Dine Around Seattle returns to Seattle March 1 through 31. During this biannual event, now in its seventh year, 30 Seattle-area restaurants offer three-course dinners including an appetizer, entrée, and dessert for $30, Sundays through Thursdays.

Many restaurants also offer three-course lunches for $15. Prices do not include beverage, tax and gratuity. 

It’s tough for consumers to get fresh, wild, troll-caught salmon during the winter months, which is the reason we trotted down to the waterfront to Elliott’s Oyster Bar & Restaurant to snag some lovely ivory and red fish.

Here’s Spencer’s Alaskan Troll-Caught King served with sautéed veggies. 

And my Troll-Caught Ivory, which was served with a wild-rice side dish and steamed asparagus. According to the menu, “A white king salmon is, after all, quite an oddity. No one is sure why about about one in 100 wild kings is white!”

You know I am a big fan of oysters on the half shell, and now is the time to slurp a’ plenty. So I was quick to order the Virginicas at Union Bar during happy hour. Here are the blushing beauties before:

And after:

Lucy Damkoehler has joined the ranks of TASTE Restaurant at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) as pastry chef. A graduate of the New England Culinary Institute, “she particularly enjoys playing on creative themes and transforming familiar desserts into clever incarnations,” according to SAM’s monthly member magazine. “She owes her enthusiasm for food to her dad, who tended a vegetable garden and baked bread.”

In my Pacific Northwest Taste Column on November 23, 2008, I extolled the virtues of our downtown Seattle neighborhood thanks to the recent influx of new buildings, the Seattle Art Museum expansion, and much-improved dining options. 

Perhaps the crown jewel in the ‘hood’s renaissance has been the opening of the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences at 99 Union Street. It’s a sleek, luxurious, and contemporary space with big plans for the holiday season. The photo above shows two appetizers we enjoyed at ART Restaurant and Lounge, which is under the steady hand of long-time Seattle chef Kerry Sear.

So if you haven’t been downtown lately, here’s an excuse to check out the new kid on our block.

A Chocolate Holiday

On Dec. 4, 11 and 18, Four Seasons Hotel Seattle will commemorate the season with A Chocolate Holiday, a celebration for serious chocolate lovers.The buffet’s 11 temptations include Chocolate Fondue, Dipped Strawberries, White Chocolate Peppermint Mousse Cake and a Chocolate Smores Tart. If that’s not enough chocolate for you, how about Chocolate Chili Pasta with Basil and Cocoa Nibs?The most committed cacao-philes can begin their chocolate-themed adventure at the dinner table on those three Thursdays only. The fixed-price menu infuses chocolate into each savory dish.

Shopper’s Holiday Package

Ringing in the festive season, the Shopper’s Holiday Package pairs luxurious accommodations at Four Seasons Hotel with another Seattle service icon – Nordstrom. Offered from Nov. 12, 2008, through March 31, 2008, this package kicks off guests’ shopping excursions with a $200 Nordstrom gift card to use at the flagship store just a few blocks from the hotel. Return victorious and unwind with a holiday beverage in ART Lounge while you relish your purchases.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

ART Restaurant will host two different multi-course, holiday-themed dinner menus on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.In addition to traditional dishes such as Slow-Braised Goose and Dry Aged Roast Beef, the menus feature salmon, Truffled Beef Tartare and vegetarian options.ART’s Counter will serve as a dessert centrepiece with made-to-order desserts, fruits and seasonal items, including mincemeat pies, plum pudding and other twists on perennial favourites.

New Year’s Eve

On New Year’s Eve, guests can ring in the New Year in style by indulging in ART’s seven-course dinner.The culinary journey incorporates the best seasonal ingredients available in the Northwest and beyond.Coupled with musical entertainment and sweeping views of Elliott Bay, it will be a night to remember. 

Starbucks has released its first-ever Thanksgiving Blend, created under the steady hand of Seattle’s chef-with-the-Midas-touch, Tom Douglas. Starbucks collaborated with Douglas to create a coffee that would go with the biggest dinner of the year–Thanksgiving.

According to the press release, “The herbal notes of the coffee are very much enhanced when enjoyed with an herb-rubbed turkey and it goes incredibly well, as you might imagine, with pumpkin pie and the cornucopia of flavors on one’s Thanksgiving table.”

Here’s a photo:

Chef and Restaurateur Tom Douglas (left) worked closely with Starbucks and Anthony Carroll, Starbucks manager of Green Coffee Quality, to create Starbucks first-ever Thanksgiving Blend coffee. It will be served at Douglas’s restaurants and brewed at Starbucks throughout November. The coffee is also available in one-pound bags of whole beans for $10.95.

On Friday, November 7,  KuKuRuZa Gourmet Popcorn, Seattle’s first and only gourmet popcorn shop, opened for business in the historic Kress Building at 215 Pike Street in downtown Seattle. Owned and operated by Popcorn Chef Robert Hicks and George Marema, KuKuRuZa showcases a classic soda-shop theme, with fresh popcorn prepared in the open kitchen throughout the day, upbeat 1920s music, and old-fashioned sodas and treats.

Made in small batches with top-notch ingredients such as real creamery butter and the finest chocolate, KuKuRuZa Popcorn boasts more than 25 flavors and is available in a variety of creatively themed packaging. With flavors such as Triple Nut Caramel, Cinnamon Red Hot, and Burgundy Cheddar Cheese, there’s a flavor to savor for every popcorn lover’s palate.

You know that within Northwest Notes we’ve often waxed poetic about Chef Eric Donnelly’s creative takes on seafood at the Oceanaire Seafood Room in downtown Seattle. Here’s a photo from a sumptuous halibut-themed dinner earlier this year.

In response to a slowing economy, Chef Donnelly and company will present their second $65 five-course wine dinner on November 7.  This time, Eric’s food (from Northwest oysters with spiced apples to braised Kurabota pork shank) will be paired with selections from Erath Vineyards, one of Oregon’s pioneer wineries.  Founder Dick Erath planted his first vines in 1969 and released his first vintage in 1972.  Since then, Erath has been known for its fantastic Pinot Noir as well as for its Riesling and Dry Gewürztraminer. Sadly, Dick passed on last month far too young–at the age of 69–but his legacy will live on, and glasses will undoubtedly be raised, at the dinner.    

From the press release come dinner details and the full menu below. Reservations can be made by calling the restaurant at (206) 267-BASS.

 What: Five-course Erath Estates wine dinner for $65 (price does not include tax or gratuity)

 Where: The Oceanaire Seafood Room, 1700 7th Ave # 100, Seattle, WA, 98101

 When: Friday, November 7 at 6:30 p.m.

 Menu:

1st course: Northwest oysters with spiced apple granite

Wine: Pinot Blanc, Erath, Willamette Valley ‘06

 2^nd course: Duck Confit salad with mizuna and huckleberry vinaigrette

Wine: Pinot Noir, Erath, Estate Selection, Dundee Hills ‘05

 3^rd course: Peppercorn-crusted Tombo Tuna crudo with cranberry gastrique

Wine: Pinot Noir, Erath, Leland Vineyard, Wilamette Valley ‘05

 4^th course: Braised Kurabota Pork shank with collard greens and Matsutake mushrooms

Wine: Pinot Noir, Erath, Hill Vineyard, Dundee Hills ‘05

 Dessert: Riesling Poached Japanese Pear and Hard Spice Ricotta

Wine: Late-harvest selection to be determined

During a recent lunch at The Pike Pub, located just half a block from the Pike Place Market (not to mention just downstairs from our condominium!) we enjoyed the Pike XXXXX Stout Brownie with Pike XXXXX Stout Cream, piping hot from the oven. Owners Rose Ann and Charles Finkel may humbly bill this dessert as a “brownie,” but it’s really a darkly delicious Chocolate Decadence cake in disguise. Pour on the Pike XXXXX Stout Cream (whipped cream + Stout, I think) and savor every sinful calorie.