the wannabe foodie's dreamland.

recently, i attended (by way of working at)seattle weekly's voracious tasting. this spectacular sold-out event was probably one of the coolest things this foodie has ever seen.

seattle weekly rents out the historic paramount theater and turns it into a tasting extravaganza that is bustling, elegant, and [most imporantly] DELICIOUS. the entire floor level of the theater is filled with tables offering tasty samplings from some of seattle's hottest restaurants and bars. tables this year included: bastille, luc, joule, emmer&rye, and toulouse petit, along with many other fine dining establishments. the floor was crowded with excited guests aiming to sample just about everything within their reach, most with a full wine glass conveniently clipped into their bamboo tasting plate as well as a few shot-sized cocktails from such buzzed-about bars as tavern law, liberty, and knee high stocking co.

the vibe in the room as absolutely amazing, and the guests were all getting one of the best food deals i have ever seen in my life. groupon, eat your heart out...these lucky diners were chowing down on treats from over 20 restaurants, drinks from more than 10 bars, and were drinking from a 100% open bar for only $35 general admission and $75 VIP (one hour earlier entry and a gift bag that held swag worth WELL over the cost of the ticket.) my mind was blown.

on top of all of this commotion, a treasure awaited the guests in the upper level of the theater lobby. this entire floor was set aside for DESSERTS. from a beautiful woman wearing a dress with dozens and dozens of cupcakes on each tier (from seattle cupcake staple trophy cupcakes), to made-to-order organic molten chocolate cakes with a choice of gourmet sauce toppings (from hot cakes confections), to miniature waffles topped with strawberry rhubarb compote and candied pistacios (from sweet iron waffles) there were sweets coming at me from every angle. and, let me tell you, i sampled every. single. one. my personal favorite dessert, a turtle (chocolate with caramel and pecan) flavored frozen custard from peaks frozen custard, led to an immediate visit within the week of the voracious tasting to share the wonder of frozen custard with others. you can bet there will be a blog to follow after i sample a few more of their constantly rotating signature flavors.

ok, i can tell i'm just upsetting those of you who either didn't know about the voracious tasting or were too silly to buy tickets this year. i don't want to upset you anymore, so i will just encourage you to keep your ears open for news of next year's tasting. this year's tasting was only the second annual, so i can assure you that it is just going to get better, and better, and better.