Apr 12 2009

Lunch

Szechuan Noodle Bowl
Tasty, as always. I had pork noodle soup with pickled vegetables. It was very tasty. Plus we had post stickers and a green onion pancake. I'm quite fond of this place.

Apr 11 2009

Dinner


India Express
I haven't eaten here in years, so I thought it would be worth giving it another try. It was okay. I order Bhuna Lamb Gosht, and it was pretty good, but the quality of the lamb was pretty low. The rice was fine, but they don't add much spice (turmeric, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom pods), so it was basically just white basmati rice. I still think Annapurna Cafe is better if you're looking for Indian on Broadway.

Apr 9 2009

Lunch

Roti
Indian buffet. It was fine.

Apr 8 2009

Lunch

Rice N Spice
I had pad thai with beef today, 3 stars. It was not 3 stars, more like 0 stars. Oh well. Other than that it was pretty tasty. I never get beef pad thai for some reason. I would probably get it again. They use pretty good quality beef and it manages to get a little crispy around the edges but stay tender.

Apr 7 2009

Lunch

Buckley's
We had hoped to sit outside but the only table big enough for our group was reserved. I had a california chicken sandwich which was okay but ended up making me feel a little bit nauseous for some reason.

Apr 5 2009

Lunch

Seattle Deli
Banh mi sandwiches, barbecue pork. Very good, as always. This is probably one of the top 3 Vietnamese delis in Seattle. I'm always happy to eat their sandwiches.

Apr 2 2009

Lunch

Floyd's Place
Ribs, hotlink, with co-workers. It was good today. The ribs were a little bit charred but still pretty fatty and flavorful.

Mar 31 2009

Lunch

The Signature

This is a new Vietnamese place replacing an upscale restaurant on Lower QA. This was my first time eating there, and frankly it wasn't super impressive. I had a noodle bowl with pork skewers, and it was pretty bland all around. There just wasn't much flavor there. I expected more for the price, which was pretty high, like $11.00 for my bowl plus 1 small egg roll. Pho at this place is $8.00 for a small. That's pretty ridiculously expensive in my opinion. Oh well. I'll probably actually go again some day, but not any time soon.

Mar 30 2009

Lunch

Buckley's

For some reason I really wanted a burger, so we went here. I used to go here all the time for some reason. It's nothing particularly special; just bar food. The burger was fine. It was actually better than I remembered, though for some reason slightly bland.

Mar 29 2009

Dinner

Tacos El Asadero

Delicious tacos. It's been a while since the last taco Sunday. They were great.

Mar 27 2009

Lunch/Dinner

We took a brief tour of a couple of bakeries today, specifically:

Honore Artisan Bakery

At this bakery we were most interested in finding Parisian-style Macarons, but I also got a ham/gruyere croissant that was excellent. I dare say it was better than Cafe Besalu's famous offerings.

We also went to:

Bakery Nouveau

We ended up getting some more Macarons here, along with a couple of thick slices of what I have known as Italian Bakery Pizza or Sicilian-style pizza, which is about an inch or so thick, with a fairly soft moist crust. The slices we got had various italian cheeses, soft rounds of goat cheese, tomato sauce, and caramelized onion. It was delicious.
The Macarons from both places were very good, but the flavors of the Nouveau examples were more vibrant and interesting. I'd eat either again though.

Mar 25 2009

Dinner

Crush
I'm not sure how to even start writing about this. I'll simply say that it was very good, but the 9 course tasting menu was an obscene amount of food and ended up feeling like a physical assault by the end of the evening. We came out of the meal feeling violated somehow. I will update this post in the next few days with pictures, perhaps.

Mar 22 2009

Lunch

Pho Than Brothers
Pho at Seattle's largest pho chain. I have never been to this location, but it was unsurprisingly very similar to the others. The cream puff was okay, the pho was just fine. As tends to happen though, I was starving 3 hours later. That's the price of pho.

Mar 20 2009

Lunch

Hing Loon
We had "country style" pancake, pot stickers, satay beef on a sizzling platter, and salt and pepper pork chops. This place serves good consistent Cantonese-style Chinese. I really like their salt and pepper pork chops, but this time they didn't put enough pepper on them. The pancake was sort of soft and had scallions and dried shrimp in it. Everything was tasty today.

Mar 17 2009

Lunch

Ipanema Grill
All you can eat Brazilian barbecue. They big bring skewers of meat around to your table and hack chunks off for you. We went because for some reason one of my co-workers was craving steak, and it was another co-worker's birthday today. It was pretty good. The meat had a nice grilled flavor, though it wasn't anything particularly amazing in the quality department. They had tri-tip, a couple of different kinds of seasoned steak, bacon-wrapped steak, sirloin, chicken, small spicy pork sausages, and some sort of parmesan pork. I tried it all. I wouldn't mind coming back for dinner sometime to try some of the more interesting cuts, but I didn't find the place super amazing.

Dinner

How to Cook a Wolf
Another co-worker was here from out of town this week, and we generally make it a habit of going somewhere interesting for dinner while he's here. He lives in Spokane, so he relishes the opportunity to try some place new. I chose this place this time, and I wasn't terribly disappointed. We had:

* Fried Almonds (this is just a bowl of salted greasy nuts, despite the intriguing name)
* Focaccia (from Columbia Bakery I believe)
* Prosciutto with olive oil, raisins, and parmesan
* Hamachi crudo with "avocado," jalapeno, and lime
* Beef Carpaccio with grape must, almonds, and cilantro
* Fried sardines with some sort of cod/potato croquette thing, and pickled radishes and cauliflower
* Pork belly with this rhubarb compote stuff, fingerling potatoes, and some kind of beans that I didn't try

The almonds were just salty nuts. They were good, but nothing special and not really worth the $5.00.
The Focaccia was excellent. I think Columbia Bakery makes some pretty excellent breads.
The Prosciutto was a mountain of the stuff, not slice super thin, and was very good with the raisins and shavings of parmesan.
The Hamachi was super fresh and very high quality. It was served on this really light almost fluffy green paste with a sprinkling of diced jalapeno and lime juice. I had assumed the green stuff was like a guacamole, possibly with olive oil or something emulsified in there. It was quite light both in flavor and texture. I asked our server about it and he told me it was actually serrano peppers that had been cooked, pureed, and pushed through a screen, then emulsified with oil. I was stunned, and frankly I don't know if I believe the guy. I don't know why it wouldn't be true, but it really just looked and tasted like avocado. Not only that, but the menu actually said it was avocado! It would be impressive if it were as he described, but what would be the point? Anyway, this was a good dish all around, but I wish we could have tasted the fish a little more.
The Carpaccio was also a little bit of a let-down. The walnuts and the grape must over-powered the meat, which had little flavor. I had hoped for a nice meatiness to the dish, and it just wasn't there. Also, I am not usually one to ask more salt, but this sort of needed a salty component. Oh well. I used the almonds to add some saltiness which ended up being a nicer option than the walnuts.
The Sardines were really high quality, very fresh, and pretty flavorful. However they were pretty big, so the bones were kind of too large to chew up easily. I ended up sort of filleting mine. The cod/potato thing. I can't remember what it's called. It was okay. The pickled radish and cauliflower was very good though.
The Pork Belly was the highlight. They roll it up like pancetta and braise it, so you have this nice ring of fat around the outside that kind of melts. I ignored the beans, but the potatoes were fine. I'd go back for this dish, maybe. The pork belly was meltingly good.
Anyway the meal wasn't outrageously expensive, even though we got a whole bunch of stuff. The pricing seems high at first, but the servings are all family style.
I probably wouldn't wait hours to eat here. We got there around 6:00 and were seated immediately. By the time we left around 7:45 or so people were starting to line up. I think Ethan Stowell has some great food at his restaurants, but I sort of wish he'd sit back and really concentrate on the ones he's already opened rather than opening new ones. Which reminds me, I should go try Anchovies and Olives, since it's just a few blocks from my home. I kinda want to see their menu first though...
Anyway, I was more impressed with Union than I was with this place. Nothing was terrible, but a few things were pretty bland or uninteresting, and only the pork belly really wowed me.

Mar 16 2009

Lunch

Floyd's Place
We had ribs and hotlinks again. The ribs were actually excellent today. The meat was pretty much falling off the bone, with a bit of crispiness to the exterior, but still pretty moist. The hotlink was pretty spicy this time and much better than last time. All and all a good experience. I wish they were this good every time.

Mar 15 2009

Lunch


Red Mill Burgers
We used to go here for lunch pretty regularly, but I've since decided that their burgers really aren't all that exciting. I do like their Chicken Club Burger though. That's what I got, plus fries and a trufflemint shake. The place was totally packed with people so we got it to go and ate it in a conference room at work. The ambiance in the conference room left something to be desired, but I suppose I'll let Red Mill off the hook for that.

Dinner

Restaurant Zoë
Okay seriously this place was great. We've been meaning to try this place for years and a lucky combination of a promise to take my sister-in-law out to dinner and Dine Around Seattle made it happen tonight. I got:

* Ricotta Gnudi, Brown Butter Balsamic Beet Sauce, Orange Reduction, Tarragon
* Washington Beef Short Rib, Parsnip Cream, Organic Carrots, Beets and Potatoes
* Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Coconut Crème Anglaise

Plus we shared:

* Carlton Farms Pork Belly Confit, Caramelized Endive Puree, Candied Apricots, Toasted Pistachios

Everything was basically excellent.
The Gnudi were very tasty, and are considered one of the restaurant's signature dishes, with good reason. They're soft little balls of dough with a little bit of ricotta in the middle. They really went well with the sweet beet sauce, the slightly bitter/sour orange reduction, and the tarragon. I like tarragon anyway. I don't know why I don't cook with it more.
The Short Ribs were fantastically tender and really flavorful on their own. The rest of the plate were a great wintery vegetable mix that also included figs, which were terrific.
The Cake was not too sweet, as it can be, but rather really focused on the pineapple flavors. Moist and a little dense with lots of buttery flavor, it ended up being a pleasant way to end the meal. It was nothing exceptional, but I have learned to not expect exceptional desserts in Seattle. I can only think of two places that have really wowed me with their desserts.
The Pork Belly Confit was straight up awesome. The accompaniments were delightful, particularly if you could get them all in one bite. The Pork Belly itself was roasted just a little bit so it was nice and soft.
Oh I also had a pretty okay cocktail. It was called a La Pommette, and was calvados shaken with lemon topped off with dry cidre. I like not-too-sweet apple-y drinks, and this worked nicely.
So yeah, we'll be going back here over and over, I think. I'm glad we finally got a chance to try the place.

Mar 12 2009

Lunch

Rice N Spice
Drunken Noodles, pork, 3 stars. Good stuff. I thought it might be a little wetter than I usually like when I first saw it, but it ended up being just fine. I had to add some chili sauce though, as it was a little bit bland. This is probably my favorite dish at this place, and though my blog doesn't reflect it, it's probably the dish I order most often.

Mar 10 2009

Lunch

Athina Grill
Lamb souvlaki pita and fries. It was pretty okay. Same as always.

Dinner

Spring Hill
I have been looking to take advantage of the Dine Around Seattle deals to try some new places that I might not otherwise bother with. A friend had told me this place was quite good, so I went there with him tonight.
I had:
* Rogue Creamery Smoked Blue Cheese, Air Dried Beef, Green Garlic Vinaigrette
* Wood Grilled Flat Iron Steak, Creamed Savoy Spinach, Crushed Gold Potatoes, Garlic Salt & Lemon
* Chocolate Fudge Cake, Peanut Ice Cream

We also shared this to start with:

* red wine pork sausage - horseradish sour cream, parsley relish, wheat crackers

Nothing I had was in any way bad, but I am not sure what the fuss is about. There were some nice touches in every dish, but I was looking for something to jump out and grab me. That just didn't happen, aside from the dessert. The dessert was awesome. With the addition of some vanilla ice cream it could have been like the most amazing Peanut Buster Parfait ever. In general all the ingredients were fresh, everything was well-prepared, but there was no one part of any dish (aside from the dessert) that I could point to as being particularly remarkable in any way, at least flavor-wise. There certainly is some creativity in preparation, but it just didn't add enough anywhere. The one other minor highlight was the "Crushed Gold Potatoes" with the steak. They had a really nice creaminess to them that I couldn't pinpoint. I liked those a lot.
I guess I wouldn't really recommend this place at full price, but I'm glad I tried it. The full price entrees seem pretty steep and I suspect they would have left me feeling short-changed.

Mar 9 2009

Lunch

Roti
The Indian buffet here is pretty decent. I used to eat here quite often and for some reason have gotten out of the habit. Today was fine. They're food is generally above average in most respects.

Mar 8 2009

Lunch

Green Leaf
This place gets rave reviews, but really I think Tamarind Tree and Lemon Grass are just as good, if not better, and cheaper. We had Vietnamese style pancakes with pork and shrimp, and I had Vietnamese Sour Soup with catfish. The pancakes were very light and crisp around the edges, with nice coconut flavor. They were of course stuffed with bean sprouts and eaten with lettuce, cilantro, basil, and a couple of other herbs. Super good. The soup was odd. It was more sweet than sour and had some slices of whole catfish, okra, pineapple, and taro stem. It wasn't unpleasant, but it just wasn't really what I wanted. The catfish was pretty tasty though, despite the bones.


Dinner

Zayda Buddy's
Take-out pizza. 'Twas just fine, as always. Not as crispy as it can be, but otherwise good stuff.

Mar 6 2009

Dinner

7 Stars Pepper
This is probably the most famous Szechuan restaurant in Seattle. It lost the chef that made it famous originally, but it's still pretty good. We had the Spicy Cold Beef Appetizer, Dan Dan Mein, Cumin Lamb, and Fried Pork Szechuan-Style. The Dan Dan is just about the best in the city. It's really great! The appetizer was fine, but nothing particularly special. The Cumin Lamb wasn't terribly good this time around. Not enough lamb, not enough cumin. The Fried Pork is something we've never ordered before. It's pretty much just Chong Xing Spicy Chicken made with battered and fried pork. It was surprisingly good, actually. The pork itself was fairly spicy. I'm not sure I'd order it again, but I suppose I might. Anyway we were basically just here for the Dan Dan Mein. That stuff is amazing.

Mar 3 2009

Lunch

Floyd's Place
Ribs and a hotlink again. Today the ribs were pretty decent. A little crispy on the edges, pretty moist in the middle. The hot link on the other hand was pretty bland this time.

Mar 2 2009

Lunch

Peso's
I had their steak sandwich and "chop chop" salad. The steak sandwich was apparently a "Grilled Skirt Steak Sandwich with Ancho Chili Au Jus." I guess that's about right. This sandwich changes almost every time I order it, which probably comes to about 5 times all together. This time the bun was toasted on the outside, almost charred in some spots, which isn't necessarily bad, and the steak was actually chopped, which has never happened before. I have to wonder how often this place goes through kitchen staff. If it's as often as they go through waitstaff, then it's about once a month. Anyway the au jus was sort of sweet and not at all spicy. I wish it was. The steak itself was pretty much medium rare, and I have no complaints about it.
The chop chop salad, which I almost always order, is actually pretty great. Bacon cubes, chicken, romaine, cucumber, a little basil, and (a weak nod to their "Mexican" style) cotija cheese.
(Notice I never actually order anything Mexican here.)

Mar 1 2009

Lunch

Rocking Wok
This place is s mostly Taiwanese, pretty cheap, kind of out of the way. I suspect it has its own pretty dedicated following though. I did read that the owner sold to a non-Taiwanese owner a while back, but I am not such a connoisseur of Chinese that I can tell myself.
Today I had 3-flavor Noodle Soup and some "wined chicken" which is just cold chicken marinated in rice wine. The chicken was just okay but the noodle soup was really quite good. The 3-flavor noodles can be had 'dry' too which I think I prefer.
A friend and I once made the mistake of ordering stinky tofu here. I am glad I know what stinky tofu is like, but I will never ever order it ever again. It was truly a horrible experience.

Dinner

El Camion
'Twas Taco Sunday and we did have ourselves tacos! and a chicken tamal. Everything was tasty, as it always is. The tamal was very spicy, which I like. The tacos were carnitas and cochinita pibil.

Feb 27 2009

Lunch

Skillet
These guys are pretty okay. I had a burger with fries. The burger came with cambazola, arugula, and bacon jam. The cambazola was of course pretty mild, and almost invisible. The bacon jam sounds totally crazy, but it's actually pretty mild-mannered. It's not too salty, but it's porky, a little sweet, and a little smoky. It's got a bit of the fibrous texture of bacon to it, and I have to say it looks kind of unappetizing. It was nice though. It worked well. The burger itself was kind of char-grilled, and much more well done than I generally prefer. It was good quality meat though. The bun was almost like a firmer dinner roll combined with brioche. It was a bit smaller than the patty, but not too small.
The fries were nice and brown, but weirdly chewy. I'm not sure how they manage that, actually. They were sprinkled with a bit of green onion and weren't at all too salty, which is a common complaint of mine. I'm not sure I'd say I really loved them, but they were good, despite the chewiness.
These guys are right by my office every Friday, but I almost never work Fridays so I always miss them. I got there at 12:30 and the only thing remaining was the hamburger and some sort of small salad, so I didn't even have the option of trying anything else on their (admittedly small) menu.
(Oh crap, I just noticed they have 'trailer-made' orange soda. How'd I miss that??)

Feb 25 2009

Lunch

Ezell's Fried Chicken
Fried chicken Wednesday again. Not much to be said really. It was good, as always.

Feb 24 2009

Lunch

Chen's Village
Today I tried to order the thing my friend ordered a few weeks ago that looked so good, and I got something entirely different that was totally uninteresting. This was possibly because I am white and he is Asian or it is possibly because I ordered the wrong thing. I'm not sure which. Anyway it was supposed to be beef noodle soup and it was supposed to be spicy, but instead it was a bowl of broth and noodles with a serving of Mongolian Beef dumped on top. It wasn't horrible, but it sure wasn't all that great either.
For years I've sworn that I would only order one of about three things here, because everything else is terrible. The last two visits have proven my beliefs correct.

Dinner

Kau Kau Barbeque
That's right, twice in a week! I had to take Maika too. Char siu, side pork, and pork ribs. We ate it at home with rice and brussels sprouts. It was excellent.

Feb 23 2009

Lunch

Metropolitan Market
Baguette with spinach, cheese, prosciutto, and butter. A fine sandwich when one is in a hurry and has to get back to training.

Feb 22 2009

Lunch

Kau Kau Barbeque
This place is easily the best Chinese barbeque in Seattle. I had the Combo, with 3 kinds of pork, and it was awesome. The char siew is pretty amazing. I'll never go anywhere else for that stuff ever again.

Dinner

Tacos El Asadero
Carnitas and Birria tacos. Taco Sunday has returned! This picture is from the previous visit:

Feb 20 2009

Dinner

Yoshino Teriyaki
I very rarely frequent any of the ubiquitous teriyaki places in Seattle. I do however have an intense fondness for the spicy chicken here. It's not like any teriyaki I've had anywhere else. At a previous job my co-workers and I used to go to the other branch of this chain almost every week. I even wrote a yelp review, which clever readers can find on the page above. Its unique flavor may be due to the fact that the owner of is Vietnamese. I really don't know. Anyway it was great, as always.

Feb 19 2009

Lunch

Elliott West Cafe
This is the cafe on the first floor of one of our buildings. It is generally around the level of college cafeteria food. Today was no exception. I had a conference call I had to get back to though, so I was sort of in a hurry. How do you manage to make a sandwich so mediocre?

Dinner

Hopvine Pub
A good friend is in town and somehow we settled on this place for dinner. I had their reuben, which seemed excessively spicy (I blame the mustard). The corned beef was marginal at best, but not horrible. The salad had a mustard-heavy vinaigrette. I will come back, but primarily for the beer selection, which is excellent.

Feb 18 2009

Lunch



Pagliacci Pizza
Two slices today, one some sort of 3 cheese, and one a primo of some sort. Both were fine. It's not my favorite pizza or anything, but it's good on occasion and certainly better than most other local Seattle chains.

Feb 16 2009

Lunch

Mecca Cafe
My co-worker is going out of town for a few weeks so despite the fact that I had a banh mi in the refrigerator I reluctantly (ha) agreed to go back to the Mecca. I stared at the menu for a while but of course I just ordered the Club. How can I order anything else here, really?

Feb 15 2009

Lunch

Seattle Deli
BBQ Pork banh mi. This is one of the top 3-4 banh mi places in Seattle, which is saying something considering there are about a million of them. You would be hard pressed to find a better sandwich for $2.50 anywhere. Possibly Saigon Deli can beat them, however until today I hadn't eaten at either place in so long that it's hard for me to say. Anyway it was very tasty.

Feb 12 2009

Lunch

Rice N Spice
I had Drunken Noodles with pork, 3 stars. It was pretty spicy today, unlike the Pad Thai last week, and very good. I sure like this place.

Feb 11 2009

Lunch

Ezell's Fried Chicken
My co-workers get a huge take-out order from Ezell's every Wednesday. I partake occasionally. I did it every week for about a month and quickly realized I don't want fried chicken that often. Despite all that, this is the best in the city, no question about it. The skin is amazing, the spicy is just right. My co-workers like the sides, but I find them completely unremarkable. It's really all about the chicken for me.

Feb 10 2009

Lunch

Mecca Cafe
I had their amazing club sandwich.

Feb 8 2009

Lunch

Szechuan Noodle Bowl
I had szechuan beef noodle soup. It was fantastic as always. This place is seriously one of the most consistently delicious good deals in all of the International District. We also had a green onion pancake (just about the best I've ever had) and some pork and chive dumplings, which are clearly homemade and also always quite tasty. Actually not only can you see that they're homemade, if you get there at the right time of day you can watch the women who work here making the dumplings and freezing them. They must sell tons of these on any given day.

Feb 5 2009

Dinner

Main St. Gyros
I had gyros and Greek fries. Totally okay, nothing at all remarkable, but fine. I've never been here before. A friend wanted to go for dinner for what I believe were mostly nostaglic reasons.
Also hey, what's the deal with Greek fries really? has anyone ever had these in Greece? For real? I always sort of like them, but aren't they just fries with a bunch of random greek crap dumped on them?

Feb 4 2009

Lunch

Rice N Spice
Pad thai, pork, 3 stars. Very good, as always.


Dinner
Szechuan Bistro
We finally decided to go here after learning (thanks to Yelp) that they have Dan Dan Mein on the menu. We had that, plus the cold spicy beef appetizer, Chong Qing Spicy Chicken, and Ants on a Tree. Everything was pretty good but I think maybe with a little less depth of flavor than other places we like. Certainly it wasn't as good as Bamboo Garden, which was the last Szechuan place we tried. (There were 3 of us, so it's not as much food as it sounds.)

Feb 3 2009

Lunch

Floyd's Place
My coworkers and I had ribs and hot links. It was pretty marginal this time. The ribs were overcooked and dry. The hot link was fairly okay. Sometimes this place does okay by me and other times I think it's a real letdown. Today was more of a letdown.

Feb 2 2009

Lunch

Peso's
This place is vaguely lame for a variety of reasons, but my co-workers suggest going here occasionally and I'll usually go along. I had a chicken, bacon, and avocado club with a 'chop chop' salad. It was edible but not exceptional. I think the club has actually gone downhill in the last year or so. It seems plainer than it used to be. The salad has bacon in it, which is excellent. The bacon is actually in little cubes, which have a name that I can't remember right now.

Feb 1 2009

Lunch

Pho Viet Anh
I had a small pho with fatty flank and rare steak with their 'spicy' broth. It's not actually all that spicy, it's just not regular pho beef broth. It's got some chili flakes of some sort, possibly some pineapple, more lemon grass, not sure what else. I like this place, generally. The vegetables are always fresh, the meat is always relatively high quality, but I am always slightly annoyed that they don't just give you those little bowls for the sriracha and the hoisin sauce. You have to ask for them.

Jan 25 2009

Lunch

Lunchbox Laboratory
This place gets talked about a lot. I had the "Ebony Assassin" burger, which included beef (obviously), bacon, havarti or muenster, I don't remember which, onions, and a black truffle mayo. It was just fair. I have to confess that I actually took off some of the bacon. There was too much. It was kind of wadded up and not very crispy. The highlight of the meal was the shake. I had blueberry custard, and it was really pretty awesome. My side was tater tots with rosemary sea salt. They were good, but too salty. I actually didn't finish them either. I'd go back, but not very often. I'd like to try a pretty normal burger there without lots of random stuff and see how that is. Oh by the way, burger, tots, and a shake came to $19.00. Holy wow.

Dinner

Zayda Buddy's Pizza
Despite the fact that this is excellent pizza and the closest to traditional midwestern pizza I have ever found outside the Midwest, and despite the fact that I sometimes daydream about the pizza with its toppings under the cheese, and despite the fact that I absolutely adore the fact that it is cut into squares, despite all that and more, I had only a small amount of this delight because I was still full from lunch. Oh well. Pizza is never degraded by leftover status.

Jan 24 2009

Lunch

Muy Macho Taqueria
I had a carnitas taco, an al pastor taco, and a pork tamal. The tamal was excellent, the al pastor was really good, and the carnitas were just okay. I like carnitas crisper. I'd go back for sure. The tacos were .99 here, which is less than any of the trucks I've been to so far.

Jan 22 2009

Dinner

Bamboo Garden
We weren't planning to go out to eat tonight, but as I started considering what to have for dinner I realized that Szechuan was absolutely imperative to my continued well-being. I then very quickly convinced Maika that Bamboo Garden in Bellevue was our only choice, primarily on the strength of the fact that they have Dan Dan Mein, labeled as Cheng Dun Dan Dan Noodles (With Pork) on their menu. We ordered, that, a spicy cold sliced beef appetizer, Chong Qing Spicy Chicken, and Lamb with Scallions. I had heard mixed reviews of this place, but after this meal I can safely say it is above average when it comes to traditional Szechuan favorites. The spicy beef was excellent. It had a hint of sweetness to it, and the meat was sliced a little on the thin side without too much chewy tendon. It was also very spicy. The Spicy chicken was a little different from other place as it had a slightly sweeter (but still spicy) taste and it was sprinkled with sesame seeds. I thought it was on par with some of the best we've had elsewhere. The lamb was good, but nothing spectacular. It was surprisingly tender though. Of course the most important thing was the Dan Dan, which was quite good. There was plenty of very finely ground pork and a nice spicy nutty broth. The noodles were thick hand-shaven noodles that were cooked perfectly. I have occasionally had examples of these noodles that were still a little bit chalky in the middle. These were not. There was no bok choy in the dish, unlike 7 Stars Pepper, but other than that they were pretty similar. Now I need to go try Szechuan Bistro again I guess.
One question was how we would decide in the future whether to eat here or at Szechuan Chef when we're on the east side. The answer is simple. Bamboo Garden does not have Ants Climbing a Tree on the menu.

Jan 21 2009

Breakfast

Mecca Cafe
M. needed to run an errand somewhere on Lower QA and my friend and I wanted breakfast, so this is what we chose. I had pancakes. They were thick and fluffy and quite good.

Jan 20 2009

Brunch

Coastal Kitchen
I am routinely let down by dinner here, but I have had more than adequate brunch/lunch here on a couple of occasions. This was one of them. I had a "Sweet and Savory Crepe" which was served with apples, ham, and gruyere. There was some honey and a side of very thin and crisp pommes frites. It was all good.

Dinner

Queen City Grill
This place has been on my list for a long time. A friend was in town so we decided to go check it out. We started with two appetizers. We had a tuna "carpaccio" served with some lightly pickled onions and cucumbers and some wasabi (which we ignored), and we had a saute of wild mushrooms served over a very nice and creamy risotto. Both were good, but the tuna lacked a little something. It was a little bit bland. For an entree I had a very good bouillabaisse that was packed with lots of different types of fish, a small crab leg, and plenty of little clams. The broth was flavorful and light. My friend had halibut cheeks, which were excellent. This ended up being a very good meal in a really pleasant laid back atmosphere. I like this place.
We skipped dessert and went to Spur and had a couple of cocktails instead. They were very good, as were the homemade corn nuts.

Jan 19 2009

Lunch

Rice N Spice
Today I had something I'd never ordered before; Sukiyaki with beef. Thai sukiyaki is sort of sweet and sour and spicy. It's quite rich. The noodles are thin glass noodles. I have seen it with beef (it's listed here with seafood) on one other menu in Seattle, but it's not listed with beef here. They're happy to make it though.

Jan 18 2009

Lunch

Roti
Their buffet is slightly above average, and readily accessible from work. This is nothing remarkable, just competently prepared and occasionally interesting Indian food. They claim to grind all their own spices on a daily basis. I can appreciate that, having just ground a bunch of spices last week for some curry powder.


Dinner

El Camion
It was once again Taco Sunday. To celebrate this holy hour we had carnitas (not as good as El Asadero, but still very good) and cochinita pibil. The cochinita pibil is really terrific. I haven't seen it on the menu at any other taco stands. We also had a pretty good chicken mole tamal. I like their pork in red sauce tamales better. The chicken was slightly dry in this example and the mole was a little bit bland. The pork on the other hand is very moist and quite spicy. The tamales here are very large and wrapped in a banana leaf. I think this means that the food is Yucatecan, actually. Anyway it's all really quite good. I think it's a sad reflection on Mexican food in Seattle that the best examples are all from taco buses and stands.

Jan 15 2009

Lunch

Shiki
I had Unagi Donburi. It was fair. The unagi was bonier than usual for some reason. I often get their bento special, which is a pretty amazing deal, but they were sold out by the time we got there. Next time!

Jan 14 2009

Lunch

Metropolitan Market
I had a baguette with prosciutto, butter, spinach, and one of those mild deli cheeses that I can never identify. I always like this sandwich. I also had some Odwalla Tangerine! juice, which I just noticed is not actually 100% tangerine juice. Lame! Anyway, a good quick lunch.

Jan 13 2009

Lunch

Mecca Cafe
Club sandwich. Their club is just about my favorite in the city. Real turkey, good bacon, just enough bread.

I realized while writing this post that the coming months of lunches are going to rapidly become quite repetitive. There are lots of places on Lower Queen Anne, but there are only a few that are really worth visiting.

Jan 12 2009

Lunch

Pagliacci Pizza
Pizza. 2 slices and a Caesar salad. Nothing at all spectacular but I find Pagliacci much more palatable than most Seattle-area pizzerias.

Jan 11 2009

Lunch

Red Mill Burgers
Bacon Deluxe with cheese and a trufflemint shake. My co-worker likes to go here and a burger sounded good. However unless I get the chicken sandwich this place never lives up to my expectations. It was fine, but just not the excellent fast food burger experience I always want it to be (and it's always rumored to be). Oh but the shakes are terrific. I love milkshakes.

Dinner

Tacos El Asadero
Man this place is good. We shared two carnitas tacos, two adobada tacos, and a birria mulita. It was excellent. I could eat here 4 times a week and be happy forever. With cokes it came to 9.60 or something ridiculous like that. One day I'll do a brief write-up of all the taco places I've tried in Seattle. This place has the best carnitas, but you can get better adobada (and tamales and tortas for that matter) elsewhere. The carnitas was extra awesome tonight though. Lots of crispy bits but still juicy.

Jan 7 2009

Lunch

Rice N Spice
Pad thai with pork, 3 stars. This is my favorite Thai on lower Queen Anne and I eat here almost once a week. Their noodles are generally great.

Jan 6 2009

Lunch

Athina Grill
Lamb pita sandwich with fries. It was fine. It's good to have another option on lower QA.

Dinner

Szechuan 99
We and a friend started with spicy sliced beef appetizer, Chongqing Chicken (here know as Red Pepper Chicken for some reason), ants on a tree, dan dan mein, and cumin lamb. I think this place is really quite good. It's one of my favorite Szechuan places.

Jan 4 - 5 2009

Jan 4 Lunch

The Other Coast Cafe
My first meal out of the new year. I had the Ragin' Cajun sandwich. It was fair. Kind of soggy, but the flavors were good.

Jan 5 Lunch

Chen's Village
I had their "General Tao's Chicken" due to the influence of a TED video. It was horrible. Almost unpalatable. This place is usually passable as long as you only order one of about 3 different things. Not this time.

Yeah, for real this time

I have decided that I will keep a log of every meal I eat out for the next year, good or bad, interesting or embarrassing. This was my New Year's Resolution, in fact.
So now I will proceed to do so.