Just about a week ago, I enjoyed my very first oysters of the season at the new Bar Campagne in the Pike Place Market. The bar features a simple, and more lengthy menu than before, with items such as Fried Oysters with Lemon-Caper Aïoli (which I can attest to are plump, crispy, and perfectly fried), Baked Tuna and Anchovy Toast, and Bagna Cauda (fresh veggies with warm anchovy dip).

The briny beauties as crisp and clean as breathing fresh sea air

We stopped by for a nosh and a nip (or three) after a “Tea-up” (tweeting event with tea) at The Perennial Tea Room in honor of the fourth annual Northwest Tea Festival, which runs Saturday, October 2, and Sunday, October 3, in the Northwest Rooms at Seattle Center.

Julee Rosanoff (foreground), who has co-owned The Perennial Tea Room in the Pike Place Market along with business partner Sue Zuege since 1989 and is one of the founding members of the Northwest Tea Festival, talks tea while Anna Li of The Essential Baking Company looks on

It was a truly educational and fun event where we learned that all forms of tea (green, black, oolong) are produced from the same plant (Camellia sinensis). The tastes of tea range from buttery to new-mown grass to fruity to malty–even chocolate!

Two tasty tea breads from The Essential Baking Company, a locally owned artisan bakery

We also learned that The Essential Baking Company was chosen to be the festival’s official food vendor. The locally owned artisan bakery will dish up soups, salads, sandwiches, pastries, and a new product launched especially for the festival–tea cakes–in the Northwest Tea Festival’s Tea Garden Café in the Olympic Room. We were among the first people to try the organic cakes in enticing flavors of Blueberry Orange, Lemon Raspberry, and Carrot Pineapple. . .all moist, full-flavored, and not too sweet. . .just perfect for that morning, afternoon, or evening cuppa!

No to fear. Even if you can’t be among the estimated 2,000 tea aficionados to attend this year’s festival, you can try the tea cakes at The Essential Bakery Cafés in Wallingford, Madison Valley, and Georgetown beginning this weekend.

Party hardy along the cobblestones at the Pike Place Market’s 14th annual Sunset Supper on Friday, August 14!

Enjoy one of the city’s most magical evenings as more than 50 of Seattle’s top restaurants, wineries, breweries, and food merchants transform the Pike Place Market’s Main Arcade into one big party under the stars.

Guests will enjoy sample-sized portions of their favorite dishes created by some of Seattle’s finest chefs, plus enjoy tastings of local wines and beverages. Proceeds from Sunset Supper support the Market’s four human service agencies–the Senior Center, Child Care & Preschool, Medical Clinic, and the Downtown Food Bank. Together, these agencies assist nearly 10,000 local people in need each year.

The Pink Door’s famous lasagna is among the samples being served at Pike Place Market’s 14th Annual Sunset Supper
Details:

WHEN: Friday August 14th, 2010

7:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

WHERE: Pike Place Market Main Arcade
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 774-5254

Good news for gluten-intolerant customers!

Due to a recent health crisis–discovering she suffers from Multiple Sclerosis (MS)–Jackie Roberts, owner and founder of the long-running Pink Door restaurant in the Pike Place Market, has re-examined her menu and wine list. She now offers gluten-free options along with a lengthy carte of biodynamic and organic wines.

Spaghetti (Quinoa) Primavera features green garlic, spring peas, fava beans, spring mushrooms, spinach, fresh herbs, and nubbins of goat cheese to make it creamy, all for $17

“I’ve been on a sabbatical of sorts (health crisis) and wanted to be sure you knew about the new gluten-free pasta on our menu,” she wrote in an e-mail. “Also, in my own personal quest for healthier eating/drinking,  I have printed a ‘key’ in the form of a sun to denote the massive collection of organic, biodynamic, and sustainably farmed wines that are on our 150-bottle list. I am quite proud of this. When I’m dining out, I notice there are no quality organics on most restaurants’ lists (or if there are, the staff is not knowledgeable about them).”

Jackie has spent hours testing every wheat-free pasta from Italy, San Francisco, and Seattle to serve at The Pink Door. What Roberts has unveiled (and is proving very popular at the restaurant) is not just a substitute, but a gluten-free dish made from quinoa that is truly delicious and bursting with the freshness of spring.

Spaghetti Primavera is a wonderful alternative for people who are gluten intolerant or simply want to enjoy a healthy option over traditional wheat-based pasta dishes.

As many of us are trying to eat more consciously, choosing local, seasonal, and sustainable foods to add to our healthy diets, wine drinkers are also beginning to ask where the grapes in the bottle are sourced and how they are grown.

Enter the long-running (28 years!) Pink Door restaurant in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, which is highlighting a whopping half of its 129-bottle wine list with a coded sun asterisk to denote sustainably farmed, organic, or biodynamic wine producers!

This collection has been developed over several years and is proving to be the central theme of The Pink Door’s wine program.

Here are just a few of the sustainably farmed or biodynamically grown wines to note:

· Semillon/Sauvignon/Muscadel 2008 Buty; Columbia Valley
· Grenache 2006 Quivira; Wine Creek Ranch; Sonoma
· Pinot Gris Reserve 2008 Cooper Mountain; Willamette Valley, Oregon
· La Segreta Bianco 2007 Grecanico/Chardonnay/Viognier; Planeta; Sicilia
· Barolo 2005 Vietti; Castiglione; Piemonte
· Teroldego Rotaliano 2007 Foradori; Trentino

Thanks to Pink Door founder/owner Jackie Roberts (a.k.a., “La Padrona”) for her forward-thinking commitment to sustainable wine drinking and making it easier for all of us to make sensible choices.

I was very concerned to hear that one of the pillars of the Pike Place Market community, The Pink Door’s founder and owner, Jacqueline Roberts, was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a chronic and often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system.

But leave it to Jackie to do her darndest to focus awareness on this complex and unpredictable disease by throwing a Festa Per La Salute! or “Party for Health” on Sunday, June 27, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Festa Per La Salute! will feature a sumptuous feast of fresh Northwest seafood, Pink Door Lasagne, grilled veggies, and overflowing wines. . .along with The Pink Door’s usual cacophony of trapeze artists, jazz musicians, accordions, modern dancers, prosciutto slicers, and bodacious beauties passing oysters. . .and, of course, those beautiful views of Elliott Bay from the deck.

Roberts has pledged 70 percent of all proceeds from the event to the University at Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC) and its groundbreaking MS-Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI) research.

Further details:

WHEN: Sunday, June 27, 2010
5 p.m. – 9 p.m.

WHERE: THE PINK DOOR, 1919 Post Alley, Seattle

COST: $100.00 per person. Additional donations for research very welcome and much appreciated!

TICKETS: Tickets must be purchased in advance by phone at 206.443.3241 or in person at The Pink Door by Friday June 25, 2010

Representatives from the University at Buffalo will be at The Pink Door to discuss their studies of the possibility that symptoms of MS result from the narrowing of the primary veins outside the skull, a condition called Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency, or CCSVI. The BNAC’s 1,700-person research study will verify Dr. Paolo Zamboni’s ground-breaking CCSVI theory on which he based his balloon angioplasty procedure to treat venous constriction. Dr. Zamboni has found that the majority of his patients experienced a decrease in MS symptoms. In fact, Zamboni’s wife, who had MS for 17 years, is free of symptoms four years after treatment.

To learn more about BNAC and MS research, please visit http://www.bnac.net.

About The Pink Door
In 1981, a whimsically inclined 20-something Italian-American ingénue put her creative hooks and inspiration from travels abroad into a surreal cellar of a space that became equal parts Bohemian loft, Trattoria, and Pigalle cabaret. “La Padrona” Jacqueline Roberts wasted no time filling the space with nuances, a seasonally changing menu of hearty, honest Italian food and wine, spirited service, and eccentric alluring entertainment. Some 27 years later, The Pink Door remains a Seattle favorite with a fresh, constantly changing seasonal menu and eclectic nightly entertainment.

The Pink Door Entertainment
There will be a stilt walker welcoming people in the alley, the Master of Ceremonies will greet people at the door, and there will be lots of live music as well as fabulous food and drink!

The movers and shakers of the alternative medical world will be in attendance, including Dr. Joseph Pizzorno (who founded Bastyr College). Dr. Cora Ibarra (Jackie’s bio-integrative doctor, who will travel from Nevada), and many other renowned specialists.

Spencer wants breakfast. I want lunch. Or vice versa.

Unfortunately, not a lot of places serve both. . .

But a good alternative for “blunch” is Cafe Campagne in the Pike Place Market. On a recent Saturday morning, I opted for the fluffy, light Vegetarian Quiche. When I asked our server how they got it so light, she said all they use in the filling is egg yolks. Sacre bleu!

Meanwhile, Steak Frites was Spencer’s lunch of choice that particular day. It’s a manly-man sort of dish and he even lets me steal the occasional French fry. 🙂

Cafe Campagne means a lot to us and we go there often, for dinner as well. It’s where we went the evening my mother died and we needed some nourishment before we got on the American Airlines red-eye flight to Dallas.

And. . .ta-da. . .it’s the place where we had the idea for “Five More Minutes With,” our new Web site that launched on March 26. You can read more in “Our Story,” and I certainly hope you will enjoy the site and check in often.

Years ago, during the five years I served as food editor at Seattle Homes & Lifestyles magazine, I wrote an article entitled, “Seattle’s Top-10 Restaurant Dishes.” Among my top picks was the yummy Mussels Pigalle served at Place Pigalle in the Pike Place Market.

Here’s what I had to say back then:

“The idea for steamed mussels dressed with bacon-rich balsamic vinaigrette was inspired almost 25 years ago, long before balsamic vinegar became a household staple and mussels became a commonly ordered item in Seattle. I figured this unusual dish was discovered by Place Pigalle owner Bill Frank while wandering the backroads of France. WRONG! Back in 1982, Frank and then-chef Connie Miller Cheifetz were trying to incorporate the philosophy of the restaurant (which Frank describes as “unusual preparations of good raw products without being off the wall”) into a new appetizer. Frank also appreciates dishes that combine meat or animal components with seafood, which is where the rather offbeat (albeit brilliant) idea of pairing bacon and mussels was born. In today’s version, plump mussels are placed lip to lip like upright soldiers in a pristine porcelain ramekin, then topped with a thick balsamic vinaigrette laden with chunks of celery, shallots, and chewy lardons (bacon bits). Don’t be embarrassed to sop up the vinaigrette; luckily, Frank supplies tangy sourdough rolls, strategically suited for dipping.”

And here’s what I say now:

“I’m glad to report that when Lluvia and Seth Walker bought Place Pigalle from Bill Frank several years ago, they kept the Mussels Pigalle, along with other signature dishes such as Calamari Dijonnaise and the Chocolate Pot de Crème on their menu, while adding new favorites. Here’s a recent photo of the mussels served in all their glory.

And still, I’m happy to report, among Seattle’s Top-10 dishes.

Tomorrow, February 11, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., the good folks at the Pike Brewing Company will ask the age-old question, “What beverages go best with everyone’s favorite food: chocolate?”

And for the second year in a row, Pike will pair the best beers, wines, spirits, and mead with an assortment of chocolate that would make Willie Wonka jealous.

According to the company’s press release:

“Pike’s Chocofest, billed as ‘foreplay before the big day’ is a romantic and educational way to discover the wide variety of chocolate treats from here and around the world. Stations set up throughout the Micro Brewery Museum and Naughty Nelly Room feature different chocolate treats, each presented by an expert (usually the chocolate makers themselves). Adjacent to each chocolate table is a drink table staffed with experts to sample and explain their beverages.

“This year more than two dozen different chocolates will be sampled along with more than 20 different beers, wines, mead and spirits.”

Cost is $25 per person, and the tasting will be held in The Pike Pub’s Microbrewery Museum Room. R.S.V.P. to Michael St. Clair at mstclair@pikebrewing.com or (206) 812-6613.

Among the producers in attendance:

Badger Mountain Vineyards and Powers Winery – Seri Sedlacek will pour Badger Mountain Port and Powers Malbec
Carter’s Chocolates – Matt Carter of Port Orchard, WA will present his boutique truffles made with 3 different Pike beers.
Chocolate Box – This neighborhood retailer, located just steps from the Pike Place Market, specializes in Northwest chocolatiers and will showcase Lesley’s French-style artisan chocolates by sampling her “seafoam”, and salted caramels.
Chukar Cherries – Jamen Tyler will bring a dynamite Chukar Cherries – Pike Brewery tasting combo.
Classical Wines – Ole Thompson and Marshall Jorgensen will pour: Bodegas Toro Montilla-Moralles Albalá, Montilla-Moriles (Amontillado Viejisimo – Dry 30 yr. old), Don PX 2004/2005 (unoaked, very rich) and Don PX Gran Reserva 1982 (Great Vintage!) From Bodegas Gutiérrez de la Vega, Alicante: Casta Diva Cosecha Miel 2007 (Sweet Muscat) and Casta Diva Recóndita Armonía 2005 (Sweet Monastrell)
Clear Creek Distillery – Lynn Bauer will represent this producer of Eaux de vie, Grappas, and Pot-Distilled Wine Brandy made with the finest fruit from Oregon orchards using traditional European brandy-making techniques; and McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey made in the Islay tradition of Scotch whisky.
Click Wholesale – Local distributor of fine beer, including Pike, and wines; will present Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence from Cooperstown, NY and Ficklin Chocolate Port.
Claudio Corallo – A “single origin” chocolate company with a compelling story of “plantation to bar” chocolate from São Tomé e Príncipe, the smallest and least well known country in Africa. The North American importer is located here in Seattle.
Confectional – boutique bakery in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market, offering exquisite, sinfully dense, baked cheesecakes and cheesecake truffles
Fran’s Chocolates – President Obama’s favorite salted chocolate caramels presented by Fran Bigelow
Gelatiamo Gelateria – Maria Coassin and Skyler Locatelli are brainstorming to outdo themselves with another blockbuster Pike and Gelatiamo creation; a tough act to follow on the heels of last years Pike XXXXX Gelato, now permanently on the dessert menu at Pike.
Leonidas Chocolate – from Wallingford’s Bottleworks creamy chocolates from Brussels
Merchant du Vin Corporation – Jhon Gilroy of MdV will present Browerij Lindemans of Belgium and Samuel Smith Organic Fruit Beers
Mount Baker Vineyards – Randy Finley, owner, will pour his favorite wine pairing with chocolate.
Noble Wines – Naomi Smith will pour Scharffenberger Brut and Helix Cabernet
Oh! Chocolate – Stout Truffles made with Pike XXXXX Stout
Pacific Distillery LLC – Marc Bernhard will present his local, Woodinville made Absinthe
Pike Brewing Company – Pike’s menu features local, sustainable foods paired with Pike beers. Desserts include a Chocolate and Ale Pairing with Carter’s Pike infused Kilt Lifter, Tandem, and Stout truffles; and Gelatiamo XXXXX Stout Gelato Floats. A surprise beer or two will be paired with chocolates for Chocofest.
Ritrovo Italian Regional Foods – U.S importer of extraordinary Italian Bru-Co Chocolates.
Sky River Brewing – Denise Ingalls presents Sky River Mead from Sultan, WA
Taste Restaurant – Pastry Chef Lucy Damkoehler’s amazing Pike beer infused cupcakes
Theo Chocolates – In Fremont, America’s first genuine Bean-to-bar Organic chocolate factory making chocolates that compete with the finest of Italy, Belgium and France.
Trevani Truffles – Anne Boyington’s will bring her creative, locally produced Truffles that she sells only at farmer’s markets using many items from local farmers.

There’s nothing more comforting than a good fried-egg sandwich. And the French (as they do in so many culinary endeavors) take this classic to new heights in the guise of the Croque-Madame.

Here is Maximilien Restaurant’s Croque Madame served on the weekend brunch and weekday lunch menus at the restaurant’s waterfront location in the Pike Place Market. It’s made with Black Forest ham, béchamel, and cheese, all topped with two sunny-side up-eggs. You get to choose between hand-cut French fries or green salad.

For more than you ever wanted to know about the Croque Madame (and variations–such as the Croque Monsieur, which is the same sandwich sans the fried egg) here’s a link to WikiPedia.

Turning to a more heart-healthy option on the Maximilien midday menu, here’s my Salmon Caesar, properly called Saumon Grillé sur Salade Tiède. It features grilled salmon (sadly slightly overcooked on our last visit–be sure to ask for medium-rare if you like your salmon that way) atop meltingly tender butter lettuce (that wilts slightly under the heat of the fish), perfectly steamed new potatoes, pear tomatoes, a bit of red onion, walnuts, and Dijon vinaigrette (which I asked for on the side so I could sauce the salad myself). Think of all the heart-healthy Omega-3s in this main-dish salad, thanks to the salmon and the walnuts. I could eat it every day. . .

Roasted chicken is one of those benchmark dishes that Spencer and I love to try at various restaurants because such a seemingly simple dish can really show a chef’s mettle.

The Whole Roasted Chicken pictured below (Note: This very generous serving is meant to serve one person, not two!!!) is one of the best renditions about town, available at Le Pichet in the Pike Place Market, but only with one hour’s notice. And you have to be in the restaurant in person to order it–no phoning ahead!

Butter-basted to order, this Washington-raised chicken from Don & Joe’s Meats in the Pike Place Market has a crispy skin, moist and steamy interior, and tantalizing texture. The evening we enjoyed it, its chicken broth was swimming with fresh English peas, dandelion greens, and bite-sized bits of ham hock.

Half a chicken is way too much for me (especially after the Salade Verte–Butter Lettuce and Hazelnut Salad with Mustard-Hazelnut Vinaigrette–plus an interesting appetizer, such as Friture de Calamars Sur Salade Aux Pois-Chiches et Frisée–Fried Calamari and White Bean-Frisée Salad, pictured below).

Luckily for us, roasted-chicken leftovers make for a glorious soup or stew the next day.