Happy National Coffee Day!

In honor of National Coffee Day, you can enjoy some of these great deals at your favorite coffee retailer.

Dunkin' Dounuts: Get a free medium cup of Dunkin' Donuts hot or iced dark roast coffee. Limit one per guest, and is available at participating locations.

Peet's Coffee and Tea: Get a free small cup of Peet's Major Dickason Blend with any purchase of a baked good, oatmeal or fresh food item.

Krispy Kreme: Get a free small coffee and an original glazed donut!

Tim Hortons: Get any size coffee in Regular or Dark Roast for just $1 at participating U.S. restaurants.

Whole Foods: The grocery store is celebrating all month long with 25 cent cups of 12-ounce coffee.

Caribou Coffee: Coffee with a cause. Instead of giving people free coffee, for every cup of Amy's Blend purchased on Sept. 29th, Caribou will donate a cup of coffee to nurses and families in cancer centers throughout the country.

Enjoy your day with a good cup of coffee! I love Caribou's tagline....Life is short. Stay awake for it.

RESTAURANT NEWS: Tom Douglas Adds to His Empire!

Tom Douglas won't be happy until he has a restaurant on every corner of Seattle! The Restaurateur has added to his collection of eateries this past week. First off, I'm a huge fan of Tom Douglas, so if he did in fact build a restaurant on every corner of Seattle, I would be as happy as a clam at his restaurant Etta's! But seriously, the guy knows how to run a restaurant, or 13 and counting.

Tom's newest additions are located in the newly completed Via6 Apartments, on the corner of 6th and Lenora. The 10,000 square foot space is called Assembly Hall. One of the new eateries is called Tanaka San, an Asian-American Fusion restaurant. It is named after Eric Tanaka. He is Tom Douglas Restaurants' executive chef and partner. In charge of the kitchen is Chef Brian Walczyk, formerly head chef at Brave Horse Tavern. Tanaka San will feature bowls of ramen, as well as meat, fish and veggie robata skewers.

The next project at the new space is Assembly Hall Juice and Coffee. They offer a nutritious menu of freshly juiced fruit and vegetables and smoothies. If you need a quick jolt of energy, you can get a nice, hot cup of coffee, which is said to be a custom roast from Starbucks. Don't forget the sweets! You can try the house-baked coffee cakes and caramel-topped pull-apart cinnamon pecan buns. I think I just went into sugar shock! There will also be a counter that offers up plates of eggs and hash, or try a hearth-fired pie of golden yeasted dough stuffed with scrambled eggs, smoky bacon and cheddar.

Opening soon is Home Remedy, a 2,000 square foot market and deli offering ready-to-eat and prepared foods. The foods are prepared daily by Tom Douglas cooks and bakers. Other offerings will include Seatown's flaky pot pies, and Etta's fresh Dungeness crab cakes ready-to-eat, or take home and heat. Home Remedy will also stock some sundries!

Also opening soon will be Zinnia Garden Bench that will offer fresh flowers and eclectic items in their shopping gallery.

I don't know about you, but I want to move to Via6 Apartments RIGHT NOW! The residents there are so lucky to live above Assembly Hall! I'm adding these to my "Must try" list. I think Tom just might move in at Via6 too. Not only does he have Assembly Hall going on, but he has also created a radio studio to broadcast "Seattle Kitchen" with his co-hosts Thierry Rautureau and Katie O. You can listen to their food show weekends on KIRO Radio, or download their podcast.

COFFEE NEWS: Will Ferrell & Zach Galifianakis Serve Coffee in Seattle to Promote New Movie



The crowd at Pike Place Market to see Will & Zach at Local Color Cafe.
[PHOTO: The Inn At The Market]

  Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis are touring the country on a campaign to promote their upcoming movie "The Campaign". They made a stop today at Pike Place Market in Seattle to serve the public coffee at the Local Color Cafe. Let's just say the crowd that showed up is probably more than they expected. The entire street outside the Market is swarming with people. If you're looking for a cup of coffee, I would probably avoid the Local Color Cafe today (or anywhere near the Market), as you might have to wait awhile.




Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis

[PHOTO: Mallory Kaniss / KPLU]




The crowd outside Local Color Cafe at Pike Place Market
[PHOTO: Jennifer Strachan / KPLU]



COFFEE: Free 8oz cup of Seattle's Best Coffee on Jan. 4th!

Mittens aren’t the only way to warm up your hands this winter. On January 4, Seattle’s Best Coffee will warm the hands of Seattle residents who visit their local cafe with a free small (8 fl. oz) cup of brewed coffee.

Those ready to trade hats and coats for leis and flipflops can also enter for a chance to win a trip to be whisked away to a tropical paradise. Seattle’s Best Coffee will be giving away a deliciously awesome 7-day trip for two to Hawaii – including airfare and hotel accommodations. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Details on how to enter and official rules will be available at participating Seattle cafe locations January 4-February 14.

Cafes Participating in Free Coffee Day on Jan. 4:

1530 Post Alley                                                 
Seattle, WA 98101

400 Pike Street
Seattle, WA 98101

1100 4th Avenue                                             
Seattle, WA 98101

365 Renton Center Way South                  
Renton, WA 98055

621 2nd Avenues
Seattle, WA 98104

SeaTac Airport Concourse A, D & South Satellite

A store locator is available to find a Seattle’s Best Coffee cafe near you. More information about Seattle’s Best Coffee can be found at http://www.seattlesbestcoffee.com/ or on Facebook.

Roy Street Coffee & Tea

I paid a visit to the new Roy Street Coffee and Tea (Starbucks). This is the second of two new neighborhood coffee shops owned by Starbucks. The first is located on 15th Avenue on Capitol Hill. Starbucks is trying to go back to its roots of being the local neighborhood coffee shop. I haven't visited the 15th Avenue location yet, but I was very impressed with the Roy Street location. First off, you wouldn't know the place is owned by Starbucks except for the "inspired by Starbucks" on the front door and on their white, non-Starbucks looking cups.

The coffee house doesn't look anything like any of the typical corporate-looking Starbucks coffee houses. The Roy Street coffee house is very inviting. The decor is very Northwest with large, over-sized wood furniture. All the light fixtures are very old-school. They are large clear glass vessels with exposed light bulbs. The coffee house itself is rather large. There is a lot of space. To help soften up all the wood furniture, red drapes are hung all throughout and add some good color to the place.

As for the coffee, I was impressed. I have heard a lot of bad reviews about the coffee at the 15th Avenue location, so I was pretty skeptical. The one nice thing about these two coffee houses is that the Baristas actually pull their own shots, rather than having the ultra high-tech coffee machines dispense the shot like they do at all the regular Starbucks. I personally like Starbucks coffee and I've had my fair share of lattes. I definitely like the taste of the lattes from the Roy Street Coffee and Tea. They taste more like the lattes you would get from one of the independent coffee houses, although I think the independent coffee houses still taste better.

So if you're one of the many Starbucks haters out there, give Roy Street Coffee & Tea a try.

Bagel Deli

I went to the Bagel Deli on 15th Ave Sunday morning with my boyfriend for a breakfast bagel and some coffee. This was my first time going to the Bagel Deli and I was surprised to find the place empty. Especially on a Sunday morning. I ordered the ham, egg and cheese bagel with a vanilla latte.
I was really disappointed. The bagel taste just like the kind I would normally buy at Safeway or QFC, and I was not impressed with the ham, cheese or egg. I honestly would have rather had a breakfast muffin from McDonald's. It would have tasted better.

The vanilla latte wasn't all that great either. I would recommend walking down the street to either Victrola or Cafe Ladro. My latte barely had any vanilla syrup, so it basically tasted like a drip coffee. My boyfriend ordered "The Gobbler" turkey sandwich bagel as well as a bagel with cream cheese and strawberry spread. He said both were pretty average, but nothing that he would definitely order again.

I've heard a lot of people say that Seattle isn't really a good city for good bagels. I guess I would agree with that so far and continue on my quest for a good bagel sandwich. Any suggestions??

I give Bagel Deli 2 out of 5 bagels.

Kurrent Restaurant & Bar

I was invited by some friends to go to dinner at Kurrent Restaurant & Bar. I was actually surprised that they have a full menu. I've only known Kurrent as a bar, not a restaurant. I also learned that they just opened their sushi bar.

I started my dinner with the Field of Greens salad. This is made up of some mixed greens, diced tomatoes and cucumber, and it's topped off with shallot vinaigrette and toasted almonds. This salad was very good. What I liked most was the fact that the almonds were crushed and sprinkled over the salad rather than being served whole. It gave the salad a nice crunch.

For my main course I went with the Cold Smoked Pork Tenderloin. The tenderloin was accompanied with Asian pear slaw, sour cream red potato mashed and some garlic spinach. The pork tenderloin was good, although I thought it would have a little more flavor. The mashed sour cream red potato was pretty good, although they were a little cold when served. The Asian pear slaw was something I had never tried before and it was pretty good.

The wine we had with dinner was a Sonoma Chardonnay. This was a nice light wine that went very well with our dinner.

For dessert we tried the chocolate banana spring roll and the cherry creme brulee. Both of these desserts were firsts for me. The chocolate spring roll was interesting. It has a unique texture, but if you're a chocolate lover then you'll definitely like it. The cherry creme brulee was pretty tasty too.

With dessert we enjoyed a cup of Caffe Vita coffee. It seems that almost every restaurant in Seattle serves Caffe Vita coffee. I do like their cups!

I give Kurrent Restaurant & Bar 2 1/2 out of 5 forks.