Pacific Northwest Flavors

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When you’re hauling around a paella pan as big as a walk-in closet, you need a big rig to handle it.

— John Berkowitz, creator of UWdawgpound.com, a site for Huskies fans

Pregame Fill-Up

Before the big game, Seattle fans crowd into Pike Place Market overlooking the Elliot Bay waterfront, where they load up on Dungeness crab, jumbo white prawns and Pacific oysters. The Griffiths own the Crab Pot restaurant on the Seattle waterfront, where they treat their guests to smoked salmon cooked in tin foil with butter and seasoning. There's also a full-service bloody mary bar.

Tailgating for Seattle Seahawks games is not quite as scenic. Fans are relegated to small parking lots scattered around the stadium, but the food is just as delectable, said Lester Stepper, creator of Seahawksundertheviaduct.com. Stepper and his friends often cook something that symbolizes the Seahawks’ opponent. He cooked lamb chops and dubbed them "ram chops" for the St. Louis Rams game, and when the Chicago Bears came to town, Stepper purchased bear meat to make hamburgers.

“The bear wasn’t too bad,” he said, laughing. “It was all right. Well, it was very lean.”

But, without a doubt, the highlight of the season is the San Francisco 49ers game. That’s when Stepper and his tailgating buddies host their seafood fest that includes 30 pounds of king crab, three dozen oysters, stuffed salmon and six gallons of seafood chowder made with crab, halibut, clams and potatoes.

“A lot of the old Seahawks players come by to eat with us, including Norm Johnson and Chris Warren. I even have friends from California who come up just to eat my chowder,” Stepper said.

Panning for Epicurean Gold

There is more to tailgating in the Pacific Northwest than just seafood.

John Berkowitz is 53 years old and since he was 18 has been going each home game to the tailgating party at the University of Washington organized by a big Huskies booster known for his giant paella pan.

“It cooks food for up to 50 people. I can sit in the middle of it. I’m serious,” Berkowitz said. “He has a truck outfitted with beer taps that brings everything in. When you’re hauling around a paella pan as big as a walk-in closet, you need a big rig to handle it.”

For the annual Apple Cup game between the University of Washington and Washington State, Grimstad offers pork loin stuffed with apples, apple pie, sliced apples covered with caramel sauce and apple cider.

When Grimstad first started tailgating at the University of Washington 28 years ago, the most they would prepare was sandwiches and soup. “It’s gotten a lot more elaborate. As our group has expanded, that's brought more ideas to the table,” he said.

After graduating from the University of Washington in 2004, Derek Belt organized a group of alumni who get together before every home game. The key to their party is variety, he said.

“I know a bunch of people who do the same thing every week -- hamburgers, hot dogs or chicken wings," Belt said. "But we like to mix it up to keep people coming back. You have to keep people excited."

For the early games, they make French toast and have a make-your-own-omelet bar. For afternoon games, they sometimes grill ribs or have a taco bar. But recently, like Stepper, Belt’s group has been cooking food meant to tweak the opposing team. When they played the Louisiana State University Tigers, Belt and his friends boiled shrimp to show the fans from the bayou that they knew how to cook seafood just as well. When they played the Oregon Ducks, they deep-fried two ducks.

“That was pretty epic,” he said. “The Oregon fans we ran into weren’t too thrilled about the whole thing, but the Huskies fans thought it was the funniest thing they’ve ever seen. It wasn’t very good, but it was a statement more than anything else.”

Belt and his friends sometimes grill salmon, but they don’t often do seafood because it takes longer to prepare and is a “hassle to cook,” he said. Not that the difficulty stops many die-hard fans from making the effort.

“But when we walk through the parking lot there are tons of people grilling salmon. It’s everywhere. The smell is undeniable.”

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