We were honored to be included among the guests to celebrate icon Grill’s 10th anniversary along with founding chef Nick Musser, local media, family, friends, and present and past crew members. The appetizer spread included some of Chef Nick’s all-time best bites, including mini crabcakes, meatballs with Northwest cherry sauce, and spicy barbecued shrimp.

A marzipan birthday cake and a stack of chocolate cupcakes brought the celebration to an appropriately festive, and sweet ending. The consummate host, Chef Nick sent his guests home with a package of Barilla pasta and his recipe for the Ultimate Mac & Cheese. 

icon Grill is known for its pretty pink interior, afloat in lacy glass art and tchtchkes, as well as the witty sayings on its ever-changing marquee. Most popular posting occurred after the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization (WTO) summit.

“Thanks, WTO. It’s been a riot.” appeared in newspapers as far away as Pakistan. 

In late July, I was honored to be invited to attend the second annual Riesling Rendezvous conference at Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville, Washington. It was truly a life-changing experience as 200 producers, media members, and distributors gathered at the venerable chateau, spending two-and-one-half days tasting through hundreds of Rieslings from Germany, Austria, Australia, Michigan, the Finger Lakes, and even Tasmania!

Twice a day we did comparative tastings of up to 30 Riesling samples at a time, and I’m happy to say that Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia definitely held their own. Perhaps I’m prejudiced, but our wines offered a fruity freshness and refreshing vitality missing in some of the petrol-heavy, knifely acidic, Old World wines.

I’m scheduled to write an article on my experiences for Pacific Northwest, The Seattle Times Sunday magazine, in 2009, so please stay tuned. 

Dungeness Crab Flan

Varietal: Chardonnay or Pinot Blanc

Serves 4 as an appetizer

Dulces Latin Bistro is a neighborhood bistro located in the Madrona neighborhood of Seattle, a quiet residential area centrally located between downtown and Lake Washington. The husband-and-wife team of Carlos Sainz (host and sommelier) and Julie Guerrero (chef) owns the Mediterranean/Mexican-leaning space which features 1,000 labels on its wine list and has won the “Best of Award of Excellence” award from Wine Enthusiast magazine numerous times. Carlos specifically recommends two wines with Julie’s crab flan, a luscious garlic-y custard topped with the Northwest’s own fresh crab: Forgeron Cellars Chardonnay from Washington’s Columbia Valley or (crossing the ocean) Bruno Hunold Pinot Blanc from Alsace, France. One of my favorite Northwest-produced Pinot Blancs is made by Adelsheim Vineyard in the Willamette Valley.

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup heavy whipping cream

4 egg yolks

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Dash of freshly ground black pepper

4 ounces Dungeness crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage

1 Roma tomato, cored, seeds removed, and diced

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly butter four small ramekins or custard cups.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the garlic, cream, egg yolks, salt, and pepper. Divide the custard mixture among the ramekins. Arrange the ramekins without crowding in a water bath, cover with foil, and bake 40 minutes, or until the custards are set in the middle and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

3. While the custards are baking, gently toss the crabmeat with the tomato and cilantro, cover, and reserve.

4. Allow the custards to cool slightly, then unmold onto four small plates. Divide the crab mixture over the custards and serve immediately. The custards can also be prepared ahead, allowed to cool, covered, and refrigerated until serving, then served chilled.

My September 21 article for Pacific Northwest, The Seattle Times Sunday magazine, is tentatively titled, “The Cider House Rules,” and it features an interview with Drew Zimmerman, co-owner of Red Barn Cider in the Skagit Valley.

A few weeks after the interview, ably assisted by beer experts Charles and Rose Ann Finkel (owners of The Pike Brewing Company) and by my hubby Spencer Johnson, we gathered 31 Northwest ciders (and one hailing from England) and held an informal cider taste-off. 

Here we are in the heat of the challenge, swirling, sniffing, and dissecting the ciders that came from as far north as Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and as far south as Salem, Oregon. 

You may think I write about Steelhead Diner, in the Pike Place Market, too much. But Spencer and just enjoy eating there so much. Here’s the glorious multi-hued Caviar Pie, which is a bargain at just $14.95 a slice. It easily feeds four small appetites or two big appetites (such as ours).

Over a bottle of gracefully aging Giuseppe 2001 Amarone, we enjoyed the Pink Door’s Clams and Mussels appetizer. While I always love plump, Northwest-grown, Mediterranean mussels for their earthy flavor and tender flesh, I often find Manila clams to be overcooked, tough, and practically flavorless, more like boiled rubber bands than sublime shellfish. 

Not so at Pink Door, where exec chef Steve Szrinski, formerly head chef at Flying Fish, shows his prowess with seafood by making his tomato-sauced clams alternately juicy, sweet, and lush. 

Outstanding as well was the Whole Fish of the Day–Branzino with Pesto Sauce and Big Italian Beans the evening we were there–and the Northwest Fish of the Day–a gorgeous slab o’ seared swordfish with a rainbow ragu of seasonal veggies and a spicy red-pepper sauce.

Our favorite summertime dessert at the Pink Door, Lavender Panna Cotta, came with three sauces. I loved the Hibiscus (tangy-sweet), while Spencer preferred the deeply textured chocolate. The third offering was strawberry.

Lately, I’ve been testing a new salmon recipe that I think (and hope) will be part of a new Pike Place Market-themed cookbook that will be published in the next couple of years. Here’s a photo of Recipe Test #2 for Balsamic-Minted Salmon with Walnuts, a hearty-healthy, Mediterranean-leaning riff that works best on a thinner fillet of salmon such as sockeye, coho, or keta (chum), rather than my usual favorite, king or Chinook.

Lamb Chops with English Peas and Fava Beans, paired with a bottle of the difficult-to-find Merry Edwards Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Valley, captured our hearts at The Oystercatcher in Coupeville, Washington, during a recent weekend getaway to Whidbey Island.

Here’s a very nice review of Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining that was in yesterday’s Sierra Sun, which is published five times a week (Tuesday through Saturday) in the Lake Tahoe, California, region. 

“What a beautiful book. This book tempted me to hop on a plane and go see these places and experience the seafood, produce and fruits of the vine in person yet again. This area of the country has had a significant influence on our culinary palettes and style in the past several years and this book gives a well-written documentation, presentation and temptation of the best the Pacific Northwest has to offer. This would make a fabulous gift for any cook or lover of this part of the country.”

A Saturday evening at Portage, located in Seattle’s Upper Queen Anne, cater-corner from Opal and directly across the street from How to Cook a Wolf, proved a very pleasant evening as the small (30 seats), jewel-box restaurant offered pretty plates and pleasing price points in a oasis of calm, yellow-tinged walls punctuated by bird-themed artwork. 

An appetizer of Diver Scallops, Wild Mushrooms, and Sweet-Corn Truffle Salad offered perfectly seared, still rare-in-the-middle scallops in a rich brown mushroom sauce with top notes of sweet local corn. The Heirloom Tomato, Ash-Crusted Goat Cheese, and Fava Beans salad included thinly sliced tomatoes with goat cheese crumbles and not-quite-as-many favas as I craved.

The Stuffed Lamb Chop with Parsley Mousse was a beautifully frenched stack of three chops, while the Côte de Beouf with Périgueux Sauce, a lovely pile of medium-rare slices, would please any beef-eater.

Bouillabaisse offered mussels, clams, salmon, and white fish (lingcod and halibut, perhaps) in a subtly saffron-y/tomato broth mellowed with just enough butter and a rouille-brushed crostini. 

Desserts ran the gamut from a rich Vanilla Pot de Crème with an airy-light tuile cookie to Snoqualmie Creamery Pistachio and Double Chocolate ice cream of Strawberry-Champagne and Peach sorbet to Peach Tarte Tatin with Peach, rather than the promised, Crème Fraîche Ice Cream. 

The wine list skews French, but with some well-known and -loved Northwest bottles such as Patricia Green Cellars Four  Winds Chardonnay (Oregon), Whitman Cellars Narcissa Red Wine (Walla Walla Valley), and Owen Roe Abbott’s Table (Columbia Valley).