tighe

I think the most obvious answer to your question would be the Central District in Seattle. Easy access to the International District, Rainier Valley, Capitol Hill and Downtown. A lot depends on how much you want to spend on rent and what neighborhood attributes (other than access to food) that you value most. The CD has generally been less expensive (although that is changing quickly), but also less desireable in some ways than adjacent neighborhoods. I lived in the CD for about 5 years and loved it.

I saw the mention of La Famille in F&W and thought is sounded intriguing. Has anyone here tried it? The first Sunday of the month tasting menu particularly caught my attention.

I like the La Brea bread a lot too. I buy it at a Thriftway near my house. I"m particularly fond of their rosemary loaf. It surprises me how good it is since it gets par-baked, shipped up from California and then finished in the store.

My only question is: "can we make reservations now?" I love that kind of food, and the beer of course. Malarkey, do you know if they're planning to have some of the Trappist beers on tap? Probably a good thing it will in such an inconvenient location for me....

I definitely second this. Algar's book represents the breadth and depth of Turkish cooking more fully than any other I've seen. No pictures though, which can be a problem if you're not familiar with how different dishes should look. Paula Wolfert's Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean also has many excellent Turkish recipes, but isn't exclusively Turkish.

OK, if we're going to get further afield, then I have to plug South Park for Mexican food. A handfull of great, authentic places all along 14th Ave S. Muy Macho is my favorite. South Park would be a 15-20 minute drive south of where you're staying. Also wanted to add that one of the best coffee places in town (purportedly) is right next door to Porta (my previous post) although I can't remember the name right now.

Uhhh, actually that is the location I assumed he was referring to. Sorry if my directional references weren't sufficiently precise....

I feel compelled to try to help someone with the same last name (spelled correctly no less). Bike vs. car: biking in Seattle can be challenging because of the hills. Going from where you're staying to Ballard would be relatively flat, but still a healthy ride. If you're in the shape to do it, great. Another option (other than a care) is the bus system, which will get you anywhere in the city pretty easily if you do a little planning. The area that you're staying in is kind of a food (particularly good cheap eats) wasteland. Ballard has quite a few options, but others here are more familiar with the area than I am. Not too far north of where you are staying, there are two places I really like: Porta (Greek) and Pomodoro (Mediterranean). Both are sort of middle price range, but you can eat inexpensively if you choose carefully. On the other side of town from you is the International District with lots of cheap eats options, the bahn mi nexus at 12th & Jackson being an eG favorite. If you do a search on bahn mi, you'll get plenty of info. Up the hill to the east of your hotel is Capital Hill where there are also many inexpensive options (mamster?).

FWED, did you think the pizza was not as good as when we had lunch there?

Like I said, I haven't tried Fran's so you may be right. I have eaten a lot of other high end chocolates and I think Essential's are really excellent. I wouldn't necessarily equate their place in the chocolate world with their place in the bread world. Based on the other Fran's products I've had, I can believe what Schielke said being true, that Essential's chocolate's aren't as "sexy" as Fran's.

I'm not sure I've ever tried Fran's chocolates, but I did have some of Essential's recently and thought they were excellent. Anyone tried both and care to comment on how they compare?

Does "trad cuisine" refer to traditional French or traditional Italian in this case? Edit: found the ParisObs piece and answered my own question....French.

I'm also wondering why he didn't try to insulate Cassis, but maybe it was a stretch to begin with. Before Bandol opened Jeff was quoted as saying that Cassis had never been profitable but that Bandol would have to be. Makes it sound like he was really rolling the dice and it just didn't work out. My dissapointment over Bandol closing isn't just about the food. It's true the Laurie had a bad experience, but my two meals there were good. I was also rooting for it as part of the Samis Foundation's effort to revitalize that area and it was nice to have a slightly higher-end restaurant in that part of town. It wasn't the greatest food around, but it was certainly well above average and offered other aspects that were attractive to me.

Ned, your idea for Canlis is intriguing, although I think one of the reasons Sundstrom opened Lark was to have his own place. I don't think the Canlis' would be will to take the chance of pissing off their long-term customers either. reese, that parking lot doesn't actually belong to the restaurant. I believe some people have actually been towed.

Yes, it's true Penelope Corcoran has a piece in the PI today about it. I'm so sad. Apparently the difficulties with Bandol dragged Cassis down too. They're going to be open until the 20th. I definitely going to try to go at least one more time..... :crying into my frites:

What in the world are you talking about. Nothing is passing you by, it's sitting there right under your nose. Get thee to Lampreia. Ned, you are absolutely right that I need to go to Lampreia, but... I believe the thrust of what I was saying was that maybe we are finally experiencing a move towards having a critical mass of really good restaurants at the middle/upper middle part of the spectrum. Eating at Lampreia, Mistral, Rovers or the Herb Farm is a significant investments for me and if I can eat at Union or Lark a number of times for the same price, I'm going to take that deal....

Can I move into your house also, so I can eat all this great food you're showing us? My wife is having a baby this summer, so I think coffee will be a fact of life for at least several more months. It is inspiring to follow your thread though.

Anyone else read Nancy Leson's column today? All kinds of stuff... Perhaps most notably that Blue Onion Bistro has been sold. Maybe the chef will have time to reappear here now....

Wow, I think that blog'ing one's progress on a diet is very brave. Maybe that's what I need to do to actually get myself to stick with something. Great pics. Question: what is the reasoning behind giving up coffee completely on this diet? I know many diets advocate for drinking more water and less caffeinated drinks, but I haven't seen the "none at all" strategy before.

There's some serious work going on in a space at 915 Pine. The Notice of Application for a Liquor Liscence leads me to believe it's going to be a pizza/Italian place (sorry my sieve-like memory failed to retain the exact name for the requisite 4 or 5 blocks). Given the quality of woodwork that's being installed, I'm guessing this isn't going to be just another pizza joint. Dare we hope for truly great pizza here in the heart of Capital Hill?

As a general restaurant reference, I like the CityVox.com website for Paris. One of the reasons is the ability to specify many different kinds of criteria. Here are the results for 'non-smoking' restaurants in Paris. A whopping 9!, although I'm sure there are others and some of these look potentially good.

Others can probably make better recommendations on specific places to eat, but I think one of the biggest problems for your nephew in Paris is that very few places, especially the "where the locals eat" kind of places, are non-smoking. If the weather is good, there are many places you can eat outdoors, but there are still likely to be smokers around you. The only time NOT to go to Paris would be August, the place is shut down and somewhat abandoned. Obviously summer will be more crowded in general. The Marais is a great part of town. Here is a pretty good site with info about the neighborhood.

That's a SERIOUS bummer. I really enjoyed my dinner there and was looking forward to going back. I feel bad for the owner who obviously put so much into creating a beautiful space. I'm surprised that they would pull the plug this quickly, but maybe it was just that bad....

Rovers is great if you want classic French haute cuisine with some Northwest influence. Other recommendations would be: Union - Contemporary cuisine characterised by freshness and subtlety. Lark - Small plates with a regional/artisinal focus. Harvest Vine - Basque tapas of the highest quality. Nishino - Excellent sushi as well as cooked Japanese food. Matt's in the Market - Hole in the wall that serves great seafood in a unique setting. Mistral - As CH says, excellent Continental cuisine primarily using local ingredients. You can do a search here on any of these places and get LOTS of details and opinions about them. There are many others also, depending on your preferences. Here's a link to a recent thread where many recommendations were shared.

I'd happily roll down the hill on the 17th or 18th for lunch. If the weather is decent, we could always cop a bench in the micro-park across the street.