Yum.

...and on Britain's colonization of Zimbabwe, and on the French colonization of Senegal, and on his father trying to make him kill a goat, and on the dual/multiple nature of Afrikando Banadir's food/ethos, and—of course—"Now for some theory..."

It's some great Mudedean work.

• Kelly O
• Afrikando Banadir's Jacques Saar, with a fish and a friend.

• The Stranger
• The 2011 Beast, Burning

A carnivorous little bird says the link to buy tickets to Burning Beast—the world's funnest, most delicious, meatiest feast in a field, cooked by Seattle's best chefs, happening on Sunday, July 15th—will be posted on Facebook at 9 a.m. tomorrow. They tend to sell out fast.

Organizer Tamara Murphy (Terra Plata) has hand-picked the all-star cast of barbecuers, and while this is not 100% confirmed, it appears that these people (among lots of others) are on board:

· the newly James-Beard-awarded Matt Dillon (Sitka & Spruce, the Corson Building)
· the Creole-food-truck king Matt Lewis (Where Ya At Matt)
· the boar's-head-on-the-wall Charles Walpole (Blind Pig Bistro)
· the marvelous Quillisascut Farm's Karen Jurgensen
· the awesomely named Russ Flint (Rain Shadow Meats)
· the fantastic-pasta-and-meat maker Mike Easton (Il Corvo)

Let's just say it—a lot of food events are terrible, especially big ones that cost a bunch of money with herds of people lining up to get little plates of food. But Burning Beast is not in an awful conference room with terrible lighting—it's at the very lovely Smoke Farm, out in the country an hour north of Seattle, where (god willing) it will be hot and sunny, and there is a river to swim in. Also, the roster of chefs is consistently outstanding, and the plates of food tend to be actually too big (pacing is key).

It is just really delicious and really fun (even when it rains).

Last week, a terrible thing happened: The I Love New York Deli in the U-District closed (with outcry in comments over here).

Now we have learned that, horribly, the original I Love New York Deli in the Pike Place Market is also gone, gone, gone, as of this past Sunday.

I just had a rather heartbreaking conversation with owner Jon Jacobs. He was at his Big Apple Deli in Maple Valley, which remains open. Among other factors in the closures, he mentioned that his meat costs had nearly doubled. "We tried raising the price 25 cents and people went insane," he said. "Look at the price of gas versus seven years ago... and I wasn't going to cut back on quality." He says the micro-neighborhood of the U-District shop, which opened near Scarecrow Video in summer 2009, has suffered mightily because of the economy and construction in the area this past winter (as noted in comments here—and it was arguably never a great location in terms of foot traffic in any case). "Business really dropped off," he said, "a lot of businesses had trouble—the hot dog place went out of business—they've been there forever. Five businesses went under."

"It sucks, but there's nobody to blame but myself," Jacobs said. "Financially, it just wasn't feasible anymore. It just got to be where it was ridiculous... You just get to a point sometimes where you just can't fight anymore."

"Those were the love of my life, those stores," he said. "You get behind in the rent, and you just can't catch up."

Jacobs mentioned filing for bankruptcy (the Maple Valley store is a separate entity). "I don't want it to be this way," he said. "Those days that i was at the Market, I loved those days. This is the hardest time of my life... if I could pay the bills right now, I would. I know I'm not the only one, but I feel like I am. I work 20 hours a day—I work my ass off. It's really hard."

Meanwhile, Jacobs is trying to negotiate a lease on a space on the Ave to resurrect the U-District store, which would involve a loan from his father.

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Meaty Johnson's.

Details, should you so desire, after the jump.

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