The Weekend: Beer & Bacon; KCTS Cooks; U-Dist Street Fair

I can tell that summer is approaching – weekends are starting to be packed with interesting events, many outdoors.  Here’s a few to check out this weekend.

Beer and Bacon Classic

First up, a new event, the Beer and Bacon Classic at SAFECO Field on May 17th.  There are two sessions to choose from: 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm or 6:00 pm – 10 pm.  You must be 21 to attend.

There are more than 40 participating breweries and I’m guessing that many of them will be serving more than one beer – talk about options!  There are also more than 40 participating food vendors and what I like about this lineup is there are several restaurants that you don’t normally see at this sort of event.  With all of them serving something related to bacon – well, there’s a winning combination!

Tickets are available here but before you buy check around for discounts.   I noticed Groupon has a special, as does Amazon Local (probably Living Social, too) and some of the vendors have codes you can use for discounts.  Here’s an example.

KCTS Cooks

Also on Saturday a new version of this popular program airs. From the PR release:

KCTS 9 viewers demonstrate their home-cooked best recipes live on KCTS 9 Cooks: Every Day on May 17 at 11:00 am. Our newest viewer cooking special features the kind of mouth-watering, go-to favorites that have been tested and tasted by real cooks in family kitchens.

In addition to the live event with home cooks, there will be a few local restaurateurs demonstrating great sounding dishes:

• Chef John Howie, Sport, Seattle | Texas-Style Steak Chili (Award winning!)
• Chef Meeru Dhalwala, Shanik, Seattle | Marinated Pork Tenderloin with Spinach in Coconut Curry and Quinoa & Cauliflower Salad
• Chef Tom Douglas, Tom Douglas Restaurants, Seattle | Cornbread Pudding

University District Street Fair

While technically not strictly a culinary event, we all know that one of the best things about street fairs is that category of food found only at certain events like street fairs: roasted corn, dripping with butter; elephant ears covered with cinnamon sugar; and all kinds of twists on ethnic food – some more pseudo than traditional.  There’s one area dedicated to food trucks.  Big Time Brewery will host a beer garden, too.

On Saturday, once you’ve had your fill of street food you can always head a little north to the University District Farmers’ Market and pick up something a little more healthy to counter whatever damage you did at the street fair.

The street fair is both Saturday and Sunday, May 17th and 18th.  For full details check the site.