Kirkland chef comes up short on Iron Chef

Cafe Juanita owner and chef Holly Smith gave it a good try on Food Network’s The Next Iron Chef, but was bounced from the program on the second episode.

The show features 10 chefs vying to earn the title Iron Chef by having to prepare dishes on the spot through challenges the judges and producers set up.

“It was a fun experience and I got to meet some really nice people,” said Smith, who’s specialty is Nothern Italian dishes. “It was a lot of stress at times and kind of hard to adapt.”

The show was taped during the spring and is on the Food Network now.

Cafe Juanita is located at 9702 N.E. 120th Pl. behind the Juanita Village shopping area. For reservations go to www.cafejuanita.com or call 425-823-1505.

County’s election office moves

The county’s elections office has left Renton for familiar territory.

Forced out of Renton by the potential for massive flooding of the Green River, the county’s Elections Division has opened its new headquarters at Boeing Field in a spot from which – on a temporary basis – it once ran the operational side of the county’s elections.

The new office is at 9010 East Marginal Way S. in Tukwila in a county-owned building, just north of the Museum of Flight.

Two key county facilities near the former elections office in Renton won’t – or can’t – move, including the headquarters of the Department of Development and Environmental Services (DDES) and the Metro sewage-treatment plant.

The sewage plant sits above what is the expected high-water mark in a massive flood.

Levees to be improved along Green River

Work will begin immediately to protect residents and businesses by raising flood protection levees at vulnerable spots in Auburn, Kent and Tukwila under an agreement signed by King County Executive Kurt Triplett and the mayors of Auburn, Kent and Tukwila.

The agreements allow the cities to proceed with levee improvement work to be paid for by $8.4 million in funding approved by the King County Flood Control District Board of Supervisors. The board approved the money following a funding request by Executive Triplett to temporarily increase the height of Green River levees and to cover the costs of other actions to increase flood fighting capabilities throughout the county.

Levee improvement work in Kent is underway and work is scheduled to begin soon in both Auburn and Tukwila.