Blue Heron

Thanks jaybee & Toby for those excellent references, which I had not seen before. The Hakka restaurant did serve salt baked chicken as well as salt baked prawns, but I thought I had seen those offerings in other Chinese restaurants as well (but maybe not). Also a special marinated and deep fried duck, which I did not get to try.

Potatoes in almost any form... (especially those mentioned by Soba, ie. roasted, mashed ) or french fries, gratin, rosti, etc. Asparagus, Roasted w/ olive oil, sprinkled w/balsamic, s & p; or steamed and served w/homemade mayo. Artichokes w/ homemade mayo or butter to dip it in. Creamed Spinach or Swiss Chard (from the garden) is awfully good too. Then there is fresh corn on the cob... yum. I can't stop... I must be hungry! Yes, it's dinner time...

I'm also curious about Chinese Hakka cuisine. We have 1 Hakka Chinese restaurant that I know of in Seattle, which I have eaten at, but I'm still not sure exactly what makes it different from other Chinese cuisine? What is Hakka Chinese cuisine?

You should also consider Matt's in the Market, (Pike Place Market) 94 Pike St. (Suite 32 in the Corner Market Building), Seattle; 206-467-7909. It's a tiny place, but very funky and charming, and the food is wonderful (I've only tried their seafood dishes which were great, but I've heard raves about everything there - I recommend whatever the fish special is that day). Ingredients are very fresh & come from Pike Place Market. They are open for both lunch and dinner. For maximum fun/funk, you might try sitting at the counter to view the open kitchen, or get a window table w/a view if one is available. Call before going, as the place is very (emphasis) tiny.

I will also say raspberries are #1 . Followed by wild blackberries, so ripe and juicy they fall into your hand when you go to pick them, and still warm from the sun. Then cherries (Rainier & Bing).

Thanks everyone. I think my curiosity about Subway has been satisfied without me actually having to eat one! I have never been tempted, as just looking at the pictures of them are bad enough. However, I thought since there are so many subway shops around that I might be missing out on something. For prepared sandwiches on a bollo roll or ficille, I'll sometimes pick up one at Admiral Thriftway, or copy the ingredients and make one at home. ie. proscuitto, provolone, arugula, olive oil on ficelle; or sliced tomato, fresh mozzarella & basil or pesto on bollo, or even just sliced french madrange ham, brie, on baguette. Simple but good. Their hot sandwiches are good, too... sliced roast pork and carmelized onions on bollo, or their hot prime rib sandwich. I can also recommend Husky Deli in W. Seattle for good sandwiches. Lately, I've started getting sandwiches at the NY Liberty Deli down on Alki. Their smoked chicken panini w/roasted peppers on foccacia is good, and I also like their Grinders that come with deli meats like salami, ham, peppers, etc. and ask for italian dressing in it (rather than the mustard that normally comes on it). I also sometimes get a cubano sandwich at Lina's Cocina on Alki. The place I am most interested in trying, but haven't gotten there yet, is Paseo or something like that. I think col klink has recommended that place, and I've heard other good things about it, too. I'd also love to try the cubano at Mojito cafe (another rec by klink).

What a coincidence - I know Hans and his wife Ellen. They are members of the Swiss Club and we see each other sometimes at dinner parties and events. I haven't been to his sandwich shop for awhile though. At that time, he told me Tom Skerritt would come in sometimes. You mentioned Subway in passing, and never having eaten a Subway sandwich before, I'm curious what are they like? Do they taste better than they look? I've never had the courage to try one.

tighe, La Rustica (4100 Beach Dr SW) is considered on Alki beach (but much further down the beach than the main part of Alki). The food there is very good upscale Italian cuisine. It's very popular neighborhood restaurant. I will see if I can link a sample menu.

My favorites are Grand Central's Como (especially toasted) and the Campagne loafs, as well as Essential's Columbia loaf and their seeded baguette. Admiral thriftway makes a decent regular baguette, too. I also loved the Dahlia's bread.

I love going to Alki Beach. The fact that I'm just a few blocks away means that I go a lot. The view is great, and it's a lovely stretch of coast for a taking a walk. However it bothers me to no end that there are so few good restaurants down there. Most are mediocre, and could be so much better, considering the great location. Another such mediocre restaurant opened up on Alki beach this week - The Bamboo Bar and Grill, which replaces the Chinese place that wasn't very good. It is owned by the same person who owns Pegasus Pizza on Alki, just down the street. I like Pegasus pizza very much, so I had high hopes for his new restaurant. However after my recent lunch at Bamboo Bar & Grill, I'm sorry to report that it was just ok, nothing special. The place itself is kind of cute - done in bamboo w/ tiki torches that are fake but cute none the less. I can see this place maybe attracting a crowd of singles and young people who are looking for a place to drink & socialize rather than eat great food (along the lines of Dukes which is also on Alki now). The menu features a variety of appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, salads, and maybe a dozen or so entrees. I ordered the Philadelphia Steak Sandwich, which was slices of (underseasoned) grilled steak along with grilled red & green peppers, onions and melted provolone served on a french roll. Adequate, but not great. The fries that came with it were disappointing as they were thick processed fries, not hand cut, and not fried crisply, but had more the texture of baked. When I asked about the fries, I was told they were not hand cut because they didn't want them to seem like fast food or fish n chip fries. So in their minds they think they are serving upscale fries. So that's the scoop on the newest restaurant to open on Alki. Where do you like to go on Alki? Any other stories, good or bad, about restaurants you've been to along Alki Beach in West Seattle?

My Thai friend made me larb as part of our Christmas Eve dinner. It was the best larb yet! She made hers with ground pork, and started by sauteeing it in about 1/4 c. chicken broth (no oil). When cooked (a few minutes) she then added her thinly sliced shallots, ground toasted rice, ground thai red chili pepper, chopped green onion, fish sauce & fresh squeezed lemon juice, and cooked for another minute or so, also adding a bit more chicken broth to make it nice and juicy, and topped with cilantro at the end. She served it with whole small romaine leaves, thin sliced cabbage wedges and room temp steamed long beans (traditional in Thailand). So I learned that if my larb is too dry (which happened before), I can add a little more chicken broth which I don't think I used any chix broth when I made it before... and that no oil is needed at all. And that lemon juice works great in place of lime juice. Anybody else had larb again lately?

uh oh, macrosan..., we heard from the experts at our mycological club that golf courses are one of the worst places to pick mushrooms because of the high concentrations of fertilizer and petsticides they use to keep the greens looking so nice. Same goes for lawn mushrooms, if one uses fertilizer. We used to enjoy bolete's/porcini's from one of our friend's back yard until we heard about this . It has to do with the abilitity of the mushrooms/mycelium to highly absorb these chemicals that is bad for us.

My 2 favorites are Pyramid Snow Cap Ale and Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. I prefer both of these over the Deshutes Jubelale. I definitely don't care for the holiday beers that taste too spicy and gingerbready.

Klink, what a perfect birthday meal! My mouth is watering after reading your review. I just checked out their website to take a peek at their new menu. I also noticed they do catering. Can you imagine going to/or having a party or wedding with that amazing food? Wow. I'm sad to see they are still not open for lunch, though . In the meantime, I need to get myself there for dinner again, as I need to order the omakase!

It will be very nice if we will be able to buy his products at our upscale grocery stores with the new curing room, but I can't say that I'm impressed with the addition of "a whopping 3 feet to the existing cafe", plus 1 table in the old curing room to seat 6. That's almost nothing. It will still be hard to get a table in there, unless one arrives when they open.

Today for the first time, I microwaved my sponge after running it through the temp. boost saniwash cycle in the dishwasher. I feel soooo clean.

Washington State huckleberries , yum. Those diver scallops w/ truffles sound fantastic.

Rosti's are made by frying grated boiled potatoes w/ butter & oil into 1 large pancake, and as far as I can tell from looking at recipes latkes seem to be made only with grated raw potatoes? I want to try making latkes, too.

mamster, thank you for starting this thread! I love talking shrimp. I believe in our area we have Alaska spot prawns and fresh Hood Canal Shrimp, which are also spot prawns (someone please correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm just going from memory). I have bought these at Admiral Thriftway, in addition to buying them near Hood's Canal. They are more delicate than regular prawns and have a nice sweet flavor. Quite often they are just steamed or boiled and served in the shell (including heads & feet). Some have roe. I've also seen them at Pike Place Market. In fact, I think the only way I have ever eaten Hood Canal shrimp are boiled in the shell with a little cocktail sauce. mmmm. Heaven! I believe I have used Alaska spot prawns in stir fry. They aren't cheap though. As I recall for the size (which is about medium), they are a little more expensive than the frozen shrimp from Thailand, which we usually see in the market.

While I have never had a latke (but hope to), if they taste similar to hashbrowns or rosti, ketchup or tabasco (or tommy's ketchup sriracha combo) would be my favorite accompaniment to them.

I fogot to mention when I had larb leftovers the next day, since I didn't have anymore lime juice to make the dressing more juicy, I drizzled just a tiny bit of peanut oil over the larb and lettuce and the improvement was remarkable... no more dry larb salad. I just posted this so I could say larb again. larb larb larb

White King salmon is delicious! No discernable difference in taste from the red king salmon as far as I could tell. Same nice fatty meat and flavor. I believe the fish monger cannot tell the difference until he cuts into one. My Safeway manager gave me a couple nice fillets as a courtesy last year to try it out, and I am a frequent buyer of white king smoked salmon at Admiral Thriftway. It's so juicy and moist, just the way I like it. My favorite smoked salmon is from the belly though, but I have not had that in the white.

Does anyone know if char is available in the Northwest? I see it talked about a lot on egullet, yet I have never seen it before at our markets, thus don't know anything about it.

Thanks Jim.... I'm also reading on that site, that not only does Sockeye have the most omega 3's (the good stuff) of any salmon, it says that Alaska Sockeye salmon has the highest level Omega 3 oils of any fish at all. Good stuff to know. I would have thought some other oily fish would maybe have more, but doesn't look like it. I wonder what it is about the sockeye that gives them the most? Does it have to do with that it has the brightest orange color maybe?

I think King salmon have the most fat, and that's why they are my favorite.