This week, Angela and Ethan Stowell opened their biggest restaurant yet, an Italian spot called Cortina downtown. Read on to learn about that and more, like a new Taiwanese dessert shop with salted cheese tea in the International District, the new food truck from a Chopped champion and Michelin-starred chef, the grand opening of a cake shop with a cult following, a new brunch spot to check out, and the craft cocktail bar you have to visit to before it closes. For more inspiration, check out our complete food and drink calendar, our list of May food and drink specials to try, our list of the best Seattle Beer Week events this weekend, or our list of 11 rosé-drinking events this summer (starting this weekend!).

OPENINGS
Brother Joe
"Craft coffee and tea house" Brother Joe, which gave a preview of its menu as a pop-up at the now-closed Duos Lounge in January, is now open. They serve tea and espresso, pastries, and grab-and-go options like sandwiches, salads, wraps, and breakfast burritos Tuesday-Friday. On the weekends, they sling savory brunch fare like smoked brisket hash, kalua pork, biscuits and gravy, and steak and grits.

Blackball Desserts
The Edmonds-based Taiwanese sweet shop, which offers treats like shaved ice, bubble tea (including cheese tea, a popular new style of bubble tea with a thin layer of salted cream cheese), jellies, and puddings, has opened a location in the International District.

Cortina
Restaurateur power couple Ethan and Angela Stowell have opened this downtown restaurant (their biggest yet!), which focuses on hearty, classic Italian fare and craft cocktails. Menu items include spaghetti carbonara, potato gnocchi with beef cheek and fava beans, tagliatelle with oysters, and a New York strip steak with pommes frites. For drinks, there's a menu with martinis, boozy Italian sodas, and other libations.

Deep Sea Sugar and Salt
This Saturday, May 19, Deep Sea Sugar and Salt owner Charlie Dunmire, who first ran her cake shop out of an Airstream trailer in Georgetown's Trailer Park mall, will open her brick-and-mortar store in the former space of the historic Carleton Avenue Grocery. The shop will feature pantry staples, wine, beer, fresh flowers, drip coffee, Sweet Lo's Ice Cream, and of course...cake, in fanciful flavors like London Fog, pistachio lemon, and brown butter banana graham. At the grand opening, attendees can purchase limited edition t-shirts and raffle tickets for whole cakes (which are massive), and Kickstarter backers can pick up rewards. Expect lots of cake and cupcakes for sale, in flavors like peach bourbon, lemon cream, and rhubarb cornmeal.

Freya
Named after the Norse goddess of love who rides a chariot pulled by two cats, this cafe, which opened inside the Nordic Museum on May 8, offers Scandinavian food like smørrebrød (Danish open-faced sandwiches), Danish dogs made with Uli's sausage, and "personal smorgasbords" (spreads of meat, cheese, and pickles with names like "Mormor's Pantry"). There's also soups, salads, beer, wine, and craft cocktails made with the Scandinavian spirit aquavit and the Icelandic spirit brennivin.

Kukree
According to a press release, this colorful new food truck, helmed by chef Aarthi Sampath (who is the first female Indian chef to win on Chopped and recently bested the Food Network's Bobby Flay on his show Beat Bobby Flay last March), focuses on Southeast Asian, Indian, Mediterranean, and American flavors with healthy preparations. Sampath previously spent time as the Chef de Cuisine at the Michelin-starred restaurant Junoon in New York and with famed chef April Bloomfield at the Breslin. Dishes include spring chicken with coriander, lentils, grains, and asparagus, sunchoke, green harissa and golden raisins; a hanger steak with grains, beans, plantains, Swiss chard, rhubarb and pickles with cilantro chimichurri; and Sampath's winning dish, the "Beat Bobby Flay Biryani" (made with a mixture of quinoa, millet and amaranth, chicken, cucumber, mint, yogurt, eggs, mixed vegetables, and shallots). If all goes well, Sampath and Kukree co-founder Shilpi Gupta hope to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant within the year.

CLOSURES
E. Smith Mercantile
Sadly, the adorable Pioneer Square gift shop with an craft cocktail bar tucked away in the back has announced it will close on June 30. Unfortunately, the bar wasn't making enough to offset a decline in retail sales, and the building's property managers had told tenants they would need to leave the building eventually due to construction. If you haven't been, get yourself over there post-haste for their excellent medicinal cocktails made with house-made tinctures, syrups, and bitters, and their delicious bar snacks, like seasonal pickles and burnt sugar popcorn. To say goodbye to the space, they'll throw a family meal on June 17 with cocktail and mocktail pairings, a rummage sale and ice cream social on June 23, and a closing auction party on July 7 with drinks and appetizers, where guests can purchase the space's remaining inventory.

Los Pollos Hermanos
This Shoreline Peruvian chicken restaurant and grocer (named after the Breaking Bad chain of the same name) has shuttered. The owners posted on Facebook that they decided to close to spend more time with friends and family.

Bai Pai Thai
The Ravenna Thai restaurant has closed.

Lotus Asian Kitchen and Lounge
This Chinese-Vietnamese establishment, which served pho, short ribs, and Peking duck, has closed.

OTHER FOOD NEWS
Proletariat Pizza wins Seattle magazine's "Pizza Smackdown"
Last week, Seattle Magazine conducted a Pizza Smackdown bracket using reader votes, and the beloved Proletariat Pizza reigned triumphant as the official pizza of the people, beating out Serious Pie in the final round.

Hitchcock Cafe serves CBD lattes on Bainbridge Island
Chef Brendan McGill was forced to remove his menu of CBD "wellness lattes" from his offerings at Cafe Hitchcock and the newly opened grab-and-go cafe Cafe Hitchcock Express after an order from the King County Public Health Department. However, he posted on Instagram that he's now serving the CBD lattes at Hitchcock on Bainbridge Island, which isn't obligated to follow the same restrictions.

Dingfelder’s Delicatessen opening in July
Looks like Seattle's drought of Jewish delis will soon come to an end: The highly anticipated Dingfelder's Delicatessen has completed its kitchen and has announced it will open in July.

Chef Scott Carsberg plans to re-open restaurant Bisato
James Beard Award-winning chef Scott Carsberg—who closed his acclaimed, affordable Italian Belltown restaurant Bisato (which was named one of the "50 Best Emerging Italian Restaurants" by Restaurant Magazine in 2012) after 20 years of business in in 2012—is planning to re-open the restaurant in a new space in Pioneer Square after a six-year hiatus, in the former location of Trattoria Mitchelli.

Seattle Cider and Two Beers Brewing to launch Sound Craft Seltzer Company
Following the spiked sparkling waters that appeared after the popularity of LaCroix, Seattle Cider and Two Beers Brewing plan to open Sound Craft Seltzer Company, featuring boozy bubbly waters in flavors like cucumber, rosé, and grapefruit. The seltzers will be available on tap at the Woods tasting room in SoDo beginning in June and will be for sale in 12 oz cans this summer.

FogRose coming to Bellevue
A "liquid nitrogen ice cream boutique" called FogRose is coming to Bellevue's Soma Tower North, promising "signature ice cream and sorbet flavors, freshly made with local ingredients using liquid nitrogen." The ice cream boutique is set to have its grand opening on June 2, and a "dessert atelier" with a bar serving "wines, elegant cocktails, boozy shakes, and champagne floats" made with the ice cream is set to open in Soma Tower South later this fall.

Frelard Tamales plans to open location in Green Lake
The stand Frelard Tamales, which slings its handmade tamales online and at farmers markets, is opening a brick-and-mortar space in Green Lake, in the former home of the recently closed Butcher and the Baker, which shuttered in January. They plan to operate as a pick-up location for web orders (which they previously delivered by hand) and will open as a restaurant starting in fall 2018.

EVENTS
FRIDAY
Bowling & Brew Series - Black Raven
Lace up your bowling shoes and enjoy flights from Redmond-based Black Raven Brewing. $20 gets you two hours of bowling with shoe rental; Black Raven flights; a pint coupon; special pricing on pints, pitchers, and growler fills; and drawings for swag.

SATURDAY
2nd Annual Reuben & Friends Invitational Beer Festival
For the second edition of their annual invitational, Reuben's Brews have summoned some of their favorite brewers and brewery owners from across the country to join them for a beer fest highlighting "specialty, hard to find brews from both near and far," with live music from Planet Fly.

Bothell Block Party and Brewfest 2018
Devour grub from local food trucks, sip beer from local breweries, and listen to music from Seattle bands.

Happierhour Pop-Up with Happy Camper Cocktails
Sip "garden-to-glass" cocktails inside a vintage 1966 camper, and take tours and enjoy a full bar at award-winning distillery Batch 206.

Rosé, Flowers and Live Music Party
Drink pink wine and pick up some posies to match from the Valley & Rose pop-up flower truck. There will also be live music.

Seasonal Cooking Class and Market Tour
Prowl Pike Place for market-fresh ingredients with a group, then reconvene in the Atrium Kitchen to prepare and enjoy a three-course meal together.

Seattle World Whiskey Day
Over a dozen Washington craft distilleries will showcase their brown liquors, including whiskeys, bourbons, and ryes. Plus, listen to music, nosh on food truck fare, and browse items from other vendors. The event will support Havens Community Connections, a nonprofit "dedicated to helping build exit strategies from abusive relationships."

Sleight of Hand Cellars Winemakers Dinner
Support FareStart's mission to provide "real solutions to poverty, homelessness and hunger" by partaking in a six-course meal with wines from Walla Walla-based Sleight of Hand Cellars. Winemaker and Sleight of Hand partner Trey Busch will be present.

Tequila: Not Just Lime & Salt
Explore the origins, history, culture, and lore of the agave-derived distilled beverage "from the most rural Mezcals to the opulent richness of a well-aged Añejo," while sipping cocktails that feature it over lunch.

Tide Dinner
Northwest cuisine queen Renee Erickson, whom you know from her restaurants the Walrus and the Carpenter, the Whale Wins, Bateau, and others, has established many times over that she has a generous spirit and a knack for creating beautiful menus and communal dining experiences around the raw, seasonal flavors of the Pacific Northwest, like her Lamb and Rosé Feast and her Normandy Dinner. At her highly anticipated yearly Tide Dinner, gather on the beach at low tide at the Hama Hama oyster farm for a four-course meal with wine pairings from Erickson and her Bar Melusine team, with "education and anecdotes" provided by Hama Hama. After you've slurped all the oysters and guzzled all the champagne you can handle and the tide starts creeping back in, migrate to the fire pit for some cookies and Calvados.

SUNDAY
Beer Hiking Pacific Northwest Release
Brandon Fralic and Rachel Wood of the website Beers at the Bottom will release their new book Beer Hiking Pacific Northwest, a beer lover's guide to the trails of Washington. Chat with them, take home their book and a six-pack of beer, and get hiking recommendations from Washington Trails Association staff on-site.

Decant Edmonds: A Festival of Fine Wine
Sip wines from 12 wineries and beer, cider, and spirits from five breweries, cideries, and distilleries, alongside food from local restaurants, and enjoy live music.

Fermentation by Northwest Wine Dinner
Chef Rachel Yang will create seven dishes showcasing the fierce and funky flavors of fermentation to be paired with five wines from Oregon winemakers Chad Stock of Minimus/Omero and John House of Ovum Cellars. "Full bellies and happy hearts" are promised.

Roving Cheese Shop with Brimmer & Heeltap Pop-Up Wine Shop
The wandering cheesemonger teams up with Brimmer & Heeltap for a monthly cheese and wine pop-up.

Sweet Bumpas x Lowrider Cookies Ice Cream Sandwich Pop-Up
Dessert dream team Sweet Bumpas and Lowrider Cookies will join forces to create the ultimate ice cream sandwich.

MONDAY
Dinner and a DJ Volume 17: Chef Grizz & DJ Supreme La Rock
Chef Michael Gaytan, a.k.a. "Grizz," grew up visiting his family members in Manzanillo, Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta, and Guadalajara and retains fond memories of his parents spinning records and everyone dancing. In the spirit of those trips, he's curated a menu showcasing his favorite Mexican dishes like ceviche, marinated flank steak, and vanilla coconut flan with cajeta. To complement the nostalgia, DJ Supreme La Rock will soundtrack the night with "feel-good tunes for a feel-good day," including a "a few records from the Gaytan family collection that were smuggled across the border all those years ago."

Focus Menu: Beefsteak
At this ultra-carnal, all-you-can-eat event, Eric Rivera's addo pop-up will riff on the early 1900s concept of the "beefsteak" dinner, "a blue collar dinner meant to have people in large groups eat with reckless abandon." They advise, "Come hungry for the meats. Keeping with tradition we will be eating with our hands, socializing, and engaging in the meat sweats."

TUESDAY
Sustainable Scoops: An Evening with Molly Moon’s
I scream, you scream, we all scream for...science? Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream owner Molly Moon Neitzel and head chef and manager of culinary operations Heather Hodge will discuss what the local ice cream chain is doing to stay sustainable, like sourcing ingredients from local farms like organic farm incubator Viva Farms. Hodge will demonstrate how to make a salted caramel ice cream base by dissolving sugar and melting butter, how to make whipped cream and how it works on a molecular level, and how to make lemon curd and how the sugar, acids, and proteins interact. Guests will also get to taste samples of salted caramel ice cream—learning has never been so delicious.