Some very visually appealing fried chicken wings from a recent FareStart guest chef dinner.
Some very visually appealing fried chicken wings from a recent FareStart guest chef dinner. FareStart

You Can Meet Motherfucking Jacques Pepin!

The legendary French chef is coming to Seattle at the end of the month as part of a collaboration between his eponymous foundation and FareStart. Pepin’s foundation, says its website, “Promotes Jacques’ generosity and passion for cooking by supporting individuals that seek, and organizations that create pathways to success through culinary professionalism, skills and technique.” FareStart is the epitome of such organizations, so it makes a ton of sense that Pepin picked them out of all the other food-related charities in the nation for his first partnership.

For this fundraiser, called Flourish, Pepin will be presiding over a multi-course melange of dishes from such local notables as Tom Douglas, Thierry Ratreau, and Holly Smith, and attendees will have the chance to bid on fancy food experiences like dinner at Eleven Madison Park with Pepin, or a day on the set of his upcoming TV show. Tickets start at $375, so this is definitely for the city’s foodie elite, but for once, none of us plebs will be grumbling at you for casually whipping out your black AmEx, as the money goes to an exceedingly good cause. The dinner is on April 30th, but tickets are on sale now, so get on it!

Poke with Hot Cheetos Definitely Not a Gimmick

This week, like so many other weeks of the year, there is a new poke place making its debut. Newport Poke is now open on 12th Ave, reports Eater, and will be offering up the by-now-familiar formula of cured fish on a starch base with various sides, albeit with one twist. Adventurous (or masochistic) diners can add Flamin’ Hot Cheetos to any poke bowl, which is definitely a traditional ingredient and not a gimmick aimed at college kids who play too many video games.

Less masochistic diners can go a few blocks down the street to Cafe Presse, order a demi-pichet of crisp white wine, and try to understand how we as a civilization became so culinarily overstimulated that we are forced to resort to increasingly extreme foods to excite ourselves.

Down for life.
Down for life.

Art of the Table’s New Location Is Gorgeous

Dustin Ronspie and Shannon Van Horn, Art of the Table's husband-and-wife owners, got matching tattoos with the restaurant’s logo to celebrate the milestone move, which is some serious dedication. I don’t think that dedication is misplaced, though, as all the little bites I got to try at their media preview last week were great, and the space is pretty enough that they could serve bags of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos every night and you’d still want to go drink there. Also, fried headcheese sounds like something kids in elementary school call each other on the playground, but it tastes like meat heaven (and it's on their menu).

Speaking of Headcheese…

The people who introduced me to headcheese, Bavarian Meats, took home eight awards at the Northwest Meat Processors Association annual summit. It’s something of a sweep, judging from the elated tone of their announcement. They’re not exactly the Oscars, or even the James Beard Awards, but they are another reminder that Bavarian is a wonderful treasure and we should all eat more kassler.

Eli Dahlin Returns

Eli Dahlin, the erstwhile Walrus and Carpenter chef de cuisine who left to open Damn the Weather, is back from his latest round of adventures in Portland, reports Seattle Met. He’d gone down to work at Dame, "a house of natural wines and adventurous seafood," but is now back in Seattle hanging out with Matt Dillon at Upper Bar Ferdinand.

I had the chance to interview Dahlin once, when I was working on a story about pacific herring and why we don’t eat more of it in Seattle, a town with a shitload of Scandinavian history that sits right on the edge of the Pacific ocean. Dahlin, during his time at the Walrus and Carpenter, had traveled with Renee Erickson to see a herring spawn in Bristol Bay, and also had some firsthand insight as a chef about why consumers aren’t exactly clamoring for more locally sourced herring.

I met him at Damn the Weather around 11 am, expecting it to be your typical quick, informal chef interview, where you stand at the bar with half-cold cups of coffee that you each brought from different coffee shops. Instead, one of Dahlin’s colleagues led me back to the kitchen, where he was breaking down a whole lamb with a Sawzall. There’s something incredibly impressive about a chef who can casually field complicated questions about global food systems while engaging in whole animal butchery with a power tool. There’s no word of what, exactly, he’ll be doing for Dillon going forward, says the Met, but I’m sure it’s going to be epic.

Oh, and It’s Easter Weekend

Whether you believe that the savior of humanity was a long-haired hippie in robes who really knew how to get the wedding after-party lit AF and are celebrating the anniversary of his resurrection from the dead, you’re probably obligated to go to a brunch of some sort. Perhaps even with elderly relatives who adamantly believe in the teachings of said long-haired hippie. We’ve made a quick list of places doing Easter brunch that don’t suck, so your Easter won’t suck as much.