I had to start this post with this picture. It was so springy and fresh. It is the new pasta for the Spring menu at Atlas which begins on May 7th. It is, I must add, as delicious as it looks. The raviolis are made by La Pasta just for Atlas and have fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella in them. The sauce is light and the vegetables are perfect. Topped with a bunch of basil and served with our new Macrina bread, this is what a spring evening deserves. Or maybe it is this:

That is a Ginger Blossom Mimosa. The house brewed green tea concentrate and shaved ginger root really make the freshness pop in this wonderful drink. The best part is watching the ginger float around in the bubbles. It is sort of like watching a lava lamp.

Tied with the beautiful spring ravioli for the staff favorite was Chicken Under a Brick. It was well loved by all the staff, but for me it had special meaning. This tasted just like a dish my grandmother made (we called it mustard chicken) only if my grandmother had been a professional cook.

This is a chicken breast which is grilled and galzed with a Dijon sauce. Served with Pommes Anna and green beans. Very tasty.

Last week I got the chance to taste the upcoming “Wild About…” menu, which is the ever stellar Ahi Tuna. The menu is a beautiful mix of the traditional and the new. As usual, of course, we have the special swimmer available breakfast lunch and dinner. Ahi for breakfast doesn’t seem like as much of a stretch as some of the other early morning fish fun we’ve had, but you can’t have been expecting something this spectacular.

There she is, the Ahi Benedict. Aside from being beautiful, it tasted refreshing and delicious, more over it lacked the heaviness general associated with Benedict. No ham or hollandaise in this house.

At lunch we’ll be serving up a classic that we didn’t even want to mess with. Nicoise Salad doesn’t need any adjusting to fit into the rotating monthly menu, as it tradtionally comes with tuna.

Totally traditional, totally delicious. The dinner items follow in a similar vein, with two raw ahi appetizers, one and Asian tartare and the other a poisson cru. For the entrees, Emily will be serving up a spiced ahi on warm potatos and an amazing Ahi pasta with prosciutto.

Yesterday I went to the first round of tastings at Atlas Foods for the menu coming up on the 10th, and boy did it feel like fall. The lunch menu is getting a beautiful salad that showcases that everpresent fall fruit, the apple, along with blue cheese, walnuts, and an odd but tasty pairing, sauteed sage shrimp. The two staff favorites were also fall oriented, actually, both were pumpkin flavored! Oh what fun it is to have gourds in season.

This is the Pumpkin Pasta. Big flat ravioli made by La Pasta and filled with pumpkin and cheese. On top is a yam cream sauce and the crowning touch was the pumpkin seeds. Toasted and liberally sprinkled on top, this added that fall crunch to this wonderfully delicious dish. The staff was impressed. But then we moved on to dessert and we were way more than impressed.

This creamy pumpkin cheesecake, I belive I may have heard someone describe as “perfect cheesecake.” I know I was ready to fight someone for the last bite of ours. This is the version with the fresh whipped cream on the side and the pomegranate molasses (we tried a few set ups). But the one thing that was the same through out was the amazing taste of this delicious cake. I’ll be counting down to the new menu next week.

Here at CHOW foods, we always love to help you give back to your community. Tonight, Atlas Foods is offering you the easiest way to do so: just EAT! A percentage of all money spent tonight at Atlas will be donated to Page Ahead Children’s Literacy Program. This is the perfect time to come see our new menu. Don’t worry, we haven’t gotten rid of any of your old favorites, though! Please stop by and support this great cause while enjoy a delicious meal.

For those of you who didn’t justify the $75 enterance fee to Sunset Supper, you might understand why it was easy for others by the end of this post. Given that all the food and beverages are donated, all of your ticket price is going directly to benefit the Market Foundation, which funds the Senior Center, Childcare, Clinic and Foodbank–and you thought it was just some people selling food.

After the Pike Place Market closed on Friday, Coastal Kitchen, the Hi-Life and Atlas Foods as well as 65 other establishments set up tables of food and drink for event goers. With decorations by artist Molly Norris Curtis, the three Chow booths were getting admiration even before the food began for being the most festive booths.

The Ahi tuna looked beautiful at Coastal Kitchen’s booth, seared on the outside, a beautiful pink on the inside, it sat on top of a crunchy slice of green cucumber, with the bright red charmoula on top. They were served on convenient little one bite spoons that made everything easy to grab.

The Sangriatinis at the Hi-Life were another crowd favorite, especially after sous-chef Janae’s description, “if Sangria and a martini had a baby…” Over at Atlas they were serving up huge platefuls of albacore tuna poke. Tuna seemed to be a common theme at the event, but as Atlas chef John pointed out, ours was the biggest! It was also delicious, with a crunchy slaw underneath to add texture to the fish.

As the night ran on and the food was grabbed away by the excited customers, CHOW did some wandering to find out what else was being served. Duck and tuna seemed to be the stars of the night, with one stall even serving duck bacon. The dishes ranged from the simple, like Beecher’s world famous Mac & Cheese, to the upscale, like the Hunt Club’s smoked salmon terrine with paddlefish caviar (yes, it was amazing). The night was great, CHOW got to see lots of people enjoying the foods of Coastal Kitchen, the Hi-Life and Atlas Foods. We hope that next year you can justify putting your dining dollars towards this amazing fundraiser.

This just in from the outpost at Atlas Foods, they have figured out what they are serving for the Sunset Supper on August 10th at the Pike Place Market. On a related note, I think I know where you can find me on August 10th–trying to eat and drink as many of these as possible before they reach the public! That is because the food will be albacore poke–if you haven’t tried it at your local sushi restaurant, poke is a type of fish sald dressed in sesame soy deliciousness. If that saltiness is making you thirsty, no need to stray, because the quencher coming out will be blackberry lemon martinis. Sounds like a pretty dreamy snack to me. See you guys there!

Wednedsay the 20th is being heralded as the return of Billy Bob! Billy Bob, once a fan favorite at Atlas, has since moved on, but this pork dish comes back in a new form: Tenatively called ‘Son of Billy Bob,’ it comes accompanied by hush puppies and some flavorful kale and tomato. This dish was one of the 3 new dinner entrees tasted this week–I’d love to tell you the staff favorite but there was no consensus, as all three were amazing.

The tasting of the breakfast dishes was equally successful, with the staff favorites being the French style breakfast–thick bread toped with black forest ham, gruyere and an egg, and the blintzes with blueberry compote. Along with these favorites, there was also Latkes and a brand new scramble.

The most fun part of the tasting? Definetly checking out all the new summer cocktails, just made for a sunny afternoon on the Atlas patio!