Though sit-down service is banned for now, many area eateries are doing what they can to keep staff employed. In this week's Food for Thought, Nancy Leson tells what they're doing to cope with the times.
Even with the lockdown, restaurants are still allowed to do takeout and delivery orders. Nancy Leson says “Online orders, phone orders, they're providing curbside service. And one of the nice things is that the city of Seattle has put 'Food Pickup' signs for short-term parking in front of restaurants offering take-out for quick pickup.” Chef Renee Erickson's steakhouse, Bateau, is offering orders to go and take-away meal kits. Their Bateau Burger kit comes with homemade buns, dry-aged ground beef, garlic aioli and caramelized onion jam.
“Edmonds' Feedme Hospitality and Restaurant Group's Shooby Doo Catering's Cater4the Kids program is taking monetary donations and offering meals to the Edmonds School District Foundation's Nourishing Network program and to Washington Kids in Transition,” among others.
Restaurateurs all around the Sound are reaching out to help people in need. Chef Edouardo Jordan is turning his restaurant, Salare into a relief center as part of the national Lee Initiative program. They're taking donations, packing hundreds of to-go dinners and providing needed supplies to laid-off restaurant workers.
Filipina chef Melissa Miranda's new Beacon Hill restaurant, Musang, currently operating as Musang Community Kitchen, is offering free meals and pantry staples to the Beacon Hill community and accepting donations of non-perishable food items and pantry staples.
How about a little fun with your food?
Ain't no coronavirus gonna shut down the pun-dits entering this year's lighthearted Edible Book Festival. Contestants enter food creations they've styled and named after the punned titles of favorite books, such as Gourd of the Rings, War and Peas, The Life of Pie. You get the idea. Deadline for entries in this online-only festival is Friday, April 3 at 5 p.m.
"Hanging's too good for the man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.” – Fred Allen
