Seattle Soundbite: Rockers in restaurants

Exercise your ears and your palate at Seattle Soundbite, a food-and-music event 6 p.m. March 16 at Showbox SoDo (1700 First Ave. S., Seattle, 206-628-3151). It will feature 15 Seattle restaurants serving street-style food with performances by seven rock bands that have at least one member working in the restaurant industry.

Restaurants include Café Campagne, Tango, Ray's Café, Serafina and Purple Café & Wine Bar. Bands include Disjointed Isotopes (Serious Pie/Lola/Palace Kitchen), Kate Graves (Restaurant Zoë), Sideways Reign (Olympic Mountain Ice Cream/The Robin Hood Pub) and Sunday Night Blackout (Via Tribunali).

Tickets for the 21-and-older event are $15 at all Ticketmaster outlets, with $3 off coupons available at participating restaurants. Call Lori at 206-789-4130, ext. 220, or visit myspace.com/seattlesoundbite2008 for more information.

Seattle-area Beard nominees

More than a dozen Seattle-area restaurants, chefs and a popular Ballard bakery are semifinalists for the 2008 James Beard Foundation Awards, the culinary world's version of the Oscars. Semifinalists include:

Outstanding chef: Thierry Rautureau, Rover's, Seattle.

Outstanding restaurateur: Tom Douglas, Tom Douglas Restaurants, Seattle.

Outstanding restaurant/outstanding service: Canlis, Seattle.

Rising star chef: Rachel Yang/Seif Chirchi, Joule, Seattle.

Outstanding pastry chef: James Miller, Café Besalu, Seattle.

Best new restaurant: Joule, Seattle.

Best chef Northwest: In Seattle, William Belickis of Mistral; Kevin Davis, Steelhead Diner; Matt Dillon, Sitka & Spruce; Maria Hines, Tilth; Joseba Jiménez de Jiménez, The Harvest Vine; Scott Staples, Restaurant Zoë; Ethan Stowell, Union; and Jason Wilson of Crush. And on the Eastside, Brian Scheehser of Trellis and Holly Smith of Café Juanita.

The Seattle area is home to many former Beard award winners, including: 2007 best Northwest chef John Sundstrom of Lark; 2006 best Northwest chef Scott Carsberg of Lampreia; and the Dahlia Lounge, a finalist for 2006 best restaurant in the country.

Finalists will be announced March 24 and the winners announced June 8 in New York City. Visit jamesbeard.org for more details.

Cheese lovers paradise

This year's Seattle Cheese Festival is set for May 16-18 at Pike Place Market, with more than 250 artisan cheeses from around the globe, seminars, a wine-and-beer garden, cheesemaking demonstrations, cooking classes and even a grilled-cheese-sandwich competition.

The festival runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 17 and 18, with cooking classes and seminars May 16. Costs range from $1 for unlimited tasting in the cheese showcase to $10 for five pours in the wine garden to $40 apiece for seminars that will discuss terroir, cheese ripeness and the path of cheese from cheesemaker to consumer. Kids can participate in a cow/goat/sheep or cheese-themed costume contest and parade the morning of May 17.

Visit seattlecheesefestival.com for more information or call DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine at 206-622-0141.

A master sommelier at Olympic

Fairmont Olympic Hotel wine steward Joseph Linder has passed grueling exams in wine knowledge, tasting ability and service to earn one of the wine world's greatest distinctions: the title of master sommelier.

"I cried when I got the result. It was a very emotional moment after many years of studying and hard work ... there has never been a bigger thrill in my entire career," said Linder, who also has worked at the Ritz in London and the Hotel Nikko in Paris.

Linder is one of four men who currently hold the MS title in Washington state. The others are Shayn Bjornholm, Washington Wine Commission education director; Greg Harrington, owner and winemaker at Walla Walla's Gramercy Cellars; and Angelo Tavernaro, a wine consultant in Prosser, Benton County. There are 97 master sommeliers nationwide and 158 around the globe.

Fundraiser for Crave chef/owner

Crave chef/owner Robin Leventhal's collection of copper gelatin molds will shift from gracing her home to fighting the battle against lymphoma. Nearly 20 Seattle-area chefs are creating various dishes in the molds to be auctioned off at a brunch in her honor; she has been diagnosed with cancer.

The Copper Cure benefit, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 15 at Century Ballroom (915 E. Pine St., Seattle, 206-324-7263) will feature food from Crave, live music and entertainment by the Can Can Cabaret. The $100 per person tickets will benefit B-cell follicular lymphoma research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Participating chefs include Seth Caswell of Stumbling Goat Bistro, Osteria La Spiga's Sabrina Tinsley, Walter Pisano of Tulio and Veil's Dana Cree and Johnny Zhu. Learn more and purchase tickets at cravefood.com or brownpapertickets.com.

Other morsels

Beer lovers: McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant (1103 First Ave., Seattle, 206-623-5500) will hold a $49 per person, four-course brewmaster dinner 6:30 p.m. March 10 that pairs ales from Laughing Dog Brewery with lamb chops, goat-cheese-stuffed squash blossoms and more.

Coming in June: Juno, a full-service restaurant, and Polar Bar, a spot for drinks, in the renovated Arctic Club Hotel (700 Third Ave., Seattle, 206-340-0340).

Bewitching sandwiches: Think you make a mean grilled cheese? Submit your recipe by March 21 to info@seattlecheesefestival.com. Visit seattlecheesefestival.com for rules.

Chocolate voyage: Visit Seattle chocolatiers including Fran's, Theo and Oh! Chocolate as part of a $59 three-hour chocolate tour on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday mornings in March. Call 206-443-3900 or visit sschocolatebox.com for more details.

Oenophiles, take note: Seminars at this year's Taste Washington wine event will include talks on green winemaking practices, how to pair Rieslings with Asian cuisine and an ode to Washington wine giant David Lake, longtime Columbia Winery winemaker. Seminars take place April 5 at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center and cost $40-$99. Visit tastewashington.org or call 206-667-9463 for details.

Karen Gaudette, Seattle Times staff writer