Chianina beef is no bum steer
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Last year's big fad was Wagyu beef: tender, flavorful steaks imported from Japan and served at such local watering holes as Palisade. The pricey delicacy was popular with expense-be-damned dot-commers.
Comes now a new elite meat: Tuscan steak. The beef dish is a hot new fad on the East Coast, praised by New York City food writers for flavor and tenderness and priced accordingly.
The true version of Tuscan steak is made with Chianina beef, a low-in-fat but very tender product found in the Tuscany region of Italy.
And - here's the surprise - the Eastern Washington town of Goldendale in Klickitat County has one of the few herds of full-blooded Chianina beef outside of Texas.
Goldendale ranchers Bob and Judy Morrow - he's a Texas native and a former Seattle CPA - have 40 of the tall, all-white cattle, known as "Chi" - pronounced "key."
Morrow says, "I took some Chi over to Assaggio (a downtown Seattle restaurant) last year and it was a hit. We aged the meat for 30 days, an incredibly long time."
Is a taste for tender Tuscan steak heading this way? If so, Goldendale is poised to strike gold.
Stars gazing: Stars Bar & Dining, the classy San Francisco restaurant that occupied the signature corner at Pacific Place, is not only closed, it's about to become a footnote. James G. Murphy auctioneers will dispose of the restaurant equipment, furnishings and décor starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow on the Fourth Floor at Pacific Place. (The preview runs from 8 to 10 a.m.)
Just about everything's on the auction block from the six-burner gas range and pedestal bar tables to the remaining inventory of fine wines and the works of fine art.
Pity the eatery didn't make it. But restaurants that start elsewhere often have a difficult time in the Emerald City. Seattle seems littered with the flotsam of failed attempts to transplant cuisine from here, there and everywhere.
Three strikes: So you think the Seattle Mariners are hot? In the first game for the Tigers, a Northwest Little League team, 6-year-old Trey Cranny of North Beach made a great catch, ran to tag second base, then headed to first. He completed an unassisted triple play.
At first, Trey didn't realize he'd retired the side on his own. He told his dad Tom Cranny, an assistant coach, he knew tagging the bases counted for two outs. He'd forgotten the catch was an out, too.
The nose knows: Writing in the Dallas Observer about Boeing's decision to relocate its headquarters, Eric Celeste complained The Dallas Morning News had sold its, uh, soul to impress Boeing bosses.
Along the way, Celeste delivered gratuitous insults. He wrote: "Seattle may be beautiful but too often smells like mildewed Birkenstocks."
No way, Eric. The mildewed Birkenstock fragrance is a product of Tacoma. Seattle smells like eau-de-ebb tide.
Reality check: At the Washington Education Association's Representative Assembly, Highline members distributed 1,000 bumper stickers to protest the Legislature's unwillingness to provide full state funding for I-732 and I-728.
Message on the yellow and black signs: "Will the last educator leaving Washington please erase the blackboard?"
Jean Godden appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Phone 206-464-8300. E-mail: jgodden@seattletimes.com.