As mentioned yesterday, this weekend brings Vegfest—the nation's largest vegetarian festival, featuring lectures, cooking exhibitions, and over 500 meat-free foods for sampling—to the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall.

Find full info on Vegfest 2011 and many other food-related doings in the Chow Events Calendar.

Vegfest: Because cheeseburgers are too adorable to eat.™

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So come, okay? It's from noon to 5—more details

Vince's, the old-school red-sauce classic down in Rainier Beach, is closed forever. If you need some red-and-white-checked vinyl tablecloths, pizza pans, or red glass candle-holders, there is an auction today (posted without a time on their readerboard—no info on their Twitter as of right now). Three other Vince's (Vince'ses?)—in Burien, Federal Way, and Renton—remain open.

UPDATE! As gloomy gus points out in comments, Pizzeria Pulcinella in Rainier

This weekend brings Vegfest, aka "America's Largest Vegetarian Food Festival," to Seattle Center.

On the roster: Cooking demonstrations, nutrition lectures, and over 500 meat-and-cost-free food samples [Eds. update: with $8 admission, which is still cheap for 500 SAMPLES!].

Those curious about the meat-free life should consider attending, or just behold these two photographs/artworks that accompanied the execept of Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals in the New York Times Magazine, which makes

The subject reentered the national conversation last week, thanks to a video posted to YouTube, showing a woman sitting in an NYC subway car and eating spaghetti from a take-out container, which inspires another woman to audibly pose the rhetorical question, "What kind of animal eats on the train?", which inspires a brawl.

Just prior to watching the video last week, I'd taken a bus ride, during which I was seated across from a man eating sunflower seeds and depositing

The best chicken mole I've ever eaten is a distant childhood memory, created by a Mexican woman who would smack cheeks with a wooden spoon if you tried to sneak bites while she cooked. My cheeks were raw when she cooked mole. It was smoky and spicy and totally worth it.

...leave work early and be at Il Bistro for a drink right at 5 o'clock. Who cares if it's only Tuesday! You work hard! You deserve it! And your drink (made by the man at right—more over here) will be great.

...by the health department: the reportedly neat-o Maruta Shoten in Georgetown (to-go sushi with a store that's like a much smaller, noticeably cheaper Uwajimaya).

The reason: the dreaded "Ongoing foodborne illness outbreak." Yikes.

(Meanwhile, 663 Bistro is back in business—Goldy, Seattle Metropolitan, and Tom Douglas [a.k.a. T-Doug], rejoice!)

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Tastes like chickenhatred.

When two Missouri organizations, the Clayton Chamber of Commerce and FOCUS St. Louis, decided earlier this month to cancel a presentation by Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy over his company's controversial affiliations, they made the right decision. Although Cathy has unequivocally denied being anti-LGBT and claimed that he and the company have "no agenda against anyone" and "will not champion any political agendas on marriage and family," Equality Matters research proves

Science News:

[The] cells of organisms from yeast to humans regularly engage in self-cannibalism. Cells chew on bits of their cytoplasm — the jellylike substance that fills their bellies — and dine on their own internal organs, although usually without the fava beans and Chianti.

The whole sad business is actually good for you...

A munch here gets rid of garbage that might otherwise clog the system. A nibble there rids cells of malfunctioning parts. One chomp disposes of invading microbes. In lean

The nominees for the 2011 James Beard Awards have been, um, nominated, and here they be (or, if that's not working due to "a higher than normal volume of traffic," you can look over here).

The nominees were announced in Portland, and Portland has a nominee for the Rising Star Chef of the Year Award (Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon) while Seattle fails to appear, and Portland has three nominees to Seattle's two in the Best Chef Northwest category (with its sister city Portland, Maine, also appearing for

Yet more evidence of how widespread the contamination from the Fukushima nuclear disaster is:

The government ordered Fukushima and three other prefectures Monday to suspend shipments of spinach and another leaf vegetable following the detection of radioactive substances in the produce at levels beyond legal limits, while trace amounts of radioactive substances were detected in tap water samples collected Sunday and Monday in nine prefectures.

While issuing the orders to Fukushima and its surrounding

This appears to be the "news" "report" by the TV reporter Paul Constant encountered in the course of this story, and IT IS AMAZING:

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Slog reader EJ wrote yesterday to ask:

Can someone over there please find out what happened to Thundering Hooves, the outfit that was supplying delicious grass-fed beef to many restaurants and selling to individuals at many drop points around town? They came out with an abrupt newsletter last week saying it was all over, they were done, sorry. It's really sad and disappointing for us carnivores.

By the time we woke up the intern, the answer was already to be found over at the Seattle Times. I'm

Congratulations, lovers of Diet Coke—thanks to your devoted consumption, Diet Coke has overtaken Pepsi as the nation's second most-popular soft drink. (Regular Coke remains #1, probably forever, but only because of the votes split between Diet Coke and (superior) Coke Zero...)

Speaking of soda pop: Have you read Paul Constant's review of the crazy robot soda machine that recently seized control of the Elliott Avenue Taco Time? You must.

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...from the Unicorn:

St. Patrick's Day experiment #13: 4-leaf Corndog with Fancy Sauce.
Still trying stuff out.

More Unicorn holiday terror—Lucky Green Fries, Leprechaun Balls w/baconated cabbage—here.

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Slog tipper Bob wanted us to hear about this:

PepsiCo Inc. unveiled a new bottle Tuesday made entirely of plant material that it says bests the technology of competitor Coca-Cola and reduces bottles' carbon footprint.

The bottle is made from switch grass, pine bark, corn husks and other materials. Ultimately, Pepsi plans to also use orange peels, oat hulls, potato scraps and other leftovers from its food business.

The new bottle looks, feels and protects the drink inside exactly the same as its current

Megan (AKA Not Martha, AKA one of my heroes) made this totally adorable Leprechaun Trap Cake, should you be hoping to get your hands on a pot of gold today:

Spoiler alert: THERE IS A RAINBOW BAKED INSIDE.

(Thanks for the tip, Kate!)

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By the health department: 663 Bistro in the I.D.

The MSG150 people gave it a 4.3 out of 5 chopsticks rating back in 2008, but it sounds like things have gone downhill...

663 Bistro located at 663 Weller, Seattle, WA 98104 was closed by a Public Health food inspector on March 16, 2011 at 3:30 for the following violations:

· Potentially hazardous foods (PHF) at unsafe temperatures
· Inadequate facilities to control temperature of PHF
· Foods not protected from cross contamination
· Handwashing sinks unavailable<

A little story from the Daily Telegraph:

An alarming 17 per cent of adults think pigs can fly. Or rather, their knowledge of butchery is so poor that they believe pork wings exist as a cut of meat... nearly two in 10 thought tofu ribs were a cut of meat, and a leg of liver was something you could buy...

Ed Beddington, the editor of Meat Trades Journal, which organises the annual event, said: "The idea of flying bacon might seem appealing to some, but it's quite frightening how limited consumer knowledge

Fans of the curtained compartments and veggie BLT at Bleu Bistro: Don't panic. That "For Lease" sign means they're moving just around the corner to where that Quizno's used to be, across from Four Seasons Cleaners.

"It's about 44 steps from where we are," Ross the owner says. And yes, the decor be all weird and warreny, original-Bleu-Bistro—style, with lots of stone and wood and cozy spots. The buildout is under way, and "It does not feel like a Quizno's," Ross reports. He hopes to be open in the

1. Matt Hickey wants us to know that Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, which use real sugar in lieu of corn syrup, have proven to be popular enough that they are now officially here to stay.

2. Did you know? There is now a Dr. Pepper for men.

3. In the Chow section this week, I attend a press event in which Coca-Cola and Taco Time unveil the Pacific Northwest's first Coca-Cola Freestyle® soda machine. It's a touchscreen soda fountain—designed by Ferrari—with 106 flavor choices that can

Food writer and former Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl tweets:

This is after she caught crap for oblivious tweeting after the disaster ("Basking in sunshine. Gently fried eggs, soft golden yolks. Bright salsa... So fine") and "responded in a thoughtful blog post defending herself, writing, 'But in the face of ongoing disaster, it is also our moral responsibility to appreciate what we have.'"

More—"Gray sky. Scary news... Toasted bagel, thick cream cheese, sliced Nova"—from Eater.com.

P.S. An Araucana

All of Linda Derschang's restaurant/bars—Linda's, King's Hardware, Oddfellows, and Smith—are donating 100% of proceeds from all sales, all day and night today, to the International Medical Corps for Japan's earthquake relief.

Meanwhile, Boom Noodle and its sibling Blue C Sushi outlets are donating 10% of sales to the cause today.

If the idea of cocktails and etc. as a fundraiser makes you philosophically queasy when people are sitting weeping in piles of rubble (my god, look at the photos), you can

It's going to be just like Officewatch™, except instead of slowly going crazy in the office alone, I'll be quickly going crazy in a city that I've never been to before with like 8 million other people! I think there's a couch somewhere down there for me, but I don't know how I'm getting to it. Hell, I don't even know how to get to the city from the airport. All I know is what I've heard from the tales passed down through the generations of free music shows, free beer, free barbecue, and free cowgirls

Dr. Golob and I were emailing earlier, before the most recent explosion. As you might expect, along with the present ever-expanding awfulness, in all likelihood this thing isn't going away for a long, long time. He says:

Two things are concerning me now.

1. The onsite nuclear waste that is being stored in the now-damaged buildings. Little is known about the status of that waste.

2. In the long term, it seems likely these isotopes will end up in the North Pacific food chain. Cesium, iodine and strontium

Just look at it...

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Dear Everyone,

Please stop putting celery in the all the salads and everything else you can think of. I know it's really cheap (cause it's mostly water and dietary fiber or whatever), but it doesn't taste like anything and it has the worst texture ever known to mankind. Then again, I've been weird about vegetables my whole life. Still, PLEASE LAY OFF THE CELERY.

UPDATE: Jen Graves used to receive bouquets of celery rather than flowers*! She just hit me with one for saying I don't like celery.

*She

Remember how Online Coffee Company closed all three of its Seattle cafes last week?

Remember how they said this?

However, when the economic climate changed in 2007 and internet became widely available in coffee shops, libraries and on affordable hand held devices, business declined significantly. At the same time the company was sued four times and never fully recovered. Coffee prices nearly doubling in the last 12 months was the final nail in the coffin.

Slog tipper yelahneb sends the photo above

See it here.

Got $300 lying around and an urge to learn how to cut up a pig? The Herbfarm's event "The French Pig" today and tomorrow is sold out, but you can email to be put on the waitlist.

Meanwhile, over in Questionland, it's charcuterie and cheesemaking week, with many delicious experts on hand to help you make all your animal-product production dreams come true. Questions so far include "What are the fundamental differences between types of bacon?" and "What went wrong with my homemade mozzarella?" (Also,

Grafted tomato plants? I had no idea.

NOW THERE'S something new in tomatoes besides a bigger beefsteak or juicier heirloom. Grafted tomatoes, including plants with two kinds of fruit growing on a single rootstock, hit the market this spring.

[...] What's so great about marrying the top of one plant, called the scion, with the rootstock of another? Essentially, the breeder gets to choose the best qualities from two plants. With tomatoes, the scion is chosen for the flavor and quality of its fruit,

As you can read in this week's Happiest Hour, Licorous is the elegant Capitol Hill drinkery whose name simultaneously evokes licorice, liquor-ish, and lecherous, and whose happy hour runs 5 pm-7 pm Monday through Friday.

The poor headline writers at the Seattle Times appear to have pretty much lost consciousness in the new year...

The Seattle Times review of Eltana, March 9:

The Seattle Times review of re:public, February 24:

The Seattle Times review of Lechosho, January 13:

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Here's one outlook on how to split the check at a restaurant from a person called Neel at a thing called The Awl: If you're under 25, do the math and figure out what you owe (INCLUDING, importantly, tax and tip): if you're over 25, man or woman up and just divide the check evenly (UNLESS you really, truly only had one glass of wine and no food whatsoever, and yes, this does mean that those who order more and eat and drink with abandon win). I believe I agree with Neel.

Over here, also at The Awl,

Two cute guys and some very tasty Malaysian food in Wallingford.

Dead bird. Free for the taking. Limited Supply. First come first served. On the sidewalk, 13th & Pine.

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All three branches of Online Coffee Company closed for good yesterday—Capitol Hill Seattle Blog has the details.

After the jump: an obituary by Stranger reader and O.C.C. fan Sarah.

Tonight I walked 10 blocks, lugging 17-inch too-heavy-laptop in tow, to get to one of my favorite spots to sip warm drink (soy hot cocoa, coffee, tea, etc) and write and email and enjoy the well-lit tables and nooks that make working so easy and friendly. When I got to the corner of 14th and Pine, I was greeted by an empty-

Someone broke into the Lamborghini dealership in San Francisco and thieved Guy Fieri's $200,000 car, prompting this lede in the San Francisco Chronicle:

The thief pulled the heist with panache and was gone in a flash, but will he get the cash?

The rest of the article is not written in terrible off-meter rhyme—which is both a tremendous relief and a complete cop-out.

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A few days ago, we learned that "Pork: The Other White Meat" is no more. In its stead, the geniuses at the National Pork Board (real name!) came up with the new tagline:

Here at Slog, we can do better (than anyone, and especially better than the geniuses at the National Pork Board)—so, which of your many brilliant suggestions will become the new-new pork tagline?*

*Pork-tagline candidates have been selected somewhat at random, as the !@#$%!@! Slog poll interface only allows so many possible answers.

Originally posted at 3 a.m. this morning—moved up because duh.

...at Bad Albert's in Ballard. Weirdest (and possibly best) half-price happy-hour appetizer:

Baja Rolls
Crisp tortilla stuffed with refried beans, cheese, lettuce and your choice of crispy tater tots or chicken. Topped with our Ranchero sauce.

(The real Bad Albert was the owner's cat: RIP.)

I wish I had something from the completely great-sounding Fuji Bakery* in the I.D., but weirdly, they don't open until 11 a.m.

*Completely great-sounding except the decor—which, if you're making a great croissant or Milk Stick or Cookie Bread, who cares?

Pig-flesh has a new official slogan:

INSPIRED TO WHAT??? Even to an irredeemable meat-eater, this sounds weird and gross.

As an alternative, Slog tipper Charles suggests "Pork: Think Pink."

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After lunch at the Athenian (three poached eggs, ham, brown bread, wine, water, clouds, cargo ship, ferry), I came across this...

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Goodbye, Ronald McDonald: You will not be missed. Mayor McCheese was always better than you—less creepy plus HE HAD A CHEESEBURGER FOR A HEAD.

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It's hard to talk about street food without referencing Portland, where pedestrians can easily eat every meal—breakfast, lunch, dinner, second dinner, drunk snack, Thanksgiving—on the street, with their fingers, if they so desire. We simply don't have those kinds of options in Seattle, mostly because of a few poorly written, decades old laws that govern street food—laws that require sidewalk vendors to get written permission from the businesses they vend in front of, and basically limit their wares

British shop runs out of cupcakes, British lady comes unhinged:

A mother trashed a cake shop after being told they had run out of her favourite flavour of cupcake.

With her children beside her, she smashed glass display units and threw cupcakes at customers after being told there were no more 'sweet tooth fairy cakes'.

"Sweet tooth fairy cakes" sounds like something expressly made for Dan Savage (as long as they were stale). The bobbies are looking for the mum, who is described as "well-built." That

Over in Questionland, a coffee controversy:

So, I drink coffee daily, but at coffee shops I only ever get a drip coffee. I often go to the same place, and instead of tipping daily, I leave a $1 tip once a week. Am I a jerk for doing this?

Question-asker kelbers later explains that it's a tiny place run by a couple, so he's not just tipping one out of seven baristas randomly. Some say this is fine. Others say:

1 dollar per beverage. Minimum. ALWAYS.

This ALWAYS person has a point—it's not so different

Here are some questions that've already been asked and answered:

Are there any vegetables that make good jam?

Is it ok to reuse pickling brine?

What's your favorite pickled vegetable? And how do you serve