It’s coming… IFBC 2014

Last year around this time, we went over IFBC; the great food blogging conference put on by the good folks at Foodista and Zephyr Adventures. I was able to attend last year and loved it. Had a great time. Even had dinner with a few fun bloggers and Dorie Greenspan at one of Seattle’s best restaurants. Not too shabby.

IFBC 2014 is almost upon us, next weekend in fact. The agenda and speaker list is almost finalized. The attendee list is growing. Sponsors are lining up. Registration is still open. Look forward to seeing any and all food bloggers next weekend. If you’re not able to attend, follow along with the #IFBC hashtag. It should be a decadent and delicious weekend.

 

Going for Seconds at SAM Remix #SAMRemix

Going off script as this post isn’t Seattle food-related, but it is Seattle culture-related. You see, this Friday is Seattle Art Museum’s SAM Remix; their quarterly shindig where Seattle gathers to revel in music, art, dance, and style convene inside the museum. And yours truly will be there. I was fortunate to be asked to be one of the guest tweeters at SAM Remix. What does this mean? The Seattle Art Museum folks will give me the reins of their Twitter account for a portion of the evening and I’ll be tweeting up a storm from the @iheartSAM twitter account. It should be fun. It should be raucous. It should be memorable.

There is still time to get tickets for SAM Remix, in fact, use the code ‘twitterremix0614’ at checkout for $5 off regular priced tickets. Come join, it’ll make for a rad evening. And I’ll be there. I’m looking forward to SAM Remix as what I’ll tweet and share during the evening should run the gamut of what I find interesting. If you wear cool shoes at the event, I’ll probably tweet about it. If the music is inspired, I’ll write about that. I’ll be your ‘man on the street’ for all of the random, awkward weirdness that can happen at any social event. This will be awesome.

The great thing about SAM Remix is that they are never the same. The entertainment, the style, the layout; most everything about each Remix is different. If you can’t be there (but you really should), here are the social channels to follow along in the frivolity.

LINKS

On the web: http://bit.ly/SAMREMIX614

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/809025455790786/

SAM’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seattleartmuseum
SAM’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/iheartsam
SAM’s Instagram: instagram.com/seattleartmuseum

HASHTAG: #SAMRemix

Garagiste’s Lair

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A post shared by Jon Rimmerman of Garagiste (@garagiste_wine)

Photo by Garagiste

Want to get a special bottle of wine for a gift for this weekend’s dinner party? How about wanting to try a new wine from a region you’ve been curious about? How about a bottle of utterly unique wine from one of the very best wine purveyors in the nation? At killer prices? Look no further, Garagiste has opened up a pop-up shop for the holidays.

If you’re not familiar with Garagiste and you love wine, you really should. Started by Jon Rimmerman and based in a nondescript warehouse in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood, Garagiste is sort of a like a flash sale site but more carefully curated and under the watchful palate of Mr. Rimmerman. Jon writes this lush and rich descriptions of each wine in an email newsletter that goes out a few times a week and you’ll want to order almost every wine. His taste is renowned and his business model is very unique, so much so that The New York Times took notice. You should really sign up for the email list. Some of the wines are out of reach or a bit esoteric, but they are all very interesting and you’ll learn something in each email.

Here is where it gets better; this holiday season, Garagiste has opened a pop-up shop in their warehouse called the ‘Garagiste Lair’. I went on opening day and had to be sensible and not go overboard with buying as much as possible. The wines are segmented in pricing tiers; $5, $10, $15, $20, $25, and so on. At each level there are sure to be interesting wines. I partook in some Morgon for $5 and some Prosecco for $20. Was also able to scoop up some Quilceda Creek for $40. Yup, forty bucks. Some Touraine. A bottle from Mencia. But I look forward to going back to see what else is new. The inventory will be rotated and that is part of the fun about this pop-up; finding treasures amongst the stacks and bottles of wine.

If you’re in the Seattle area, love wine, or know someone that does, a visit to Garagiste’s Lair is in order. Their hours are Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm and Saturday from 10am-5pm at the Garagiste Wine warehouse at 707 S. Lander St, Seattle 98134. But hurry up and head there soon, the pop-up is only open through the holidays.

Wine Tasting with Stephen Tanzer – 2013 recap

As has happened the last few summers, the esteemed wine writer, Stephen Tanzer of the International Wine Cellar, swings through Washington and there is an event where much wine was drank with him and a gaggle of other wine nerds. I did my duty to absorb as much information and vino as possible. Here now, is what happened that evening.

When to Drink at Seattle’s Tasting Rooms

We like wine. Using the royal ‘We’, America’s wine consumption is growing by the year.  Join in the imbibing with these Seattle-area wine purveyors. Support local! Here is a quick rundown of area tasting rooms, shops, and retailers and the days where they do some pourings. Cheers.

Bin 41
-Friday 6-7:30pm

DeLaurenti
-Saturday 2-4pm

Esquin
-Frequent tastings throughout the week, check website

Greenlake Wines
-Thursday 5-7pm

McCarthy & Schiering
-Every Saturday 11-5pm (both locations)

Pike & Western
-Wednesday 4-6pm, $5
-Friday 3-6pm, complimentary

Portalis
-Tue & Wed 3-9pm

Sixth Avenue Wine Seller
-Thursday 3-7pm, $10

The Tasting Room
-During business hours $2-5pm

Vino Verite
-Thursday 5-8pm

West Seattle Wine Cellars
-Thursday 5:30-8pm, complimentary

Wine World & Spirits
-Every weekday 6-8pm
-Every weekend 2-5pm

The calm before the IFBC storm [UPDATE]

 

It’s almost here; IFBC 2013 is this week and I, for one, am giddy to attend. When we last convened about IFBC, final details were in flux. That is no longer the case. The attendees have been finalized, the agenda is set, and the afterparties are awaiting. What’s left from now until then? Order new business cards. Get a haircut (I should look presentable for this, after all. Which reminds me; do laundry) Stretch out my stomach for all the eating by eating. Raise my tolerance for the volume of booze flowing. Reserve transportation to get to the events. Figure which sessions to attend. This should be fun. Look forward to meeting my fellow food bloggers. Cheers to that.

UPDATE – The folks at IFBC have released a conference app. Whee to new media!

Food, blogging, and food bloggers – IFBC 2013

In my eyes, in late summer/early fall 2013, there will be an inflection point in the world of food for this year. The Pacific Northwest will be the basecamp for this sea change. It also just happens to be on the same weekend. There is the delightful and decadent Feast PDX, presented by Bon Appetit; this will be the celebrity chef event driven down the I-5 South corridor to Portland. Here in Seattle will be IFBC 2013 (International Food Bloggers Conference), presented by Amazon.com. Hundreds of food bloggers will visit the Emerald City to network, eat, and converse about, well, food blogging. I’ll be attending IFBC this year and can’t wait to partake in all what the con has to offer.

Though I would love to attend both Feast PDX and IFBC; alas, my X-Man alias is not Jamie Madrox, so I won’t be attending the Portland event. My physical self will be at the W Hotel in Seattle; the home base for this year’s IFBC. This is the fifth year of IFBC and I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t attend the inaugural in 2009. That year was crazy. At that moment in time, Twitter was truly cresting among food bloggers in the Seattle area. That summer was a whirlwind of meeting fellow food lovers in person. There was a camraderie, openness, and inclusion amongst fellow like-minded food lovers that I hope will happen again. And I remember from my fellow food friends that IFBC was one of the moments where food became culture here in Seattle, fully fleshed out with faces attached to names.

While I can hope this wave of excitement will happen again for IFBC 2013, I’m instead thinking of the value that I hope to get at the conference. The agenda is great; a keynote from Dorie Greenspan, talks on relevant topics, and the opportunity to meet other great food writers is always exciting. To hear what drives other writers. What their angle is and what they focus on. What inspires them. What they hope to share from their writing. I’m looking forward to IFBC 2013 and the next steps of what results from it.

As we get closer to IFBC 2013, I’m going to zero in and blog about this event in further detail. This should be fun, stay tuned.

Porcine Party – Cochon 555 returns to Seattle

Imagine a party. With a decadent and debaucherous vibe. A lively hum of conversation. All sorts of interesting people. Plenty of food and booze to revel with. And amongst the food, a focus on pork. And the people cooking are some of the best in the biz. The pigs they’re using to cook with are prized for unique fat and flavor. The booze has a local slant of buzzy wineries and distilleries that are so hot right now. Have that picture in your mind? Good. Because it’s real. And it is awesome. Cochon 555 makes its return to Seattle after a hiatus in 2012. The food lovers of Seattle couldn’t be happier.

We last touched on Cochon 555 in 2011. At that Cochon, the focus had the ‘555’ format; five chefs, five types of pork, and five wineries. I remember Ethan Stowell’s pork zeppole, Holly Smith’s maltagliatti, and John Sundstrom’s pork belly. And strips of bacon stuffed into Mason jars dotting every table as a snack. There were epic lines to each of the chef’s table. It was like Disneyland, but instead of waiting for Space Mountain, you waited for the swoon of pork fat. It was awesome and the Prince of Porc in 2011 was Chef John Sundstrom. And I couldn’t wait to the next Cochon 555.

Alas, it wasn’t to be as Cochon didn’t swing through Seattle in 2012. But the porky people at Cochon are returning to Seattle this weekend and they’re turning up the volume. They are referring to this year’s event as the 5th Anniversary Tour (pdf). This time there will be even more chefs featured; instead of the five of years past, there are no eight that’ll do their thing. They are:

• Jason Franey of Canlis
• John Sundstrom of Lark (our reigning Prince of Porc)
• Jason Barwikowski of PDX’s The Woodsman Tavern
• Josh Henderson of Skillet (and his burgeoning restaurant kingdom, the Huxley Wallace Collective)
• (we are now breaking our streak of chefs whose names start with ‘J’
• Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi of Joule and Revel
• Shane Ryan of Matt’s in the Market
• Mark Bodinett of Copperleaf Restaurant (doing a BBQ event)

A highlight of Cochon 555’s is to see what the chefs will do with their pigs. Be assured that each dish is unique from one another and taking it further; because of the various breeds of pigs, the flavor and texture will be different from one to the next. To get a gauge of the types of pork you’ll taste, check out what each chef is making and be mindful of the fat levels and richness from each one. Some pork will have a real milky fat, while others are very full and rich. God, I love pork.

Here is the breakdown of the event; it’s this Sunday, March 17th, with VIP starting at 4pm, and general admission at 5pm. The host for this pork gitdown is the Cedarbrook Lodge in South Seattle near Sea-Tac Airport. This page will give you all of the information you’ll need. And if pork isn’t your thing (impossible), there are a bunch of other things going on: butcher demo, bourbon tasting, mezcal tasting, a ton of wine, lots of beer, and so much more fun to celebrate with pork. In fact, if I was a playwright, I’d write a sequel to Die Fledermaus where pork is the source of all the fun.

Look forward to seeing you around the table, I’ll be the guy stuffing my face with crispy skin, pork fat, and trotters. Oh yeah.

The 2013 Piglet: Food 52’s cookbook tournament of champions

Cookbook nerds. We are everywhere. We frequent bookstores that only carry cookbooks. We think we have enough cookbooks. But we never have enough. We sometimes forget which ones we have and find ourselves doubling up on copies. And we love them. We love our cookbooks. Their stained pages. The stories they can tell. And like sports fans have March Madness, we have our tournament; The Piglet. There is even a bracket (PDF). From the fine folks at Food 52, this is their fourth annual cookbook tournament and it launches later this week. I heart the Piglet. You should too.

I wrote about the Piglet last year and touched on why I loved this series. The varying ‘judges’ that weigh in on the winners. The books that were the ‘competitors.’ Last year was particularly entertaining because of the championship round. On one side was the book of decadent indulgence from the Joe Beef crew from Montreal. On the other side, was the mad scientist baked goods book Momofuku Milk Bar. And it was judged by Alice Waters. Alice Waters. The chef that raised the bar for thoughtful, seasonal, and considered California cookery. The chef whose highbrow nature didn’t exactly jive with the debauchery of Joe Beef or the addled sweet tooth of Momofuku Milk Bar. The chef whose recap of the championship was dripping with disdain for the two books. Can there be a reluctant champion? Because that is the crown that Alice Waters bestowed Joe Beef.

As with any new year, things start anew and we are onto the next Piglet. Of the 16 books in this tournament, I have five of them. Of the judges, I’m only familiar with a handful of them. Which is a big reason why the Piglet showdown is entertaining. Different voices, different books. While I couldn’t fathom the bile Alice Waters had for last year’s finalists, at least she stayed on brand. And I’m curious to see how the judges insert themselves this year.

I’ll be sure to follow the tournament along. In fact, I’m betting on Canal House Cooks Everyday by Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer. It was one of my favorite books of the holiday season. We’ve been fans of the Canal House and their thematic food volumes for a few years. We were fortunate to have conversations with Melissa and Christopher on their recent visit to Seattle, where we got to hear their stories and how much fun they had with compiling all of their Canal House lunches. Which is the emphasis of Canal House Cooks Everyday. I particularly enjoyed the weather reports sidelining the recipes. Their writing has a way of welcoming us into their world. And now with the Piglet, cookbook nerds have the chance to feel a little closer to a bunch of new cookbooks, their recipes, and the chefs behind them.

Wine tasting with Stephen Tanzer – 2012 edition

I’ve had the good fortune of attending the annual wine tasting with the wine reviewer, Stephen Tanzer (of International Wine Cellar and Winophilia). This is the fifth year running where David Hamilton organizes the event, curates the wine with Steve, and invites us wine nerds to a decadent and entertaining night of drinking the best that our region offers. Every year, I have an idea of what to expect, and every year, I come away with something unexpected. The 2012 edition was no different.

What was once a small intimate gathering of like-minded wine drinkers has now opened up to include winemakers and a few more guests. Thankfully, it’s as intimate as a whisper, but as fun as a party. The attendance of winemakers over the years has made for an interesting dynamic; on one hand, you get insight into the style of wine and how they arrive at their bottle destination. On the other hand, there can be some awkwardness when their wine is voted on by those in the room as the most and least favorite. Even in ultra-polite Seattle, sometimes a local winemaker gets some tough love. But what’s great about having the winemakers attend is that you can speak to them as fellow wine drinkers, chat about what excites them, and hear inside information you wouldn’t get from visiting their tasting rooms or reading about their wines. We were fortunate to sit with Sean Boyd of Woodinville Wine Cellars and had a blast while talking about wine, eating good food from the Tom Douglas Restaurant team at the Palace Ballroom, and soaking in the conversation in the room that typifies this annual event.