Taste of the Nation, Seattle style

Help feed hungry children by supporting Seattle's Taste of the Nation culinary event. It's time for the sixth annual Samish Bay Bivalve Bash. Top Pot hosts a doughnut-eating contest with The Saturday Knights. Chocolopolis and Sutra open. Pike Street Fish Fry now open for lunch.

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MARK HARRISON / THE SEATTLE TIMES

A fresh shucked Pacific oyster from Taylor Shellfish Farms.

Hungry children will benefit from Taste of the Nation, a food-filled benefit to support the charitable groups Food Lifeline, Solid Ground, Farestart, Pike Place Market Foundation and Children's Alliance. It will be held 5-9 p.m. July 31.

Participating restaurants include Oceanaire, Capital Grille, Cutters Bayhouse, Yama at the Galleria, Third Floor Fish Café, Portage Bay Café, Rover's, Dahlia Lounge, Campagne, Bin Vivant at the Woodmark Hotel and 0/8 Seafood Grill.

The event is at the Naval Reserve Building at South Lake Union Park, 860 Terry Ave. N., Seattle. Tickets, available at taste.strength.org, are $125 per person to enter at 5 p.m. and join a reception aboard the National Historic Landmark Vessel Virginia V and $75 to enter at 6 p.m.

For the love of oysters

The sixth annual Samish Bay Bivalve Bash and Low Tide Mud Run will be 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday at the Taylor Shellfish Farms' Samish Bay shore-side location in Bow, Skagit County. Catch a shuttle at either Blanchard Chapel at 3685 Legg Road or the Edison School at 5801 Main St.

A shellfish feast begins at 11 a.m. and includes oysters on the halfshell, steamed clams, curried mussels, steamed Mediterranean mussels, barbecued oysters and more, with hot dogs, corn on the cob and raspberry shortcake to boot. Proceeds from the $5-per-person event (kids 6 and under and mud runners are free) support clean-water awareness and local shoreline restoration programs.

The 250-yard mud run begins at low tide, right at 12:23 p.m. with a $13 entry fee if registered online by Friday. Visit www.bivalvebash.com or call 425-501-0709 for race rules and details on the festival.

Other morsels

See if you'll be crowned 2008 doughnut-eating champion at 2 p.m. July 26 at Top Pot Doughnuts (2124 Fifth Ave., Seattle, 206-728-1966, www.toppotdoughnuts.com) during a live performance by local band The Saturday Knights. Now open: Chocolopolis (1527 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle, 206-282-0776, www.chocolopolis.com), a chocolate shop selling treats from around the globe; vegetarian restaurant Sutra (1605 N. 45th St., Seattle, 206-547-1348, www.sutraseattle.com), serving dinner Wednesdays and Thursdays at 6 and 8:30 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. Now open for lunch: Pike Street Fish Fry (925 E. Pike St., Seattle, www.pikestreetfishfry.com), serving battered and fried catfish, cod, albacore, halibut, veggies and more. Opening Saturday: Juno (700 Third Ave., Seattle, 206-631-8080, www.junorestaurant.com), a new eatery at the restored Arctic Club Hotel serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, happy hour and high tea on weekends in the hotel's Polar Bar. Opening Tuesday: Spanish restaurant Olivar (806 E. Roy St., Seattle, 206-322-0409, www.olivarrestaurant.com), headed in the kitchen by Chef Philippe Thomelin of Il Terrazzo Carmine, Cascadia and Olive Tree Catering.