More Than 100 Seattle Restaurants Are Banding Together for Immigrant Rights

Welcome back to Events Roundup, Eater Seattle’s breakdown of upcoming local dining and drinking happenings. The following list focuses on upcoming events involving charitable causes supported by local chefs and restaurants, since it’s the season of giving and food (although that should really be all year ‘round).

On November 14, over 100 local restaurants, cafes, bars, breweries, coffee shops, and dessert purveyors are joining forces for Together Seattle, the second annual fundraiser benefiting the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. This effort raised around $60,000 last year, helping to fund NWIRP’s legal services, advocacy, and other works, with restaurants donating at least 10 percent of their gross sales to the organization. This year, participating establishments include Revel, Cafe Flora, Bistro Shirlee, Joule, Molly Moon’s Ice Cream, Haymaker, and many more.

There’s a full list here, which might make it easy to plan a full on restaurant crawl, eating through Seattle in one day. For instance, one might start with breakfast in Columbia City at the heralded Geraldine’s Counter, take the light rail downtown and hit up Brian Clevenger’s wonderful G.H. Pasta Co. for lunch, then grab a happy hour drink at Foreign National. From there, either head next door to Stateside (an Eater 38 restaurant), go to First Hill for Monica Dimas’s lovely Little Neon Taco, or say one final goodbye to Sitka and Spruce (before it closes for good).

Here are some other events to watch, all open to the public.

Asian American Journalists Association Chef Showcase

When: November 8
Where: Wing Luke Museum, 719 S King St
What is it: The AAJA is hosting this sixth annual event on Friday, in which many of Seattle’s most dynamic young chefs will be serving food and chatting with guests. Ticket proceeds will go to the organization, whose goal is to promote diversity in local newsrooms and fair coverage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the media.
Participating chefs: Adana’s Shota Nakajima (an Eater Young Gun), Nirmal’s Ashish Bagul, Panda Dim Sum food truck’s Gordan Jay, and Chera Amlag and Geo Quibuyen of Hood Famous Bakeshop.
Tickets: $25-$55.

America’s Test Kitchen Seattle Eats Festival

When: November 8-9
Where: Bell Harbor and Pier 66
What is it: This two-day event hosted by the popular PBS cooking show features some of the city’s most celebrated chefs sharing their food and putting on some demonstrations. Proceeds from ticket sales go to the organization Farestart, a Seattle-based organization that gives kitchen-based job training to people in poverty, while also providing meals to shelters, social services, and schools in the area.
Chefs attending: Tom Douglas, Manolin’s Liz Kenyon, and Sawyer’s Mitch Mayers. Chef Masaharu Morimoto, who recently opened the buzzy Momosan Seattle, will also make a special appearance.
Tickets: $125-$200

Chefs Without Borders 3.0

When: November 15
Where: Palace Ballroom, 2100 5th Ave
What is it: Now in its third year, this food diplomacy event between the US and Iran is a partnership between Seattle-Isfahan Sister City Advocacy and renowned restauranteur Tom Douglas. Carlile Room chef Dezi Bonow will prepare a multi-course Iranian dinner featuring dishes such as kebabs wrapped in eggplant and salmon with a Persian twist. In Tehran on August 28 at the Cheraghan restaurant, owner Mohammadreza Fardamin and chef Abbas Moradi served a Pacific Northwest menu created by Bonow. Videos and photos of the Tehran event will be premiered at the November 15 dinner.
Chefs and luminaries attending: Tom Douglas, Thoa Nguyen from Sushi Chinoise, Jeriyln Brusseau (Cinnabon Founder), and the Momtazi family, founders of Maysara Winery.
Tickets: $125.