Seattle Weekly, March 27, 2013

MARCH 27-APRIL 2, 2013 I VOLUME 38 I NUMBER 13

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inside» March 27–April 2, 2013 VOLUME 38 | NUMBER 13 » SEATTLEWEEKLY.COM

“5,000 years of Chinese music and dance in one night.”

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THE DAILY WEEKLY | The debates

continue on GMOs and gun control.

11 FEATURE

BY MATT DRISCOLL | Meet Aaron

Goldsmith, the new voice of the Mariners.

Here’s how a likable 29-year-old scaled the minor league ranks to score one of his profession’s most sought-after jobs.

17 THE WEEKLY WIRE Demetri Martin as triple threat, parents give birth to a monster, and all the plants you can drink.

18 ARTS

18 | OPENING NIGHTS | A mopey

Grey Gardens, singing about hiking, and dancing about one’s bodily limitations.

20 | EAR SUPPLY | Surrealist opera.

22 | THE FUSSY EYE | Nicolai Fechin up close.

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32 MUSIC

32 | MUDHONEY | Looking back on . . . a quarter-century? Damn.

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zation recently enacted on candy produced with s the debate over genetically modichild labor. “But how far do we take that—down fied foods heats up in anticipato the chocolate chips?” she asks. tion of a labeling initiative on the Ultimately, Bialic suggests that the organizaNovember ballot, PCC has made tion would let market forces decide—looking one definitive stand. Along with several national at “what sells and what doesn’t.” She suspects food outlets, the locally based cooperative consumers won’t want to buy goods that are announced last week that it will not sell what themselves a GMO, like corn, papaya, or squash. might be the first genetically engineered animal But nobody knows exactly how consumers will to reach the market: salmon. respond if the initiative passes, and Bialic says In a way, that’s not surprising. PCC is a major the results “will be interesting.” NINA SHAPIRO backer of Initiative 522, which would require most GMOs (genetically modified organisms) or products containing GMOs to be labeled.

“There are few issues that threaten so fundamentally our core values as the hidden presence of genetically engineered ingredients in our food supply,” said PCC Tracy Wolpert last fall as the organization contributed $100,000 to the campaign.

Talking with Seattle Weekly, PCC public affairs director Trudy Bialic says the decision about genetically engineered salmon, which is awaiting FDA approval, was a no-brainer. “Our customers just don’t want it,” she says, adding that there is a paucity of independent research on the safety of such fish. Yet Bialic is less sure about how PCC might handle GMO products should I-522 pass. “I just don’t The uproar was predictable when New York know,” she says. legislators in January passed strict new gun laws PCC already takes some steps to make sure its in the wake of last December’s Newtown, Conn., shelves are free of products made with GMOs. school shootings. Gun owners genuflected to the Recently the cooperative contacted all its deli Second Amendment and took verbal aim at Gov. vendors to ask whether Andrew Cuomo, riled by they use such products. a seven-bullet restriction Forty of the 43 vendors on semiautomatic weapon PRINT IS GREAT, but if you either did not, or revised clips. That effectively outwant to know why Bill Gates is their recipes to exclude lawed what are commonly offering $100,000 for a better condom, check it out on The Daily Weekly.

GMOs. “We’re still called assault rifles such as SEATTLEWEEKLY.COM/DAILYWEEKLY talking about what to the AR-15, whose manudo about the remaining facturers include Olympic three,” she says.

Arms of Olympia.

Bialic says PCC also asks about GMO ingreOlympic Arms President Brian Schuetz—a dients when considering new products, veering man who likes to hunt elk with his AR-15— away from goods with genetically modified corn fired back with a press release in February. It got or soy. At the same time, she says that some of play on conservative and gun websites, but was the cooperative’s existing products, like corn mostly overlooked elsewhere. We came across it chips, are bound to incorporate GMOs. while researching SW’s March 20 cover story on This is where things get complicated, as black-market gun-running by a rogue cop. In his reinforced by other stands the cooperative has corporate edict, Schuetz laid down his own law already taken. Bialic points to a ban the organi» CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

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news»The Daily Weekly against N.Y.’s cops and other first responders in “Soup Nazi” fashion: No gun for you!

“Due to the passing of this legislation,” Schuetz wrote on the company’s Facebook page, “Olympic Arms would like to announce that the State of New York, any Law Enforcement Departments, Law Enforcement Officers, First Responders within the State of New York, or any New York State government entity or employee of such an entity—will no longer be served as customers.”

Olympic was founded in 1956 and has been producing arms in the Olympia area since 1975—its offices are located just outside Lacey.

The gunmaker is one of the few manufacturers to make every major AR-15 part in-house.

Schuetz invited other firearms manufacturers, distributors, and dealers to join his boycott, and at least a half-dozen have followed. The press release has drawn more than 700 Facebook comments and gotten 11,000 likes. Some N.Y. legislators are reportedly rethinking the changes, and the NRA filed a lawsuit last week seeking to have the law thrown out.

Olympic has also announced that it is refusing to advertise in the FOP Journal, the official magazine of the Fraternal Order of Police: “It is well known that the FOP is a staunch supporter of Gun Control, had backed the AWB [assault weapons ban] under Bill Clinton, and supports the current AWB under consideration that was introduced by Dianne Feinstein.”

Such a stand is “reprehensible and shameful,” says Olympic, calling the police group “a rogue organization supporting tyranny, not an organization sworn to uphold the laws of the land, to protect, serve, and defend their constituencies.”

com—SB 5488 shifts the focus to the user, in essence leaving Backpage alone but making the penalties stiffer for those who use the website for nefarious ends.

“It was very unfortunate. Many people wanted to fight it,” says Kohl-Welles of last year’s Senate Bill 6251, which was passed unanimously but met its demise at the hand of a federal judge.

“We’ve really spent a lot of time trying to come up with a better approach to this. [SB 5488] was just a way we could try to get at the same concern . . . No one has raised a constitutional concern with this legislation.”

Kohl-Welles’ SB 5488 also passed unanimously out of the Senate earlier this session, and received a “Do Pass” recommendation out of the House Committee on Public Safety last week. Kohl-Welles says she expects the bill to eventually pass out of the House this session.

The real question is: Will a $5,000 fine, on top of existing penalties, be enough to persuade someone already risking jail time from pimping kids on the Internet? It’s a concern that’s been raised by those who’ve spoken against the bill.

“I think money’s a strong motivator,” says Kohl-Welles, who is also quick to note that such a bill isn’t “the whole solution.”

As part of the multipronged approach that Kohl-Welles says is vital to battling human trafficking, she says she’s considering introducing legislation next year that would decriminalize prostitution for minors—placing the jurisdiction with DSHS instead of the criminal-justice system when a minor gets popped.

Taking Aim at Pimps

Keep a lid on that coffee when driving, Washingtonians, because those roads you’re navigating have more pockmarks than a sixth-grader with a bad case of chicken pox.

Some 67 percent of the roads in this state are in poor or mediocre condition, according to the 2013 report of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Overall, Washington roads earned a solid D grade.

Our bridges are no great shakes, either. Nearly 5 percent of the state’s 7,840 bridges are considered structurally deficient by this organization of civil engineers, and almost 21.6 percent were rated functionally obsolete. Again, a D was meted out.

We can take some solace that Oregon is nearly as bad, with 65 percent of its highways and byways in mediocre or poor condition. California is even a trifle worse, with 68 percent of its roads in crummy condition.

Best in the nation: Nevada, with only 20 percent of its roads not making the cut.

Worst: the other Washington; an astonishing 99 percent of its roads are considered barely passable.

The ASCE report card is compiled every four years and rates 16 infrastructure categories, including drinking water, hazardous waste, levees, dams, and ports.

The obvious recommendations: Invest more in infrastructure improvements and raise the gas tax, something the state hasn’t done in four years.

As the late, great George McGovern themed his 1972 presidential race, “Come home, America.” ELLIS E. CONKLIN E

RICK ANDERSON

It’s no secret that Seattle Democrat Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles has dedicated herself to fighting human trafficking and child prostitution. It’s a battle she’s in for the long haul. So it should come as no surprise that after watching federal courts shoot down the legislation targeting Backpage.com and other sites linked to the exploitation of child prostitutes that she championed last session, she’s back at it. This year she is

sponsoring a handful of bills designed to protect kids from getting pimped on the Internet.

The most interesting is Senate Bill 5488, which according to the official report on the bill would impose “an additional $5,000 fee when a person is convicted of Commercial Sexual Abuse of a Minor, Promoting Commercial Sexual Abuse of a Minor, or Promoting Travel for Commercial Sexual Abuse of a Minor if an Internet advertisement was instrumental in facilitating the offense.”

The main reason the effort is intriguing is because—unlike the effort, struck down in federal court, that specifically targeted Backpage.

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“I think money’s a strong motivator,” says Kohl-Welles, who is quick to note that Senate Bill 5488 isn’t “the whole solution.”

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O UT OF LEFT FIELD

It didn’t take long for the absence of dearly departed Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus to be felt. It was February 22, the afternoon of the Mariners’ first Cactus League game of the 2013 season in Peoria, Arizona, and 29-year-old Aaron Goldsmith was positioned in the M’s spring training broadcasting booth—only moments into his first game behind

The unlikely rise of Aaron Goldsmith,

the mike. At his side was Niehaus’ longtime

the new, young, and

Goldsmith for the first time, Rizzs turned his

partner Rick Rizzs. Shortly after introducing attention to the weather.

t

Two days earlier, a

unproven voice

freak snowstorm had covered the desert in white.

of the Seattle

broadcaster Dave Niehaus so vividly referred to this

Mariners. t t t t t

BY MATT DRISCOLL

t

“You know, folks, for many years Hall of Fame

place as the V.O.S.—the Valley of the Sun,” Rizzs said. “Well, today the V.O.S. is starting to live up to its name. The weather this afternoon: blue skies and bright sunshine. I’m sure Dave had something to do with that.”

t Two years after his passing, Niehaus’

presence looms large over the Mariners. The man is so revered he gets credit for sunshine in Arizona.

t It’s this sizable void that Goldsmith is entering.

BEN VANHOUTEN

Having secured before age 30 one of his profession’s most sought-after jobs—a spot in a big league booth—Goldsmith’s maiden campaign will be anything but routine. For six seasons he scaled the the young announcer spent a year calling games for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox in Rhode Island. Now he’ll occupy the seat next to Rizzs, a man who has been calling Mariners games almost as long as Goldsmith has been alive. t No matter how well he performs, Goldsmith will face skepticism. Starting on Monday—opening day, when the Mariners will face the Athletics in Oakland—he’ll spend the next 162 games trying to introduce himself, and endear himself, to Northwest baseball fans.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 »

SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

minor league broadcasting ranks. Most recently,

11

OUT OF LEFT FIELD » FROM PAGE 11

SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

12

COURTESY OF SEATTLE MARINERS

D

avid Niehaus’ words painted so many years of Mariners baseball, good and (mostly) bad, that his name was synonymous with the team. It is his emphatic voice that will forever be linked to the team’s greatest moment, Edgar Martinez’s double down the left field line that beat the Yankees in the 1995 playoffs. As Mayor Mike McGinn said in November 2010 after Niehaus’ death from a heart attack at age 75, “From now on, there will be just two eras of Mariner baseball: the Dave Niehaus era and everything else.” The loss was so great that the team didn’t even seek a replacement for two seasons, instead relying on a rotating cast of fill-in broadcasters.

Goldsmith now becomes the voice of “everything else.”

Having grown up in St. Louis admiring the play-by-play of Jack Buck—even attending Buck’s memorial service at Busch Stadium in 2002 in what he recalls as a 110-degree day— Goldsmith knows about locally treasured, iconic broadcasters. He’s not here to make people forget about Niehaus—his “My, oh my”s or his “grand salami”s—but he’s certainly aware there’s pressure on him to perform.

That pressure is twofold. Not only is Goldsmith’s the first full-time voice added to the M’s booth since Niehaus’ death, he’s a fresh-faced MLB rookie hired out of left field. He’s not from here. And prior to the January announcement that he’d been hired, no one from the Northwest had heard of him.

“Nobody wants to forget about Dave Niehaus, and nobody should,” says Goldsmith. “Fortunately, the way the Mariners went about the process, it’s very obvious—and I hope the fans see this—that I’m not replacing Dave.”

The two-season buffer should help. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a city more endeared to a voice on the radio than Seattle is to Dave Niehaus,” Goldsmith continues. “It’s encouraging to know how much a city can fall in love with a broadcaster.”

Whether Seattle falls in love with Goldsmith is yet to be determined. But it’s safe to say that for many fans, the former PawSox play-by-play man was not the first choice to join Rizzs on the air. That distinction goes mainly to longtime Tacoma Rainiers announcer Mike Curto, who was part of the rotating cast that teamed with Rizzs for two seasons, and who’s much more connected to the team, its history, and the region.

Curto has been the voice of the Mariners’ TripleA affiliate Rainiers since 1999, watching many of the Mariners’ top prospects come up through the system.

As Ryan Divish of The News Tribune in Tacoma has reported, Curto, despite his history with the Rainiers, was not a finalist for the position. Admittedly a friend of Curto’s, Divish campaigned for two years to get him a chance with the Mariners. Popular M’s blogs like Lookout Landing and U.S.S. Mariner also openly lobbied for Curto. When he didn’t get the gig, commenters on those blogs voiced their frustration.

“I think there is a skepticism,” says Divish of the Goldsmith hire. “Mariners fans embrace their history, and being from here, and the culture of it . . . For an outsider to come in, it can be difficult.”

Speaking by phone with Divish—who, on a rare spring training off day in Peoria, was positioned by the hotel pool—it’s apparent the Curto

Aaron Goldsmith (left), Kevin Cremin (center), and Rick Rizzs get ready to call some spring ball at the Mariners training facility in Peoria, Arizona.

snub still stings. “You see this guy grinding in Triple A,” Divish says of Curto (who declined to be interviewed for this piece). “People want him to get a chance.

“That was his shot. It’s personal for me. I know what I like in a radio guy, and I thought he offered those things.”

“It’s not easy passing by somebody you know better,” M’s Senior Vice President of Communications Randy Adamack says of Curto. “Mike’s a good guy, and a very talented guy.

“It’s a real judgment call. We took it very seriously.”

The Mariners front office admits they had no idea who Goldsmith was prior to receiving his resume, but they say he quickly separated himself from the pack. The M’s launched the process to hire another full-time voice in the booth shortly after the 2012 season, deciding the time was right to permanently fill the position.

Radio broadcast producer Kevin Cremin says that while Goldsmith was helped by the fact that his name topped the staggering list of 160-some candidates (it was organized alphabetically by first name), he had more than just that going for him. “You hear from a lot of people,” Cremin says of searches for major league announcers, noting that the list of applicants included former players and current big league broadcasters. After whittling the list of candidates down to seven or eight, Cremin says a round of phone interviews was conducted, after which five candidates were brought to Seattle to interview in person “The first thing that stands out is his voice.

Young man has just a tremendous voice,” says Rizzs, sounding like he’s describing the M’s latest prospect. “But then as you listen, you want to listen more. I think that’s the key for any broadcaster. Can I listen to this guy every night? He just kept passing every test along the way.”

The immediate chemistry Goldsmith displayed with Rizzs was not lost on Niehaus’

former colleague or on Cremin, both of whom cite it as something that will be just as essential to the broadcast team’s success as the new guy’s huge voice or play-by-play chops. “You have to feel comfortable with your broadcaster partner in order to do this the right way,” says Rizzs. “You build the relationship just like you build any relationship—one day at a time.”

t t t t t t t

“I think there is a skepticism. Mariners fans embrace their history. For an outsider to come in, it can be difficult.”

Although Divish was pulling for Curto, he’s quick to note that he’s been impressed by what he’s heard so far from Goldsmith. “He has a voice that’s born for radio, that’s for sure. It’s deep, and just clean,” he says. “He’s not pretentious. Has a very Midwest feel. He’s excited about baseball. I like that.”

If he has any advice for the new guy, it’s to immerse himself in the Pacific Northwest, the job, and the community. “The worst thing you can do as an announcer is come from the outside and tell people what to think and what to feel,” Divish continues. “The best advice I can offer is to learn as much as possible. And embrace the Puget Sound area. That’s important to people.”

A

aron Goldsmith could not get to sleep. Two years out of college, and fresh from the Broadcast Center in St. Louis, Goldsmith was spending his mornings working as a landscaper and his evenings calling baseball games for the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod League. He needed his rest, but Goldsmith wasn’t getting it. Ostensibly the problem was his pillow.

The real problem was that Goldsmith didn’t have the money to buy a new one. After driving 1,100 miles to join the Braves as an unpaid broadcaster, Goldsmith had spent nearly every penny he had (and every penny he had on credit) just to do what he travelled to the Cape to do, call baseball games. The Cape Cod League is “literally a nonprofit league,” he now says, where games are free to attend and held on “glorified Little League fields.” Goldsmith was tasked with play-by-play for Braves home games. Broadcasting the contests on the Internet via Skype, he would sit outside during Braves home games and describe the small-time action for what he recalls as “four or five” listeners.

Unable to afford a more ideal living situation, he moved in with his then-girlfriend and future wife Heather’s grandmother—who lived in the area. Heather was nearby, working at a summer camp near her parents’ home in Boston. Goldsmith slept on her grandma’s couch. It was an unusual set-up, but worth it.

“There was an incredible sense of pride and joy driving to the ballpark for the first time,” Goldsmith recalls of the job, his pristine baritone warming the phone line from Peoria.

The field Goldsmith arrived at—complete with a chain-link backstop—was built on the back lot of a regional tech high school. “I remember being so excited, standing there and looking out on the field,” he says. “I just kept thinking, ‘I got a job.’”

» CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

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OUT OF LEFT FIELD » FROM PAGE 12

Road games weren’t part of the deal. But that didn’t suit Goldsmith, who hadn’t traveled all the way to the Cape to call only half the games, he says. That wouldn’t have allowed him the growth as a broadcaster he needed. Instead he took it upon himself to travel with the team on his own dime, burning through his savings and taking on debt to do so. He bought tarps and a card table from Kmart, often miking the action by running the 300 feet of orange extension cord he’d also purchased from an outlet in the concession stand.

Sometimes he’d sit in the stands, next to spectators or the team bus driver, and call games into a recorder—for nothing more than the practice.

The resourcefulness was a product of Goldsmith’s childhood, but the approach to his craft was at least partially Bob Costas’ doing.

Goldsmith’s mother, a retired middle-school English teacher named Bonnie Hoerner, says she was told she would never have children. Then she had a son. Following a divorce when Goldsmith was 5 she raised him as a single parent for most of his childhood. She says that she and her son forged an unusually tight bond, and Goldsmith “raised her as much as I raised him.

“He was everything, whether he wanted to be or not,” she remembers.

By chance, the man Bonnie would marry when Goldsmith was 18, Hal Hoerner, had already formed a relationship with the future M’s broadcaster years earlier—at the Principia, the private K–12 Christian Science school Goldsmith enrolled in after moving to St. Louis when he was 12.

Hal was the dean of students, and when Goldsmith was 16, he helped arrange an opportunity for him to interview Costas.

As Bonnie remembers, Hal once asked her son, “just off the cuff, ‘If you could interview anyone, who would it be?’” Her son listed the renowned sports broadcaster as one of his top choices. “He knew a lot about sports, and he knew a lot about broadcasters. He knew what he liked and what he didn’t like.”

As luck would have it, one of Costas’ kids played baseball for a school that frequently faced off against Principia. Though Hal didn’t know him, Bonnie says her future husband approached Costas one day in the stands and asked if he might have time to sit down with Goldsmith. He cordially agreed.

The sponge-like Goldsmith took Costas’ advice to heart, including his suggestion to call games into tape recorders, even if he’d be the only one who’d ever hear it.

Bonnie continued to encourage her son’s interest in sports radio. Years later she and Hal sat discussing career possibilities with Goldsmith in a St. Louis sandwich shop during his senior year of college at Principia College, an exclusively Christian Science school in the tiny town of Elsah, Illinois. Broadcasting again came up, but BEN VANHOUTEN

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this time the familiar discussion was interrupted by a waitress.

“We’d been talking about broadcasting,” Bonnie recalls. “The minute Aaron starts ordering, the waitress stopped writing, looked at him, and said, ‘You need to go into radio.’ I looked at him and said, ‘I didn’t pay her!’ ” Goldsmith made his decision over lunch that day.

But back to that pillow.

Bonnie says she wasn’t surprised—or alarmed—when her son called her one day to ask if he could use a credit card she and Hal had given him for emergencies. Goldsmith was penniless, his personal credit card was maxed out.

But he had to get a new pillow. He had to get some sleep.

“That’s when it really kind of hit home,” says Goldsmith of his summer in the Cape Cod League. “I’ve got no money, and I’m spending the money I do have on extension cords and a card table to call games no one will hear.

“It’s the only way I could do it, because I knew I had to get better.”

Goldsmith hosts a question-andanswer session on top of the dugout at Safeco Field.

B

y the time Goldsmith arrived in Pawtucket, he had bounced around the farm system much like a minor league ballplayer. Following his season speaking into tape recorders while sitting next to bus drivers, he got a job calling games for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs in Maine.

The next two seasons, he was in Frisco, Texas, working for the RoughRiders, also Double-A. To make ends meet in those years, Goldsmith spent off-seasons working in retail, coaching junior varsity basketball, and tugging on leashes as a professional dog-walker (bringing in $8.50 for a 30-minute walk, he recalls).

Those jobs paid more than calling games.

Then Goldsmith was hired by Pawtucket, perhaps the premiere broadcasting post in Triple-A ball.

He isn’t the first—or likely the last—broadcaster to parlay a stay in Pawtucket into bigger and better things. Jumping from minor league to big league ball is an even rarer feat for a broadcaster than for a ballplayer. With only 30 major league teams, each with two chairs in the radio booth, only 60 jobs are to be had in all the land.

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Goldsmith and Rick Rizzs sign autographs during FanFest in late January.

Continued From Head » FROM PAGE 14

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Eric Nadel and the Red Sox’s Dave O’Brien to lesser-known broadcasters in outposts like Sauget, Illinois, where he interned for the Triple-A Grizzlies in 2007. That summer, then-Grizzlies announcer Joe Pott let him “stink up his airwaves for two innings a night,” Goldsmith says, giving him his first taste of life behind the mike.

Now the Mariners are staking their broadcasts on the hope that Goldsmith can go nine innings—with nothing stinking but maybe Justin Smoak’s batting average.

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aron Goldsmith enters the Mariners booth at a time of transition for baseball on the radio—and an uncertain time for radio as an industry. Ad revenue is down across the board in the post-recession world. Because of this the landscape of baseball-rights deals has shifted.

These days the real money is in TV deals. If you’re the Red Sox or Yankees, you’re still sitting pretty, but a team like the Mariners has seen the dollars they’re able to fetch from traditional radio-rights deals decline, even though listenership remains strong. This changing landscape led the team and its current radio partner— KIRO 710 ESPN—to forge a new path in 2011, one significantly different from the way things had been done in the past.

Seattle isn’t necessarily known as a baseball town, but due in no small part to the lasting impact of Dave Niehaus, it is most certainly a baseball-on-the-radio town. Attendance at Mariners home games has slipped over the past decade—a 2012 analysis by 24/7 Wall Street found that starting in 2002 the M’s suffered the biggest 10-year drop in attendance among the four major sports leagues in America (a slide greased by some truly terrible Mariners teams).

Still the M’s enjoy the eighth largest radio audience in MLB, and, according to KIRO 710 ESPN General Manager Dave Pridemore, have seen regional listening numbers increase in each of the past three years.

Whether it goes back to the “Refuse to Lose” season of 1995 or further, Seattle fans have a love affair with baseball on the radio—one far stronger than the team’s small-market reputation suggests. “It’s phenomenal. It’s one of the great radio play-by-play markets in the country,” says KIRO Radio Program Manager Brian Long.

Arizona-based radio consultant Rick Scott— who formerly had an office in Bellevue—agrees that baseball on the radio in Seattle is something special, and attributes much of this to Niehaus.

“Baseball is a fabulous sport on the radio,” says

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That makes the PawSox’s history of launching broadcasters to the next level all the more impressive. Its alumni list includes Gary Cohen, who joined the New York Mets in 1989; Don Orsillo, who joined the Boston Red Sox in 2001; Dave Flemming, who entered the San Francisco Giants’ booth in 2004; Andy Freed, who started with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2005; Dave Shea, who joined the Washington Nationals in 2005; and Dave Jageler, who jumped into the Washington Nationals’ broadcasts in 2006.

“For a Triple-A team, it’s kind of a big-time deal, with a big-time atmosphere,” says PawSox Vice President of Public Relations Bill Wanless.

To people Goldsmith has worked with over the years, his ascension in the ranks is no surprise. It starts with his voice, his maturity, and the way he calls the action.

“He had a very pleasant sound,” says Wanless.

“We want someone who’s a really good, easy listen. Would a mother enjoy listening to him?

Would a grandfather? Aaron has that type of quality. We would have liked to have him here for a few more years.”

“I’d like to bottle his voice up,” says Brian Boesch, a friend of Goldsmith’s and a fellow broadcaster who met him during a one-season internship with the Frisco RoughRiders.

“He’s like a 45-year-old guy trapped inside a 29-year-old-guy body. He taught me how to be a pro. No one who meets him is surprised he’s climbed as quickly as he has.”

Mike Antonellis, the “Voice of the Portland Sea Dogs,” hired Goldsmith as an assistant after a 2009 lunch interview at an Applebee’s.

Antonellis says he’s been impressed by Goldsmith since first receiving his resume.

“He seemed like someone I liked instantly,” Antonellis says. “He deserves 100 percent of what’s come to him.”

What’s come to Goldsmith in Seattle—along with the most important thing, the long-desired big league job—is a substantial raise from the pittance he earned in the minors. Though the Mariners won’t discuss the terms of Goldsmith’s contract, Jon Chelesnik, the President and CEO of Sportscasters Talent Agency of America and a former ESPN Radio Network host, speculates that a first-year broadcaster like Goldsmith in a market of Seattle’s size likely makes “in the low six figures” on a multiseason deal.

Goldsmith will tell you he had plenty of help along the way. “You’re not going to make it alone in this business,” he says matter-offactly. The list of people Goldsmith credits with advancing his development over the years runs from major league voices like the Rangers’

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OUT OF LEFT FIELD » FROM PAGE 15

Scott. “I think the classic example of that was on a summer night when you would turn on the radio and you hear Dave Niehaus. He was like a poet, and he made the game so special. Baseball is really set up so nicely for radio.”

Poetry aside, though, radio isn’t generating the money it once did.

Prior to the 2003 season, the M’s reportedly signed a staggering $10-million-a-year rights deal with KOMO 1000—ending an 18-year run with KIRO in a move that Larry Stone of The Seattle Times said “stunned both the radio and baseball industries.”

But the deal proved far from lucrative for KOMO. In 2008, the Seattle P-I ’s Bill Virgin reported that in a conference call with analysts, Fisher Chief Executive Colleen Brown said the company’s cash-flow margins were higher without the Mariners than with it.

“It was a rich deal, there’s no question,” says Fisher Communications Executive Vice President of Operations Robert Dunlop, who was General Manager of Radio at the time of KOMO’s six-season deal with the M’s. “[It was a] high-cost agreement. It definitely was a circumstance where we didn’t feel like continuing with it made good financial sense.”

It’s no surprise, then, that KOMO quickly dropped out of negotiations when the contract opened again at the end of the 2008 season.

KIRO was able to swoop in and score the

Mariners for a reported $5.5 million a year on a three-year deal—roughly half the per-season price KOMO had paid.

The reasons why stations are having a harder

t t t t t t t

“I’d like to bottle up his voice. He’s like a 45-year-old guy trapped inside a 29-year-old-guy body.”

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SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

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16

time making deals like this “pencil out,” as Dunlop puts it, are plentiful. He says sports on the radio don’t generate the revenue they once did, and having nearly every game on TV doesn’t help matters. He also cites developments in mobile technology, and the launch of MLB’s own Internet streaming service—which allows any fan in any location, as long as they have Internet access, to tune in audio broadcasts of all 30 teams.

The MLB’s online streaming service is available by subscription, with all 30 teams sharing the revenue generated. Radio stations see none of this money, though fans hear the same thing they get on the dial. “We’re in a congested environment today,” says Dunlop.

“I think what you’ll find is that broadcast entities are going to look long and hard when making a bid to make sure they can make money with it, or at least break even and bring an audience to the radio station,” says radio consultant Scott of traditional rights deals.

When it comes to radio’s struggles, Scott doesn’t blame the Internet as much as he does the recession. “Prior to the economy tanking, I think the mentality was a lot looser,” he says.

The most recent contract the Mariners forged with KIRO in 2011 is greatly different than anything that’s been done before. It forgoes a large yearly check from KIRO for rights fees (in exchange for the opportunity to sell advertising during broadcasts) for what Pridemore describes as a “revenue-sharing” agreement— with KIRO broadcasting the games, but the station and the M’s sharing the advertising revenue that’s generated.

Such an agreement, according to Pridemore, “shares the risk and the opportunity.”

The economics may have changed, but Pridemore says the appeal of a deal like the one between KIRO and the M’s is still easy to understand: People tune in to Mariners games in massive numbers. “It’s a huge audience,” says Pridemore. “For an average game in April, we’ll have just under 100,000 listeners [in the Puget Sound area]. That’s two Safeco Fields following the Mariners on our station.”

One thing’s for certain: Aaron Goldsmith will have come a long way from the Cape Cod League and his lonely road-game recorder when the Mariners kick off the season Monday in Oakland. And far more people than the team bus driver will be listening to him.

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oldsmith says it all hit him at this year’s Mariners FanFest in January, not long after the announcement of his hiring. Flown in for the annual pre-season festivities, he and his wife launched a search for a home, eventually settling on Kirkland. The new voice of the M’s says the event drove home the magnitude of the job he’d been brought to Seattle to do.

“It’s so foreign for me to be on the end of it that I am now,” says Goldsmith of the notoriety that comes with his dream job. “It’s flattering, obviously, but it’s such a strange feeling.

When you’re a minor league broadcaster, by and large you’re in the shadows. Nobody knows who you are.”

In Seattle that won’t be the case. One family of M’s fans who approached Rizzs and him at FanFest made the situation abundantly clear.

Goldsmith remembers the family being starstruck, telling Rizzs, “You’re part of our bedtime routine.”

“Oh, my gosh,” Goldsmith remembers thinking. “This is heavy.” E

mdriscoll@seattleweekly.com

the»weekly»wire Epic De Niro retrospective. Though not in the

wed/3/27 BOOKS/COMEDY

With his trademark easel drawings and deadpan humor, stand-up comedian, author, former Conan O’Brien writer, and occasional Daily Show correspondent Demetri Martin could be the poster boy (man) for the new guard of comedy. He’s artistic (he sketches), he’s musical (plays the guitar), he’s educated (Yale), and he incorporates all these skills into his routine, whether he’s dryly explaining his stick figures (that Do and Don’t bit) or talking up his latest book. He’ll do just that today for Point Your Face at This: Drawings (Grand Central, $12.99) before his sold-out engagement at the Showbox (though a second 9:30 p.m. show’s been added). He’s one of the lucky ones, too: His handsomeness just makes his peers, like Zach Galifianakis, look like the (funny) schlubs they are. Elliott Bay Book

LARAE LOBDELL

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Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way N.E., 366-3333, thirdplacebooks.com. Free. 7 p.m.

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Co., 1521 10th Ave., 624-6600, elliottbaybook. com. Free. 4 p.m. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT

thurs/3/28 BOOKS/BOOZE

Drinks and Leaves

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fri/3/29 FILM

Escape Artistry

Morris Engel and his collaborator (and future wife) Ruth Orkin are hardly household names, but you could make a case that they’re the spiritual parents of the modern indie cinema, birthed with their 1953 Little Fugitive . Shot guerrilla-style (with Ray Ashley its third cocreator) on a minuscule budget with non-actors, the leisurely film follows the adventures of a 7-yearold boy (Richie Andrusco, cast right off the streets) when he runs away to Coney Island.

Engel designed a portable 35mm camera that he could strap to his shoulder and take into the crowds on the Coney Island midway, giving him intimacy and flexibility without the need for a support crew. A fellow New Yorker and aspiring filmmaker by the name of Stanley Kubrick was so impressed with the lightweight camera that he rented it for

Martin is something of a polymath.

his next film, Killer’s Kiss. Sure, Little Fugitive is a bit precious, but it’s also sweet and endearingly innocent; its immediacy helped launch DIY cinema outside Hollywood, and its production style became a model for directors including John Cassavetes and François Truffaut. Its easy rhythms, normal-sounding dialogue, and naturalistic acting set the template for American independents for decades to come. (Screened from a new print; runs through Thurs.) Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 267-5380, nwfilmforum.org. $6–$10.

7 & 9 p.m. SEAN AXMAKER

COMEDY

Free Laughs

Fans will know Dana Gould from his past contributions to The Simpsons, characters like Cupid’s brother on the legendary Ben Stiller Show, or observations of the weird on his podcast The Dana Gould Hour. Launching out of the Boston and San Francisco club scenes in the ’80s, Gould pioneered a loose and thoughtful comedic style now dubbed alt-comedy.

Today a prolific writer and performer who dissects life and society through his act, Gould’s satire topples the traditional pillars of society: marriage, children, aging parents, politics, religion, and more. He’s making a stop in Seattle to record a new one-hour comedy special, I Know It’s Wrong , likely to be sold directly from his website (danagould.com) later this year. The Neptune, 1303 N.E. 45th St. Free; must RSVP via tblus.com/danagould. 7 & 9:30 p.m.

DANA SITAR

FILM

Are You Talkin’ to Me?

Martin Scorsese’s mob opus GoodFellas

provides an appropriate opening to the 10-film

Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., 324-9996, siff.net. $6–$11. 7 p.m. BRIAN MILLER STAGE

The Blob

“It’s sort of purplish-grey,” says 20-something Colby, a recent mom, “and it’s skinny, so skinny, except for its head, which is immeasurably huge. I laugh. It’s all a big joke.” It, in fact, is Colby’s baby, “sort of like a jellyfish” with one blue-green eye and fur. Yet Smudge , a modest but effective 2010 play that opens tonight, is not all laughs—although its Emmy-winning writer Rachel Axler (The Daily Show, Parks and Recreation) knows how and when to work plenty of them into what’s essentially a dark anxiety play. Colby (Carol Thompson) is, to say the least, not amused by new daughter Cassandra. Husband Nick (Ashton Hyman), however, is charmed and dewy-eyed over his one-eyed offspring. Yet he throws himself deeper into his work at the Census Bureau with his brother Pete (Noah Benezra), a blowhard who details the alarming effects that Rocket Popsicles have on his morning poop. Directed by Erin Kraft , Smudge is the kind of intimate, off-center entertainment at which WET often excels— a surreal three-person contemplation of how easily the idea of a perfect . . . anything can, in a moment, be shred into so many pieces, like the clothes Colby angrily snips to better accommodate her bouncing baby blob.

(Through April 22.) Washington Ensemble Theatre, 608 19th Ave. E., 325-5105, washingtonensemble.org. $15–$25. 7:30 p.m.

STEVE WIECKING

SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

Browsing the shelves of a liquor store, Amy Stewart sees plants in every bottle: Gin is distilled from grains and infused with herbs, spices, citrus, and flowers; whiskey is also distilled from grains (and sometimes corn), and aged in wooden barrels; bitters are infused with roots and seeds; and garnishes range from cured olives and pickled onions to citrus peels and preserved cherries. From bottle to bar, according to Stewart, there’s a botany lesson available in every glass. In The Drunken Botanist (Algonquin, $19.99), she explores the history of fermentation and distillation and the origins of many spirits, introduces readers to dozens of plants used in drinks, and offers 50 cocktail recipes. From cover to cover, she describes the histories of plants from sugar cane and sorghum to cacao and lavender, how they grow, and where or when they were first combined or turned into spirits.

This book is a garden guide first. It just so happens that all the plants featured are inextricably tied to booze.

From left, Benezra, Thompson, and Hyman admire the offspring in Smudge.

series, Silver Linings Playbook recently gave Robert De Niro one of his best roles in years; his Oscar-nominated role as a fearful, OCD father unable to cope with his mentally ill son is a tender, 180-degree turn from his Irish hoodlum in GoodFellas (1990). His Jimmy Conway can never be a made man, unlike Joe Pesci’s volatile Tommy, as we learn from apprentice mobster Henry (Ray Liotta). Perhaps because of this ethnic exclusion, Jimmy is one cold bastard. After his crew makes a huge score with an airport robbery, the other mooks start buying cars and minks. To protect their secret (and enlarge his share), Jimmy starts killing off his old compadres without compunction. Henry can’t believe it—Is there no honor among thieves?—and soon becomes a target himself. The closer Henry gets to his old mentor and the center of the mob, the more he apprehends the danger in what seemed such a glamorous, loyal fraternity. Jimmy’s credo goes like this: “Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.” And if you cross him, he’ll kill you.

Even so, there’s an unlikely sentimental connection between De Niro’s roles here and in Silver Linings. GoodFellas is also one of the rare films in which De Niro cries—though Pesci’s sociopath doesn’t deserve his tears. Other titles in the series include Taxi Driver, Heat, and Jackie Brown. (Through Thurs.) SIFF Cinema

17

arts»Opening Nights 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition winner makes Seattle debut

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March 29 11:00 am 7:30 pm

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Good Friday

Adoration of the Cross (Chapel) Good Friday Liturgy with Chancel Choir; Liturgy includes Septem Verba for organ and violin

by Frederick Frahm *Stations of the Cross (Chapel)

March 30

Vigil of Easter

March 31

Feast of the Resurrection

7:30 pm 9 am - 9 pm 8 am 9 am 10:30am

Holy Eucharist and Affirmation of Baptism *Stations of the Cross (Chapel)

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Earshot Jazz PrEsENts Tuesday, April 2, 8pm

Joel Harrison’s Spirit House

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Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Avenue

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Wednesday, April 3, 8pm

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Blame it on The Osbournes. Maybe it was inevitable that America’s fixation on the ugly underbelly of fame would lead to a Broadway musical. Grey Gardens is based on the eponymous 1975 documentary about Jackie O’s relatives, who then lived in a decrepit Long Island mansion of the same name. Bravo cable addicts, rejoice! Now everyone who revels in the antics of real housewives, the Kardashians, or what washes up on the Jersey shore can see what an uppercrust train wreck looks like, live onstage.

Unlike The Hills, though, this is not a contemporary tale of parvenus in sudden ascent. Grey Gardens more resembles a slo-mo retrospective of Mount St. Helens’ eruption, with lives and property crusted over after decades of neglect.

To his credit, Doug Wright’s book for the 2006 musical does what the Maysles brothers’ film could not: We get to see firsthand the lofty roost from which the Beale/Bouviers fell to earth. In the first act, Wright transports viewers from the squalid cat preserve inhabited by “Little Edie” and her mother Edith Beale (whose mother was a Bouvier, just like Jackie) back to the moment of no return, when the duo sealed their pact of mutual loathing and codependency.

It’s 1941, and Little Edie ( Jessica Skerritt) is ready to break free from her eccentric and domineering mother. She’s set her sights on Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (Matt Owen), the strapping Irish Catholic youth being groomed by his father for the presidency. But Big Edie (Patti Cohenour) won’t permit it. She’s got to either upstage or undo the nuptials, and she succeeds in doing both, leaving her daughter so distraught that she leaves home in hopes of a New York acting career.

By the second act, set in 1973, Little Edie (played in middle age by Cohenour) has returned to the mansion, where she, her mother, and their 52 rooms are all the worse for wear. Has Little Edie been a recluse for so long that she’s just eccentric beyond the telling, or has she lost her mind entirely? Big Edie (now played by Suzy Hunt), is no better, living off canned soup and memories of getting everything she wanted until there was nothing left.

The ladies’ path to ruin is strewn with Kennedys and Bouviers, and Wright’s text provides interminable examples of the behavior that drove Mr. Beale from Grey Gardens. The music—score

by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michel Korie—is full of haunting contrasts between the frivolous then and the fallen now. It’s Sondheimesque in the best way, more intent on creating moods than hummable hits.

Cohenour, Hunt, Skerritt, and Owen all shine in their roles, and the supporting cast is never less than stalwart. (This is a mostly native production, a collaboration between ACT and the Fifth Avenue Theatre.) Director Kurt Beattie wrings what compassion he can for these two characters, but the Beales are merely porcelain figurines broken by their fall from Camelot.

Identify with them and you’re bereft; decline and you’re asleep. One final spoiler alert: Grey Gardens also clocks in at close to three hours. Like the Beales themselves, it drags on and on, long after all life is wrung from it. KEVIN PHINNEY

Hunt as Big Edie during the 1970s.

PProject 6 ACT THEATRE, 700 UNION ST., 292-7676, SEATTLEDANCEPROJECT.ORG. $20–$25.

8 P.M. FRI.–SAT. ENDS MARCH 30.

Seattle Dance Project has invited local choreographer Jason Ohlberg back to stage three of his dances, including his new setting of Vivaldi’s Gloria. Some pieces of music just seem to be candy for choreographers, inspiring dance after dance, and Gloria is one of those scores.

Its lively energy and formal structures create a matrix for kinetic invention. Ohlberg’s polyglot background as a dancer (including modern, jazz, and ballet), is reflected in his movement choices, which draw from those multiple traditions. There are allusions to Martha Graham, José Limón, Paul Taylor, and Mark Morris, all grafted onto a balletic base that gives most of the work a fleet quality. This is dancing in the happy-nymphs-and-shepherds vein, where any conflict is resolved well before the end of the work. It’s a charming showcase for the dancers and a happy closer for an evening that opens with a more problematic dance.

Ohlberg made Departure From 5th for SDP last year, and he’s continued to refine it for this performance. A work laced with confessional text drawn from the SDP dancers and edited into the soundtrack, it contrasts their frustrations with their bodies (expressed in the script) with their obvious facility moving those bodies.

It takes a special kind of schizophrenia to strive for a perfection you know you will never achieve.

For every kudo these performers relate, they offer a counterexample, so that “beautiful arms,” for example, are canceled out by “sturdy legs.”

Despite the old stereotype that dancers are seen and not heard, these interviews are articulate and evocative, commanding our attention more powerfully than some of the movement sequences, which gives the work an odd asymmetry. Adding to that confusion is Ohlberg’s inclusion of three women credited as “Fates.” Like their Greek counterparts, they seem to bookend the dancing life of the performers, ushering people on and off stage and spreading a black curtain over them at the end of the work. They’re a deus ex machina trio dressed in elaborate ballgowns.

Artistic director Tim Lynch cofounded SDP (along with Julie Tobiason) to explore choreography beyond their dancing careers at Pacific

arts» Northwest Ballet. Though their repertory choices have certainly moved in that progressive direction, their ensemble now looks ready to go further, to take some bigger artistic risks for bigger rewards. SANDRA KURTZ

Hiking through the past: Stokinger (left) and Carter.

Trails

“How do we tell a story about walking for six months?” asked lyricist Jordan Mann when first presented with the idea for the musical Trails, now receiving its premiere staging at Village Theatre. The creators shrewdly figured out exactly how—by making the show mostly backstory. The hikers are Joshua Carter and Dane Stokinger as Seth and Mike—friends since childhood, now 34—who are walking the Appalachian Trail’s 2,175 miles to put their

JAY KOH

VILLAGE THEATRE, 303 FRONT ST. N. (ISSAQUAH), 425-392-2202.

RUNS WED.–SUN.; SEE VILLAGETHEATRE.ORG FOR EXACT SCHEDULE. ENDS APRIL 21.

(RUNS IN EVERETT APRIL 26–MAY 19.)

gradually revealed past behind them. (Kirsten deLohr Helland is the strong-willed Amy, the focal point of that past.) Village Theatre’s workshop process for developing and polishing new musicals ensured that the flashback structure, potentially confusing, never is, and that Christy Hall’s book turned out masterfully paced and

dramatically effective, especially as directed by Eric Ankrim. (All the reminiscing, though, also reminds us that adult actors can never, on stage or screen, play children convincingly.)

All I found problematic about the show was Jeff Thomson’s score, which brings in only hints of the roots music you’d expect—most strongly

in songs performed by John Patrick Lowrie and Bobbi Kotula, longtime Seattle theater MVPs who over the years have brightened shows I haven’t been crazy about and, in shows I have been crazy about, were among the reasons. With the charming Sarah Rose Davis, they play a Greek chorus and, individually, colorful characters met along the hike.

If you object that Americana would’ve been too easy a choice—well, so is the neo-Stephen Schwartz path taken here instead. I left wondering why a show so rooted in a specific, real place—offering a wealth of possibilities, four magnificently rich centuries of vernacular music—did so little to evoke it. No law says a musical set in Appalachia has to sound Appalachian, but why would you settle on a less-vivid musical style? It’d be like deciding to leave the trail behind and just drive up I-95 instead.

GAVIN BORCHERT E

stage@seattleweekly.com

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19

arts»Performance B Y G AV I N B O R C H E R T

BLACK EYED BLONDE An improvised “pulp noir” murder

Stage OPENINGS & EVENTS

EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM Two

Nancy & Ann Wilson

APRIL 9

TICKETS FROM: $50

ANN & NANCY WILSON OF HEART

Acoustic Concert & Conversation with Biographer Charles R. Cross S. MARK TAPER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM

Seattle-bred sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson (HEART) are behind some of rock’s most iconic hits, and before their well-deserved induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they will perform a special hometown concert.

Media sponsor:

Filipino teens have to bring themselves up in A. Rey Pamatmat’s play. Seattle Public Theater at the Bathhouse, 7312 W. Green Lake Ave. N.,524-1300, seattlepublictheater. org. $20–$30. Opens March 28. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.–Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends April 21.

DANA GOULD SEE THE WIRE, PAGE 17.

THE HEN NIGHT EPIPHANY Arouet presents Jimmy Murphy’s play set at an Irish bachelorette party at which secrets surface. Stone Soup Downstage, 4029 Stone Way, 425-298-3852, arouet.us. $14. Opens March 28. 7:30 p.m.

Thurs.–Sat. plus 2 p.m. Sat., March 30. Ends April 6.

DEMETRI MARTIN SEE THE WIRE, PAGE 17.

MASTER HAROLD . . . AND THE BOYS Athol Fugard’s coming-of-age tale from apartheid South Africa. West of Lenin, 203 N. 36th St., 352-1777, westoflenin.com. $12–$20.

Preview 8 p.m. March 27, opens March 28. 8 p.m. Thurs.– Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends April 21.

THE PRETTY WONDERFUL CLUB An improvised John Hughes-style ’80s movie. Market Theater, 1428 Post Alley, 587-2414, unexpectedproductions.org. $5–$15. Opens March 29. 8:30 p.m. Fri.–Sat. Ends April 27.

SMUDGE SEE THE WIRE, PAGE 17.

WANDERLUST Karen Gruber Ryan’s jazz cabaret. Theater Schmeater, 1500 Summit Ave., 324-5801, schmeater.org. $12–$15. 7:30 p.m. Sun., March 31–Mon., April 1.

THE WHIPPING MAN Jews fought in the Civil War? Who knew? Matthew Lopez’s drama follows a Jewish Confederate soldier home from battle, where he celebrates Passover with two slaves. Taproot Theatre, 204 N. 85th St., 781-9707, taproottheatre.org. $20–$40. Previews March 27-28, opens March 29. 7:30 p.m. Wed.–Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri., 2 & 8 p.m. Sat. Ends April 27.

CURRENT RUNS

ACROSS A LITTLE RED MARKER Jim Moran’s tangled

mystery. Odd Duck Studio, 1214 10th Ave., eclectictheater company.org. 8 p.m. Thurs.–Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends April 7.

Send events to stage@seattleweekly.com, dance@seattleweekly.com, or classical@seattleweekly.com See seattleweekly.com for full listings. = Recommended

•

mystery. Market Theater, 1428 Post Alley, 587-2414, unexpectedproductions.org, $7. 8:30 p.m. Thurs. Ends May 2.

CEDAR & THE REDWOODS Copious Love Productions’ original play is set during a road trip through Northern California. Washington Hall, 153 14th Ave., 800-838-3006. $12–$15. Runs 7 p.m. (most) Thurs.–Sat.; see copiouslove. org for exact schedule. Ends April 6.

CLIFFHOUSE Macha Monkey presents Allison Gregory’s rather Hitchcockian-sounding play. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave., 800-838-3006, brownpapertickets.com.

8 p.m. Fri.–Sat. Ends March 30.

CROSSING DELANCEY Seattle Jewish Theater Company presents staged readings of Susan Sandler’s play of Manhattan romance. Performances through March 30; see seattlejewishtheater.com for full info.

THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE In Mark Schultz’ dark comedy, two parents seeking some alone time sell their kids. Theater Schmeater, 1500 Summit Ave., 324-5801, schmeater.org. $15–$23. 8 p.m. Thurs.–Sat. Ends April 20.

GOOD PEOPLE Class envy gets an up-close look in David Lindsay-Abaire’s walloping good dramedy, which considers two lives connected by a Boston subway line that appear to be in parallel universes. Margie (Ellen McLaughlin) is a true “Southie” who’s always lived paycheck to paycheck while also providing for a mentally handicapped adult daughter. She looks up an old boyfriend, Mike (John Bolger), who “escaped” South Boston and is now a successful physician. He wants everyone’s respect as a self-made man; to Margie, he’s nothing more than “lace-curtain Irish.” Lindsay-Abaire has a gift for capturing women at their most courageous and conniving—and director David Saint lets his actresses rip. KEVIN PHINNEY Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Center, 443-2222, seattlerep.org. $12–$80. 7:30 p.m. Wed.– Sun., 2 p.m. Sat.–Sun. Ends March 31.

GREY GARDENS SEE REVIEW, PAGE 18.

LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST It’s a miracle Judd Apatow hasn’t adapted this fratty early comedy about the King of Navarre and his buddies swearing off women to concentrate on study, only to be met in the forest by the Princess of France and her comely retinue. Director Jon Kretzu sets his well-cast, thinly plotted romp in the fabulous ’30s of tailcoats and slinky evening gowns. On Andrea Bryn Bush’s Magritte-evoking set, the blue sky is underfoot and furniture is coiffed with fake grass. The abstract wordiness and slow build of Act 1 triggered a stampede to the coffee table at intermission, but Act 2 picks up speed, zaniness, and even a quorum of heart that had been absent earlier. Ironically, it ends with one of Shakespeare’s more satisfying comedic resolutions.

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Then there’s Cole Porter, Edith Piaf, a liquid-ejaculating snake, big-bearded oafs, movie glammah, and a moody butler . . . vive l’absurdité. MARGARET FRIEDMAN Center House Theatre, Seattle Center, 733-8222. $22–$45. Runs 7:30 p.m. Wed.–Sat. plus weekend matinees; see seattle shakespeare.org for exact schedule. Ends April 7.

MOISTURE FESTIVAL In its 10th year, the annual variety circus known as the Moisture Festival offers something for everyone. At night, consenting adults can enjoy burlesque performances by familiar local acts. Ron W. Bailey and Simon Neale are your MCs, with live music from Doc Sprinsock and the SANCApators. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT Hale’s Palladium, Broadway Performance Hall, and SIFF Cinema Uptown; see moisturefestival.org for full schedule, venue, and performer info. $10–$22. Ends April 14.

NEXT FALL Adam and Luke fall in love in Geoffrey Nauffts’ 2010 play, but there’s one problem: Adam’s an atheist, Luke a believer. ArtsWest, 4711 California Ave. S.W., 9380339, artswest.org. $10–$34.50. 7:30 p.m. Wed.–Sat., 3 p.m.

Sun. Ends April 6.

PIGGYBACK Unexpected Productions mixes stand-up and drama, as the former determines how the latter unfolds.

Market Theater, 1428 Post Alley, 587-2414, unexpected productions.org. $5. 8:30 p.m. Sun. Ends May 5.

TEATRO ZINZANNI: DINNER AT WOTAN’S It’s Ragnarok eve, aka the final battle of good vs. evil, and Wotan and the rest of the Wagnerian pantheon are ready to par-tay! Wall-to-wall music seasons the five-course dinner spread out leisurely among the impressive acrobatic acts and nudge-nudge shtick. Teatro ZinZanni, 222 Mercer St., 802-0015. $106 and up. Runs Thurs.–Sun.; see dreams.zinzanni.org for exact schedule. Ends May 12.

TRAILS SEE REVIEW, PAGE 19.

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Dance

PROJECT 6 SEE REVIEW, PAGE 18.

LINGO DANCE THEATER They continue their Collision

Theory project with a piece called Viewfinder, to be danced on the wonderfully creaky old floors of Belltown’s most Zen art gallery. Suyama Space, 2324 Second Ave., lingodance.com. 5:30 p.m. Thurs., March 28, noon Fri., March 29, 3 p.m. Sat., March 30.

ONE WORLD TAIKO Traditional and contemporary Japanese drumming. Bainbridge Performing Arts, 200 Madison Ave. N., Bainbridge Island, 842-8569, bainbridge performingarts.com. $8–$12. 8 p.m. Thurs., March 28.

SHEN YUN Classical Chinese music and dance from a 5,000-year-old tradition. McCaw Hall, Seattle Center, 888998-9961, shenyunperformingarts.org, ticketmaster.com. $70–$150. 7:30 p.m. Thurs., March 28–Fri., March 29, 2 & 7:30 p.m. Sat., March 30.

20

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Shawn Colvin

APRIL 19 TICKETS FROM: $38 AN ACOUSTIC EVENING WITH

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER & SHAWN COLVIN ON STAGE TOGETHER

S. MARK TAPER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM

Grammy Award-winning songwriters (and longtime friends) Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin share the stage as an intimate duo, performing material spanning their vast catalogues.

FOR TICKETS:

206.215.4747

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EarSupply

OPERA SEE EAR SUPPLY, BELOW. • VESPERTINE • THE BIBLE The Bushwick Book Club Seattle, the Seattle

Le Surréalisme

•

children without her. Poulenc lavished his farce (based on a play by Guillaume Apollinaire, for Gavin Borchert which he coined the term “surrealism”) with willfully powder-puffy music; its boulevardier insouciance makes Gigi sound like Wozzeck.

Mamelles is the latest production of the energetic Vespertine Opera; they’ll stage it The title role in Francis Poulenc’s 1944 opera (sung in English) next week in, appropriately, Les mamelles de Tirésias is the Moulin Rouge-y Columbia not played by anyone onstage, City Theater. The production’s but by the bag of balloons two-piano accompaniment, by on director Dan Miller’s prop the way, is based on a reductable. A pair of those balloons, tion Benjamin Britten prepared released from soprano Tess in 1958 for himself and Poulenc Altiveros’ costume—and with to play. Soprano Emily Hinthe help of a bluish-gray beard drichs pulled together his perthat looks like an S.O.S pad formance materials and notes exploded on her face—will and edited this version, being transform her from the fed-up heard in America for the first Thérèse to the belligerent gentime. Since Poulenc, a pianist, eral Tirésias, who, sans mamnever felt wholly comfortable elles, launches an anti-child with orchestration, Hindrichs campaign. (To drive home the suggests, the music “doesn’t Poulenc agrin. point, the chorus brandishes lose anything in a two-piano doll-skewering wooden spikes version—it almost sounds more that the cast calls “baby kabobs.”) That’s not like [Poulenc]. More sarcastic.” Columbia City Theater, 4916 Rainier Ave. S., 800-838-3006, all the gender-switching that goes on here; vespertineopera.com. $20–$25. 8 p.m. Tues., Thérèse’s husband (tenor Jose Rubio), fearful April 2 & Thurs., April 4. of France’s depopulation, bears thousands of SW FILE PHOTO

SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

Classical, Etc.

Jazz Composers Ensemble, and Captain Smarty Pants perform original songs inspired by stories from the Old Testament. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., thebushwickbook clubseattle.org. 8 p.m. Thurs., March 28–Fri., March 29.

SEATTLE SYMPHONY Conductor Andrey Boreyko combines Liadov and Rimsky-Korsakov with Giya Kancheli’s Styx. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., 2154747, seattlesymphony.org. $19–$112. 7:30 p.m. Thurs., March 28, 8 p.m. Sat., March 30.

CORNISH EARLY MUSIC Chamber music for voice from Cornish students, with faculty member Stephen Stubbs joining in. Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, 308 Fourth Ave. S., Kirkland, cornish.edu. $10–$20. 7:30 p.m.

Fri., March 29.

HAUSCHKA This master of the prepared piano builds gorgeous soundscapes. Kirkland Performance Center, 350 Kirkland Ave., Kirkland, 425-893-9900, kpcenter.org. $20. 7:30 p.m. Fri., March 29.

REZ ABBASI TRIO This Pakistani musician combines jazz with musical influences of the subcontinent. Cornish College/PONCHO Concert Hall, 710 E. Roy St., cornish.edu. $10–$20. 8 p.m. Fri., March 29.

PAUL KIKUCHI New work for seven players from this inventive composer. Chapel Performance Space, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N., paulkikuchi.com. $5–$15. 2 p.m. Sat., March 30.

COREY HAMM The Washington Composers Forum presents the new-music-friendly Canadian pianist on its “Transport” concert series. Chapel Performance Space, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N., washingtoncomposersforum.org. $5–$15. 8 p.m. Sat., March 30.

FINNISH CHAMBER CHOIR Traditional and modern works

by Finnish composers. Finnish Lutheran Church, 8504 13th Ave. N.W., 789-0864. $5. Noon, Sun., March 31.

RAINBOW CITY BAND A meet-’n’-greet recruitment event. Not musical? They can always use rifle-twirlers!

The Grill on Broadway, 314 Broadway Ave. E., rainbow cityband.com. Free. 7 p.m. Tues., April 2.

•

• •

ROCKIN’ PIANO SHOW

You name it, We’ll celebrate it!

By William Shakespeare Directed by Jon Kretzu

March 13–April 7 Center Theatre at Seattle Center

Final Two Weeks!

Must Close April 7 Ticktets: 206-733-8222 www.seattleshakespeare.org

Anniversary Birthday Corporate Event Divorce Engagement Foreclosure Graduation Happy Hour Independence Day Just Because Kicking Back Looking for Fun Marriage Night On the Town

Out of Town guests Parent’s Night Out Quittin’ Time Reunion St. Patrick’s Day Tired of the Usual Scene Valentine’s Day Why Not? Naughty X-Rated party! (Just kidding!)

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21

arts»Visual Arts B Y G W E N D O LY N E L L I O T T

TheFussyeye

Openings & Events

» Brian Miller

• GINNY RUFFNER The pioneering Seattle glass artist

Who is Nicolai Fechin? The Russian figurative painter (1881–1955) was belatedly associated with the Munich Secession movement, which later inspired the Fryes to start collecting European art. Fechin was also one of the lucky few to attract American patrons and a visa in 1923, after the Russian Revolution. Here he enjoyed some success with his thick-daubed oil portraiture; he was basically a society painter who dabbled in rustic and ethnographic scenes, especially after relocating to Taos in 1927. Then came divorce and two decades of obscurity in L.A. What had seemed innovative before World War I was old and forgotten after World War II. Fechin lived through the toppling of the czar, the A-Bomb, and Milton Berle. Yet he was also, briefly, a figure of the American avant garde, admired

by Gorky and a slinger of wild, unruly paint. If you squint within inches of one of his crusty canvasses, the smiling girls, Mexican landscapes, and peasant scenes fall away. You’re left with the pure interplay of color, divorced from form. Step back again from, say, Portrait

FRYE ART MUSEUM

Exile on Main Street

of a Young Woman (1912), and the girl regains her beauty. Pollack and de Kooning, young men when Fechin was living and teaching in New York, would later reject that step back. To look at some Fechin paintings up close is like seeing their work at a proper distance. But they were the new thing, Abstract Expressionism, and Fechin the footnote; he’s a transitional figure who never quite transitioned to the emerging art scene of his adopted homeland. Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave., 622-9250, frye museum.org. Free. 11 a.m.–7 p.m. Thurs., 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Tues.–Sun. Ends May 19.

visits the Hot Shop from Weds., March 27 through Sun., March 31. Residency lecture: 1 p.m. Sun., March 31.

Museum of Glass, 1801 E. Dock St., Tacoma, 253-2844750, museumofglass.org, $10-$12, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

MATT SELLARS In Formation, he explores the vastness of the desert with carved wood and terra cotta sculptures, drawings, and a video installation, contemplating this “resource of emptiness and those who seek to occupy this void.” Artist’s reception: 6-8 p.m. Thurs., March 28. Platform Gallery, 114 Third Ave. S. (Tashiro Kaplan Building), 323-2808, platformgallery.com, Opens March 28, Weds.-Fri., 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Through May 4.

CARLETTA CARRINGTON WILSON She discusses her current exhibition book of the bound then continues on to NAAM’s permanent exhibition, where she’ll examine the two narratives together. Northwest African American Museum, 2300 S. Massachusetts St., 5186000, naamnw.org, Sun., March 31, 12:30 p.m.

Museums

KAREN BIT VEJLE Scissors for a Brush is the

Norwegian artist’s collection of intricate paper cuts.

Nordic Heritage Museum, 3014 N.W. 67th St., 789-5707, nordicmuseum.org, $4-$6, Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sun., 12-4 p.m. Through June 16.

LOVE ME TENDER Ordinary currency is transformed into extraordinary work; exhibit includes work by James Charles, Christopher Wilde, and others Through May 26.

Bellevue Arts Museum, 510 Bellevue Way N.E., 425-5190770, bellevuearts.org, $7-$10. Tues.-Sun., 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; First Friday of every month, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Through May 26.

Send events to visualarts@seattleweekly.com See seattleweekly.com for full listings = Recommended

SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

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22

MANEKI NEKO JAPAN’S BECKONING CATS

Examining the rise of the “lucky cat” from “talisman to pop icon,” this exhibition highlights selections from a collection of 155 figures in wood, stone, paper, and ceramics, owned by the Mingei International Museum of San Diego. Bellevue Arts Museum, Through Aug. 4.

BENJAMIN MOORE Translucent is a selection of the his work, featuring traditional vessel forms and contemporary designs. Museum of Glass, 1801 E. Dock St., Tacoma, 253-284-4750, museumofglass.org, $20, Weds.Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Every third Thursday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sat., 12-5 p.m. Through Oct. 6.

NORTHWEST ARTISTS COLLECT Presented by the museum and UW Tacoma, four student/interns helped curate this group show. Also on view: Mosaic Arts International 2013 (through May 5). Museum of Glass, Through Oct. 1.

NOW HERE IS ALSO NOWHERE: PART II The Henry rotates in fresh works to its large basement gallery.

Henry Art Gallery, 4100 15th Ave. N.E., 543-2280, henryart.org, $6-$10, Weds., Sat., Sun., 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Thurs., Fri., 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Through May 5.

PHOTOGRAPHY: EMBRACING • OUT [O]FASHION Curated by visiting scholar Deborah Willis BEAUTY

from the Henry’s permanent collection, this big survey show covers over a century in the medium. Artists include Cecil Beaton, Nan Goldin, Diane Arbus, and Cindy Sherman. Henry Art Gallery, Through Sept. 1.

• PAPER UNBOUND: HORIUCHI AND BEYOND

Collage was both an art and an inherited tradition for the late Northwest master Paul Horiuchi (1906–1999). Back in Japan, from whence he emigrated as a teen, there was the old shikishi mode of torn-paper collage. Reaching Seattle after World War II, he was transitioning out of landscapes and urban scenes, falling under the sway of Mark Tobey and other Northwest modernists. Horiuchi made hybrid art in his collages, creating abstract studies that could suggest the rocks, mountains, and waves of his adopted home. Horiuchi’s work is layered with local texture and history; even the paper came from our forests nearby. Paper Unbound: Horiuchi and Beyond presents his work, and that of other artists. BRIAN MILLER Wing Luke Museum, 719 S. King St., 623-5124, wingluke.org, $9.95-$12.95, Tues.-Sun., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Through July 14.

Join us in the Trophy Room for Happy Hour: Thursday Bartender Special 8-Close Fridays: 5-8pm RESERVE THE TROPHY ROOM FOR YOUR NEXT EVENT!

COCKTAILS • TASTY HOT DOGS • LOTSA PINBALL

2222 2ND AVENUE • SEATTLE

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SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

23

film»This Week’s Attractions Beyond the Hills

24

course know that Alina isn’t demon-possessed; she’s just madly, indomitably in love. But this is where Beyond the Hills becomes confusing and provocative, a collision between the modern and the medieval, as Alina is bound with chains and gagged. She’s twice a victim of passion—both to her obsessive attachment to Voichita and to the monastery’s cruel rituals.

It’s fascinating, frightening material, but Beyond the Hills is so long and relentlessly heavyhanded that we end up suffering along with Alina. ERIN K. THOMPSON

No, a porno does not ensue.

Stratan (left) and Flutur.

From Up on Poppy Hill OPENS FRI., MARCH 29 AT EGYPTIAN. NOT RATED. 91 MINUTES.

If your idea of Japanese anime is space opera, cyberpunk action, and Hayao Miyazaki’s modern fairy tales, then From Up on Poppy Hill might surprise you. Produced and co-scripted by Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro Miyazaki, this is a

CHIZURU TAKAHASHI-TETSURO SAYAMA/GNDHDDT

SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

Cristian Mungiu won international acclaim for his devastating 2007 film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (aka “the Romanian abortion movie”), which took that year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes.

His latest feature, based on Tatiana Niculescu Bran’s nonfiction accounts of a modern-day exorcism gone wrong, feels like it lasts for about 4 months, 3 weeks, and then some. Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan play Alina and Voichita, respectively, two former lovers who grew up together in an orphanage. But don’t make the mistake of expecting a racy lesbian romance here.

Beyond the Hills’ dark, doom-laden story matches the stark, colorless Moldavian monastery where it takes place. It’s a painfully arduous watch; over two-and-a-half hours long, it’s a film that also demands an intermission—a nap, a walk, a hug—if you want to escape its enveloping torpor.

Beyond the Hills should be an hour shorter, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an interesting story.

Stratan, who looks like a more severe Mila Kunis, is intriguingly restrained as Voichita, who has been living at the New Hill Monastery under the tutelage of a stern priest and a kindly, submissive Mother Superior. Her childhood roommate Alina—an agitated, violent girl, her hair always pinned back tightly—has been living in Germany working as a waitress, but she returns to the monastery hoping to liberate Voichita, for whom she still harbors a fiery passion. Mungiu infuses each scene with a sense of unease: Dogs are always yelping, birds chattering, knives chopping, dishes clattering. He uses the same subtlety to refer to Alina and Voichita’s romantic history. It’s never spoken of directly, but it’s made obvious from the beginning. “You have a fever,” says Voichita, touching Alina’s forehead. “I’ll need a rubdown,” says Alina, pulling out rubbing alcohol and stripping off her blouse. That’s as physical as the two

IFC FILMS

OPENS FRI., MARCH 29 AT SEVEN GABLES. NOT RATED. 150 MINUTES.

girls get. When Voichita declines to share a bed with her, Alina is surprised and disappointed.

She still longs for Voichita, who believes she’s vanquished that forbidden passion by devoting herself to God—“the path that means I’ll never be alone,” she says. That emotional distance brings Alina to uncontrollable rage.

The monastery nuns are aptly described by Alina as crows, a cawing, fluttering flock. They gossip and whisper about Alina, speculating that she’s joined a cult or been possessed by a malevolent spirit. The priest attributes it to a hidden sin that she’s unwilling to confess. We of

Shun and Umi race to save the past.

gentle, somewhat slight story of student life and young love in early-’60s Japan. As the country looks to bury its wartime history and show the world a modern new face at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, these students are determined to hold on to the past by saving their old, neglected clubhouse (known as The Latin Quarter) from demolition.

Nothing like a cause to spark a sweet, utterly chaste high-school romance between sunny

young Umi, a teenage girl who’s running her family boarding house and looking after her siblings, and student leader Shun, until unexpected complications halt their blossoming relationship.

Poppy Hill comes from a tradition of Japanese manga focused on the social and emotional lives of kids and teens, without the complications of superpowers or supernatural legacies. The film’s simple animation matches the subject. There’s none of the chaotic comedy or zippy action of Disney or Pixar here, no caricatured figures or exaggerated trials. Instead, the world is pared down to defining details, the pace slowed to appreciate the peace and stillness within the social bustle of school and home. (Umi’s mother is studying in the U.S.; her father was killed in the Korean War.) The English-dubbed cast, which includes Anton Yelchin, Gillian Anderson, Christina Hendricks, Aubrey Plaza, and Bruce Dern, is appropriately understated.

This second film by Goro Miyazaki marks an enormous evolution from his debut, the inert 2006 Tales From Earthsea. You can attribute some of that to his father’s delicate scripting and image-planning, which leaves much of the emotional drama suggested but unspoken. Goro weaves it all into a charming and oddly comforting portrait of simpler times. But behind the idealized, picaresque coastal village of Yokohama is a postwar culture of absent parents, self-sufficient kids, and adults uncomfortable acknowledging (let alone discussing) the past. No surprise that the film turns to the West for its jabs of nostalgia, from the bouncy score of swing and proto-rock to the Francophile flourishes in The Latin Quarter.

Poppy Hill is more a short story than a feature, almost unbelievably optimistic, but it offers a surprising, innocent window on an era usually associated with nuclear anxieties, cultural neuroses, and juvenile delinquents. SEAN AXMAKER

No OPENS FRI., MARCH 29 AT GUILD 45TH. RATED R. 110 MINUTES.

Mad Men for a different era, No is basically the true story of two rival 1988 ad campaigns—one for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, the other for “happiness,” according to René Saavedra (Gael García Bernal), the advertising hotshot

with a very difficult client. René, the adult child of leftists, was once exiled with his family (presumably after the CIA-sponsored ouster and killing of Salvador Allende in 1973). Now he’s back, separated from his red-leaning wife, fully embracing the bourgeois dream: He’s got a house at the beach, a French sports car, and Atari video games for his young son. He knows how to sell microwave ovens, and microwave ovens are the future. His boss Lucho (Alfredo Castro) will likely soon make him a partner. Why would René want to give up any of that?

Outside Chile, international pressure has prompted Pinochet to offer a national referendum on his rule. After a 27-day TV blitz, voters can vote either Sí (thus keeping Pinochet) or No (bringing in a new coalition government). René and Lucho consider it a rigged contest, yet René is lured into running the No campaign—perhaps less out of ideology than his simple desire “to win,” as he puts it. (Lucho will later lead the Sí campaign.)

All this is true in outline, but director Pablo Larraín and his writers embellish history and devise a funny, effective series of fake ads and jingles for both campaigns. Previewing one grim TV spot, a parade of riot cops and statistics on the disappeared (leftists abducted and killed by Pinochet’s secret police), René curtly declares, “This doesn’t sell.” What sells? The future, not the past. Hope and optimism. Microwaves and happy families . . . wait, that’s it! René decides to redefine No in the affirmative: No to Pinochet and civil war, yes to happiness. “We have to find a product that is attractive,” says René. Product: That’s the key word, in which sense René can be seen as the Roger Ailes of his day, a guy who packages ideology irresistibly. His ads show picnicking families, spontaneous dancing in the streets, golden beaches, and smiling faces. Those who remember our Reaganite ’80s will recognize the same sunny spirit; No cleverly inverts that era’s hemispheric politics.

No is the third film Larraín has set in the Pinochet era. (Tony Manero and Post Mortem both starred Castro.) It’s also by far the most cheerful and affirmative, in part because we know the script: Pinochet will be humiliated and cede most of his power (though keeping the military), and everyone gets a microwave oven. Good will triumph over evil. As a result, each roadblock and creative breakthrough for René feels more than a little rote and illustrative. Are these the original ads we’re watching, or lovingly recreated ’80s facsimiles? (Larraín, born in 1976, clearly remembers that decade’s tastes and textures well; he’s also worked in advertising.) A straight documentary would leave no such doubts.

Still, you’re left with the enjoyable dissonance between messenger and message in No. When a riot breaks out near a political rally for his side, with Molotov cocktails, tear gas, and a water cannon deployed, René’s first thought is his beloved Renault Fuego Turbo parked in the melee. “Fuck, my car!” he indignantly yelps. Never mind politics. Once the referendum is over, he’ll have soap operas and appliances to sell.

What’s that old saying? The revolution will be advertised. BRIAN MILLER

PThe Revolutionary Optimists OPENS FRI., MARCH 29 AT SIFF FILM CENTER. NOT RATED. 83 MINUTES.

What’s most satisfying about this touching documentary is its modest approach. A film about

film»

The Silence OPENS FRI., MARCH 29 AT VARSITY. NOT RATED. 111 MINUTES.

DAILY AT 12:30pm - 3:45pm - 7:00pm - 10:15pm

sight of young children cavorting in his pool.

Like Leopold and Loeb, he and the red car’s driver are bound by a shameful sexual predilection. The driver, meanwhile, wants for opaque reasons to send a “message” to his former protégé. But after its sparse, almost dialoguefree first scenes, with its many characters and

Blomberg as distraught cop.

relationships, The Silence wants to expand into a TV miniseries like AMC’s The Killing. Each household in this unnamed bit of Germany has its unique stories and woes (in addition to the police station house), but we only get glimpses inside.

Though inconclusive by American standards (Kill the monster!), The Silence does have the virtue of confounding cop-movie formulas. The ghosts of the past only increase in number, and there’s no solace for the living. BRIAN MILLER

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Sushi: The Global Catch RUNS FRI., MARCH 29–THURS., APRIL 4 AT GRAND ILLUSION. NOT RATED. 75 MINUTES.

When making sushi, a Tokyo chef insists in Mark Hall’s eco-documentary, the rice is as important as the fish. But diners worldwide are fixated on the latter, creating a potential environmental crisis, according to the experts who populate this polemic (essentially Food, Inc. at sea). Sushi corrals chefs, wholesalers, scientists, and fish ranchers who bemoan the skyrocketing demand for bluefin tuna—China’s bottomless hunger looms like a thundercloud over such discussions—and the corresponding depletion of Atlantic tuna stocks. “No species has fared worse at the hands of humans,” says one expert.

(Really? Not even whales or Atlantic salmon?)

We also meet an Australian entrepreneur who’s farm-raising tuna; the doc suggests bluefin abstinence until he’s perfected the technique. Oh, and there’s even a handy “Seafood Watch” app for your iPhone. Like so many advocacy docs, Sushi oversimplifies the issues. After establishing sushi’s global reach by poking fun at the sweet, saucy rolls sold in Poland by a former pizzeria owner and mocking the rib-eye, cilantro, and jalapeño rolls popular in Texas, the film can’t pin all the bluefin blame on new sushi eaters, who are generally eating California rolls packed with fake crab. Another problem: The starkly saturated images of fresh tuna meat are more gorgeous than Hall realizes. As I overheard at the press screening: “Makes you never want to eat sushi again, huh?”, a moviegoer was asked. His reply: “Actually, it kind of makes you crave it.”

HANNA RASKIN E

film@seattleweekly.com

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As the Cold War recedes into memory, child pornography has become the new Communism.

I mean, what’s the worst you can say about someone (all the better if it’s unsubstantiated)?

Better Red than ped. Who’s that perv hanging around the playground? We should call 911! No one, apart from the Tea Party right, worries about our national order being toppled. But surely there must be a pedophile lurking around every corner, waiting to abduct your child. Our antiseptic, air-bagged culture demands monsters, yet this German crime drama, directed and adapted by Baran bo Odar from a novel by Jan Costin Wagner, subtly complicates the divide between defenders and predators of children.

In a 1986 prologue, two men in a red car follow an 11-year-old girl on a bike into a wheat field. The worst thing happens. One man is clearly culpable; the other is a mute witness, an accomplice who never goes to the cops.

They separate for 23 years. Then, near the same wheat field, another young girl goes missing.

The police investigation swirls around a suburb half-built before the recession, when land was cheap; then everyone ran out of money. Leading the search is agitated, unstable cop Jahn (Sebastian Blomberg), still struggling with the grief of losing his wife to cancer. Aiding him is cranky old retiree Mittich (Burghart Klaussner), who couldn’t crack the first case back in ’86. And that first victim’s mother Elena (Katrin Sass) now becomes a concerned onlooker in the second girl’s disappearance. “It’s exactly like it was back then,” she tells the police. But why would a serial killer so specifically repeat his crime, right down to the calendar date?

With occasional flashbacks that eventually help explain (to us) the twinned crimes, The Silence proceeds on parallel tracks of guilt. The passenger in that fateful red car becomes a suburban dad with two kids, tortured by the

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breaking the cycles of poverty in India, it spends no time presenting sweeping generalizations about, or remedies to, the sex discrimination and government inaction that makes Kolkata (Calcutta) so miserable for those on its bottom rungs.

A few well-placed statistics give a larger sense of the problem, but filmmakers Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen—Seattle natives now based at Stanford University—spend most of the film’s brisk 83 minutes following three kids through their individual victories and tribulations. Their stories emerge during two years filming the work of attorney Amlan Ganguly, the son of a high-level Bengali official who’s devoted himself to improving the lives of India’s slum-dwellers, especially women, through his organization Prayasam. (Clean water, polio vaccinations, and education for girls are among his goals.) And as the title suggests, hopelessness doesn’t make an appearance in the film. Nor do outrage or pity. The joy I felt when one village successfully pulls off a coed soccer tournament is testament to the tenderness Newnham and Grainger-Monsen put into telling what may seem like inconsequential stories from a nation of a billion people. And I left the film with an understanding of Indian poverty that no sober recitation of the country’s socioeconomic situation could have provided. DANIEL PERSON

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from 2003-06. Four old episodes are being screened to reacquaint yourselves with the Bluth family (like there’s any need). That means Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, and the rest of the wonderfully dry cast. And to circle in your calendars, the first new episode is to debut on Netflix on May 4.

(NR) SIFF Film Center, $5, Sat., March 30, 8 p.m.

DEATH BECOMES HER Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, and Goldie Hawn star in this so-so comedy from 1992, directed by Robert Zemeckis. In it, a standard romantic triangle is complicated by and elixir that gives eternal life, meaning that our players can inflict all manner of injury on one another, but no one can actually die. It sounds funnier than it is. No show on Mon. (PG-13) Central Cinema, 1411 $6-$8, March 29-April 3, 7 p.m.

EPIC DE NIRO SEE THE WIRE, PAGE 17.

THE JEFFREY DAHMER FILES Director Chris James Thompson goes back to Milwaukee to interview those who knew the notorious cannibal and serial killer, who was arrested and tried in 1991. This film is not to be confused with the 2002 feature Dahmer, which gave Jeremy Renner his breakout role. (NR) Grand Illusion, Fri., March 29, 11 p.m.; Sat., March 30, 11 p.m.; Mon., April 1, 9 p.m.

LITTLE FUGITIVE SEE THE WIRE, PAGE 17.

MIAMI CONNECTION From 1987, this rediscovered cult-film-in-the-making concerns Ninja rock, cocaine dealing, and neon colors. (NR) SIFF Cinema Uptown, $5-$10, Fri., March 29, 9:45 p.m.; Sat., March 30, 9:45 p.m.

MIDNIGHT COWBOY In the Oscar-winning 1969 drama, Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman hustle to survive on the mean streets of NYC. Directed by John Schlesinger. Note: No show Mon. (X) Central Cinema, $6-$8, March 29-April 3, 9:30 p.m.

MIDNIGHT HORROR Call the tavern, or just drop by, to see what random gore flicks are playing in this ongoing series. Plus drink specials! (NR) Comet Tavern, 922 E. Pike St., 322-9272, comettavern.com, Free, Thurs.-Sun. SOUND CITY Directed by Dave Grohl, former drummer for Nirvana, this affectionate doc takes a look at the L.A. studio whose impeccable backing musicians helped craft hits for acts like Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Rick Springfield, Tom Petty, and Metallica.

Grohl, who now leads Foo Fighters, provides an insider’s take on the craft of recording music. Note: No show Monday night. (NR) Grand Illusion, $5-$8, March 29-April 3, 8:30 p.m.; Sat., March 30, 3:30 p.m.; Sun., March 31, 3:30 p.m.

TO THE LAST DROP The controversial proposed Keystone pipeline, and the Canadian tar sands that would feed it, are the subjects of this new hourlong doc by Tom Radford. Discussion follows. (NR) Keystone Congregational Church, 5019 Keystone Place N., 632-6021, keystoneseattle.org, Free, Fri., March 29, 7 p.m.

WAXIE MOON IN FALLEN JEWEL The local dancer/ choreographer appears in this performance film, directed by Wes Hurley. (NR) Central Cinema, $12, Thurs., March 28, 8 p.m.

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN Mel Brooks’ inspired 1974 spoof is probably his best movie, affectionately rooted in the James Whale originals (particularly Bride of Frankenstein) yet knowingly updated with innuendo and vaudeville. Gene Wilder stars as the mad scientist who’s determined not to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. The great Madeline Kahn plays his fiancée, destined to end up with quite another man (er, monster, played by Peter Boyle). Marty Feldman is the goggleeyed hunchback. Wilder and Brooks are both credited with the script, which includes countless classic gags—from “What knockers!” to “It could be worse; it could be raining”—and much horse whinnying at the mention of Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman). Brooks was able to reuse portions of the original Frankenstein laboratory sets that Universal had saved; and that period integrity is one reason the comedy holds up so well. In a way, the Borscht Belt is as timeless as Transylvania. Screens at midnight. (PG) BRIAN MILLER Egyptian, $8.25, Fri., March 29; Sat., March 30.

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4 COLOR

ADMISSION Based on a 2009 campus novel by Jean

Hanff Korelitz, Admission contains a clutch of topical issues that Tina Fey might’ve expanded much further and funnier. (Unfortunately, she’s only acting here, not writing.) Fey plays Portia, an admissions officer at Princeton locked into a childless long-term relationship with a feckless academic (smug weakling Michael Sheen, too short on screen time). Seemingly bound for a thin envelope is shy, brainy senior Jeremiah (Nat Wolff), a scholarship student at an artsy-fartsy prep school. His teacher John (Paul Rudd) is pushing him toward Princeton, but with an ulterior motive. In swift succession, Portia becomes a very biased booster for Jeremiah, a flustered crush object for John, and a maternal figure to the latter’s son, a precocious 11-year-old orphan adopted by his single father. Fey could probably pen an entire sitcom season from these elements, but Portia feels like more of a paycheck role for her. (Likewise, Rudd coasts lazily on his charm.)

Directed by Paul Weitz (About a Boy, American Pie), Admission plays like cut-rate Nora Ephron—and it’s her shoes as a writer and director that Fey seems most capable of filling. (PG-13) BRIAN MILLER Pacific Place, Ark Lodge Cinemas, Cinebarre, Kirkland Parkplace, Lincoln Square, Majestic Bay Theatres, Sundance Cinemas, others ARGO Ben Affleck’s Oscar winner begins with the November 4, 1979, attack on the U.S. embassy in Tehran. While 52 Americans are held hostage, six embassy workers manage to escape, ultimately hiding out at the home of Canadian ambassador (Victor Garber). Determined to smuggle the houseguests out of Iran by disguising them as a film crew on a location scout, CIA exfiltration expert Tony Mendez (Affleck) enlists the help of John Chambers (John Goodman), a movie makeup artist, and Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin), an old-school producer. Between hokey wisecracks ribbing industry idiocy, the trio seizes on a dusty script for a Star Wars rip-off called Argo. Affleck’s movie doesn’t reflect who we are now so much as it argues for what Hollywood can be. It’s a love letter from Affleck to the industry that made him, shunned him, and loves nothing more than to be loved. (R) KARINA LONGWORTH Admiral, Crest, others THE GATEKEEPERS Israeli director Dror Moreh says he was directly inspired by Errol Morris’ 2003 The Fog of War, which drew lessons from the Vietnam War that applied to Iraq and Afghanistan. But those were our wars, our bloody mistakes, political bungling, and costly occupations. Israel’s Occupied Territories, acquired after 1967’s Six-Day War, are a different matter. So too is its secretive Shin Bet security agency, which conducts counterterrorism operations in those Palestinian regions, including drone strikes and targeted assassinations. What’s most newsworthy here is that Moreh convinced six former Shin Bet leaders to go on record before the camera. They are surprisingly skeptical about Israeli policies for controlling the Occupied Territories. And while there’s no consensus view, if Moreh asked for a vote, it seems they’d go back to pre-1967 borders. Basically, though no one wants to come out and say it, the Six-Day War was a Pyrrhic victory, the acquisition of a demographic time bomb compounded by Israel’s settlement policies. One statement rings universal, and ex–Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin puts it in English for global emphasis: “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” (PG13) BRIAN MILLER Harvard Exit GINGER & ROSA It’s 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and English teens Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert) are worrying about nuclear armageddon. Neither can take much comfort in their home lives. Rosa’s father left years ago. Ginger’s still got hers (Alessandro Nivola), although he’s not a very good one. Neither girl respects her mother, whom they regard as pathetic and dreamless women. A strong cast gives weight to the two families’ tensions and troubles. Fanning has a winningly easy smile, and she makes Ginger’s loss of innocence is painful to watch.

Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks, as Ginger’s mother, has a wince-worthy British accent but is convincing as a beleaguered wife. But the scenes are cut much too short, giving the movie an unneeded sense of rushing, and director Sally Potter (Orlando, The Tango Lesson) gives too much away too soon: In an early scene, Ginger’s flirty father makes eyes at Rosa through the rearview mirror, so it doesn’t come as a surprise when Rosa reveals to Ginger that she feels a “soul connection” with her dad. The characters are well-wrought in Potter’s coming-of-age drama, but what happens to them is too predictable. (PG-13) ERIN K. THOMPSON Lincoln Square, SIFF Cinema Uptown, Guild 45th

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film» QUARTET At Beecham House, a baronial residence

for retired musicians, former conductor Cedric (Michael Gambon) determines to reunite the foursome who shone in a long-ago production of Rigoletto.

Assembling the headlining act requires a few desultory scenes of encouraging Beecham’s newest addition, opera diva Jean Horton (Maggie Smith), to participate.

Jean, once romantically involved with Reginald (Tom Courtenay), who passes the time giving gentle lectures to bused-in youths about the difference between opera and rap, states her objections sharply: “I can’t insult the memory of who I was.” That all-too-real fear for the eminences gathered here stands as the only true pathos in the sentimental and pandering Quartet, adapted by Ronald Harwood from his 1999 play and directed by Dustin Hoffman, stepping behind the camera for the first time. “Their love of life is infectious,” says the staff doctor, belying the previous scenes of agony over hip-replacement surgery and Reginald’s stated wish to have “a dignified senility.” The physician might have been referring exclusively to the randy joker played by Billy Connolly, prone to public urination and violating the staff’s personal space—acts sanctifying the memory of who he still is. (PG-13) MELISSA ANDERSON Kirkland Parkplace, Guild 45th, SIFF Cinema Uptown, others

• SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN Malik Bendjelloul’s

Oscar-winning documentary is such a gift. In telling the tale of Sixto Rodriguez, a Mexican-American balladeer from Detroit who cut a couple of tepidly received LPs in the early ‘70s, vanished, and subsequently became an Elvis-sized rock god in South Africa, the Swedish filmmaker sidesteps arthritic VH1-style “where are they now” antics in favor of a more equivocal interrogation of celebrity culture. It’s no huge surprise when Rodriguez himself turns up, still living the same modest existence as before his brush with micro-fame. Better still, Rodriguez’s apparent contentment with an ordinary working life lets Searching for Sugar Man hold up a mirror to what we’ve come to expect from artists in an age of pervasive, entitled notoriety. (PG-13) MARK HOLCOMB SIFF Cinema Uptown SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK If you took the fighting out of The Fighter, David O. Russell’s previous movie, you’d be left with a close, fractious family like the Solitanos of his hugely appealing new Silver Linings Playbook. Instead of Boston Irish and boxing, we have Philadelphia Italian and the Eagles. The family patriarch (a fine, restrained Robert De Niro) is an OCD bookie bound by strange rituals to the team; his wideeyed wife (Jacki Weaver) is the nervous family conciliator/enabler; and their volatile son Pat (Bradley Cooper,

later this year, The Waiting Room tells us what we already know, but its lessons are worth repeating. (NR) BRIAN MILLER Varsity THEATERS: Admiral, 2343 California Ave. SW, 9383456; Ark Lodge Cinemas, 4816 Rainier Ave. S, 721-3156; Big Picture, 2505 First Ave., 256-0566; Big Picture Redmond, 7411 166th Ave. NE, 425-556-0566; Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave., 686-6684; Cinebarre, 6009 SW 244th St. (Mountlake Terrace)., 425-6727501; Cinerama, 2100 Fourth Ave., 448-6680; Crest, 16505 Fifth Ave. NE, 781-5755; Egyptian, 801 E. Pine St., 781-5755; Grand Illusion, 1403 NE 50th St., 5233935; Guild 45, 2115 N. 45th St., 781-5755; Harvard Exit, 807 E. Roy St., 781-5755; Kirkland Parkplace, 404 Park Place, 425-827-9000; Lincoln Square, 700 Bellevue Way N, 425-454-7400; Majestic Bay, 2044 NW Market St., 781-2229; Meridian, 1501 Seventh Ave., 223-9600; Metro, 4500 Ninth Ave. NE, 781-5755; Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., 267-5380; Oak Tree, 10006 Aurora Ave. N, 527-1748; Pacific Place, 600 Pine St., 888-262-4386; Seven Gables, 911 NE 50th St., 781-5755; SIFF Cinema Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave. N., 324-9996; SIFF Film Center, 305 Harrison St. (Seattle Center), 324-9996; Sundance Cinemas, 4500 Ninth Ave NE, 633-0059; Varsity, 4329 University Way NE, 781-5755.

wired) is fresh out of the nuthouse with a restraining order from his ex. But Pat is looking for those silver linings through self-improvement: reading, running, losing weight, scheming to win back his wife. Russell’s pell-mell approach perfectly suits the story of Pat’s mania and wrong-footed romance with young widow Tiffany (the Oscar-winning Jennifer Lawrence), who’s even more titanic in her instability than Pat. (R) BRIAN MILLER Lincoln Square, Big Picture, Cinebarre, Pacific Place, others THE WAITING ROOM Granted intimate access to Oakland’s Highland Hospital, director Peter Nicks basically employs the reality-TV approach of TLC’s old Trauma: Life in the ER series. Then he overlays secondary interviews to add socioeconomic background. The majority of those in the waiting room, sometimes for days, are there for one simple reason. Says one likable young bearded fellow, his testicular cancer requiring surgery: “I don’t have any insurance.” We meet a carpet layer with bone spurs on his spine, a little girl with a serious infection and unemployed parents, a guy whose bullet wound is aching, a homeless alcoholic whom the doctors greet by first name. They are, mostly, a sympathetic lot. They are also mostly lowincome and minority (this is Oakland, after all, where the recession still seems to be raging). Bound for PBS

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“One of the greatest serial killer movies ever made.” Movies.com

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food&drink»

Stumbling Back on Course

A reinvigorated Stumbling Goat Bistro reigns again in Phinney Ridge.

BY HANNA RASKIN

S

JOSHUA HUSTON

eattle’s allegiance to dressed-down dining extends beyond the chefs in weathered black T-shirts, the servers in jeans and untucked blouses, and the patrons in puffy coats that cost as much as the Bordeauxs they’re contemplating. All that casualness also shows up on a plurality of local plates arrayed with food as pulled-together as Lindsay Lohan in her latest mugshot. When food-media types aren’t watching, sweetbreads slump, noodles clump, and salmon filets vanish beneath fat bouquets of pea shoots and Brussels-sprout leaves.

But at Stumbling Goat Bistro, a neighborhood restaurant where rumpled presentations probably would be forgiven, the appearance standards are exacting. Although the upbeat drinkers who crowd the bar at happy hour might not notice or care, the kitchen won’t let go of an entrée unless the meat’s tipped at the proper angle to emphasize its textbook grill marks and gleaming crust of animal fat; the reduction sauce evenly coats the bottom of the plate; and the harmonizing root vegetables’ shape, size, and color are proportioned in ratios that would make the ancient Greeks giddy. Such culinary vanity is as rare in Seattle as an 85-degree day.

The prettiness of Stumbling Goat’s plates isn’t Joshua Theilen, a former executive sous chef at Trellis, took over the Bistro kitchen in 2009. a new development. When the Weekly in 2000 Top right: braised pork belly with endive, apple slaw, cider reduction, and scarlet runners. wrote up the then-new Greenwood restaurant, Bottom right: Tails & Trotters’ double chop with a hash of apples and squash and crowned with crisped sage. the reviewers were so forthcoming with praise for its “gorgeous” dishes—including an eggplant hunkering down with roasted bone marrow and a caponata they likened to the climbable concrete eWoody and Heyer renovated the nestled in a prim hash of apples and squash and smoked-bacon bourbon cocktail.) slabs of Michael Heizer’s Adjacent, Against, Upon restaurant soon after they bought crowned with crisped sage. The flavor combinaStill, when servers are on hand, they’re enthusiin Myrtle Edwards Park—that they felt compelled it, but—perhaps owning to the tion isn’t novel, but the tender white flesh of the astic and fluent in the daily specials, a critical com- pig—finished on hazelnuts by Portland’s Tails to point out that “While presentation plays a Goat’s popularity—the room has a ponent of a menu designed to emphasize freshprominent role at the Stumbling Goat, one thing lived-in look. The restaurant actually consists of & Trotters—was worthy of classicism. Its earthy ness. And they all seem very musketeery: When that saves it from design-heavy pretension is gentwo rooms, but the secondary dining area (betnuttiness was underscored by just enough aged erous portioning.” (Still true.) ter known as the room farther from the bar) was balsamic to wheedle the palate.

Yet the restaurant has changed over 13 years. In empty and darkened when I visited. Despite the A dead-on cauliflower soup notwithstanding, Stumbling Goat has addition to tweaking its cocktail menu to satisfy abundance of spare tables, the Goat’s service staff Stumbling Goat does its best work with meat. A contemporary connoisseurs and continuing to has a maddening habit of putting on airs, such as employed a succession of velvety rabbit-liver mousse, jarred and sealed off tinker with its weekly schedule, adding weekend skeptically asking “Do you have a reservation?” with a pert white-wine gelée, tasted both wild ridiculously talented toques and elegant, like the Cowardly Lion in cape and breakfast service just this month, Stumbling Goat when confronted with two would-be diners and has employed a succession of ridiculously talented failing to greet guests within 10 minutes of their who’ve imposed their own crown. A hunk of rich lamb served with a tumble toques who’ve imposed their being sat. of edamame and spring onions was beautifully own styles on the menu. Ever styles on the menu. cooked, while a chestnut-sweetened roasted Service was always slug» PRICE GUIDE since a former Herbfarm gish, but on the night we chicken would be a fine candidate for ordering RABBIT-LIVER MOUSSE ���������������$9 sous chef, Craig Serbousek a server told me a cocktail of Bulleit rye, Amaro waited longest for acknowlagain even without the very persuasive florets of CHICKEN ������������������������������������������$26 PORK CHOP �������������������������������������$28 (now owner of Crow and Nonino, and black-walnut bitters was undergoing edgment, only five tables caramelized cauliflower.

ROOT-BEER FLOAT �������������������������$8 Betty), launched the restaurevision, it certainly sounded as if he might have a were taken. It appeared that A lovely green salad garnished with plugs of rant, Stumbling Goat has say in its final recipe. As it stood, the Chuckanut one of the two servers on smoked trout, thin panes of watermelon radishes, functioned as a kind of locavore finishing school; was overly cakey, an imbalance the bartender corthe floor was also handling bar duties, but there’s and a ready-to-pop poached egg suggested there’s Seth Caswell and Matt Dillon both logged time rected by topping off my glass with more whiskey. little excuse for failing to deliver at least a polite much to anticipate on the Goat’s spring menu. in the head-chef role. The latter was running the It seemed like a wise and generous solution until I “Someone will be right with you”—especially For now, though, there’s lightness and sparkle kitchen in 2004 when the Weekly last checked in, knocked over a glass of red wine while cutting into on pastry chef Jens Melin’s impressive dessert since there’s nothing complicated about the boxy pronouncing it “the apex of dining experiences” in a pork chop, staining the Goat’s white curtains. restaurant’s layout. menu. Alongside the cakes, there’s an ice-cream north Seattle.

Perhaps the whiskey-soaked walnuts at the botUncovered wooden tables, plain as the Goat’s float with housemade root beer served in its own But the Goat’s prestige had faded slightly by tom of my cocktail had done me in. exposed brick walls, are the sum of the main apothecary bottle. The brassy root beer’s true to the year of its most recent white-smoke routine. room’s furnishings. Other than the tabletop canthe Stumbling Goat’s longtime farmsteadJoshua Theilen, who had served as executive sous dles and sugar caddies, nothing at the Goat would worshipping ways, but tastes entirely of today. E espite thoughtful touches like the chef at Trellis, took over the kitchen in 2009. New qualify as decor, although diners have their pick of drunken walnuts, the cocktails I hraskin@seattleweekly.com owners Keri DeWoody and Angie Heyer hoped watching the kitchen window, where Theilen and sampled came up a few sophisticahe’d reinvigorate the restaurant’s reputation for sous chef Gunnar Erickson occasionally linger, tion levels short of the food. As STUMBLING GOAT BISTRO rigorous ingredient sourcing and irrefutable delior gazing out the streetside casement windows. much as I regret racking up a dry-cleaning bill 6722 Greenwood Ave. N., 784-3535, ciousness. Judging by a pair of recent dinners, their (The view’s a constant stream of sweaty joggers, for the Goat, I’m not sorry for freeing every morstumblinggoatbistro.com. 5–9 p.m. Tues.–Thurs. plan panned out. which may or may not make you feel better about sel of meat from the extraordinary double chop, & Sun., 5–10 p.m. Fri.–Sat.

D

SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

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food&drink»Featured Eats $ = $25 or less per person; $$ = $25–$40; $$$ = $40 and up.

These capsule reviews are written by editorial staff and have nothing to do with advertising. For hundreds more reviews, searchable by neighborhood and type of cuisine, go to seattleweekly.com/food.

Post Alley at Pike Place Market • We open at 9 AM serving breakfast all week long!

• Now serving breakfast burritos & huevos rancheros • Gluten free options

City of Seattle BALLARD

ANN’S TERIYAKI 2246 N.W. Market St., 789-5838.

Everything you might expect from a teriyaki house and more, with extras such as a selection of rice vermicelli dishes and jars of chili oil on every table. Go for the lemongrass tofu with a heaping plate of nicely spiced veggies. The curried beef with vegetables is also a solid choice. Bonus: Wheel of Fortune is usually on the elevated TV set around dinnertime. $

BELLTOWN

AMBER 2214 First Ave., 728-8500. There’s a lot going on

at Amber—in front, a packed semi-sports bar, and in

back, a restaurant area with a swanky metal-meetswood Northwest decor. Too loud for a romantic dinner date, Amber is the type of place where you’d go for a Caesar salad and a good-sized pork chop with potatoes on the side. Seafood entrées include a cedar-planked Alaskan King salmon. Gutbuster warning: Portions are Outback generous. $$

LONG PROVINCIAL VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT & JELLY BAR 1901 Second Ave., 443-6266. Long

(the “o” pronounced as “ao”) brings everything the Nguyen family have done at their popular Tamarind Tree into the realm of fine dining: tonier decor, more formal service, and more sophisticated dishes with equally sophisticated prices. The joke quickly emerged, though, that the restaurant was named after its epic menu. The best approach is to eat low on the, er, food chain: Appetizers like fried-catfish spring rolls and meltingly tender satays as well as the herb-strewn salads (scallop-pomelo, bananablossom) are exquisite. Vegetable sides like kohlrabi stir-fried with dill are straightforward and reliable. Meanwhile, the entrées follow the general rule that the more you pay, the less impressed you’ll be. $$

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SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

Blues vocalist and harmonica Intelligent and Sophisticated icon Salgado sings and Jazz-Infused Songstress plays with a hard-earned Touring in Support of her New soulful authority Release “Night”

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to celebrate in style awing Room. Curtis Salgado

extensive grocery-store toilet-paper selection, but sometimes I wish someone could just tell me which is best for my tush. Another of my orifices » by jen chiu feels the same about food trucks: Just pick for me. This is where Portland’s Nong’s Khao Man Gai steps in. Nong has one item on her menu, her As I was talking about the memorable meals Hainanese chicken rice. Since she has specialI have had from Seattle food trucks recently, my ized, she is able to turn around orders lightningpal from Portland retorts, “P-town is so much fast and focus on making the tastiest chicken rice more progressive when it comes to the mobilethis side of a hawker center in Singapore. Nong food scene.” has such a loyal following, she often sells out by Game on, sister; you’re steppin’ with your gat 1 p.m. on safety because here are three mobile-food Seattle’s version: In a similar vein, the owners concepts, originating in Los Angeles, Portland, of Seattle’s Diablo Food Truckz have also focused and San Francisco, that Seattle has covered. on one headline dish: yakisoba pan sandwiches.

Concept #1 from L.A.: Translation: noodles in Brick-and-mortar to your sandwich. Trust me, truck. Nietzsche once this is one of those dishes said “The only way to that perplexes people start a Seattle food-truck until they try it, and then article is by talking about they can’t get enough.

Concept #3 from S.F.: Los Angeles.” Instead of Get creative with Asian. ceasing operations while I am always coveting L.A.’s Chego undergoes the Bay Area’s plethora a complete remodel, Ray of Asian-themed food Choi, the founder of the Ooey-gooey fries and trucks that strut their Korean taco-truck sensastuff by offering more tion Kogi, decided to oper- increased street cred. than your Americanized ate from a truck. After all, Join us April 15th - April 30th fried egg roll. Honthat’s how he built his fame and receive a complimentary with purchase. for example, serves Hong Kong–style as the supplier of the originalTiramisu $2 Kalbi-beef tacoentree grykong, cuisine of the kind you can generally find only at back in 2008. dim sum joints or back in the motherland, from Serving pork-belly rice bowls, “3 p.m.” meategg-custard tarts to siu mai dumplings. Chug balls, and ooey-gooey fries loaded with sambal, down your treat with one of the country’s most three types of cheese, sour cream, cilantro, and prized drinks, an iced Ovaltine. pickled garlic, Chego churns out a faithful repAnother much-loved S.F. truck, The Chairman, resentation of their restaurant menu from their delights customers with their Taiwanese baked truck, temporarily parked on the curb of their and steamed Coca-Cola-braised brick-and-mortar.

Monday - Thursday 5-10pm, buns.

Friday Their - Saturday 5-12am, Sunday pork 5-9pm with Savoy cabbage and preserved yellow musWhile the staff cannot wait to get back to the Brunch Sat - Sun 9am-2pm seedsAve is a must-try. restaurant, because all agree operating out of a 5411 tard Ballard NW • 206 789 5100 Seattle’s version: Xplosive owners Cathy and truck is a lot harder, Chego’s street cred certainly www.volterrarestaurant.com Romano Basilio also stay true to their Vietnamese increased by getting back on the street. and Filipino roots while having fun with dishes Seattle’s version: With seven locations in the like their grenade banh mi sliders and Xplosive Seattle area, the fried-chicken institution Ezell’s chicken-adobo fried rice. is hitting the food-truck scene in April with Ezell’s Seattle may not have pioneered these conExpress. Oprah will be pleased. You’ll never guess cepts. But Seattle didn’t invent hip-hop either, and what their main menu item will be.

Concept #2 from Portland: Specialize. In our Macklemore is blowing it up. E food@seattleweekly.com consumer-supported society, I am grateful for the

Brunch Sat - Sun 9am-2pm Kirkland 121 Kirkland Ave Featuring Happy Hour (425) 202-7201 Monday - Friday

4:30-6:30pm www.volterrarestaurant.com

food&drink»Featured Eats MAMA’S MEXICAN KITCHEN 2234 Second Ave.,

728-6262. Mama’s looks like whatever has been filling the minds of several eccentric souls has exploded onto its walls. It would take an awfully haughty person to begrudge the place its cheap, huge chicken screamer (chicken and sour cream) or Nolasco (veggie) burritos. Mama’s boasts Mexican tchotchkes, killer margaritas, random paintings, strings of lights, a bit of Marilyn, and, of course, the famed Elvis room. $ TWO BELLS BAR & GRILL 2313 Fourth Ave., 441-3050.

An old-growth bar in a forest of stripling condos and high-end furniture shops, the Two Bells remains one of Belltown’s rare constants. The burgers, served on unwieldy French rolls with caramelized onions and mustard sauce, are exceptional. Plus, the cooks don’t overlook the little things—the potato salad has zip, the pickles aren’t shriveled and bruised, and they’ve even got bendy straws. The allure of the tavern, however, extends past the food and beer; it’s a friendly place and has always been. $ VIRGINIA INN 1937 First Ave., 728-1937. Twice its original size, but with barely a seam between the old and new sections, the century-old Virginia Inn has managed to stay timeless while allowing diners to stretch their legs. The bar’s approach to food is still fresh takes on American standards, given that in the new millennium tradition encompasses mussels and fries and pasta alfredo as well as Dungeness crab cakes.

There aren’t many better two-hour lunches than relaxing on the outside patio, with a pint of Manny’s and a French dip, looking out over the Market while you down house-made potato chips. $

ALittLeRAskin » by hanna raskin

Taste-Testing

14 CARROT CAFE 2305 Eastlake Ave. E., 324-1442. One

of the first restaurants in the 1980s to induct Seattle into the cult of brunch, 14 Carrot Cafe is still chugging along. On the weekends, the colorful room is packed with polite families and young couples, all vying to get to the biscuits and gravy or the pancake du jour before they run out. If you don’t make it in time, find solace in the egg dishes or the huevos rancheros. $

We Ship We Ship WeSeafood Ship Seafood Overnight Seafood Overnight Overnight Anywhere in theAnywhere USAin the Anywhere USA in the USA We Pack for for or WeAir PackTravel for or orWe Pack Air Travel Air Travel

University University University Seafood Seafood & Poultry& Poultry

Seafood & Poultry

Japanese Grill & Sushi Bar

1317 NE 47th,1317 Seattle NE 47th, Seattle (206) 632-3700 or (206)632-3900 1317(206) NE 47th, or Seattle 632-3700 (206)632-3900

(206) 632-3700 or (206)632-3900

RAVISH 2956 Eastlake Ave. E., 913-2497. This charming

Eastlake bistro offers a menu of local fare, from small plates to entrees, and dishes like Applegate Farms Organic Pigs in a Blanket and Pan-Seared Sweet Potato Latkes. Inventive cocktails and quality regional wines round out the drink list at Ravish. $

FREMONT

14,000 FANS AND COUNTING

OPEN Tuesday - Sunday

ART OF THE TABLE 1054 N. 39th St., 282-0942. Chef

Dustin Ronspies originally set up shop as a caterer in 2007 and started serving food a few days a week to lure potential clients. Passionate word-of-mouth turned his unlikely location into a cult favorite.

Ronspies does his own shopping, churns his own ice cream, grows his own herbs, and, yes, washes his own dishes. Check artofthetable.net to see what he’s serving at his small-plate Happy Mondays and prixfixe multicourse dinners, Thurs.–Sat. Whether seared spring mushrooms with gnocchi and parsnip puree or pork and bacon albondigas, it’s made by hand from market ingredients. There’s no dining without a reservation, since he only has 12 seats. $$–$$$

for example, guests are served a pasta dish which reflects the Italian-colonization period of Somalia’s history. But they’re also served a goat stew that Valenta calls “super-fragrant and very traditional. I think most people would love it.”

This year, Plate of Nations is introducing a passport program. Diners who receive stamps at all 10 of the featured restaurants will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire. Diners who complete half of the restaurants on the list are eligible to win a $50 gift certificate to a neighborhood restaurant.

When Plate of Nations last year gave away gift certificates through its Facebook site, all of them were redeemed. But that’s the only evidence to suggest that event attendees are returning to the restaurants they try.

“We’re trying to find a way to measure that, because that was a piece we were missing last year,” Valenta says. “We have been very pleased by all the encouragement and great feedback.”

What’s also known is that the host restaurants, which are carefully screened for food quality and ability to handle crowds, enjoy the event. “Most people we approach just love it,” Valenta says. “They really want to share with the community.”

Plate of Nations begins Sunday and runs through April 6 at Original Philly’s, Café Ibex, Bananas Grill, Rainier BBQ, Karama, St. Dames, Thai Palms, Olympic Express, Deo Valente, and Joy Palace. No reservations are required, and complete menus are available at mlkba.org. E hraskin@seattleweekly.com

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The problem with most promotional prix-fixe menus—at least for eaters who aren’t crazy about sweets—is the obligatory dessert. The majority of restaurants structure their threecourse samplings around an appetizer, entrée, and dessert, which pretty much snookers the customer who’d prefer a soup or salad.

But at Plate of Nations, Rainier Valley’s annual dine-out event, participants don’t have to fear getting stuck with an unwanted crème brûlée. Of the 10 restaurants along Martin Luther King Jr. Way South offering shareable meals over the next two weeks, only one is serving dessert. (St. Dames is debuting its spring bread pudding.)

Otherwise, $15 or $25 buys a spread of the restaurant’s best savories.

“It’s a ton of options for all eaters,” says Sarah Valenta of the coordinating MLK Business Association.

Now in its third year, Plate of Nations was designed to encourage eaters to try restaurants they might not otherwise consider because of concerns about language barriers, unfamiliar foods, and cleanliness standards. By nearly all standards, the project’s succeeded: In 2011, 90 percent of participants reported that they visited the neighborhood specifically for the event.

“People have been thrilled to be welcomed into these restaurants,” Valenta says, describing the program as taking “what’s delicious to a certain culture and translating it to another one.”

Valenta works with restaurants to develop menus that aren’t too challenging. At Karama,

EASTLAKE & SOUTH LAKE UNION

FRESH FRESH ALASKAN HALibut

31

Reverb»

Touch Me I’m Old as Fuck

Mark Arm and Steve Turner reflect on Mudhoney’s first 25 years: vixens, Gary Busey, and Pagliacci.

BY DAVE LAKE

T

[from Portland].

he members of Mudhoney may not have bought each other silver Tiffany pendants to celebrate their quartercentury together, but at least they got their fans something: Vanishing Point, their ninth long-player and first in five years. Despite hitting middle age, lead singer Mark Arm and guitartist Steve Turner still have plenty to rail (loudly) about: musicians who get in their face in the supermarket (“I Don’t Remember You”), while still conserving enough energy to sing the praises of stuff they dig, like GG Allin and dingy basements (“I Like It Small”). Here’s hoping the dudes have another 25 years in them, because septuagenarians need outlets for their rage too.

The most important thing I’ve learned in my years as Sub Pop’s warehouse manager is . . .

Arm: It really helps if the direct-sales people

get their invoices to me early.

Do you know the Sub Pop catalog number of your latest album?

Arm: Yeah, it’s 1020.

What about Postal Service’s Give Up? Arm: 595. I know catalog numbers! Like when

my alarm goes off at 7:30, it’s Pissed Jeans’ Hope for Men. If I hit the snooze button and it’s 7:33, it’s Handsome Furs. 9:05? Low. Shit, I’m running late!

To me, the coolest pop-culture moment involving Mudhoney was . . .

Arm: It would have to be Black Sheep. We

SW: The key to surviving for 25 years as a band is . . .

Arm: Not giving a shit.

After Mudhoney, my next-favorite Russ Meyer film is . . .

Arm: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is actually

played in it and got to meet Chris Farley. It was a really weird, surreal experience. We had to mime and lip-synch the song, and there were all these people there as extras. As soon as we started, we’d forgotten these were, like, paid extras in L.A., and their job was to act like they liked what we’re doing. We ran through it, like, three times and we were like, “This is awesome! They really like us! And there’s a lot of girls here!”

Turner: I remember waiting around for a long time during the day and talking too much with Gary Busey, who’s a little bit off his nut.

He was playing a nuts Vietnam vet dressed in camouflage, so he was already in character, and he seemed so crazy. Him coming up and chitchatting with us was both great and frightening.

my favorite. Mudhoney is probably somewhere around four. But it made a better band name.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was a little bit cumbersome. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!—the first part of that was already taken. Supervixens wasn’t taken, which is maybe my third favorite, but Vixen was taken. Mudhoney just had a great ring to it.

SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

The weirdest gig I ever played was probably . . .

Turner: There were a couple good ones in Paris

32

The Mudhoney item that I own that would most likely fetch the largest sum on eBay is . . .

Arm: The test pressing of “Touch Me I’m Sick.”

Turner: Hmm. I actually sold a lot of those

things on eBay already [laughs].

Did you find it odd that a guy called Mark Yarm wrote a book about grunge?

Arm: Yeah—really weird. The first thing he

did was [interview me] for Blender or something for Sub Pop 20, and I was like, “What? Who am I talking to? You’re shitting me, right?” When word was getting out around town that this guy was writing this book, I think some people thought it was me.

My experience on a major label was like . . .

Turner: It was all business. Well, that’s not

totally true because the guy who signed us, David Katznelson, is a great friend to us still. But I don’t have any horror stories about it or anything. They

How long does it take before you can look back on an album and judge it against the rest of your catalog?

Turner: I’ve never been a guy who could say

EMILY REIMAN

early on. We played with this skinhead band.

They were French skinheads. The only thing I remember about them was how polite they were and the fact that onstage with them they had a little side table with several wine glasses and a bottle of wine that they were drinking out of. It was positively civilized.

That whole night was fucked up. They put us up in a hotel that was a squat with no working bathrooms. We were actually peeing out the windows. And then the next time we came back to Paris, we played in a circus tent. As we were soundchecking, there were people literally rehearsing on the trapeze, and an elephant was walking by the front of the stage.

left us alone to do what we did, and then when that stopped, we left.

Arm: We had complete freedom to record how we wanted up until our last record. After we were dropped, a couple years later, I was trying to figure out the publishing stuff and realized that none of our songs were registered from the early

“We were actually peeing out the windows. As we were soundchecking, an elephant was walking by the front of the stage.” years of Sub Pop. All this shit had slid through the cracks, and I contacted Warner/Chappell, the publishing company there that we had signed a publishing deal with, and they were like, “Oh, we let you go. You own all your stuff.” And it was like, “Really?” I’m sure they just figured it was probably not worth the administration cost of having to track down these nickels and dimes,

Mudhoney, with Mark Arm (left) and Steve Turner (right), enjoy the spoils of middle age.

which worked to our advantage. The only weirdness was right at the end, when there was a new president of A&R that came in and had to flex his muscles and clean house.

Because of Mudhoney I am . . .

Turner: Still a musician. Because I don’t think

I would have been otherwise.

True or false: I have visited the Mudhoney hair salon in NYC. Arm: False. I’ve seen it from across the street,

though.

It’s surprising that no publication ever thought it would be clever to take you guys there for an interview and haircuts or something, though I’m not sure Mudhoney and haircuts really go together.

Turner: People used to get mad at us when we

got haircuts!

If you’re ordering pizza, which place do you call?

Turner: I’m totally old-school Seattle:

Pagliacci. I still crave Pagliacci when I come back

“This is our best record yet!” I’m never that stoked on any of them. Coming up in the music world and listening to interviews with every fucking English band saying such asinine things like “We’re the best band since the Beatles”— they all seemed to say that in the ’90s, all these blowhards. At the end of the day, I think we succeed about 70 percent of the time for what we’re aiming for, which I think is pretty good.

We feel lucky that we can still do this and that we can dictate how we do this. And it still pays enough to at least pay for the child care to make it happen!

This has been the longest gap between Mudhoney albums. How come?

Arm: I guess it took a little while to get our

shit together, and I was sent reeling by the death of [Sub Pop executive] Andy Kotowicz. I couldn’t even think of moving forward with writing stuff. I was very heavily bummed for a good year. It’s still just awful, and I still miss the hell out of him. The end of 2010 and going into most of 2011 was mostly a wash. E

music@seattleweekly.com

MUDHONEY With Unnatural Helpers, Universe People.

Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9442, neumos.com. $15 adv. 21 and over. 8 p.m. Sat., March 30.

Reverb»Reviews

105 Mercer St, Seattle 206.284.4618

»EVERY LOCAL RELEASE*

LOCAL BANDS Sam Anderson, “Close” (out now, self-released,

soundcloud.com/ssaammanderson/close): Anticipation drips from each piano chord as Anderson, of Hey Marseilles fame, blends soft lyrics and layered vocals with electronic spurs that create a calm and mellow feeling. MARTHA TESEMA

The Comettes, The Comettes (out now, self-

released, thecomettes.com): They haven’t even been together a year, but the Comettes have already established their own psychedelic footprint. The band’s self-titled EP is filled with echoey guitar riffs, haunting vocals, a steady organ, and other ’60s favorites. But Timmy Sunshine’s contemplative, candid lyrics give the songs a fresh, contemporary sound. (April 4, Triple Door) MT Ctrl_Alt_Dlt, The Universe Room EP, (out now, Innerflight Music, innerflight.com): Heavy beats and dark tones flutter across these four tracks, mostly remixes of the title song, “The Universe Room (Original Mix)”; that techno tune is drenched with pulsating rhythm and leaves a haunting feeling. MT

*

Dark Time Sunshine, “Some Place

Special” (out now, Fake Four, Inc., soundcloud.com/fakefour/dark-time-sunshine-some-place): Another brilliant Zavalaproduced beat over which Onry Ozzborn spills cryptic thoughts on life’s journey and on what people think of him: “When I smile, I just enjoy when I’m pickin’ apart the people who score life like age, boy.” (Thurs., March 28, Crocodile) TODD HAMM

Out on the Streets, “We Need More Alcohol”

(out now, self-released, soundcloud.com/out-onthe-streets/alcohol): After hearing this Strokes-y tune with grumbling lyrics about trying to score booze “just to know that we can feel,” you will too. Or you can read Anna Karenina, complete with feelings, no booze required.

GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT

Week of Wonders, Failures (self-released, out now, weekofwondersmusic.tumblr.com): If tropical indie-pop is a genre, then WoW, judging by their debut EP, can be declared its kings.

Bandleader/ex–Orca Team member Leif Anders (credited here as Tim McClanahan) distills calypso into punk rock, with melodies as sweet and intoxicating as spiced rum. (Thurs., March 28, Black Lodge) DAVE LAKE

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Thad Wenatchee, “Peace Blockade” (out now,

self-released, thadwenatchee.bandcamp.com/ album/peace-blockade): Goofy Bellingham hiphop like The GNU Deal meets Tribe Called Quest—a lazy-lipped, jazzy track. GE

*

Whacka, “Yup/Digital Love” (out now, Simplify Recordings, simplifyrecordings.com/simp135-whacka-yup-digital-love): Whacka is the name of the blue mole in Super Mario Brothers. It’s also the name under which Netherlands-based producer Bouwe de Vries released these two glitch-hop tracks on Seattle’s Simplify Recordings. Imagine Amy Grant, Kanye West, and Aphex Twin toe-to-toe in a b-boy battle: sputtering, weird, and hella crunky. GE

*The Postal Service, “Turn Around” (out now, Sub Pop, postalservicemusic.net):

*The Postal Service, “A Tattered Line of String” (out now, Sub Pop, postalservicemusic.net):

Doled out one by one these days, this single—the first of two additions (with “Turn Around,” see above) on Give Up’s reissue—is packed with a heap of electro beats. Ben Gibbard tests a lower octave which makes him sound like he’s trying to seduce you. ASHLEY ROE

*Yeah, every release

It is our intention to review every release issued by Seattle bands and local labels. We try to run reviews as close to release dates as possible. If your LP, EP, single, or mixtape has slipped through the cracks—or you wish to alert us to an upcoming release—please e-mail reverbreviews@seattleweekly.com.

SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

Included on the 10th-anniversary deluxe edition of Give Up are two new songs: “A Tattered Line of String” (see below) and this one, sounding as evolved as computer music can be these days. Whereas “String” sounds like a peppy Pet Shop Boys remix, “Turn Around” comes off like a glitchy, blip-filled Erasure B side. But for fans of Ben Gibbard’s laptop tunes, that’s not the point—the man who sped away in his gleaming Death Cab has finally delivered more of what they crave.

(Mon., May 27, Gorge Amphitheater) GE

33

Reverb»The Short List

COURTESY GLASSNOTE

The Specials

SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27

34

At a time when UK punk was collapsing under the weight of its own anger and selfseriousness, the Specials burst onto the scene with hyperactive, upbeat, Island-inspired dance music coupled with progressive politics. They sang about birth control, racism, and surveillance, and it was the coolest thing many of us had ever heard (or seen). Sadly, they lasted only a few years, breaking up in 1981. Guitarist Lynval Golding met a gal, married, and moved to our own little Gig Harbor, but never gave up hope of a reunion. Though he never convinced founder Jerry Dammers to go along, he did get some of the original guys together for a number of memorable gigs, including the closing of the London Olympics with Blur and New Order. They had so much fun they’ve decided to keep going. Golding promises they’ll play all their hits, from “Gangsters” to “Ghost Town,” in their first Seattle show in three decades.

Porkpie hats, skinny ties, and creepers should

be in abundance, along with plenty of skanking (you youngsters can YouFace it). Showbox

SoDo, 1426 First Ave., 628-3151, showboxonline. com. $30. All ages. JOSH KERNS

Austin Jenckes

Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789-3599. 9 p.m. $10 adv./$12 DOS. KEEGAN PROSSER

Phoenix FRIDAY, MARCH 29

Sure, everybody flipped out over Phoenix’s fourth release, 2009’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, Often compared to the likes of Zac Brown but many of us had already adopted the band and Marc Broussard, Austin Jenckes honed back in 2006 when Scarlett Johansson and Bill his soulful country chops playing open mikes along the I-5 corridor while studying at West- Murray drunkenly bopped to the smooth, synthy vibes of “Too Young” ern Washington University in Lost in Translation before moving to Nash(directed by frontman ville. The change of locaTune in to 97.3 KIRO FM Thomas Mars’ wife, Sofia tion seems fitting for the every Sunday at 5 p.m. to hear music editor Chris Kornelis Coppola). The track was country boy, whose newest on Seattle Sounds. plucked from Phoenix’s release, An American Story, third album, It’s Never is full of songs that make Been Like That, a record rich with warm electro you want to put on your cowboy boots, jump beats and soaring vocals deserving of as much in your truck, and hit the road—or at least praise as Wolfgang (or Lost in Translation, for catch the #15 to Ballard. Like the performer, that matter). Next month the band releases the songs are warm, friendly, and full of life.

Bankrupt, their fifth album, which promises With James Redfern and Perry Acker.

THURSDAY, MARCH 28

e

*

Phoenix teases its new album, Bankrupt, Friday at the Paramount.

EDITOR’S PICK

more music the Bill Murrays of this world can turn to if they need to feel young again. With Mac DeMarco. The Paramount, 911 Pine St., 682-1414. 8 p.m. $35. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT

Merchandise SATURDAY, MARCH 30

The incredibly well-spoken, existential-crisestackling Tampa trio Merchandise come at new wave from a punk/hardcore background with an intense appreciation of jazz. The result is an extremely flexible set of parameters which allow them room to explore the fringes of their “genre,” using heavy reverb to drive home the isolating nature of creating music in a city they refer to in their press bio as “musical quarantine.” Last year’s Children of Desire shows a band holding fast to their desire to experiment, all behind the beautiful veil of white-hot melody. With Wet Hair, Naomi Punk. Barboza,

925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. 7 p.m. $8 adv. 21 and over. TODD HAMM

BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND

Jamie Lidell

FRIDAY, MARCH 29

Electro-soul flag-bearer Jamie Lidell went heavy on the funk on his latest, eponymous fulllength. It’s not that Lidell hadn’t worked that seam before, but it’s not something many were expecting after 2010’s supple Compass melted spines across continents. It also turned out to be a pretty boring detour which left many potentially good moments buried beneath a mountain of tired space-lasers and wah-wah bass lines.

Through it all, though, Lidell’s voice still rings clear, and that, along with his deep catalogue of sexy-fun tracks, should give this show a spark. With Empress Of, Ludwig Persik.

If the American heartland were to distill its many virtues into a lone human, that person would be Bob Seger—more specifically, vintage Seger: unshaven, shirtless, jeans-clad, smoking an unfiltered Winston and drinking his ninth Schlitz through a toothy grin on the hood of a black ’67 Impala. If you’re splitting a case of canned beer in a parked convertible under a sky lit only by stars, there’s no better artist to be listening to, which makes the LeMay Car Museum’s pre-funk for Seger’s Tacoma Dome show a peculiar slice of perfection. Opening will be Eagle Joe Walsh, whose Maserati goes 185. Tacoma Dome, 2727 E. D St., 253-272-

3663. 8 p.m. $50–$115. All ages. For details on the LeMay pre-show party, visit lemaymuseum.org. MIKE SEELY

MONDAY, APRIL 1

Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. 8 p.m. $15 adv. 21 and over. TODD HAMM

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mainstage WED/MARCH 27 • 8PM

kings: a boylesque extravaganza THU/MARCH 28 • 7:30PM - CD RELEASE CONCERT

cahalen and eli w/ brittany haas, paul kowert, and jordan tice

FRI/MARCH 29 • 8PM 5TH ANNUAL GIMME SHELTER BENEFIT

the dusty 45s, star anna, and

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SAT/MARCH 30 • 8PM

the english beat w/ kore ionz SUN/MARCH 31 • 8PM

mycle wastman w/ nyoka TUE/APRIL 2 • 7:30PM

battlefield band w/ the northwest junior pipe band

WED/APRIL 3 • 7:30PM BOB RIVERS SHOW AND 95.7 KJR PRESENTS

heart by heart

happy hour every day • 3/27 the true romans / fawcett symons and fogg • 3/28 jangle wagon / the judd wasserman band • 3/29 smoke and honey / how now brown cow • 3/30 the nightcaps • 3/31 kareem kandi • 4/1 free funk union w/ rotating hosts: d’vonne lewis and adam kessler • 4/2 chris trapper live: benefit for epilepsy awareness • 4/3 trio shi / eckaman & super mokako band TO ENSURE THE BEST EXPERIENCE · PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY DOORS OPEN 1.5 HOURS PRIOR TO FIRST SHOW · ALL-AGES (BEFORE 9:30PM)

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SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

next • 4/4 my goodness w/ the comettes • 4/5 steep canyon rangers • 4/6 janis ian w/ diana jones • 4/7 crystal bowersox acoustic duo • 4/12 super jam plays squeeze • 4/13 massy ferguson w/ the bgp • 4/14 portland cello project • 4/16 zach fleury w/ courtney marie andrews • 4/17 trace bundy • 4/18 simone dinnerstein and tift merritt in night • 4/19 blame sally w/ erin corday • 4/21 & 22 bobby “blue” bland • 4/23 & 4/24 shuggie otis w/ jesca hoop • 4/25 john keister & brooks mcbeth • 4/27 one-man star wars trilogy • 4/28 sarah elizabeth charles / swojo • 4/30 k’s choice (acoustic trio) w/ a fragile tomorrow • 5/1 chico pinheiro • 5/2 shemekia copeland w/ charles mack • 5/3 v contreras • 5/4 uncle bonsai • 5/5 hapa • 5/8 os mutantes w/ capsula • 5/9 seattle secret music showcase #13 • 5/10 paula cole • 5/11 lee oskar and friends orchestra

35

Reverb»Seven Nights 1303 NE 45TH ST

grass in his knotty acoustic songs. With Rory James and The Majestic. Tractor Tavern, 5231 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789-3599, tractortavern.com. 8 p.m. $10.

JONN HART Type “Jonn Hart” into Google and the top suggested results all involve “Who Booty.” The Oakland artist’s top single is a good representation of his music: pseudo-R&B that matches his half-rapping, half-crooning delivery with a slightly off-kilter beat.

It’s already garnered some airplay on mainstream radio, an arena that suits Hart’s sound perfectly. With Brainstorm, Ghkan, Jay Key. Neumos. 8 p.m. $20 adv.

METAL ALLIANCE TOUR The third edition of this metalheads-only super tour (Facebook description: “It’s Fucking METAL”) features ’80s heavyweights Anthrax and Exodus. With High on Fire, Municipal Waste, Holy Grail. Showbox SoDo, 1700 First Ave. S., 652-0444, showboxonline.com. 5 p.m. $31 adv./$35 DOS. All ages.

Monday, April 1

NATURAL CHILD For whatever reason, Nashville has ANGEL CABALLOS

Wednesday, March 27 DUCKTAILS is the main side project of Real Estate

guitarist Matthew Mondanile, and his latest, most expansive record, January’s The Flower Lane, plays like a hybrid of his other band’s easygoing guitar pop and Destroyer’s lounge-rock act. With Mark McGuire, Monopoly Child Star Searchers. Barboza, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9951, thebarboza.com. 8 p.m. $10 adv.

MATT COSTA A signee of Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records, Costa fittingly deals in pleasant, regular-dude folk rock. With Carly Ritter, Sam Outlaw. The Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave., 441-7416, thecrocodile.com. 8 p.m. $15 adv. All ages.

THE JOY FORMIDABLE This Scottish rock band’s best-known tune, “Whirring,” was recently sampled

by Andy Samberg–led parody act The Lonely Island in the video for “YOLO.” With Guards, Fort Lean. The Neptune, 1303 N.E. 45th St., 784-4849, stgpresents.org.

8 p.m. $18.50 adv./$20 DOS. All ages.

Thursday, March 28

36

banded last summer, Owens has quietly moved into the next phase of his career: solo artist. Lysandre, his first post-breakup release, doesn’t sound all that different from a Girls record, but Owens now has the freedom to take his classic rock–indebted songwriting experiments in whatever direction he chooses. With Melted Toys. The Vera Project, 305 Harrison St., 956-8372, theveraproject.org. 8 p.m. $20 adv./$22 DOS. All ages.

FIASCO This local three-piece plays Dave Matthews–lite acoustic jam-rock. With Monkeybat, Moonraper. Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison St., 324-8005, chopsuey.com.

8 p.m. $8.

THE SHRINE On last year’s Primitive Blast, this Los Angeles punk group plays ’80s-leaning hardcore. They’re set to play a spate of shows in April with Dinosaur Jr. With Dirty Fences, OSS, Ubu Roi. Comet Tavern, 922 E. Pike St., 322-9272, comettavern.com. 9 p.m. $7.

Friday, March 29

THE DUSTY 45S This multifaceted country quartet head-

lines a benefit show for DESC, a local nonprofit whose mission is ending homelessness. With Star Anna, Shane Tutmarc. Triple Door, 216 Union St., 838-4333, thetripledoor.net. 8 p.m. $20 adv./$25 DOS. All ages.

SEE ME RIVER Led by Kerry Zettel, this veteran rock group’s brawny, Americana-laced rock ’n’ roll took an anthemic turn on last year’s EP Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Pressure. With BOAT, John Atkins.

Columbia City Theater, 4918 Rainier Ave. S., 723-0088, columbiacitytheater.com. 9 p.m. $8 adv./$10 DOS. SUNDAY EVENING WHISKEY CLUB writes songs about “going down to the fishing hole” and other oldtimey activities, set to melodies as comfortable in 1945 Texas as in 2013 Ballard. With Palatine Ave., Great American Desert. Conor Byrne, 5140 Ballard Ave. N.W., 784-3640, conorbyrnepub.com. 9 p.m. $7.

Send events to music@seattleweekly.com See seattleweekly.com for full listings = Recommended, NC = no charge, AA = all ages.

•

Tuesday, April 2

HELOISE AND THE SAVOIR FAIRE Heloise Williams’ VOX MOD This is a release show for SYN-ÆSTHETIC,

which is shaping up to be producer Scot Walker’s breakout release as Vox Mod, combining his trademark synth-drenched beats with contributions from Erik Blood and Ishmael Butler. With OCnotes, Olav, DJ Riz. Vermillion, 1508 11th Ave., 709-7979, vermillionseattle.com. 9 p.m. $5.

Saturday, March 30 FLUME The headliner of this Decibel-curated show

is Australian beatmaker Harley Streten, making a rare stateside appearance. His productions are standard, Burial/James Blake–esque instrumental cuts, built around deep bass and warped vocal samples. If you can snag tickets, get there early for locals Natasha Kmeto and DJAO, whose hip-hopinfluenced productions are considerably more inventive. Lo-Fi Performance Gallery, 429 Eastlake Ave. E., thelofi.net.

9 p.m. Sold out.

MUDHONEY Of the surviving acts from the formative years of Seattle alternative rock, Mudhoney has perhaps been the most consistent, gradually honing its sound and steadily releasing albums for the past two decades. This is a release show for Vanishing Point, the band’s ninth fulllength in 25 years. With Unnatural Helpers, Universe People. Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9442, neumos.com.

8 p.m. $15 adv.

Brooklyn-based band began as a thrashy dance-punk outfit, but they’ve since transitioned to bass-thumping electro-pop. With the Fabulous Downey Brothers. Chop Suey. 8 p.m. $10.

SAN CISCO Already moderately popular in their native Australia, this indie-pop quartet is touring behind its self-titled debut, a set of electronic-streaked pop songs built on the vocal tradeoffs between Jordi Davieson (guitar) and Scarlett Stevens (drums). It’s sweet, but often cloyingly so. With Chaos Chaos. Neumos.

8 p.m. $12 adv. All ages.

BEHEAD THE PROPHET NO LORD SHALL LIVE Now in its sixth year,

Hollow Earth Radio’s Magma Fest has championed “underrepresented sounds and perspectives” each March. This, the 2013 fest’s final show, is the best distillation of its ethos, featuring reunion sets from Behead and The Need, two ’90s crustpunk/queercore bands from Olympia. With Hysterics.

Vera Project. 7:30 p.m. $11 adv./$13 DOS. All ages.

Sunday, March 31

CHARLIE PARR A folk-music lifer, gifted

storyteller, and deft guitarist, Parr blends roots music, gospel, and blue-

Talib Kweli plays the Croc— with The Physics and OCnotes in tow—Monday night.

COURTESY PRESS HERE

SEATTLE WEEKLY • MARCH 27—APRIL 2, 2013

CHRISTOPHER OWENS Since Girls unexpectedly dis-

Vox Mod celebrates the relase of his new album, SYN-ÆSTHETIC, with a Friday show at Vermillion.

become a breeding ground for scuzzy garage and punk bands. This trio lives up to its hometown’s reputation, writing songs about being high, getting laid, and being broke, in roughly that order. With the Apollos, Bad Tats, Abductee. Comet Tavern. 9 p.m. $8.

TALIB KWELI Touring behind the forthcoming Prisoner of Consciousness, Kweli gets some top-notch local support at this show from The Physics and OCnotes. With Justis. The Crocodile. 8 p.m. $25 adv. All ages.

column»Toke Signals ‘High’-lights: the Best Marijuana Experiences of the Past Year

BY STEVE ELLIOTT

A

BLOG ON » POT TOKESIGNALS.COM

x

Washington Farmer’s Market (3211 Yelm

Hwy. S.E., Olympia, 360-742-3669, sonshineo. com), held the first and third Saturdays of each month by Sonshine Organics, is more than just a medicinal-cannabis farmer’s market. It is a community, and it’s hard to imagine a better place to get your herbal medicine. The friendly competition among the 20 or so vendors exerts a downward pressure on prices, and there’s almost always some entertainment on hand; there’s never a dull moment around this place.

Green Ambrosia (496-2345, greenambrosia.net) covers King County in its delivery area and offers some spectacularly potent flowers. Almost all strains go for $12 a gram, with a couple of $10 exceptions and an occasional very special strain for $15 (only one, Tahuya, cost $15 on the day I ordered, and if any weed is ever worth that much a gram, this may be it).

Don’t miss the Deadhead OG at $12 a gram; it has satisfying oomph.

Olympia Alternative (2405 Harrison Ave., Olympia, 360-705-9415) caps its per-gram prices at $10, and had an astounding 37 strains in stock on the day I visited. Five strains, in fact, were only $8.

MMJ Universe (26130 S.E. Green Valley Rd., Black Diamond, 360-886-8253, mmjuniverse.com) is one of the newest medicalmarijuana farmer’s markets in the area, and it’s also one of the best, making it well worth the 45-minute drive to Black Diamond. Held inside a former greenhouse, it’s chock-full of vendors offering almost anything you need related to MMJ. Gram prices ranged from $5 to $12, most around $10. E tokesignals@seattleweekly.com

Steve Elliott edits Toke Signals (tokesignals.com), an irreverent, independent blog of cannabis news, views, and information.

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fter two years of dedicated service as your medical-marijuana dispensary reviewer, I took time to ruminate over the best experiences of Year Two of “Toke Signals.” A couple of weeks ago, I mused that some of the shops I reviewed in my first columns in 2011 might have been treated a little more harshly if I’d had more experience under my belt when I visited. Having recapped a few lowlights, I felt it only right to revisit a few of the “high”lights, as well.

Greenworks NW (11064 Lake City Way N.E., 9223911, greenworksnw.com) offered an impressive 40 strains when I visited. Their only weak point was that they charged $15 a gram for 27 of those. Prices aside, though, Greenworks has some of the best strains in town.

Seattle’s Best Cannabis (4955498, seattlesbestcannabis.net) is a delivery service which offers excellent local organic and vegan weed for just $10 a gram. Their only weak point was that they were down to just two strains (!) when I used them; they redeemed themselves with the fact that both those strains (White Widow and Bubblegum) were exemplary, showing signs that loving care had been taken during cultivation and curing.

Cannatonics (711 Opera Alley, Court C, Tacoma, 253-302-5539, cannatonics.org) has distinguished itself as one of Tacoma’s best access points. The shop has more going for it than the visual charm of its 1930s-nostalgia, apothecary-themed decor; it also has a friendly and knowledgeable staff and a selection of about 15 strains of flowers. Their only weak point was that top-shelf strains were $14 a gram.

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OUR FAVORITE RESTAURANTS

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DIGEST OUR FAVORITE RESTAURANTS

Our dining guide is an annual tradition, but we don't think about our favorite restaurants just once a year. Our insatiable crew of blog contributors is constantly eating, drinking, and thinking about which venues stand out in a city blessed with wonderful restaurants, shellfish bars, cocktail dens, microbreweries, cafes, burger joints, sandwich shops, noodle houses, food trucks, lunch counters, and bakeries. Ever y day on Voracious, they share the results of their hard work, introducing readers to their favorite finds. Now we're taking the opportunity to introduce them.

You'll find in this guide dozens of places featured in Voracious columns over the past year. It's a terrifically diverse set, including a sushi truck, a Vietnamese crawfish specialist, a Latin-themed coffeehouse, and one of the city's fanciest steakhouses. But our bloggers' list of favorites is constantly evolving: We hope you'll soon join us at Voracious to gather more recommendations from our resident experts in coffee, booze, noodles, dumplings, vegetables, and more.

Americano Dream (coffee)............................................ 7 Greasy Swoon (brunch) ................................................ 11 Truck Stop (food trucks) .............................................. 17 Monday Night Lights (what’s open on Mondays) ...... 21 The Mein Man (noodles) .............................................. 26 Small Fries (dining with kids) ..................................... 33 Beet Street (vegetarian dining) .................................. 37 Happy Hours . . . . ............................................................. 47 PLUS fancy joints p.11, small plates p.17, sandwiches p.23, hotel bars p.37, brewpubs p.43

NEIGHBORHOOD INDEX NORTH OF 50TH

Ampersand Pantry & Cafe, Greenwood, 7 Antojitos Poblanos el Sapo, Shoreline, 21 Beth’s Cafe, Green Lake, 11 Cake Envy, Green Lake, 49 Chocolat Vitale, Phinney Ridge, 9 Chef at Wok, Broadview, 23 The Everest Kitchen, Shoreline, 26 Gainsbourg, Greenwood, 13 Grinders Hot Sandwiches, Shoreline, 23 Jebena Cafe, Northgate, 25 Joy Teriyaki, Lake City, 26 Luisa’s Mexican Grill, Greenwood, 33 Naked City Taphouse, Greenwood, 43 Ridge Pizza, Phinney Ridge, 35 Traditional Korean Beef Soup, Edmonds, 25 Tropicos Breeze, Greenwood, 25 Tubs Gourmet Subs, Lake City, 23

QUEEN ANNE/LAKE UNION Bamboo Garden, Lower Queen Anne, 39 Blind Pig Bistro, Eastlake, 17 Boat Street Cafe and Kitchen, Lower Queen Anne, 11 Caffé Fiore, Queen Anne, 7 Canlis, Queen Anne, 11 La Toscanella Bakery & Paninoteca, South Lake Union, 9 LloydMartin, Upper Queen Anne, 51 SkyCity at the Needle, Queen Anne, 11 Twirl Cafe, Queen Anne, 37 DOWNTOWN

Bernard’s on Seneca, Downtown, 37 BOKA Kitchen and Bar, Downtown, 37 The Brooklyn, Downtown, 47 Cyber-Dogs Internet Cafe, Downtown, 43 Delicatus, Pioneer Square, 23 F.X. McRory’s, Pioneer Square, 49 FREMONT/U DISTRICT/ The Hunt Club, First Hill, 37 WALLINGFORD Marché, Downtown, 51 Agua Verde, U District, 39 Metropolitan Grill, Downtown, 11 Art of the Table, Wallingford, 17 Big Time Brewing and Alehouse, U District, 43 Oliver’s Lounge, Downtown, 37 Polar Bar, Downtown, 37 Fremont Brewing, Fremont, 43 Salumi, Pioneer Square, 23 Pair, U District, 17 Sazerac, Downtown, 37 Paseo Caribbean Restaurant, Fremont, 23 Serious Pie, Belltown, 53 Portage Bay Cafe, U District, 33 Shiro’s, Belltown, 11 U:Don, U District, 37 67 Lounge, Downtown, 37 Tat’s Delicatessen, Pioneer Square, 23 BALLARD Tavolàta, Belltown, 47 Anchored Ship Coffee Bar, 7 The Terrace, Downtown, 37 Ballard Pizza Company, 33 Three Girls Bakery, Downtown, 35 The Fat Hen, 13 Trace Bar, Downtown, 37 Jolly Roger Taproom, 43 Tulio Ristorante, Downtown, 37 Ocho, 45 The Other Coast Cafe, 23 INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT Pestle Rock, 25 Crawfish King, 23 Portalis Wines, 53 Huong Binh, 26 Ridgeback Cafe, 35 King Noodle, 26 Wild Mountain Cafe, 15 Ping’s Dumpling House, 25 Pho So 1, 31 CAPITOL HILL Sub Sand, 33 Ba Bar, 7 Ballet, 39 SOUTH OF DOWNTOWN Boom Noodle, 26 Fonda La Catrina, Georgetown, 13 Café Presse, 13 Geraldine’s Counter, Columbia City, 23 Canon, 23 La Medusa, Columbia City, 45 Cupcake Royale, 9 Spice Room, Columbia City, 31 Healeo, 45 Square Knot Diner, Georgetown, 15 The Honey Hole, 23 Two Beers Brewing Company, SoDo, 43 Lark, 17 Pettirosso, 9 WEST SEATTLE Regent Bakery and Cafe, 31 Abbondanza Pizzeria, Gatewood, 33 Buddha Ruksa, West Seattle, 43 MADISON PARK/MADRONA/ Chaco Canyon, West Seattle, 43 CENTRAL DISTRICT Meander’s Kitchen, West Seattle, 15 Cafe Flora, Madison Park, 47 Crush, Central District, 11 THE OUTSKIRTS Harvest Vine, Central District, 17 Cafe Juanita, Kirkland, 11 Hi Spot Café, Madrona, 13 The Herbfarm, Woodinville, 11 Tougo Coffee, Central District, 35 John Howie Steak, Bellevue, 11 The Willows Inn on Lummi Island, 11

COVER & INTRO ILLUSTRATIONS BY BENJAMIN VOLDMAN

VORACIOUS 2013 •• Seattle Seattle Weekly Weekly VORACIOUS DINING DINING GUIDE GUIDE 2012

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PRESENT THIS AD FOR A

AMERICANO DREAM

by Chelsea Lin

A job opportunity brought me to Seattle, but it’s the coffee that keeps me here, and I don’t say that just because I’m officially and unabashedly hooked on caffeine. But it’s more than just the importance of that first morning sip—it’s coffee’s ritual, its culture, the people who grow, roast, and serve it. I’m just lucky I get to write about coffee as a cover for my personal addiction.

Ampersand Pantry & Cafe,

424 N. 85th St., Suite 1, 257-5671 Ampersand is exactly the sort of corner store you wish was in your ’hood; rather, it’s exactly the sort of corner store I wish was in my ’hood, since I’d love to have a place that stocks cake flour, clarified butter, bananas, jars of spices, Mama Lil’s peppers, and cans of Two Beers’ IPA within walking distance. The limited selection of specialty goods caters to the eccentric, but that’s OK in my book. Most important, Ampersand sells good coffee: Keala’s Hawaiian Coffee, roasted in small batches at Seven Coffee Roasters in Ballard. They’ve got beans by the bag—a must for any grocer—but the cafe section sells cups of the Na Pali blend, as well as lattes, mochas, and other typical cafe fare. If you think it a little strange for a Seattle cafe to use Hawaiian beans, it’s not coincidental: Marisa Tanji (who owns the place with husband Daryl Waits, whom you may recognize as the owner of the Alki pizzeria Slices) was born and raised there, and she wanted to bring some of the island’s familiar flavors. $

Anchored Ship Coffee Bar,

5306 Ballard Ave. N.W., 484-5143 Though the owners haven’t changed and there was hardly a blink between closing and opening, Anchored Ship is a testament to how a few key changes can turn a tired business into a worthy new destination.

Dotting the windowsills—and hanging from the banister that leads to a cozy loft upstairs—are succulents and air plants, bringing the green of outdoors into the lightfilled shop. Herkimer beans are available by the bag, but the best way to have them is prepared by the friendly baristas. The espresso drinks are all served with double

Ampersand Pantry & Cafe.

ristretto shots, perfect and short, with bold flavor and a smooth finish. Pour-over coffee is available if you want to try single-origin beans from Brazil, Guatemala, Ethiopia, or El Salvador. And while they aren’t baking their own goodies, Macrina provides morning-appropriate pastries like seeded onion bialys and buttery raisin brioche slices, and sweet bites come from local businesses like Street Treats. When Caffé Fiore is too busy and Ballard Coffee Works seems too far, try Anchored Ship—it’s just right. $

COMPLIMENTARY MARGHERITA PIZZA

Ba Bar, 550 12th Ave., 328-2030

If you’ve never had a ca phe sua da—and I can’t imagine this could be true in a city with as many great pho joints as Seattle has—it’s a tooth-achingly sweet beverage that combines very-dark-roast coffee, brewed extra-strong, with a nearly equal amount of sweetened condensed milk, poured over a glass full to the brim with ice.

While I’ve had many serviceable versions at restaurants around the city, I went searching for one using locally roasted beans: a Seattle twist on a Vietnamese classic. I found my holy grail at Capitol Hill’s Ba Bar, where you can get a Vietnamese iced coffee made with Caffé Vita beans. Traditionally, the brew used is a coarsely ground French roast that imparts a bold flavor (win) and burnt finish (lose). While the sweetened condensed milk covers a lot of imperfections, the result, generally, is still an initial sugar shock followed by a bit of an unpleasant bitter aftertaste. Ba Bar’s version, however, is strong and smooth in all the right ways, balanced in its sweetness, and without that lingering smack of too-dark coffee.

Enjoy this delight to go from the walk-up espresso counter just inside the front door, or order it with your bahn cuon, delicious steamed rolls of rice noodles filled with ground pork, mushrooms, and shallots. The food here is hugely underrated and totally awesome. $$

Caffè Fiore, 224 W. Galer St., 282-1441,

and other locations Dear Caffè Fiore: It was nearly three years ago, on a typical drizzly Seattle day, when a friend brought me to your Queen Anne shop during a visit from San Francisco. I’d spent the weekend gallivanting around the Emerald City, soaking in the sights, sounds, and flavors, deeply contemplating a move north. Your Sevilla mocha sealed the deal. I am not generally a mocha drinker. I like my coffee dark and strong, my espresso drinks unsweetened.

My friend—so wise!—insisted I order the Sevilla: a masterful creation of espresso, milk, dark chocolate, and a simple curl of orange zest. I’d formerly thought the combination of orange and chocolate should be reserved for those plastic-like candy balls grandmas give clueless kids at Christmas, but you convinced me otherwise. It’s my favorite, and I’m not alone. Iced, the drink’s dangerously smooth, with the organic chocolate’s bittersweet undertones, a hint of orange, and just a slight acidic reminder that it packs a double-shot punch. Being able to enjoy such a beverage within a short walk’s

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distance of Kerry Park and its view of the stunning Seattle skyline—well, let’s just say that as a Seattle resident, it’s an experience I now insist my visitors try as well.

With love and jitters, your humble (if overly caffeinated) servant $ Chocolat Vitale, 6257 Third Ave. N.W., 297-0863 An unassuming little shop that sits on a corner at the base of that wicked hill that takes you from far-eastern Ballard up to Phinney Ridge. Because of that hill, it’s not a shop you’ll likely just walk by—its only neighbors are a trailer selling vintage boots and multicolored petticoats, a violin-repair shop, and a charming antique store—but it’s worth a visit, if only for the availability of Velton’s Coffee. Velton’s award-winning Bonsai Blend is the espresso served at Chocolat, and you can try it straight—in all its smooth, distinctive perfection—or have it with milk in a latte or hot water in an Americano.

But you’d be doing yourself a disservice to not try the mocha on your first visit, since Chocolat Vitale’s specialty is a houseblended drinking chocolate that pairs beautifully with Velton’s thick, caramel-like espresso. You can have your mocha made with the sweeter, milkier European Classic or the Venezuelan Black, a 65-percent dark chocolate that truly lets the espresso sing.

Ask them to go easy on the chocolate so it doesn’t overwhelm the drink’s enjoyable essence of coffee. $ Cupcake Royale, 108 Pine St., 883-7656,

and other locations What’s more awesome than coffee ice cream? The cold brew float at Cupcake Royale. (Backstory: The cupcake empire recently launched a line of ice creams— some featuring their cake bits mixed right in, others labeled as “bakeshopinspired”—with the help of Portland’s Salt & Straw creamery.) Think of this off-menu delight as a more-drinkable homage to the affogato, which you can also get. They start with cold-brewed Stumptown coffee.

In goes a scoop of your choice—I strongly recommend their coffee flavor, made

with Stumptown’s Hair Bender blend and swirled with a dark-chocolate ribbon.

The resulting cup is perhaps the perfect summer dessert. On its own, the coffee is balanced and fruity, with a bit of a caramellike finish. If you enjoy your float quickly, you can sip the coffee alternately with bites of the sweet, smooth, delicately chocolaty ice cream. But if you linger a bit, enjoying the company of a friend in one of Cupcake Royale’s six cafes, the cream melts into the coffee to form one cohesively sweet and milky beverage that’s more nuanced, and more decadent, than your standard cold brew with cream and sugar. It’s a grown-up take on a childhood favorite—one I’ll be enjoying many more times this summer. $ La Toscanella Bakery & Paninoteca,

www.cantinettarestaurant.com

116 Westlake Ave. N., 682-1044 In a city full of French and Japanese bakeries, La Toscanella promises an Italian experience, complete with handmade pastas, breakfast skillets with focaccia, and a beautiful array of sweets. And the cafe excels where it counts: The coffee and pastries are both delightful. You may recognize La Toscanella’s pastries from other cafes—the owners’ wholesale bakery services some 50 spots around the city. And while the panna cotta, tiramisu, true Italian cannoli, and apple fagottino are standouts on their own, they’re best paired with the top-notch espresso preparations using Stumptown beans. My macchiato—an espresso marked lightly with milk foam—had a tangy, front-of-mouth bite followed by a smooth, chocolaty finish. Worth noting, too, is that the language of the kitchen here actually is Italian; you can hear its musical notes wafting through the dining room because the La Marzocco espresso machine is virtually silent. For a nostalgic taste of Italy, La Toscanella will definitely do. $

Pettirosso, 1101 E. Pike St., 324-2233

Pettirosso occupies a piece of prime Capitol Hill real estate near the corner of 11th Avenue and East Pike Street, but is the very definition of hidden gem. Even if you know Capitol Hill, chances are you’ve walked by

JENNY JIMENEZ

Caffé Fiore.

VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013 • Seattle Weekly

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Your table awaits Inspired by the LEED and Green Seal Gold certified building in which we are housed. Urbane strives to bring you the best of the Northwest’s harvest prepared in an urban setting. Working with growers, artisians, and wineries of the Pacific Northwest, our menu changes seasonally to focus on freshness and local authenticity.

Located a block from the Paramount and Nordstrom, Urbane is well situated to be the prelude and finale to your shopping or theater experience. Stop by today for a true taste of the Northwest.

© 2013 Hyatt Corporation. All rights reserved. The ‘LEED Certification Mark’ is a registered trademark owned by the U.S. Green Building Coucil and is used by permission.

MANHATTAN A Casual Steakhouse with a Southern Flair

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Seattle Weekly • VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013

CAPITOL HILL’S STEAKHOUSE Manhattan is a casual steakhouse with a variety of seating options for groups of all sizes, from cozy couples to large parties.

Manhattan’s interior is comfy and chic. Vintage urban photography is projected into gold frames on the north wall, surrounded by a unique damask by designer Barneby Gates. Our bar is a reclaimed and refurbished apothecary shelf, and looking over it is an iconic ram sculpture by artist Peter Gronquist.

it without noticing. I have. And though I’d heard Pettirosso mentioned and have been eyeing the progress on its remodel, I clearly hadn’t been paying close enough attention.

See, I heard “cafe” and planned to find the sort of coffee-centric place that dots nearly every street corner in the city. Instead, I found one that actually reads more like a bistro, where the coffee is great but plays second fiddle to the impressive array of breakfast, lunch, and dinner options. If you want a serious cup of coffee, you can find that at Pettirosso: Lighthouse Roasters is brewed, and the folks behind the espresso machine know how to make a proper cappuccino. There’s a tiny walk-up counter right as you enter where you can pick up a to-go cup and something from the pastry case’s stunning assortment of buttery goodies (with even a few vegan ones), like cinnamon-swirled banana bread, miniature pumpkin pies with brûléed marshmallows, chocolate-covered eclairs, and biscotti. In this way, Pettirosso is very like the cafe I expected. But look beyond the espresso machine and pastry case and you’ll see a full bar—the kind with alcohol!—and a beautifully if sparsely decorated dining room.

Choose to stay and order off the menu, and you’ll get table service and a top-notch meal. $

GREASY SWOON

by Ma’Chell Duma LaVassar

Brunch is the meal that provides for the best people-watching and eavesdropping in Seattle.

Though it’s a seemingly simple skill, the ability to poach an egg as requested proved indicative of the overall breakfast experience at every joint I’ve visited and enjoyed while writing Greasy Swoon.

Beth’s Cafe, 7311 Aurora Ave. N., 782-5588 Down-home, done down and dirty. Hope you’re wearing your eatin’ pants, because this joint uses so much grease that Waffle House is embarrassed for them. With crayons for the table and walls filled with patrons’ art, everyone feels like a kid at Beth’s. It is a bit bright and busy for hungover dining, but the grub is absolutely made for it. You’ll feel like Lily Tomlin’s Edith Ann when they set that ginormous platter in front of your face. The country Benedict (a split biscuit topped with a patty and scrambled eggs, smothered in country gravy and served with hash browns) is so lubricious your chest will ache—especially when that first bite reveals a pool of butter shimmering underneath the hash browns already sopping in gravy. I’m not a “girly” eater by any means, yet I could only make it a quarter of the way through mine, and ate nothing else the rest of the day. Maybe if you spend 48 hours on a juice cleanse and smoke an entire blunt an hour before you show up, you might be able to get half of it

Y

10 RESTAURANTS WE LOVE WHEN SOMEONE ELSE IS PAYING Crush, 2319 E. Madison St., 302-7874 Jason and Nicole Wilson’s Madison Valley restaurant is becoming like a nirvana for a certain class of local grubniks—a white-on-white temple to chef Jason Wilson’s James Beard Award–winning modernist’s take on Pacific Northwest cuisine.

The Willows Inn on Lummi Island, 2579 W. Shore Dr., Lummi Island, 360-758-2620 As surely as Willows Inn’s close-to-the-earth cuisine bewitches taste buds, it spins heads and stunts conversation. By the second or third course, most guests are reduced to monosyllabic exchanges meant to determine whether or not they’re enjoying the best meal of their lives.

Shiro’s, 2401 Second Ave., 443-9844 To watch Shiro Kashiba at work is an integral part of the sushi dining experience, but you must be there as soon as the doors open to secure a seat at his bar—because like most rock stars, Shiro’s got groupies.

SkyCity at the Needle, 400 Broad St., 905-2100 The prices are sky-high at the Space Needle’s revolving restaurant. But suck it up and plunk down some plastic, because there’s no more iconic landmark dining room in Seattle.

John Howie Steak, 11111 N.E. Eighth St., #125, Bellevue, 425-440-0880 John Howie once offered a New Year’s meal for two for $2,011, but their nonholiday menu offers a range of mesquite-grilled steaks with your choice of five different sauces.

“Northwest and European flavors in an elegant old world style space on Capitol Hill with handcrafted cocktails, plus brunch on weekends.”

New Hours: Kitchen opens Tuesday through Saturday: 5pm to 11pm and Sunday 5pm to 10pm

Brunch available Saturday and Sunday 10am to 3pm.

1802 Bellevue Avenue (at Howell) • 206-329-4047 • www.labeteseattle.com

Metropolitan Grill, 820 Second Ave., 624-3287 You can walk into the Met in the standard Seattle work uniform of plaid shirt, jeans, and dark tennis shoes and shout at the TV screen. The steaks are, however, the dry-aged, Nebraskaraised (or wagyu) kind.

Cafe Juanita, 9702 N.E. 120th Pl., Kirkland, 425823-1505 It’s easy to forget you’re in suburbia while sipping an aperitif and stuffing your face with lardo. There’s no going wrong anywhere on the menu; the biggest challenge is to not go overboard and order too much at this romantic restaurant.

Canlis, 2576 Aurora Ave. N., 283-3313 Don’t be scared off by Canlis’ fine-dining reputation: The staff is young, the menu is exciting, and Walt the piano man knows his way around a Lady Gaga tune or three.

The Herbfarm, 14590 N.E. 145th St., Woodinville, 425-485-5300 The impeccable wine pairings are only one element of a four-to-five-hour sensory journey. Dining here is an event, patience is a virtue, and the virtuous are rewarded.

Boat Street Cafe and Kitchen, 3131 Western Ave., #301, 632-4602 Erickson’s Boat Street Cafe manages to summon a summery French vibe in an unexpected basement location. The ambience is eclipsed only by the food, which is reliably excellent. Y

VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2012 2013 •• Seattle Weekly

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Chef Daisley Gordon presents the bounty of the Pacific NW in the spirit of France Happy Hour, Brunch, & Dinner

www.marcheseattle.com 206.728.2800

12

Seattle Weekly • VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013

the heart of France, from the heart of Pike Place Market

Happy Hour, Brunch, Lunch & Dinner

www.cafecampagne.com 206.728.2233

down. Beth’s also does some nice in-house baked goods (cinnamon rolls, muffins, and Amish friendship bread) that make great a la carte options when you aren’t prepared for a meal that requires an elastic waistband and Lipitor. $ Café Presse, 1117 12th Ave., 709-7674

Whether you’re at the front of the house, at the quaint bar, or in the industrial-chic back dining room, you’ll not want for ambience in this eatery/newsstand/weekend soccer destination. Children pepper this establishment, but don’t kill the mood. There is bar service for hungover dining, and it’s a perfect spot to bring a hookup for whom your intentions are romantic: The food’s so dreamy your date could easily misconstrue your feelings about the Café Presse experience as feelings for her. The menu expands over the course of the day, starting with the early morning petit dejeuner, which features the delicious pain au chocolat à l’ancienne. By 9 a.m., the full menu kicks in and the famous croque monsieur is available. If you forgo sauces, the eggs broiled with ham and Gruyère or omelette au choix will do you right. $

The Fat Hen, 1418 N.W. 70th St., 782-5422

This tiny little nook located in a quaint pocket business district in Ballard approaches Italian breakfast like Café Presse approaches French fare: simply and slowly with tons of attention to detail. This is where you bring a hookup with whom you’re comfortable languishing—as everything at the Fat Hen, from the food to the seating, is a European exercise in patience.

You’ll have plenty of time to contemplate the menu: The Benedicts, baked eggs, Dutch babies, and homemade yogurt rival the antipasti, salads, and higher-end dishes such as a breaded veal cutlet. One taste of the alla Boscaiola (two eggs baked, sausage, mushrooms, mozzarella, and tomato), however, and you won’t regret your time investment. The Speck Benedict and Eggs Florentine boast a blissfully lemony and obviously made-to-order hollandaise. The patate al cartoccio are some of the finest breakfast potatoes the city has to offer. And be sure to sample the plum compote served with the baguette and yogurt, a lovely blend of sweet and tart that will stay with you long after you’ve flown the coop. $$

Cocktails

Gainsbourg, 8550 Greenwood Ave. N., 783-4004 The only thing Gainsbourg doesn’t have going for it is proximity to downtown.

If this place were on Capitol Hill or Ballard Avenue, its swanky, sexy goodness would demand a reservation.The bubbles here are as lovely as you’d expect at a French-style eatery. The coffee is Stumptown, brought in an über-classy ceramic service. But the custom bloody Marys are the things to write home about. With 35 options—from Sriracha to smoked duck to pickled asparagus—presented on a sushistyle ordering form, you’re free to choose your juice, level and type of heat (wasabi to chipotle), two garnishes, and quality of vodka or tequila (if you favor Mary’s south-of-the-border cousin Maria), for a perfectly personalized drink. Forgoing the crepes served at every other Frenchinspired spot, “Le G” gives you pain perdu (bread, black-rum custard, brown-butter bananas, syrup, and bacon) and beignets— not the chewy New Orleans style you might be familiar with, but with a more delicate, crispier shell. The confit duck is as greasily satisfying as any chicken-fried steak, and the house veggie scramble is one of the most savory vegetarian breakfast items I’ve ever had the pleasure to taste. $$ Hi Spot Café, 1410 34th Ave., 325-7905

Madrona is an uptown breeder retreat.

Though the neighborhood may have a quaint and cozy feel, 34th Avenue is practically a Rodeo Drive of strollers that cost as much as a month’s rent. If your hangovers are the kind that leads you to enjoy a

Stone Way

4411 Stone Way N., Seattle, 206.633.3800

Trace Bar: one of the hotel bars we love, p. 37.

Join us for our handmade craft cocktails. First recognized with a Crystal Beverage Award in 2007 our list continues to evolve. You’ll appreciate our courageous use of Italian elixirs, organic herbs, and freshly squeezed juices.

DAVID NEWALL

Fonda La Catrina, 5905 Airport Way S., 767-2787 For a traditional Mexi-breakfast uptown, Fonda is the perfect mix of cool Georgetown industrial and warm Latin influences.

The coffee is Caffè Umbria, and while it’s delicious, it’s also a little steep at $3 a cup.

You can get both bloodies and mimosas, but I’d skip the standards and head straight to the brunch cocktail menu, which boasts 11 selections of tequila-based drinks, all of which deliver a serious morning buzz. Bar seating and wi-fi are available for solo and/ or hungover dining. Kids are welcome, and a cheese tamale and some seasonal fresh fruit will do them right. If you’re up for it, brave the menudo (St. Helen’s tripe braised in guajillo & arbor: $9) or the less-risky

Craft

pozole (Carlton Farms pork in red chile broth with hominy and all the trimmings).

The pan dulce will satisfy your sweet tooth, and—if the audible responses of the gentleman enjoying it two tables away were any indication—costillas en pasilla (two eggs, pork ribs, pasilla sauce, beans, onions, cilantro, and tortillas), the house favorite, is well worth the drive south. $$

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joint full of cheery, indulged children and bright-as-the-day-will-allow lighting, then this is the spot for you, freak. The Hi Spot caters to its ’hood, and is as good as classy family breakfast dining gets. I would suggest ordering some of the outstanding in-house pastries pre-meal for younger kids, because the food’s not fast. There are eggs, including a breakfast burrito (three eggs scrambled with black beans and cheddar, wrapped in a flour tortilla, topped with fresh salsa and sour cream, and served with home fries) and a Bengal Benedict (poached eggs and ham on an English muffin with curry sauce, served with home fries). But even older brunchers may opt to stick with those baked goods: Once you’ve sampled the Hi Spot’s moist and delicate take on a scone, you will forever look in terror at those horrid dry lumps in other breakfast cases. $ Meander’s Kitchen, 9635 16th Ave. S.W., White Center The departure of Meander’s from California Avenue to its new locale has left West Seattle residents feeling as though our favorite little indie band, the Buttery Biscuits, just got really famous and now we have to drive to the frickin’ Tacoma Dome and wait in line just to see them play. I made three trips there opening week before I was sat in under 90 minutes. And yes, if you’re wondering, Meander’s is that good. Directly across from Meander’s is the Northwest Cannabis Market. At noon on a Saturday, if conditions are just right, you will smell bacon, fresh, buttery waffles, and the most exquisite marijuana the region has to offer—a scent that if bottled could be sold as Jerry Garcia’s Last Breath. It’s impossible to talk about Meander’s Kitchen and not talk about butter—the burgeoning franchise is built on the stuff. If butter doesn’t float your boat, the gravy, with its silver-dollar-size chunks of tasty sausage, will. Wait times require patience here, but the heavenly little beignets are turned out quickly and made only better with a dollop of the house marionberry jam. $

The Square Knot Diner, 6015 Airport Way S., 762-9764 The Square Knot resides in the most punk-rock pocket of Seattle, Georgetown.

With its eclectic mix of residents and industrial-but-cozy feel reminiscent of parts of London (or Williamsburg before the great douche explosion of ’02), it serves as the perfect spot to take a kid named Strummer for pancakes. The food is here is just plain great. There is no pretentiousness or fancy plating, and the price point is astounding. I have never had a Benedict so well-prepared for under $10. They were generous with the tasty, fresh hollandaise—there was plenty to slather on the hash browns, crisp perfection on their own. The eggs were precisely poached and the ham tasted off-the-bone.

For my little guy, I a-la-carted a short stack of pancakes and a side of sausage, which turned out to be enough to feed two kids his age. $ Wild Mountain Cafe,

1408 N.W. 85th St., 297-9453 Located in a converted residence, Wild Mountain Cafe’s nooks and crannies provide a fair amount of seating without giving up any cozy Grandma’s-house vibe. The coffee is delicious Herkimer, and there’s real cream. The bubbles are nice, and the juice is freshly squeezed. There is a full bar, so whether you prefer a Bloody Mary or Maria, you are covered. And gluten gluttons get ready: The fresh baked goods here will blow your mind. The irresistible cinnamon rolls have a simple, traditional glaze and are irresistible. The coffee cake is magical, boasting layers of fresh berries and toasted nuts, moist and spicy. The Wild Mountain’s Benedicts rank among the city’s top five.

The B.A.T. Bennie is fantastic, with eggs so perfectly poached that whoever’s responsible for them should be teaching a class.

For a more regional breakfast, try the Piper’s Creek: eggs scrambled with cold-smoked lox, chopped tomatoes, capers, and cream cheese, which comes with a heaping helping of sides—two roasted-garlic potato cakes and your choice of Dave’s organic killer multigrain, sourdough, or rye toast. $

JOSHUA HUSTON

Be sure to sample the plum compote at The Fat Hen, p. 13.

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TRUCK STOP

by Jen Chiu

I would love it if every time I went out to eat, the chef could personally deliver each plate and tell me all about it. This is not feasible for the vast majority of restaurants, but at a truck, there is a good chance the owner or the chef is inside, with nowhere to hide! You can just yell questions through the kitchen window while they prep your grub. Here’s to the antifussiness food movement, where you’ll find the hardest-working people in the industry.

Caravan Crepes, caravanseattle.com.

Crepes served from a truck or outdoor stand are not new to the Seattle food scene.

Anita’s Crepes debuted at the Fremont Sunday Market back in 2004, and the two fresh-faced dudes of Crisp Creperie are also making the rounds. But Seattle native Brooke Sumner’s new truck is differentiating itself from the rest by creating anything but your run-of-the-mill French crepe. The Crescent, with French lentils, mozzarella, and pesto, catches my eye until I land on the Shorty’s. The combination of charmoula chicken, sweet corn, spinach, and manchego transports me somewhere between Spain and Morocco. Another crowd-pleaser is the Wedge. Brie and Zoe’s bacon meet a healthy dose of local peaches and onion chutney. After devouring the whole crepe, I am forced to admit Sumner knows her shiz.

Once your sweet tooth kicks in, head for the Maui cane sugar that comes equipped with a refreshing lime zing. And if gluten is your nemesis, do not despair: All crepes can be made with a teff-based batter that even gluten gluttons may prefer over regular wheat-based flour. $

Garden Sushi, gardensushiseattle.com.

There’s something original, adventurous, and all-around wacky about eating sushi from a food truck, especially one parked by a gas station. It would be a mistake for this truck’s location to deter you from experiencing Tsering (Leon) Lama’s Japanese creations. Once you step into Garden Sushi’s covered tent, with fresh roses, hanging flowerpots, Asian murals, and faint music playing in the background, you will be rewarded with a restaurant-like dining experience. As at a traditional sushi restaurant, the 30-yearold chef starts by running through the list of what’s über-fresh that day. After ordering all his recommendations, I supplement it with an eel roll (chef Lama barbecues it on the spot for you) and a $1 cup of miso soup.

The food is a serious hit. My favorite is the salmon and avocado roll, topped with an edible flower made from cucumber slices and ginger, although long, generous slabs of bright-colored maguro quickly make their way into my belly. The eel is spot-on, with a

soy-based sauce that’s the perfect combination of sweet and salty. $ I Love My GFF, 265-1798, ilovemygff.com.

This fledgling food cart more resembles a hot-dog stand than a bona fide food enterprise. But this cute cart could not be any more different from a hot-dog stand. I Love My Gluten Free Food serves homies who have always felt disrespected in the carbcentric burger-and-sandwich-lovin’ foodtruck scene. GFF’s specialty is sprouted quinoa bowls topped with veggies and/or cubes of Draper Valley Farm’s chicken. The two-bowl menu allows you to reserve your decision-making skills for bigger things.

The fiesta bowl comes with a cilantro-lime sauce with pepitas, red peppers, avocado, and more, while the Sunshine bowl, also loaded with veggies, has a lemon-basil undertone. Skipping the chicken puts you $7.50 in the hole, while $9.50 will land you el pollo. For dessert, try a homemade chocolate-chip cookie made with almond flour and coconut flour. $ Jemil’s Big Easy, 930-8915,

jemilsbigeasy.com.

As Jemil hands me a big ol’ portion of catfish and chips with a big ol’ grin, the first thing he says is, “Now don’t go on sharing.”

Chef Jemil Aziz Johnson has been wowing food-truck eaters with his New Orleans/

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Y 5 SMALL PLATES WE LOVE Art of the Table, 1054 N. 39th St., 282-0942 Passionate word-of-mouth turned this unlikely location into a cult favorite. The chef does his own shopping, churns his own ice cream, grows his own herbs, and, yes, washes his own dishes.

Check artofthetable.net to see what he’s serving today.

Pair, 5501 30th Ave. N.E., 526-7655 Pair isn’t reinventing cuisine, except insofar as it renews your appreciation of things like grape leaves, beef brisket, and potato-leek gratin. It’s too elegant and subtle to be simple comfort food, too restrained and soulful to be haute.

Lark, 926 12th Ave., 323-5275 James Beard Award– winning chef John Sundstrom’s food, served as a swarm of small, composed plates, inspires customers to twirl each bite around the plate to catch the right amount of sauce, breathing in while they graze to catch all the aromatic nuances.

Harvest Vine, 2701 E. Madison St., 320-9771 Joseba Jiménez de Jiménez’s small, Spanish-inspired plates guarantee you don’t get sated too soon— plus, many of them are meant to be consumed hand-to-mouth.

Blind Pig Bistro, 2238 Eastlake Ave., 329-2744 Guests here can large-plate their way through dinner if they so choose, lining up an appetizer and an entrée, but the best way to experience Blind Pig’s brilliance is to stick to the small portions and order everything on the menu. Y

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Seattle Weekly • VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013

Southern fare since he rolled onto the scene nearly a year ago. With some of the fastest fulfillment times on Seattle’s streets, the crew pumps out po’boys at a pace matching champion eater Kobayashi’s hot-dog ingestion rate. Jemil’s offers oyster, blackened shrimp, chicken, and roast beef po’boys, but Johnson also likes to keep things interesting: He’s been known to bust out alligator sausage on a stick and, at the Fremont Sunday Market, fried frog legs. My favorite is Jemil’s flavorful gumbo, loaded with so much smoky sausage a cup of it will sate you at least until next snacktime. On a lucky day, you might drop in when the yellow truck is popping out warm peach cobbler.

Tip: Word on the street is Jemil also makes a mighty fine fried-chicken special, and the South Lake Union crowd raves about the fried mac-and-cheese with crawfish sauce. $ Pinky’s Kitchen, 210 N.E. 45th St., 257-5483, facebook.com/pinkyskitchen.

When one of the town’s most talented chefs tells me to eat here, it’s clear this truck is onto something. Over a glass of wine and slices of mortadella, Art of the Table chef/ owner Dustin Ronspies instructs me to check out Pinky’s, a joint venture between Andrew Bray, former proprietor of Bizarro, and Freddy Rivas, one of the owners of Rancho Bravo. As I approach the window, 10 college-aged guys in basketball shorts and hoodies sitting in Pinky’s covered seating area confidently suggest the brisket.

Apparently they stumbled on Pinky’s one day while looking for a budget-friendly yet satisfying alternative to the long lines at Dick’s. They haven’t been back to Dick’s since. The beef packs huge flavor, paired with the crispy onions, ruffage, and compelling sauces. All sliders are reasonably priced at $3.15, just 45 cents more than a skinny Deluxe burger at Dick’s. If pork is calling you, try a sloppy Joe with American cheese or a pulled-pork slider. The sloppy Joe is classic American, but the pork slider is an up-market standout. Instead of the usual pork shreds, this piggie is loaded with slabs of meat smoked just right. Bonus: Pinky’s is open late night and credit card–friendly,

and the covered tent is equipped with speakers to kick out the jams. $ Santi’s Kitchen, 6185 Fourth Ave. S.,

253-298-1722, santiskitchen.com.

The lovely chef Santi Hammie is cooking eats inspired by her childhood in a small village in Indonesia. She has been in the States since arriving in 1979 at age 16. Prior to Seattle, Santi’s Kitchen was stationed on the Yale campus, catering to college students, and the majority of the dishes, priced at $8, are designed for youthful appetites.

So which enormous dish to order? When the Indonesian truck rolls to West Seattle, the residents seem to favor the green curry, while the popular dish in SoDo is a toss-up between the chicken woku (chicken and veggies heavy on the flavor with Indonesian spices and lemon juice) and the organic tofu with veggies. But it was the nasi kuning, a dish commonly eaten at breakfast time in East Borneo, which made me want to book a ticket to Southeast Asia. The tender chicken with a big ol’ serving of yellow turmeric coconut rice mixed with a spicy orange-red sauce is a winner. I massacred my dish, leaving only the hard-boiled egg as a witness. If you are looking for a massive load of Indo’, try the chef’s smoked-paprika fried rice with ground beef and spices and topped with chicken. Hammie proudly touts that she doesn’t add MSG or lard to any of her made-to-order dishes. She will even substitute canola oil for olive oil for an additional 75 cents. If you snoop around her truck, you will notice organic sugar, organic Northwest tofu, and other goodies hanging around her kitchen. Tip: If you are in a rush, order the special of the day. It comes out lightning-fast. $

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Snout & Co., 850-0941, snoutandco.com.

You will most likely see a long queue as you approach Lee Scott’s prominent black truck with a red insignia. Cruising in several Westside locations, the career chef combines Cuban food with South Carolina influences. The truck’s Seattle Cuban ($8) is a pressed sandwich a little larger than Paseo’s version. Upon unwrapping, it appears Snout’s version can be eaten without end-

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VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2012 2013 •• Seattle Weekly

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SCRATCH BAKED ing up looking like a mayonnaise truck crashed into your face. We are talking thick slabs of garlic- and citrus-marinated pork accompanied by a chimichurri sauce that one employee loves so much she’d drink it straight from a nipple if she could. The regular Cuban, flush with ham, mustard, and pickles, teeters more on the side of a conventional sandwich, but is equally fulfilling. Although a lot of dudes gravitate to the meat-in-bread format, the real sleepers are the Cuban bowl ($8.50) and the vegetarian burger, overflowing with beets, quinoa, and water chestnuts mixed with arugula, havarti, and onion relish. One thing everyone can agree on: If Snout rolled into the lot next to Paseo, there would be a righteous Cuban Thunderdome. $ Taqueria Guadalajara,

2421 148th Ave. N.E., Bellevue.

The age-old question of where to get authentic Mexican food has me rounding up pocket change to make the trek over the 520 toll bridge. On a tip from two serious food connoisseurs, I check out the 14-year-old truck, run by a husband and wife, that has become a staple at a 76 gas-station parking lot. “Get the torta,” my Guadalajaran-born informants insist. The Mexican sandwich loaded with ham, sour cream, jalapeños, cilantro, onions, cheese, and pork is “what we all eat after hitting up the bars in Mexico,” they say. They also send me off with strict instructions not to leave without trying the tacos made with handmade tortillas. The torta, the menu’s most expensive item at a whopping $5.50, is a flavor explosion: Filled with flavor from a sauce which starts mild then builds in heat, it provides the satisfaction of a hearty Cuban sandwich, but spicier. The meat in both the beef taco and the chicken taco is impeccably seasoned to jive with the cilantro, lettuce, thinly sliced radishes, and lime.

One torta and two tacos set me back $7.75.

Add the round-trip toll fare of $4.52 and my value meal has a little less value, but the torta is worth the drive. $ Xplosive Mobile Food Truck,

xplosivemobilefoodtruck.com.

Cathy and Romano Basilio’s Xplosive made its debut at last year’s Mobile Food Rodeo, attracting some of the event’s longest lines

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While many restaurants go dark at the beginning of the work week, it seems cruel that anyone with a case of the Mondays should also have to come up with dinner. In my own personal quest to avoid that task, I take it as my duty to keep everyone informed of good eating options where the lights stay on Monday nights.

Antojitos Poblanos el Sapo,

14018 Aurora Ave. N., 501-9115 It is a crime against great food that tacos arabes, a specialty of Mexico’s Puebla region, are not more common. But Antojitos Poblanos el Sapo, hidden in the back of a Mexican market on Aurora, offers the pillowy-soft dish along with a patchwork of

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with a novel hybrid of Filipino and Vietnamese food. A banh mi is traditionally served with pork, but Xplosive lets you opt for the Filipino chicken adobo rendition which greets you with tender shredded chicken cooked in vinegar and soy sauce.

Loaded with vegetables and encased in an über-long baguette, the combination is spot-on. The menu lineup has a creative spin: Grenade banh mi sliders, Filipino beef steak tacos, and Xplosive chicken adobo fried rice make it hard to decide what to get. If you don’t like to deviate from the norm, the Basilios will hook up you and your safety blanket with traditional banh mi sandwiches and rice-noodle vermicelli bowls. I hear Vietnamese pancakes, one of my favorite Southeast Asian dishes, are also in the works. The standout? I elatedly consumed everything they offer: tacos, a vermicelli rice bowl, and a banh mi. But if you threatened to cut off my fingers if I didn’t name my favorite, I would declare the pork taco the winner, then flip you off while running away with both my middle fingers still intact. Take that, you creep. $

1303 NE Boat Street, Seattle WA www.aguaverde.com VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013 • Seattle Weekly

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other Poblano specialties, including cemitas, molotes, and tlacoyos. As is often the case, that zealousness means not everything is perfect: The meat in the tacos arabes isn’t spit-roasted, though it has the expected herb-infused, flame-kissed flavor. The tortillas are not as thick as the almost pita-like flatbreads you’d find in Puebla, but the chipotle salsas in squirt bottles were dead-on.

The complimentary chips are some of the best in the city—you can see the server walk out of the kitchen with the fryer basket (the salsa they come with is nearly as fresh, too)—and the menu is full of options you won’t find elsewhere, such as champurrado, a Mexican hominy-based hot chocolate, that will warm any chills. $$ Canon, 928 12th Ave., 552-9755

Cocktails are the focus and prowess of Canon; the name alone says it all: Whiskey and Bitters Emporium. What’s amazing is that people don’t seem to notice the great food. It was not forgotten in the creation of the bar, only overshadowed; it’s treated with just enough care to keep it top-notch without detracting from the drinks. The pork-belly buns, their signature item, is bar food at its most essential: salty, bready, meaty, with just enough apple slaw to cut the strong flavors. On a Monday, time slows at Canon—there’s no line and no rush.

There’s a delicate pace to a Monday night, and it deserves Canon’s delicate miso cod.

It’s hard to fathom that a place where the cocktails are more expensive than the dinner menu would have food that not only would you want to order, but would make it destination-worthy. While I don’t propose waiting in a Friday-night line just to get a plate, on a Monday, when Canon is calm, you could do a heck of a lot worse. $$

Chef at Wok,

Y 10 SANDWICHES WE LOVE Delicatus, 103 First Ave. S., 623-3780 An easy-tomiss hole-in-the-wall in Pioneer Square with an upscale interior and Eurocentric m.o., Delicatus groups its sandwiches into two categories: “The Traditionalists” and “The Progressives.” You can’t go wrong with either.

Paseo Caribbean Restaurant, 6226 Seaview Ave. N.W., 789-3100, and 4225 Fremont Ave. N., 545-7440 There are few things this town is as passionate about as the Cuban roast-pork sandwich at Paseo.

Die-hard Cuban-sandwich aficionados will tell you this isn’t a true specimen, but legit or not, it’s delicious—a drip-down your forearm creation.

Tubs Gourmet Subs, 11064 Lake City Way N.E., 3611621 Long before Quiznos spread across the city like a rash, Tubs was serving sandwiches on toasted baguettes to hungry car dealers and high-school students. Bread is delivered daily, sliced open, and topped with meat, cheese, and sauce, then sent through the salamander.

Grinders Hot Sandwiches, 19811 Aurora Ave. N., Shoreline, 542-0627 The sandwiches aren’t cheap— most are between $10 and $12—but they’re enough for a hearty meal plus leftovers, or for two people to share.

Try The Dipper, packed with roast beef made in-house, portobello mushrooms, and caramelized onions.

Geraldine’s Counter, 4872 Rainier Ave. S., 723-2080 This sunny, upscale diner has earned a place in our heart for one reason: its unparalleled BLT. Actually, make that a BAAT, because you’re offered the option of adding avocado, and instead of lettuce there’s arugula.

There’s a hokiness to the concept here, with a ridiculous interior decorated with remnants of what looks like a fishing boat that crashed into a T.G.I. Friday’s. But if all this and the life-size scuba diver hanging from the ceiling still don’t get you smiling,

320 Occidental Avenue South Seattle, Washington 98104 (206) 624-5847 www.caffeumbria.com

Live like a Parisian in the heart of Capitol Hill

Tat’s Delicatessen, 159 Yesler Way, 264-TATS The Cheez Whiz–slathered Philly cheesesteaks at Tat’s Deli are so tasty, cheap, and authentic that lunch-hour lines regularly stretch out the door. The restaurant’s website (tatsdeli.com) even has a “line cam” so customers will know how long they should expect to wait.

12427 Greenwood Ave. N., 362-0139 Chef at Wok does not offer the best Chinese food in town. But amend that title to the best American Chinese food, and it’s a contender. Modify that further with “that deliv- The Honey Hole, 703 E. Pike St., 709-1399 The Honey ers to my doorstep,” and it’s a surefire winHole always has a draft-beer special, usually ner. Chef at Wok’s Crispy Eggplant in Tangy something like a Manny’s, which happens to be the Hot Glaze, catchy name aside, illustrates perfect accompaniment to their savory, melty-hot the key characteristics of American Chinese sandwiches. cuisine, painting a clear picture in orangyred and sticky-sweet. Beneath the sauce is a Armandino’s Salumi, 309 Third Ave. S., 621-8772 vegetable, yes, but barely identifiable within Dining at Salumi is all about planning. Slump in withits thick deep-fried breading. It’s the trifecta out preparation and you’re liable to stand in the cold of American Chinese: familiar food encased for an hour. Armandino Batali’s cured meats in overin batter, dipped in hot oil, and smothered stuffed sandwiches at reasonable prices (hovering in a sugar-spiked sauce. Even (especially) around $10 a sammy) are worth the wait. on a calm, quiet Monday, the motivation to get up and drag oneself out the door for The Other Coast Cafe, 5315 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789dinner can be difficult to muster. For those 0936 The Other Coast Cafe serves big, messy deli of us in Seattle’s Northwest quadrant, there sandwiches. Huge chunks of meat and cheese are few delivery options, but Chef at Wok are for sale in the shop, just in case you think you is good enough that there’s no need to look can match its sandwich-making abilities at home. further. $ Chances are you can’t.

Crawfish King, 725 Lane St., 623-3622

an italian café bar

Distinct espresso and coffee drinks plus a selection of wine, beer, and light fare.

Where Ya At Matt, whereyatmatt.com Matt Lewis’ sandwiches, served from his roving food truck, bring a taste of the South to the Seattle sandwich scene.

Po’boys overflow with lightly breaded seafood, and the Peacemaker throws in bacon, pickled hot peppers, and cheddar. Y

Hands-on Cooking and Craft Classes Trendy Products from France Gourmet French Food & Wine Wine Related Events Every Friday

www.pariseastside.com www.facebook.com/ParisEastside 816 East Pike, Seattle, WA 98122 | 206-452-3622 VORACIOUS VORACIOUS DINING DINING GUIDE GUIDE 2012 2013• •Seattle SeattleWeekly Weekly

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Seattle Weekly • VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013

here’s something that will: a Wine Slushy Margarita. It tastes about as weird as you’d expect, a Mexican cocktail given a Southern vibe by a Vietnamese-owned restaurant.

It is, though, like everything else on the menu, worth trying. The menu standout is obviously the crawfish, always brought in fresh, but this place knows its audience and caters to the shyer palate. With the seafood options all customizable as to species and spice level and the sweet-tooth-satisfying beignets, it’s rather fun to be the group that laughs the loudest at the silly sayings on Crawfish King’s walls. $$ Jebena Cafe, 1510 N.E. 117th St., 365-0757

The food at Jebena Cafe sets it above some of its Ethiopian-restaurant competition, but the service and atmosphere set it apart from almost any restaurant in the city. It’s unclear which was more surprising: that this sleepy Pinehurst spot has a line out the door on a Monday night, or that a loyal customer was apologizing to waiting patrons as she helped the server by clearing her own table.

This respect, the patron’s for the restaurant and the staff’s for the diners, was present in every aspect of the meal: respect for great ingredients in the freshness and care in cooking, respect for customers’ dietary needs in offering gluten-free injera, and respect for the diner with excellent service.

The bright green of the spinach highlighted the difference between Jebena and other Ethiopian joints, just as the light hint of crunch left in the cabbage and in the beef’s peppers served as a textural reminder. $$

Pestle Rock, 2305 N.W. Market St., 466-6671

Those who don’t abandon Pestle Rock upon sight of its $15 entrées will be pleasantly rewarded for their time and money. This nicely decorated restaurant takes sourcing seriously, and you can taste the high quality—the rich pig flavor in the muu yang, or grilled wild-boar collar, for instance. The same care that goes into the sourcing goes into the cooking; the Dungeness crab fried rice includes plenty of crab bits. And then there’s the kao soi—the only kao soi around that’s true to the dish’s authentic best. It’s a soup so thick it’s almost a stew, topped with an almost unnoticed yet completely essen-

tial sprinkle of pickled mustard greens. Visitors to northern Thailand return dreaming of kao soi; now Pestle Rock, in addition to serving very good upscale Thai food alongside IPA on draft, can cure that craving. $$ Ping’s Dumpling House, 508 S. King St., 623-6764 Those who shopped at Ping’s Market when it was twice as large are unlikely to be sad that the space has been halved, because most shoppers were raiding the freezers lining the back wall for the more than 20 different kinds of handmade dumplings, which they then had to bring home and cook. The morphing of half the store into a dumpling cafe eliminates that final step; it serves those dumplings along with other family recipes from Qingdao, Ping’s home province. Ping’s dumplings are soft and subtle, barely holding together for the length of time necessary to get them from plate to lips, ideally with a stop in the bowl of sharp garlic sauce. The dumplings fall apart in the mouth, melting away, sending meaty flavors and doughy chew all over, then slipping out as quickly as they came. $ Traditional Korean Beef Soup,

22929 Hwy. 99, Edmonds, 425-977-2929 When Monday night is all about recovery, Traditional Korean Beef Soup is the place to go. The soup and the dishes served with it instantly evoke healthfulness and the kind of comfort that my kind more readily attributes to chicken broth with matzoh balls.

This place is all about the beef soup, offered in a handful of varieties. The broth itself is rich but plain in color and flavor, letting the diner customize each bowl with the side dishes. With each side dish, excitement for the main event grows. The kimchi and the radish both appear rustic in a way that shows care through its lack of perfection.

Likewise, the care that goes into the crafting of each dumpling is instantly apparent.

The food’s homespun style is a relaxing retreat from a weekend’s craziness—like heading to Grandma’s house for a meal. $ Tropicos Breeze,

9710 Aurora Ave. N., 524-3046 Salvadoran cuisine is rarely recognized

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Huong Binh: noodles and more, p.26.

For more information google Plaka Estiatorio 5407 20th Ave NW – 206-829-8934 VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013 • Seattle Weekly

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beyond the pupusa, a deservedly wellknown stuffed corn cake. Tropicos Breeze works to correct that with a menu that fills bellies and pleases tastebuds, from the enormous steak-based molcateje to the tiny empanada-like pastelitas. Tropicos Breeze’s relaxed atmosphere and friendly service make it an ideal place to explore El Salvador’s regional foods, bringing in everyone from curious neighbors to Salvadorans from all over town. The entrées are generous; the signature molcateje can easily feed two.

Just steak, cactus leaves, and vegetables in a sauce, it’s simple, as are many of the dishes here, and as is the restaurant itself. The focus is on turning out good-tasting food for all kinds of people: children chew happily on pupusas, a grandma talks the ears off a couple on a romantic date, and groups of young people chow down on the dishes of their homeland. $

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While Seattle’s got a terrifically diverse and thriving restaurant scene (including many fine-dining options), at the end of the day, I constantly crave Asian noodles—also known as mein in Chinese. They’re great stir-fried or swimming in broth, and I especially enjoy the interactivity of the ingredients. From ramen to pho to hand-shaved Chinese noodles, mein is my main comfort food.

Huong Binh, 1207 S. Jackson St., 720-4907 The noodles for Huong Binh’s banh hoi thit nuong are made by a very intricate process and served cold, per the menu, in “intricate bundles.” They’re very thin, and therefore interesting for their texture. A friend got the banh uot, which is essentially the same but made with thin, steamed rice-flour crepes that are cut into wide noodles. The ground shrimp atop the noodles are a fascinating orange color. There are five options in the banh hoi section of the menu. The thit nuong is delicious. The caramelized pork deserves the accolades it receives. Also available are grilled pork meatballs, grilled shrimp, ground shrimp wrapped around sugar cane, and a special platter with one of each protein. Whether you get the banh hoi or the banh uot, you’ll enjoy the interactive eating, as you can play with amounts of ingredients or even the way you eat them.

And the lettuce and herbs bring a freshness to the meal that’s enhanced by the quality of the restaurant’s nuoc cham. $

THE MEIN MAN

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Seattle Weekly • VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013

Vu gentlemen’s club. When the showgirls get hungry, thukpa could be a perfect meal for them. This is no ordinary soup. While I’ve heard of thukpas with clear broth, this one is red in color and bold in flavor. I eventually spoke with the owner about the seasoning, and he said the flavor comes from onion, ginger, garlic, fenugreek, and something he called “corn pepper.” He explained that while you can find this pepper, which looks like black pepper (perhaps it’s simply peppercorns?), in the International District, it will have no flavor. Better to get it directly, harvested from the jungles of Nepal. No one could explain the type of noodles in the thukpa; as best as I could determine, they are dried, spaghetti-like noodles, cooked to a soft texture in the soup. $$

2675 N.E. Village Lane, 525-2675 “Tokyo ramen” is the reimagined name for shoyu ramen on Boom’s menu, reflecting its region of popularity. Boom Noodle sells all the “big four” varieties of ramen—shoyu, tonkotsu (pork bone), shio (salt), and miso—pulling out the fullest flavors without using MSG. You’ll also find other types of ramen here, including spicy lemon (yuzu) chicken and spicy pork. Boom Noodle’s ramen has evolved over the years. The slightly wavy noodles are better than before, the chashu is a thickness I like with decent fat content, and the broth is meaty without being heavy. I wish the egg was soft-cooked to the right runniness; then again, I haven’t found such an egg at any of Seattle’s “dedicated” ramen places, though Spring Hill’s saimin and Revel’s ramen get it right. $$

The Everest Kitchen,

14561 Bothell Way N.E., 440-0321 The Everest Kitchen serves “foods from the top of the world”—specifically India, Nepal, and Tibet. I know where those countries are, but I’m not really sure where The Everest Kitchen is located. The official address says Seattle, but some references show Shoreline.

Two things are for sure: It’s on Bothell Way, north of Lake City, and it’s across from a Déjà

It gets cold in Mongolia. Animal meat and fats, along with dairy, are a primary part of Mongolian cuisine. So when I learned that Joy Teriyaki is perhaps the only place in the area to find Mongolian food, I knew I was in for rustic food featuring lots of carbohydrates and fat. The tsuivan is a stew made with simple, hand-shaved noodles. Speaking as someone who likes long, thick noodles, these are unfortunately in small pieces, perhaps broken during the cooking process.

A sprinkling of vegetables is included, and beef substitutes for the mutton that you usually find in Mongolian dishes. The seasoning is very mild, typical of Northern cuisine. It wasn’t long before I started eyeing the condiment cart and squirting Sriracha on the noodles. I can’t say that I loved the tsuivan. They were just so-so, but the workers were nice and proud of their food, and I do love that there’s at least the option of Mongolian food in Seattle. $

King Noodle, 615 S. King St., 748-9168

At King Noodle, you’re in control, which is part of the fun. First, there’s an interesting assortment of six soup bases: chicken broth, original fish soup, hot spicy, Szechuan spicy, sour and hot, and Thai tom yum goong.

Next, six noodle choices: (rice) vermi-

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celli, flat rice noodles, QQ noodles, udon, instant noodles (!), and wonton noodles.

Then a choice of two of the four vegetable “garnish” toppings: bean sprouts, cabbage, leeks (Chinese chives), and mushrooms.

Finally, there are 16 regular toppings. Most are proteins, from BBQ duck to cuttlefish balls, but there are also vegetarian options like seaweed and pumpkin. “Fungus trip” and “Luncheon” remain mysteries for now.

While the broths could have been spicier for my taste, the QQ noodles were similar in size to fettucine, my “garnishes” were leek and mushroom (unfortunately they were button mushrooms instead of shiitake, which would be much better), and, as I can’t resist offal and there are numerous choices, I went with beef tripe and pork kidney. The tripe portion was skimpy, but the pork kidney was fine. Overall it was a satisfying bowl of soup; staring at the menu, I kept considering what the other combinations would be like. $ Pho So 1, 1207 S Jackson St., 860-2824 Part of pho’s appeal is speed. Order and it comes quickly, as the broth has been simmering for a long time and the thin-sliced meat in your customized order cooks almost instantly. Another thing I love about pho is the interactivity—you can change the flavor by altering the acidity, spice level, etc. with garnishes and sauces. And there are so many variations on pho bowls: Pho So 1 has 20 types. Most are pho bo, the beef variety, with a wide combination of cuts. I generally choose the one with the most meats (excluding the meatball, whose taste and texture I find unappealing). I especially love the tendon for its fattiness and the tripe for its chewiness. (It’s hard to find these two items at pho restaurants in America’s heartland.) And each slurp and spoonful offers something different. Pho So 1 serves some of the best “low-cost” (cheap Vietnamese joint) pho I’ve had in Seattle. The broth is flavorful and tastes fresh, with a depth of beefiness and spices. $

Spice Room, 4909 Rainier Ave. S., 725-7090 I first came to Spice Room with a large group, and we asked the server for suggestions. After we steered away from all of them (including the ever-safe pad Thai), he declared us the best group he’s ever had for trying more adventurous dishes. In fact, there’s a menu section called “The Adventurous,” and there you’ll find two very interesting noodle options. The kao soy is good, its pickled mustard greens the star, but I especially like the guay tiow nua nom tok.

“Nua” indicates beef. So far we’ve got beef rice noodles. “Nom tok” (or nam tok) means waterfall, and in this case refers to the bloody liquid that falls from grilling meat.

At Spice Room, pork blood is added to the broth, giving it depth and a slightly minerally, earthy taste. Dried rice noodles (as used in pad Thai) become the vehicle to sop

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Regent Bakery and Cafe, 1404 E. Pine St., 743-8866 I love wide noodles, which always draws me to chow fun—“chow” meaning stir-fry and “fun” meaning rice noodles. At Regent, you can choose from several types of beef chow fun. For dry beef chow fun, the noodles are stir-fried with a little soy sauce, but otherwise cooked “dry” to bring out the wok hei smokiness. Beef chow fun with sauce is wet-fried, so it comes with more of a gravy. A fan of fermented black beans, I went with the black-bean sauce beef chow fun, as it offers the stronger flavor. Black beans give this dish a pungent appeal, the sauce coating the slippery noodles. They’re soft with the slightest chew, the bell peppers offering a contrasting texture. There’s a generous amount of beef on the plate, and I detected underlying flavors of garlic, ginger, and, I’d guess, sesame oil (traditional chow fun ingredients). As Regent is an American-style Chinese restaurant, you’ll find other “American” dishes in the menu’s noodle section (Singapore rice noodles and chow mein) and in the non-noodle sections (including, yes, General Tso’s chicken). $

VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013 • Seattle Weekly

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up the delicious, bloody broth. This is a very pleasant Thai restaurant with tables against a banquette along one wall, and four-tops divided by sheer fabric (my preferred seating) along the other wall. It has probably the best atmosphere of any Thai restaurant in Seattle, with perhaps the best food. $ Sub Sand, 416 Sixth Ave. S., 682-1267 Sub Sand is a friendly little restaurant where the owner is quite happy to explain any of the dishes on the menu. The “bamboo shot duck noodle soup” has a simple and comforting chicken-broth flavor, the noodles soft and slurpable. Fried shallots and peanuts add crunch, and the basil boosts the broth with welcome herbal notes. My favorite part, though, are the bamboo shoots. The recipe calls for dried bamboo, which has more complex flavor and a chewy texture. I especially like the bamboo-shoot duck noodle soup because of the side salad. The duck, which the owner says is steamed, is somewhat fatty, which lends flavor. And the ginger fish sauce is superb, the ginger rounding out and slightly rising above the sauce’s sweet, salty, spicy, and sour aspects. It’s perfect on both meat and vegetables. I did notice that I was thirsty after the meal, so I suspect there’s MSG in the food. If it wasn’t in the duck soup, it might have been in my partner’s “Crab Past Noodle Soup,” which isn’t something from history, but instead made with crab paste. $

SMALL FRIES

by Sara Billups

If you parent any of the 100,000 or so kids in the Seattle area, you probably said goodbye to leisurely weekend brunches and regularly scheduled Fridaynight happy hours a long time ago. But chances are you relish little luxuries now, like finding a great new cafe you like as much as your children do. Each week, Small Fries goes beyond grilled cheese and chicken strips to bring word of local restaurants serving fresh food that might just expand your kid’s palate.

Abbondanza Pizzeria,

6503 California Ave. S.W., 935-8989 With new eateries in Ballard and Capitol Hill hogging the spotlight, it’s easy to pass over mom-and-pop restaurants, out-ofthe-way restaurants, or restaurants that are light on atmosphere. Opened about a decade ago, West Seattle’s Abbondanza Pizzeria fits all these criteria. It’s family-run, sits south of the main strip on California Avenue, and has an Ikea-meets-New Jersey aesthetic. So why waste your dime here?

Besides the fact that its ethos is nostalgia for now-defunct Italian restaurants where grandmothers make up the waitstaff, I’ll

give you two words: Homemade gnocchi. Abbondanza’s outstanding gnocchi are plump, beautifully irregular, and kidapproved. A serving big enough to split is a more-than-reasonable $11. Hungry kids will be appeased by the bread basket brought out just after ordering. Adults will be moderately happy with a green salad topped with a few fresh veggies and dressing. But everybody will shut up and eat when a couple of huge plates of gnocchi make their appearance, then fast disappearance. $ Ballard Pizza Company,

5107 Ballard Ave. N.W., 659-6033 A blessing and a curse of living in Seattle is that, while fresh food is bountiful, if you want to eat at restaurants using real, quality ingredients, it’s going to cost more. The newish Ballard Pizza Company from Ethan Stowell’s Grubb Brothers Productions is a welcome exception, especially if you have a lot of mouths to feed. A short walk from the splash pad at Ballard Commons Park, Ballard Pizza Company lines out premade pies for a few bucks per wide slice. On a recent trip, one pizza covered with broccoli and whole roasted garlic cloves sat next to a meatier option topped with tiny seasoned rounds of pepperoni and a simple sauceand-cheese pie. For a few dollars more, order the chickpea, sweet raisin, and celery salad. $

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Luisa’s Mexican Grill,

9776 Holman Rd. N.W., 784-4132 Luisa’s, a freestanding Mexican place in Crown Hill, is a hungry child’s dream. As you enter, the restaurant readily hands out warm housemade corn tortillas with a pat of butter and salsa from a station near the door. Small plates are anything but, with a ladle of refried beans, Spanish rice, and slaw arranged next to a single flauta, taco, or tamale. The enchilada verde is stuffed with shredded white-meat chicken and topped with a perfectly sour and sharp green tomatillo sauce. Kids will do well with beans and rice or a single taco or burrito. If they’re especially picky, there are always “Platos Americanos”: a burger or frozen fish sticks and a mound of fries. The menu contains few surprises, with the exception of a $3 virgin margarita. Sure, it’s sans the strong stuff, but the cheapo faux cocktail is a true elixir for any pregnant woman dreaming of limey booze. $

Portage Bay Cafe, 4130 Roosevelt Way N.E.,

547-8230, and other locations Some parents are so stealthy about hiding fruit, greens, and ancient grains in their kid’s food that they might as well put on a creepy McDonald’s Hamburglar mask and cape and tiptoe around the kitchen. Other parents take the opposite stance, saying kids will learn to eat well if the food tastes good. The menu at this brunch and lunch spot satisfies both camps. The white-bean garden burger is a hearty patty of veggies, emmer faro, and cannellini beans slid into an innocuous brioche roll. Organic buckwheat pancakes are filled with extra protein and potassium, but when they’re topped with copious amounts of fresh strawberries

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5105 BALLARD AVE NW | SEATTLE | 206.420.2737 | BALLARDLOFT.COM VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2012 2013 •• Seattle Weekly

13 33

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Bruschetta Volterrana (Bruschetta Volterrana) Tuscan bread slices topped with a mushroom and truffle puree and minced artichokes

VOLTERRA BALLARD

5411 BALLARD AVE NW, SEATTLE, WA 98107 | 206 7895100 SERVING DINNER MONDAY THRU SUNDAY MONTHU 5PM10PM AND FRI 5PM11PM SAT 9AM11PM AND SUN 9AM9PM HAPPY HOUR: MONFRI 4:30PM  6:30PM SUNDAY BRUNCH: 9AM2PM *VALET PARKING AVAILABLE FRIDAY & SATURDAY NIGHTS

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ACCOLADES

Best Italian Restaurant - Seattle Magazine Zagat “Top Restaurants in the United States” Wine Spectator Award of Excellence: 2005 - 2012 Best Italian - Seattle Citysearch Editors Choice Best New Restaurant - Seattle Magazine Best Outdoor Dining - Seattle Citysearch Best Chef Inspired Restaurant - Seattle Metropolitan Magazine

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Seattle Weekly • VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013

Lamb Meat Balls (Polpettine D’Angello con Zucca) House made lamb meatballs with roasted spaghetti squash, goat cheese cream and topped with Calabrian chiles and Italian green olive relish Homemade “Little Bite” Selection (Antipasti Assortiti) Daily selection of Chef Don’s seasonal antipasti items, price per person Mussels and Sausage (Cozze e Salsiccia) Mussels and house made Italian sausage steamed in a spicy tomato sauce; served with roasted garlic bruschetta Polenta and Wild Mushrooms (Polenta con Funghi) Fontina filled polenta custard with a truffle scented wild mushroom ragu

Salads

(Insalati) House Salad (Insalatina della Casa) Baby arugula, shaved fennel and Parmigiano Reg giano tossed in Chianti vinaigrette and sprinkled with fresh chives Italian Chicory and White Anchovy (Alici Marinato con Cicoria) Wilted Italian chicory and marinated white anchovy fillets with lemon vinaigrette, friend capers and parsley

Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad (Insalata di Bietole) Roasted organic beets, baby arugula, and toasted walnuts tossed in balsamic vinaigrette and topped with aged Asiago cheese

Noodles and Rice

(Pasta e Risotto)

Sausage and Borlotti Bean Risotto (Risotto alla Panissa) Carnaroli rice simmered with house made sausage, pancetta, Cranberry beans, plum tomatoes and topped with Pecorino Toscano Roasted Eggplant Pouches (Agnolotti di Melanzane) House made organic egg pasta filled with roasted eggplant, ricotta salata, roasted garlic, and basil tossed in a spicy tomato ragu and topped with Sicilian pecorino pepato Pork Jowls and Wild Mushrooms (Tagliolini con Guanciale e Funghi Selvatici) House made organic egg pasta tossed with house cured smoked pork jowls, locally harvested wild mushrooms, truffle butter and organic parmigiano reggiano Dungeness Crab Ravioli (Ravioli coi Granchi) House made organic egg pasta filled with Dungeness crab and mascarpone tossed in a light tomato cream topped with baby mache

Entrees

(Piatti Forti) Crispy Herb Chicken (Pollo alla Diavola) Boneless organic half chicken marinated in fresh herbs and seared to a crispy golden

brown; served with Volterra mashed potatoes and seasonal market vegetables (Cook Time 25 Minutes) *Beef Tenderloin Medallion (Filetto di Manzo) Grilled natural beef tenderloin draped in housemade lardo, and topped with a rosemary, garlic, Chianti, and demi-glaze sauce; served with Volterra mashed potatoes, and seasonal market vegetables Piedmontese Beef Tenderloin (Filetto di Manzo Tartufata) Grilled beef tenderloin topped with a truffle scented Prosciutto di Parma, wild mushrooms, and demi glaze sauce served with Volterra masked potatoes and seasonal market vegetabless Braised Lamb Shank (Coscie d’ Agnello) Anderson Valley Lamb Shank braised with rosemary and green olives, served with creamy buckwheat polenta and dusted with olive caper gremolata Seafood Stew (Zuppa di Pesce) Manila clams, mussels, prawns and the day’s fresh fish in a saffron scented tomato broth with toasted almonds, fresh fennel; served with toasted Tuscan bread and saffron aioli Herb Marinated Pork Ribeye (Costoletto di Maiale) Grilled pork ribeye with Cranberry beans, cauliflower, smoked tomatoes, and topped with goat cheese cream sauce

from the cafe’s famed berry bar, kids won’t think twice about eating a “weird-sounding” flour. $$

young diners. There’s also a mildly sad but nonetheless time-consuming basket of toys near the door for kids to dig through. $

Ridge Pizza, 7217 Greenwood Ave. N., 687-7621 You’ll be hard-pressed to find another restaurant in Seattle proper that’s full of kids without looking (or sounding) like it. Ridge Pizza’s light wooden interior features a large front room with booths and tables on one side and the bar on the other. There’s also a long back “family room” with additional seating, shuffleboard, and a handful of video games. On a recent Sunday night, five out of six occupied tables contained at least one minor, but with the space’s smart layout, you wouldn’t have known it. Service is exceptionally friendly, with a waitstaff that promptly delivers crayons and dares to stay and work up a conversation with adults and kids—a real rarity in Seattle. Pizzas like the classic pepperoni True Value arrive with heaping helpings of toothy red sauce. The crust is pillowy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and just thick enough to manage the weight of copious amounts of cheese and toppings. The spinach salad with tomato, crumbled bacon, and fresh mushrooms is tossed with a simple vinaigrette. It’s nothing more than a nice way to balance forthcoming pizza-dough carbs, and that’s fine. $$

Three Girls Bakery, 1514 Pike Place,

Ridgeback Cafe, 500 N.W. 65th St, 783-4073

The savory crepes here are an exception to the typical limp varieties smeared with cheese or sprinkled with arugula.

Situated on a strip of 65th Street at the base of Phinney Ridge, the Ridgeback is a kid-friendly neighborhood spot. Perfectly crisp on the outside, “The Phinney” crepe is loaded with several strips of crumbled apple-smoked bacon, ripe red peppers and tomatoes, egg, mozzarella, and about a pound of fresh spinach. Besides crepes, the Ridgeback prepares waffles topped with lemon panna cotta or brie, basil, and bacon.

There are also sandwiches and salads for lunch and dinner crowds. The kid’s menu includes waffles and raspberry-jam crepes for $4. Expect friendly servers to chat up

622-1045 Thank you, Mrs. Jones, for opening this venerable bakery with two friends in Pike Place Market in 1912. A walk-up counter serves molasses cookies, challah, and other shareable pastries near Post Alley, but the real action happens around the corner at the shop’s small sandwich counter. While Three Girls has been open for a century, it’s not clear for how many of those years there’s been a meatloaf sandwich on the menu, though it’s obvious the recipe was perfected a good while back. Reminiscent of Bakeman’s Restaurant’s famed version, thick slices of fresh loaf are dressed to order and laid to rest on hearty white bread. Kids might prefer the lighter hummus or sweeter turkey cranberry. Note that the counter houses only a handful of stools and closes at 6 p.m., so plan on ordering to go and eating lunch or an early dinner down by the water. $

Real Mex!

Margarita Monday

All signature margaritas $5 all night including our famous Avocado Margarita!

Happy Hour daily

4pm-6pm & 10pm-12am Featuring $2.50 Tecates $5 House Wines and our favorite Tex-Mex Apps for $4-6

Seattle’S BeSt late nigHt KitcHen

Food till 12am and 1am on Fri. & Sat.

555 Aloha St. Seattle, WA

Tougo Coffee, 1410 18th Ave., 860-3518

206.218.1040

With perks for all ages, this CD spot deserves a lot more attention. The space goes out of its way to welcome kids while maintaining a warm environment for hipsters, seniors, and dudes working on laptops. Several tables line the front of the space, and a large play area with a train table, bookshelf, and play kitchen hides in back. Should every cafe have a play area? No way. But a lot more could take cues from neighborhood-centric shops like Tougo that are mindful of the reality that some people have kids, some don’t, and we all need coffee. Tougo serves a rotating list of coffee from a curated selection of roasters, and is the only shop in Washington serving beans from L.A.’s excellent Handsome Coffee Roasters. And for the many pregnant women (and other people) with good reasons for drinking caffeine-free coffee, Tougo happily offers beans with and without the boost. $

www.laredosgrill.com

and

Schnitzel House

Warm European Hospitality Serving traditional Hungarian and German food “Kindness, good cheer, and faraway flavors…I'll be back more than once.”

– H R,  

DAVID NEWALL

Salumi: a sandwich to plan for, p. 23.

  , ,   .. / ..  -   

VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013 • Seattle Weekly

35

Twirl Cafe, 2111 Queen Anne Ave. N., 283-4552 At Twirl Cafe, parents pay for coffee and food, then plop down a few more bucks to gain their offspring entrance into a walled-off play zone. In a way, it’s another sad example of how some parents eagerly opt out of patronizing quality restaurants and succumb to another blasé pizza night fighting waves of amped-up youth. But on the other hand, places like Twirl are a godsend, because the prospect of dealing with especially wild children is enough to keep a parent and youngsters home for the afternoon. The cafe uses organic ingredients and still manages to keep prices reasonably low. Several sandwiches, including the Galer with bacon, turkey, cheddar, and fixings, are served hot with a mound of fresh greens. At Twirl and its sibling kid cafes, it’s obvious that the pint-sized set drives the menu and rules the roost. But hey, that’s smart business. $ U:Don, 4515 University Way N.E., 453-3788

When eating out with children, you’re lucky if you can find a restaurant offering even one of the following: a) cheap, b) fast, c) (moderately) healthy. A few places around town hit the trifecta, among them the U District’s U:Don. The serve-yourself, cafeteria-style setup means that by the time you grab a tray, order noodles, top them with extras like free tenkasu (tempura flakes), and add items from the tempura bar, dinner is ready. Kids requiring roomtemperature food will do well with chilled instead of broth-based menu items. Fresh scallions and ginger can be added from a side dish when you order the zaru udon; toppings and sauce rest next to a mound of foot-long noodles. For kids, the meal becomes a time-consuming game of cutting, dipping, and slurping. The health factor of broccoli may be canceled out when it’s dipped in tempura and fried, but it’s still satisfying to watch your kid gnaw on two or three pieces of battered vegetables that would normally rest limply next to a plate of pasta or mac and cheese. $

OPEN FROM 9AM-2AM

Y 10 HOTEL BARS WE LOVE

TUESDAY-SUNDAY, CLOSED MONDAYS

HAPPY HOUR TUESDAY-FRIDAY 4-7

Sazerac, Hotel Monaco, 1101 Fourth Ave., 624-7755 It’s the Monday–Saturday happy hour, not the potential for A-list encounters, that draws so many downtown drinkers here after work. The house wine-and-beer list drops to $3. Gussied-up comfort food is priced at $4 and under.

ALL NIGHT ON SUNDAYS 6-CLOSE KITCHEN OPEN FROM 9AM-10PM BRUNCH SERVED TUES-FRI 9-2 SAT AND SUNDAY 9-3

67 Lounge, Edgewater Hotel, 2411 Alaskan Way, 728-7000 Looking out over Puget Sound, 67 Lounge is adorned with decorative trees, dim lighting, and walls graced with projected images of burlesque dancers. Beer is available, but you’re more likely to feel in tune with your surroundings by ordering a glass of wine.

Tulio Ristorante, Hotel Vintage Park, 1100 Fifth Ave., 624-5500 A fedora wouldn’t look out of place in Tulio’s handsome 1920s-era dining room. The food is far more contemporary, Italian fare even society matrons would unclench their jaws for.

Independently owned and operated

LUSCIOUS

Lemon Meringue Pie DON’T MISS APRIL’S CUPCAKE OF THE MONTH!

BOKA Kitchen and Bar, Hotel 1000, 1010 First Ave., 357-9000 Downtown’s BOKA is a restaurant so L.A. you can almost smell the smog. The kitchen puts out playful, precious food to match, like Dungeness-crab cupcakes crowned in a pouf of crème fraîche icing.

Bernard’s on Seneca, Hotel Seattle, 315 Seneca St., 623-5110 Two things make for a pleasurable hotel experience: a great basement bar and ghosts. The Hotel Seattle has both. Well, allegedly.

T R O P H YC U P CA K E S . C O M

|

2 0 6 . 6 3 2 .7 0 2 0

WALLINGFO R D | U. VILLAGE | THE B RAV E RN | PACIFIC P LACE | CE N T URY LIN K

Polar Bar, The Arctic Club, 700 Third Ave., 340-0340 Set up by an understated marble portico and a front desk filled with vintage photographs of original members in bowler hats and starched collars, the Polar Bar makes you want to be a better drinker.

The Terrace, Fairmont Olympic, 411 University St., 621-1700 Sundays through Thursdays, business travelers, newlyweds, socialites, and even their teacup Yorkies gather in the Fairmont Olympic’s lobby for hors d’oeuvres and martinis. The $12 “endless starters” plate is sure to draw envious stares from the social elite.

Trace Bar, W Seattle, 1112 Fourth Ave., 264-6000 If you want 25-cent wings, this isn’t the place for you. But you will have a lovely evening and possibly score a number from a George Clooney lookalike. Better still, he’ll be staying just upstairs.

The Hunt Club, Sorrento Hotel, 900 Madison St., 343-6156 Surrounding yourself with the Hunt Club’s old-school opulence and $10 worth of happy-hour food and pistachios can make you feel like at least a hundred bucks.

GARRETT MUKAI

A temple to modernist cuisine, p. 11

Oliver’s Lounge, Mayflower Park Hotel, 405 Olive Way, 623-8700 The bartenders here know their stuff so well that they won’t bat an eye if a businessman comes in for a discreet cocktail before noon.

The menu focuses on martinis and a couple of absinthe-infused cocktails. Y

VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2012 2013 •• Seattle Weekly

37 15

Less a glass, more Less a glass, more Less a glass, more adisplay display cabinet. aadisplay cabinet. cabinet.

Always Enjoy Responsibly. ©2013 Anheuser-Busch InBev S.A., Stella Artois® Beer, njoy Responsibly.

Imported

by Import Brands Anheuser-Busch InBev S.A., Stella Artois® Beer,Alliance, St. Louis, MO Responsibly. d byAlways ImportEnjoy Brands Alliance, St. Louis, MO ©2013 Anheuser-Busch InBev S.A., Stella Artois® Beer, Imported by Import Brands Alliance, St. Louis, MO

BEET STREET

by Gwendolyn Elliott

In recent years, Seattle has cultivated a flourishing vegetarian dining scene whose reach goes well beyond restaurants with strictly plantbased menus. While the beloved kitchens of Carmelita and Cafe Flora will always warm a grass-eater’s heart, Sea-Town boasts some of the most veg-friendly joints around—like Tilth, where you can enjoy a five-course vegan tasting menu while the next table over noshes on pork belly and duck confit. Every week in Beet Street, along with my eager dining companion Toby, I report on what Seattle’s vibrant food culture is bringing to the table—with the herbivore in mind.

Agua Verde, 1303 N.E. Boat St., 545-8570

Agua Verde perfectly captures Seattle weird: It just has that casual-Mexicanrestaurant/spirit-of-the-U District/ kayaks-and-paddleboards-for-rent/ stunning-lake-view-at-down-to-earthprices thing down pat. It may not hit all the right notes, but for freewheeling folks—vegetarian and beyond—on a budget, there’s nothing like it. With a focus on natural, sustainable, locally sourced foods, it’s easy to get behind. In addition to a pick of side dishes, veggies have abounding options for dinner—many dishes, like the quesadillas, nachos, salads, and soups, are made vegetarian but chicken, pork, fish, or steak can be added for an additional charge. The Burrito Vegetariano is a mild mix of yams, onions, peppers, rice, pinto beans, and jack cheese swaddled in a spinach wrap.

Served with a side of lettuce, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream, it was a little bland but exceptionally filling; an extra slathering of salsa and guacamole peppers upped the flavor profile nicely. $

• It’s Where to Wind Up •

Ballet, 914 E. Pike St., 328-7983 With more and more upscale bistros moving in to the ’hood, humble Ballet, next to its scrappy neighbor the Comet Tavern, is not much to look at. But, along with places like Charlie’s and Glo’s, joints like Ballet still carry a torch for the days when Capitol Hill was more grunge than glossy, and it keeps its prices in line with its looks. Ballet serves traditional Vietnamese fare, and nearly everything can be made vegetarian. Bowls of piping-hot, delicately spiced vegetarian pho (the pho chay combo, with mock beef and chicken, tofu, vegetarian meatballs, and veggies, is the way to go) and three kinds of veggie bahn mi are on offer, no order going over $6.95. Entrées top out at $8.95—for cashew stir-fry—but that’s a pauper’s price compared to other options nearby (Quinn’s, Oddfellows), especially since the portions are so big you’ll have to take leftovers home. Cheerful, speedy servers in street clothes make the experience far more functional than fancy, but the requisite fortune cookie always ends things on a sweet note. $ Bamboo Garden, 364 Roy St., 282-6616

This Lower Queen Anne Asian eatery is famous for its bounty of fake meat: Soy chicken, mock beef, and all kinds of gluteny pork are featured in classic Chinese dishes like egg rolls, Mandarin chicken, and Mongolian beef. The interior’s a bit shabby, but the pros far outweigh the ambience: The food is reliably consistent, the location is ideal (there’s even a parking lot), and a full bar offers wine and beer—even a Manhattan, if you like—to accompany your meal. The General Tso’s chicken here is so freaking good it’s hard not to be disappointed when you order the cashew chicken or Mongolian beef and your companion orders it: a pile of glistening soy-gluten balls battered in a sweet coating, fried crisp, smothered in Tso’s sauce (with spice levels modified to your taste), and garnished with steamed broccoli and carrots.

The Mongolian beef is tasty with a savory gravy-like sauce, but its crunchy noodles take away from its appeal. Likewise, the cashew chicken is good, but its perfectly diced vegetables look more Bird’s Eye than fresh. In my experience at Bamboo Garden, flavors are always good, but appearances and textures can vary. If you can’t decide among their many options, order the General Tso’s. $

Serving delicious, complete meals in a unique setting with unbeatable prices since 1969!

Each entree includes soup or salad, hot fresh bread, milk, coffee or tea, and spumoni ice cream for dessert.

Lunch & Dinner available 7 days a week!

With four convenient locations: Seattle • Tacoma • Lynnwood • Southcenter JOSHUA HUSTON

Stick to small portions at Blind Pig Bistro, p. 17.

WWW.OSF.COM VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013 • Seattle Weekly

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Mulitple Big Screen TVs

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3

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OPEN AT 11AM MON-FRIDAY

OPEN AT 9AM SAT SUN

HAPPY HOUR 4-6 MON-FRI (206) 789-2000 5100 BALLARD AVE NW SEATTLE, WA 98107

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$4.50 For a Pint, Or $16 Per Pitcher! Daily Happy Hour 3-7. $4 micros, $3 Rainer and Oly, $3 wells. House Smoked Ribs, Brisket and Pulled Pork. Taco Tuesdays!

Triva Mon., Open Mic Tues, Karaoke and Live Music Sat.

Get in here and get to know us! Craft Beers and locally-sourced pub food. Stunning Mt. Hood views from our Deck.

Open 11:30 til close Tuesday through Sunday 509.637.2774

151 E. Jewett Blvd.

White Salmon, WA everybodysbrewing.com

Tasting Room Hours: Mon. - Wed. 2pm-6pm • Thurs. - Sat. 2pm-9pm Now open Sundays - Noon to 7pm 650 NW Bovela Ln, Suite #3, Poulsbo, WA 98370 360.930.8696 • www.soundbrewery.com

Celebrating 30 years of brewing!

Stop in to the Pub and enjoy specials all year long as we mark this milestone.

Est.

1983

Supergoose IPA Kolsch Pale Ale Red Menace Mongoose Troll Porter El Jefe Cream Ale and many many more

30th Anniversary

Brewery & Pub 4

Seattle Weekly • VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2011

4301 Leary Way NW ~ Ballard

Buddha Ruksa, 3520 S.W. Genesee St.,

937-7676 You’ll not often find an oasis of Zen-like calm across from a busy intersection and a Taco Time, but West Seattle’s Buddha Ruksa makes a fitting home there, just as Buddha did under the tree where he attained enlight enlightenment. Inside, subtle lighting, elegant Thai decor, and pleasant servers—all female—create a tranquil dining atmosphere. The spring rolls are firm and fresh, fortified with an extra rice-paper wrapper, fragrant basil, and thick peanut sauce on the side. Entrées are satisfying, family-sized portions, served quick and hot. My Rama noodle was drowning in peanut sauce, and its wide, soft noodles were loaded with crunchy broccoli, Napa cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and zucchini.

With generous chunks of fresh tofu, it was a perfect vegetarian delight. I sampled a taste of my boyfriend’s spicy eggplant—he ordered it hot, their four-star level—and the flavor was excellent, with a rich, garlicky broth, but wowee zowee, too hot for me. $ Chaco Canyon West Seattle,

3770 S.W. Alaska St., 937-8732 I’m compiling a list of Seattle’s best veggie burgers, and Chaco’s lentil burger is near the top—a densely satisfying creation, a whopping bean patty served on an organic toasted roll with tangy veganaise-based dressing and crunchy sprouts. It’s one of the items I return time and again for—in addition to the zesty zip of the artichoke melt; the Zen Dream juice (apple, spinach, orange, mint); a chewy chocolate-chip cookie (the Cowboy) so good you could fool anyone into thinking it contains only animal products; the simple goodness of the Hippie Bowl (a grain bowl with garlic tahini dressing, baked tofu, quinoa, and veggies); and the subtle flavors of the African lentil soup. Chaco Canyon West Seattle is baby sister to the U District’s flag flagship “raw temple,” but here things run on a different pace. Where the U District location buzzes with students, in West Seattle, nothing stops you from cozying up in a chair, at a table, or at the counterside bar, grabbing a copy of the Weekly, and staying a while. $

5 BREWPUBS WE LOVE

Two Beers Brewing Company, 4700 Ohio Ave. S., 762-0490 This was the first craft brewery in Washington State to release its ales in 12-ounce cans, but you might as well go for the full pints— they’re only $3, and you’ll want to sample as many of the unique varieties as you can manage.

Naked City Taphouse, 8564 Greenwood Ave. N., 838-6299 Naked City looks like a man’s bar on the inside: Steel casks of beer sit on the bar, blown-up photos of scantily clad women straddling kegs adorn the walls. But the inviting space and the frequent special events, like new-brew release parties, signal fun for groups of any gender.

Jolly Roger Taproom, 1111 N.W. Ballard Way, 7826181 The home pub of Maritime Pacific Brewing, the Jolly Roger has two standout qualities. One is its floor, intricately painted to look like an aged treasure map. The other is the fresh beer brewed in the same building.

Fremont Brewing, 3409 Woodland Park Ave. N., 420-2407 Fremont Brewing Company makes small-batch artisan beers, with barley from the Okanogan, hops from the Yakima Valley, and water from the Cedar River watershed. Their best is their first, Universale Ale, a hop-rich pale ale.

Big Time Brewery and Alehouse, 4133 University Way N.E., 545-4509 While it might not be the most popular bar among The Ave’s student patrons, Big Time has the longevity (20-plus years and counting) and knowledge to lure in any beer enthusiast.

Y

Our low prices and selection will be the key ingredient to your success.

Cyber-Dogs Internet Cafe,

909 Pike St., 405-3647 Scoff if you will, ye Oscar Meyer diehards, but a good veggie dog is hard to find, and we vegetarians want one. Though there are ways to satisfy the craving (make a deluxe dog at home with all the fixings, or wait until you’re good and sauced and hit up a veg-friendly street vendor), few of them carry the flavor-packed zing of the missiles hawked at Cyber-Dogs. What’s more, few things offer such delights in a small space (a

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JOSHUA HUSTON

Ocho’s meatless options, p. 47.

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VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013 • Seattle Weekly

43

Petra

Lucky Palate

Seattle’s Best BBQ!

Vegetarian Meal Service

Mediterranean Bistro

Tasty Affordable, Organic Vegetarian meals

WE CATER Office Parties • Birthdays Celebrations • Company Picnics

Delivered to Your Home or Business.

Petra Mediterranean Bistro a world of Authentic, Healthy Mediterranean cuisine awaits you at the corner of 4th and Wall in Belltown

Gluten free meals available.

Check what guests say about us on line at YELP and beyond Voted Best Hummus in Seattle by the SeattleWeekly Best of Seattle 2010

307 W. McGraw St. Seattle, Wa

2501 4th. Ave., Seattle, WA 98121 www.petrabistro.com 206-728-5389

www.luckypalate.com

Voted Best BBQ by Seattle Weekly readers 2011 and 2012 Featured on Food Network’s BBQ with Bobby Flay 3810 S. Ferdinand Street Columbia City • 20 6-7 2 2-441 4 LIKE US ON FACEBOOK!

Thank you Seattle for five great burger flipping years!

Ayutthaya (prenounced ah-you-tai-yah) Thai Restaurant & Bar has been a family owned and operated restaurant serving the Capitol Hill and Seattle community since 1985.

Now, also have a new fabulous Happy Hour menu.

HAPPY HOUR 4pm - 6pm | 9 - CLOSE

open daily

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8AM-10PM sunday 11AM-8PM

206-763-1347 9614 14th AVE SW just south of Roxbury in White Center aka RAT CiTy

www.zippysgiantburgers.com 44

Seattle Weekly • VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013

727 East Pike Street, Seattle, WA 98122 | 206.324.8833 www.ayutthayathai.com

Healeo, 1520 15th Ave., 453-5066 Curbside, Healeo’s always seemed cold and vacuous, and its midcentury-modern, all-white tables and chairs and meticulously organized vitamin and supplement shelving made it look more sterile than a hospital laboratory. (It’s since had a face lift incorporating wood furniture, and now

looks and feels warmer.) And vegan hemp soft-serve? I may be vegetarian, but nothing about those four words strung together sounds appealing in the slightest. But upon the advice of a new friend, I bucked up and entered Healeo to find a casual, friendly vibe, with folks quietly mingling in groups at tables and single patrons immersed in work or a book. And the food? Made with maca, coconut milk, cacao, cocoa nibs, mesquite, dates, and agave, the Cacao Pow smoothie tastes like a healthy chocolate shake and was slightly nutty. After a long walk up Madison Street, it’s refreshing and ultimately filling. In fact, you could have one alone for dinner—one can only imagine its calorie count with so many nutrientloaded ingredients packed in. But I carried on with the gluten-free yam, kale, and caramelized-onion pizza—and sweet mama, my new friend was dead-on. $

DINNER AND COCKTAILS NIGHTLY HAPPY HOUR MON-FRI 3-6PM WEEKDAY

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La Medusa, 4857 Rainier Ave S., 723-2192 In the heart of Columbia City, this 15-yearold restaurant sets a charming scene in a cozy, rustic room filled with farmhousestyle tables and chairs. If their reputation for amazing hand-formed meatballs hasn’t already given them away, La Medusa is definitely not a vegetarian restaurant, but its genuine hospitality, hearty portions, and down-to-earth prices won me over by

11AM-3PM

WEEKEND BRUNCH 9AM to 3PM

2421 FIRST AVE / 441-1677 CYCLOPSSEATTLE.COM

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renovated Convention Center closet) whose decor is an eclectic bouquet of rock memorabilia, novelty lights, customer photos, gig posters, Internet terminals, and the gushing hospitality served up by owner Tatiana Harrison, who runs the restaurant with help from her mother Fania and her daughter Isa. These are not yer average ballpark franks: If you’re dining in, dogs are served with a knife and fork and are best eaten sitting down. They’re saucy things, and there’s a lengthy menu, all vegetarian, and vegan on request. The “Doga Lisa” is a tender soy frank housed in a soft wheat bun, blasted with pesto, tomatoes, and lots of Parmesan, and baked to cheesy, gooey perfection. The “Mama Tatiana” is similar, but features a zesty Tofurky Italian sausage and is served with a side of “vitamins,” aka your choice of Emergen-C flavor. The whimsical menu, eclectic space, and vivacious charms have a way of brightening the line between valued customers and cherished family members. $

11

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VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013 • Seattle Weekly

45

UWAJIMAYA

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www.uwajimaya.com 46

Seattle Weekly • VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013

meal’s end. The arancini, fried saffron-rice balls stuffed with mozzarella, is hearty and generously portioned—at two for $8, I expected something like a croquette, but these are true orange-sized balls (arància means orange in Italian). The saffron has a subtle flavor, but the balls are fried to a perfect crisp. The cauliflower gratin with golden raisins, pine nuts, and spicy butter is delicious—the vegetables have a great, fresh snap and is balanced with sweet, spicy flavors. The campanelle with taleggio cheese and asparagus is the perfect taste of spring. Creamy and al dente, the asparagus adds just the right amount of green, and the stinky taleggio mingles superbly with its vegetal aromatics. $$ Ocho, 2325 N.W. Market St., 784-0699

Ocho is an apt name for this shoebox-sized room in Ballard that contains approximately that number of (tiny) tables. But, impressively, four adults can easily share multiple courses alongside cocktails without feeling crowded. Small, shareable plates are the thing here, and vegetarians have a variety available on the passed menu and the daily chalkboard. Green sides like the broccoli with escarole, garlic, and pine nuts or the setas de jerez (olive-oil toast with sherried mushrooms and arugula) are simple, savory bets. The toast was perfectly crunchy (as opposed to dreadfully soggy), as were the crispy goat-cheese croquettes (croquetas borrachas) with romesco— don’t miss those. The lovely gartinado (a farro-style risotto with beech mushrooms in a rosemary cream) and patatas bravas (fried potatoes) with a zippy artichoke aioli rounded out my party’s shared meal.

At a cool $30 for my portion—including two cocktails—rest assured I’ll be back for another round. $$ Tavolàta, 2323 Second Ave., 838-8008 The bar at this low-lit Belltown hideaway is a great place for a craft cocktail (and its multiple mirrors make for surreptitious people-watching), but if you’re in for a meal, forgo dining and the long communal table for a cozy wood booth along the wall, if you can get one. Tavolàta’s menu changes frequently, but on a recent visit a nice selection of small plates, salads, and soups were available as vegetarian starters. We shared the burrata (hand-spun mozzarella stuffed with curd) for a first course; its accompaniments—grilled bread, arugula, and taggiasca olives—added great texture and elements of brine and pepper to its fresh, milky profile. (But then again, show me a person who doesn’t like mozzarella—vegans don’t count—and I’ll show you a flying pig.) For pasta, the bigoli—a pile of thick, spaghettilike whole-wheat noodles, black pepper, and a heap of feathery pecorino—is hearty and satisfying, with a perfectly al dente bite.

The butternut-squash ravioli, served in a rich sage butter and scattered with walnuts, is the taste of autumn—the filling was fluffy and sweet, and the sage and walnuts rounded things out with nutty, aromatic notes. $$

HAPPY HOURS

by Kyle Houk

Happy hours bring the decadence and delights of those once-everyfive-years restaurants within the working man’s range, usually five times per week. They also make the workaday Joe’s typical haunts even more affordable. And folks, we live in a city that’s among the best in the world for happy hours.

We have a myriad of restaurants owned by people with good taste who love fine food and drink, and just for us, a few hours a day, they put it all on sale. Cheers.

The Brooklyn, 1212 Second Ave., 224-7000

The Brooklyn has an oyster-bar vibe with a slightly more brasserie-esque look. Its front section is dedicated to what it’s become best known for—its bar. Here you can grab one of the couple-dozen stools circling the bar’s beating heart. Oystershuckers unhinge briny bivalves on one side, while bartenders shake and stir on the other. Tile floors echo the click-clack of heels as Benaroya Hall patrons catch a preshow bite; afternoon light streams in from windows high above; and a chattering after-work crowd packs the place on weekdays. Chilled, freshly shucked oysters are $1.50; if you’re in the mood for something more substantial, there’s a selection of small plates for $5–$6. Meat options include banh mi sliders, a “drive-in cheeseburger” that’s only slightly larger, and steak bites; seafood lovers have mussels, shrimp cocktails, and mini-crab cakes. The friedfood group is well represented by calamari, fried artichoke hearts, and fish and chips (with more chips than fish), and vegetarian options include truffled mac ’n’ cheese and bruschetta. The Brooklyn has happy down to a science: Offer the deal every day, during the hours patrons need it most.

Don’t completely cheap out on booze, so you still attract a sophisticated crowd. And offer enough food, and enough variety, for people to make a meal of—or just use as a booze sponge for soaking up all those cheap drinks.

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Cafe Flora, 2901 E. Madison St., 325-9100

For vegetarians who have long since tired of the token hummus platter and uninspired piles of cheese at other happy hours, Cafe Flora’s h.h. is a gold mine. Their generous bucket of yam fries, with housemade cayenne aioli (not too spicy), are floppy little sticks of yammy flavor, and at $2.25, they’re a better deal—in both value and quality— than a large order of Mickey D’s golden rods of gutrot. Flora’s signature quesadilla verde—a roasted-yam/pumpkin-seed/cilantro/scallion spread on a pepper-jack-filled corn tortilla, served with a spicy salsa and lime crème fraîche—is small, but hearty and robust ($3.50). And nothing’s off the menu for veggies here, so while there’s not too

VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2012 2013 •• Seattle Weekly

19 47

much variety—four items on my last visit— vegetarians can feel like queens or kings on a pauper’s budget. Poor, meat-loving friends unwillingly dragged along should remember that Cafe Flora’s artisanal, mostly organic, scratch-made offerings are far healthier than the buffalo wings you’d be gobbling elsewhere, so please shut up.

Cake Envy, 7900 E. Green Lake Dr. N., Suite 106, 453-3337 Behind an inviting display case that showcases this Green Lake cupcakery’s sugary wares, an open kitchen reveals the hustle and bustle of a bakery that churns out not only cupcakes, but cake pops, giant custom orders, and stunning tiered wedding cakes, too. There are a dozen or so flavors to choose from each day; the selection changes, but always includes something whimsical and fancy like matcha or crème brûlée; standards like red velvet or vanilla with sprinkles; and at least one vegan and gluten-free option. It may be a bit cold inside, but smart people aren’t sitting indoors anyway; Cake Envy sits a stone’s throw from Green Lake and shares enough patio tables with Ben & Jerry’s next door that you’re not likely to want for al fresco seating. But curmudgeons beware: Squirmy kids amped up on too

much sugar regularly have the run of the place, both inside and out. Every day from 4 to 7 p.m. Cake Envy offers a sweet deal on cupcakes: buy two (either regular-sized or an adorably miniature version) and get one free. More important than the free cupcake, particularly for parents run ragged after a day chasing toddlers, is that the shop gloriously sells beer, red and white wine, and bubbles, all half-off during happy hour. Oddly, the deal is dine-in only, meaning you need three people to achieve a proper personto-cupcake ratio.

Post Alley at Pike Place Market • Open 9 AM to 6pm serving breakfast all week long!

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F.X. McRory’s,

419 Occidental Ave. S., 623-4800 Situated on the ground floor of a 106-year-old building, F.X. McRory’s Whiskey Bar is one of the city’s most beautiful drinking rooms, with towering ceilings, antique wooden barstools, a luxurious selection of liquor (the top shelf of which requires a ladder), and LeRoy Neiman paintings. Paradoxically, its patrons are often clothed in athletic jerseys, like a workaday pack of outboard anglers who’ve been given the keys to Sig Hansen’s trawler. Though McRory’s bills itself as a steak-and-oyster house, the steaks are merely passable, but the oysters are first-rate. So too are the french

1514 Pike Place Market Location #7 www.losagaves.net Call 206-504-0202 to place your order to go.

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VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013 • Seattle Weekly

49

Located in the heart of downtown Seattle, great food, great drinks, and great fun.

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50

Seattle Weekly • VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013

..with custom omelets made to order!

fries served with the cod sliders, direct replicas of McDonald’s’—skinny, salty, oily, and absolutely delicious. This style of fry— frites, really—is the best on the planet, and won’t spoil your dinner if enjoyed as a 3 p.m. snack. As for drink specials, you’ll be hard-pressed to find $8.75 pitchers of High Life at your neighborhood dive bar, and the $5 Old Forester Manhattan comes in a stemless glass (stems are for spilling) with an orange twist substituted for the standard cherry. (Our bartender noted that his mother is a Manhattan aficionado, and has always felt that a cherry made the classic drink too sweet. The orange, meanwhile, gets out of the bourbon’s way better.) After 35 years in a challenging location, Seattle’s most malleable bar must be doing something right. And that something might have a lot to do with owner Mick McHugh’s quarry-deep ties to Seattle’s athletic, political, and Catholic communities.

LloydMartin, 1525 Queen Anne Ave. N., 420-7602 Atop Queen Anne Hill in the old Bricco space, former 5 Corner Market Kitchen & Bar chef Sam Crannell is a creative force, turning out praiseworthy food in a barely-there kitchen. The dimly lit space takes its cue from just about every other good wine bar in the city—thick with dark woods, flickering candles, and a large glass-encased wine cellar visible from every seat in the house. The only thing more beautiful in this small bistro is the smell of food wafting from the kitchen. As Crannell says, “With the constraints of what we have to do, it takes twice as long—or three times as long—to produce a product that, if we were in a conventional kitchen, would take an hour. We braise, we smoke, we cure. We have to rethink how we’re doing food.”

During Social Hour, as it’s called, cocktails are $8, wines are $6, beers are $3, and the small plates (which aren’t so small) are $5. The food is simply some of the best happy-hour food you can get

Marché, 86 Pine St., 728-2800

We snagged one of the first seats when Marché launched what it calls the Green Hour—or l’heure verte if you want to get all fancy French about it—last May. Happy hour can be enjoyed in the quaint bar, which takes up about 40 percent of the restaurant, or in the dining room, which has some of the best views of the city. (Insider tip: Table 11 is known as the best seat in the house.) We suggest sticking to the bar. Back in the latter half of the 19th century, when absinthe became a big deal in France, cafes would pour the stuff freely starting at 5 p.m. In honor of this tradition, Marché offers several absinthe-based cocktails for $9 in addition to $5 glasses of red or white wine and $4 draft beers. As for food, there’s quite a unique spread. The market tarts are a pretty big deal. Anytime you see flatbread on a happy-hour menu, you’re inclined to order it because it really feels like you’re getting a screaming deal on a mini-pizza, right? But what we absolutely could not get enough of was the fried confit duck gizzards with lemon aioli ($5)—absolutely decadent, covered with what tasted like a hint of nutmeg or five-spice or something sweet, but the chef would only tell us it was a secret coating. That night we skipped the oysters, but having had them at Marché previously, we can tell you they’re wonderful. And only $2 each during happy hour.

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in Seattle: A freshly made raviolo bulging with egg yolk, ricotta, Parmesan, and creamed ramps was delicate, flavorful, and textural perfection; a tender chunk of smoky pork is served with baked beans and a side of slaw so good it could be a happy-hour selection on its own. Crannell says he wants to earn people’s trust in his food with Social Hour: “I know the heart is in it, I know the passion is in it, and I know that we’re excited about being here,” he says. This is the real deal.

Why aren’t you excited to be here?

1629 Eastlake Avenue East | Seattle 206.322.6174 | www.siamthairestaurants.com VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2012 2013 •• Seattle Weekly

21 51

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Seattle Weekly • VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013

wherever books are sold

S

Portalis Wines, 5205 Ballard Ave. N.W., 783-2007 On Ballard Avenue, between the mayhem that is the Tractor Tavern and the cloud of cigarette smoke hanging perpetually near the door of the Lock & Keel, a little sign is lit in a window, reading simply “Wine Shop.”

Pausing to step through the door, you will find yourself at the entrance to a room where warm lights cascading over aisles of wine draw you in. Portalis Wine Bar is first and foremost a wine shop, owned by importers Jens and Julie Strecker. There are no suits and ties here, no clichéd sommelier pretension: The gentleman is wearing a T-shirt and leaning casually into the counter. This is Ballard. And in Ballard, on Tuesdays at Portalis, happy hour is merely the kickoff for an entire night of wines, imported by J. Strecker Imports, by the (generous) $5 glass. But what a kickoff: Happy hour features $5 small plates such as a mini-goat cheese gratin, mac ’n’ cheese with prosciutto, and a house pâté with cherry mostarda. Service is remarkably attentive to a patron who may order only a glass of $5 wine . . . but good luck stopping there. I meant to, but after learning a wealth of information about wine regions and finding the concept of terroir so easily explained by bartender Travis Coletti, I found myself back out on Ballard Avenue a

good $15 lighter in the pocket and looking at the world through vaguely wine-colored glasses.

Serious Pie, 316 Virginia St., 838-7388 A tiny slice of space on the corner of 4th and Virginia, directly across the street from another Tom Douglas restaurant, Lola, Serious Pie fills quickly with absolutely no room for those forced to wait for a table.

The solution? Show up for happy hour.

From 3 to 5 p.m. weekdays, the place is virtually empty until the clock creeps toward 5 and sneaky peeps begin to arrive to claim their spot for dinner. In the afternoon, Serious Pie breeds contentment, especially when you look to the other side of the room, behind the glass partition, and see the crew actually making your pizzas. Once you glance at the menu and see pies topped with cooked duck eggs, roasted hedgehog mushrooms, and sweet fennel sausage, and think, “Oh, are those $5 wines?”, the mood gets even lighter. The happy-hour pies ($6) are pretty much the same as the full-sized pies (which top out at $18), with the exception of the soft-cooked duck eggs, which on the cheaper pies are actually chicken eggs. But really, who cares? Both pizzas we ordered were fantastic. We left full and happy, but not as happy as the party that got to snag our window seat. E

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VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013 • Seattle Weekly

53

Y RestauRant advertiser Index BaLLaRD

DOWntOWn

MaDROna / LesCHI

Ballard Loft, Bar & Grill, 33

Blarney Stone, Irish Pub, 50

Catfish Corner, Southern, 47

Blue Glass, Global Comfort Food, 50

Dragonfish, Pan Asian, 3

Cupcake Royale, Sweets, 21

Cash & Carry, Grocery, 43

FareStart, Varies by Chef , 31

sOutH LaKe unIOn / eastLaKe A Terrible Beauty, Irish Pub, 32 Lunchbox Laboratory, Burgers, 48

Cupcake Royale, Sweets, 21

GameWorks, Bar & Grill, 50

nORtH seattLe

El Camion, Mexican, 33

Hard Rock Café, Bar & Grill, 18

El Camion, Mexican, 33

The Berliner Döner Kebab, Kebab, 49

Plaka Estiatorio, Greek, 25

Lecosho, European & Northwest, 9

Family Time, Filipino, 49

Tutta Bella, Pizza, 13

Veraci Pizza, Pizza, 31

Nijo Sushi Bar & Grill, Sushi, 24

Indo Café, Indonesian, 49

Siam Thai Cuisine, Thai, 51

Volterra, Italian, 34

Old Spaghetti Factory, Italian, 39

PCC Natural Markets, Grocery, 51

BeLLeVue / MeRCeR IsLanD

Urbane, Modern Northwest, 10

PIKe PLaCe MaRKet

Serafina & Cicchetti, Italian, 12

unIVeRsItY / RaVenna

FReMOnt

Kells, Irish Pub, 20

Agua Verde, Mexican, 21

Cantinetta, Italian, 9

Norm’s Eatery and Alehouse, Bar & Grill, 50

Los Agaves, Mexican Street Food, 49

Peaks Frozen Custard, Sweets, 50 Trophy Cupcakes, Sweets, 37

Cash & Carry, Grocery, 43

PCC Natural Markets, Grocery, 51

Lowell’s Restaurant, Northwest, 2

Cupcake Royale, Sweets, 21

Ponti Seafood Grill, Seafood, 17

Marche / Café Campagne, French, 12

Lunchbox Laboratory, Burgers, 48

Via Tribunali, Pizza, 7

Roanoke Inn, American Pub, 53 Trophy Cupcakes, Sweets, 37 Uwajimaya, Grocery, 46

BeLLtOWn

GeORGetOWn

Maximilien in the Market, French, 12 Matt’s in the Market, New Northwest, 53

WaLLInGFORD Cantinetta, Italian, 9 Kabul, Afghan, 34

Stellar Pizza, Pizza, 19

PIOneeR sQuaRe

Trophy Cupcakes, Sweets, 37

Via Tribunali, Pizza, 7

Caffe Umbria, Italian Espresso Bar, 23

Tutta Bella, Pizza, 13

The Berliner Doner Kebab, Kebab, 49

Cyclops Café, New American, 45

GReen LaKe / PHInneY

Five Point Café, 24-Hr Diner / Dive Bar, 15

El Chupacabra, Mexican, 47

Mama’s Mexican Kitchen, Mexican, 19

Nell’s, New Northwest, 23

Laredos Grill, Tex Mex, 35

Bamboo Bar & Grill, Bar & Grill, 46

‘Ohana, Hawaiian / Japanese, 34

PCC Natural Markets, Grocery, 51

Seattle Center, Variety, 6

Cupcake Royale, Sweets, 21

Petra Mediterranean, Mediterranean, 44

Teatro Zinzanni, Dinner Theatre, 26

El Chupacabra, Mexican, 47

The Grill from Ipanema, Brazilian, 45

Via Tribunali, Pizza, 7

PCC Natural Markets, Grocery, 51

CaPItOL HILL 8 oz. Burger Bar, Burgers, 34 Ayutthaya Thai, Thai, 44

InteRnatIOnaL DIstRICt New Hong Kong, Chinese / Dim Sum, 24 Uwajimaya, Grocery, 46

Queen anne

ReDMOnD Agave Cocina & Tequilas, Mexican, 47

WHIte CenteR Caffé Delia, Coffee Shop, 46

Redmond’s Bar & Grill, Gastropub, 50

Proletariat Pizza, Pizza, 11

IssaQuaH

La Bete, Northwest, 11

Agave Cocina & Tequilas, Mexican, 47

Liberty, Sushi, 17

PCC Natural Markets, Grocery, 51

RentOn / tuKWILa

Lost Lake Café, 24-Hour Diner / Lounge, 4

Tutta Bella, Pizza, 13

A Terrible Beauty, Irish Pub, 32

Paris Eastside, Cooking School, 23

DaY tRIP

KIRKLanD

13moons, Steak & Seafood, 18

Old Spaghetti Factory, Italian, 39

Prima Bistro, French, 52

Uwajimaya, Grocery, 46

Pullman Chamber of Commerce,

Pettirosso Seattle, New American, 37

PCC Natural Markets, Grocery, 51 Volterra, Italian, 34

The Grill on Broadway, Bar & Grill, 46

Wilde Rover, Irish Pub, 37

COLuMBIa CItY

Zippy’s Giant Burgers, Burgers, 44

Cash & Carry, Grocery, 43

Poquitos, Mexican, 14 Via Tribunali, Pizza, 7

Stuffed Cakes, Sweets, 52

PCC Natural Markets, Grocery, 51

Cupcake Royale, Sweets, 21

Manhattan Restaurant, Steakhouse, 10

West seattLe A Terrible Beauty, Irish Pub, 32

LYnnWOOD / eDMOnDs Budapest Bistro, Hungarian, 35

Island Soul, Caribbean, 45

Cash & Carry, Grocery, 43

Jones Barbeque, Barbeque, 44

Old Spaghetti Factory, Italian, 39

Tutta Bella, Pizza, 13

PCC Natural Markets, Grocery, 51

seWaRD PaRK / RaInIeR

Cash & Carry, Grocery, 43 Hong Kong Seafood, Chinese, 24 PCC Natural Markets, Grocery, 51

sODO

Cash & Carry, Grocery, 43 El Camion, Mexican, 33

Variety, 53

MORe Fun Dining Out For Life, April 25 Event, 43 Jemil’s Big Easy, Cajun Food Truck, 45 Lucky Palate, Vegetarian Meal

Delivery Service, 44 Skillet Cookbook, Sasquatch Books, 52

Y sPeCIaL sections nW BeeRs & BReWeRs 99 Bottles, Federal Way, 40 Big Al’s Brewing, White Center, 42 Big Time Brewing Co , University District, 41 Elephant & Castle Pub, Downtown, 41 Everybody’s Brewing, White Salmon, 42 Fiddler’s Inn, Wedgwood, 41 Fremont Brewing, Fremont, 40 Full Throttle Bottles, Georgetown, 40 Goodlife Brewing, Bend, OR, 42 Hales Ales , Fremont, 42 Hopvine Pub, Capitol Hill, 41

54

Icicle Brewing Co, Leavenworth, 40 Latona Pub, Green Lake, 41 Malt and Vine, Redmond, 42 Manito Taphouse, Spokane, 42 Maritime Pacific Brewing Co, Ballard, 40 McMenamins, Queen Anne, 40 McMenamins, Mill Creek, 40 Ninkasi Brewing, Eugene, OR, 40 Schooner Exact, Sodo, 41 Six Arms, Capitol Hill, 40 Sound Brewery, Poulsbo, 42 Tailgaters Sports, Ballard, 42

Seattle Weekly • VORACIOUS DINING GUIDE 2013

The Dubliner, Fremont, 41 The Lodge, Pioneer Square, 41 Tim’s Tavern, Greenwood, 42 Tug Inn, West Seattle, 41

nW DIstILLeRIes & MIXOLOGIsts Bainbridge Organic Distillers, Bainbridge Island, 16 Dry Fly Distilling, Spokane, 16 Rob Roy, Belltown, 16 Sound Spirits, Interbay, 16

nW WInes & WIne tastInG

Butler Transportation & Woodinville Wine Tours, Woodinville, 27-30 Capri Cellars, Issaquah, 22 Chandler Reach Winery, Benton City, 22 Convergence Zone, Woodinville, 22 Maryhill Winery, Goldendale, 22 Olympic Peninsula Wineries, Peninsula, 22 Treveri Cellars, Yakima, 22 Westport Winery, Aberdeen, 22 Willamette Valley Wineries, Willamette Valley, 22

SLEEK NEW LOOK, SAME WORLD-CLASS TASTE.

GLASSES UP TO RESPONSIBLE DRINKING.

TULLAMORE DEW IRISH WHISKEY®, 40% Alc./Vol. (80 Proof) ©2013 Imported by William Grant & Sons, Inc. New York, NY.

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