"Seattle" news and stories

What goes around, comes around -- and in Seattle these days, that's truer than ever. Seattle's restaurants may have taken a blow when the city began requiring compostable serviceware, but the world of compost is about to boom. The city's new law goes into effect this week, and according to the Seattle Times, at least one company is preparing to pick up some major new business.

Cedar Grove, which has one location in the Seattle suburb of Everett, WA, has reportedly contracted with about half the 3,400 or so restaurants in the Seattle area, and is readying itself for the onslaught of biodegradable cups, trays, and wrappings. Cedar Grove spokesperson Susan Thoman told Slashfood, "Historically we've experienced incremental increases, but we're totally prepared and ready to take in new volumes that come in from the new ordinance. We do have the capacity, and we're working collaboratively with the city."

It wasn't a rash of espresso-guzzling Italian immigrants or even an enterprising chancer like Starbucks founder Howard Schultz who turned Seattle into America's coffee HQ: it was the weather. The damp, London-esque climate here has been an overpowering influence on its food scene, according to Seattleite Ethan Lowry, co-founder of urbanspoon.com. "Our notoriously grey weather, coupled with those long, dark winters - we're one of the most northern cities in the continental US - means we need things that are pick-me-ups. Coffee was a natural fit."

Food writer and cookbook author Cynthia Nims agrees. "Sitting down over some great coffee was one of those things you could do easily on a misty winter day," she laughs. Lowry goes further, suggesting that Seattle's warm, unfussy vibe is also meteorological. "In so many cities, there's the option to sit outside. But here, there's a dearth of outdoor cafes and a cozy feel to a lot of Seattle's restaurants," he says. The city is as ingredient obsessed as San Francisco, yet without its showoffish snobbery - chanterelle mushrooms or Dungeness crab, both staples here, were foraged casually rather than farmed and marketed to foodies. Nims sees the influx of Scandinavians as underscoring that understatement, in all aspects of local life.

Read on about Seattle's coffee, salmon and more, after the jump...

When I think of mussels, I think of moules frites (mussels with french fries) served steaming and fresh at a seaside café in Trouville, Normandy. I guess the place where you eat something for the first time lodges in your memory as the quintessential spot to savor it.

But maybe this fall (peak mussel season) it's time for a trip to Washington state. Penn Cove mussels take to the Thai treatment of lemongrass, yellow curry, fresh basil and tomatoes at the Seattle bastion of all things seafood, Ivar's Acres of Clams, says blogger Pabo76, who shot this photo. Over at Ivar's Mulkiteo Landing restaurant, they do a mussels appetizer with red curry broth, ginger and cilantro. If you can't make it to Seattle, try it at home, with this Kitchen Daily recipe.

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Owner Beth Scribner's atmospheric little shop is quickly and quietly carving out a niche in the Seattle corporate-dominated coffee culture. Barely two years-old, her Aster Coffee Lounge is using a house blend of quality and quirkiness to set itself apart from the other area indie darlings as well as that ubiquitous green monster.

More from Aster Coffee Lounge owner, Beth Scribner, after the jump.

Fast-food restaurants get a ton of flak. For one thing, there's the food -- not-so-affectionately referred to as junk. However, the industry is increasingly criticized for creating actual garbage -- takeout requires disposable packaging, and that packaging tends to be disposed of in landfills. Where it sits. And sits. And, especially in the case of polystyrene containers, continues to sit -- for eons.

One notoriously progressive city is looking to change that. Beginning this July, all fast-food joints in Seattle will be required to use recyclable or compostable wrappers, containers, and cups, reports the Seattle PI. The Seattle City Council report was clear in its reasoning; according to the official statement, packaging waste creates "significant adverse impacts on the environment," and the cost associated with polystyrene products "creates burdens on the City's solid waste disposal system." Furthermore, the report states that Seattle is "a national leader among cities in greenhouse gas reduction and seeks to further that effort through waste reduction and increased recycling." All signs point to compostable, recyclable packaging.