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Food&WineSection D | The Seattle Times | www.seattletimes.com | March 26, 2010

By Leslie Kelly

Special to the P-I

It’s enough to make any chef feelfried. So, what’s a crazy genius to do?

Simpson and his partner, Allegra

Waggener, shut the Lab earlier this  week for a quick kitchen makeover,a redo designed to better accommo-date the crush.

The back story on this venturereads like a script for a made-for-tv-movie. Simpson was at the top of his

 game at the much-loved Fork whenhe abruptly dropped out of sight,holed up in his apartment eating asteady diet of pizza. After gaining100-plus pounds, he had a gastricbypass operation, shed the weightand opened a tiny space dedicated to

high-end burgers done your way. Or,if you order from his daily specialsboard, it’s burgers done his way.

The revamping of the kitchen isthe first step in an eventual expan-sion. (Look for a second location

soon in Greenwood.) The crampedinterior (in the former Ballard Bros.space) currently consists of a coupleof long tables surrounded by a super-lative collection of ‘60s- and ‘70s-era kitsch, including metal lunch-boxes featuring a slew of classicshows. Unfortunately, an ill-placedfan blows a steady stream of arcticair on shivering customers. Whena diner sitting next to me asked if they could turn it down, Waggenersnapped, “No. Sorry, Hon!”

See lunchbox, Page d8

By Paul Gregutt

Wine Adviser

A few years ago, I was invitedto deliver the keynote address tothe annual meeting of Washington

 wine-grape growers. This is a groupof more than 300 vineyard owners

  who oversee the roughly 35,000acres of wine grapes in Washingtonstate. More than a few of them alsomake and market wine.

Although they obviously havean agricultural perspective, I setout to convince them that they 

  were in the entertainment busi-ness, too. Even those who simply 

  grow and sell grapes, without hav-ing to make or market the wines,are bound to the fortunes of the

 wines that result from their efforts.If a vineyard consistently produces

 grapes that end up in highly rated,award-winning wines, the pricesand demand for those grapes willrise. If it goes the other way, well,that contract may not be renewed.

The point is that wine is a fash-ion-driven business. Like othertrendy, optional pleasures, wine ismostly viewed as entertainment. Itmust compete with everything elsethat’s vying for consumers’ enter-tainment dollar. Do you buy a $20bottle of wine, or go to the mov-ies with your spouse? Pick up thatnew wine book for your Kindle ordownload the Guitar God app for

 your iPhone?Inevitably, changes in con-

sumer buying habits affect wine

styles and trends, and we are in themidst of some major sea-changesat the moment.

Younger consumers in particu-lar are looking for products thatpay attention to their environmen-tal impact. At the vineyard/winery level, this applies to everythingthat pertains to the care and stew-ardship of the land. It starts withsustainable farming, which mini-mizes the use of chemicals and of-ten leads to organic farming, whichin turn evolves into biodynamic.In this state, Bill and Greg Pow-ers were pioneers in sustainable

  grape growing, and their BadgerMountain vineyard was the firstto be certified organic. The Vineaproject in Walla Walla is one thatencourages sustainable vineyardpractices countywide.

❚ Comments? Write Paul an E-mail at paulgwine@me.com.

By Melissa Healy

Los Angeles Times

The Christian faith holds several acts of “super-sizing” to be miracles accomplished by 

 Jesus Christ — a handful of fish and loaves of bread expanded to feed thousands; a wedding

feast running low on wine suddenly awash inthe stuff. Now a new study of portion expan-sion puts Jesus once more at the center.

In a bid to uncover the roots of super-sizedAmerican fare, a pair of sibling scholars hasturned to an unusual source: 52 artists’ ren-derings of the New Testament’s Last Supper.

Their findings, published online Tuesday in the International Journal of Obesity, indi-cate that serving sizes have been marching

heavenward for 1,000 years.“I think people assume that increased

serving sizes, or ‘portion distortion,’ is a re-cent phenomenon,” said Brian Wansink,director of the Cornell University Food andBrand Lab and author of “Mindless Eating:Why We Eat More Than We Think.” “But

this research indicates that it’s a general trendfor at least the last millennium.”To reach their conclusion, Wansink and

his brother Craig, a biblical scholar at VirginiaWesleyan College, analyzed 52 depictions of the meal the Wansinks call “history’s most fa-mous dinner party” painted between the year1000 and the year 2000.

Using the size of the diners’ heads as aSee supper , Page d12

Customers have been lining up to try themouthwatering offerings at Lunchbox Laboratory,

Scott Simpson’s new burger joint in Ballard.

How food portions have increased by 69% inpaintings of Christ’s final meal

Cornell University Prof. Brian Wansink holds a plate illustrating how

food portion size has grown in “The Last Supper.”

Just one of the many possible combinations of enticing culinary creations available at Lunchbox Laboratory in Ballard.

(Jason Koski / AP)

Wineries are

tapping into

eco-friendly

trends

COLUMN

(courtesy of flickr user pouryourheartintoit)

The (super-sized) Last Supper INSIDE

RESTAURANT

REVIEW:

LunchboxLaboratory

ADDRESS: 7302 1/2 15th Ave. N.W.PHONE: 206-706-3092PRICES: Burgers $8-$9, cheese$1.50 extra; sides $3-$5; shakes $4

HOURS: Closed Monday; OpenTuesday 11a-3p, Sunday 11a-5p, allother days 11a-8p

PROTIP: Avoid prime lunch and dinnerhours unless you don’t mind linesBEST BETS: Meal Deal ($14 for burger,side, and soda), shakes ($4), daily

“experiments” (prices vary)VERDICT (out of four): Food ★★★,Service ★★, Ambience ★★1/2

Washington wineindustry tops 650

wineries | D6

(courtesy of thestranger.com)

Mad scientist and owner Simpson takes

pride in his decadent creations.

“Amazing

burgers. From

the long list

of existing

combinations

to the a la carte

selections, the

options are so

unbelievable

and delicious

that I had to

come back!” 

-Amy Dailey, customer from

Portland, OR

sandwich science