Seattle Met

5 days ago | seattlemet.com | Sean P. Sullivan

Washington has long been a red state—when it comes to wines, at least. Reds like cabernet sauvignon, merlot, Syrah, and blends typically receive most of our state’s wine shine. But lately Washington whites have upped their game. Vintners are utilizing higher-elevation vineyards to retain freshness, exploring nascent areas, and reconsidering traditionally red-dominated regions. They are working with new varieties and looking at old ones in different ways.

1 week ago | seattlemet.com | Taylor Gerlach

Maque daVis didn’t intend to be part of the inaugural Fremont Solstice Parade in 1989. But there he was, designs painted on his chest, piloting an Egyptian barge alongside costumed artists through Fremont’s streets. The day prior, he had visited the Fremont Arts Council warehouse on a whim, and parade cofounder Peter Toms promptly put him to work. Toms and fellow Santa Barbara transplant Barbara Luecke missed the artistic solstice celebration they’d each left behind in California.

1 week ago | seattlemet.com | Naomi Tomky

At Hiyu Wine Farm, the goat that grazed on the fennel last spring becomes merguez sausage, served with herbed yogurt. The fennel garnishes Dungeness crab, brought in from the Oregon Coast. The eggplant in agrodolce shines like the strong Hood River summer sun that fed it. Most of the ingredients start out as supporting characters in the farm’s permaculture approach to growing grapes for its uniquely creative and complex field-blend wines.

1 week ago | seattlemet.com | Naomi Tomky

Like a reverse Sam-I-Am, I would eat Burmese food anywhere: I have traveled to Vancouver for tea-leaf salad, made unscheduled stops in Portland for yellow lentil tofu, and detoured to Daly City from San Francisco to devour a bowl of ohn no khao swè—coconut chicken soup. The only place I don’t eat it, sadly, is Seattle, because there are no Burmese restaurants here.

1 week ago | seattlemet.com | Naomi Tomky

Dozens of chefs, restaurateurs, bakers, bartenders, and others from all over the country gathered tonight in Chicago for the James Beard Awards ceremony. Seattle already knew it stood a slim chance of making the stage: the list of nominees held only three names from Washington state. For perspective: that’s fewer than Oklahoma (five), Rhode Island (four), and our sister state to the south, Oregon (five).