DrKoob

We (my bride and I) did dinner there last Saturday. Loved it. Had the ribolitta bread soup (excellent), loved the mushroom, parmesean and sweet fennel sausage pizza. Excellent. Finished up with their cranberry dessert. Kind of a tart thing. Very good. A little disappointed that they don't have coffee (only espresso). Overall I make better pizza at home but we would go back again. Not as memorable as Lola (which I should add is my favorite place to eat). We were seated immediately when we walked in the door but we got there at 4:50. By the time we left, they were packed.

We are looking for a good restaurant to have dinner before we see Blue Man Group in Everett on Feb. 2. We have found Alligator Soul across the street from the Everett Events Center. The menu on their website looks interesting and the reviews from folks on various websites look good. Have an e-gulleters been there? Would love to hear what you think.

Yes, Pasta & Company (at multiple locations) has pasta sheets. I have used them with great success.

Gear a Deli is outstanding. Great sanwiches! Good service.

FG, Great course. I have your book and have been trying your method (becoming a regular) for about six months. We regularly dine out on weekends (mostly Saturdays) and have been trying to eat at a favorite three weekends out of four each month. That one weekend we try someplace new. Some comments: Specials: If you are a regular, the waitstaff will warn you about the specials. We now have our waitstaff warn us about food as well as recommending food. That shows me superb honesty. Once when our regular waiter at a favorite place was not there I got some limp french fries. Great burger but lousy fries. When we mentioned it to our regular guy on the next visit, he brought us some of the best fries ever, on him. Children: Lately we have been seeing and hearing parents in restaurants planting their kids at one table and eating with friends at another. This even happened to us at one of the highest end asian places in Seattle. And we have seen it other places as well. I understand how expensive babysitters are but think about finding other diners with kids who can swap sitting chores with you. And I should add that we have friends who say they can't afford sitters but order their kids expensive meals at said restaurant and no one eats it. Go figure? Being valued by a restaurant: You have it right on the money. Be interested. That matters so much more than tipping. Our favorite place to sit is in or near the kitchen. Some restaurants here in Seattle (and we have done this in the Bay area too) have a bar or table that overlooks the kitchen. That's our favorite seat. We have even scored samples from chefs who we have super conversations with while we are eating. Again, thanks for a great article.

OK, let me be upfront first. At the risk of being tossed off the e-gullet boards I must say that I don't like Union. Stacked food just doesn't do it for me. I will admit that I have only eaten at Union once but I found it to be "fancy" food. For the amount of money I left with them, I want more than fancy food. As to the Salish Lodge, go on a weekday and have a great dinner. I can speak well for the chateaubriand for two. I know, it is just meat but what a steak. And the wonderful morels and potatoes that came with it were to die for.

I have a question for those of you who make your living in the kitchens of Seattle. How do you travel with your knives. Recently my bride and I have been vacationing near other relatives and renting a house or condo so we can all cook. These rentals are always fully furnished and have most kitchen implements and/or we can pick some up that are disposable if we have to (aluminum roasters at Thanksgiving, etc.) but the knives always suck. I fully understand the owners of the rentals not wanting their good knives to disappear but it is darned hard to cook with bad knives. And sometimes dangerous too. So, here is my question. How do you travel with your knives? I know they won't let me carry them on an airplane and I certainly am not going to put them in checked bags and have them lost. Not with the cost of the knives. Do I have to resort to shipping them ahead and shipping them home? There has to be a better way.

I posted about this about a year ago when they opened. Sadly, so many good write ups have resulted in not being able to get in the door. Have taken friends/business associates there three times only to be told that the wait is more than an hour. The food is fantastic. All the firebreads are great. Try the steak sandwich at lunch. My personal opinion is that I would like the ambience to be a little more subdued. It is like you are almost eating in the kitchen (which could be cool) but I wish they would lose the espresso stand that is in full view of the dining room. Very tacky. Also, they need to be open on Sunday night. Went two weeks ago and did not realize they were closed. From the people we talked to in the parking lot, neither did a lot of other people. But yes, there is great food in Redmond.

According to this month's Seattle Magazine, the father figure of most chefs in Seattle is Tom Douglas. And he has four restaurants and a bakery to choose from.

I am just fulfilling a request. I don't want to talk them out of deli, just want to find out if there is anyplace that you can get decent deli in Seattle.

A few weeks ago I posted looking for the best sushi in Seattle for some friends from NYC. Those friends are coming back and they are looking for a NY style delicatssen. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for these. Our friends are staying downtown, like classy places and are big spenders.

We are not big sushi eaters as my wife is allergic to fish but we are entertaining friends from NYC who want to know the best place in Seattle for sushi. So please, post your favorites.

Lola is a must. Dahlia Lounge is the quintisential Seattle restaurant Comfort food at Icon Grille Asian at Dragonfish

Lola is drop dead my favorite restaurant! The goat tangine is to die for. The dates make it soooo sweet. I can almost taste it now. Also, get the smashed potatoes. Best side dish ever. I could eat them all night. Last year in December they had a sweet acorn squash side that was wonderful. Also any of the kebabs are marvelous. I especially love the mushroom one. Eat hearty but leave me some. We have reservations for Saturday!

I'm with Karen. Anything you can get at Pallino (airport or in town) will be good. Try the Pollo sandwich, take a cup of soup (the wedding soup and tuscan bread soup are both great) and all their paninis (sic) I have not had their breakfast sandwiches but if they are anything like their lunch time siblings they will be great. Also, part of the deal those new restaurants at SeaTac had to agree to was that they would cook the same food, same quality, same prices they do in town. That gives us plenty of good choices. Lastly, pick something without a lot of greasy smell. Many of us do not like eating on airplanes and the smell of greasy food just adds to the airsick possibilities. Jim

There actually is a good restaurant in Langley. It is just hard to see. It is right on the highway in a strip mall. An Italian place called Guiseppes. Food was outstanding when we use to eat there. It looks terrible from outside but I have had some of the best oso buco of my life as well as an incredible calmari steak. Well worth a stop.

I am not a big pancake person. Dates from my childhood when I ate a lot of cold, ugly ones at summer camp. My bride and I went to a not-mentioned-yet-on-the-board restaurant in Redmond for brunch--Pomegranate. A wonderful place. I promise a full board on it soon. My bride ordered their lemon-candied ginger oatcakes. I tried them. I was in heaven. I prayed she would not be able to finish them. My prayers were answered and she left me almost an entire pancake. You have to try them. You can find them at http://www.lisaduparcatering.com/Pomegranate.aspx?Nav=Home

One other thing I forgot that you should try. Check out Evoo in Cannon Beach. They are a cooking school and we stopped by but did not have time to take a class. Looked GREAT! http://www.cannonbeachcookingschool.com/index.jsp

We are just back from your same trip and here is an update for you on some restaurants not mentioned. 1) I mentioned the Blackfish Cafe in Lincoln City before. We did eat there again and it was just as good as we remembered it. Had a superb flatbread appetizer with a wonderful eggplant caponata. My bride had their duck and loved it. I had the pork special and it was good. 2) We found another incredible place in Lincoln City. It is called Wildflower. No great ambience but the food was terrific and the price was ASTOUNDING! My bride had the pork with apples and raisins and I had the duck with a wonderful blackberry sauce. Both came with salads that were way beyond the usual. No iceberg lettuce in sight. A wonderful marionberry vinaigrette dressing. That and wine and are you ready for this? $45. Amazing. 3) For lunch we stopped in Cannon Beach at a place called the Lumberyard Rotisserie and it was a nice lunch place. But the highlight for me was a pulled pork sandwich that had a fantastic sauce made with pepsi cola. Worth a try. 4) If you (or anyone else needs a great B&B we suggest the Ocean Lake Inn. A very nice place that was built as a B&B. About two blocks off the highway and 4 blocks from the beach. We came back through Portland and had a wonderful dinner at Oba in the Pearl District. Caribbean and South American food. Superb. Last night we stayed in Belfair at the Selah Inn. Great room but some of the worst hospitality at a Bed and Breakfast we have ever seen. Didn't meet anyone other than the owner's daughter and granddaughter until we checked out. When we asked for dinner recommendations they could not recommend anything other than telling us where not to go. We finally ended up at a hole in the wall burger type joint in Port Orchard. Are they any decent restaurants in that neck of the woods? Belfair? Bremerton? Port Orchard?

Here's a theory. Sometimes what we don't like when we were younger is because what we ate or drank when we were younger was crap. When I was a kid my parents used to drink wine from a box. I tried it. It tasted like crap and I never drank wine again (other than I am ashamed to say, White Zin) until I was 45 and married my second wife. She talked me into trying her red wine (from a bottle). I thought it was pretty good. Then one night at Cafe Zoe in Seattle we tried an Amarone. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I have become a wine freak. Especially dark, deep red wines. And to think of all those years I didn't drink wine just because my parents drank wine out of a box. So now when my 20 something kids say they don't like something I tell them they just have not had it prepared the right way. For instance, my 26 year old son hates mushrooms. Until I take him to Seastar restaurant in Bellevue, WA and order the wild mushrooms on a cedar plank which he then devours. Or my son-in-law who hates olives until he tastes imported kalmatas. Or a good friend of mine who is in her early twenties who hates all vegetables but wolfed down my eggplant parmesan saying she had never tasted veggies that tasted so good.

We always decide who wins or if it is a tie. If one of us wins the other makes a note to have the same thing when they come back.

In Lincoln City is the Blackfish Cafe. We were there for three days and ate their two of the nights. They have a website with complete menu (just Google Blackfish Cafe in Lincoln City, OR). It is worth the trip from Cannon Beach. Easily the best restaurant we have found on the coast. We already have reservations for July 6th. Can't wait!

My quick faves. Cactus in Madison Park for SW food that you will die for. Skip their Kirkland branch. OK food but not the same ambience. Lola for new greek. My current favorite. Try the goat if it is on the menu. Voleterra in Ballard for Tuscan Italian. Try the Wild Boar. Dragonfish instead of Wild Ginger. Had two horrible experiences there. Icon Grille, just have Mac and Cheese or the meatloaf Best seafood I have ever had anyplace is Seastar in Bellevue. Cafe Jaunita in Kirkland for Northern Italian. I love the entrees at Brasa. Especially the suckling pig. Had it a number of times and it was incredible. And you can never go wrong at Dahlia Lounge. Tuscan bread salad and anything else on the menu.

Just a note about their prices. We felt they were very fair. Two of us on Saturday night with one drink each, split appetizer, two glasses of wine, two entrees, split dessert, split glass of their own lemonchello (needs to be colder and served in a frosted glass.) Total for all that was $95. Very fair. You can read what we had above.