Tom Black is new 35th Street chef

There's a new executive chef in the kitchen at Seattle's 35th Street Bistro (709 N. 35th St., 206-547-9850). Tom Black, formerly of Woodinville's Barking Frog and the late Fuller's Restaurant, replaces Steve Smrstik, who left the bistro last May to return to The Pink Door.

Bistro owner Bob Day praised Black's creativity and his skill at leading and teaching.

Anthony's cancels Oyster Games

This year's early Easter Sunday (March 23) prompted Anthony's Restaurants to cancel next month's 19th annual Oyster Games, said spokeswoman Lane Hoss. The event was scheduled just two days after the Northwest seafood chain's third-busiest day of the year.

"This is a huge project for us. Not only do we close the restaurant [Anthony's HomePort Shilshole], but we bring in staff from all our other restaurants to work it," Hoss said. They considered moving it but couldn't find another weekend that worked. Anthony's is evaluating whether to bring the event back next year and is working with the Alliance on other potential fundraisers.

The event, formerly known as the Oyster Olympics, brought shellfish growers, elected officials, celebrities and oyster fans together in Seattle to celebrate the beloved bivalves, and raised nearly $500,000 over the past 18 years to support the nonprofit water quality watchdog group Puget Soundkeeper Alliance. "It's an amazing thing they've done for us," said alliance manager Margy Wallace.

The cancellation leaves a $40,000 hole in the group's budget, however, and the Alliance hopes to drum up more interest in its annual October Salute to the South festival to fill the gap.

Dine for Darfur is set for March 4

More than 50 local restaurants, bars and coffee shops will donate 25 percent of their tabs March 4 toward relief efforts in Sudan's Darfur region, where hundreds of thousands have died or lost their homes due to ongoing ethnic violence. Last year's Dine for Darfur event in Seattle raised $70,000 that organizer Chow Foods Restaurants donated to Northwest nonprofit Mercy Corps.

This year's participants include King's Hardware (5225 Ballard Ave. N.W., Seattle, 206-782-0027), Coastal Kitchen (429 15th Ave. E., Seattle, 206-322-1145), Dulces Latin Bistro (1430 34th Ave., 206-322-5453), Vino Bello (636 S.W. 152nd St., Ste. F, Burien, 206-244-8466) and Trabant Coffee & Chai (1309 N.E. 45th St., Seattle, 206-675-0668). Visit dinefordarfur.org for a complete list and details.

Other morsels

Happy anniversary: West Seattle's Circa Neighborhood Grill & Alehouse (2605 California Ave. S.W., 206-923-1102) celebrated 10 years of serving creative comfort food with a menu of minis (burgers, steak salad, chocolate cake). There was a monkey piñata to match the plush monkeys sitting around the restaurant and a raffle to benefit the West Seattle Food Bank.

Check out that moon: Diners at Seattle's Harvest Vine dashed outside between bites to catch last week's lunar eclipse, snatching glimpses of the reddish moon rising over Lake Washington. "We had a good view of it from right outside," said co-owner Carolin Messier de Jimenez. "We had people in and out asking 'Have you seen it?' "

Another year-round market: The West Seattle farmers market is now open all year. Goat chops, spinach, cider and cheese are among the current offerings.

Karen Gaudette, Seattle Times staff reporter