Gastrolust

Here are five quick bites, culminating with news about a national champion.
Ivar’s is a Seattle institution. No doubt about that. And that institution was in the news this year, with stories about its underwater billboards. For me, the story is whether its food warrants a stop or not. This past year, I had chances to [...]

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Here’s what I like to ask my food-writing friends: “What restaurant are you embarrassed to say you’ve yet to visit?”
My answer of late, until now: Poppy.
I’ve heard mostly positive reviews, and I know Chef Jerry Traunfeld can cook. So what’s the hold-up? Indian might be my least favorite Asian cuisine, and at Poppy’s price point, [...]

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For you, dear readers, I sacrificed and ate far too many cupcakes.
Read all about it at Seattle Dining.
Between all the cupcakes and lots of samples of perhaps the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever eaten, my sweet tooth is more than satisfied!
(By the way, I love Cupcake Royale’s “Legalize Frostitution” motto!)

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We didn’t need dessert. Really. Akiko had just taken me for a fabulous sushi dinner to celebrate my birthday, and we were quite full. Plus, at home, should the sweet tooth strike, we had homemade lemongrass ice cream, fudge-like brownies, and other treats.
But as we hustled to the bus stop on that cold, windy evening, [...]

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With recent commentary about Viagra ice cream and question about frozen custard, here’s something I can’t taste locally but can truly support: Ben & Jerry’s Hubby Hubby ice cream.
In celebration of rights to same-sex marriage in the state of Vermont, hometown heroes Ben and Jerry have renamed the popular Chubby Hubby flavor to Hubby Hubby. [...]

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I’d like to say that it’s the dog days of summer that have me posting less, but it’s actually because Gastrolust is moving its headquarters. Not far. Just a few blocks. In a few weeks. But it’s keeping me extremely busy. The new place has lots of space, so there’s a little furniture shopping to [...]

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Molly Moon, can you make me one? Baskin Robbins, is this one of your 31 flavors? Full Tilt…aw, never mind.
It might not be happening here in Seattle, but across the pond in London, The Icecreamists are “liberating the world one lick at a time” with their introduction of a dessert called The Sex Pistol. This [...]

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“I don’t like bad cookies, and I don’t like big, oversized cookies,” explained Mei-I Funtanilla. “They’re gross and disgusting.”
So it’s only natural that this former pastry chef at Serafina started her own gourmet cookie company and called it Sweet Miniatures. Funtanilla, who also tends to dislike soft cookies (”it’s a texture thing”), found a formula [...]

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“McDonald’s soft-serve.”
Harsh words, but that’s how two of my food-writing friends described what they ate at Old School Frozen Custard, which just opened on Capitol Hill.
Good timing on the opening, as the weather’s been warm and sunny—which puts so many in the mood for a cold, sweet treat. But what will the demand be like [...]

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Wow! Looks like Cakespy has created the perfect accompaniment (Rolling Scones) to the Rolling Stones that Jason Wilson at Crush created for the year-end Sound magazine Dish-Off. Delightful!

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