Metropolitan plans store in Kirkland

Metropolitan Market will open its first Eastside location no later than 2010 in Kirkland. The store will replace Houghton Market at the intersection of Northeast 68th Street and 106th Avenue in Kirkland's Houghton Center. Houghton Market will remain open for the near future as Metropolitan Market plans its remodel and expansion of the site. Houghton Market's employees will be invited to reapply for their jobs.

Metropolitan Market — a locally owned supermarket chain with six stores in Seattle, Tacoma and Federal Way — has been looking to expand east. Hundreds of customers travel west to Seattle to shop and have asked for a closer location, said president and chief executive Terry Halverson.

The chain also is about to remodel its store in lower Queen Anne and hopes its store atop Queen Anne Hill will anchor a development being planned at the site, Halverson said.

Like veggies? Don't miss this

Sample more than 500 different vegetarian foods at Vegfest, an annual festival of all things vegetarian, Saturday and Sunday at Seattle Center's Exhibition Hall. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days and is organized by Vegetarians of Washington, a nonprofit advocacy group. Chefs from around the country will demonstrate cooking techniques; doctors and dietitians will answer questions; and vegetarian cookbooks and guidebooks will be available.

"It's an easy, low-risk way of dipping your toes into the veg scene," said Stewart Rose, the group's vice president. Tickets are available at the door for $5 for adults and free for children 12 and younger. Visit www.vegofwa.org/vegfest for more information. Can't make it this weekend? Catch the group at one of its monthly buffet dinners the third Wednesday of each month at Seattle's Mount Baker Club. Call 206-706-2635 for more information.

A tradition returns: How sweet it is

Pennies from heaven may be out of the question, but the Salish Lodge & Spa (6501 Railroad Ave., Snoqualmie, 425-888-2556) has resurrected its Honey from Heaven tradition.

It's been since the late 1980s that servers climbed atop stools and swirled 4- to 6-foot streams of honey onto plates of hot biscuits or steaming oatmeal, but plenty of diners remember, said Roy Breiman, food, beverage and culinary director.

The honey of choice at the Salish is fireweed honey from the Snoqualmie Valley, though the restaurant will offer honey tastings from different flora this summer, Breiman said.

Karen Gaudette, Seattle Times staff reporter