White Center Now: The blog about White Center

(Google Street View added Saturday evening – their photo’s from some months back, though)
Ok, so I said it was going to be a Thursday thing. I lied. My camera isn’t working for some reason, and life just got in the way. I did find something new and yummy in White Center though. Queen’s Deli. It is in the space that was taken by Caleza Express, a Filipino lunch counter. Their sign says “Authentic Khmer food desserts appetizers”. I have to be honest, even though Seattle boasts a lot of different asian foods, this is the first that I have come across advertised as Khmer, and I spent the entire lunch with the Dead Kennedys song ‘Holiday in Cambodia’ stuck in my head. This worked well with the TV showing Cambodian pop videos. One featured a cover of “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor, all in Cambodian.

Now, I know the first thing about eating at a different ethnic restaurant is going to be crossing that language barrier. The menu is a bit confusing here, but the women running the counter speak perfect English, and are very patient when helping you with your order. They told me they have been open about a month, and seem to get a brisk lunch trade. I actually skipped the menu and orderd of the steam table, which is set up cafeteria style.

Knowing jack about Khmer food, I am going to say this is very similar to Thai and Vietnameses. I went with the beef Satay and beef stew with bread. The satay was marinated and rubbed in lemon grass, tamarind, and other spices that my western tongue was not identifing. I asked what it was, and the woman told me that it was Lemon grass, and stuff. Like I could even reproduce this on my own even if I had been given the recipe. I would like to. I could of eaten poiunds of it, and making it myself would probably save me from having to leave home ever again. Lean beef with just the perfect amount of spice to highlite the meat, and not over power it. There was just enough char on the meat to caramelize all the taste and really make it pop.

The stew is where it is at though. Just like your mom used to make but completely different. Huge chunks of beef, carrots and onions. Once again lemon grass is a major component here along with chili and plum sauce. When I say chili, I mean flavor and not heat. This is not fire food. No burn, just flavor. It is served with a toasted baguette, so you can soak up all the juices. Unlike the satay skewers, this is not lean cuts of beef. These are fatty, tough chunks of meat that have been braised so long they fall apart in your mouth. Sure beef fat is not something you want to eat at every meal, but in this case it makes everything more tender and flavorful. Even so, this soup does not end up greasy, but maintains its heartiness.

Owning a dessert place myself, this is a little hard to say, but try their desserts. Deep fried little pockets stuffed with coconut and bean paste, and then coated in a fine sugar glaze. Cambodian donuts. I could make myself sick on these things. Before I got them, I watched the cook make them fresh and pour them out onto the steam table. I had two different kinds, and wished I had gotten more.

Once again, like a lot of joints in the area, this place is cheap. I got Beef satay, fried rice, beef soup, a baguette, a cup of jasmine tea, and dessert for $7. I would get in there before they figure out what they got and start raising prices. Even at twice the price I would have left feeling I got a great deal.

Queen’s Deli

9808 14th Ave SW

Seattle, Wa 98106

206-767-8363

CASH ONLY

(just north of Big Al’s)

From the Highline Public Schools eHighlights: If you’re a parent or teacher in the district, you’ll be asked within the next few weeks to answer a survey about whether you’d prefer late starts or early departures for those days of the year when teachers have extra training or review time.

Here’s the spreadsheet from the King County Coalition on Homelessness – the overnight check found 39 people in White Center – 29 of them sleeping in cars or trucks. Overall, in the comparable “selected” areas of King County they canvassed, the volunteers found 2 percent more people than last year – 2,684, up from 2,631 – but the total number they found was 2,826.

Today’s the day for a big fundraiser for White Center’s New Start High School. As Paul Fischburg put it in a letter we published in its entirety earlier this month:

On Thursday 1/29, all day, when you buy anything at the Barnes and Noble at Westwood Village shopping center and show them the attached flyer, a portion of the sales will be donated to New Start for the library. Better yet, books on New Start’s wishlist will be on display and you can buy one directly for the library. Even better still, come on down between 6:30 and 8:00 pm, and view student art work, hear readings of student writings and enter a drawing to win an ice cream party at White Center’s own Full Tilt Ice Cream!

You can download and print the flyer, which has the voucher number, here.

HCLT offers a unique way to get help buying a home; read about it here. At 6 pm tonight, there’s an orientation at the Greenbridge Library. But you can’t just show up – RSVP is required – 206-323-1227 or info@homesteadclt.org.

(WCN photo of Hicks Lake, 1/7/09)
From Dick Thurnau at Friends of Hicks Lake:

King County has allotted $25,000 in the budget for Lakewood Park / Hicks Lake improvements and has asked Friends Of Hicks Lake for suggestions. We have many; however, we wish to gather input from the community to provide the best and wisest recommendations.

Suggestions (including, so far):

*Water fountain with an aeration system to help cleanse the lake water and display a beautiful attraction. (will need volunteers)

*Walking path around Hicks Lake might require use of a small section of school property (safety reasons)

*Volleyball, basketball court in half of the tennis court, horseshoes

*Full-time caretaker for the park house to control graffiti, litter, illegal alcohol usage, and vandalism

We welcome the community’s input.

You can reach Dick by e-mail at hdthurnau@juno.com or by phone at 206-244-4558.

It’s almost as good as peering into a crystal ball – the White Center Early Learning Initiative‘s February/March newsletter is online now – catch up with the latest happenings in this closely watched, White Center-based program.

The roads are still OK but everything else has a coating of white. Forecasters continue to promise that this will only last a few hours, and then it’ll get rained away.

Thanks to JB for sharing these photos of the Tet celebration at White Center’s Cafe Tam Thanh. We welcome your photos any time – whitecenternow@gmail.com – thank you!

We’ve received a copy of an initiative that former Burien City Council member Stephen Lamphear plans to pursue to prevent North Highline from being broken up by two separate annexations, as is the current path Burien and Seattle appear to be pursuing. See it here. More to come. ADDED 9:45 PM: Via e-mail, we asked Lamphear what happens next. He explains, “After getting together with the city attorney to agree on official ballot language, we have 120 days to gather signatures from Burien voters.” Why pursue the initiative? we asked. “I’m doing this because the MOU slicing and dicing North Highline is not in Burien’s best interest, gives away the tax paying business areas of NH, and is not the preference of most NH residents. The MOU was negotiated in secret and did not include the most affected — those in NH.” He wants to see Burien annex the entire area, explaining: “Before Burien incorporated in 1993, the entire area was Highline — one community. I live 4 blocks from NH and these are my neighbors. For Seattle, NH is a land grab; to Burien these are our neighbors.”

ORIGINAL 7:07 PM REPORT: Annexation matters were scheduled to be on the agenda tonight but it sounds like they may not be able to follow the original plan, as deputy mayor Rose Clark opened the “work session” by announcing two councilmembers are absent because of a “medical emergency” — in all, only three are present (Gordon Shaw and Sally Nelson, along with Clark) so they don’t have quorum. The live stream is up nonetheless; you can watch it here. 7:33 PM UPDATE: Brief discussion of the annexation issue in a review of accomplishments: Burien city manager Mike Martin says he’s focusing on an August election, in hopes the annexation “transition” could be made in March/April of 2010. 7:44 PM UPDATE: They’ve concluded no additional members are showing up, so the agenda – including annexation – is now pushed back till next Monday.

No shortage of ice this morning – and tomorrow, the forecast says again today, might start with snow.

If you’re in the Seattle district, tomorrow (Monday 1/26) there’s no school (“day between semesters”). In the Highline district, Friday 2/6 is the next no-classes day (“waiver day”). Today, by the way, is College Goal Sunday at all 4 high school campuses in the Highline district, 2-5 pm – read more about it here.

ART EVENT TODAY: Kim sends WCN this reminder of what should be quite the spectacle in Burien this afternoon/evening:

A 30′ sculpture of a mother and child, The Passage will be the first artwork installed in the new Burien/ Interim Art Space (B/ IAS). This impressive scuplture is being transported from its current location on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, and will be installed with a community celebration planned for January 24th – and you are invited!

The Passage was originally created for Burning Man, built from recycled scrap metal, and features a flame between the hands of the mother and child, water falling from their other hands, and footprints also lighted with flames. The sculpture will only have the flames lighted for special events.

The interim art space will temporarily take over the lot just north of the first residential building at Burien Town Square. For the next year, several sculptures are being brought in from national and local artists, thanks to efforts by Ignition Northwest and the Burien Arts Commission, in collaboration with 4Culture, Urban Partners and GGLO. Local arts groups, students and gardeners will also be encouraged to contribute to the space.

The B/ IAS grand opening event starts at 3 p.m. with a pre-event artists’ reception at the Burien Town Square sales center, followed by a processional to the interim arts space, and the lighting of The Passage, which features both flames and water. Other sculptures will be introduced, also featuring interactivity and flame.

Here’s a map to Burien Town Square.

ANNEXATION ON THE AGENDA: Monday night’s Burien City Council work session has North Highline Annexation-related items on the agenda; see that agenda here. If you can’t make it to the meeting in person, you can watch the online stream via the City of Burien’s recently revamped website.

A reminder from Metro:

King County Metro Transit is reminding customers that bus fares for adults will
increase by 25 cents starting Sunday, Feb 1.

A two-zone trip taken during peak-commute times will cost $2.50, a one-zone trip
$2.00, and the off-peak fare will be $1.75. New monthly passes also reflect the
increase. Youth and senior/disabled fares will not change.

This fare increase is one of several measures being undertaken by Metro to help
maintain its existing system. A weak economy, record fuel prices in mid-2008 and
falling sales tax revenues have resulted in a significant budget shortfall for the
agency. These factors have also forced Metro to cut costs.

We’ll bring you two reports on news from last night’s White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meeting, because there’s PLENTY to report. For starters, though, a quick update on what King County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Hancock reported on area crime in the month since the group’s last meeting: No burglaries; only one robbery, and it involved “two people who knew each other”; two felony assaults — one in front of Brewsky’s that left the victim with “13 staples to the head,” according to Deputy Hancock, who added “The victim and suspect were back drinking beer together (yesterday)” — the other involved “a group of homeless people attacking another homeless person with sticks.” He also reported a gang-related “drive-by shooting” in which nobody was hit or hurt – 11 rounds fired at a “gang member’s house” just off Roxbury on 11th SW (county side) last Saturday night. Car-related crime was busier – three car prowls in the area, and, the really big stat – 14 car thefts in the past month in the unincorporated area, 9 of those in the White Center “Weed and Seed” area. Deputy Hancock called this a “huge spike” and said KCSO has contributed a detective to a special area Task Force that will be working on the car-theft problem. More news from the CSC meeting later today.

Cliff Mass is indicating that a cold front will be moving into the Puget Sound region this weekend.  Expect icy roads and much colder weather, perhaps even snow.

By Sunday AM we will be cold enough aloft for snow..but there is a real question on how much precipitation will be around. The latest runs only indicate light snow south of Seattle. The current forecast configuration does not look amenable to a significant snowfall. I will update much more on this tomorrow.

6 pm tonight, it’s the first White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meeting of the year, St. James Place, 9421 18th SW (map). Previous White Center Now coverage of this group’s meetings is archived here.

No doubt you could have gotten this piece of news from the front cover of the New York Times or the Seattle Times.   Apparently 1,400 of the initial cuts will come from the Seattle area.  Here at Cafe Rozella we have quite a number of MS employees who use the cafe as their third office.   The layoffs will significantly impact White Center and West Seattle.  I have some calls out to some economists to give us a gauge of just how hard this will impact us.  But make no mistake about it, this will have an adverse impact on Puget Sound are and White Center.

Make no mistake about it, this is bad news for Microsoft and the Seattle area.  Since Microsoft got a license to print money in the mid-80s, it has never contracted.   As if you needed another indication that this is not going down well, MS stock went down after the announcement.  The money people view this as a portent of further ills to come.  And even Ballmer, who never fails to spin a positive tale out of anything, was pretty circumspect in his outlook.  Bottom line is that we are seeing a period of negative growth for Microsoft.

LOCATION:  El Paisano is located at 9629 -15th Ave. SW, Seattle 98106  They are just off the intersection of 15th Ave. SW and Roxbury (across the street from Bartell Drugs).

Phone:  (206) 767-5526

They accept credit/debit cards.

I really have not been writing enough for this blog. I can blame it on a lot of things; life, my new business, lack of sleep, the snow, etc, etc. Really it is just that I am a little lazy. I have to eat though. Actually I love to eat, and most of the time that I do it is in walking distance of my shop, which is most of White Center. So, I decided to start blogging about my lunches on Thursdays. This is my afternoon off. I go shopping, play with the dogs, and get ready for the weekend rush. Not really a day off, but a bit more relaxed then the other days.

First up is Rosticeria y Cocina El Paisano. I go here a lot. It is not the closest Mexican place. Not even the cheapest. It is one of the best though, and reminds me of home.  Consistently good. I know when they set a plate of food in front of me, no matter what I have ordered, the food is going to be good. That is almost the definition of comfort food.

The area I grew up in LA was predominantly Mexican, and poor. MY parents, and I swear this is true, would open up a paper when it was time for a new apartment, and just pick the cheapest place. We lived in Compton, Silver lake, Echo Park (before it was trendy), Santa Ana, even when we moved to Huntington Beach it was in the Hispanic area that was known as Slater Slums. In all those neighborhoods I became familiar with Rosticerias, even if it was an EL Pollo Loco. See, my parents are from the midwest, and if is anything they know well, it is their way around a yard bird and pork. We ate at all of the local chicken joints. Cesars on Atlantic and 65, Pablo’s on Alameda, Pollo Macho on  Wilshire, even Rosco’s ( which is not Mexican, but makes a mean fried chicken and waffle platter). When I first moved to Seattle, one of the things I missed most was Mexican food. I craved El Pollo Loco,  the bottom of the barrel in LA. Mama’s in Belltown, and Bimbo’s on the hill is crap food. Not just not authentic, just crap food. I was amazed when I found White Center. So much good food, in one little area, and the rest of Seattle had no idea it even existed. Rosticeria y Cocina El Paisano is the best in chicken. It is owned by the butcher shop two doors down. Sure, the carnitas is better at Del Rio. I can get an equal burrito at the bus for less. As far as chicken goes, Paisano is king.

Marinated in an adobe chili mix, and then flame roasted. Crsipy skin, and a juicy bird. The sides are simple, and plentiful. Rice, beans and a simple salad. Shining right next to that crispy bird is the house made salsas. Most Mexican places in Seattle seem to have a can opener as their main tool is salsa prep. Not these guys. I have become leery of Salsa Verde since moving to Seattle, but Paisano’s have nailed it. Flamed roasted tomatillos and just the right amount of chili heat from the peppers to compliment the food. They are now serving Breakfast as well as lunch and dinner, so the next time you venture out to eat, stop by this place.