Your Daily Dose of Food News, Events and Must-Read Miscellany

Local alternative craft beverage maker Jones Soda has officially launched their Cane Sugar Fountain program and is expanding rapidly nationwide. No longer will you be forced to drink mysteriously blended soda you choose from a digital screen. Nor will you have to make your own version high fructose corn syrup-laden of the ‘suicide’ which tastes like some sickly sweet concoction that should be consumed by My Little Ponies. Now, you can be your very own soda jerk in 21st century style while consuming a pure cane sugar alternative to those old school colas.

If you are like me, you are always looking for a good lunch place that doesn’t serve sandwiches or burgers. Not that there’s anything wrong with those – but sometimes I crave a meal that isn’t encased in two slices of bread. Ballard fixture Volterra and Chef Don Curtiss must have heard my prayers as they are now adding lunch service on weekdays. The menu will include some classics as well as daily specials available a la carte or a two-course prix fixe for $16. Bonus: happy hour is expanding to 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Huzzah!

For those wishing to indulge in chocolat-ey goodness without competing for a table on Valentine’s Day – head over to Hot Cakes in Ballard on Saturday the 14th. Any purchase of a dessert gets you a glass of wine or Valentine’s Day punch for $3 as well as non-alcoholic butterbeer for the kiddos. In addition, Bling Bling’s (the Hot Cakes version of Ding-Dong’s) will be available on Friday in limited quantities for $5 apiece.