• Goldy | The Stranger
• An almost perfect six-minute pizza, topped with garden onions and arugula.

My second round with my new Baking Steel went better than the first, producing a crisp, airy, and not-too-dry pizza crust in just six minutes. This time I used the "broiler method," in which I preheated the oven to 550 degrees for 45 minutes, and then turned on the broiler once I put the pizza in the oven. This method allows the top to bake as fast as the bottom. If anything, as you can see from the substantial charring, I may have baked the pizza a little too long. Thirty seconds less might have produced optimal results.

But that was Friday night. Saturday night I experimented again, first with a plain cheese pizza for my daughter. And after only five minutes in the oven, pretty much perfection:

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• Friday night, don your thrift-store finery and get silly at Seattle Greendrinks' 10th birthday party with a silent disco dance party and drinks (in your own reusable cup, of course).

• On Saturday, it's the PROOF Washington Distillers Festival, with the 40 members of the Washington Distillers Guild pouring samples and Greg Vandy (of KEXP's the Roadhouse) spinning records.

• Sunday brings great excuses for unfettered gluttony in the form of two delicious-sounding fundraisers for worthy causes: the Spreeha Foundation's Colors of Bangladesh fundraiser, featuring Bangladeshi food, crafts, and films, and Ethan Stowell's annual charity barbecue cook-off, showcasing the barbecue prowess of pros and amateurs alike.

Additional info, plus more food-related funtimes, in the Chow calendar.

• Little Uncle in Pioneer Square (where Marcus' Martini Heaven used to be) is OPEN, and yay for that! Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. See you there real soon!

• David Meinert and Jason Lajeunesse of Lost Lake/Big Mario’s/Neumos/etc. will be taking over Capitol Hill's beloved Canterbury, after its troubles, reports Capitol Hill Seattle. I would like to take this opportunity to advocate for keeping the name, keeping prices low, and keeping the place pretty much exactly the same, except maybe removing all the beer promo flags and fixing the upholstery. And cleaning. It could use a deeeeeep cleaning.

• The (awesome) Fresh Bucks program—which doubles the value of food stamp benefits when used to purchase fresh food at Seattle farmers markets—is expanding to include ALL Seattle farmers markets!

• Also newly open in Pioneer Square, after a late-breaking chef change, Tinello.

• Goldy | The Stranger
• The Baking Steel produced one of the best looking pizza crusts I've ever made, if not actually one of my best pizzas.

So, my "Baking Steel" arrived yesterday afternoon, right on schedule, and with a dough already cold-rising for two days in the fridge, I immediately put the steel to the test. After a 45-minute preheat at 550 degrees, I slid my pizza off the peel and onto the steel. Eight minutes later I had a pizza. (By comparison, baking on a pan, my pizzas normally take 12 to 14 minutes.)

• Goldy | The Stranger
• The bottom of the crust looks pretty much like the bottom of a well baked pizza crust should look.

The result: one of the best looking—and certainly the crispest—pizza crusts I've ever baked at home, if not actually one of my best pizzas.

To be fair, I wasn't actually trying to make a great pizza, just testing out the steel. So I kept it basic. My usual pizza dough recipe, some canned sauce, shredded mozzarella, and a handful of onions. Also, I didn't adequately adjust for the smaller surface (I usually bake on a 16-inch pan rather than the 14 x 16 steel) so I couldn't stretch out the dough quite as thick as I normally do. Next time I'll make a smaller dough.

So while the crust came out admirably crisp, it was also a little dry. The main problem is that I like my cheese rather caramelized, hence the eight-minute cooking time, while the crust was probably perfectly baked at about six minutes. I think I can fix this by baking with the broiler on, as many home pizza aficionados suggest. (I'm using the smaller top oven of a Maytag Gemini, so single rack is only a few inches from the element.)

Apart from that, the results were fairly impressive. I mean, a six-to-eight minute pizza in a conventional oven is no small feat. And a faster baking time means more "spring" to the crust—those largish but unevenly sized bubbles—the goal of all home pizza bakers:

• Goldy | The Stranger
• Fast baking times produces more "spring" to the crust.

So my first impression was pretty good. I need to play with my dough recipe a bit (this one had no oil), as well as oven temperatures and settings, in order to achieve the best results. But so far it looks like the baking steel might actually live up to its hype.

• Jake Nelson
• The glory that was Brocklind's.

Oh, Brocklind's—we miss you and your tuxedo/wedding gown/prom dress/costume rentals, your gorilla masks and chicken suits and fake mustaches. But you closed, Brocklind's, and we must come to terms with it.

Then we found out that the new establishment at Pike and Summit would be a mystery restaurant and bar, meaning downstairs neighbor Theater Schmeater would need to install an amount of soundproofing that would prohibit any actors over 5' 6" tall, or else Theater Schmeater would have to move. It was just happenstance that Brocklind's hours dovetailed with the theater's; the new place's hours would not. Theater Schmeater is moving.

Now the news about what the restaurant/bar will be: "a grand Roman-style trattoria" brought to you by Quentin Ertel, owner of The Saint and Havana. It does not yet have a name. Ertel says of Theater Schmeater's move: "Of course, I was very sorry to hear that they were leaving." More info on the grand Roman-style trattoria after the jump.

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I completely forgot this story...

Tomatoes could be made tastier and stay fresh for twice as long, according to a new study.

Scientists say that the antioxidants found in purple GM tomatoes can more than double their shelf life from 21 days to 48 days.

And the natural pigment slows down the over-ripening process that leads to rotting and softening - creating a better taste.