Wallingford omnibus, January 19, 2009

As we stand at the brink of one presidential administration changing to another, we thought this would be a good time to clear the decks of old news items so that we could start the new era with a clean(er) slate. Enjoy!

YOU WANT NEIGHBORHOOD BLOGS? YOU GOT 'EM

• Were you under the impression that the Wallingford Seattle blog was the only blog in this part of town? Heck, no—there are at least three more that we know of: Wallyhood, the latest addition to the Wallingford blog roster; Welcome to Wallingford which is run by flickr user Louie_B; and Wallingford Wanderings, a reader blog hosted by the P-I. Given the current state of the P-I, hard to say if Wallingford Wanderings will still be around in a couple months. On the other hand, reader blogs might be one of the only things left at the P-I once the dust settles.
  
  In any case, we recommend subscribing to all these blogs, because you never know when one will scoop the others with some important information. Like the fact that Molly Moon's was closed for business today due to a film shoot which meant no brunch service featuring the fabled but elusive maple bacon ice cream (thanks, Wallyhood)...

INAUGURATION-THEMED CANNED FOOD DRIVE ENDS TUESDAY, JANUARY 20

• FamilyWorks Food Bank is wrapping up their "Yes We CAN Food Drive" tomorrow. In celebration of the upcoming 44th presidency, they've spent the 44 days leading up to Inauguration Day looking for volunteers to donate 44 cans of food or $44 to help replenish their food supplies. It might be a little tough putting together 44 cans of food from your pantry at this point, so maybe you can just pony up the direct donation of $44. You can also read this MSNBC story about the food drive.

TWO THUMBS UP FOR CANTINETTA

• As we mentioned earlier, Cantinetta is a new restaurant at the corner of Wallingford Ave. and N. 37th. We were able to squeeze in on opening night and had a very enjoyable dinner, also noting with some amusement the parade of cars that pulled up to the corner, disgorged passengers, and then zoomed off in search of a parking spot. Maybe you're lucky enough to live within walking distance—if so, check them out some evening. You can also read this Yelp review we posted after the experience.

WINTER SUPPER SERIES AT JOULE

• Local restaurant Joule, which brought us the memorable Urban BBQ series last summer, is now hosting a special Winter Supper series on Sunday nights. From 3pm to 8pm every Sunday in January and February, stop by for a $20 prix fixe meal ($10 for kids) designed to combat blustery winter weekends. Remaining installments include Celebrate the Lunar New Year: Year of the Ox, Cure for the common cold, Winter getaway II: February in Korea, Post-Valentine's comfort food, and Winter in Seattle: Dungeness crab.

COMINGS AND GOINGS

• RIP, Jamba Juice and High Maintenance Bitch.
• Trophy Cupcakes is expanding into more space at Wallingford Center with what's being billed as the future home of a party space. Some lucky kids are going to be having some sweet birthday parties when that space is ready.
• Did you catch the ACE Hardware banner hanging from the northeast corner of Wallingford Center (in the old Chutney's location)? Tweedy & Popp is moving there in March, and both locations will be open during the move as merchandise is ferried across the street.
• David Wahl of Archie McPhee lets us know that the tchotchke store extraordinaire will be keeping folks up to date via their flickr page.
• [Thanks to readers Liz D. and John Scott T. for some of these tips!]

B.F. DAY SCHOOL AUCTION

• B.F. Day School, one of the elementary schools serving Wallingford residents, is holding a benefit auction on February 28 at the Fremont Studios. In addition to attendees, they're currently in search of businesses willing to donate goods and services towards the auction. Complete information can be found the B.F. Day PTSA website.

SUSTAINABLE WALLINGFORD

• Sustainable Wallingford, a neighborhood group that's "learning to live on one planet with grace and joy," has just set up a new online home hosted by Ning. Just visit greenwallingford.ning.com if you'd like to network with like-minded folks.

SEEKING WEBSITE DESIGNER/WEBMASTER

• The Wallingford Neighborhood Organization is looking for a volunteer website designer/webmaster to help revamp their site. If you'd be interested, please send us an email or post a comment and we'll pass word along to the folks at WNO.

That's all for now—let us know if you've got fun plans for Inauguration Day!

Coming soon: Cantinetta

This just in from Seattle P-I's latest "On Dining" column:

Via Tribunali alum Trevor Greenwood is opening a place in Wallingford.

"Cantinetta will be a neighborhood pateria emphasizing Tuscan culinary traditions, authentic handmade pasta and seasonal ingredients from the state of Washington," he wrote in an e-mail. "Our lead chef is Brian Cartenuto and our sous chef is Morgan Brownlow."

Cantinetta is scheduled to debut Saturday at 3650 Wallingford Ave. N. Call 206-632-1000 for reservations for six or more.

I'll be out of town this weekend, but that doesn't mean you can't check out the new kid in the neighborhood.

Family Dining Series at Tilth

Via the Red Tricycle blog, Wallingford's Tilth is participating in the Family Dining Series, a series of family-friendly dinners organized by Red Tricycle and Future Foodies of America, a social community started by former P-I food critic Hsiao-Ching Chou. Introduce your kids to haute cuisine without feeling like you'll be cheesing off a room full of childless couples in the process.

Unfortunately, the two dates advertised in the blog entry are already full, but you can still get on the waiting list and hope that some other family's plans get derailed, and let's face it: for familes with kids, that's always a possibility.

Red Tricycle: A Moveable Feast

Breakfast at Molly Moon's continues, Joule turns one

According to Molly Moon's blog, the initial test of breakfast service was a success, so they'll be making it a regular feature on Sunday mornings from 9am to 2pm. Stop by some Sunday morning for oatmeal, ice cream, and Vivace coffee.

Also in foodie news: Joule turns one on Sunday, November 2, and they're celebrating with a reprise of their Urban BBQ series. See below for details, and mark your calendars for some pre-election birthday BBQ.

Joule's First Birthday

For those who love Joule, she's turning 1 year old Sunday, November 2nd 2008. Seif and Rachel would love to celebrate Joule's first birthday with everyone.  Please come and enjoy Sunday evening at Joule, Urban BBQ style. We will have live music from 5-8pm and fun Korean party dishes like crispy short rib dumplings, Kimchi pancake, roasted pork "bossam" and kid's meal, all ranging from $5-$12.  Thank you for wonderful first year and let's kick start the 2nd year together. Sunday, November 2nd, 2008 4pm - close No reservation required.

Foodie news: Sutra, Issian

Have to admit that we haven't tried the new vegetarian place in the old Asteroid Cafe spot, but the P-I's Leslie Kelly seems pretty thrilled with what they have to offer.

• Sutra offers sophisticated vegetarian cuisine
  

We have been to Issian, the new izakaya-style restaurant in the former Chinoise spot. I would say that our verdict so far is mildly favorable—may need to go again to reach a firmer verdict. They don't have an official site yet, but they do have a blog:

• ISSIAN JAPANESE STONE GRILL
  

Joule UrbanBBQ week #3: Korean BBQ grill

Urban BBQ at Joule, originally uploaded by jlrose70.

Perhaps it was because of the first sunny Sunday in recent memory. Perhaps it was because of Father's Day. For whatever reason, this week's installment of Joule's Urban BBQ was such a success that they ran out of food between lunch and dinner. For those of you who missed out, here's a quick recap.

Urban BBQ at Joule, originally uploaded by jlrose70.

The menu:

• Korean BBQ platter (shown upper left) - kalbi (Korean short ribs), spicy BBQ pork, rice, and lettuce (for wrapping up meat, rice, and hot sauce)
• Tofu soup (off camera to the left) - tofu, potatoes, and squash in a miso-like broth
• Calamari/scallion pancakes (shown upper right) - also known as pa jeon in Korean - fried "pancakes" with chunks of calamari and onion
• Shiitake/soy vermicelli (shown bottom) - also known as chap chae in Korean - clear noodles with slices of mushrooms, carrots, and scallions and seasoned with soy sauce
• Hot dogs and potato salad (not shown) for the kids or Korean food–phobic.
  

There were also assorted sauces for dipping pancakes or seasoning your lettuce/meat wraps, plus some kimchi and whole cloves of garlic for the hardcore eaters. Also the usual array of canned, bottled, and self-serve beverages* including a corn tea, a grape "shrub," and some sort of herb-infused beverage we didn't try.

All the food was delish, apart from some slightly underdone pancakes at our table. The snow cone flavors sounded interesting, particularly the one Korean-inspired concoction, but the crowd was getting thick, so we high-tailed it out of there with only a bag of root beer–flavored cotton candy for dessert.

The lesson from today? As we swing into a genuine summer, consider sampling the Joule BBQ earlier rather than later in the day if you're at all worried about getting your fill before it's all gone...

(P.S. Molly Moon's also had a line out the door this afternoon. Things are heating up in Wallingford!)

* Note about the beverages: This was our first go at the self-serve beverages as opposed to the canned/bottled drinks. As it turns out, most of their drinks are served in concentrated form—you're supposed to pour a nearly full glass of ice water and then splash a little of your chosen flavoring in. You were not supposed to fill up a whole glass of the grape "shrub" (which turned out to be equal parts grape flavoring and vinegar) and take a swig. Remember that.

Joule UrbanBBQ week #2: Let's talk about goat

joule bbq menu jun 8 2008, originally uploaded by weskimcom.

Week two of Joule's UrbanBBQ series was a focus on goat meat. With pre-fed kids in tow, I started with the goat noodle soup, a hot, rich broth brimming with hand-cut noodles, chunks of goat meat, and peas. A hot soup was actually welcome today, as the Seattle weather deities clearly believe that it's still mid-February. In fact, I ate the soup so quickly that I burnt my tongue a bit. Luckily, the sweet rhubarb-mint cocktail helped to ease the pain.*

Then came the goat platter, a trio of goaty preparations: a small pile of shredded goat meat sauced with a dark, spicy BBQ sauce; a couple of crispy-skin goat ribs (kind of like eating a piece of BBQ duck - so much fattier than one would have expected); and a slice of goat meat stuffed with some herby root vegetables. The server even brought us a complimentary ham-and-cheese sandwich for the kids, which was a kind gesture, although I'm afraid the kids weren't interested. No matter - a yummy box lunch for me to bring to work tomorrow.

So the verdict on UrbanBBQ week #2: thumbs up, once again. I even plugged the series to the barista at Fuel Coffee after the meal.

Next week: hot Korean grill. Oh, yes...

* As did the scoop of cardamom ice cream from Molly Moon's I got for dessert.

Sutra's coming

As you can see, something is afoot on the 1600 block of 45th.


This former site of upscale restaurants Asteroid Café (which relocated to Fremont in 2006) and Bottle Rocket Café is noticeably lacking its rooftop iconic asteroid. (Was there ever an iconic bottle rocket?)

The interior is definitely undergoing renovations.


A sign in the window indicates that this will be the home of Sutra, a new restaurant brought to you in part by the owners of Rain City Yoga (in the U District).


I ran into one of the owners yesterday in Fuel, and he told me they hope to open in July. The all-vegetarian menu will change daily and make use of what's available at the local farmers' markets. There will be two seatings a night, and the presentation will be "elegant". Sounds like it will probably be pricey, too.

Good food, onscreen and off

Last night we went to see Good Food, a documentary about organic family farming in the Pacific Northwest and a local entry in the Seattle International Film Festival. The filmmakers travelled around Washington and Oregon, exploring the social and economic benefits of organic, local food production. We enjoyed seeing some of our favorite purveyors on the big screen, including a few (like Alvarez Farms and Tiny’s Organics) that sell at the Wallingford Farmers Market.

Essential Baking Company is the main sponsor of the film and passed out cookies and 25% off coupons to the huge line of ticketholders waiting outside. After the film there was a brief Q & A with the directors and several of the farmers.

Good Food is showing again on Saturday at SIFF Cinema in McCaw Hall; the directors and some of the farmers from the film will be in attendance. Tickets are available at the SIFF website.

In case you still haven’t made it to the Wallingford Farmers Market, allow me to tempt you with a few of the goodies we picked up this week: kalamata olive & herb bread from Tall Grass Bakery; Old Gouda cheese from Golden Glen Creamery; fresh roasted peanuts and sugar snap peas from Alvarez Farms; and a huge bouquet of orange poppies for only $7.00. We also ran into Dustin from Art of the Table who just wrapped up a month of cooking demos at the market; he’s celebrating the restaurant’s one-year anniversary this weekend (Thursday reservations still available). If you’ve been putting off your trip to the market, stop procrastinating – those snap peas won’t be around much longer.

Rancho Bravo back open

Beloved taco trunk, Rancho Bravo, was closed for a week due to "failure to correct repeated violations," "sewage leaking onto ground" and "failure to operate in compliance with mobile plan of operation." They reopened on May 28. You can view their history with the health department, and any other King County restaurant, here.

The first Sunday evening of June

007, originally uploaded by jlrose70.

Even though the weather wasn't very summer-y, we went ahead and took part in "Operation Clambake," the kickoff event of Joule's summer BBQ series.

We tried oysters on the half shell (6 for $4!), razor clam chowder (brothy and chock full of bacon), and the clam boil (huge mussels, clams, sausage, potatoes, and corn). The kids ate hot dogs, and we ate the potato salad they had no interest in. A picnic-style condiment/beverage table in the back helped with the BBQ feel. For dessert, maple-flavored cotton candy and key lime pie, both quite yummy. We missed the live music, but maybe we'll catch it one of the other Sundays this summer. The only downside of the meal was getting dinged for the plate of bread and butter we requested. Sure, it was good bread and butter, but it did feel like a little much compared to the rest of the meal. Ah well - live and learn. Next week's theme: "Let's talk about goat!"

After that, we stopped for coffee at Fuel. (Hint: 50 cents off your drink if you say "high five" to your barista. Offer good through June 30.)

Finally, "second desserts" at Molly Moon's. The Vivace coffee ice cream is full of ground coffee goodness.

Any other Wallingford stories from the first half-weekend of June?

This weekend in Wallingford: Gardens and BBQ

Two notable events taking place this weekend in Wallingford:

• Wallingford Garden Tour - Sunday, June 1, 10am-4pm
  Take a self-guided walking tour of ten private gardens in Wallingford. $15 gets you a ticket book to all ten gardens plus coupons from some local nurseries.
• Urban BBQ series at Joule Restaurant - Sundays, June 1 to August 17, noon to 8pm
  Joule Restaurant is kicking off a summer-long weekly BBQ series this Sunday with "Operation Clam Bake," a celebration of shellfish from Taylor Bay Oyster Farm. Every Sunday, Joule will be grilling up goodies, accompanied by live music 2-4pm. The menu will include kid-friendly items, and everyone can finish with snow cones with seasonal fruit compote or cotton candy in "non-traditional" flavors. Not sure what flavors they have in mind, but since this restaurant has been tagged as "French-Korean fusion," they'll no doubt be interesting.