Two and a half years in the making, chef David Blaine’s new restaurant Central Food is ready.

Amid the continuing construction at Kendall Yards, the eatery opens at 7 a.m. daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The kitchen closes at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Central Food overlooks the Spokane River at 1335 W. Summit Parkway, but it’s so new that Bing and Map Quest get the location wrong. It is two blocks south of Broadway Avenue where Cedar Street meets Summit Parkway.

Blaine said Central Food is a casual, neighborhood joint with ingredient-driven dishes. “The kind of place you could drop into a couple of times a day and it wouldn’t seem weird,” he said. “A place you go to eat, not to dine.”

The food ranges from root vegetable hash and breakfast pot pie to mole-braised beef cheeks and vegan gumbo at dinner. Menu details are on the Central Food page on Facebook. No reservations are taken, but reach the restaurant at (509) 315-8036.

Lamb and clams

Cheney blogger Heather Scholten, a.k.a. Farmgirl Gourmet, is a finalist in a blogging competition.

Scholten is competing against seven other bloggers to win a trip to the 2013 Wine + Food Festival in Charleston, S.C. To win, she has to whip up recipes featuring lamb and clams that will appeal to the public and a panel of judges. Links and more information can also be found on the Farmgirl Gourmet website at www.farmgirlgourmet.com where Scholten has posted her recent entry, clam cakes with lemony greens and poached egg.

Smitten again

Cookbook author Deb Perelman is the self-taught cook, photographer and author of www.smittenkitchen.com.

She’s the latest in the blogger-turned-cookbook author genre, with her hardcover “The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and Wisdom from an Obsessive Home Cook” (Knopf, $35).

Kick off the holiday baking season with her recipe for Coffee Toffee. Find it inside today’s Food section on page C7.