Seattle PI - Find a new way to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day in Seattle
By Naomi Tomky, Special to the Seattle P-I
March 10, 2021
Last year, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced the sudden and immediate shutdown of all restaurants and bars on March 16, with just a day’s notice, leaving restaurants and bars saddled with uneaten slabs of corned beef and full kegs of Guinness ahead of St. Patrick’s Day.
This year, while restaurants and bars can legally open with reduced capacity, they’ll have to wait another year to celebrate the holiday among packed crowds of green-clad partiers shouting “sláinte.”
But the creative cooks, bakers, and restaurateurs who have hustled their businesses through a year of shutdowns have come up with new ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and most of it looks a whole lot tastier than green beer.
Black Magic Sweets: Great Green Macarons
Get your Guinness in edible form with the March collection of green and Irish-themed macarons, each with a unique and beautiful design by pastry chef and cookie crafter Aliyah Davis. The chocolate Guinness macarons come adorned with two-toned green clovers, the Bailey’s cheesecake flavor with a rainbow, and pot of gold. There’s also raspberry ricotta, salted caramel cheesecake, mint chocolate chip, and matcha chocolate chip. Find Black Magic Sweets at local shops and restaurants including Makeda and Communion, on her website, or pre-order the Flying Bike beer and macaron pairing pack for their combined St. Patrick’s Day online tasting event.
Juju’s Caribbean Kitchen: Kiss Me, I’m Caribbean
Haitian cuisine pop-up Juju’s Caribbean Kitchen will be helping Tacoma celebrate the holiday with a pop-up on Sunday March 14. The Caribbean-themed St. Patrick’s Day celebration runs from noon to 6 p.m., featuring Caribbean food, music, and drinks, with the special billed as “Lucky oxtail.”
Mulleady’s Irish Pub: Massive Meat Box
Magnolia’s Irish pub only recently reopened after spending a few months hibernating through the pandemic, and in addition to getting back to pouring pints, they’ve put together a holiday package to help you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day the proper way, even at home. Each box comes with a pound of Rain Shadow Meats corned beef, a pound of “St. Patrick’s inspired sausage” from Ballard butcher Beast and Cleaver, Irish Whiskey Caramels from pastry pop-up Sweet Nothings and More, a lamb shank meal all prepped, a bit of swag, and soda bread from Sara Eveland, the former chef of Sunny Hill. The whole package runs $199 and pick up is at the pub on St. Paddy’s Day– order via Facebook Messenger.
Cake Life Everyday: Irish-Inspired Croissants
Baker Kait Winowitch’s artistic croissants often sell out in seconds after they go on sale on her website every Tuesday and Thursday for Wednesday and Friday delivery and pick up, and for the entire month of March, she’s taking inspiration from Ireland. The green stripes on her Irish coffee croissants are only visible on one side, as the other half is dipped in coffee glaze and topped with crushed chocolate-covered coffee beans. On the savory side, she’s offering the standard corned beef, but wrapped up with swiss cheese and house-made dressing as a Reuben croissant – topped with an adorable little pickle.
Salty Seattle: St. Patrick’s Day Pasta Dough
Local Instagram star and pasta-maker to the stars Linda Miller Nicholson earned fame for her rainbow-hued noodles made from natural colors. While she gives away all the secrets to making the dough yourself in her book “Pasta, Pretty Please,” she is offering a kit of St. Patrick’s Day-themed pasta dough. For $39.99, you can pick up a set of light green, dark green, gold, and black pasta dough, and each color makes enough pasta for 2-4 people.
Piroshki on Third: Pots of Gold
Chef Alyssa Anderson gets creative with the Russian stuffed buns called piroshki at this downtown café, but she also weaves in her own background to the food, creating Filipino hybrids called “pinoyshki,” and beautiful seasonal pastries. Right now, she’s selling a small treat called a “pot of gold,” which looks just like it sounds and is made of chocolate sponge cake with espresso mousse and Irish cream custard.
Written By
Seattle-based writer Naomi Tomky explores the world with a hungry eye, digging into the intersection of food, culture and travel. She is an Association of Food Journalists and Lowell Thomas award-winner, and the author of "The Pacific Northwest Seafood Cookbook." Follow her culinary travels and hunger-inducing ramblings on Twitter @Gastrognome and Instagram @the_gastrognome.
