5 Things You Need to Eat and Drink in October

Put down that pumpkin spice latte—unless it’s this one. There are better things to eat and drink now that autumn has finally wrapped us in its cozy embrace. Pumpkin pie! Halloween candy! Hot toddies! (Too soon?) Never mind, here are a few recommendations to enjoy this October:

Make those dark mornings a little more delicious.
Look, daylight savings time doesn’t end until November 5. We’ve got a whole month of dark, potentially cold mornings to get through. Thankfully, Analog Coffee’s new sister spot B-Side Foods is exactly the kind of café we need in the morning: great coffee (obviously), great food options, cool little Capitol Hill space. Get the rice bowl, which is topped with a whole mess of pickled and roasted and fermented veggies—trust me on this one—and a perfect gooey-yolked egg and is my new favorite virtuous breakfast meal. Last week, B-Side expanded their hours by a day, so they’re now open Thursday through Sunday… which I know doesn’t make Monday through Wednesday any easier, but we’ll just have to deal.

Learn how to shuck like a pro.
It’s a well-debunked myth that we should only eat raw oysters in months ending in “R,” but thankfully we’re comfortably within October, we needn’t worry anyway. On October 9, Josh Henderson will be teaching an oyster shucking class as part of Scout PNW’s new Chef (En)Counters cooking classes, which will take place on Mondays through December and cover a range of important life skills, including oyster shucking, cake decorating, cocktail mixing and butchery. For $60, you get one ticket; $200 buys you a month’s worth.

Grab a pint in Ballard’s biggest (newest) beer garden.
Last week, Populuxe Brewing moved into their new home: a 4,000-square-foot space next to the original (tiny!) location, meaning you may not have to elbow anyone for a seat now. The popular taproom has dealt with a year of construction delays, but it was worth the wait, not only for the beers but for the awesome arcade they’ve built in conjunction with the Seattle Pinball Museum. Food can be procured from visiting food trucks, of which there are plenty. That original location? It’s been converted into a private event space, which you should definitely consider for holiday parties.

Support your local sugar hero.  
Seattle pastry chef Jasmin Bell, whose beautiful tarts and baked goods you may have tried at Le Rêve in Queen Anne, has earned a spot on Food Network’s Halloween Baking Championship show. Tune in Monday night to see what spooky treat she has up her sleeve and sign up for her monthly macaron club to get her super inventive macarons—this month’s sold-out club is an ode to Halloween candy—delivered to your door. 

Taste Iceland without leaving the city.
Wouldn’t a vacation be nice? It’s about the tipping point where Seattleites would rather go south than north, for obvious reasons—Iceland’s high temp is in the mid-40s today. But you can still get a taste of the Land of Fire and Ice (yes, Game of Thrones has filmed there) October 12 through 15 as part of the tenth anniversary of the Taste of Iceland festival. The fest involves many cultural components, from music to fashion, but we’re most excited about the nightly dinners at the Carlile Room: langoustine soup, mosaic of Arctic char with Icelandic buttermilk, fillet of lamb glazed in wild juniper berries, yogurt-like skyr and warm Icelandic donuts (which I’m unsure about, but I’ve never met a donut I didn’t like). Nary a fermented shark in sight. Get your tickets for $95, and tune into KEXP on October 14 for all the Björk and Sigur Rós your little heart desire.