sallysimpleton

I was in Villefranche for most of a week last May, out of a two-week trip. For the most part, the restaurants there weren't the ultimate highlight of our stay in France, but two served us just fine: La Grignotière and Mère Germaine. On some of the evenings, we didn't feel like heading too far away from our hotel. La Grignotière (at 3 Rue du Poilu) probably left us with the best memories, due to the wonderful service, and my Magret a l'Orange was very, very good. Mère Germaine didn't exceed any expectations, but it was right on the water and my meal and my companion's meal was also very good. The worst meal I've had in France was at Chez Irene, a couple of doors down (to the right) from Mère Germaine. It appeared to be the busiest restaurant on our first night, so we decided to head inside, but it was terrible. Carpaccio, down the waterfront, closer to the train station, was alright.

That's probably Alebrije. I believe they've been around for at least six months or maybe since early Fall. We went there in the first month or two of opening and while the service was good, the food wasn't--I found it bland and was surprisingly underwhelmed. Lately, I'm usually too easily satisfied with Mexican or Cuban food. I'm tempted to give them another try, to see if they've worked some things out, but haven't yet. It's a place that I want to really like and not just because they're in my neighborhood. I like the staff. They do have karaoke, though, and that's when I see a number of folks streaming into the place. Later in the evenings, the bar side of the restaurant is dedicated to that.

I really wish I'd made it there before it closed: More info at the Seattle Times.

I haven't been back there since I posted about not being able to find them, but YAY. Next time I will ask y'all earlier in the process...

I checked World Spice Merchants as well, so they must have been out of them the day I was there. The salesperson there had never heard of them (which was weird -- maybe new?). Whole Foods doesn't have cocoa/cacao nibs, at least not regularly. I live a few blocks away and still check about once a month out of curiosity and habit. PFI and Trader Joe's didn't have them either. I keep meaning to go to Theo. It's a shame I haven't, since I'm in Fremont all the time...I may go there today, to sample. Where's Chocosphere in Seattle? Or is it online? And thanks Shalmanese, for the tip on the wine store at 65th/20th! I will have to walk over there.

I had this same problem and ended up skimming the top of coconut milk to get just the coconut cream. It was surprising and frustrating -- I even had a problem finding it at Uwajimaya's on two different trips. I didn't think of checking near the cocktail mixers. I'm going to check that out at Safeway/QFC/WF the next time I'm there. I eventually came across a good selection of coconut cream next to the coconut milk at Ranch 99 in Edmonds/Lynnwood, so I stocked up. But it would be nice to find something in the neighborhood (I'm in Roosevelt, near the high school). It was almost as difficult to find coconut cream as it was to find cocoa nibs* or the ever-elusive Vya Vermouth, which I've been told is at Whole Foods, but I've never found there. *After checking Central Market, Ballard Market, all national chain grocery stores, PFI, Market Spice, DeLaurenti's and Metropolitan Market, I found cocoa nibs in the market at the chocolate store (Rose's?). But I'm going to check if Chefshop.com's brick and mortar store has them, like they do online, once I finally make it to their store.

Saturday night, I had dinner at a soon-to-be-opening place in West Seattle that was serving Bakery Nouveau's bread with dinner. The bread was fantastic and a great complement to our antipasti. I had to force myself to stop eating it before the rest of our meal arrived.

Bouchée, on Fremont Ave, is closing this weekend. I noticed a sign this morning in the window that their last day is the 17th.

It's in the place of the home furnishings store, which closed recently.

Does anyone know anything about the new Baguette Box Fremont? A friend and I noticed a permit yesterday next door to Peet's at 626 N 34th St ("Baguette Box Fremont" under Description of Work section).

Oh, Shalmanese! I just moved a couple of blocks northeast of the Whole Foods, about six weeks ago. We bought a house and we LOVE being able to walk to several grocery stores (I lived in Fremont before, where choices were slim pickins after the Red Apple left -- PCC was the only option for the "oops, gotta run to the store, I forgot this ingredient!"). We also love having a number of new restaurants to try and parks to visit. We are currently trying out restaurants on 65th that we haven't already visited. Great neighborhood choice! And it's also great to see that a number of others are practically neighbors as well...