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When I was at Brasserie Margaux the other night, I noticed that they're doing a "buy 2, get 1 free" from the tapas menu in the bar. I believe it goes from 4-7.

Thanks for doing this Q&A with us... I live in Seattle and go to Salumi for lunch as often as possible. In fact I was there for one of the sit-down lunches that are being offered twice a week now. Absolutely tremendous! I was wondering if you would share your thoughts on what a phenomenon Salumi has been in Seattle, given that what I have heard were always fairly modest ambitions on your father's part when he opened it. It has literally changed the face of the food scene in the city.

I've purchased some really good and really interesting olive oils from ChefShop. Their shop used to be on 15th Ave W in Seattle, but they've moved. They let you taste just about everything that they have available. Chefshop.com 305 9th Av N Seattle, WA 98109 - 5122 (206) 286-9988

I considered going to Au Trappiste for lunch during my trip to Paris (mostly for the beer), but didn't make it. I've read several places that they serve good moules-frites, and their menu certainly looks promising.

I think its really a question of personal tastes. I've been known to eat the fatty part of pork belly and other meats while scrat gasps in horror across the table...

You ARE referring to the 'redhead' part, right? (psst, I'm trying to save your ass here Ben!)

I haven't been to the Ballard or U-District markets so I can't compare, but I'm always impressed by the diversity and quality of what's available at the Columbia City market. Despite having just purchased a bunch of produce, I often end up going to La Medusa for dinner afterwards. Can't resist....

oxymoron \Ox`y*mo"ron\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ???, fr. ??? pointedly foolish; ??? sharp + ??? foolish.] (Rhet.) A figure in which an epithet of a contrary signification is added to a word; e. g., cruel kindness; laborious idleness. Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

I think their reasoning is bogus. Many cultures have been eating this way for centuries and I don't think it's due to widespread attention deficit disorder. I also just despise efforts to broad-brush large segments of the population, particularly ones that include me... I'm sure it happens, but my experience at these kinds of places is not one of quickly scarfing down a couple things and then leaving. It's always been more about lingering over a long succession of different dishes and drinking too much wine. If anything, it is a MORE communal dining style than "traditional" restaurants. I'm with reesek and F-G that the appeal is the opportunity to try many different things at one meal with becoming completely stuffed. If you think about it, its the same reason that people like to go out for sushi. From the restaurant's perspective, this approach is probably a real revenue enhancer since individual dishes seem inexpensive. I know from my own experience at Lark and Harvest Vine that its easy to rack up a big tab without being completely cognisant of how much one is spending. If there are really no mezze places in L.A., then we must be ahead of the curve here in Sea-town.

I will be interested to hear if the restaurants will accept multiple certificates at the same meal....

What cracks me up even more is that Taqueria Riconsito is now serving teriyaki. I haven't tried it.

There's a place near my house that is the best I've had by some margin. It always makes me laugh to see that the cooks are Mexican. Can teriyaki ever be good enough to go out of your way for? Not sure, but if so, Buxx is. Buxx Teriyaki 805 South 112th Street, Seattle, WA 98168

I believe that the law specifically prohibits distributing alcohol for free whether or not using a gift certificate qualifies as such depends on interepretation. I would also guess that many restaurants want you to buy alcohol in addition so they can recoup some of their revenues from the gift cert.

Istara, welcome to eG and to Seattle, hope you will enjoy both. It's always easier to answer these kinds of questions with a little more information about your likes/dislikes and budget. Here are some names that I would bring up on any list of my recommendations and you can find plenty of posts about all of them if you do a quick search here on the name. Union Lark Le Pichet Harvest Vine Brasserie Margaux Porta Matt's in the Market Osteria La Spiga Hope that gets you started and I'm sure others will chime in....

That place is an all-timer. I had some food there that brought me to tears, but I guess we should probably be having this discussion on the Hawaii board...

I haven't had a Mai Tai here that rivals what I was served at A Pacific Cafe on Kauai, but Claim Jumper :emabarassed to admit I go there: is the best I've had in these parts....

I think Spiga is definitely kid-friendly, in fact their little girl is often about the restaurant. Others... Porta (Greek) and Pomodoro (Mediterranean) bot on Eastlake are places I wouldn't hesitate to bring kids to. La Medusa (Italian) in Colombia City is another great kids place, they actually give children pieces of pizza dough to play with and then bake for them. In the south end, Filiberto's (Italian, in Burien) is usually filled with families as is Imperial Garden (Chinese, in Renton).

Thanks for the tips RN. Maybe we could all continue to use this thread to bring up particularly good wine values that we find at Costco, or elsewhere for that matter. I've never been to Champion (Bordeaux's aren't usually in the budget ), but I'd like to check it out.

The 4th Ave South Costco in Seattle has the Bodegas Norton Malbec for $6/bottle which is less than half the price I've typcially seen it for. This is an Argentinian red that I like very much. Sorry for the wine-geek-speak, but....very smooth on the palate with rich taste (dark cherry, stone-fruits).

Duoh! Posted on the wrong thread!

It's true that the wine list is exhorbinate, as with most other steak houses. The one time we went we did BYO and the corkage didn't seem too bad.

If you enjoyed the other steak houses in town, then I'm sure you'll like Morton's as well. I thought the beef was as good as any of them and the people were friendlier in general. The only real drawback to me is that they do this little show-and-tell schtick about the different cuts available that night that I find a little grating.

I've studied Turkish a little and read some about the roots of the language. It's origins are in the Asian steppes and it is related to some of the other Central Asian languages. Interestingly enough, one of the most closely related languages is Finnish. It is not a Semitic, Romance or Slavic language, although it has words from all of them. About half of the words in Turkish are not of Turkish origin. If your primary interest is in learning to read it, I don't think its any more difficult than most languages once you learn the vocabularly.

I wrote up a pretty extensive account of my five days in Tampa about a year ago. I had several great dining experiences. The aquarium in Tampa is one of the better ones I've visited.

Paula, that was a great article. I only wish that F&W had given you more space to go into more detail and have more discussion with the chef. For anyone who's interested, here's the link to Chef Musa' restaurant, Çiya. It's all in Turkish, but the pictures of the food tell the whole story.