MsRamsey

In downtown Seattle, Saito's is absolutely my favorite. It's best to sit at the sushi bar.

There's also a Johnny Rockets in the Pacific Place mall, in an atmosphere that a group of teenage girls might find a little less "eeeww" than Pike & 1st.

I'd like to see them, but only if it's not a huge pain in the butt for you to bring them!

I've twice had an excellent breakfast at Lola, and very friendly service.

I hope it happens, and I hope they find someone else to write their press releases.

There's nothing remotely pretentious or overwrought about Cafe Lago. The place is down to earth and comfortable and the staff is gracious. Even a simple dish of fettucine with meatballs is incredibly good, with every component the best it can be. The pizza is ethereal. A foodie friend I took there last week loved it so much that she ended up eating there several more times this week. I think it's a perfect neighborhood restaurant.

IIRC, MsRamsey can help me here, The Sitting Room on Queen Anne also makes a decent French 75. Thanks for reminding me. All the drinks at The Sitting Room have been pretty impressive. They really seem to take pride in what they do.

Isn't it in the process of moving to Fremont? It's in the openings/closings thread somewhere.

I don't like the shortcuts they use in making their drinks at Cascadia, at least the drinks on the specialty cocktails menu. Murray at ZigZag is The King. NO ONE tops Murray. Article: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c...WIGOO1HUDR1.DTL I have had a well-crafted cocktail at Viceroy, but then again, I've tasted horrendous sugar bombs that had to be sent back. It's best not to order off their cocktail menu. Bartender was at a loss: "All of them are really sweet, so I can't suggest anything good." Many of Sambar's are great and complex.

Avoid the early evening Viceroy bartenders who make every cocktail a sugar bomb, however.

I love ya, Laurel, but I have to disagree about the horribleness of The Elysian's food.

Bare-hand contact with the food is a violation. If they used tongs or something, that's okay.

I don't consider it unsafe at all. It's just a dead block with no other businesses (open in the evening, at least) and there can be a few transients wandering about.

Brasa's on that block on 3rd, and I'm not convinced that it's doing so great. It's been a tomb every time I've been there recently.

Yes, I've been there many times. It's not super exciting, but the outdoor seating is nice. As I recall, the drink special is mainly $2 Dos Equis, and maybe a cocktail special of the day(?). I'd be glad to join in on a happy hour gathering, Contour or wherever.

Damn that was funny, Hal.

Especially that last place, which was godawful and misconceived, and they certainly didn't seem to care whether they had customers or not. Maguire's has nothing to worry about. They are filling a nitch on 15th and are doing a great job as a neighborhood joint. They care about their customers and actually make decent cocktails.

This should go in the openings and closings thread, but I have walked by the "Apartment" storefront several times in the past couple of months, and yes, it's going to be a new restaurant. It's in Belltown, but I can't remember if it's on 1st or 2nd Ave. I will report back in that other thread when I spot it again. Kathy

If you go to Farallon, absolutely request to be seated in the main dining room, NOT upstairs, where it is not romantic.

One what, Whole Foods or Trader Joes? There is a TJs currently under construction on Madison on Capital Hill, if that's what you're interested in. The TJ's is at 18th & Madison. Skyflyer is talking about the rampant rumor that a Whole Foods is going up on Broadway. I wish! All signs seem to point to a new, bigger QFC. Someone please tell me I'm dead wrong.

For great cocktails, they can descend about 3 stories of steps from Inn at the Market and end up at ZigZag. Some of the best cocktails in Seattle, and good snacks as well. They can ask the Inn to direct them.

Green Cat (Capitol Hill) looks like it's closed once again.

I make a pretty darn good cheesecake, from my grandmother's recipe.

They're under new ownership. Three of their ex-cooks are acquaintances of mine, and... well, I am hearing things like "monthly food budget reduced by 20k" as well as other gossip of the poor management variety. The consensus wasn't optimistic, but I guess time will tell. Pat Management is extremely poor. Their disorganization is epic. The dinner I had there (now 2 weeks ago) was for 20. It was a company dinner, and we had arranged the whole thing weeks in advance. When we arrived, the room we had booked was being used for a giant birthday party. Luckily they had a not-as-nice private room in back that wasn't being used (but of course, it wasn't ready either). Turns out they had us down for the wrong day, even after several reminders, including a lunch appointment with the manager the previous day. Service was fairly smooth by La Louisiana standards (usually pretty lousy), and they comped us 3 appetizers because of the mix-up.

They said for the longest time that they'd be making rice flavor gelato. It took a while, but they did it! So they will probably make another flavor of granita given some time.