June 1, 2005
Art Institute's Portfolio Room
The dining room has the best view in Belltown, from corner windows five stories above Alaskan Way. The best prices, too: salads and appetizers for about $5, main dishes for $7.50, fine wines for $3 a glass, $15 a bottle. And the servers are forbidden to accept gratuities.
It's called the Portfolio Dining Room, the public face of the Art Institute of Seattle's two-year program in culinary arts.
Chef-instructor David Wynne, a veteran of the Culinary Institute of America and local kitchens like Roy's, Brasa and The Ruins, oversees a group of two dozen 6th-quarter students who rotate between dining room and kitchen stations at lunch and dinner. Wine guru Dieter Shafer keeps an eye on service details.
I was delighted by the mezze plate of hummus, fromage blanc, tapenade, lentils, peppers and marinated beans, accompanied by freshly baked pita. Dieter brought out a bottle of earthy Erath pinot noir from Oregon that matched the meal perfectly. Then came a fragrant dish of cherrystone clams cooked with sausage and tomatoes.
Best part of the meal was an exquisitely tender chicken tagine with an apricot-flavored couscous. A perfect Mediterranean lunch.
Chef Wynne gets a new class every 11 weeks; the students approach each station with enthusiasm . Trouble is, the schedule keeps changing! In the best of times, Portfolio is open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for lunch (11:30 to 1) and dinner (6 to 7:30). But it's lunch only during summer quarter, which lasts from July 19th to September 15th.
Best bet: call 206-239-2363 to be sure of a reservation. You won't be disappointed.
May 29, 2005
Defeat? Dey stomp de grapes!
JUNE 9th UPDATE: Marc Jacotin, Consular assistant at the French Consular Agency in Seattle, will talk about the future of the Europeean Constitution after the « NO » votes by France and the Netherlands; Saturday, June 11th, at noon at Crepe de Paris. Contact the Alliance Francaise for reservations.
JUNE 8th UPDATE: Winemakers were the most vociferous French profession in their condemnation of the constitution. Decanter has an analysis.
France is voting today on the European Union's new charter. You'll read the results in Monday's papers. My guess: the no votes, fueled by protectionist, anti-globalization pessimists will win.
UPDATE: The referendum went down to crushing defeat.
UPDATE: Andree Chalm writes (in French) from her crowded polling station in Paris.
Just look at what's happening in the vineyards: unreported in the US press, a group called CRAV (Commitee Regionale d'Action Viticole) has been staging rallies across the Languedoc region in the south of France and, most recently, commando raids on corporate wineries. (Here's a video clip from French TV.)
What's it all about? Not terribly clear, any more than the WTO protests back in Seattle. The Languedoc region produces a third of all French wine, exports are down and the local wine growers want the government to do something about it. So, in the best "direct action" tradition, they've been vandalizing supermarkets, shooting up tanker trucks, attacking trains and draining the vats at the region's largest winery.
What the Languedoc vignerons don't want to admit is that their wine doesn't sell because it can't compete. Quality isn't all that high; price isn't all that low. And with the advent of cheaper wines from South America, the growers feel, well, squeezed. They want help, so they're stomping their feet like spoiled children.
Still, if French voters say "no" to the European Union's constitution, logic dictates that they'll say "yes" to the petulant growers. I'm not sure that it's going to solve the problem.