malarkey

HMMMM kinda hard to vote without tasting.. but since we're only voting on presentation and originality, I'm going to give the edge to Iron Chef #1 with 9 points. Iron Chef #2 gets 8 points, because I think the peach "foie gras" with crushed ginger altoids is highly inventive. Can we also guess identities? Iron Chef #1 = Lorna Iron Chef #2 = Henry

McKenna's Meats. Yes, it's killer good. The spicy one is especially good. I would have to second the Washington Wine suggestions.

oh damn! they are in my 'hood too! loved their take on CFS too. That's too bad. I'm sorry to see them go.

My question would be, why would you want to?? Just eat foods that are naturally low-cal that taste fabulous. Chemically altered diet foods don't usually taste very good at all, and anyone remotely interested in food won't stick to a diet of such foods. Salads with homemade vineagrette, grilled or poached fish, roasted meats, vegetables simply steamed with a touch of olive oil & butter and a bit of sea salt... All lovely tasting and easily worked into a reduced calorie diet.

If there's no CR available, order Yukon River King instead, its better anyways.... I know Mutual has it right now. ← Did a taste comparison between regular wild king bought off the boat and Yukon River King, both prepared the same way. The Yukon River was incredible, and of course, won this comparison easily. Get some if you can.

...maple bar with bacon?! Wow.

cocktailians!! I love it! you might NOT be a cocktail geek if... ...you get kicked out of the cocktail geek crowd when they discover you don't like campari or frenet branca.

uh-oh. wanna share the story?!

This weekend I found myself pulling barn duty and so it called for a lovely lunch out. So I brushed the hay & dirt off my jeans and headed for Porcella. Had a baguette sandwich that had proscuitto, lardons, friseé, truffled aioli and a fried egg. This sammy was Yummy with a capital Y!

4 1/2 stars from Thai Thom's?! Are you crazy?? me: breakfast: croissant from besalu & coffee OR maple cake donut from Top Pot & coffee lunch: catfish sandwich from Matt's in the Market Dinner: umm maybe the Lamb burger from Moxie (during happy hour only $6!) Dessert: chocolat chaud from Le Pichet OK, so I was lazy and didn't confirm all the prices....

Had copper river king last night grilled on an alder plank with a bit of preserved lemon. Yes, it rocked.

Les Cadeaux Gourmet has closed-- not sure what's going to go in there next.

check out Extra-MSG's most excellent Portland food blog: Portland Food, Restaurant and Market Guide

Welcome to eGullet, Noah!

WHAT?!?

I would also suggest Le Pichet. Think french bistro, small, cozy, lovely food. Share the chocolat chaud for dessert. Ooo-la-la!

I'm thinking it's gonna be a regular stop for me on my binge night (usually fridays and sometimes saturdays) I'm such an addict that I don't even notice the prices till it all gets tallied at the register. I see, I want, I take home. LOL

Sunday was a good food day for me. I was on the eastside, I had time to kill. Porcella is now open, and this place is so hip, it's hard to believe you are in Bellevue. All self-respecting foodies should take notice. I knew a gourmet grocery store / deli was going in at this location, but I had no idea what it would be like. I'd heard from someone that it had opened, so I stopped by this afternoon. Wowie. Big deli case: Market section: Yes, it is a whole suckling pig: They are making their own salumi/charcuterie in-house, at this point they have sopressata, finochionna, salami, calabrese, guanciale, fresh italian sausages, duck proscuitto, along with a few imported items. Oh, and they have lardo. The owner was kind enough to let me come back to the curing room and take some pix: I'm really hoping they'll branch out with the charcuterie, I for one would LOVE to have someone here making Morteau sausages a la the ones I find at Oyama's on Granville Island. Roasted chickens and pheasants: And Malarkey's favorite: All Things Duck! Confit, 2 kinds of pâtés, duck rillettes, salt-cured foie gras (something I've never seen before and yes it was very tasty) They also have pork rillettes and smoked ham hocks... yes ALL this is made in-house: They are also making infused oils & vinaigrettes, stocks & demi-glaces. What's not to like?! They have a whole wall o' wine and a nice selection of beer. The deli had Morel Mushroom Risotto, Tuscan Beans, a Saffron Rice Pilaf, a Sunchoke & Potato Gratin... It's easy to put together a pretty fabulous meal here. I picked up some goodies while there, a bit of dinner for myself: Provençal potato salad, with sun dried tomatoes, niçoise olives, anchovies, onion and herbs; a lovely golden beet salad with tarragon, parsley and other herbs; a leg of confit; some of the rillettes, a jar of Moutarde d'Orleans and some baguette slices nicely toasted, gently pan-fry the confit leg till slightly crispy...it made a lovely sunday night supper. They have some unusual jarred and canned items that I needed to have in my kitchen so they came home with me also, things I've not seen anywhere else, so these guys have done their homework. Yay! This makes me happy as an eastside worker, and it should make anyone living on the eastside ecstatic. Now, go see them and buy stuff so they are successful! Porcella Urban Market

oohhh fun topic. Lunch: Usually do Amy's, yes, it's frozen, but it's also all organic and all vegetarian. Not that I'm a vegetarian, but I do think I should have some meatless meals. BUT if I go out into the wasteland that is Totem Lake, it's gonna be: Cocorico (the lamb gyro rocks) the Taco Truck on the corner (Rancho something, erg can't remember) Izumi Dinner: Le Pichet Orrapin Barbacoa Malena's something to go from Sea Garden (shrimp and chinese greens chow mein!) On school nights: Thai Thom's Mandarin Chef Atlas Brunch: Cafe Campagne Besalu croissants to go!

I did a bit of research on this board before heading out to Phoenix this past weekend to see my sister. Thanks to the recommendations I found here, we ate very well indeed! Friday night we had dinner at Los Dos Molinas- wow! the enchiladas rocked here, I think someone said "get anything in red chile sauce" and they were right. Hot? oh yeah, just the way I like it. We went through 2 pitchers of margaritas just to cool the heat and launch our holiday weekend in a proper fashion I managed to stuff down a beef taco, an enchilada, and a chile relleno. I absolutely loved the atmosphere of this joint. Just the right amount of funk and homey-ness, I felt the sort of comfortable that makes me want to just chill & hang out for a few hours. Next meal out was the Roaring Fork. Also really great~ had the duck, I had to have the signature dish, although I was mightily tempted by multiple things on this menu, we all decided we'd share bites of everything ordered so I was finally able to make a decision. The duck was fabulous, as was the pan fried trout, and fried chicken, the prawns and the ahi tuna that showed up at the table. We also ordered a side of the green chile mac n cheese~ this stuff was incredibly good. I was amazed at the amount of seafood on the menu here. Apparently it's not difficult for chefs to pull in the good stuff from the coast. The only down side to this dinner was the wine recommendation from our waiter. It was an '03 Ojai Syrah from Santa Barbara, and it was way, way too tannic. It never mellowed in the glass like I hoped it would, it just continued to have an overriding astringency that blocked any other flavors lurking there. We (the BF and I) treated my sis' family to the RF dinner, and as a thanks (and a late b-day gift) she bought the cookbook for me, and Robert McGrath was gracious enough to come out and sign it for me. All that and along with the activity (or non-activity) or laying around the poolside sipping beer made for a rather fabulous weekend! Thanks for the recommends, folks- I'll be back to visit again, and hopefully NEXT time Pizzeria Bianco will be OPEN!!

Go have an espresso and a hot chocolate (chocolat chaud) at Le Pichet. OK, well that's not exactly "light" but it totally kicks ass. Always served, even if it's not on the menu.

How about Crap? <extreme sarcasm> OK, there's Carp, Craw, Crawler, Cork (wine bar), Cranberry, Czar, Car, (drive in) Cat, Cap, Cad, Café (I'm surprised someone hasn't hit on that one yet, probably not TM-able) Cape (sister restaurant to Veil :-) Crown, Crib (soul food :-) Crag (on a cliff overlooking the Sound), Chaff (bakery)... which may NOT be such a good word for a bakery, however I really didn't think a word that refers to a salad made with day old bread was either but it hasn't hurt their success (Panzanella). OK, so they aren't all CR words. Sue me.

Finally had a chance to snag dinner at Fork. Had the Lobster salad (major YUM) and General Tso's Sweetbreads which were also major yummy. Entrees were the BBQ duck and the Pork Confit. I really liked the duck & especially its sides (the polenta!) and the Pork Confit was tender & really tasty but the red cabbage with apple cider vinegar just isn't my bag. Nothing wrong with it at all, just not a flavor I'm wild about. Too full for dessert, among which was a PB & J cake...! Sorta sorry we didn't try that. I loved it, I'll be back.

They still have cassoulet on the menu?!

I stopped by Bricco tonight. It's heavy heavy on the Italian wines, (duh I guess I should be able to tell that from the name) & they only had like maybe 8 french wines --But I guess italian is their bent, and I'm not complaining THAT loudly. I had a glass of Oregon Pinot Noir (Yamhill Valley 2002) which was lovely, and due to the kindness of the person sitting next to me at the bar, who offered to split panini with me, we each got to taste two sammies instead of just one! Coppa with montasio & olive tapenade, and the second; hot sopressata with herbed brie, both served on Macrina olive bread. I liked both of these, and the person I split the sammies with said that the bruschetta there also rocks. They feature Armandino's salumi (the source of the coppa and sopressata on our panini), and a whole huge list of cheeses, panini, salads, and entrees. I'm happy this little joint opened in my neighborhood!