Food & Dining

A Week at Chico Madrid

A Week at Chico Madrid

I Would Like to Go Here Every Day, Possibly Forever


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Friday, May 17, 2013

Free Baguettes for Bikers, Beer Week Continues, and More

Posted by on Fri, May 17, 2013 at 10:39 AM

Click to enlarge.
  • Click to enlarge.

Posted by Emily Klein

• Today, enjoy a free baguette from Columbia City 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.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Want to Avoid Buying Monsanto Products?

Posted by on Wed, May 15, 2013 at 12:23 PM

There's an app for that!

Thanks, biff.

I Heart Chico Madrid: A Restaurant Review

Posted by on Wed, May 15, 2013 at 11:38 AM

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

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Michael Pollan Is the Steve Jobs of Food

Posted by on Tue, May 14, 2013 at 3:04 PM

Posted by news intern Ansel Herz

Last night at Benaroya Hall, author Michael Pollan paced the stage and talked to an audience that seemed to adore him. He's tall, thin, and bald with wireframe glasses. He wore jeans and a navy-blue sport coat.

If he'd been wearing a turtleneck, Pollan could have been mistaken for Steve Jobs. Which is appropriate, because his critique of the food system is Jobsian—highly effective, technically on point, even cool. But snobbish and alienating.

The substance of Pollan's argument against the corporate food industry is solid. He began with an anecdote from early in his career that encapsulates it perfectly, when he visited an Idaho farm where potatoes have to off-gas the toxicity from pesticides for five days before they can be turned into McDonald's French fries.

So I was totally with him. But then Pollan received the biggest laughs and applause of the night when he called the microwave "the Ayn Rand of appliances." He recounted the experience of buying frozen meals from Safeway as if it was an adventure on an alien planet. Waiting for them to cook in the microwave was "soul-irradiating," he said. The food was gross.

Pollan juxtaposed this with his nostalgia for the family meal of yesteryear, when kids "learn to argue without screaming or fighting. They learn the art of conversation." Chicken kiev was his favorite dish made by mom each birthday. (Who eats chicken kiev on his birthday?)

For the affluent Benaroya audience, this seemed to be all well and good. Personally, my memories of the kitchen are less fond. In single-family households (mine was firmly middle class), kids take on a lot more cooking and cleaning duties. I remember being yelled at a lot. And I thought frozen King's Hawaiian Teriyaki Bowls and Marie Callender pot pies were absolutely delicious.

Continue reading »

Burning Beast Alert!

Posted by on Tue, May 14, 2013 at 1:03 PM

Tickets will go on sale for the world's funnest, most delicious, meatiest feast in a field on May 22 at 9 a.m. over here.

The date of Burning Beast this year: Sunday, July 21.

Last year tickets sold out in less than three hours—don't miss the meat.

Last years menu... this years chefs are still TBA.
  • THE STRANGER
  • Last year's menu... this year's chefs are still TBA.

Enjoy (or abhor) more meaty, meaty photos from last year's Burning Beast over here (including the actual burning of the beast).

Welcome News for People Who Like Foods That Taste Good

Posted by on Tue, May 14, 2013 at 12:33 PM

As a big fan of savory foods, I welcome this news:

In a report that undercuts years of public health warnings, a prestigious group convened by the government says there is no good reason based on health outcomes for many Americans to drive their sodium consumption down to the very low levels recommended in national dietary guidelines.

Those levels, 1,500 milligrams of sodium a day, or a little more than half a teaspoon of salt, were supposed to prevent heart attacks and strokes in people at risk, including anyone older than 50, blacks and people with high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease — a group that makes up more than half of the American population. ... But the new expert committee, commissioned by the Institute of Medicine at the behest of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said there was no rationale for anyone to aim for sodium levels below 2,300 milligrams a day. The group examined new evidence that had emerged since the last such report was issued, in 2005.

I mostly cook and bake for myself rather than eating out or buying prepared foods, so I'm guessing my sodium intake is way lower than the average American's. But there's no way I manage to stay below 1,500 milligrams on most days. Now I can stop giving myself hypertension worrying about my salt intake.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Drugstore Fruit

Posted by on Mon, May 13, 2013 at 11:39 AM

Downtown Bartell Drugs
  • AM
  • The downtown Bartell Drugs

I have seen the occasional pile of oranges and bananas at a Walgreens. The sad cafeteria-style pile of unripe fruit makes a kind of sense. But this drugstore's exotic fruit display—pineapples, coconuts, papayas, mangos in between hair dryers and cans of nuts—totally blew my mind. Overhead, they played Joni Mitchell. The wooden display is actually for a brand of "crunch dried® fruit and vegetable snacks" in plastic bags, the kind of food I expect at the drugstore. It was a tropical fluke in the snack aisle. Or is this a new trend?

Very Important Milkshake News

Posted by on Mon, May 13, 2013 at 11:30 AM

This is a Rachel's Ginger Beer milkshake from Cupcake Royale in Ballard, and it is great.

YUM.
  • Me. I took this photo.
  • YUM.

Two things: 1) It's a little pricey—over $8, since you're buying a milkshake and a Rachel's Ginger Beer (you get the left over ginger beer, too), but it's large enough that you could definitely share it with a friend. 2) This one is made with CR's vanilla ice cream, but Cupcake Royale also currently has a honey snickerdoodle flavor as well as an orange hibiscus sorbet that would probably be AMAZING and really refreshing when blended with Rachel's Ginger Beer.

Read more about milkshakes (and teeth pulling!) here.

Cultured Meat

Posted by on Mon, May 13, 2013 at 6:00 AM

Behold, the artificial hamburger, created in a plastic cylinder for your enjoyment:

The hamburger, assembled from tiny bits of beef muscle tissue grown in a laboratory and to be cooked and eaten at an event in London, perhaps in a few weeks, is meant to show the world — including potential sources of research funds — that so-called in-Vitro meat, or cultured meat, is a reality.

Does it make it extra appetizing to know that it's environmentally friendly?

Friday, May 10, 2013

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Pea Season!

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Thursday, May 9, 2013

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Wednesday, May 8, 2013

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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

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Monday, May 6, 2013

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Friday, May 3, 2013

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Thursday, May 2, 2013

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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

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Eating in the Dark

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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

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