***Still catching up on the back stories, so this one's coming to you somewhat dry-aged. Helpfully, this episode is pretty damn evergreen when it comes to being interesting! Maybe we're biased, but we think this is such a compelling, smart episode right here.***

It's safe to say that many, if not most, restaurant industry folks have a bad taste in their mouth about influencers. But from day 1, Conner Cayson—better known to some as Conner from Find Me in Seattle—has set himself apart from not only the genre but the phrase itself. To us, Conner is some amalgamation of viral TikTokker, food scholar, PBS travel guide, social media manager, cinematographer, short film screenwriter, urban anthropologist, and crackerjack street reporter. And while influencers generally focus on their own selves, Conner's coming to the craft with a genuine curiosity about all the fellow Seattleites he meets and a desire to introduce them to others.

In this episode, we chat about Conner's background in sales, his private content creation business, why it's not shabby to get paid to do hours and hours of script writing and video editing and soundtracking and marketing, and the disticntions among an influencer, a content creator, and a storyteller. (He's all of them, but especially the latter.)

The whole episode is also pretty much a gushy love letter to beautiful Seattle, Washington. As ever!

Plus Jeff carves out a niche as a Eurovision sportscaster, Meg has unwittingly become a weekend cider furry, Conner freaking loves the Sounders, and we all list our best bites!

Hey, friends, here's another aged, fermented episode we recorded just a little while ago! We're almost caught up, stg.

Our chronic and perpetual guest, Seattle-based food writer Mark DeJoy, joins us for a sometimes convivial, sometimes somber discussion on sudden restaurant closings, delayed restaurant openings, and the state of food journalism both small and large. The upside of not finding the time to upload your podcast until weeks after you record it is that some of the delayed openings have opened by now! There are so very many new restaurants in Seattle in the last few weeks, and ayyyy, we got 'em all.

Plus Jeff went to a all-white folk country show, Mark's stoked to sing his heart out at the new Bush Garden, Meg's got a deal Eater Seattle can't refuse, and we all ate things. Listen up!

Life's been busy,, eh! But although this episode was recorded over a month ago, we think it's still both relevant and super cute! Well, you tell us.

A month ago I mean this week, we're chilling with Taylor Cheney and Matt Mitchell, co-owners of Yalla on Capitol Hill. They break down their mission to serve delicious handheld Middle Eastern food to the pedestrians of Olive Way, both drunk and sober, and why they're been so dedicated to fundraising for charities in Palestine, Lebanon, and their neighboring countries since day 1

The convo also takes a serious-ish turn as we tackle the subject of rampant tip-stealing that's been going on in Seattle restaurants. Jeff in particular has a valuable point of view here, since he's the president of a labor union that was started for just this reason.

Plus Meg drank all her meals this week, Jeff takes a side quest to Georgetown, and we all love the Old Spaghetti Factory 4 lyfe. Let's go! 🍝

We're back from a working-too-much hiatus with the hilarious Paul Shanrock, who currently owns Stampede Cocktail Club, until very recently owned Dreamland, and will very shortly own Twist of Fate. This string of ostentatiously fantabulous concept bars took a topsy-turvy path to existence, and Paul leads us through it, starting with his origin story in Reno, an unexpected inheritance, and a few kismetty coincidences that happened when he landed in Seattle.

We also talk about the spate of industry burglaries and break-ins that's been going on north of the Canal this spring—and do some spitballing on what can be done to prevent more. And Paul briefs us on Twist of Fate, his cinematic new "modern medieval gothic dive bar" in the Victorian house that was formerly home to Outlander Brewing; it's slated to open June 4.

Plus Jeff doesn't mind a little veggie dumpling in his bar ice, Meg isn't sharnng her Spanish croquettes, and we all ate stuff this week! I mean three weeks ago, when this was recorded!

We're diving deep into the local bartending industry this week!

The articulate and very affable Skip Tognetti joins us for this episode, and we're kicking things off with the origin story behind Letterpress Distilling—including the genesis of his Genziana Fernanda, Amaro Amorino, limoncello, nocino, and other craft Italian liqueurs. In the process, Skip tells us about his background in art and design, the inspiration he took from living in Rome, Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle, and the cool PNW botanicals he's using in his newest amaro.

It's a pretty sporty episode as well, possibly owing to Letterpress's location alongside the SoDo stadia. We all have opinions on the food stalls inside of them, unsurprisingly! We're also philosophizing on gin, pizza, and (pizza) influencers, and we even find time to cover some news. (Spoiler alert: Even more Seattle restaurant owners are stealing wages, again, still.)

Plus Jeff loves gentian, Meg apparently doesn't know the difference between Lumen and T-Mobile Fields, and we all tell ya our go-to cocktails—as well as what we ate this week! Cheers!

We've got one of Meg's favorite podcast guests of all time doing a reprise on Thanks! I Ate It this week. The brilliant and eloquent Uttam Mukherjee and his wife, Aakanksha Sinha, own Spice Waala, serving Delhi- and Kolkata-style street food out of three Seattle locations. Uttam is doing what he does best: talking math and analyzing restaurant data on topics such as why people are dining out less in Seattle, whether influencers help or hurt restaurants, and what restaurant owners can do to potentially boost their numbers.

We also talk about rising theft and vandalism in bars and restaurants throughout the city, the geography of poverty in Seattle, how certain bits of local legislation hurt small business owners, and why the city council turns a blind eye to these issues. Despite the grim subject matter, it turned out to be a pretty fun conversation!

Plus Jeff is doped up on allergy meds, Meg's droppin' history on grunge-era Seattle bars, and we all tell you about the things we ate! Thanks!

This week on the pod, we're joined by local food writer, restaurant pundit, and perennial cohost Mark DeJoy, and it's wall-to-wall local restaurant news this episode.

Mark applies his gimlet eye and journaliist POV to current events in the city's restaurant-scape, beginning with Wayward Vegan's newly announced plan to start serving animal products. We also unpack our tender Seattle-born grunge-kid feelings about the new Raising Cane's location on the Ave, and we accidentally coin a new slang term for "brick and mortar."

Plus Jeff is a Yasuaki Saito fanboy, Mark prefers to take his lamb sandwiches in metalhead bars, and Meg is on a search for the Fig King of Lake City. Jump in!

P.S.: Mark does not have a lisp in real life! It's just the data connection! We stg. 😄

This week on the pod, we're hanging out with food/beverage marketing consultant and Sunny Hill co-owner Holly Robinson. The three of us keep it real zero-kilometer this round, with topics including but not limited to PNW veggie gardens, local tinned fish purveyors, Holly's consulting biz Fathom35, whiskey distilled in barrels made from the Northwest's only native oak tree, and the culinary delights of Burien.

Then, to round things out, we also cover more evergereen concepts such as Detroit-style pizza, what the underage kids are drinking these days, and the experience of opening a new restaurant at the top of the pandemic. Plus we tell y'all what we ate!

P.S.: Fun fact about this episode! It was taped in early March, and after it was edited, Meg somehow managed to delete the file while trying to upload it. So Jeff has just edited it once again, from scratch. T!I8I will be slightly out of chronological order for a couple weeks here, but we'll catch up soon! 🎓

We're chopping it up with Chris Cvetkovich this week, owner and chef patron of Nue on Capitol Hill. We kick things off with Chef Chris's fascinating backstory, which started with a career in animation and led to extensive world travels and, eventually, a restaurant to showcase all the cool dishes he's enjoyed while roaming around the globe.

Along with his colorful scrapbook of a bar-bistro, Chris also talks about his refreshing views and principles on running a business in Seattle, especally in re. what he believes his guests are looking for in this very weird economic era.

Plus Meg's new besties with a Mormon stake preisdent, Jeff's turning it up to 37 at the casino, and we all have some fun, offbeat restos to plug in our T!I8I weekly roundup. Dive in!

This week, veteran Seattle bartender and booze rep Kayleigh Blome reunites with her old pal and coworker Jeff to chat with us about nonalcoholic and alcoholic drinks, along with the core functions of each, both obvious and obscure. Kayleigh recently switched from the bartender life to being a rep for spirits of all types, so they also tell us about their favorite ingredients for slingin' and then dig into their origins in the coffee world. They also really like to make fancy Jell-O shots.

Plus Meg and Kayleigh are big karaoke dorks, Kayleigh and Jeff reminisce about their Stampede Cocktail Club days and the Wild West of N/A drinks, and we all hate the word mocktail. Along with the rest of the world. It's some high-level cocktail wonkery this round—cheers! 🍸