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The Oyster Bar maybe be a little dated, but I wouldn't say its tacky and its too expensive to be 'touristy' in the true sense of the word.

Never been to the Oyster Creek Inn, but have had a couple good lunches at The Oyster Bar on Chuckanut Drive.

There are 3 or 4 right around the intersection of Military Rd and Pac Hwy S in Tukwila and at least a couple along MLK in the Rainier Valley.

Not that close to Redmond I suppose, but I like Imperial Garden in Renton/Kent. On the seafood front, I think you'll discover that 'most famous' doesn't equate with 'best' around here. In fact, one could argue that the best seafood isn't at one of the 'fish houses', but at places like Union or Matt's in the Market (currently closed, unfortunately).

When do you start taking reservations?!?!

Hey Malarkey, We're thinking of going to Boat St. Cafe and I'm wondering if it's within walking distance from the ferry? I'm in Poulsbo and try to 'walk-it' when we go to Seattle...parking being one reason... ← Not Malarkey, but it's a fair schlep from the ferry terminal to Boat St. Not undoable by any means and certainly there's no cross country bits involved but it does involve walking the entire length of the waterfront, up past the sculpture garden and farther north a few more blocks. I guess it depends on how much you feel is a reasonable walk. It is also a fairly pleasant walk for the most part. Rocky ← One could always take the Waterfront (not really a) Trolley for a good chunk of that stretch.

If they're going to use the term 'gastropub', I hope they take the time to go to the UK and understand what its really all about. Otherwise we're going to end up with either another seasonal/local place or an Anglified French bistro.

Can't say I'm surprised. The one time I went there it was pretty bad, and given the other French bistro options in town, I couldn't see going back. Hard to believe the guys from Maximilien didn't offer a better product. Other than Cassis, that space has been cursed, and even Cassis ended badly.

A 'no reservations' policy almost automatically moves a restaurant to the bottom of my 'places to try' list. To me, the message is 'our time is worth more than our customers' time'. Fine enough, but as long as I don't agree with that assesment, I won't be going. Now with a child, my feelings on the subject are even stronger since waiting around with a kid is not an option and paying for extra babysitting time skews the value proposition even more.

True. It's just that I think sous-vide is a gateway technique, kind of like marijuana is a gateway drug. Like so many other terms that get thrown around 'molecular gastronomy' is poorly defined.

Although Scott dabbles with some elements of molecular gastronomy, any time you ask him about it, he swears that he's not interested in the scientific stuff. As LMF said, no one is really doing it full-on, there are some affectations of it, but no commitment to it. It's still even very rare to see sous-vide on a menu. I've ranted about this issue and some of its causes, before.

Scrat and I went to Ovio last night due to the 'Dine for Darfur' event they were participating in. It was our first visit and I came away fairly impressed. Since the mains didn't really grab us, we did a series of apps/salad instead. Started with Kobe beef potstickers (tasty, as a potsticker should be), then the blue corn calamari with habanero tartar sauce and green chile vinaigrette. Excellently prepared calamari and the vinaigrette (more of a puree, really) was outstanding. With the calamari, we had the ensalada de jamon, good but over-peppered and then finished with panko crusted sweetbreads with seared foie, in a blue cheese cream sauce. I ordered this partly out of morbid curiosity, not imagining that blue cheese and offal could really go together, but I was sorely mistaken, a fantastic sauce and sublime dish. Maybe the best sweetbreads I've had. Instead of dessert, we went across the street to Mashiko and had sushi.

AMEN SISTER!! I'd put my olive oil poached halibut from last weekend up against any restaurant rendition.

Yes, my understanding is that a different ownership group made it worth his while to make the move....

Unless something has change, I believe Andina and Mixtura have different ownership.

← I think I've been to that Chinese restaurant in Yakima. Drunk out of my mind, I still realized it took 'suck' to a whole other level....

My 'oh so humble' opinion.

Are the chef nominations pulled out of a hat or is there some methodology that defies intuition?

As I've said elsewhere, I'm a big fan of Stellar Pizza in Georgetown. They have an interesting and tasty veggie option with Yukon Gold potatoes and blue cheese.

Thanks for the pic. I'll be by for lunch around 12:30....

Fat....lots and lots of fat!

Are you telling me that there's actually a great Middle Eastern restaurant within driving distance?!?!?! Fuck, a trip to Portland wasn't really in the plans, but...

Crab and fried avocado salad at 94 Stewart. Mussels at Maximilien.

Just curious, what experience would that be? ← I requested a tasting menu and ended up with a seemingly random assortment of dishes from the menu, some which actively clashed with each other. I'm a firm believer that a tasting menu should be something other than a long parade of unrelated plates. Good tasting menus have a sequence where dishes build on what's come before and lay the foundation of what is yet to come. I left Tilth confident that I could have composed a more satisfying meal by selecting from the menu myself.

While I'm sure any of these places will do a tasting menu upon request, they don't have it as a standard part of their menus and based on my recent experience, I wouldn't ask for one at Tilth. Other that Mistral and Rover's, Lampreia & Le Gourmand both offer tasting menus as part of the menu.