The pork torta @ Pica Border Grill
West Seattle has been hoarding this sandwich’s goodness all to itself for way too long, but Pica Border Grill’s pork torta is absolutely worth a trek across the bridge. It’s a sloppy mess of pork, house-made chorizo, cheese, green salsa, and pico de gallo stuffed into a warm, crunchy-chewy French roll. This thing is a messy thrill to eat—one bite into the torta caused a spray of angry red sauce to explode across my cheek—and a perfect balance of flavors that in the hands of a lesser sandwich artist would be overwhelming. PAUL CONSTANT
- Chris Bennion
"All the Way is about the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Robert Schenkkan’s script is undeniably a modern masterpiece. It helps that President Lyndon Johnson had an outsize personality, but Schenkkan also transforms the political convolutions of the time into something even poli-sci neophytes can understand. Strom Thurmond’s defection from Dixiecrat to full-blown Republican, for example, is presented as the betrayal of a minor general on the evening of an empire-endangering battle. J. Edgar Hoover is the king’s duplicitous counsel. Martin Luther King Jr. is an allied monarch with his own kingdom to attend to. Schenkkan’s script renders one of the most tumultuous times in modern American history as something timeless." PAUL CONSTANT
Dina Martina Christmas Show @ Re-Bar
"Over the years, The Stranger has called Dina Martina many things, including "a one-woman Circus of the Stars," a "walrus prostitute," "a cut-rate Elizabeth Taylor impersonator who went skydiving but her parachute failed and she crash-landed into a Shoney's buffet," and a Genius. (Dina creator Grady West won the Stranger Genius Award for performance in 2012.) For the uninitiated: Dina Martina is a singer who cannot sing, a dancer who cannot dance, and a storyteller who seems to have situational brain damage. And her shows are the weirdest, funniest, most oddly heartwarming stage extravaganzas you'll ever see." DAVID SCHMADER
Homo for the Holidays @ Odd Fellows Hall
Hear ye, hear ye! Now in its seventh season! The funniest, campiest, gay-pridey-est annual holiday spectacular is back to entertain even your bah-humbuggy-est, seasonally gloomy, frowny-faced friends! I promise anyone—after witnessing the triumph and hilarity of the all-star cast of local burlesque, cabaret, dance, drag, and musical luminaries like BenDeLaCreme (of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6), Cherdonna Shinatra, Kitten LaRue, Lou Henry Hoover, Faggedy Randy, and many more—YOUR FROWN WILL TURN UPSIDE DOWN. You cannot resist the pure joy of this hearty holiday fruitcake! It’s often a sellout, so get those tickets and get ’em fast! KELLY O
You probably know by now that Pacific Northwest Ballet has announced that this year will be its last staging of Nutcracker with Maurice Sendak’s beautiful (albeit sometimes jaw-droppingly racist) sets and costumes.
