Top Chef starts this Wednesday, November 12 at 10pm on Bravo.

Filmed in New York City, Season 5 "cheftestants" hail from Whitmore Village, Hawaii; Chicago, Illinois; Taos, New Mexico; Niceville, Florida; Florence, Italy; Tampere, Finland and others. None are from the Northwest this time around.

Their backgrounds range from executive chefs, chef de cuisine, sous chefs, culinary student, caterers and restaurant owner.

Let's see who's going to have more attitude than talent, who will surprise, and most of all, who will make the cut.

So, what to do if you don't have cable? Head over to Faire Gallery Café on Capitol Hill (1351 E. Olive Way, between Melrose & Bellevue Avenues, in Seattle) and join the weekly viewing party. A friendly neighborhood stomping ground, Faire also hosts free jazz nights, wine events, art exhibits, spoken word, comedy show and Project Runway screening when in season.

Canlis recently announced Jason Franey, executive sous chef at New York's Eleven Madison Park, as its new executive chef. Chef Franey, 31, will begin on December 1. He replaces Chef Aaron Wright who is rumored to be heading to Napa.

Montreal-native mixologist Jamie Boudreau moves to Tini Bigs from Vessel. New drink menu created by Boudreau includes Chocolat Cochon-- bacon-infused bourbon, cherry, chocolate, amaro and bitters served with a massive ice cube. Hmm.. bacon in a drink. Let me know how it tastes.

Eliot Guthrie is the new chef at Smith. Prior to the Capitol Hill gastropub, Chef Guthrie was the former sous chef at Artemis and had posts at Café Campagne, Le Pichet and Lark.

Chef Ethan Stowell will open his fourth restaurant, Anchovies & Olives, on 15th & Pine on Capitol Hill. Scheduled to open around December 2008 or early 2009, the new eatery will focus on seafood and pastas. Menu items will range from $5-$18. Anchovies & Olives joins Chef Stowell and business partner Patric Gabre-Kidan's other ventures: Tavolata and How to Cook a Wolf. Chef Stowell is also the proprietor of Union.

Crave on 12th & Pine is closing on October 30. If you plan to dine before they shut their doors, one of their staff said, "Come on the 29th just to be sure." To date, Crave already stopped serving dinner and serves lunch until 3pm. The beloved comfort food restaurant lost their lease but is looking for a new space.

Veil on lower east Queen Anne will say goodbye after three years. Patrons are invited to join for a last toast on November 1 from 7pm-2am.

Monsoon East is scheduled to open early November in Bellevue's Main Street. For $5 per item, you can sample the menu at Monsoon's Capitol Hill location during happy hour, Monday-Friday from 5pm-6:30pm. Vietnamese cuisine will take the spotlight at Chefs Eric and Sophie Banh's Eastside restaurant. The Banh siblings also own Baguette Box on Capitol Hill and Fremont.

Macrina Bakery & Café in SoDo is now open. Located on 1st & Holgate, this venue offers lunch daily and is home to Macrina's bread kitchen, catering, wholesale and wedding cake production, and main office. The space, minimalist in design, is presently undergoing review for LEED certification. Macrina also has locations in Belltown and West McGraw on Queen Anne.

Starting 1 October 2008, supermarkets and grocery stores all over the United States are required by law to disclose the country of origin for many whole food products. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats are the primary products covered in this new labeling law, however, many products are excluded from labeling requirements. As an example, a head of butter lettuce or iceberg lettuce will carry country of origin labeling, while a spring mix of lettuce will not because the mix is "processed". The labeling is based on Farm Bill legislation dating back to 2002, which originally required country of origin labeling (COOL) for beef, lamb, pork, fish, perishable agricultural commodities, and peanuts. The 2008 Farm Bill further defines required labeling to include chicken, goat meat, ginseng, pecans and macadamia nuts. The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service provides additional details, although CountryOfOriginLabel.org does a better job of spelling out the requirements in plain english. The grocery store in my town already does a good job of spelling this out, so it will be interesting to see if I notice any changes as the law takes effect.