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5 Things You Need to Eat and Drink in August

This month's best bets start with cold coffee and end with fried pickles.

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We’re right in the thick of it now: Festivals every weekend, farmers markets every weekday, constant restaurant openings and new menu items to try. August is a busy month. Don’t get overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of awesome eats—just add these to-dos to your summer bucket list:

Take a trip to SF without leaving Seattle.
One of my favorite San Francisco coffee roasters is Four Barrel, so you can bet I’ve paid them a visit during their residency at La Marzocco’s Seattle Center headquarters. The highlight of the menu—available for the next week, until Coffee Supreme from New Zealand takes over for the next month—is the cold coffees, which Four Barrel brews hot and then instantly cools and kegs. The Houdini they call “sweet and syrupy,” while the Limelight is “bright and floral.” On Wednesday, August 2, you can get $1 off any cold coffee drink. 

Speaking of out-of-state tastes—there’s a new hot dog to try.
Move over Seattle dog, you’ve got some competition. The brilliant duo behind Phoraleour favorite Asian-fusion food stand in a mini mart—is launching Bocado, a venture next to the taproom at Burdick Brewery in South Park. The focus is Sonoran bacon-wrapped hot dogs, a specialty of Northern Mexico by way of Arizona. Bocado’s will then be topped with garlic cilantro aioli, cream cheese, sweet red onion jam, pico de gallo and green onions. Grab yours on Thursdays from 5 p.m. until sold out.

Eat more s’mores.
And hey, don’t wait for a campfire. August 10 is National S’mores Day, and every year Theo Chocolate sells organic s’mores—with their own exceptional marshmallows and graham crackers—for $5 to benefit a local charity. Last year, they sold more than 600 s’mores for Food Lifeline; this year, the hope is to top that, with $1 from each going to Mary’s Place. (This year they’re also offering a chocolate chip cookie s’more option or peanut butter cup add-on, both of which sound amazing.) Head down to the Fremont factory on August 10-11.

Get tickets to one of the hottest chef collaborations of the summer.
Ooooh boy, am I excited for this one. Mean Sandwich owners Alex and Kevin Pemoulie seemingly know everyone in the biz—they did end up in Seattle after some major restaurant accolades in New York, after all—and now they’re bringing in nationally renowned chef Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese for a two-night fête. (If you’ve never been, Mission Chinese started in San Francisco before making a splash in NYC—Bowien and Pemoulie are planning a casual backyard all-you-can-eat buffet of sorts.) Make sure to grab tickets to either August 12 or 13 a.s.a.p., as these will surely sell out.

Bid farewell to the People’s Pub.
I’m not the only one who’s tried to preemptively combat a hangover by downing a late-night plate of fried pickles at the People’s Pub in Ballard. But those pickles (and the rest of the German menu and plentiful beers) will soon be no more, as the Ballard Avenue staple plans to shutter on August 12. Cry into your beer one last time (open until 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays!) before this surely turns into another trendy Ballard spot with an ampersand in the name. 

Opening Night: Is Ethan Stowell’s Cut Club Happy Hour Going to Solve the Affordability Crisis?

Opening Night: Is Ethan Stowell’s Cut Club Happy Hour Going to Solve the Affordability Crisis?

At Cut Club, the longtime Seattle restaurateur is going old-school, with steaks made for sharing, no service charges, and a happy hour where $12 still buys dinner. 

Cut Club, the new steakhouse inside downtown’s Hotel Max, feels like a restaurant from the not-too-distant past. The menu leans comfortable rather than ambitious or world-spanning. It serves a typical lineup of steak cuts, some traditional sides like oysters, prawn cocktail, and wedge salad, and some cocktails that are between $15 and $20. There’s a…

Outside the Box: Gourmondo Founder Launches Olivina

Outside the Box: Gourmondo Founder Launches Olivina

Alissa Leinonen’s new venture brings her seasonal, Northwest approach to weddings, milestone celebrations, and elevated events.

After 30 years, Alissa Leinonen—founder of renowned catering and box-lunch company, Gourmondo—has launched a new venture. Called Olivina, the new luxury catering and events company focuses on highly personalized, elevated experiences ranging from weddings or other milestone celebrations to corporate gatherings. What started with $4,000 from a refinanced car (and a tiny café in Pike…

7 Washington Fall Festivals Worth the Drive

7 Washington Fall Festivals Worth the Drive

Autumn is back. Celebrate with fresh-hop beer, apple harvests, returning salmon, cranberries, and more. 

Explore 7 fun Washington fall festivals worth the drive, from Leavenworth's Autumn Leaf Festival and Issaquah Salmon Days to CrabFest and Fresh Hop Ale.

Restaurant Roundup: Brunch With a Side of History, Cardamom Lattes, and Chiew Chiew

Restaurant Roundup: Brunch With a Side of History, Cardamom Lattes, and Chiew Chiew

Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.

Hope you’re hungry for a history lesson. Oliver’s, the cocktail lounge inside downtown’s Mayflower Park Hotel, was a Bartell Drugs store during Prohibition before becoming the city’s first hotel bar in the late 1940s—the Carousel Room, named for the carousel horses hung from the ceiling. When Washington repealed the rule forbidding the service of hard…