girl chow

Hey, Mexico Lindo is right by my office and a great place -- and I have to say that it's a place that is very worthy of your dining dollars. Dave, if you're a regular there, you probably already know about the money trouble Roberto Gonzalez has had. (Here's an article in case you didn't know):Mexico Lindo money troubles I haven't been in for a few months, are they doing ok?

Dave, I agree, Burien food finds are getting a lot better. I troll through Burien often and have been impressed with all the new restaurants and food stores. I'll be sure to l jot down the name of the new ethnic grocery store I discovered a few weeks ago (it might be the same one you referenced). Burien does have a great resturant that you should try, if you haven't already! It's Taqueria El Rinconsito. We post about it often. Clickety here: tacos!

Thanks for the report! I am so having the wet chipotle burrito for lunch today or tomorrow Also, I've found that the taco truck on Meeker (Taqueria Mi Pueblo) is good, but not great. The meat lacks that certain juicy quaility that Rinconsito has. For the money, I've decided Rinconsito is a better taco investment. Still, it's really fun eating inside a taco truck.

Thanks for clearing that up!

Crap, I better take my bottle of gin out from behind my sun visor

I'm in! I love asking restaurants for copies of their menus (wine and food). I have a giant collection of them. Most are out of date, but I'd love to go and get current copies of some of the better restaurants. If there are enough volunteers, we can agree to divvy up the restaurants to research. We could come up with a format so that the data would be easy for tighe to enter/calculate. This sounds like a great project to discuss at the Great Wall dinner

That's what I would do if I was on the wait staff! I can't let a good bottle of wine go to waste (which is why I always take mine). Hey, just out of curiousity, does anyone know for certain whether taking the wine with you might break liquor laws? And I'd be curious to find out what the place is that Shielke mentioned. Is it 10 Mercer maybe? Are they still open? I do remember thinking that their markup was really really low and they had a very nice selection when I dined there a few years ago (haven't been back since).

Wow, $25 corkage fee? Geesh!!! See, I can't shell out those kinds of dollars anymore at dinner -- thanks to the house remodelling that is SUCKING ME DRY AND DRIVING ME NUTS!!!! Tighe, it'd be interesting to sneak a copy of Canlis' wine menu and then do a reality comparison with how much the wines cost at a wine store. Then maybe a stats person out there could compile a spreadsheet on wine markups and corkage fees in Seattle restaurants And I've always taken my half full bottle with me when leaving a restaurant, in fact I did just that a few weeks ago at Cyclops! Hell, I paid for it! That baby is mine! And I don't see why you shouldn't take it because the restaurant absolutely has to toss that bottle after you leave. I can't justify throwing wine in the garbage. That's a sin. Are there any restaurants around here who won't let you take your already paid for bottle with you? I'd be interested in hearing about that.

I think the topic of whether to bring your own wine has been addressed in other threads on the wine board. Maybe someone who is better at searching can link us to a thread on the subject? I am by no means an etiquette queen at all and I have never brought my own wine to a restaurant, but from my experiences with wine etiquette in Seattle restaurants, my gut judgment is that it's appropriate to bring your own wine if you can't find the wine on the menu, it's a special occasion/special wine. For those reasons, wine stewards are happy to accomodate, I think. And I would expect a corkage fee to be automatic in those cases. However, if the bottle of wine you bring is already available on the menu, I can't help but have this feeling that it's insulting to the restaurant to bring your own, especially if you're trying to save a buck or two. Maybe there's an element of snobbery in that notion, but if we expect restaurants to treat us with respect and give us the service we believe we deserve, then we as diners have a responsibility to reciprocate. One thing I'll note is that wine prices can vary hugely from restaurant to restaurant and that's why I often opt for a single glass with dinner, considering my dining dollars are limited these days. And I'll never understand why some places charge a 100-200 percent markup and sometimes even more!! Still, restaurants have to make their profits somewhere and wine and liquor is where most of them do it. If I'm completely offended by the markup, I just won't drink the wine at all. Hey, can we open up the discussion maybe to evaluate corkage fees in Seattle/Portland restaurants? Because I've never brought my own wine, I'm not really sure how much corkage fees vary. I've heard and seen prices mentioned from time to time, and my sense is that the fees range from $10-$20. It would be great to compile a fee list maybe for those who do want to bring that special anniversary bottle with them to dinner.

I'm on my way there now for lunch right now (PHO!). They need your business, so head on down if you can. If anyone wants to meet there Monday or Tuesday for lunch, I'm in! Read more here: Great Wall SARS story by King County Journal It's bogus that those kind of rumors are ruining business -- especially for such a great place. I also saw on the other CH site that a few people were posting that they're staying away from the International District because of SARS. Guess that means more bahm mi for the rest of us Good things to eat and do at the Great Wall Shopping Mall: Pho, Thai/Cambodian food on the south side of the mall, great Chinese and dim sum at the Imperial Garden on the north side of the mall and a killer grocery store, 99 Ranch, in the center of the mall. They've also got a neat herb shop and tea store that rocks.

What is the low down with Fluffy Kittens? I forgot. The ukelele player for Fluffy Kittens is totally righteous.

THANKS for the recipe. YUM!

It seems that Bahm Mi is invading the mainstream food media. The current issue of Sunset Magazine has a recipe for bahn mi or "Vietnamese subs." The recipe looks pretty basic.. cilantro, carrots and jicama (? Vietnamese? hahaha) marinated in rice wine vinegar. But I started balls out laughing when I read the recommendation that the sandwiches be made with "deli meat." Argh.

Thanks for the report Mamster. I need to do a walk by of these new places and see what that's all about. Frankly, though, with the review I just read, I don't know if I want to shell out my dining bucks there! In a related vein (sorry if I'm skewing your topic too much) I've noticed a jump in "upscale" Thai spots around here in the South End in addition to the ones that have come to Seattle in recent years. I've counted four new "bistro" style Thai spots in the last six months around the South End. These are pretty restaurants with high aspirations. However, the food rarely hovers above the quality you can easily find at a great mom and pop joint with half the pricetag. The same goes with some of the upscale Thai places in Seattle I've tried. My guess is that these Asian upscale "bistro" style restaurants are aimed at the crowd who perhaps are too afraid of the small, obscure and often strangely located little businesses that produce the greatest food. These are the diners who would never buy a $1.25 bahn mi at 12th and Jackson, but would pay $8 for a bahn mi sandwich in a shiny new restaurant decorated in earth tones. Or, maybe I've got it all wrong. Maybe these upscale Thai and Vietnamese places really do have high aspirations and are on the verge of taking the food to another level. But frankly, I haven't been impressed with the upscale versions I've sampled here in the South End or the places I've tried on the Eastside or Seattle. The exceptions could be Monsoon (Vietnamese) and MAYBE Typhoon (Thai), although Typhoon has lost its luster I think. Some of the stuff I've had there (a portabella mushroom peanut sauce concoction comes to mind), just really sucks. Sorry if I'm widening the topic by mentioning the upscale Thai restaurants, but it's just something I've been noticing and meaning to post about.

Mamster, how about a recipe?

Col, how carefully do they check bags upon entry to Safeco field? Is security still pretty tight? I'm thinking about smuggling in some liquored up candy (mmmm..whiskey balls) in lieu of a bottle. Me likes to eat my booze.

I know Col said he bought the oysters and squid *after* the game ... but it used to be that you could bring your own food (but not beverage) into Safeco field. Col, is this still the case? I'm going to a game in a few weeks and we had planned on bringing along an elaborate picnic feast for our pals, in addition to stopping and getting a bag of bahm mi and bbq pork before the game

I can barely sit down and type this, I am still full and somewhat dizzy from last night's Taste Washington, held at the Seahawks Stadium Expo Center. It was an overwhelming experience and one that requires some careful nosh planning. I've only just begun to organize my thoughts on this event.... but I plan on giving a full report here later this week for those who have always wondered about this event.

I forgot! 10a. taco course: Chicken, al pastor and shredded beef from any Taqueria El Rinconsito. Extra pickled veggies on the side. 25 napkins. 10b. bahn mi course: Saigon deli vegetarian tofu w/no butter and extra mayo and cilantro. (uh, I couldn't follow the 10-course rule... of course, if it was my last meal, I would, uh, definitely be eating more than 10 courses dammit).

Excellent inquiry Scrat... ok, this one is hard.... but here's a start for me... possible revisions to come.... 1. salad course: Blue Salad from Blue Onion Bistro with extra blue cheese, of course. 2. grease course: Onion rings from Red Mill Burger. 3. soup course: Tripe pho from the pho place at the Great Wall Mall. 4. mushroom course: Oregon morels, roasted with a finish drizzle of a really fantastic balsamic vinegar. 5. chicken course: Le Pichet's roast chicken (duh) 5. ma course: My mom's fried chicken with gravy. 6. shellfish course: A baker's dozen kumomotos with Blue Heron's yummy cocktail sauce. 7. salmon course: Copper River, preferably cooked medium rare and dressed with nothing more than seasoning and lemon. 8. sandwich course: Cottechino from Salumi. 9.cheese course: Everything/anything in the case at PFI. 10: dessert course: My homemade cheesecake, two forks and hubby.

Blue Heron and I had a great time last night at the Oyster Olympics! I'm sure she'll soon be posting her thoughts, but here are my thoughts on the event. I ate entirely too many oysters! Probably 30, maybe more. I stopped counting after the first dozen! I saw one guy slurp a half dozen in a minute. Impressive. A number of oyster purveyors set up booths throughout Anthony's dining areas (three indoor and one outdoor area). Guests could roam around and sample the oysters, which were shucked fresh right in front of us. Primarily, the oysters available at just about every booth were Pacifics, the most common oyster available in this area. Also available more readily were the Kumamotos, an oyster originally from Japan that is smaller and more plump than the Pacifics. Several booths carried those. I think the Kumamotos might have been my favorite. I also enjoyed the Olympias, the tiny oysters that are the only native oyster to this area (and almost were completely extinct until recently). I loved the subtle flavor and meaty texture of the Olympia oysters. One booth, from Taylor Shellfish Farms in Shelton, had "Eastern" oysters, although I think another market name for these are "European Flats." (I could be wrong). Didn't like those! They had a funky aftertaste (I only tried two, both were wrong). Scattered between the oyster booths were lots of Northwest wineries -- Hedges, Chateau Ste. Michelle, King Estate, Hogue and Chehelem, etc -- which offered a variety of wines, including pinot gris and noir, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and syrah and merlot. My favorite was a delicious pinot gris from Chehelem (a winery I hadn't heard of before last night). I had a syrah that I was surprised paired so well with raw oysters, which I've always considered a "white wine" natural. Mamster's article todayon the egullet Zine about wine is right -- drink what you like with your food. I think I'll be eating oysters with syrah more often They also offered grilled oysters with a garlic butter sauce (amazingly good). They had a red vinegar-shallot mignonette near the grilled oysters, but I wasn't impressed. Not many booths offered sauces to accompany the raw oysters, so we were glad we brought our own. Blue Heron made a fantastic cocktail sauce (Blue Heron, tell us what went in it) and I made an Asian style mignonette with lime juice, ginger, cilantro, yellow bell pepper and shallots. We shared our sauces with a few other people we met and they loved them! We didn't see a lot of the competitions (wine and oyster identification and a shucking contest). We saw one heat of the shucking contest and it went fast! Those guys are lightening quick with their knives. Sort of scary to watch. The moderator told the shuckers that any oyster with a drop of blood would be considered "unpresentable." He was only half joking (yikes!). There were other noshes available for those who wanted to supplement the raw oysters... they had decent cheese platters and vegetable and fruit platters, a few hot pasta dishes and a few salads. They also served salmon, some of which was horribly overcooked. The dessert trays were gorgeous, although the nibbles were tiny and we felt guilty taking more than a few (they should have had a dessert bar!!). All in all, a really great event and a great night. We met a lot of really nice people and even found out that the Sheraton has an oyster bar! Who knew? And it was all for a good cause for the Puget Soundkeepers Alliance

From Mamster's article: "I imagine this working something like Whack-a-Mole, with grape bunches popping up daily and overworked pickers rushing out to grab them and squeeze them into the auslese vats." Matthew, that was about the freakin' funniest thing I've read in weeks. Thanks for that image. The whack-a-mole game at Chuck E. Cheese will never be the same for me again. I'll always picture myself smackin' the grapes. Nice article.

Just thought I'd do another check and see if anyone is going to Taste Washington. Sorry, don't have a free ticket for this one! If anyone else is going, I'd be interested in meeting for a glass of wine or a nibble at one of the booths or another mutually agreeable spot

Thanks for bringing back this thread. I have come to really really love Saigon Deli (the one at 12th and Jackson) over the last several months. Even though Malay Satay Hut is nearby and I could just as easily stop in for some fabulous roti canai, I swear the perfectly toasted veggie and pork bahn mi at Saigon Deli beckon me every time. I cannot visit the corner of 12th and Jackson -- the Bahn Mi Nexus -- without my car heading directly for Saigon Deli. It's completely beyond my power. I am one with bahn mi.

Oh man, I didn't even think about making it that tough! Ok, next time I get a free ticket to something, I'm going to make everyone who wants a shot at the ticket write a limerick or a haiku about said event. Mamster can judge the entries. hehehe Blue Heron and I already have some nifty plans, including Blue Heron's swell idea to bring our own squeeze bottles full of revved up cocktail sauce or maybe a mignonette? Thoughts, suggestions, recipes are appreciated!