and fats. Read the full list of picks.
4. Copperworks Distilling nabbed a gold medal for its gin at the annual World Spirits Competition in Geneva. PSBJ reports that the months old downtown Seattle spirits producer entered the world’s biggest beverage contest without knowing what to expect. After winning the gold Copperworks learned from competition officials that, “It is extremely rare for a new distillery to do so well against the established brands.” Copperworks presently self-distributes but plans to sign on with a distributer sometime this year.
5. Chinese eatery and event space Zhu Dang will replace defunct Capitol Hill club The Social. According to CHS, Zhu Dang is the first venture for owner Steve Cheng, who cut his teeth working in local kitchens for the past decade. Cheng is planning to build out the kitchen, redo the 8,000-square-foot space’s innards to make it more cohesive and revamp the outdoor area. Look for opening day sometime at the end of the summer.
6. A reminder that Dackel’s first German-inspired pop-up happens tomorrow at Kedai Makan.
