Posted by Chow intern Emily Klein.

• Saturday, drink a “special boozy birthday cake shake” to celebrate Hot Cakes’ first birthday, then head over to Westlake to speak out against chilling corporate rapacity at the March Against Monsanto.

• Monday is not only Memorial Day—it’s also National Hamburger Day. Get a FREE burger at Li’l Woody’s!

All the details, plus more food events, in the Chow calendar.

• BakingSteel.com
• Some home bakers swear by this 16 x 14 x 1/4″ 15-pound slab of steel.

On average, I bake two doughs a week, typically a whole wheat sandwich bread and a pizza, with sometimes an incredibly crusty pain à l’ancienne thrown into the mix. My home baking setup is nothing special: I've got fire bricks on the bottom rack of my bottom oven, where I tend to do most of my bread baking.

The bricks work fine, but they're unwieldy, and they're too thick to use in my smaller top oven, which heats up soooo much faster. So I was toying with getting myself a more versatile (if somewhat less massive) pizza stone. And then I started reading rave reviews from home pizza makers about Baking Steel, a 16 by 14 by 1/4 inch thick slab of steel.

The idea is that because it is more conductive than stone, a thick slab of steel will bake more evenly and at lower temperatures than stone. And faster. A faster baking time gives more "spring" to the crust—those larger bubbles that you find in the best pizzas.

Sounds great, but I don't want to spend $79 on something that works no better than what I already have. So... have any of you out in Slogland tried the Baking Steel? And if so, is it worth it?

• Kelly O
• Manager not pictured.

The manager at Ballard Annex Oyster House is so smooth and good-looking, it's like you're in a movie. You're the extras out to dinner at the tastefully upscale, bustling seafood restaurant. The manager—who's suavely introducing himself and asking if he can get you a drink before the waiter, who will also introduce himself, arrives—is played by The Rock, at last realizing his dream of running his own restaurant from The Rundown. When you say you don't know what you want to drink yet, The Rock graciously allows this—reassures you, even—and, muscularly, moves on. No explosion ever occurs...

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*Plus Its Portland Cousin, Southland Whiskey Kitchen

After seven years, the annual Guest Chef at the Waterfront was set to move inland to Showbox Sodo. The new FareStart Guest Chef Spectacular—tonight!—was to include the profligate eatings and drinkings of more than 20 restaurants and 20 wineries/breweries, all to benefit FareStart.

Now there's a big crack in a structural beam at Showbox Sodo, and the building has been evacuated (everybody's safe), and the Guest Chef Spectacular cannot spectaculate tonight.

Ticketholders will receive refunds; full press release after the jump.

Make a straight-up donation to FareStart over here!

And, well, here's some other food-related stuff to do.

Continue reading »

Granted, I'm a total lunch bucket, but this seems like a far more interesting use for 3D printers than making guns:

NASA has bestowed a $125,000 grant upon a research corporation to pursue the development of 3D-printable food, according to a report from Quartz. Anjan Contractor, who runs Systems & Materials Research Corporation, hopes to design a system that will turn shelf-stable cartridges of sugars, complex carbs, and protein into edible food on demand.

The best part is, the corporation plans on keeping the printer open source, so that users can try, tweak, and contribute recipes, which pretty much flings the door wide open for someone to become the next Betty Crocker of cartridge-based foods.

• Click to enlarge.

Posted by Emily Klein

• Today, enjoy a free baguette from Columbia City Grand Central Bakery in honor of Bike to Work Day (if you bike there, of course).

• Tomorrow (and Sunday—last day!), revel in beery goodness at one (or three!) of Seattle Beer Week’s events.

• Sunday, unite your gluttony with your generosity at the Food Truck Roundup in Fremont, or one of this weekend’s other food-focused fundraisers.

Details, plus more events for your eating/drinking pleasure, may be found in our Chow calendar.

• Kelly O
• The tuna bocadillo at Chico Madrid. IT IS REALLY GOOD.

I heart it so much, I ate there every day for a week. If you like things that are good, you're going to heart it too.

KEEP READING > > >