Catherine M. Allchin - Food

Catherine M. Allchin

Freelance writer based in Seattle. Food, Drink, Travel

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'In a Good Place'

1/8/2019

The Seattle Times - “WOULD YOU LIKE coffee? Water? Are you hungry?” Chef John Sundstrom, wearing a characteristic blue apron, opened the door of his Capitol Hill restaurant, Lark. A warm welcome is typical at Lark, which Sundstrom and his partners Kelly Ronan and J.M. Enos (also his wife) own and operate together. On the restaurant’s 15th anniversary, the chef reflected on his culinary journey and the evolution of Northwest cuisine.

Think back to 2003. Seattle hadn’t embraced the small-plates concept yet. We were comfortable with the traditional categories of appetizers and entrees. Menus didn’t list the specific farms that vegetables came from. Pan-Asian was exciting.

Today, thoughtfully sourced, farm-fresh, shareable food defines Northwest cuisine. And Sundstrom was one of the chefs responsible for that transformation.

When Sundstrom was at Dahlia Lounge and Earth & Ocean in the W Hotel, he developed a network of farmers and foragers. “I’d go to farmers markets and look for a new farmer or a cheese maker, looking to supply great food to the restaurant,” he says.

After eight years at the W, Sundstrom was ready to spread his wings. “I wanted to be in charge of my own destiny.”

Traditional Alsatian Stew

12/11/2018

The Seattle Times - “THIS DISH SCREAMS wintertime to me,” says Thomas Griese, who until recently was the executive chef at the French restaurant RN74 in Seattle. “This is an elevated French version of a pot roast or pot-au-feu.”

Baeckeoffe (baker’s oven) is a traditional stew from the Alsace region. Traditionally made with leftovers or lesser cuts of meats such as pigs’ trotters, the dish today has many variations. Typically, a trio of meats is used: pork, lamb and beef.

In Alsace, people would pour a bottle of wine over the meat and let it marinate for a day or two. Then the stew was slow-cooked, often all day, to be enjoyed when the work was done.

In Portland, Ore., a French Restaurant Serves the Classics

11/1/2018

The New York Times - WITH SEVERAL FRENCH restaurants and legends like the chef Gabriel Rucker already in residence in Portland, Ore., the city might not have expected the arrival of a newcomer, Bistro Agnes.

But Greg Denton and Gabrielle Quiñónez Denton, the couple who won a James Beard award for their Argentine-inspired restaurant Ox, believed that Portland had lacked French classics for a few years. They wanted to create, in their former SuperBite space downtown, a Parisian-style bistro with dishes like coq au vin, escargot and sole meunière. No modern riffs here: The menu is old-school.

The Dentons — spouses, co-chefs and business partners — met when they were both cooking at Terra Restaurant in Napa Valley. On their days off, they liked to go to places like Bistro Jeanty for leisurely lunches. “It’s the food we fell in love over,” Ms. Denton said. “We have a passion for traditional French food. Portland was missing that.”

Sewing the Seeds of Hope

8/7/2018

The Seattle Times - THIS SUMMER, Cara Loriz can be found in the fertile fields south of Port Townsend among organic carrot, spinach, pepper and corn plants, with bees and butterflies buzzing in colorful dahlias, poppies and zinnias. As executive director of the nonprofit Organic Seed Alliance, Loriz oversees this bountiful research farm at Finnriver Farm & Cidery, where new vegetable varieties are tested and bred.

Organic Seed Alliance, the leading seed institution in the nation, is committed to meeting farmers’ seed needs through research, education and advocacy.

Before the industrialization of agriculture, Loriz explains, farmers were more self-sufficient, selecting and saving their best seeds for the following year. While industrialization brought efficiencies in food production, two downsides were a decrease in the diversity of foods and a loss of adaptation to regional climates. Uniformity was king. Today, most seed is supplied by a handful of large corporations, Loriz says, and most of that seed might not do well in organic gardens and farms.

OSA works to increase access to organic and savable seed. “It is part of our common cultural heritage,” Loriz says. To put seed back in the hands of farmers, OSA teaches farmers and gardeners across the country how to select and save seed. A free guide can be downloaded on the OSA website.

Rockfish Revival

7/11/2018

The Seattle Times - ROCKFISH IS APPEARING on Seattle-area menus in everything from ceviche to tacos. But new it is not. This lean, mild fish is nothing short of the best ecological comeback story on the West Coast in the past 50 years.

That’s according to Tyson Yeck, the sales director for North America at Pacific Seafood, one of the region’s largest seafood suppliers.

Although abundant today, rockfish was nearly wiped out in the last half of the 20th century, Yeck says. In 2000, parts of the Pacific Ocean fishery were declared a federal disaster due to overfishing. After years of conservation measures, natural rockfish stocks have recovered.

Elusive Epazote

6/5/2018

The Seattle Times - IT’S A DRIZZLY Sunday night in the Georgetown neighborhood. Jared Velazquez Ayala, dressed all in black, hands me the brown paper bag. I stick my nose in. Pungent. Unmistakable. The herb — sometimes called a weed — is surprisingly hard to get in the Northwest.

Epazote.

Chef Velazquez uses epazote to flavor broths, soups and sauces at Fonda La Catrina and El Sirenito on Airport Way South. While it is a key ingredient in Mexican cooking, epazote is little known to home cooks here, and it can be hard to find. But it’s worth seeking out at farmers markets in summer.

The Backstory

4/19/2018

The Seattle Times - I’LL BE HONEST. I wrestled with this one.

The subject of climate change is a gnarly beast in and of itself, ripe with sobering science and charged political debate, overlaid here with the vast topic of food and wine production in this state. I could have picked just one industry to focus on – say, how Washington wine is adapting to climate change. Or oysters.

Instead, this piece focuses on four dedicated individuals in different parts of Washington, from tideflats in the west to vineyards in the southeast. Joining these four are thousands of other people working to ensure the state’s resiliency.

Food, Innovation and Resilience in the Face of Climate Change

4/19/2018

The Seattle Times - STANDING IN THE barn-red shed to avoid the pelting rain, Nick Pate looks out the door at his struggling raspberry patch. “They’re dying a slow death,” he says.

In past summers, berry lovers have visited Raising Cane Ranch on the banks of the Snohomish River for the juicy U-pick raspberries. But the plants started to die in 2012 because the soil is too wet. If the farm is even open for raspberry pickers this summer, it will possibly be for fewer days.

“I’m bummed,” says Pate, in a knit cap and rain jacket. “The patch was fun. We liked it when people came out.”

He has planted cider apple trees — still small in blue protective tubes — amid the berries, in hopes they will do better. “You have to be dynamic about meeting your needs,” he says.

Pate also planted blackberries where some of the raspberries died, and they’re doing well. In addition to berries, he offers beef, lamb and honey. Apples, currants and nuts are in the works.

Climate change might not be the only reason Pate is losing his raspberries, but there’s no doubt recent years have been wetter than he had expected.

And in coming decades, climate scientists say, the Northwest will continue to experience warmer air and water temperatures, drier summers, lower snowpack and more extreme precipitation events.

Pate and other growers in Washington are accustomed to dealing with natural climate variability. But now they face new challenges from human-caused climate change. What does this mean for our state’s food and wine production? These four growers share the details of their work to build resilience for the future.

Bar Food Far From Standard

4/14/2018

The New York Times - WOOD-ROASTED RABBIT sliders. Chesapeake Bay oysters. Osetra caviar. This is not your typical bar food.

Black Rabbit, which opened in November in downtown Nashville, is the latest brainchild of the local chef Trey Cioccia. He and his business partner Robert Compton fell in love with an 1890s brick building near Printers Alley, the hub that buzzed with night life many decades ago. They wanted to recreate that early-20th-century ambience by featuring handcrafted cocktails, small plates to share and live music. While a visit may feel like stepping back in time, the food and drinks are some of the most innovative in Music City today.

“Back then, Printer’s Alley was the place,” said Mr. Cioccia of the one-block-long street. He wanted the bar “to be a cool little social place for adults where you can have a conversation, do business, maybe play a game in front of the fire.”

What’s notable — other than the fantastic cocktails, original brick walls and wood floors — is the quality of the food. Mr. Cioccia made a name for himself nearby at the Farm House restaurant, where he specializes in Southern fare, working closely with local farmers and ranchers to procure the best ingredients.

A Delicious History Lesson

3/17/2018

The New York Times - WHO WOULD HAVE guessed that the hottest new Southern restaurant in the country is in a quiet residential neighborhood in Seattle? Or that it would score a James Beard award nomination for best new restaurant and that its fried chicken would sell out by 6 p.m. on Sundays?

The location is the first of many surprises at JuneBaby, the second restaurant from the chef Edouardo Jordan. His first, Salare, brought him recognition for the rigor and sophistication he acquired at culinary school and stints at the French Laundry, Per Se and the Herbfarm. “It showcased my talent as a chef, not as a chef of color,” he said.

With JuneBaby, however, he wanted to get personal. The Florida native reminisced about eating chitterlings, oxtail, okra and barbecue as a child. “I wanted to make what my mother and grandmother cooked.” (The restaurant’s name was a nickname for his father, who taught him to cook over wood.)

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