This weekend is your last chance to experience Cafe Nordo—the five-course tragicomedy about the life and death of a chicken from egg to bloody mess on your plate, presented by former members of Circus Contraption. Each course is a little bit of theatrics and a plate of surprise. (They spent a year fine-tuning the unusual and witty menu.) The main course, a roast chicken with fiery pepper-infused cherries, is a lesson in carnal pleasure and pain—the whole point of Cafe Nordo.

From The Stranger's review by Thadius Van Landingham III:

... when the salad arrives, you sense a chef who somehow intuitively understands what you want and is lovingly, slowly creating it just for you. This course's name is "In a coop of pine and wire our bird lies in a soft, ochre nest. Beside her, a speckled brown shell leans into a ray of early morning sunlight. Henrietta stretches for the first time." It's a perfectly poached egg in a crisp, savory Parmesan nest, served on a bed of greens with a goat-cheese béchamel. The béchamel is presented inside an empty eggshell, its top opened like a soft-boiled egg.

That Parmesan nest—taste of Parmesan, consistency of shredded wheat—and béchamel may have been my favorite course. Though the bloody roast chicken runs a close second.

Anyway: It sounds like Nordo has also run into some unforeseen trouble with the tax man:

This fall, Ripple Productions (a 501(c)3 non-profit) brought “Cafe Nordo Presents: The Modern American Chicken” to Seattle. The show was met with praise from fellow artists, patrons, and critics.

Five weeks into the run, a department of revenue official read a favorable review in the Seattle Times, investigated, and discovered that an exemption form for the 5% City Admissions Tax on ticket sales was not properly filed. All other legalities (insurance, licenses, etc.) had been properly addressed, and efforts were made to rectify this one outstanding form. After consulting an attorney, Ripple Productions found no recourse, appeal process, or simple non-filing penalty existed to clear this fee. The unexpected expense slashes into the budget of a small production company. 5% was all "Cafe Nordo" hoped to bank for a year's worth of development and production.

This tax shares profits from large productions such as festivals and sporting events by funneling a percentage to the 4Culture Arts funds who disperse that income to arts groups and artists via grants. Ripple Productions should benefit from, not be a target of, this tax, and apparently we are not an anomaly. Anyone who cares to see Seattle’s arts community thrive should speak out against bureaucratic barriers that punish local artists. The Admissions Tax law is predatory in its structure and must be rewritten.

Terry Podgorski

Erin Brindley

Producers of Café Nordo

If you're so inclined to help the folks at Café Nordo—and encourage them to attempt a second iteration of this fruitful experiment—go eat some Parmesan nest this weekend.