jlo mein

Went back this past weekend for their special Crawfish Boil! Check their website calendar for remaining dates (June 27 is one of them). I must say that the crawfish boil was very spicy. I like food with some kick but this is definitely for those who like stuff really hot. Beignets with crawfish gravy. 1lbs crawfish boil. This was quite big for one person, and they even had a 3lbs version available to share. Bread pudding with bourbon sauce. I prefered the beignet dessert I had previously.

Dropped by Alligator Soul in May on a Saturday night and it was crowded. All the locals in Everett seemed to eat here and its easy to see why. No creole or cajun restaurant in Vancouver comes close to the experience I had at Alligator Soul, the food is simply heart warming good. Sampled turtle soup, deep fried alligator tail, hush puppies, gumbo, jambalaya, and crawfish etoufee. Everything was good, with the crawfish etoufee being a particularly great standout. Finished the meal off with the dessert beignets which had some banana and caramel sauce. Its really a shame that Southern food doesn't exist in my home town Vancouver, at least at this level. I know this isn't the kind of high end cuisine normally mentioned on egullet, but I really liked the restaurant's welcoming and friendly quality. Forgive the poor photos, I was too impatient to deal with camera settings and wanted to dive into the food. Hush Puppies Alligator Bites Jambalaya with shrimp, crawfish tails, scallops, mussels, and clams Crawfish Etoufee Dessert Beignets Table Sauces (also for sale)

Thanks to all your recommendations my girlfriend and I did visit Taberna Del Alabardero last month on a Saturday for lunch. The restaurant was absolutely dead. The space is huge, but there was only one solo diner present when we arrived. The restaurant looks fabulous inside, including the windowed kitchen, and I felt severly underdressed in casual shorts and a t-shirt. Regardless, we still received warm service from our waiter. The Paella Valenciana wasn't on the brunch menu, but when I asked for it the waiter gladly said it would be fine. The paella comes out tableside in the paelleras pan in quite spectacular fashion. Once you get a good look at it, the waiter delicately serves it out onto plates for you, with great presentation. It tasted absolutely wonderful and made me instantly disdain all the "paellas" I've eaten in Vancouver. The rice was a little too salty, but the juice from the lemon wedge eased it away nicely. Once again thanks for your recommendations, I enjoyed my lunch there thoroughly.

I first saw Mike's on Food Network's Diners Drive Ins and Dives and thought it would be a great opportunity to try spaghetti with chili, which seems to be a Cincinnati staple. I haven't found a place in Vancouver that serves a good chili. Alligator Soul intrigues me as Southern food is equally as hard to find in Vancouver (a good restaurant called Dadeo just closed). La Taberna seems like a winner right now, as they specifically mention on their menu they do a paella the traditional Valencian way. Is it formal there? Going to Seattle for a day or two I'd probably go shopping or catch a baseball game and would be dressed accordingly. I was hoping to be able to find an original Trader Vic recipe Mai Tai cocktail with some interesting bites on the side. HulaHula sounds like it started as a good concept that got adapted to modern young people's tastes. Tini Bigs could be an interesting stop at the end of the night.

I did a search on the forum but didn't come up with any results. I'm from Vancouver and am looking to find the best Paella in Seattle as options are quite limited up here (and lackluster). As far as I am aware, there are three restaurants in the Seattle area that serve Paella: Tango, Andaluca, and Gaudi. Are there any opinions on which place is the best? Of all the options, I have read more reviews on Tango, which are generally positive but usually don't comment on the Paella. I did find a poor photo online that still manages to make it look fantastic. Paella at Tango Restaurant If anyone wants to add some off-topic comments on other places I intend to try, I'm interested in: Alligator Soul (Everett) Mike's Chili Parlor HulaHula Lounge I've already visited many great places like Paseo, Baguette Box, Union, and Zig Zag.

Thought I'd revive an old thread instead of making a new one. I returned from a seven day New York trip a few weeks ago and had a great time. I managed to find the tiny entrance to the Pegu Club on a dark night (ok I asked for directions after crossing the same intersection three times). Here is some eye candy. Left: Pegu Club - London Dry Gin, Angostura Bitters, Regan's Orange Bitters, Orange Curacao, and Lime Juice. Right: Ode To Ankarah - Gin, Elderflower Liqueur, Grapefruit Juice, Lemon Juice, and Regan's Orange Bitters. Kill-Devil - Rum Agricole, Green Chartreuse, Demerara Syrup, Angostura Bitters. I'm still kicking myself for not buying any rum agricole and bringing it back home to Vancouver, Canada (not available). I opted instead for Zacapa 23 rum, and didn't have any other luggage space.

side question: have the unique bottles of Campari Soda ever made it to North American stores?

Darn, I would have bought one off you a year ago lol. Family members went to Seattle a while ago and brought me back some Maraska Maraschino. I like Luxardo better, but don't use maraschino enough to justify buying another bottle. Have to find more cocktail recipes that use it...

Where did you possibly go in Vegas to have a decent Negroni? I'm very interested to know if a good bar exists there. BTW I just checked my latest Campari bottle and it lists the ingredients as sugar, alcohol, aromatic herbs, and E120. I wiki'd E120 and it is natural carmine. Yay!

I'd like to say thanks again for this excellent recommendation. I really wish we could have gone to Country Village (the complex Stella Mia is located in) during the day as it seems like a lovely throwback to old town shops and atmosphere. The restaurant itself feels cozy with a friendly atmosphere. Service was great and the food better than I expected from a little town traditional Italian place. Started with polenta gorgonzola and a bottle of Chianti wine. The wine was only $10 with a coupon from their website. The polenta was fantastic with a crusty outside and a wonderful soft inside. The gorgonzola sauce was smooth with a strong flavour and paired well with the polenta. My girlfriend had a fettucine bolognese. Pretty standard stuff, but it was exactly what she wanted that night and really hit the spot for her. I had the fettucine di mare. It had all sorts of seafood: mussels, prawns, clams, scallops, and calamari. It was just what I needed after a long and hungry day of driving. I didn't take a picture, but we ended with an excellent creme caramel. If I ever find myself in the Bothell area again I would definitely eat there, unfortunately there really isn't much to do in Bothell. I'm sure I'll do the same next time and go to Bellevue and make a stop at Stella Mia on the way back. It's nothing fancy, but it has a great small town appeal to it with familiar Italian favourites.

Went down to Seattle to near the end of January to see the Symphony and stopped by Union before hand. Thanks to everyone on egullet who recommended I eat at Union. Checked into the Sheraton hotel around 4:30PM, and had enough time to iron and change clothes and head to Union for our 5:45PM reservation. I was surprised since the walk looked further on google maps. When we arrived we told our server that we had to make the symphony at 7:30PM and he was very accomodating. Service was great the whole night, and my girlfriend and I enjoyed the secluded window table they gave us looking onto the Seattle Art Museum. Started with a rabbit liver mousse with cipollini onion agrodolce and walnut toast. I've never had rabbit liver before and found it very refreshing and mild tasting. The mousse was airy and light. In the next picture is a sidecar cocktail, cavatelli pasta with braised pork cheeks, and carnaroli risotto with hedgehog mushrooms and crispy pig's ear. The pasta was a little boring with the pork cheeks having a taste and texture much like an average stewed beef, although very tender. The risotto was ok but the pig's ear was far from crispy, and was hard and chewy. It really took away from the texture of the risotto and didn't contrast well. Last we had beef tongue with yellowfoot chantrelles, farro, and marjoram. I thought this was fantastic. The beef tongue was well seared and crusted on the outside, and kept the centre nice and juicy. This has been one of the most tender cuts of beef I have ever eaten, as it melted in my mouth after biting through the crusted outside. There were a lot of other things I wanted to try on the menu but my girlfriend and I were both very full from a late lunch. Overall I think I enjoyed eating there and would maybe go again. I find the menu to be a little confusing for the average person with so many unusual items and names. Below are pictures of the menu that night.

I went to Baguette Box for the second time about 2 weeks ago, and was again very impressed. I had a pork belly in hoysin sauce and pickled cucumber that was unbelievable. I keep seeing locals ordering some sort of sausage or meatball sandwich that looks divine. Two locations, one near downtown to the East. Baguette Box If you're into a sandwich lunch Tues-Fri, I'm sure people will chime in and say Salumi. I have yet to go there (primarily because they aren't open on weekends), but I did have a great sandwich at Baguette Box that had Salumi mole salami. Salumi If you're into classic cocktails, check out Zig Zag Cafe. It has received rave reviews from many cocktail blogs around the country. Note that is it almost impossible to find at night, even with directions. I walked around Pike Place Market for a good 30 minutes before finding it. Walk on the street behind (South) of Pike Place Market, and if you're in the area directly South of where the brass pig is (located at the front entrance of the market), hopefully you will catch a glimpse of a tiny sign with an arrow pointing down some stairs to Zig Zag.

In Central City and Bear Creek areas of Surrey I always carry tactical level brightness flashlights from Surefire. It's enough to light up someone from across a field or blind temporarily at close range. Usually that's enough to make people leave you alone. I second the recommendation for Mahek. They have decent indian food at good prices, the Mahek preset dinner being an overly large meal of many favourites at less than $20 I think. Pho Tam has decent pho, but isn't a great place for a nice meal. It's more of a casual lunch spot.

Thanks for all your help. I have convinced her that going to Union is a good idea. Hopefully I'll be able to report back with some great comments.

After several of you recommended I reconsider Union, I began to read a little about it. Is it correct that they change the menu daily, so what's on the website is not neccessarily served each night? I do like the fact that it is so close to the Hall...