allison.scheff's blog

Earth & Ocean, the W Seattle Hotel’s restaurant, was for many years a sort of culinary finishing school; John Sundstrom left E&O to open Lark; Maria Hines cooked there previous to opening Tilth. More recently, though, the restaurant has struggled to find a local audience.

So this month, the W reopens its restaurant with a new name, TRACE, and a new chef at the helm, former Luc chef Steven Ariel. J Read more »

Ballard's sweet corner destination for special dinners, Le Gourmand, has just announced that it will shutter June 2nd after 27 years.

I feel a bit of sadness that our city is losing such a beacon of dining; I'm even just a bit more wistful about tiny, oh-so-perfect Sambar nextdoor closing, as it's where some of the finest drinks in the city can be sipped (and the prices are much more user-friendly). And what will become of that marvelous little summertime garden oasis? I have warm, delicious memories of Le Gourmand; I feel lucky to have enjoyed dinners there. Read more »

Indulge me as I complain about my job, just this once.

I know, I realize that it's not easy to imagine how eating for a living could be anything but a glamorous, caviar-studded chimera wherein breakfast, lunch and dinner consist of splendid gastronomic fairyland moments of bliss.

It really is that, most of the time. But I'm here to set you straight: while working on January's awesome Burger issue, I am convinced that I ate a cow. Maybe more than one cow. I likely took out a herd of cattle, people. Read more »

In the January issue, I review the charming and very delicious Travelers Thali House on Beacon Hill. It's a bittersweet review for me because the restaurant is so good, so welcoming, and the food is lovely in so many ways. But where is everyone? Read more »

The beloved, long lived Marco's Supperclub, where I first tasted fried sage leaves (remember when those babies were all the rage?), has now been reborn as The Innkeeper. The chef Chris Linker gets credit for the name, which is inspired by his favorite book, Don Quixote:

"If, sir cabellero, you’re looking for somewhere to stay the night, you’ll find plenty of everything you need here - all except a bed that is, we haven’t got any of those."  Read more »

In our November issue, we named restaurateurs and nightlife empresarios (Po Dog, Grim's, The Social) Laura Olson and Chris Pardo to our list of Most Influential Seattleites. Read more »

Truth is, I loved Restaurant Zoe from the get-go. When it opened in Belltown 10-plus years ago I was writing for Citysearch and I remember that, during my two review dinners, I tasted some of the best salmon I've ever had in a restaurant. (I'm convinced that, like Dungeness crab, salmon is almost always better enjoyed at home straight off the Weber, which is what made Zoe's salmon such a standout in my memory.) Read more »

Remember when everyone used to send emails with 15 forwards intact and you had to scroll to the very bottom of the page and then it ended up being some stupid joke that wasn't worth your time anyway?

Well, my dad still sends those sometimes (a lot). But this time? My two major life loves--dogs and food--come together. So call me a sucker; I thought it was cute enough to share. For your 3pm you-weren't-getting-anything-done-anyway break, I give you Dogs Eating at the Table. Read more »

November's Best New Restaurants issue (co-written by Eater's Allecia Vermillion, it hits newstands this week) was a pure pleasure to work on because of the spirit of looking ahead, of seeing what (and who!) is on the verge of making it big in Seattle food. Read more »

The Book Larder, a new cookbook store and events space (and the only store between San Francisco and Vancouver, BC to sell cookbooks exclusively), opened this week to much fanfare.