Jul 25: Ballard Seafood Festival

It's amazing that this area has many food festivals occur during the summer. It's a city version of a picnic. Today is the 2nd Annual Seafood festival... well, actually it's the 35th Annual Ballard Seafood Festival, but the second annual for me. :)

Ballard started out as a Scandinavian neighborhood where the residents are proud of their Nordic heritage.

A restored replica of a Viking ship that was sailed in Lake Washington in the early 1900's.




The folks in Ballard worked the sea. Salmon being the common catch.


The trademark dish at the festival - smoked salmon.

Salmon (and Halibut) are brushed with butter (?) and a secret seasoning mix.


An improvised sand pit is created where an Alderwood fire is started and the wood is allowed to burn down.


The metal box is moved over the wood and the fish is smoked/cooked on a grate.


We also walked the festival to see what else was cooking.


Cajun blackened salmon caught our eye.


Served with grilled onions, tartar sauce on a soft bun.
The salmon was slightly spice from the seasoning, still moist and delicious.


A couple other things caught our eye... Food on a stick!
Roasted corn and Alligator on a stick.
Yes, alligator. It's not Nordic nor is it very Pacific Northwest, but looked interesting.


The old saying is mystery meat tastes like chicken... Actually, the alligator tasted like pork especially with the spicy coating. The texture was a little chewy like beef.


We split the corn.
Can you tell which half was my half?
The portion eaten to the core... lol.

Jul 27: Ballard Seafood Fest

Ballard is the Scandinavian neighborhood located in North Seattle.


The early Scandinavians worked lumber and fishing. Due to Ballard's location to the water, fishing was the local industry and Salmon was king.

This is the one that got away.



The Seafood Fest is a celebration of Ballard's history and we are here to celebrate by eating.
A not so subliminal subliminal message.



The traditional smoked salmon of the festival.
Alderwood logs are started in a sand "pit" and metal cookers/smokers are over the burning logs.



The smoked salmon meal - smoked salmon, cole slaw and garlic bread.
Salmon is tasty with a heavy smoke. S thought the smoke took away from the taste of the salmon. Coleslaw is rich and creamy. A good slaw. The garlic bread has a lot of garlic flavor. Those Norwegians aren't afraid of using garlic... lol.


Each of the food booths must have at least one seafood option.
This is a salmon patty from the fish processor, Trident.

Typical patty... nothing special.



A crab melt over a croissant. Good, but the cheese and salsa seems too strong for the crab.


For the non-seafood eaters, a glorious image of some bbq meat.



Here in Seattle, a green city, trash is separated from the recycles. For the fest, automatic trash compactor were set out for the crowds.

Jul 18: Bite of Seattle

Today is the first day for the Bite of Seattle. The weather this morning was perfect-overcast but predicted to clear up by the afternoon.

The Bite of Seattle is an annual three-day food festival held at Seattle Center. The original purpose of The Bite was to provide a forum for local restaurants to present themselves to a larger audience by offering $2 bites of their specialty. However, last year, the $2 bite concept was eliminated which makes it difficult to sample the wares of many restaurants.

So far for us, S, K and myself, this has become a yearly tradition. The draw is the different types of foods and cuisines and the festive atmosphere with companies offering free samples, coupons and other comps. Who doesn't like free stuff?

A few things we've learned over the years is to go early to avoid the crowds, to find better parking and to enjoy cooler weather. The weather cooperated with us and we found free parking a few blocks from Seattle Center which was an extra bonus!

The calm before the storm... A view from atop Fisher Pavilion.


The first place we hit up is "The Alley". The Alley is where local fine dining restaurants offer a sample of their specialty. The proceeds raised will benefit Food Lifeline. Food Lifeline is a local hunger-relief organization.

This year, and the previous two years, The Alley is hosted by Tom Douglas.

Tom Douglas is the local celebrity chef who has a published cookbooks, multiple restaurants, a Saturday late afternoon AM radio food show and was a chef challenger on Iron Chef America where he won his battle against Iron Chef Morimoto. The secret ingredient was Wild Chinook Salmon.


All that work and he still has time to cook at the event.


The tasting menu for today.

Restaurant: The Palace Kitchen
Taste: Cherry Glazed Washington Chicken with Theo’s Cocoa Nibs

Restaurant: Szmania
Taste: Homemade Bratwurst with Mustard and a White Bean and Cabbage Salad

Restaurant: Seastar
Taste: Proscuitto Wrapped Diver Scallop with Heirloom Melon Relish and Honey Vinaigrette

Restaurant: Daily Grill
Taste: Hand-carved Steak Sandwich – 28 day aged Culotte Steak charbroiled and served with creamy horseradish sauce and spicy mustard

Restaurant: Portage Bay Café
Taste: Prawn-stuffed Halibut – All organic – halibut stuffed with prawns, spinach and sun dried tomatoes finished with a Dijon cream sauce

Restaurant: Al Boccalino
Taste: “Ancient” Roman Meatballs – Meatballs with red wine, honey, cumin, celery and fresh peas

Restaurant: Cupcake Royale
Taste: Cupcakes – Vanilla and chocolate baby cakes

The mini-cupcakes... I mean baby cakes. The display was beautiful, but I don't think the photo did it justice.


The meal from The Alley.


After The Alley, we walked around the festival and tried different free samples.

Unique way of pouring out samples with a backpack "keg".


The crowd is starting to build... This is Friday. Saturday and Sunday are usually packed to the point where you would see no lawn at all. People sitting on the lawn would become people trampled on the lawn... lol.


Two Seattle landmarks. The Space Needle and the International Fountain.



Pig on a rotisserie. Hmmm... make a mental note to come back.


After a few hours walking around Seattle Center, we hopped on the Monorail to downtown Seattle and caught a movie - Mama Mia! After the movie we were ready for supper.

Back at The Bite of Seattle...
Another traditional item I buy every year is pirosky - beef and cheese.
Pirosky is a Russian deep fried bread ball filled with ground beef and cheese. During the busy weekends, there are usually 3 or 4 grandma-types making rolling and forming the piroskys in the booth.

Crispy on the outside with a nice fluffy, soft bready interior.


Beefy and cheesy filling.... Yumm!


Other dishes we tried... (No photos since I still haven't gotten into the habit of taking pictures while eating)
Deep fried mac and cheese (Unknown, the booth was not clearly marked) - deep fried and tasty.
Blackened salmon burger (Ballard Brothers Seafood and Burgers) - a good blackened salmon sandwich
Roasted pork (Divine) - Can't go wrong with pork. The garlic sauce complemented the very well.
Salmon Cakes (Scotty's Northwest) - Good, but was more like a salmon patty.

Music is also a draw at The Bite. Local radio stations have stages where people camp out on the lawn and enjoy the music.

A Beatles tribute band.

The two surviving Beatles?


A fun day in Seattle.
Different view of the Space Needle