tighe

If you find yourself needing breakfast near the airport again, Spencer's in the Hilton is actually quite good and opens at 6. That said, the Maltby Cafe is by far my favorite place to go for breakfast. Everything is just so damn tasty. I wish I got out there more often.

Yes, for the price point, Crave actually has a pretty interesting wines by the glass list IMO.

Damn, both the lamb and the shortribs sound fantastic! Will have to make a point of trying this place when time permits. I'm assuming they don't have any of their own parking. Are there usually street spaces available in the area at night? Just piling on really, but I totally agree about the wine program at that little place on 12th. The choices available have annoyed me both times I'be been there. You'd think a place like Crave would really do better!

I just recently read elsewhere that the Café Jacquemart-André serves Sunday brunch. No idea how the food is, but it certainly would be a nice setting.

Great minds think alike! I had the duck last Friday night. Mmm, mmm, good...

Thanks for the report Dave, sounds like it was a good time. I'm glad that Ethan had a chance to get that kind of exposure and I'm interested to find out his impressions of WD-50.

Several years back when I went up to Anchorage fairly regularly, the best meal I had, hands down, was at The Marx Brothers Cafe. My other memorable meal was at Seven Glaciers, on top of the mountain at the Alyeska Resort. The view had more to do with that than the food however.

There's a big part of me that would absolutely LOVE to eviscerate this pronouncement and Pagliacci's pizza along with it, but my Godfather's is getting cold.....as if...

My family and I spent last weekend at Semiahmoo and popped over the border on Saturday night with the intention of having dinner at Pearl. For whatever reason I didn't think about needing to make reservations, but alas, they were full even though we arrived early. The suggested alternatives were also full, so we ended up at a newish place nearby called Senses. Fusion-y food in a very calm ambiance. We shared four 'tapas' (I'm tiring of seeing this term used to describe any small portion of food, no matter the provenance, but that's just me). The first could be crassly described as pork McNuggets. Chunks of pork breaded with a garlic and 5-spice seasoning and deep-fried. It was sort of a guilty pleasure, a little voice telling me that this was too close to fast-food and I shouldn't like it, but damn, it was tasty. Calamari steaks cut into strips and fried were served with a green onion aioli. The steak strips were a nice change from the more common tenticals and rings, but overall this was pretty standard stuff. The best of the bunch was grilled beef short-ribs with a soy-balsamic glaze served on a stack of sweet potato fries and a hoisin (and fish sauce?) based sauce. These were the thinly, cross-rib cut variety of short-ribs. Excellent flavor and texture; I could have eaten many more. The fries were undercooked. Fourth were seared shitake dusted scallops served on a bed of truffled sauteed mushrooms and mashed sweet potato. Although the truffle wasn't dectable, this was an interesting and successful combination of flavors and certainly the most creative item we had. Scallops were perfectly cooked. For wine I had a couple glasses of a perfectly serviceable BC cab/syrah blend. For dessert we had the ubiquitous molten chocolate cake. Well executed, but no twists or variations to really distiguish it from other versions I've had. I would go back, but not if Pearl had a table available......

I must be getting old and jaded because I'm having trouble summoning any enthusiasm for this round of 25F25. I would like to try Zoe, since I've never been. Szmania's was the first nice restaurant in Seattle that I patronized on a regular basis. When they opened their second place in Kirkland, the food quality and service took a big hit IMO. During 25F25 a couple years ago, we went back for old times sake and it was excruciating. I seem to remember reading/hearing somewhere a little while back that Ludger was going to re-focus on the original location, so maybe it's better. If anyone goes, I'd love to hear about it.

Wow, you guys know all the cool techie tricks.....this is going to be very useful..

Has anyone checked out the Local Cafe on Olive? I walked by last night and it looks like an interesting place. Simple but attractive interior with a low-priced and tasty sounding menu. One of the Capital Hill contingent must have tried it already? I'm going to try to have lunch there next week. Edited to change 'tasting' to 'tasty' which makes a hell of a lot more sense....

I had ceviche as part of my recent dinner at the Ibiza Dinner Club. They have at least three on the menu using different combinations of fish and seasonings. They used to have a pretty good one at Cayenne, but it went out the window with the rest of the pseudo-Southwest/Mexican menu a while ago.

I found a web site for Red House. I'm anxious to give it a try since it's close to home. If only it were possible to, oh, I don't know, find out who else might be interested in going.....

Liqour laws in Washington are also whacky, but in an entirely different way. I believe that if a restaurant doesn't have a liquor liscence, then alcohol cannot be consumed on the premise at all, no matter who is providing it. Most restaurants will allow you to bring wine in if you pay corkage which ranges from $10 to $30 and some have limitations such as not allowing wines that are on their list to be brought in.

← Leson's column today is a veritable Farewell & Welcome treasure trove! A few thoughts... I really fear for Porta's long-term viability in Belltown. I don't think that what they have going on Eastlake translates well to that scene. Are there enough people out there willing to pay for up-market Greek to support both Porta and Tom Douglas' new place in the same neighborhoood? How many Italian restaurants can Seattle really support? Staffed with corporate chefs, is there any chance that the restaurant replacing Roy's will offer anything distinctive on the high end seafood front? Isn't Oceanaire like a block away?

I saw lamb proscuitto at DeLaurenti's today that is from Salumi. ← When I saw it at DeLaurenti's it was $40/lb!!!! FM!

Wow, so much for the genuine friendliness that mamster noted in his review. Sounded like it was the best reason to go, but now....

I recently tried a new salmon recipe from the Aquavit cookbook that I can't adequately describe without profanity. Pan seared for a few minutes on the skin side, then braised in dry sherry, soy sauce and chopped frest tarragon. Incredible flavor combination. My family standard on the grill is to slow roast in on a piece of foil with some combination of onions, dill, celery and fennel with salt and pepper.

Really?!? That didn't last long. The couple of times I was there they were busy and it seemed like a great fit for that neighborhood. Wonder what happened. ← I wonder if it wasn't a financial issue -- somebody ran out of money and/or patience. It hadn't been open long, and I'd think that it would have had to stay for a while to establish itself vs. Coastal. The times that we were in, it seemed kinda quiet. I don't ever remember it being really crowded. c ← I'd be surprised if the ran out of money since it was part of Mick McHugh's empire and was supposedly his pet project. Maybe he just saw the writing on the wall and didn't want to continue hemorrhaging.

Shouldn't that be "had slud spectacularly"?

Really?!? That didn't last long. The couple of times I was there they were busy and it seemed like a great fit for that neighborhood. Wonder what happened.

For my 2003 visit to Paris, I found Emmanuel Rubin's Gourmet Paris to be the most useful restaurant guide. It's unusual in that it's organized by dish or type of cuisine and there are no ratings, per se. Unless a new edition has been published, it may be somewhat out of date at this point. As a reference for where to find shops, markets, etc. Wells' book is very helpful.

I'm pretty sure that Madison Market has them...

....and slitting them open with a knife and eating them alive isn't?.....