There’s something about being a bartender that’s so appealing, they make movies about it. But there can also be a dark side that industry vets are starting to talk about more openly — and that have led them to make changes to their lifestyles, in numbers beyond what anyone may have guessed. These days, there are tons of sober folks slinging drinks and running restaurants, making choices to stay alive and stay in the industry. A lot of people get into the food and beverage industry equipped with energy and excitement and, while many stay in it for a long while, some don’t make it back out. The hours are long and late, there’s no standard for employers to offer employees healthcare, and the benefits are often limited to just a shift drink after a long night. The shift drink kicks off the social whirlwind that comes with drinking to unwind with coworkers after work, the culture of celebrating a job well done and getting through the chaos together. And when that all combines — stressful working conditions, no time to recuperate and mornings spent recovering from the night before — many people in the food and beverage trade burn out. For some, that means quitting the industry. But for so many people in the industry today, it means quitting drinking.

When cooking a steak, the sous vide scientists say that an even temperature throughout is a sign of perfection. From outside to inside, the palindrome of same-tempered, same-textured flesh easily and predictably offers a medium-rare 130-degree doneness. A quick sear gives color to the outside, but gone is the gray bit of just-overcooked meat that greets a steak, or the slightly under center found after pulling the steak off the grill or out of the oven when its cook guesses it’s time.

First there was a farm. The restaurant came much later, almost as an afterthought. Jay Blackinton moved to Orcas Island partly to raise animals, partly to farm. There he met farmer John Steward (an aptronym if ever there was one), who welcomed Blackinton onto Maple Rock Farm and taught him how to tend the land.

If you’ve been out to a fancy cocktail bar recently, you’ve probably noticed the drinks have gotten more complex and nuanced. Where once two-ingredient drinks were common, now drinks change colors thanks to supplements like butterfly pea flower and house-made infusions. One of the most beloved additions to drinks that adds complexity is from the amaro category: bitter, sometimes sweet liqueurs, made with herbaceous ingredients like bark and herbs. As tastes have changed, more local distilleries are trying their hand at the centuries-old Italian craft of making amari. So, what sets a Pacific Northwest amaro apart, and what took so long for it to catch on?

Get on a boat. Go to the San Juan Islands. Have an adventure. But before you can do any of that, pull up the WSDOT app or website and make a ferry reservation. Because without that, none of these many, delicious, beautiful recommendations will apply to you. My trip in the last weekend of June began at 5:30 a.m. on a Friday, when my alarm went off.

When you think of The Bachelor and its rose-colored off-shoots, you probably imagine a world where white wine flows like a waterfall of way-too-early declarations of love. And, well, you would be right, though the food and alcohol situation on the show are much more nuanced than just the uneaten entrees abandoned during dates and glasses clinking at all hours.

North City Lounge has been around since 1927, and some of its patrons may have come in just after. The oldest standing bar in Shoreline, it's the kind of dive that makes you want to put in the time to be a regular. One added reason the boldly decorated bar is so popular is Brenda Black, who's been pouring "the usual" for 10 years. Brenda keeps conversations going and drinks flowing with the whole bar simultaneously, and her no-nonsense attitude and years behind the bar keep everyone on their best behavior—most of the time. Considering how much Brenda has become a part of her customers' lives, it might surprise folks to learn she first got into the industry on a bet with her now ex-husband. She recommends coming to the Halloween party, which she's decorated for extensively, but don't expect any fancy food, because that's not their thing.

When you think of stadium food, what comes to mind? Peanuts and Cracker Jack, obviously. Hot dogs, too. And high prices for low-quality food, perhaps. That was the case at the Kingdome, where a lack of food options turned a stop at nearby Mac’s Smokehouse for a BBQ brisket sandwich into a tradition for my dad and me.

The menu at Bookstore Bar in Downtown Seattle reads, well, a bit underwhelming: burger, turkey BLT, Northwest chowder, clam dip. It sounds fine, but certainly nothing to write an article about. It would make sense, considering that before this recent visit, I had only eaten there twice in its entire existence.

Making crispy, blister-crusted pizza is nothing new in Seattle. I'd even make the claim that "chef-driven" pizza isn't remarkably groundbreaking, with Ethan Stowell delivering plenty of pies across his restaurants, as well as the recent opening of John Sundstrom's Southpaw rounding out the list. But when chef Brendan McGill opened Bruciato on Bainbridge Island at the end of January, it's possible that Seattle's best pizza finally arrived.

What happens to crops when farmers can't control the expectation for precipitation or the supply of water? For many agricultural products, the immediate reaction might be to imagine the worst.

Disclaimer: The information included in this article is not meant as a substitute for obtaining legal advice from a qualified attorney on behalf of your individual circumstances. Ever since Donald Trump was inaugurated as the President of the United States of America on January 20, 2017, the rights of immigrants and foreign-born individuals have been called into question — and any insight into what could happen next is hazy at best, and changes by the day.

Welcome back, food fans. Top Chef's Thursday, December 1, season 14 premiere took place in Charleston, South Carolina, with eight new chefs and eight returning veterans facing off in the best (according to host Padma Lakshmi) cooking competition on television. Will a seasoned chef take away the title from a hungry newbie, or will the fresh meat come out on top?

On Lake City Way lives a haven for beer and Russian snacks, served at a great price by friendly staff.

CenturyLink Field is continually looking at ways to enhance the fan experience at CenturyLink Field and one of those ways is offering fans quality food choices. One of these options is Pho Cyclo, the Vietnamese restaurant that has grown into four locations in the Seattle area over the last several years, including the super busy restaurant just a couple blocks from the stadium.

As Simone Biles completed a dismount with a flourish from the balance beam Saturday night, cheers erupted around Xfinity Arena. Except the competition hadn’t started yet and she completed only a few skills of her routine. It was moments into warm-ups for the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships, and Biles already captured the attention of the crowd.