Hempfest: They Just Keep Coming

Well, now, we're not going to try to put this up at exactly 4:20 because that would be, you know, predictable.

Mainstream media are always trying to be funny about pot, writing headlines about plans going up in smoke, or stoners trying to keep to a schedule. Mainstream media have overt allegiances (to advertisers like Big Oil, Big Pharm) and unspoken alliances (to news sources like police and prosecutors) that makes it hard for their reporters and editors to be totally objective when it comes to drugs.

As the nation's largest protest rally for drug policy reform, the substance of Hempfest gets ignored by the daily papers and tee-vee (except for monkey-in-the-zoo photos of hippies). Policy is so darn complicated, dontcha know.

Alternative media such as urban weeklies have more leeway to challenge the status quo. Best of all, of course: The Internets. So it falls to us to point out that tens of thousands of people (young, old, weird, straight, all shapes, sizes & colors) streamed into Myrtle Edwards Park this weekend, many so they could listen to a staggering amount of music, others to hear speakers or participate in panel discussions. A relatively small number of police officers were on hand, just in case anything untoward happened; they had nothing to do but eat chicken sandwiches for lunch.

"Some people from the Edmonds PTA were here yesterday, with unfounded fears that their kids would be corrupted," said travel writer Rick Steves, one of the speakers."What they saw is that we don't have horns. Marijuana users are just like their suburban neighbors. It's a bit like the gay rights movement, except that people are still going to jail."

There. It's almost 4:20. Can we go now?

Spinasse Opens At Last: The Wait Was Worth It

You'd hear reports from time to time, Justin Niedermeyer sightings. Trial dinners at Sitka & Spruce, name changes (Pian Pianino, anyone?), endless postponements. All over now. The name is Spinasse, and it served its first paying customers last night.

No gaudy sidewalk treatment, just a storefront on Capitol Hill where the Globe Café once dished out vegan fare. Inside, a stage set, what Sitka & Spruce might have looked like with a less minimalist decorator. Marble-topped bar with seats for six, flanked by butcher-block working surface that doubles as seating for four more. A heavy-duty, manual pasta-rolling machine; a wall festooned with pasta-cutting wheels. Beyond the bar, framed by a proscenium of bottles and glassware, the kitchen itself, the showy domain of Niedermeyer and his crew.

Pasta, you say? Not so fast. Antipasti first: salads, cured meats, and to my delight, a traditional vitello tonatto. Love this dish when properly made, with poached veal sliced very thin and topped with a tuna sauce. (Check here for the version--since renamed veal carpaccio--at How To Cook A Wolf.) This light and refereshing summer dish adds the piquancy of tuna (blended with capers and mayonnaise) to the juicy but relatively bland meat. Would have liked a lemon wedge on the plate, but ate every bite regardless.

Pasta, next. Many, many egg yolks. Rolled, not extruded. That means no round noodles, only flat sheets, and cut by hand at that. Tajarin these were, like tagliatelle only finer, served with a basic ragù (slightly undersalted, in need of an herb or two and a crack of pepper). Or agnolotti al plin (hand-pinched), with sage butter. Or potato gnocchi with mushrooms. All straightforward Italian country fare.

Main courses on opening night: slow-roasted goat or quick-roasted chicken. A la carte at the bar, prix fixe in the dining room ($33 for two courses, $47 for four). Wine list offers 34 choices, all from top Piedmont estates, 9 of them by the glass. Especially welcome: the quartino (quarter-liter carafe), ideal for glass-and-a-half drinking with each course.

There's cheese for dessert, to be sampled on the next visit. In the meantime, Spinasse represents a major paradigm shift for authentic Italian cooking in Seattle: no longer the exclusive province of self-taught immigrants (Sorrentino, La Spiga), and far superior to competent but soulless culinary-school Italian (Tavolata, Branziino).

Spinasse is said to be named for a hillside in Piedmont, but there's no reference to "Spinasse" in any of my Italian gazeteers. Another Justin Niedermeyer mystery, no doubt, to be resolved in due time.

Spinasse, 1531 14th Ave., Seattle 206-251-7673

Ballard Past, Ballard Present, Ballard Future

The past comes first, firmly camouflaged on the flank of Phinney Hill. Bruce Naftaly's venerable Le Gourmand (23 years old!) and its offshoot, Sambar. Yes, the main dining room has been updated with puppets. (Plus ça change! Carla's in the Elysée Palace; get over it.) The patio is lovely, jasmine-scented. Only four stools at le tout petit bar, where Microsofties in muted tees nibble frites délectables. An oasis.

Further down Market, a new joint, Hamurger Harry's, where Sea Breeze once wafted. Neon like Johnny Rocket's, but upscale (i.e., $10 burgers): serious cocktails, salads if you don't want fries, ESPN in place of jukebox. No website yet.

On Ballard Avenue, the Olympic Athletic Club still awaits financing to complete its transformation into a luxury hotel. Shiku Sushi is set to open soon in place of Divino Wine Bar; sushi-master is Ken Yamamoto of Shiki, bottom of Queen Anne. Two doors down, another sushi parlor, Moshi Moshi. Hello? Hello? The London Moshi has conveyor belts; Ballard's probably not. Owner is Kevin Erickson, in the process of selling his wine bar, Bricco, top of Queen Anne. Is this the future? Queen Anne morphing into Ballard, wine bars into sushi parlors?

No Pot, Please. We're British.

It's an unspoken and longstanding trade-off: local reporters get access to cops and prosecutors (i.e., tips and leads) in return for favorable news coverage of staged events (weapons seizures, drug raids). Example:

SUNNYSIDE – For the fifth time, a drug task force has raided a vineyard in the lower Yakima Valley, this time seizing more than 4,400 plants.

The latest raid was Saturday morning near Sunnyside. It brings the total to more than 77,000 marijuana plants seized in Yakima County this season. The owner of the vineyard is being sought. A day earlier agents seized more than 19,000 plants from a vineyard near Mabton and arrested three men.

A task force supervisor, State Patrol Sgt. Richard A. Beghtol, says pot growers are buying vineyards to hide their illegal crops. However, he says marijuana requires much more irrigation than grapes, so heavy water use is often a tipoff.

Drug agents say a mature marijuana plant can be worth about $1,000.

From this modest beginning, Sgt. Beghtol extrapolates (in a breathless followup report, three days later) that Mexican criminals are investing heavily in eastern Washington vineyards.

"They are able to amass a huge amount of money and using that money to go out and buy land to do their marijuana cultivation," Beghtol said. "It's their big moneymaker."

Thus does a routine drug bust in Yakima make the national Associated Press wire. Google News Alerts promptly picks up the words "marijuana" and "vineyards," and the next thing you know, Decanter, the British wine journal, gets wind of the story and plasters it on their website: "CRIMINALS TURN WINE INTO WEED."

A break, please. Longtime Yakima Valley grape grower David Minick (owner of Willow Crest Winery) points out that the vineyards are juice-growing concord grapes, not the wine-growing varieties. So Decanter readers have nothing to worry about.

As for marijuana advocates locally, this weekend's Hempfest is promoting "industrial hemp."

Dep't of Dubious Drinks, Summer Politics Edition

Chasing last week's patriotic cocktail (generically in support of the US Olympics team), this week brings a shot for Barack Obama. It comes from longtime restaurant impressario Jackie Roberts of The Pink Door:

2 oz. Crater Lake Vodka (hand crafted American vodka from Oregon ) WHY? Because he loves America

2 oz. Freshly pressed grape juice WHY? Because he's fresh!

1/2 oz. cointreau WHY? Because he has a sweet side

1/2 oz. freshly pressed lemon juice WHY? Because he HAS to win Florida

Just a whisper of curaçao to make the drink green WHY? Because he is serious about the environment.

Coincidentally, we hope, it's also the second straight use of Blue Curaçao in this (Dubious Drinks) series. Anyway, dubbed the Obama-Rama, the cocktail is served up in a sugared martini glass garnished with a frozen grape and a tiny American flag, decorated with glitter bling by Jackie's own hand.

Will set you back ten bucks, with a dollar of that going to Obama's presidential campaign. Have one on the shaded view deck, or during the nightly cabaret performances.

The Pink Door, 1919 Post Alley, 206-443-3421

TV Campagin Targets French Underage Drinking

Did the les enfants drink too much last night? Things get a bit ooh-la-la down at la plage? The Ministry of Health is trying to curb teenage drinking with an over-the-top spot about overindulgence.

The reaction? Number one: attempts to download the soundtrack (by Brazilian composer Silvano Michelino). Number two: indifference. Sounds like "Your Brain on Booze" isn't a particularly effective way to change behavior.

Department of Dubious Drinks, Summer Olympics Edition

If this sounds snarky and needlessly mean-spirited, just blame the Chinese. In any event, the marketing wizards at McCormick & Schmick decreed that there would be cocktails with an Olympics theme, so the "Red White & Blue Martini" came into being.

Fortunately, barman Darrin Bengston knows his specific gravities. Raspberry purée into the bottom, followed by a shaker of Stoli Vanil and Stoli Blueberi. Float an ounce of Blue Curaçao, and voilà! The blue settles midway down the glass. Tastes like an eight-dollar popsicle.

Fortunately, too, McCormick's still has its after-10 PM happy hour menu, tasty plates under $2.

The Pageantry of "Aida" at Seattle Opera

It's the most extravagant of all operas. In fact, the spectacle of Aida (that triumphal march! those elephants!) often outshines the music and singing. Not this time. Seattle Opera's current production of Verdi's masterpiece is a finely integrated staging and immensely satisfying night of theater.

All three leads sing with impressive musical power. Soprano Lisa Daltirus, who won plaudits here as Tosca earlier this year, returns as the doomed Aida. Tenor Antonello Palombi, who who dazzled Seattle audiences as the tragic clown in Pagliacci, is an impressive Radamès. Seattle's favorite resident mezzo, Stephanie Blythe, makes Amneris into a figure of Wagnerian stature.

In Verdi's time, Egypt was a metaphor for the newly unified Italian state, posing questions of private passion and political loyalty. The opera's characters can still be seen as stand-ins for contemporary politicians: the clueless warrior Radamès, the bitchy "entitled" princess Amneris, the idealistic slavegirl Aida. The questions, never fully answered: should personal loyalty (to friends, to family) outrank public duty (patriotism, service to country). Grand opera finds artificial ways of framing these fundamental questions (In Aida, the captured slave is in a relationship with the Egyptian military leader; in Romeo and Juliet, the lovers are from rival clans; in Norma, the high priestess even has children by her country's arch-enemy).

The director's job is to maintain the intimacy of the love triangle against the backdrop of pomp and circumstance, a task skillfully handled by Robin Guarino. But what about those elephants? In Portland, where the outdoor theater adjoins the zoo, they've brought in an elephant or two over the years. Not at McCaw; not even a pony. Instead, this production uses an ornately decorated set, dozens of choristers, a phalanx of supernumeraries and a troupe of dancers to portray the pageantry of the triumphal procession.

The opera's quiet moments (notably Aida's plaintive "O Patria Mia") are all the more intense for being framed by the grandiose set. In fact, Guarino has called Aida "a chamber opera at heart" in a couple of interviews. Still, that's like calling an F18 Hornet an overgrown Piper Cub; this Aida is a Blue Angels extravaganza through and through, even without the elephants.

Seattle Opera presents Aida, McCaw Hall, through Aug 23rd. For tickets, call 206-389-7676 or go online.
Seattle Opera photos © by Rosarii Lynch.

Pizza Man: Life is a Circle

Seattle certainly doesn't lack for pizza parlors. In the Belltown Court complex, for example, three places on the same sidewalk: Belltown Pizza (the building's original pie-maker), the recently-opened Branzino (pizza appetizers), and La Vita è Bella (which added a pizzeria six or seven years ago).

There's a true Sicilian, Agostino Trentacoste, once again standing in front of La Vita è Bella's pizza oven. He had crossed paths, briefly, with original chef, the legendary Mamma Enza (now at her own restaurant, Sorrentino, on Queen Anne) before moving to Hawaii three years ago. His Sicilian pizzas are thin-crust, not overloaded with toppings.

There are over 300 pizza places in Seattle, and only 20 or so are called Domino's. That leaves a lot of room for individuality. If you've moved to here from out-of-state, you no doubt grew up with whatever style of pizza dominated your home town, which would have depended on which Mediterranean immigrant community settled there (northern Italian, southern Italian, Greek, even French); Trenton isn't New Haven, Chicago isn't LA. (Obsessive foodies: discussion of regional pizza styles here.) Most Americans want a ton of toppings and a mountain of gooey cheese, but traditional Italian pizza is humble food for poor folks. A dollop of tomato, a bit of cheese, some herbs. Tastes better if the dough is freshly made, even better if the oven is wood-fired.

Perhaps it's the simplicity: Seattle's Neapolitan pizza empire, Via Tribunali, is growing apace. Coffee king Mike McConnell (founder of the Caffè Vita chain) and his chef, Dino Santonicola (a true Neapolitan), have three stores going (Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, Georgetown), and a fourth, at 43rd & Fremont, about to open. And, yes, another in Belltown, where Crocodile once lurked. McConnell's original backer for the pizza ventures was none other than Peter Lamb, the restaurant guru whose most recent venture is Branzino. And Via Tribunali's lone non-pizza offering is a lasagna, which they outsource to the city's preeminent lasagna-maker, none other than Enza Sorrentino...who also happens to have a wood-burning pizza oven.

Taking the Mystery Out of Wine in Kirkland

You can love hamburgers, go out of your way to eat them, even buy books about them, but nobody "collects" hamburgers or pretends you need an advanced degree in culinary science to "appreciate" them. Restaurants don't need a "burger master" with a fancy apron to expound on the subtleties of smoked bacon and cheddar. Nobody makes much of a fuss about the soil where the cows were raised.

So why is wine different? Except for the most rarified palates, except for the most exceptional bottles, wine is nothing more than fermented grape juice that's served with food. Basta!

However, as one whose living depends, at least in part, on teaching people something useful about wine, Cornichon hereby welcomes the prestigious Wine & Spirits Education Trust program to Seattle. One of Canada's top wine educators, Vancouver-based James Cluer, MW, is coming to Kirkland's Yarrow Bay Grill next month for two series of public classes: a four-session "Foundation" program followed by a nine-session "Intermediate" program. Not cheap ($444 and $850, respectively; register online), but there's plenty of superb wine plus excellent food from YBG chef Vicky McCaffree.

How'd this come about? Turns out that Cluer, one of just 26 Masters of Wine in North America, is pals with Allan Aquila, Yarrow Bay's general manager. Aquila's a wine enthusiast whose 5,000-bottle list at YBG has earned an Award of Excellent from Wine Spectator.

Nor is this the only wine destination at Carillon Point. bin vivant (that's the name, so help me) has just opened virtually next door, in the Woodmark Hotel. Sommelier Dawn Smith, late of Canlis, has a list of 80 wines by the glass (and many, many more by the bottle) to pair with food from Lisa Nakamura's kitchen; it's a wine-first dining experience unique to the region.

So, from one whose lunch today consisted of a bacon-cheese burger and a Pandan brown ale (at the Deluxe, on Broadway), this injunction: go ye forth and drink wine. It need not be complicated, expensive or snobby. If you insist on predictability, order a Coke. If you're looking for something slightly unpredictable, ask for the wine list. And if the guy or gal who brings it is wearing one of those fancy aprons, listen up. You might learn something useful.

Yarrow Bay Grill, 1270 Carillon Point, Kirkland 425-889-9052
bin vivant, Woodmark Hotel, 1200 Carillon Point, Kirkland 425-803-5595

Is Starbucks In Its Death Spiral?

JULY 31ST: Updated on my blog at Examiner.com: Live by the Latte, Die by the Latte"

It looks more and more like the Starbucks we grew up with has irretrievably lost its way. Every day brings news of layoffs and losses, maps of store closures, tanking stock price, deckchair shuffling in the executive suite, and the frantic introduction of new products (banana smoothies, indeed).

In the beginning, down at Pike Place, a regular customer would know every company employee by name. Now there are over 150,000 people on the Starbucks payroll, even after the layoffs. And what a bunch of gossips they are!

CEO Howard Schultz makes a big point of citing Starbucks as the world's most trusted brand, with over 40 millions of customers a week. Loyal they are, too, mounting (apparently spontaneous) protests to keep their forlorn neighborhood store open. But everyone's missing the point.

Starbucks was never about coffee; it was a cup to be seen with. To hold the Green Mermaid meant you'd navigated the shoals of barista-speak ("Fritalian"), and that you had the ready cash to spend on high-end snacks. Those days are over, and fiddling with the product mix ("leveraging new platforms") is pointless. Blame Howard's hubris, blame the economy, blame gas prices, blame stupid real estate choices if you will, but today's Starbucks is just another candy store.