ScorchedPalate

It looks like a big hunk of bacon, unsliced.

An outpost of Fremont's Blue C sushi said to be in the works at U Village I also noticed a new restaurant supply store ("public welcome") called Dick's, in Bellevue across from El Rinconsito, next door to the motorcycle shop. ~Anita

I'd pick Union (3 exceptional courses for $20/pp) and go all out on wine. :) ~A

Holy cow. We will have to take a photo... it's like almost everyone from the Seattle crew will be there! ~A

Actually, that's the info for the commercial operation; the store/deli is (206) 621-8772. But, unfortunately, there's no word on their machine about when they'll reopen. Wah!

Please let us know what you find. We want to get some provisions for New Year's. ~A

Cam and I finally made it to Baguette Box over the weekend. We didn't get there until 3ish, and they were out of a LOT of stuff -- including meatballs -- but they've added new items to their menu... mostly side dishes. They now have fries (regular or truffle-oiled!) plus a number of other things that sounded good at the time but escape my memory now (perhaps potato salad?). The menu now says "Bahn Mi coming soon" as well. I had the drunken crispy chicken. My sandwich was utterly overstuffed -- I took out almost half of the meat in order to be able to pick it up and eat it like a sandwich. Really, easily, it could have had a third to half less meat and been plenty. The chicken was nicely breaded and then covered in a sweet, gingery sauce -- like dry-fried chicken -- and then put in the baguette with a little bit of lettuce and just enough cilantro. It was a tiny bit too saucy for my preference, but well within the bounds of reason. Cam's Salumi sandwich had just the opposite problem: Not much salumi... and frankly not much else. It would be a perfectly respectable european-style $2 baguette, but it was almost the same price as my chicken with about 1/4 of the meat. We split an order of (untruffled) fries; they were a tad overdone but tasty... more like typical rustic skin-on fries than, say, the fries at the Belgian Frijtes place. We paid close to $20 for 2 sandwiches, an order of fries, and 2 bottles of Pellegrino. The space, while spare, was nicely done and has a cute little view over I-5 toward Queen Anne. I definitely want to go back and try the meatball! ~A edited for a typo

I'm on my third KA mixer -- I have hand-me-down'ed the other two -- and all three of them are still rocking strong. I used mine for bread, other baking, and tons of meat-griding and sausage-making... it really borders on abuse and I have never had a lick of trouble. (Now I am knocking wood...) That said, my very first little low-end one would get really hot when I did back-to-back batches of bread, which is why I gave it to my mom (who makes brownies or cookies once a year with it). ~Anita

I would say no, but then we were there on a Saturday night. I suppose it would depend on your kids. It's tight quarters, not a lot of room for jumping around and such, and the decor typical Pike/Pine Corridor place... dark, funky, edgy. ~Anita

For the most part, Cam mentions all that I would. Here are a few additions... Music: Hipster techno when we sat down, Godfather soundtrack while we were having dessert! Service: Waitresses were nice and semi-professional. I'd give them slightly higher marks than Cam did. Pizza: I thought it was super tasty, but like soup. I would really like to see it cooked longer... The edges were barely cooked (not even a little blonde) and the center was practically raw dough. There was no way to fold it over! Using imported pizza ingedients exclusively (as cited in Italian on the menu) is a serious flaw: Are they really implying that canned Italian mushrooms are superior to fresh American ones?? Bleh! Wine: Their list (and its prices) is out of whack with their pizza prices, IMHO. It's nice to be able to have a nice bottle with an inexpensive meal, but they need more affordable bottles, too. Dino: We saw him being dismissive and rude to his colleagues all night, in addition to the criticisms Cam mentions. My lingering thought was: "I hope they can find another guy to replace him." Temperature: I was seriously uncomfortable, even in a cap-sleeve shirt. If I had been in a turtleneck, I would have passed out. We really did have fun. I know it's hard to tell from all the bitching. ~Anita

Caveat on the Pike Place CSA: Be leery of their Eastside drop-offs. By the time my produce made the mid-summer trek to Redmond, it was hot and half-squished on many occasions. Given that I visit the Market fairly often, I am familiar with the quality of produce; I often felt like we were getting the rejects the vendors couldn't sell to those customers who had their choice. I was so disappointed that I didn't re-subscribe for last summer. I hear raves from those who get their pickups in the city proper (not just Laurel), though, so perhaps that's the secret. ~Anita

Cam and I went there after the Cask Beer Festival (Oct 30) with MsRamsey and her husband. I totally forgot to write it up! Here are my slightly time-faded thoughts: - Nice space and decor (and yes, totally Rothko) - Good service, with some familiar faces from the Goat - More upscale -- food, wine, service, decor -- than the Goat, by 1 or 2 steps (No aspersions meant; it was a beloved neighbor when we lived in Phinney) - Tasty food, ranging from 'a step above serviceable' to really great. - Very popular with the blue-haired symphony/ballet/theatre mavens: you will want reservations - Tasty lasagne, but it's no Cafe Lago ~Anita edited to add: A very nice place for dinner, but not deserving of a rating equal to Union's.

I had an experience yesterday that immediately made me think of this thread: My big-boss scheduled a group-wide cookie exchange for today's lunch; the invitation went out weeks ago. Then yesterday (after I had spent all day Sunday baking) she told everyone "If you don't have time to bake, don't worry: There will be plenty of cookies for everyone." Holy crap! It's a cookie exchange. Make an effort, will ya?? It's bad enough that (many) people will bring store-bought cookies, but at least they're trying, in their own lame little way, to participate. I have half a mind to drop my lovingly crafted cookies at a shelter on the way to work. Feeling merry enough to run over a reindeer, ~Anita

Oh, man. Now I have a new place to get my chicken-fried steak infusion. This is *not* good. Edited to add: That bourbon and milk looks pretty tasty. (But then, I am a White Russian drinker when I feel the need to drink dessert.)

We ate at Vera's once and the food was so bad we got up and left. <shudder> We had breakfast on Saturday at Hi-Spot (madrona, not to be confused with 5-Spot or Hi-Life!) and it was good, not spectacular. ~A (edited for typo...)

Magus: Welcome to eGullet! If you're willing to go mailorder, search on "fritesvork" -- I found restaurant-supply places in the Netherlands that sell them: Bayram Hupack Snuverink-Twepa I was assuming that you wanted a local supplier, since you posted in the PacNW forum. If mail-order is an option, consider a cross-post (or moving the thread) over to "General Food" or "Elsewhere in Europe" forums for a wider distribution. ~Anita

We've had great experiences in the past with Albert Lee, and terrible (nay, epic) nightmares courtesy of Sears. A bit more info on this topic here.

I didn't think Endolyne Joe's was disappointing, and I am basing that on the same meal as Cam. I agree with his other assessments of Chow Foods brekkie. Edited to add: We both got raging food poisoning at Blue Star the first time we ate there (there were some suspicious food items that we should have known better than to have eaten, but we were ravenous...). Anyway, we've never gone back.

I just want to make it clear that I was not criticizing Cayenne (I will leave that to Tighe and MsRamsey ) but rather the shoddy review. That said, there are plenty of hotel restaurants in Seattle that hold their own, food-wise: Lola, Brasserie Margaux, Dragonfish... even leaving aside traditional venues like Hunt Club and The Georgian. In San Fran, some of the city's top restaurants -- Grand Cafe, Fifth Floor, Postrio, Michael Mina -- are in hotels. And I think MsRamsey is right: there's plenty of non-hotel traffic in the area that would have supported a non-hipster midrange option, provided the food was good. ~Anita

Wendy, I knew there was a reason I liked you. That's my favorite dish there. (Although the chong gin chicken is a very close second.)

Given that you're going for low-fat vegan, one thing you might want to check out: many faux-meats aren't low-fat. Especially once they're stir-fried. ~Anita <...who is going to log off now; I can't seem to post today without a typo>

I sent the P-I editors a (slightly modified) copy of my post, wherein I asked them to give us more candor and less "Seattle nice". I got this rather snippy reply:

I really didn't mean to rehash this old thread. I just wanted to make sure that nobody who stumbled across this thread thought I still recommended St. Clouds, given how gonzo I was in my earlier praise. That said: I'm with Cam on the whole "why do people love The Dish?" notion. We went there a number of times when we lived in Phinney, and had some pretty un-good meals. As for Glo's, I've never had problems with street parking, usually right out front. They also have a few spaces behind the restaurant, in the lot they share with the used bookstore. ~Anita

Did you taste them? They serve it with really tasty pickled green tomatoes in the summertime. I miss them in the winter. (Still, your server shoulda mentioned that it was intentional!) Me, I'd send it right the heck back if it were overcooked. They know better there. ~Anita

Is it just me, or is this the saddest review you've ever read? Friendly service a standout at neighborhood-fitting Cayenne It boils down to something along the lines of: " It doesn't totally suck. You should go." Somehow "forgiving prices" make up for "bland" food and multiple dishes that lacked promised ingredients. There's "nothing wrong with the food -- its quality reminds me in a prefab way of TGI Friday's...." and the reviewer concedes that "I would cross the street to Guaymas" for Southwestern fare. All of this damning with faint praise somehow adds up to a respectable 2-to-2.5-star rating and a claim that "This might be the best lunch that we've had lately." Ho boy. And here I was thinking that Seattle food criticism was improving. <edited for a coupla typos>