Food & Wine

Need personalized recommendations for a new restaurant suited to your taste? A cooking class from one of your favorite chefs, or a pop-up dinner that you’re likely to enjoy? Yes, we have to say it, there is an app for that. Sosh, a “concierge” service providing targeted suggestions for interesting things to do, launched…

The line keeps blurring between fine dining and food trucks, elevated flavors and budget meals. Latest case in point: Angie Roberts, most recently executive chef of the newish Hollywood Tavern in Woodinville, has signed on with Marination, the Hawaiian-Korean outfit that includes a well-established truck and two brick-and-mortar eateries. Roberts is…

Munchies, anyone? Bryce Lathrop of White Mustache Urban Adventures, the food-loving “gastro-guide” who we profiled last year for his personalized food tours of Seattle, is adding a “high-end all-inclusive marijuana adventure” to his special events. “Are you going to call it the “Weed & Feed Tour”? a Facebook fan asked. With the first one…

Winter in Seattle. Time for Northwesterners to gravitate to braised stews, root vegetables, and … ice cream shops? That’s how it looks at University Village, where Molly Moon Neitzel recently opened the sixth shop in her community-focused ice cream empire, Molly Moon’s. Or on Capitol Hill, where Neitzel collaborated with baker Robin Wehl Martin on More

Can we get chef John Howie in that victory parade Wednesday? Thanks to the restaurateur and diehard football fan, Seattle took first place in another Super Bowl event — the annual Taste of the NFL Kick Hunger challenge. Working with former Seahawk Craig Terrill (story over here), he raised more than $83,000 to…

Madison Park Conservatory, the neighborhood restaurant that helped raise owner Cormac Mahoney to national fame, will close Feb. 15. A restaurant email to customers today said that “Restaurants are a crazy thing and many stars have to align to create a successful and enduring place. Although, we would have the liked our run to be…

There are plenty of restaurants and bars planning Super Bowl viewing parties. But don’t count on heading to your favorite place during the game, especially if you don’t normally find a TV on the wall there. Lots of other restaurants will close early or stay shut all day for Super Bowl Sunday. All of…

We told you earlier about Seahawks-friendly takeout options for the big game. But Super Bowl fever has taken over the creative menus of everyone from baristas to bakers and brunchers (and corporations too, but for a good cause.) Who could have imagined house-made blue and white sprinkles from Parfait on a Seahawks ice…

Ericka Burke of Volunteer Park Cafe is one of the “Women Stars of Food & Wine”
Photo by Ernie Sapiro Photography

I know it’s hard for anyone in this town to think beyond a certain date with destiny this Sunday, but, hey, what are you doing the Sunday after the Super Bowl?

February 9th is the date for “Women Stars of Food & Wine,” an afternoon soiree showcasing dozens of Northwest women chefs, winemakers and sommeliers at the newly remodeled Columbia Tower Club. Fittingly, the event supports the Women’s Funding Alliance, a group that invests in organizations “working to promote progressive change and social justice for women and girls.”

News of this foraging of female talent coincided with reading Julia Moskin’s piece, “A Change in the Kitchen,” last week in The New York Times about the ascendancy of women in New York’s top kitchens. Moskin writes:

“A leading kitchen run by a woman is no longer newsworthy. But it is not quite commonplace, either; the tag “female chef” is still applied to Anita Lo, Barbara Lynch, April Bloomfield, Dominique Crenn (the first woman in North America to have a restaurant with two Michelin stars) and dozens of others. Certainly the most visible chefs are men, a fact made clear in November by a Time Magazine spread that showcased its choice of the world’s most influential chefs, with not a woman among them.”

Thinking back over the 20 years I’ve been covering the Seattle restaurant scene, it struck me that our city has been ahead of the curve when it comes to women heading kitchens: Monique Barbeau, Emily Moore, Kathy Casey, Chris Keff, Tamara Murphy, Holly Smith, Maria Hines, Renee Erickson and Rachel Yang are a just a few prominent names that come to mind. I contacted some of them to get their thoughts.

The dining room at Estela, NYC

Most of us Hawks fans will be watching the Super Bowl right here at home. For the fortunate few who score tickets, getting dinner reservations in New York City might be even harder.

Tables at Manhattan’s most celebrated restaurants are tough to secure on an average weekend. If places like Eleven Madison Park, Le Bernardin, Daniel, Del Posto or Per Se are on your wish list, you’d better know someone who knows someone, otherwise you can fuggedaboudit.

Not to worry though.  The “city that never sleeps” has thousands of places to eat. For those who are equal parts football fan and foodie, I offer,  in no particular order, a few personal favorites, where game-goers might be able to snag a last minute reservation or even dare to show up without one. Consider it a mere slice of what the Big Apple has to offer.

Estela—Fine cocktails and boldly conceived small plates from Uruguayan-born chef Ignacio Mattos.

Hearth—Marco Canora’s soulful, contemporary take on Italian cuisine is matched by Paul Grieco’s astonishingly broad beverage list.

Annisa—Anita Lo’s spectacular Asian-inflected food suits this serene West Village dining room.