little ms foodie

A lot of wd-50's allure is in the creativity and challenge it offers to diners. Although I've certainly had "better" dishes at "better" NYC restaurants, wd-50 arguably remains my favorite in city because of the restaurant's feel and philosophy. A dining experience isn't necessarily measured by the taste of the dishes alone and I think hshiau does a good job of pointing that out. ← hshiau thank you, I totally understand what you are saying, I still question (for me) the price assoiciated with such an experience that doesn't excel in taste AND creativity but I do get what you are saying. bryanZ I think this might be a spin off topic... taste vs. creative chefs.... doesn't make sense to me to pay for things that don't taste good but that is just one opinion....and a dissenting one at that......

pork with ginger and basil served on rice noodles.....

I like Jones' BBQ and there's always costco for a dog and a coke.....

we've got a spicy pork chili from Gourmet magazine on the menu for Tuesday.....we are making it on Sunday though to give it time to get really good!

I use flickr, a suggestion by some other eGers.

hshiau, please don't take this the wrong way but I find it strange that you say it was one of your most enjoyable meals of the year yet out of 12 dishes you found 5 to be just ok or not to your liking? Is it the pleasure of just having a meal made with different techniques that make it so enjoyable? I'm only asking because we had almost the exact same tasting menu (my notes are above) and we had similar reactions yet I would possibly not go back to wd-50 and if I did I would probably order off the regular menu.

Hey, where is everyone tonight?? Is it date night? out on the town?? We started with Lillet blanc and some artichoke hearts I marinated in red wine vinegar, EVOO and red pepper flakes. Then made Conchiglie with chicken sausage peas and mushrooms and had a side salad of greens and pomegranate

bloviatrix what is a cheese pumpkin, I haven't heard of that before??

We use to go to dinner at the (original) Trailer Park, is this still around?? It was good food and you ate outside in the park under little twinkly lights.

I add a bit less water than they recommend to get a really thick chocolate. And definately simmer on low for a while. yum

breakfast last Sunday was lattes and biscotte

larb........ (Susan, from the looks of the first photo the new camera is going to be fab!)

I don't have an answer for yo on this but I'm curious as to what you decided? Did it smell funny?? I think confit has a strong smell so I'm not sure if I would recognize it as bad, or would I?? Gotta make some duck confit................

Here in Seattle we use Esquin Wine

I had lunch at the bar room last Wednesday after spending the morning in the museum. Luckily I had made reservations as they were packed! I had a nice quartino of Chat. de Pape blanc. With it the artic char tartare. I thought this was excellent and the daikon made it very unusal for me. then the tagliatelle with escargot and chanterelles. some of the noodles were a bit stuck but once I managed to give it all a nice mix (it was served kind of deconstructed) the flavors were just excellent!! Water, coffee and my bill had to be begged, that was my only complaint. I was dining alone and my lunch took over 1 1/2 hours.

I had a very nice lunch at db Bistro last week. The duck pate with housemade pickles was wonderful (how do they find chanterelles that small??) then skate in brown butter with artichokes and potatoes with arugula foam. Everything was excellent although my waiter (I was in the bar) had to be asked to bring me more water and I noticed that I didn't get an amuse and the people at the table across from me did. Oh well. I saw many of the burgers and they look delish, I'll take my husband next time and have one.

I had DeMarco's special (cheese and sauce) pizza last week and I thought it was much too greasy and soupy. I had to let it 'set up' a bit and even then had a tough time eating it. There wasn't anything about the pizza that would make me go back or recommend it. It was about 1pm on a Tuesday also and the place was empty.....should have been my first clue.....

eeek!!! I'm still trying to find time for this one and now you throw chili at me!! both sound like perfect yummy dishes for Seattle fall.

John, no one in Seattle is taking the experimental approach to food right now, at least not that I am aware of, and I'm eating out a lot!! I did notice that others who ordered off the regular menu had what seemed like pretty large portions, I guess Wylie doesn't do medium! haha!

Had dinner at WD-50 last week with a friend, here is what our tasting menu consisted of (my friend wrote this, I've added my comments too): 1. Red snapper, chocolate, miso pudding: a piece of snapper sashimi on top of a thickened miso pudding, with a chocolate sauce on the side. I like this, I wasn't blown away but the flavors were good and the snapper was cooked perfectly. 2. Foie gras, candied olives, green peas, beet juice: the foie gras was a solid cylinder, with the beet juice inside (it ran when you cut into the foie). The peas were actually a pea sand—that’s the best way my friend described it. The beets added nothing but color, I didn't really taste them. I love foie but this was served so cold that the flavors seemed hidden a bit. I loved the olives but I have had much better foie preparations. 3. Shrimp cannelloni, chorizo, thai basil: the cannelloni is made from extruded shrimp (they have a similar shrimp noodle dish on the regular appetizer menu) and has shrimp chunks, basil, and a hint of preserved lemon inside. The chorizo is actually a chorizo sauce. We both enjoyed this very much; the lemon was not strong at all (just a hit, like squeezing fresh lemon over shrimp cocktail) and the chorizo sauce worked really well with the shrimp. 4. Beef tongue, fried mayo, tomato molasses, lettuce and onion “crumbs”. The little cubes of mayo had a light breading on the outsize and oozed mayo. Tongue was tender. Apparently, this was a deconstructed version of a tongue sandwich and you were supposed to eat everything together. this was my absolute favorite dish. 5. Carrot-coconut “sunnyside up”: this looked exactly like a sunny side up egg, and when you cut into the carrot “yolk”, it ran. The “yolk” also had olive oil and the coconut “white” had cardamom—we weren’t sure what the spice was until we asked our waiter. It sounds whimsical, and it was, but it worked—the oil intermingling with the carrot and playing off the light sweetness of the coconut. 6. Hamachi, morcilla crumbs, plantain gnocchi, nasturtium sauce, coffee: we didn’t like this dish at all. The “coffee” was coffee-infused water chestnuts, tucked under the hamachi. Everything seemed off and the nasturtium sauce added nothing. Maybe take away the water chestnuts and keep the hamachi raw rather than cook it. Plantain gnocchi were interesting but should have been part of a different course. 7. Carrot confit, hibiscus sorbet, crispy lamb belly: the lamb belly is a tease—a teeny little strip of lamb bacon. All it added was a salt note—we would have rather had a small piece of actual belly. The confit (really, small carrot chunks) had a little ancho chili sauce underneath. We both liked it together with the sorbet. 8. Squab breast, encrusted golden beets, sweet potato juice: we really enjoyed this. The two little tender, medium rare breasts had a piece of crispy squab skin in between them. The beets were little rods rolled in red beet crumbs; I thought the little beets were fine but again I'm not a huge fan of this veggie. The sweet potato juice was surprisingly bitter. 9. Tomato sorbet, olive oil powder, toast: another clunker. The powder had a strange texture, like the butter dust you can shake onto your popcorn. “Toast” was little tiny croutons. I’m still trying to figure out exactly what turned me off here; maybe it was the too-sweet sorbet. (Perhaps do a less-sweet tomato granita instead?) 10. Rice and beans: this was rice sorbet with adzuki bean jelly, little bits of crunchy puffed rice, and a cilantro sauce. Interesting take on the Japanese mochi and red bean desserts. The sauce was subtle and added a nice herbal note. I thought this was very nice and had interesting textures and sweetness 11. Milk chocolate-hazelnut parfait, orange reduction, chocolate & toffee paper: this was probably the most straightforward thing we’d had all night, which is maybe why we liked it so much. As good as it sounds. my firend had a rooibos tea with this and I had a Botrytis Semillon 'Riverina' Elderton 2004 from Australia. 12. Cocoa cotton balls: a chocolate shell with spun sugar cotton candy inside. This was so good we asked for seconds. We thought that the pace of the meal seemed up and down and the servings were extremely small. I generally find that I am served entirely too much food, but this was the opposite. Dare I say I could have gone for a slice after?? My favorite dishes were the shrimp cannelloni and the beef tongue and the squab (although I am not a big fan of dirt...oops I mean beets ) I did not like anything about the Hamachi dish, ugh. I would possibly go back here but I wouldn't do the tasting menu again. I know this is the restaurant of the moment but it just wasn't 'all it was cracked up to be' IMHO. I've had very adventursome cuisine at Arzak (in Spain) that I enjoyed a lot and still really dream about, but this just seemed like it was trying too hard.

Deborah your dinner party looks amazing!!!! Lucky friends

Susan it is really hard to find large cherrystone or quahogs on the west coast so we made do with the largest steamers my fish monger could pick out. The stuffing was delish! very meaty and spicy with the chorizo and pepperoni. It would be a great first course or appetizer I think. And they were very easy. Tell russ to be patient! haha!

Daniel, how funny that you had stuffed clams too!! I used a recipe out of F&W called 'Dick's amazing stuffed clams'. Tell me about yours!

The Zig Zag is good Samuel but it doesn't have the same vibe that Pegu club has. The drinks are top notch and Murray has been tending bar in Seattle for a long time, I dare to say he served me when I was 23!! Another comparison may be Sambar in Ballard, the vibe here is definately more Pegu Club, the cocktails depend on the bartender...... BTW, tonight my husband made us Pegu Club cocktails based on David Wondrich's recommendation, yum!!

leftover crab leg turned into crab, artichoke and parm dip then a bit of twice baked butternut squash and clams stuffed with pepperoni and sausage