Some weeks, our food reporting on the Voracious blog (seattleweekly.com/voracious) has a theme, like cheeseburgers or barbecue. Some weeks a story takes over the staff, like Four Loko energy beer or, before that, the KFC Double Down. But last week we were all over the map.
Things began with a report from Travel + Leisure magazine ranking Seattle as the #1 coffee city in America, surprising exactly no one. Café Car (our weekly feature on the foods to be found at or near various light-rail stops) dropped in on the Tukwila International Boulevard stop and had lunch at Kaah Fast Food (15033 Military Rd.)—a Somali restaurant featuring sambusas, kind of an African version of Indian samosas: basically a bunch of stuff wrapped in an envelope of dough and deep-fried.
We talked (briefly, for a change) about the New York ban on Four Loko and other alcoholic energy drinks, then followed that up with the news that an “emergency ban” had also been enacted by the Washington State Liquor Control Board—due to take effect Thursday, Nov. 18. All this uproar about malt liquor and caffeine, yet no one raises a stink when Dunkin’ Donuts wraps chunks of sausage inside jackets of fried pancake and calls it breakfast—as it did last week with the national roll-out of “Pancake Bites.” We had a few words to say about that, none friendly.
Grillaxin’ had a conversation with Sharelle Klaus, creator of DRY Soda. Also, the new micro-distillery Fremont Mischief is scheduled to open by the end of the year at 132 Canal St.—in Fremont, obviously. What’s more, the Seattle Food Geek ran down a list of places where budding kitchen chemists can score supplies for their experiments in molecular gastronomy. And, apparently, eating Twinkies and Ding Dongs can make you lose weight—at least according to an experiment in calorie restriction by Kansas nutrition professor Mark Haub.
Craving a banana milkshake? Our Eatside correspondent had you covered with a report on Broiler Bay Burgers (10636 Main St., Bellevue). And if conveyor-belt sushi is more your thing, then rejoice, because it looks as if UK belt-fed sushi giant Yo! Sushi might be coming to Seattle in the near future.
Midweek, we had news about the perils of modern-day farmers-market operation with a story about the possible closure of the Magnolia Farmers Market, which needs about $20,000 in community support to cover shortfalls after a huge drop in business. But in a bit of good news, it also looks as though Chaco Canyon Organic Café will open a second location in West Seattle sometime after the new year. Staying on the vegetable beat, we ran down what looks to be an awesome all-vegetarian Thanksgiving menu at Cafe Flora—without a Tofurkey anywhere on it.
Who would you rather have dinner with, Anthony Bourdain or Rachael Ray? We discussed that at length this week in another celebrity food personality face-off. Our Department of Lists put together a spread of the 10 Types of Food Blog Commenters. And finally, we passed along what had to have been the greatest headline in the history of food writing: “Scientists Discover Unknown Lizard Species at Lunch Buffet.”
