Food & Drink

Fast Food and Fitness
Chipotle has done an excellent job of marketing itself as a healthy eating option. Now comes a month-long exercise challenge with the promise of free food for an entire city.
On TikTok, a guy named Dillon Wareham got lots of attention for documenting his journey while eating at Chipotle for 1,000 consecutive days. Others also began posting that they too ate at the fast-food chain on a daily basis. My 15-year-old is somehow under the illusion that Chipotle qualifies as “health food” and would do…

The Lure of Lamb at Hamdi
New Year’s Eve dinner features special roast
I want a perfume of the air inside Hamdi. It smells like fire, black pepper, charred herbs, almonds, oak. I want to wash my hair in it. I want a little vial of it to keep in my pocket and inhale on the train. Open since late 2022 on a semi-industrial stretch of Leary Way,…

Blazing Birds: Why is Hot Chicken So Hot?
A friend and I were recently discussing the hot-chicken craze when he asked, “why do we need more chicken places? They’re everywhere.” It piqued my curiosity, and a little research uncovered some interesting tidbits. Thanks to Google, I discovered that the chicken wars began in earnest about four years ago, but its modern roots go…

Saint Bread Nabs Top Bakery Honor
The New York Times lists the Portage Bay bakery as one of the best in the U.S.
The New York Times has named Seattle’s Saint Bread as one of its 22 best bakeries in America. It is the only bakery in Washington state on the list. “There are few places more pleasant in Seattle for baked goods than this spot tucked by the shores of Portage Bay,” The Times’ Brian Gallagher writes….

Merry Fishmas: Feast of the Seven Fishes
Once rarely seen in Seattle, the traditional Italian Holiday dinner is gaining steam, ostensibly thanks to Hulu’s The Bear
As a born-and-raised Seattleite from a lapsed Lutheran family, I’d never heard of the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a traditional Italian holiday meal. That is, until I got hooked on Hulu’s The Bear, wherein a pivotal episode shows the fractious Berzatto family disintegrating over the dinner. Traditionally, “you would fast the entire day, and…

California Crispy Chicken Chain Plans Seattle Debut
Starbird will open locations across Seattle beginning next year
The chicken wars are heating up. California fast-food crispy chicken chain Starbird is planning 15 locations across Seattle and two in Spokane, beginning next year. It joins several other chicken chains opening across Seattle, including Crimson Coward, Raising Cane’s, El Pollo Loco and Jollibee. Shaquille O’Neal’s Big Chicken also recently opened in Climate Pledge Arena….

Westland Again Nabs Spot on Top Whiskey List
More ‘proof’ that Washington whiskies rank among world’s best
Move over, aerospace and tech. Whiskey wants a word with you. Seattle may have another defining characteristic. For the second consecutive year, Seattle’s Westland Distillery has achieved international acclaim. Whiskey Advocated named Westland’s Wine Cask Finish American Single Malt Whiskey No. 20 on its prestigious Top 20 Whiskeys of 2024 list. Westland is the only Seattle…

Rise and Grind
It’s no secret that we like our coffee. Here’s how much
How often do you go to Starbucks, or one of the many other coffeehouses throughout the city? Any idea how much you spend on coffee each year? What’s your bean budget? Turns out that Seattle is the third-best coffee city in the United States. Personal finance website WalletHub compared the 100 largest cities across 12…

Judges Block Kroger-Albertsons Merger
Decision effectively ends plans that effect more than 300 grocery stores across Washington state
A woman named Kerry (she asked that her last name not be used) was perusing the canned goods section at the Magnolia QFC when she was asked if she had heard that a federal judge in Oregon had blocked parent company Kroger’s proposed merger with Albertsons. (About an hour later, a King County Superior Court…

Seattle Baker Wins Food Network Cookie Challenge
Janet Tan’s $10,000 victory moves her closer to her dream
Seattle baker Janet Tan emerged as the winner of Food Network’s The Christmas Cookie Challenge, a victory that brings her one step closer to achieving her dream of opening her own storefront. “I was surprised when I found out that I won because the other bakers are equally talented, and this challenge was so tough,”…

A Big Week For Atoma
Year-old Wallingford hotspot nabs best new restaurant awards
It’s only Wednesday, but it’s been quite a week for Atoma. The Wallingford restaurant has racked up some impressive honors this week, including being named Esquire’s Best New Restaurant in America. Earlier this week, Eater also named the year-old Wallingford hotspot its Best New Restaurant. “When I learned that Johnny Courtney had peeled off from…

Sweet Ambitions
Seattle baker Janet Tan brings her custom cookies to the Food Network
Janet Tan didn’t know how to bake when she moved to Seattle from Malaysia in 2013. With her husband busy attending culinary school, two young daughters at home, and no friends in her new city, she was looking for something to focus on. She stumbled across cookie-decorating tutorials on YouTube. Everything changed. “I had to…

Seattle Strong is on a Cold Streak
Cold coffee business was created in a college classroom
In 2017, Evan Oeflein wasn’t thinking about launching a cold brew coffee company. Like many students in the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, he was just trying to complete a class assignment. But the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship’s “Create a Company” program wasn’t your typical lecture — it pushed students to turn an…
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