SPIKE LEE DINNER. MAY 26th.

It ain't cheap - but all the money goes to SIFF. More info here...

one pot + vita + sumatra feast + the burke museum + famed scholar mark pendergrast = april 9th

caffe vita and one pot just got back from yet another coffee sourcing adventure - returning from the once-treacherously-violent gayo mountains of northern sumatra. to celebrate and further investigate the culture and the coffee of this region we are hosting a remarkable feast with several scholars from the university of washington, the curators of the burke museum "the world in your cup" exhibit, and famed scholar mark pendergrast author of uncommon grounds - and - for god, country, and coca-cola...

we will be showing our video footage of the grueling journey and resplendent coffee harvest, cupping many coffees of the gayo region (and the notorious kopi luwak), eating the food from those lush mountain villages, and embarking on a conversation with pendergrast and professors max savishinsky and joshua tewksbury. and enjoying chocolate from our inspired collaborators theo chocolate.

"Few coffee drinkers suspect that they are affecting American foreign policy, the domestic policies of Latin-American and African countries, and the habitat of migratory birds. Pendergrast shows how and why they are. He has taken on a huge subject, but he organizes the facts skillfully and puts personalities in the perspective of their times. This encyclopedic volume is the entertaining result." --New Yorker on Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast.

Only four seats left for this dinner - $40/person reply asap to grab them... (I had a computer glitch so if you did email earlier about this dinner - please remind me)
location: cap hill caffe vita.
email - onepotorg@gmail.com

Second Sumatra Feast April 22nd... possibly even more rad than the first. $40.

VITA LOFT: steven rinella: author of american buffalo. march 25th

there are only a couple seats left at the steven rinella dinner. you will be hearing more and more about this talented young writer and misfit in the coming years. in fact you might kick yourself two years from now as he takes a bow for some famous award and you think "damn, I could have broken bread with that man!"

oh yeah.. he just won the 2009 pnba..

"If Jack Kerouac had hung out with Julia Child instead of Neal Cassady, this book might have been written 50 years ago. ".

"Steven Rinella's American Buffalo is a boldly original and ultimately refreshing book. It is also fearsome and occasionally frightening, and one wonders if the author is quite mad. There are insights into nature and American history here that will be totally unfamiliar to the reader." Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall

Expect a feast (not sure if it will include buffalo), and in-depth conversation with one of our countries most unique voices.

$45/person includes an autographed copy of american buffalo, in search of a lost icon.
location: VITA LOFT (gorgeous soaring loft replete with a stage and a wood fired oven). to grab a seat click here

Jennifer 8 Lee Returns - the modern symposium project continues...

one pot + jennifer 8 lee returns + the fortune cookie chronicles = november 24th.









the last time we had jennifer (and her nytimes best selling book) at dinner I turned away over 150 requests - her insanely engaging book about chinese food in america made a huge splash in the emerald city - six months later we are lucky to get jennifer for a repeat performance - since her last visit her book has appeared everywhere and received endless praise.

we are lucky to have a return visit by the chef du jour scott emerick of cremant - expect some nw-franco-chinese versioning - and don't be scared - jennifer will make it very clear that sampling and appropriation are core to chinese food.

jennifer gives an amazing multi-media presentation - expect to leave with a completely different perspective on chinese food, america, life. (thanks again to mrs. kim ricketts for making this one go...)

$60 - includes her book - byow. email hebberoy@gmail.com to reserve.

ONE POT + FAT + CREMANT + JENNIFER MCLAGAN = NOVEMBER 20th

james beard award winning author jennifer mclagan will be joining us with her new book FAT an appreciation of the misunderstood ingredient on the 20th - her book begins "for all of history, minus the last thirty years, fat has been at the center of human diets." and through the rest of her lush book jennifer makes a powerful sensual and scholarly argument for the reification of FAT.

the ever-talent scott emerick of cremant will be cooking beautiful fat-centric food - this will be held in caffe vita's beautiful private loft - wood fired oven, gorgeous capitol hill location, cozy and lush. bring your own wine - leave with a copy of the book FAT (included in the price) and spend the evening in discussion with Jennifer - Stranger contributor Angela Garbes is going to be sitting down to pepper the author with question and question. (and we owe this delightful event to kim ricketts...)


reserve now. $60. byow. email to reserve: hebberoy@gmail.com

One Pot + DJ Spooky aka Paul Miller aka That Subliminal Kid = Nov. 1st.

One Pot + Caffe Vita + The Stranger's own Charles Mudede will be throwing a little dinner in honor of our old friend Paul Miller better known as the internationally renowned recording artist DJ Spooky. a last minute feast in honor of my old friend paul miller - better known as the internationally renowned recording artist dj spooky. paul might be the most versatile artist I know - his work seems to pop up everywhere - the venice biennial, the whitney biennial, the andy warhol museum - then one night he told me he was headed to antartica to live and produce a multi-media suite on glacial un-rest, before that he confided that he had covertly bought the rites to the d.w. griffith classic birth of a nation which he later turned inside out re-mixed as rebirth of a nation and made some angry white men angrier (the power of appropriation has rarely been sweeter). his musical volumes are seemingly endless and staggering in their intensity and beauty - and his writing is moving and sharp edged and also voluminous.

I could go on - but the important part is that we get paul for a few hours - he is playing at nectar later in the evening - but from 6-10 we are going to eat like kings, share conversation with paul and his old buddy charles mudede, play some tunes, and drink in honor of his new book SOUND UNBOUND.

this event is happening because of the continuing generosity and support of the arts that is caffe vita - we will be supping in vita's gorgeous capitol hill loft - every diner gets a copy of his new book and music collection. come hear what one of the countries most vital artists has to say for himself...

$45/person. limited space. email quickly. includes Sound Unbound
or $30/person - come after dinner at 8:30 for the conversation, book siging, etc. r.s.v.p. required. includes Sound Unbound
push to reserve.
and then head down to nectar to catch him make beautiful sounds.

"From Raymond Scott to the hidden racism in digital circuitry to a history of easy listening, there is enough inspiring weirdness here to fuel some musical fires for a good while." David Byrne on Sound Unbound


email onepotorg@gmail to pre-reserve...

GOD IN A CUP DINNER

one pot + god in a cup + caffe vita = oct. 21


michaele weissman's critically acclaimed new book "god in a cup" hit bookshelves this summer – an elegant and carefully researched ode to the new frontier of coffee – she headed off to farms in east africa and central america with our friends from intelligentsia and counter culture, had a daunting run-in with the founder of stumptown who offered her a bong hit during their first interview, and lost much sleep decoding the mystery behind the panamanian esmeralda that cost about as much as diamonds.

michaele and i have plenty to discuss – since my travels with caffe vita have been equally far flung. expect a casual evening of deep pots of food, conversation, and coffee – the talented scott emerick of cremant fame is going to be joining me in the kitchen to cook a couple dishes i prepared with guatemalan coffee farmers on a recent vita/one pot excursion – and vita will be serving forth farm direct coffee from the very same guatemalan farm. we will be tucked inside caffe vita's well-hidden private loft - the space alone is worth the ticket.

yet again we have the talented kim ricketts to thank for making this evening possible.

october 21st. caffe vita's private capitol hill loft. 6pm. $40/person. byow.

email hebberoy@gmail.com to make reservations

a dinner with christian lander. july 15th.

white people like christian lander. it is harder to tell whether or not christian lander likes white people. i had one presumably non-white person tell me they were deeply offended i was doing a dinner with christian lander. i didn't know how to respond. anger, remorse, laughter, confusion and in the end it just left me stumped. i think his blog is laugh out loud funny. i am white.

and.

i want to talk to christian. i want a thirty people to talk to christian, intimately. and i want to do it at the hideout in the company of greg lundgren and friends. and i want to raise a glass to his remarkably amusing effort: www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com. i am still stumped. but gladly. is this really all that controversial?

dinner with christian. 6pm. the hideout. $60. includes his new book. email onepotorg@gmail to request a seat.

book signing and cocktail imbibing with christian. 8pm. the hideout. free and open to the public.

this event happening because kim ricketts is rad.

one pot + gabriel and sam's liberation seder = april 24th

a remarkable night. more soon.

one pot + the raconteurs = april 21st.

from our new unofficial headquarters in the pike street fish fry there will probably be several opportunities to cook large unruly dinners for traveling indie legends. the fry is precariously perched in the neumos tree fort and just about every rock world darling worth their salt passes through the increasingly glamorous club/bar/fishfry complex – sometimes it will just be a quick bite of fish but occaisionally we will convince a road weary band that sitting down to a long table and eating deeply and drinking wide are worth the time – the American indie rock tour seems to be unsurprisingly attention deficit disorder-ed. bands spend little to no time in each place – eat complete crap from whatever is in a 2 block radius, knock out a show and hit the road often directly after the performance. the only respite from this march seems to be in towns and cities where friends reside – I have seen many a band rescued from the battle ground for 2-3 hours fed some vegan specialty and dropped back at the club. I have alternately gained new respect for musicians that tour and desaturated any fantasy I ever had about living the life of a rock musician.

from that vantage point I am thrilled to provide something a bit more cultural than the taco-bell-take-out-window for the road bound– our first opportunity came in the form of a person I have idolized from afar for years – yep – jack white. the raconteurs newest tour was self described as “a small club tour” – but the band didn’t seem to reduce their production staff to reflect the size of the venue. we got word that they were interested in sitting down together – supping in the one pot style – sharing food and wine with the band, the opening act and the entire production crew. i must say I was rather peeing myself with excitement – not really just to meet jack – as I knew it wouldn’t be some kind of Gilgamesh like reunion of two lost brothers – I have found celebrities to be rather distant and often difficult to converse with – but just to insert a genuine food experience in the middle of their tour had me whistling with excitement.

then it happened – the American thing – 5 minutes before dinner – things changed. this wasn’t some slopped together feast – super star chef and dear friend matt dillon from sitka and spruce fame was upstairs in the fry kitchen hand rolling cous cous, deep frying whole radishes, making a sumptuous fish stew. the table was set for 25 – the candles were aflicker – we were swishing about in an electric fashion – anticipating – and then the production manager whispers in my ear.

it looks like we are going to need to do this a bit differently… the raconteurs are going to eat alone….

why? good question. but that is how it went down – the band members took their seats in the middle of the long long very long table. and we very politely served them – brendan benson was a supreme gentleman – thrilled about the food, fascinated by the nettle salsa verde – and very curious about the entire one pot project. jack was a bit more regal and aloof...

one pot + the fortune cookie chronicles = march 30th

a perfectly captivating evening with the sparkling jennifer 8. lee - author of the equally sparkling new book the fortune cookie chronicles. i will write more on this soon - jennifer is one of the sharpest pens in the food world. we are planning round II presently.

see some pics and here more about the evening on jennifer's overflowing blog.

one pot + sweet crude + joel bisina= oct 14

we are thrilled to have a rare opportunity to engage with the irrepressibly brilliant sandy cioffi on the heels of her film premiere. sandy’s documentary sweet crude recently premiered seattle international film festival. sweet crude deeply questions the stark contrast between the insanely oil rich nigerian delta and the impoverished almost dehumanized state of its inhabitants.
and on this particular night we have a postcard from the nigerian delta. but better than a postcard an actual fleshy postcard. and one with lungs and a huge f#cking heart.
this sunday we are going to make some nigerian pepper soup – and we are going to sit with and share soup with and talk with and drink with and go late into the night with super nova filmmaker sandy cioffi and guest of honor - joel bisina – joel has been a critical leader in the nigerian delta – a kind of lighthouse of hope – and he is here in seattle - he came all the way from the delta – and if you missed the first viewing of sweet crude – you missed something remarkable – but it is a work in progress – and we are going to see new footage – and hear what is happening right now – today – in the delta. this will be casual. you will bring your own bowl and your own spoon. seriously. and we will provide soup. and you will bring wine or whiskey or whatever.
location: verite madrona (verite gallantly funded sweet crude – thank you jody and crew…)time: 6:30bring: wine to share, a bowl, and a spoon.price: whatever you want to pay – I will subtract my food expense and the rest goes directly to the kids in the delta. a little goes a long way. a lot goes even further. - MH

photos by drew zandonella-stannard
www.onemoresalute.com

one pot + architecture for humanity + cameron sinclair = oct 4

cameron and kate started Architecture for Humanity in 1999 – and since it has become an international phenomenon – and their project (in my opinion) presently stands as one of the most poetic and pragmatic responses to the tragic realities of extreme poverty. their new book Design Like You Give a Damn just hit the shelves – i could gush – but really – you should just check out their work. they will be detailing a dizzying array of projects at town hall in seattle on wednesday oct. 3rd – and then we get them for dinner. one sentence: they have effectively and directly connected thousands of architects and engineers with imperiled communities the world over - the projects that have been birthed are slap-you-in-the-face inspiring. and on thursday night we are going to head south – and share some tales about south america.
i just got back from a remarkable trip with caffe vita manifesting a one pot in the coffee region of sul de minas brazil and then trekking over to rio – where i spent a fair amount of time in the favelas. i am going to share the food i experienced (specifically moqueca – think coconut seafood palm oil) and share some great footage from a specific project i stumbled upon (actually i owe thanks to steph and mk) projeto morrinho and we have the coffee vita directly sourced from the farms we visited. and we get to hear about a couple projects that AFH has undertaken in that part of the world. It should be a rich night – hope – architecture – fish stew – brazillian coffee – stop action animation from deep within the favelas. you should cancel other plans. - MH

one pot + how hitler saved my life = sept 8

on Thursday august 9th one pot was witness to a major transformation. we had invited artist and agent-provocateur jim riswold to come back home –he filled a moving truck full of pictures and turned a dusty half finished gallery on cap hill into a rather sensationally exposition – the topic. well, food. and more importantly – bad people: tyrants, real life monsters, essentially colossal f#ckers. if you haven’t seen the show – go – seriously. it will be up till mid september and it will make you laugh – and as riz so cleverly points out these f#ckers hate to be laughed at.
and if you haven’t seen riswold speak – then mark the 8th on your calendar and head down. riswold’s story will amaze – a few hints – jim was one of the most powerful creative directors known to man, he helped start and definitely helped elevate that lil’ ad company called wieden and kennedy (w+ k is vaguely famous for a couple words strung together: just do it). and then at the peak of his career (and majestic partnership in the firm) cancer intervened, a serious amount of the nasty stuff. most doctors would say an amount WAY way beyond lethal – and the ornery bastard decided to keep living – but he said adieu to the upper elevations of advertising and now he plays with toys – and the results are so worth your time.
jim will be leading us through this painfully funny journey. and we will have high tea, and sweet-tea-time-things. - MH

one pot + nina planck = june 26

nina is amazing. she may be the one person you must thank – must thank – if you adore that cultural institution called the farmers market – she has made them her life’s work – and now she has given us a radiant book called “real food”. nina will be in town speaking at town hall on june 25th. go see her. go to her website. and come to dinner. the lovely and talented ladies at the volunteer park cafe are going to be cooking up some lovely market fare - their space is stunning and they cook like angels (yet talk like sailors) and at somepoint we will launch into a casual chat with nina about the future of food and such. - MH

one pot + marco pierre white = may 15

this rare opportunity started with a phone call – a phone call from kim ricketts (kim is the closest thing we have to gertrude stein in this northerly town) who let me know that marco pierre white was coming to town. I think I pissed myself. marco pierre white might be the most important chef (we need a bigger word than chef here) of the last 50 years – yet he remains virtually unknown in this country – devil, saint, genius, animal, child, crudebrashviolent, unparalleled – but more than just cook, marco created a mythology, he gave us chef as icon, chef as public poet, he gave us “chefwithpower” – yes – but - sadly his disciples have little of the complexity and depth as mpw, but I guess they never do.

so the phone conversation went that marco was coming – and so we hung a carrot – a please stay an extra day in seattle and we will cook a one pot for you in some f*cked up hovel, some back alley, something dirty and beautiful – and damn it – the man said yes. so what ensued was a couple of mad days with mpw – drinking flaming sambuca until we saw unicorns, some destruction of property, and most memorably a night of the gods deeply hidden in the georgetown maze of industrial shmeg – there is a place that will remain unspoken of – but it is a turn of the century villa and two of seattle’s most adored are turning it into a kind of culinary eden – replete with honey bees and chickens and gardens and airplanes and freight trains, a place that you will all know about soon enough – and this place presently looks like little big horn happened there yesterday – and in this snarl of destruction and construction matt dillon, and justin niedermeyer, and morgan brownlow cooked there asses off for mr. white

and he/we ate porcinis and beef tongue and tender agnolotti filled with buffalo ricotta and he/we ate an entire milk fed lamb, grilled over hot flames, sweetbreads, onglet, testicles, shoulder, everything – and it was so f*cking splendid – and he is no animal – he was gracious and almost tearful in his appreciation. thank you marco, thank you for giving us the stage. - MH

some gorgeous photos by curt doughty...

one pot + zoo = may 11

most of you have heard rumblings about a certain movie that goes by the name ZOO. maybe you heard something about a few horse happy men out in enumclaw. modern pioneers? controversy aside, it is a film of staggering beauty and shot straight through with a sympathetic blast, a kind of landmine of humanity that should carry well versed warnings – you won’t be transformed by disgust but instead by a more challenging and actually terrifying thing: empathy – at least that was my enlightening/troubling experience – regardless may 12th is the seattle premier – and it seems that mr. mudede and mr. devor and one pot are going to host a little post screening shindig. the details are still murky – but let me know if you want to be kept in the loop.
“I admit if this had happened on an ugly pig farm we wouldn’t have made the film.” charles mudede. - MH

one pot + the whitney + shamim momin = april 20

there was the bread fight with shamim momin – the curator of the whitney biennial – who very strangely decided to make herself completely transparent to a large swath of the local arts community while supping on one pot soup and fielding darts and love poems – so much for cloak and dagger curators – she was present, fully exposed, and clearly unafraid to get down in the muck. it will be interesting to see her ultimate response to this little hamlet. - MH

one pot + clear cut = april 13

Clear Cut Press Potlatch @ Chateaux Duwamps on Friday April 13, 2007
Chateaux Duwamps, a potlatch site in Seattle, opens Friday, April 13, with Clear Cut Press, OnePot, theBackroom, RodeoFilmCo (Matt McCormick will play his new music and video piece FUTURE SO BRIGHT), a slide talk from Matthijs Bouw of oneArchitecture.nl, an auction of Michael Brophy paintings when we became aware of a fox-faced visitor. music by DJ Masa.
Invite all your best friends (and foxy strangers) to this signal redistribution of wealth.
Register for 7pm dinner at onepot.org (reserved seating only - hurry!). Everything else begins at 8pm (no reservation required). Money will be recycled at the door. Plan to buy a Michael Brophy painting. Get auction guide from vbstope@gmail.com.
Chateaux Duwamps: 207 South Horton - Seattle(Second @ Horton. First light north of Spokane St./West Seattle Bridge. South of the stadia.)
Clear Cut Press will make certain announcements about the future from a lounge inspired by Vital 5 and enlightened by Flux Inc. All ages welcome. - MH

photos by jasmine park
www.pikepine.com

one pot + red 76 + seder = april 2

we all love seder. even those of us who pretend to be jewish. i mean, feel that we must, really must be jewish. but we are back at the seder, and it is not the one your little old jewish grandmother used to throw about - there will be the slightly devilish sam gould of red76, and the darling darling art house rocker gabriel soloman leading us through a very personal, probably somewhat avant haggadeh. there will be some music, maybe some flickering images. the space is beautiful - a new gallery opening on 11th btw pike and pine - and the ever so ever talented sarah dickerman (food editor for the seattle magazine) will be cooking a sephardic seder feast. - MH