girl chow

Maybe I'm wrong, but I've been to the Chinese Room and I could have sworn I was in the Smith Tower? Agreed though that the Chinese Room has a MAGNIFICENT view. I got to walk around the balcony outside and what an experience that was. It can probably accommodate 100 people (maybe), so that might not be an option for you

Thanks to everyone who showed up last night -- what a fun evening! I was so glad that Ye-Ye Girl and "The Dude" were able to make it -- kudos for bailing on the company picnic! And it was great to meet Fred (handle: Fwed) and Ed (no handle yet, but we're talking him into joining eGullet), who are two fabulous additions to the PNW world of eGullet. We had some great conversations about chocolate and all things pastry (yum). Maybe if we ask nice, Fwed will make his cream puffs for the next eGullet gathering. We sipped on cocktails and 'tinis at Spunky Monkey, then headed over to Auguri Ristorante across the street for some excellent pasta. I had the penne with smoked salmon and a sherry cream sauce. It was divine. I just finished off the leftovers for breakfast. And MsRamsey, thanks so much for hauling my blender all the way down to Auburn. Blue Heron, we hope you can make it next time to whatever tiki lounge we visit.. or the taco wagon excursion (stay tuned on that)

Congrats!! That's great news! A second nod for Lowell-Hunt.. the owners (Jonathan and Russell) are two really great chefs. AND they have an Eastside location in Woodinville (their other locale is on Lake Union). Check this out: every year they take a bunch of people on an Elk Hunt excursion.. they set up a tent in the middle of the woods, go hunting, and then cook up the game in a giant tent and serve this huge fantastic sounding spread. Hey...... this could be an idea for your wedding reception Also on the Eastside is my personal favorite caterer in the whole wide world -- Lisa Dupar Catering. Her food is fantastic. She's in Redmond. Click here: Lisa Dupar Catering Good luck!

Hey Ye-Ye Girl! With traffic, you'll be lucky to get back down south to Auburn by 8! Don't worry about missing it -- we'll have to do our own little southend field trip someday soon. And I think a taco wagon excursion is in the future for us all, mwa ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaa. Blue Heron, MsRamsey... I'll see you guys tonight! Call my cell if anything comes up. Anyone else who wants to, come join us! If it's a small group, we may sit downstairs instead of the lounge upstairs (downstairs has more atmo), so just ask the hostess where the "egullet" party is if you don't see us upstairs in the bar.

The tiki get together is fast approaching! Monday to be exact. Please shoot me a PM if you're planning on going so I can get a head count for reservations. Also, I'll PM directions if you need 'em! To recap: Spunky Monkey Monday, Aug. 25, 6ish-?? Auburn!!

I went to another preview function there this week and had some great food.. goat cheese tart, tenderloin with an interesting glaze. The chef seems like he really knows his stuff. He cooked with Vicky McCaffree and Cameon Orel at the Yarrow Bay Grill for 13 years! I recommend checking it out.

Agreed! Pogacha is fabulous and very well priced. Their specialty is this wonderful Croatian flatbread that they make in a wood fired oven. (they also have a location in Issaquah) Delicious. I highly recommend Pogacha. It's in a strip mall, so the atmo is slightly generic, but wonderfully executed food served in a rustic fashion. If the lamb shanks are on the specials sheet, do order that dish! The entrees are in the $15 range. Sans Souci is high quality Italian, but my personal favorite is Firenze, located at Crossroads Shopping Mall in Bellevue. Firenze Also at Crossroads is an outpost of Jones Barbeque, which people here really love Jones BBQ. It might be worth a stop for lunch, but probably not for dinner. Also at Crossroads is a great vegetarian Indian Place called Udupi. (it used to be called Golkonda). I've lunched at Seastar and liked my meal, but I know too many foodies (whose opinions I value) who hate that place, so eat there with that knowledge. For a real sushi bargain, check out I Love Sushi in Bellevue, which is completely great sushi with an OK atmosphere. I Love Sushi link. If you want to stay in Bellevue and eat at a spendy restaurant ($50 per person minimum), check out Daniel's Broiler, which has FANTASTIC views. I love that place. They've got a piano bar! Great cocktails! Excellent steak! A good time will be had by all. Mmmmmm..... steak... click here If you decide you need to grab lunch, for authentic and very inexpensive Mexican, there is a great restuarant called La Cocina del Puerco (or something like that) on Main Street. Do not let the plastic chairs and folding tables fool you, this is a great place for authentic Mexican. Moving a bit north of Bellevue (about a 10 minute drive), there are lots of great restaurants in the waterfront area of Kirkland. A new restaurant called Hector's (used to be a dump before they tore it up and renovated) just opened this week. It's a nice little place. But my top choice for Kirkland is definitely The Third Floor Fish Cafe, which hands down does the best seafood on the Eastside and has a great view Third Floor Fish Cafe link. They are fairly spendy, in the $30-$40 entree range. Cafe Juanita is in the same price range and is a great choice if you like really well crafted Italian food. I have not eaten there since John Neumark left and Holly Smith bought the place, so I cannot comment on the current state of the restaurant, but I still hear great things about the place. Cafe Juanita link Also in Kirkland: Lynn's Bistro, a very cute little bistro serving upscale New American food ($20 entree range). Also, there's Szmania's on Lake Street click. They've got great Euro-Ameri food ($20-$25 entrees). I REALLY like the cocktails at 21 Central in Kirkland, although the staff can be either snobbish and/or idiots. Still, the bartender is fabulous and I recommend 21 Central for a drink after dinner. Moving east to Redmond (10-15 minutes from downtown Bellevue), there are some places worth trying, including the Malay Satay Hut, a very reasonably priced Malaysian restaurant ($10 entrees). They also are located in the International District. Also in Redmond is a neat Italian joint (in a strip mall, errr) called Il Bacio. It's on Cleveland. Next door is a neat Greek place called Epiros. Both are very well priced with entrees in the $15 range. Ok, my eyes are glazing and probably so are yours from information overload. I hope I've helped you come up with a few ideas of where to eat. If you give us a better idea of the "quality of the place" you're looking for, we could probalby tailor your search for you.

Trillium, thanks for such a great detailed post! I loved reading what you wrote. Perhaps I will start a flurry of posts with this (heh heh heh), but I think the best banh mi is actually at Saigon Deli (the one in the strip mall by Malay Satay Hut AND the newish one on Jackson north of the Banh Mi 12th/Jackson intersection). Of course, I wouldn't know if Banh Mi 88 has good banh mi becuase EVERY TIME I go there (multiple times), one of these things has happened: they are closed in the middle of the day they are out of bread and/or absolutely everything else there is no parking in the dangerous parking lot or someone is swearing at me as I try to park my car in the bizarrely tiny parking stalls there is a line out the door and I'm too lazy to wait The sandwich gods are working against me. Here's a great thread about banh mi. If you have 47 hours, you should read it (if you haven't already): Banh mi mega thread

The Dahlia Lounge is a fine restaurant. You will most likely have a good meal there. Whether you do or not, please come back and post here and let us know how it went!!

Yes! Dinner in Auguri sounds swell! I will call and see how late the kitchen serves eats. I'm pretty sure it's 9 p.m. most nights, but Monday may not be a big night in Auburn (Schielke, insert Auburn joke here ) and they may shut down the operations a bit early. Worst case scenario is bar food and panini sandwiches at the Spunky, which is not bad at all.

Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions! I am in the midst of retooling our eating plan. In the meantime, feel free to post your thoughts on my dining choices. Thanks again!

Hey people! Just a reminder that the Fabulous Auburn tiki outing is 2 weeks away... Monday, Aug. 25 at the Spunky Monkey. Just wanted to check and see if everyone who previously confirmed is still in... check your schedules!! All are welcome and invited!! Questions? PM me! AUBURN RULES!

Thanks Mamster! I am heading to San Fran 9/24 (see my post here: click) and I am getting all kinds of taco advice from San Francisco folks. I will return with a full comparison of NW and SF tacos

Come on out of lurkdom PENELOPE!!! You are caught!! Hahaha. Not that I care. It's great to send more business to taco trucks. The owners surely don't make enough money... prices are way too cheap. Mamsterooni, what do you think about busting out a taco truck thread from this thread? Is that too much work? We really must plan a taco outing

Um, YUM!!!! It is officially on the list. I knew you people would have fantastic suggestions.

You people completely rock! Thanks so much for the great tips. I have added so many things to my list. Keep those suggestions coming! I'd love to hear more about the CIA Greystone restaurant. Anyone have a memorable meal there? Are reservations a challenge on a Thursday evening in late September? And I'd love to hear about Osteria del Forno. I'm starting to think maybe I should substitute Delfina or Zuni instead after hearing all the great things. Thoughts?

Here's a thought if you're in a bind on travel time, there is a brew pub very close to where you're staying in SeaTac, only about a 10 minute drive. . Pacific Crest Brewing has an outside deck that is good (but fills up early) and they serve barbecue from Hole in the Wall barbecue (very sauce heavy Q, decent smoke flavor, sides are pretty good, but the salads are the prefab kind). The beer is yummy. This is a pretty understated place.. not as big or corporate as Pyramid and fewer beers, but still good beer.

I really like Redhook, although I don't know if it's worth a drive across the bridge to Woodinville during rush hour (going across 520 can be MURDER between 3-7). If you can travel after 7 p.m. or before 3 p.m., then it wouldn't be a bad idea to go to Redhook. Their food is good, but typical for brewpub food (fish and chips, burgers, etc) Where are you staying? In Seattle? Personally, I think Tighe's suggestions are all top notch. I might add Maritime Pacific. I love their beer. The food is decent enough. The beer rocks.

Help! I need advice! Hubby and I will be landing in San Francisco 9/24 and leaving the evening of 9/27. We have sketched out (tentatively) where we'd like to eat based on reading many many many posts here! What we'd like to ask you is this: are these spots we're considering ones you would recommend to your friends if they were coming into town? If you have any alternate suggestions, please list them. I really appreciate any help you can give. We're open to any/all kinds of food, however we have budgeted tightly for some meals. At this point, nothing is set in stone and we are open to all suggestions. We are staying near the SF airport, but we'll have a car and driving is not an issue (we live in the Seattle burbs, we're used to driving freakin' everywhere ). We're light breakfast eaters, so we're looking only for lunch and dinner recs. So here is our tentative eating schedule. Give thoughts! And if anyone is visiting Seattle, I'm happy to swap suggestions for eating. Here we go: Wednesday, Sept. 24 lunch: something close to the Fisherman's Wharf (late lunch, 3-4 p.m.).. probably a light meal in anticipation for a big dinner dinner:Osteria del Forno (late dinner, 8-9 p.m.) Thursday, Sept. 25 lunch: We'll be in Napa all day, so we're hoping to find someplace with decent food at a bargain price (like under $50). We're open to anything. Give us suggestions for wineries to visit if you have favorites (we have a giant list going). dinner: We love the idea of dinner at the CIA Greystone. What are your thoughts? It seems reasonably priced and the menu on the web site looks interesting. What do you think? Friday, Sept. 26 lunch: dim sum at Yank Sing OR Ton Kiang. Please advise! We're also thinking of venturing into Chinatown for dimsum...although we're open to any location. dinner: Chez Panisse (reservations pending... did I read correctly on the web site that you can only make reservations 1 month from the time of your visit...so I can call only as early as Aug. 26? Is that right?) Saturday, Sept. 27 lunch: Mission District: La Taqueria? or El Farolita? Please advise! early dinner: Our flight leaves at 6, but looking for maybe a quick light dinner fix near the airport around 3:30-4 p.m.? Thanks so much for any advice you can offer! We cannot wait to tour San Francisco.

Hey! Musical taco wagons! We were up to 4, then down to 3 as of last week... and now back up to 4. So here goes my informal list: 1. The taco wagon on the East Hill of Kent by Ghorm's Drive-In (at the bend to Kent-Kangley Road) is still there! 2. Taqueria mi Pueblo is still there on West Meeker (about 1/2 mile east of the Meeker bridge) 3. NEW!! There is a new taco wagon on 108th SE on Kent East Hill in the Washington Mutual parking lot next to Valley Harvest grocery store and Paolo's Ristorante (an excellent neighborhood Italian joint). 4. NEW!! The new one Ye-Ye Girl's dude guy saw on the border between Kent and Covington - "on the Kent-Kangley road, in the Chevron parking lot on the corner of 156th Ave SE (I think?)." Ye-Ye Girl, the one that has moved/disappeared is the taco wagon that was located at the corner of James and West Valley Highway. It was the bus with the hand-painted "Taqueria" on the side? I think you told me the name of that one, but it has escaped me. It has been gone for a few weeks now. Bummer! The world needs more taco wagons.

Mmmmm.... durian. STINKY! I'm not sure yet if Honey Moon (?) in the Uwajimaya food court serves durian ice cream but you could check with them.. they have a revolving list of interesting ice cream/shake/tea flavors. I like lychee. Yum. It's been ages since I went to Far Far's in Issaquah, but they used to make their own durian ice cream there. Here is a thread from EONS ago about durian ice cream at Far Fars: durian! Hey... the Thai place in the Great Wall Mall has durian bubble tea. I've never been bold enough to try it. The mall, of course, is in Kent. clicky for Great Wall here edit: to add link

I'm thinking Monday Aug. 25 would be a swell day to spend sipping drinks at a tiki lounge in Auburn Put it on the schedule folks! This place serves only OK food and appetizers (panini sandwiches and bar food), but if people want a reallly fine meal, we could go to Auguri afterward. It's a great Italian place across the street and they serve dinner until 9 p.m.

Thanks Tighe! You rule. And, yes, I am completely technically challenged. I wanted to point out in the picture above that the monkey wine rack is totally cool.

Hi Joan! There are dozens of places that sell Bubble Tea in and around Chinatown, so it might be hard to determine where it was that your coworker bought the tea. Lucky for you, a lot of places have good tea. Like Mamster, I have a hard time distinguishing the nuances between teas... UNLESS the Bubble Tea place uses powdered tea and juices. Those are nasty! So look for some place that uses fresh brewed chilled tea and fresh juices. If you see bottles with powder in them behind the counter, it's a safe bet that the flavor will suck. The Uwajimaya Food Court has a decent Bubble Tea outfit. Uwajimaya is a combination massive Asian grocery store and food pavillion ... it's located in the International District, not far from Safeco Field and the new football stadium. Here's a link to the store: clicky here The Bubble Tea at the Thai restaurant (not the Bubble Tea place next door) at the Great Wall Mall in Kent has some interesting flavors -- I like mango -- and they use fresh tea and juices. Here's a link to the Great Wall Mall, a great destination about 25 minutes south of downtown Seattle: click here now

Here's a bit of news about the Redmond Todai. I've posted a link to an article about a Redmond teen who has filed a lawsuit against the Redmond Todai for allegedly giving him E-coli. The case is being handled by Marler Clark, the outfit that represented the Jack-in-the Box case several years ago. Read on: King County Journal article about Todai E-coli case