mb7o

All the Tom Douglas restaurants can be hit or miss. Same with many other restaurants here.

Which Kirin? Mandarin (downtown, on Alberini), or one of the seafood ones (Cambie, or Richmond or Coquitlam)? How do the four compare to eachother?

Mmm... Crab Rangoon . Comes for free with every chinese meal in St. Louis. The history of that must be fascinating, a quick search turns up claims it comes from Vietnam and some guy's experiment with importing it into Canada.

there's also supposed to be an excellent french restaurant in Dayton, even further out. there are two mexican restaurants in Zillah. the one 'southeast' of town is very much family style, can't remember much else about it. the other i haven't been to; one is supposed to be pretty good, but I don't know which. the weird thing is most of the town is shut on saturday, but then again there was a big seventh day adventist church. edit: of course at this time of year you could just stop at an orchard and get a case of peaches for a few dollars. pence is easy to find, head down lateral A from union gap and they'll be on the right in a very short distance.

FWIW, a friend claims that Pochi has the best bubble tea around. On the Ave just north of 50th (across from the saturday farmers market). There are also a number of other places on the ave. I've had it there, find it strange. But I have nothing to compare it to. Stranger review They say "Pochi can be defined as the 'Bubbles of Joy'".

Seattle: Usually excellent. The entire watershed is off-limit to people (though not logging). Philadelphia: an acquired taste. Actually, there are three sources, one from the Schuylkill (drinkable), two from the Delaware (nasty). Third world countries: well, yes almost any american tap water is better than that. At the mouth of the Mekong, they pull the water out of the river into a barrel, then let it sit with some alum for a few days to help the, uh, sediment settle out.

Bambuza=Boring. Went there today. Had lime juice, fresh rolls (shared), and a 'tumeric crepe'; coworkers had veggie pho and a mango-strawberry smoothie. The lime juice was fine. The smoothie was apparently excellent. The fresh rolls were quite good, fresh and with an interesting mix of texture and flavors, especially since they were vegetarian. The main courses had no flavor. My crepe was full of various vegetables, some pork, and some shrimp, but apparently no spices beyond enough tumeric to make the rice-flour crepe yellow. In effect it was eating a plate full of steamed vegetables which I don't particularly care for. The pho was apparrently similar, a plain vegetable soup. As noted above, the decor and music are quite nice. But at those prices, I doubt we'll return, better to stick to the Moonlight Cafe (20th & Jackson) even though it's quite a bit further away.

Limes are 59-79 cents *each* at groceries in my neighborhood (normal-high end). They're 8/dollar at Hau Hau (a supermarket in the 'international district' of Seattle, the veggies are outside in an ex-parking lot with a tarp for a roof). Anyone know what the difference is? The air conditioning? The fruit itself?

Also went to Mashiko's recently first time. Had many of the same courses as you did, in a slightly different order. The salmon nigiri was interesting--I love salmon, but usually not salmon nigiri, it's just too fatty or something. But this fish was somehow refined. The down side came at the end--no qualms over the price especially given the quality, but we were charged for edamame, something we were given and happily ate, but hadn't ordered. My friends didn't feel like asking why, so we didn't.

Is boiling vinegar any good for this?

Damn you all. I mean, dammit, I have to stop procrastinating about everything. Let the rest of us know how it goes.

Yes, swamp cabbage. some places you can eat it in seattle According to a northern thai recipe I have, put garlic, sliced small chillis, and morning glory (or other green) in a hot wok. Toss, add sauce, then sliced large chili (not quite as spicy). (Sauce = soy bean paste, oyster sauce, thin soy sauce). The article above mentions a number of alternate ways of cooking it.

Sounds cool to me... I may drag a few friends along too, how many spots are open?

I believe that in Thai cooking, vinegar is also considered somewhat sweet. As opposed to salty as this 'missing ingredient' in this article. Or maybe acetic acid or some other component of the vinegar is different than citric acid.

That's when they write numbers on the bottom of each egg. Then the you hand the waiter a few dollars. If the first egg they break that day has your table number on it, you win.

Interesting. Not the first time they've been in the paper for visa reasons, though I can't find the article in question. (Maybe in the PI from before 1999?) Possibly something about importing people who couldn't do the work (such as vegetable carving) domestically; I've always wondered why they couldn't just train some locals, even if it took a few years.

The bread has always bothered me at Salumi. There's just too much and it's too overpowering. Probably subconciously why I chose soup instead yesterday. Armandino mentioned a BBQ place to Col. Klink. Maybe Rooter's? Unfortunately they're probably not open right now--here's the result of searching on 'black diamond smoke': Fire Department

That's almost certainly what it's referring to. I tried to go there yesterday coming back over I-90 but didn't have the address and ended up at Las Margaritas (front near sunset downtown), which is one of the best mexican restaurants I've been in Seattle. Which isn't saying much. The provenance of that message is here.

If you're in the mood for a Jewish Deli, the two main remaining ones are nearby. Murray's and (Hymie's?) are a block apart from each other on Montgomery Ave, each half a block away (opposite ways) from Old Lancaster. This is extremely close to the Barnes, to which I've unfortunately never been. If you're not in the mood for a Jewish Deli (note they are definately not kosher), there are certainly many better options. One place to consider close by is they Manayunk neighborhood in Philadelphia. (Drop down Belmont Ave. across the river.) Many interesting places, though I have no idea what's there anymore. Jake's was one of the finer places there.

It's funny, my favorite salsa (though frankly I don't buy very much at all) is Tostitos brand. You find it in the chip aisle, not in the Salsa section. Why do I like it? Because it's 'chunky' style and has a strong tomato flavor. It's almost impossible to find good fresh tomatoes here in the NW, so canned ones often seem much better. Or it could be because it was the only brand in a convenience store in college, where lunch about once a month was a bag of chips and salsa. Someday I'll have to do a comparison again. Then maybe I'll use it much more.

The place you're thinking of is probably the "European Gourmet Cafe & Deli". Where "European" means Russian. There's also russian deli/grocery in Crossroads ("From Russia with Love, 1424 156th NE" other side of the parkinglot from westernco donut) and 148th/Main in the shopping center where the K-Mart used to be ("International Deli"). I believe something food related is going into the old K-Mart--Costco's grocery experiment, perhaps? All of them are a decent choice for buying a sandwhich, russian or some other eastern european groceries or fish or meats or sweets, and sometimes Israeli items depending on who runs the place. Here's an interesting list: Bulgarian Food in Seattle

There's always the Bento Box on the eastside. Standard fare for many Microsoft employees. Sanmi Sushi has a two Kaseiki (?) Bento Boxes. They're a pretty big meal, with sushi, meat, fish, salads, etc. I swear I've seen more somewhere.

In Cambodia and Thailand they farm crocodiles, for food and hides. Never tried any (must not be on the foreigner menu), has anyone here? Here's a wholesaler: http://www.thaiinterfoods.com/ . I have had alligator as some sort of breaded thing in St. Louis; fairly unmemorable. Here's the back yard of a guesthouse in Cambodia.

I don't go to either often (and haven't been for a few years), but I like Philly's best better. One time I was in Philly Fevre (before I'd been to the other place), the owner (Renee Lafevre, since retired, and I think the quality went down a little) was complaining that after sponsering some little league team or something similar for years, the team decided to switch over to the other place down the street to ask for shirt sponsorship or something. What I don't understand is that neither has hot & sweet peppers. Well, maybe hots (pickled cherry peppers), but never sweets (pickled sweet peppers). I wonder if that's still true, Trader Joes sells the perfect substitute for sweets ('marinated red peppers'), but I'm guessing the demand isn't there for the right sandwich condiments. Subway has pepperoncini, which work well as a sub for both. Edit: I can't think straight today. And I didn't even have much to drink last night.

Yes, Paseo is quite good. I've been eating at Subway 3 days a week for the past week, and probably will be for the forseeable future. Why? Because there's one in the Met Park building right next to the 24 hour fitness I've started going to regularly. The perfect well designed corporate combo: mediocre gym + mediocre sandwich. After the gym, I really don't care how good the food is. I'm also not sure how much I like hoagies in general... growing up in Philadelphia I liked them (never was a big (cheese) steak person), but now I'm not so sure. Philly's Best (23rd and Union) is or was one of the better local places to get a hoagie or steak sandwich, it's got the right vibe too.