little ms foodie

I love that Masi Camporfiorin so I stopped in the QFC today. Let me just say that their wine guy bradley was a gem! He made me a great deal on 5 bottles of wine. Who does that anymore?! And he knows his stuff!

I think Leonard bought it from the other people.

When I lived on QA I use to eat here quite often. We really liked the food and the atmosphere during dinner. They changed owners about a year ago and the menu has changed some. We've only been once since then and it was good. It has a nice mix of mediterian and Northwest flavors. They have an early dining special and use to have wine Tuesdays. I'd check it out if I were you..... especially if you are on QA

Too bad about Buena Vista, while kayaking on Lk. Union last week I was saying what a shame it was that there weren't any great restaurants with decks to take advantage of the beautiful view from the north end of the shore there. And then we come around the bend and see Buena Vista. I got excited thinking it would be a great summer spot!

Oh I need your sharp minds again! Picking up my friend's mom from the airport on Friday at 2:30, dinner is at 7pm. She is going to want to grab a nice little nosh to tide her over. I'll most likely be driving up to the Greenlake area on 99 or I5. Cocktails at Sambar then dinner at Rays later. Who is open around 3pm for a light bite and a glass of wine. View preferred, patio even better! She is in from Spokane the poor lady! Thanks!

Personaly I'm a fan of Fauchon macarons. mmmm. Lemon! Pistacio, chocolate!!!!

Last night we had my husband's aunt and uncle over for dinner. Started with champagne, porc and duck pate (smuggled in from Paris), sliced baguette, cornichons, olives with preserved lemon and marinated onions. Bandol Rose wine. Next was a small green salad with roasted fresh figs and goat cheese drizzled with honey dressing. Strangozzi pasta with black truffle sauce and garnished with sliced black truffles. Pork loin rubbed with garlic, rosemary and proscuitto roasted in Vin Santo with Belgium endive. Roasted asparagus drizzled with white truffle oil and parmesan shavings. Frozen key lime pie for dessert.

I love making brie en croute, I put a layer of raspberry jam mixed with rosemary and black pepper on the top, wrap it up and bake it. Yum! You can also make them mini sized by making them into bite sized individual servings. Most of the time when I have people over for dinner I like to do just the basics, pate with cornichons and mustard, spanish almonds in olive oil, marinated small mozzerela balls, olive jam, etc. A little mish mash of noshing with my kir! :)

I'll be in Paris the first week of July and really want to try L'Atelier. Went by it when I was there in April but my friend and I weren't up for it then. Here's my question to recent diners.... lunch or dinner? I'm leaning towards lunch on a weekday, what might be the best time? Any other recent reviews are also welcome!

How fantastic! Tell me, how did you end up getting in for dinner?

Had dinner here last night. Wow were they busy. Showed up at 7pm and had to wait 1 hour. Good thing Matador and it's margaritas are right across the street! We ordered a couple of dishes each. Quesodillas were very good, I love these homemade tortillas! My husband had the molotes which he wasn't real impressed with though. The house specialty mole was delicious. I'm not usually a big fan but wanted to try it and was really glad I did. 6 plates and 3 beers came to $53. A great price. We will be back to try more!

I had friends who ate there recently too and raved about their food and service. I'm sure it's good or they wouldn't be expanding. My thought when I go out and spend money on food and drinks is this though: do I want to support a local business who hopefully does business with other local businesses getting me fresher and better ingrediants or do I want to contribute to a large chain that has most likely a freezer full of "ingrediants" and "recipes". I have to contribute to the large businesses enough for gas, water, designer clothes (haha!). ok, hold on while I climb off my pedastal

I love yummy baguettes but have to say that La Panier doesn't do it for me. Seems to white bready, not very good crust IMO. However their chocolate macroons..... don't get me started! And their sandwiches... can you say ham and butter? mmmm. So please don't shoot me but I really like the La Brea French baguette they sell at Whole Foods (I think QFC sells it too). I know this is bread from the SF region and probably a huge conglamerate likened to WallMart for bread but I really think it is awesome. We go thru it like candy! I did just stop at Essential for a few loaves and some chocolates yesterday so I still in the bakeries too! haha!

First off I'm so glad everyone enjoyed their lunch. I'm jealous as I wasn't in attendance but happy everyone had a good time. Second I'm stunned to hear that someone had bad service at Rover's not once but twice??? My husband took me there for my birthday dinner and these people went out of their way to talk to us about the food, provide top notch service and help us with choices of wine. Thierry came out not once but twice and knew exactly where we were in our dinner ("so how was your 6th course of the ......") We had dinner at Picasso in Las Vegas about a month after and agreed that they could only TRY to be at the level of service that Rovers' staff achieves. And the food....... well YUM!!!!!

Speaking of Figaro, has anyone been to Viola! Isn't that the name of the place that one of the owners opened? I've been to the place in Wallingford...Bouchon I think the name is, by the other owner and it was very good for casual bistro food. We had lunch there and the quiche I had was lovely.

Just a reminder that if anyone doesn't show up I'm going to be mad since I'm on the wait list!! Have fun all! LMF

I wanted to thank you again for the suggestion of Maximilien for lunch. We had a fabulous time. Our waiter was great and was from the Savoie region of France so made the meal even more fun. We started out by sharing the escargot in garlic butter- very good. With great bread to go along with it for dipping. Next I had the mussels marinere which were outstanding. They also gave me soooo much! Friend had her favorite- Croque Madame with frites (fantastic!) and mom had the omlet special- crab and wild mushrooms. The omelet was huge and packed with really large sections of crab. Couldn't have asked for more. A bottle of Poilley Fuse (I never know how to spell that, sorry!), cheese plate for dessert and glasses of Cotes du Rhone to finish it off. Will absolutely be eating at Maximilien again!!

Really I am stunned about Bandol! The food and service was very good. I think this must have come to a surprise to the staff, when I was there last week they were all very positive. And I was really looking forward to trying out both happy hour and lunch!

I had lunch there yesterday too! I had the meatball sandwich- pork and beef. Very tastey but very messy! The soup looked sooooo good.... morels with something...can't remember now! They are definatley still working out some kinks. Normal stuff though. I'll be back to try more of the sandwiches. Hasn't anyone had the salmon???

Last night was chicken lettuce wraps (similar to the PF Chang variety) with broccoli stir fry noodles and a nice Riesling. tonight is roast chicken with cornbread pudding and a spinach with apple and red onion salad. Limoncello cheesecake for dessert.

LOL!!!! Hmmm, great idea. Also tonight for example I'm cooking for friends and she is preggo. Wow, you really have to think and ask with that one! Once I had a dinner party for 8. I had to make a chart because 1 only ate chicken, 1 only ate beef and pork, 1 only ate veggies and the rest of us will eat anything. The results??? Mini lasagnes in a variety of flavors so everyone could pick their own. I actually have and keep a file on friends so that I can plan meals better. But I don't go in for the Atkins crap. In fact they are most likely to find pasta and bread on the table if they tell me that!

I have a friend who is very guilty of the deconstuction of food. Not only that but now she will say she is allergic to things that I know she isn't. The only time I've eaten with her when she has ordered exactly how it's prepared was in Europe because she didn't speak the language!!! In fact last night we went out for French and she wanted the quail. But it came with green curry sauce which I guess she hates. Order the lamb I said, no it comes with pesto sauce which she hates. So she orders the quail without the sauce and asks the waiter to have the kitchen put another sauce on it. As long as it's not pesto or mushrooms. GROAN!! Talk about disrupting the balance on a dish! Of course there are things we all don't like or are allergic to but deconstructors are different. You know who you are!!!

Nice post! I've had it on my to do list since reading the article the other day. Tomorrow is my goal!

Anyway there might be room for one more??? I love Rover's and would love to meet everyone. Let me know, thanks!!

We actually have the Riedel Vinum Extreme glasses which are stunning but take up a lot of room because of their size and shape. We also have the Vinum champagne glasses and the Cognac glasses (tulip shaped) Here's why I love Riedel. First and most important it totally affects the taste of wine. We collect drinkable wines (under $50 for the most part) and literally open a bottle a night. The wine tastes better in these glasses. We've done at home, non scientific tests ;) Really, it helps to bring out all the flavors and we think it is really worth it. second is the lead crystal. It is beautiful, it holds light and reflects and the sound in awesome. We are Riedel snobs also and always look at restaurant glassware to see what they are using. The top restuarants are using this too. Yes, I've broken some while washing them (my fault) but as someone else said you can get the normal size and put them in the dishwasher. We do with the smaller ones.