rockdoggydog

Walked by the space where Stella's used to be and the sign in the door says La Campiella Italian coming soon. Rocky

Hi Busboy, There is indeed good Mexican to be found to the south and west parts of town, here's a link to where we've discussed Mexican. Rocky

Here's the thread on eG and their website. Rocky

Pictures from the first in a series of Sunday Dinners at Union This is the first in an ongoing dinner series at Union. If you'd like more information please PM or email me. Rocky

They were good hashbrowns indeed. I like mine a little more buttery but these were just fine. Can't tell if the precooked or not, but if they did it wasn't a long time ago as they did not develop any of the graininess of clumped starches. Rocky

Another day another stop on the eggs bene trail, I swear we're going to slow down, my arteries demand it. This morning we went to Glo's on Capitol Hill. For everyone who has ever wanted to try Glo's and is turned off by the huge wait on weekends try a weekday. I ordered the regualr eggs bene and Malarkey had the eggs blackstone, every benedict at Glo's comes with grilled tomatoes in the stack. For me this added a dimension of sweetness that makes the lemon in the hollandaise really jump out. The eggs here had some runny yolk left in them, not a lot but some to come out and play with the sauce. The ham was overpowered by the sauce sometimes and the muffin could have been toasted more, nothing objectionable, just looking for what could have been. Good hash browns and good coffee, but possibly the ugliest garnish I have ever seen in a restuarant. The garnish consisted of some purple cabbage with a wedge of grapefruit with the skin peeled off but the pith still on, it made for an eye-jarring contrast. I'm just nit-picking with this one, but it really did catch the eye. Overall a good eggs bene with good service, I'm giving it a 7.25 on my scale. Rocky

Malarkey and I are being intrepid and casting aside any pretense at healthy diets all in the name of eggs benedict. More eggs bene today at The Dish in Frellard. I did indeed have the sausage bene, and yes the sausage tasted like Jimmy Dean, which I have no problems with, I like Jimmy Dean, as long as he sticks to breakfast products. The hollandaise was not bad, not as tangy nor light as 35th St Bistro but still good. The sausage on the other hand was a mistake on my part, it overpowered the rest of the bene so that it was like more like, SAUSAGE, and this bene thing. The potatoes were definitely excellent and above par, and the waitstaff cheerful, nice, and eager to please, even devising the side order of CFS for us. Huzzah to our waitress for doing so! The eggs were definitely cooked a little toohard, they weren't overcooked just overcooked for the purposes of having runny yolks. I do think that this should be our benchmark though, it was a decent solid bene that rates a seven on my scale thus far, good but not great, but definitley more than merely edible. For those wondering how I'm scaling this, a ten is perfection, seven above average, five merely edible and not actually offensive in any way, anything below five has something actively wrong with it. Next stop tomorrow morning at Glo's at !0 AM. A possible stop this weekend on Sunday at Pomegranate. Rocky

I was thinking the exact same thing; since we're already raining a bit on the parade, might as well give his quote: ''While we're on brunch, how about hollandaise sauce? Not for me. Bacteria love hollandaise. And hollandaise, that delicate emulsion of egg yolks and clarified butter, must be held at a temperature not too hot nor too cold, lest it break when spooned over your poached eggs. Unfortunately, this lukewarm holding temperature is also the favorite environment for bacteria to copulate and reproduce in. Nobody I know has ever made hollandaise to order. Most likely, the stuff on your eggs was made hours ago and held on station. Equally disturbing is the likelihood that the butter used in the hollandaise is melted table butter, heated, clarified, and strained to get out all the bread crumbs and cigarette butts. Butter is expensive, you know. Hollandaise is a veritable petri dish of biohazards. And how long has that Canadian bacon been aging in the walk-in anyway? Remember, brunch is served only once a week -- on the weekends. Buzzword here, "Brunch Menu." Translation? "Old, nasty odds and ends, and twelve dollars for two eggs with a free bloody Mary!"'' On the other hand, there is this... weird... website on the subject All that being said, I myself still eat the stuff and like it a lot. ← Uhm, I'm also willing to visit a few greasy spoon type places and hole looking type places. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Besides, waht a little GI distress among friends? Rocky

Arne, if you make it down, I promise to hit as many eggs bene as you can handle as well anywhere else you want to go. Rocky

Today Malarkey and I started looking for the best eggs benedict in town. This will be a long progressive crawl over many months as we couldn't possibly eat more than one bene at a time no matter how hard we try. Our first stop was the 35th St Bistro in Fremont. First off, we need to find some less worthy eggs benedict. The 35th St Bistro eggs bene was amazing, and if we use it for a baseline we're going to be miserable. Sorry, Malarkey and I are space cases and forgot to take a camera, but trust us it was beautiful, this just means we have to go back. Darn! We ordered the eggs bene and in a fit of decadence got a side of frites to share. The hollandaise was light for hollandaise and had just the right tang of lemon, and was well made made. The eggs were poached incredibly well, walking the fine line of cooked enough to hold together and not have runny whites but with yolks that run and combine with the hollandaise to seep into the muffins. The ham looked from the menu to be a french country ham that matched well with everything and had a good flavor. All in all just a wonderful benedict. The eggs benedict comes with some red potatoes that are pretty average, not bad at all just not a breakfast potato revelation and a frisee salad. The salad had a slightly sweet mustard vinaigrette that was a good foil for the hollandaise. Our frites had parm-reg grated over top and garlic and creme fraiche, absolutely wonderful, and continuing in the vein of being one of the best places for frites in town. The lunch menu is also available at brunch at some of the other breakfast selections looked great. We also heard a few other tables ordering the frites to go with their meals so we didn't feel like total pigs. So far with one place down and many to go 35th St Bistro sets a hard act to follow. On a scale of one to ten with ten being perfection this rates a 9.5 with a potential ten depending on our further adventures. Anyone who would like to join us in the future should email or PM either Malarkey or I. Rocky

They are still working on getting the space ready but soon. Oh yes my Preciousss, sssooon. Rocky

Whoops! Forgot to post about it, I went to Pomegranate a few weeks ago for lunch, I was in the area setting up an event for work at Sahalee and it was on the way back. Had the Margerita type firebread and the calamari. The firebread is basically a neopolitan style pizza, I can't remember exactly what the name was of the one I got but it was a nice simple tomato, basil, and mozz combo, light sauce and a little olive oil on top. It was definitely a good size and could be shared if you had a salad or app. The flavors were fresh and bright with good ingredients and the crust was pretty good. The calamari was pretty standard fried calamari with a good aioli to go with it. The prices were fair and the desserts looked great but I was too full. Definitely worth going to. Rocky

Willy's BBQ Rocky

I *attempted* to eat there tonight, but with a line that snaked through the cramped waiting area and a "cash only" policy (they won't be set up to accept credit/debit for another 2 weeks), it was not to be. The menu was impressive--especially the sides and desserts.--but the service seemed slooow. There must've been 30 customers, and only 2 of them had any food. Will try again another day. ← Made it over tonight. As mentioned above the service is slow and the lines are not short. Went about 930 and it wasn't too bad. The blond guy seems to be the manager and works the front taking orders. We ordered the 2-way combo with ribs and brisket which comes with two sides, a brisket sandwich which comes with one side, and the 7-Up cake. They were out of greens and 7-Up cake but they pulled a cake out of the oven while we were waiting for our food but no greens. The brisket had a good flavour and a good smoke ring but wasn't as tender as I was expecting. Good sauce of the sweet variety on top and matched well with the smoke. The ribs were better than the brisket I thought, better smoke penetration, and whiel not fall of the bone, they were easily consumed. As mentioned above it is cash only for the next two weeks and the credit card machine may possibly arrive sooner as I heard the blond guy talking to someone on the phone that they would be getting an electrician out the next day to hook up another phone line. Lots of sides available and they will smoke or fry whole turkeys for you. The hours as posted really are until midnight M-Th, til 3am Friday and Saturday, and until 10 on Sunday. Rocky

Japanese perhaps, a beautiful omakase meal with the best the region has to offer. Rocky

The prosciutto was wonderful as was everything else. Thanks so much for hosting and sharing! As for the bone, perhaps the best collard greens ever? Rocky

Lockspot! Rocky

My issues with Torrii Mor are multifaceted. Pain in the butt to get to, don't like the 'tude, their white wines are wretched and only their expensive reds are good. I know they have a lot of fans, so I'm willing to accept that it's really about me.... ← Agree about the 'tude at Torri Mor, and they do have some nice wines, but I gotta agree with Vince about the lack of value there. When I fell splurgy on wine down there I go to Ken Wright or Domaine Drouhin. Rocky P.S. Come to think of it I think I stopped buying the Ken Wright stuff too mostly. P.P.S Favorite winery and vineyard in Oregon is Coleman, but they are appointment only. Kim and Randy are also really nice people too so if you call or email ahead they will make every effort to make some time for you if they can. P.P.P.S Is 'splurgy' a word? Maybe splurgariffic or splurgtastic.

Go to the Fresh Palate Cafe between Sheridan and McMinville, it's at the Lawrence Art Gallery where there is also a very nice tasting room. I also like the grounds at Elk Cove a lot, I also happen to like their wine. Rocky P.S. oh yeah, defintely go to Anne Amie

Please, please, please please, go to Light Gourmet. I went there for lunch today and had one of the best shrimp bisques of my life. The prices are ridiculously low, the serving sizes decidedly sane, and everything that's not a sandwich absolutely wonderful. My lunch companions kept asking if we were really on the Ave or not. Sorry Jason, this place is going to keep me from visiting your favorite pizza place very often, but I'll wave as I go by. Seriously, get here as soon possible and maybe we can keep it away from the frat boys. Rocky

I enjoy the fish and chips at Owl n Thistle a lot. Very pubby, Sam's used to have really good panko fish and ships. The Elysian has really good fish and chips as well. Rocky

Dani and I are really big fans fo the Lobenhaus B&B between Carlton and Lafayette. Beautiful grounds and really good breakfast. Amity and Witness Tree are also good wineries to visit. Rocky

I had more in mind the flower tofus, smoked tofu, tofu noodles, and braised tofus of various types. As far as I know none of these are produced in Washington state. You can get all of the basic tofus made here, and most shapes and types of fried tofu but not all. If there were a local producer for these other types I would be very happy to look for their products but I've not seen or heard of any. Most of these I find are from producers in Cali and for the hardier stuff I seem to find imported. Rocky

Tried Sakura Bistro tonight, located where NE 80th, 15th NE, and Lake City Way meet. It was mentioned in today's Seattle Times. The menu is very extensive and includes many items not seen very often on menus. Dani and I had a variety of small plates and maki sushi, the highlights were the beef tongue that had been miso marinated and then roasted, and the rainbow roll, which was well executed and very colorful. The sushi was pretty decent in general with good fresh fish. Service was very sincere but a little scattered as they had only been open a week and still learning. Prices were reasonable for Japanese food and the portions were very fair. I think I'll need to go back before I make up my mind about this place. Rocky

Holy crap! I forgot about citrus! That would definitely put a serious crimp in my life. Soy is grown here, and rice would grow but I think not well considering where rice does do well, and citrus wouldn't survive our winters I don't think. No more margaritas and mojitos, I think I might go nuts in the summer. Rocky