syd-vicious

Boy, talk about being right under one's nose - I work four floors above Union and haven't taken advantage of their new deal yet - can't wait. I'd love to meet all the folks on the 25th, if only by way of stopping by for drinks in the bar and looking for the big table of eGulleteers.

Ok, I'm going to have to continue to extoll the virtues of Salumi. Due to a relative's concern over Mad Cow (isn't it mostly pork?), we had lots of assorted sliced salami/cured salty meats/sausage/whatever you call them left over after our big party last weekend - next to perfection in the dictionary MIGHT be a picture of a large meat platter from Salumi So....we've been snacking on salami every night since and I now crave it, crave, crave, crave salami every day. Oh my. But the bag is getting low… …"you'd be so nice to come home to" …

…oh yes, and my old comfort food fave from that dear-departed breakfast favorite of ours, Cool-Hand Luke's - the Imperial Mix-up. Wow. I am a sucker for a big pile of beautifully fried rice, veggies and Portugese sausage. Has anyone had St. Clouds' version? I just read on their menu that they offer it. I'm afraid to try…either I'll like it and become addicted again or I'll be disappointed and miss it all over again. Then again I might remember that I have a life outside of fried rice

I haven't been in a while since we now live in W. Seattle, but even tho' it was my husband who always ordered it, we usually shared and I still crave Cafe Lago's lasagna. I never really have the desire to eat it anywhere else. I think it's because their tomato sauce is the food equivalent of crack for me.

I'd love to see one in West Seattle. I think the neighborhoods are especially supportive of their local snack/espresso spots, so Top Pot would find W.S. a warm and friendly home - ideally somewhere near the alaska junction or, even better, Fauntleroy ;-) , tho' we wouldn't want them too close as to hurt The Original Bakery's biz.

Totally! If she woulda just said it that way I think it would not be as misleading as I found her description. But hey, it's all good, Coop. Funny you should mention sucking it up because if you knew me (can you know the rainbow, Can you tell the setting sun, "hey sun, don't set today?" No! such is the Mango), you'd know that my life is one big study on "sucking it up." I've learned that the hard way through working in a landlord's office and just being an overly-empathetic Jewish Female) . That being said, why should disagreeing with a part of a review mean we're being too sensitive? Isn't this website full of nit-picky discussions of this and that? As well as the big sweeping theoretical discussions of that and the other. Yeah, I'm a big soldier of love for the restaurant and I wish I had a comment to make about another review of another place that I frequent, but this is the one that struck me as a little weird/over the top, and it happens to be the topic that I know best right now. As I've stated a couple times previously in this thread, I'm well aware that everything's subjective, but then that's what makes this place hum, yes? Anyway, I think it possibly helpful to tell people who might be considering going to a restaurant, that you disagree with an article when it will be read by, well, at least lots of people who buy coffee or cds So, to avoid going into the "you're sounding a little defensive" place, (which I promise you I'm not… really…REALLY!!!!) I'll just restate again that this is the most polite and thoughtful forum I've ever participated in… so don't you go adding a whiny voice soundtrack in your head while reading my post. And to keep it on topic, I'll mention that we went to Union last night to celebrate my husband's promotion and I had a yummy steak tartare, beautiful carrot soup w/a chunk of smoked salmon in the bottom, a heavenly herb-crusted venison dish and way too much wine which my dad brought for the occasion which successfully wiped out any more details of my meal for now Peace oh yeah, p.s. Coop, you can think or say anything you want about the place or the building and I promise I won't spit on your family or curse your house. I may even agree. p.p.s. I'm to wordy to restrain myself from saying that I was just browsing through the section and can see how my post about the review could have been seen to be a little thin-skinned. I still say I'm not , but for sure I'm on the inside looking out somewhat on this thing, so I suppose I could tone down the rah-rah stuff a smidge. Ok, I'm off to choir practice…

Thanks for the tip, T! And, yes, thankfully the food part was positive. We'll be dining there tonight, and when I went down there earlier to check on the reservation, there were not a lot of open spaces on the page - funny to be in a situation where I'm HAPPY to not have a large selection of reservation times

Weekly came out with a review (sorry, I don't know how to link an address yet) http://seattleweekly.com/features/0401/040107_food_union.php Though I've got to respectfully (but strongly) disagree w/the "ugly duckling" tag. I've just now gone through the KUOW thread and though I didn't have a chance to listen today, I'd probably have had a similar feeling as MsRamsey: "I was negatively inclined toward Millbauer before today's show because I had just read her poorly written review of Union." Again, I'm a homer, but I was perplexed.

Interesting...the reviews here sound uniformly good so far. My folks went the other night w/some friends and, while I don't remember now what they said they had, they were a little disappointed w/their experience, sort of underwhelmed I guess. I think one of the entrees arrived cold-ish and they sent it back. There were more comments - I'll have to ask my pop again. Sounds like maybe they hit the kitchen at a funky time or my folks just didn't love it there. Sounds like an investigative job for syd-vicious

Yes! It's great to walk by and see people all along the window and nice large tables full inside - what I've hoped I would see before too long. Looks like that review really got the word out. Yay.

Now I'm curious…If YOU happened to be looking around the room, I was w/my husband, his co-worker and his wife, at a round table nearere the back of the room by the window/back door. We were laughing and talking in probably less-than-quiet tones, but not overly loud, I think, but only because I had lost most of my voice from the flu The only folks I noticed for very long were a group in a nearby banquette (I can't remember how to spell that) who had a birthday among them - or at least decided to sing "happy birthday." As far as the review goes, wow, I was hoping for a good one, but that one took my breath away. As one of the managers of that bldg, I've been waiting and waiting for someone to do that place justice and at least now he'll get to do it for a larger audience. Sounds like reservations have picked up some since this morning, so that's good. It's exciting to be able to watch the process of a new restaurant coming in to its own. Kind of like my own personal "The Restaurant" (Rocco's) show, just without a lot of the drama Oh, and girl chow, though I hear you on the busy Holiday thing, I'd give it a go anyway. You can always tell 'em you read about it on eGullet sydney

Wow, do I love this eGullet group, and this thread in particular! Those who enjoy their meals expound deliciously on the event for the benefit of the rest of us and those whose experience didn't live up to their expectations for one reason or another, are actually CONSTRUCTIVELY CRITICAL. Although a big Ethan fan, I appreciate the negative reviews as much as the others that "qvell" (loosely translates from Yiddish to "going on about a subject positively", maybe even to gush) about the place. I'm so happy that NATURALSEATTLEITE re-connected with Hans, a prince of a guy, and had a great experience. I love that Foodie-Girl cares enough to hope that her comments are taken in the spirit given - coming from someone who loves food and the experience of dining in a great restaurant and thus has high standards for such. I believe that Ethan welcomes both responses equally (though, the "qvelling" is more fun I'm sure). Union may never make everyone on here equally happy, but in general I think the folks that post here do a service for those willing to use the feedback to their benefit. You guys rock. p.s. Almost forgot, based on the food descriptionsand my recollections of what we ate last Saturday night, I think it's entirely possible that Foodie-Girl, NATURALSEATTLEITE, me, my husband, his co-worker and wife may have dined at Union on the same night. Pretty high eGullet percentage for a non-planned event. Wish I had checked out the rest of the room some more, since I've never met anyone on this board

Could it be, perhaps that the name is instead Cesar (sp?) Casabeaux? If the partner is the Angel I think it might be, then he used to be affiliated w/Marcha and, I think, Fernando's. Great people skills.

Well in that case, we can do what we used to…roll into Macrina fresh from the gym The breakfast sammiches sound scrumptious, too. I guess we just always had the breakfast meal-type things. Nice to change things up. Yay for flour, fatty meats, eggs and cheese. Oh, how they come together so beautifully in the right hands.

It is across the street from the South end of the Market - one block South of Pike and the piggy bank/big sign/fish throwers. Or one block North of the Seattle Art Museum. Or one block West and across the street to the North (it's on the NE corner of 1st and Union) of Benaroya Hall. You'd think the location would be blessed, not cursed, with all that going for it. Geez, you WOULD think, wouldnt'cha… Yes, it is an ideal place to be in many ways. I think (and fervently hope) along the lines of "if you build it, they will come." Consistently (important word here) good food and service, attentive to its target audience, should be (like anywhere) what cements a business there. Tall order, but it's not like anyone belives the restaurant business is a walk in the park (well, I think some people do, but they're not around too long). To be sure, this area's had it's definite growing pains, not to mention the troublesome Pike street corners but really, the spot's just had a really unfortunate run of back luck for one reason or another. Different style altogether, but remember, back in the day the Aegean had customers coming out of their ears. Time will tell, especially after the Washington Mutual/Art Museum behemoth is built across the street (on Union).

$15 Corkage fee.

Oh yum! I can't believe I haven't tried these yet. I always prefer a savory something in the morning, so these sound right up my alley. This weekend I will run, not walk to Macrina (well, maybe drive, since I'll be coming from West Seattle and am NOT in marathon shape) for some o' those and report back. Y'all hold your breath, now. Oh, regarding the "you don't want to know," is that regarding the richness quotient of the ingredients in the recipe? I don't imagine the caloric/fat content is provided, in which case, yeh, I probably wouldn't want to know.