seacrotty

I'll echo everyone's cheers and thanks for the food, company, organization, and chanterelles... ...and apologize for sowing confusion about knife sharpening last night. I should have checked my documentation before speaking so boldly. Daniel O'Malley does the sharpening for the Epicurean Edge in Kirkland. I'll post this over in the knife sharpening thread as well. c

Anita and I were big fans of Zao when we lived in San Francisco; we were regular patrons of the one in the Castro. It's encouraging to hear good things about the U Village outpost. We ate there a handful of times -- I can't remember the date of our last visit, but it's been months. We had a couple of okay experiences and several really bad ones (uncaring, inexpert service + sloppily prepared food), and finally gave up. It was a bummer, because I'm a fan of the noodle bowl myself. So when we're in that neck of the woods we console ourselves with the U Village branch of Burrito Loco, which is roughly ten times better than any mall Mexican restaurant has any right to be. Just don't bother with the Gatorade Margaritas. cameron

erm....was there an eGullet consensus after the Cascadia outing a few weeks ago? I was unimpressed with both burgers and calamari. Although the drinks were lovely. cameron

I'll volunteer to be on the judging panel for this one. I useta think that a mai tai was something that you ordered as a joke during a bachelor party at Trader Vic's or the Tonga Room. But after a heavenly series of mai tais on Maui last year, I have seen the light. cameron p.s. The Painkiller was our drink of choice in the Carribean: Rum, orange juice, pineapple juice, and a little Coco Lopez.

Well, I know what we're having for dinner tonight. Anita and I had our fresh shrimp revelation a few years ago while vacationing in Mendocino on the California coast. Hunting for grillables in the local grocery store, we ran across some fresh, just-off-the-boat, locally caught prawns (don't remember the variety). We bought a pound, shelled them, drizzled olive oil and sprinkled salt, and then scared the hell out of them over a hot fire. Orgasmic. We went back the next day for more, but they were sold out. Since then, we've hunted, begged, and pleaded for truly fresh shrimp with little success. Mutual Fish, here I come! c edited for typo

Thank you, SeaGal, for giving me the benefit of the doubt. Despite my ignorance about the origins, it was still vurry tasty. c

We finally managed to break the ice at Voilá! last night. Anita and I met a friend for dinner at the new “bistrot” that’s replaced the much-unlamented Gitano on East Madison in Madison Valley (Seattle). We were forced to cut our dinner short, so consider this more of a preview than a review. When they say bistrot, they mean it. The menu is loaded with little French restaurant faves: onion soup, pate de campagne, beef bourguingnon, hanger steak, coq au vin, and the like. The wine list is small and mostly Cali-Washington You can order house red or white by the glass or carafe. There is also a selection of unnamed wines available by the glass -- you order by the grape varietal. Anita started with the onion soup and wished that it had more broth and cheese and less onion, but pronounced it tasty nonetheless. The pate de campagne that I ordered could have been more flavorful, but the texture was great. Our dining companion ordered a mixed green salad and said that it was overdressed but good otherwise. My main was a hanger steak with a side of (what else?) frites. The steak was cooked medium-rare, as I requested, and the frites were prepared with a little garlic and parsley. Good meat, good sauce, good frites, and dijon on request (without having to explain twice) -- what else can you ask for? Anita’s beef bourguignon was tender and flavorful; in an interesting twist on this old favorite, we suspect that bacon or another smoked meat is involved in the preparation. Our friend ordered mushroom tagliatelle -- shiitake, I think, but I won’t swear to it. I will swear to the fact that I smelled it as soon as it got within five feet of the table, and my mouth started watering. A taste confirmed that it was good stuff. We ordered whites and reds by the glass, and they were what we expected: workmanlike but not amazing. The total tab for three people (starters, mains, and 4-5 glasses of wine) was $100 pre-tip. You have to order sides separately, so that $12-13 main isn’t really such a screaming deal. However, there were enough frites that two people could share -- not pig out, but share. Service was great: warm, polite, attentive, and casual in the proper measures. Décor was quiet, uncomplicated and appropriate. We hope that this place does well, and we're looking forward to a return trip. cameron edited to add the Seattle geographic reference. Apologies to non-Seattle-ites

Has anyone sampled a martini made using olives stuffed with blue cheese instead of pimentos? I ran across one at a sniffy restaurant in downtown San Jose (CA). The food was way too expensive, but I still daydream about that martini. The bartender called it a "Chicago Martini," but I've never found it anyplace else. Did I mention that it tasted amazing? Messy, but you can do the prep beforehand, and the wow factor is pretty high for entertaining guests. cameron

I'm always on the lookout for good fish & chips. I used to love 'em at the Red Door in Fremont (along with the chowder), but apparently sometime last year some zombie broke into the kitchen and ate all the staff's brains. Very sad. c

Anita (ScorchedPalate) and I did the 25 for $25 menu at Brasa on Monday night with another couple. Before our friends arrived, we started with cocktails at the bar: Maritime ale for me and a devastatingly stiff champoire (champagne and pear brandy) for Anita. To her credit, the bartender caught us comparing notes and making faces over Anita's drink and immediately offered to remake it: "Is it too strong?" It was and she did. Very tasty little concoction. The food was...uneven. My starter -- beef carpaccio with sel gris, white truffle oil, arugula, and shaved parmesan -- had way too much salt and I couldn't taste the beef at all underneath all the other stuff. Anita's spinach and vinaigrette with goat cheese and shiitake salad was overdressed ("Completely sodden," snorts Anita, "And just one little piece of goat cheese"). One of our friends ordered the spanish calamari and offered a taste as they arrived. I think that he liked them, because they were gone when I looked up. I never got a sample, but in retrospect I'm glad that I didn't get my fingers too close. The same friend ordered the paella and had good things to say about it. My petit filet was much better than my starter. It was topped with a touch of Cabrales compound butter, a reduction sauce, and served over potato puree. A well-prepared classic. Anita's main was a chicken tagine: half a chicken with moroccan couscous and some poached dried fruit. This dish was a disaster. The couscous was oily and had way too many almonds. The chicken was dry -- completely unforgivable (practically incomprehensible) considering the cooking method. The sauce was sweet despite the server's assurances that it was a savory dish. More on this later. For dessert, Anita and I both had cheese from Brasa’s cheese table, a long slab of (?marble?) festooned with around fifteen wedges. Points for presentation, but the placement near the front door seemed weird to me -- especially since the table was something of a gathering point for the service staff. Anyway, we had our server select our cheese and received six serviceable (if somewhat boring) slices: Mimolette, Agur, Humboldt Fog, and three others that I don’t remember. Hard to criticize, I suppose, as we were offered the opportunity to choose for ourselves. But it would have been nice if our server had at least tried to ascertain our level of cheesy adventurousness. Of course, that would have required our server to operate at a level that she hadn’t even come close to all night. She abandoned us after taking our drink order, finally reappearing with said drinks and a, “Ready to order?” Questions about the food were answered with a verbatim recitation of the menu listing, and we were told at least twice, “Oh, it’s a savory dish.” I chose a McCrea Syrah (a.k.a. Old Faithful) for our meal after joking to our dining companions that I wasn’t going to bother asking about a couple of interesting looking bottles for fear of being told that they were “savory,” or perhaps that they were made with grapes. As I write this, I’m trying to view the experience through the lens of what happens at just about any restaurant on a Monday night -- you better not expect the A team, because you’re not going to get it. Nevertheless, I can’t imagine bothering with a return visit at full price. I would, however, go for their half-price bar food and drinkies, as the space is inviting and the menu looked tasty. I believe that this opinion has been expressed elsewhere on the PNW board. We’re off to Assaggio tonight. I do love this promotion. cameron edited to correct spelling...er...twice. On the same word.

Oog. Given the T.G.I. Fridays nature of the food at the Rock Bottom in Seattle, I can't say that I'd be rushing over to sample the Eastside version.

<sigh>. Now you've gone and gotten me all homesick by talking about San Francisco taquerias. My fave is El Castillito on Church @ Market (right across from the Church St. Safeway). If you travel down there on a regular basis and have access to a car, do yourself a favor and visit Fiesta del Mar, in Shoreline (note: be sure to go to the original one on Shoreline Blvd., not the pale imitation Fiesta del Mar Too). Simply the best Mexican plate food you'll ever have in your entire life. Okay, back to the Pac NW... I can't get behind Gorditas, but Oobas in Redmond rocks my world! Their Woodinville location is just as yummy. cameron

Fer all you northward-livin' city slickers, we've been thoroughly enjoying ourselves at the Burrito Loco at the U Village. Me, I can't even find Tukwila without a map. <ducking>. cameron

Good to hear about the Jolly Roger. We've driven by it several times...on our way to Bad Albert's Next time, we'll stop. Norm's sounds fun, too. I'm bummed to hear that I missed the heyday of the 76th Street Alehouse. We used to live near there, and it had a nice vibe. But after a couple of disappointing dinner visits, we stopped going. Also, add my name to the bad vibe about the food at Hale's. I dearly love their beer, and it blinded me for months to the fact that their chow is...well...bad. c

Where do y'all go when you want a beer and a sandwich or an uncomplicated entreé, and you want them done right? Tell us your candidate for the trifecta: good beer, good atmosphere, and food that you'd cross more than a couple of neighborhoods for. My current front-runners: Bad Albert's (Ballard): I posted a review of this not too long ago, so y'all know how I feel about the oyster po'boy. Attic Alehouse and Eatery (Madison Park): This one is actually pending further evaluation -- it's definitely got the "close to home" bias working for it. cameron

I'll take credit for the green comment. Thanks for the recap, LEdlund. And thanks to all the eGulleters -- I had a wonderful time meeting you all. There were at least six different bottles of wine flying around. Dimly, he remembers: St. Innocent Pinot Noir: Most complex non-French pinot I've ever tasted. Lotsa fruit on the nose, then leather, tobacco, spice, vanilla, mineral. Yum. Jean Baptiste Adam Tokay Pinot Gris (Alsace): Just sweet enough, and a little caramel/honey. I ordered a glass to sip before we started, and then the group decided it sounded good enough for all, although Union doesn't put it on their list by the bottle. Nevertheless, Hans (our server and sometime maitre d') obliged. Hans also appreciated our show of strength in the wine department, relating unhappily the story of the group of eight that recently came in, ordered the 25 for 25$ menu, and drank nothing but water all night long. No offense intended to the teetotalers out there. There was a French chablis and another red down at our end of the table, and I know that the other end of the table had a couple of bottles of the Qupé syrah. cameron Edited to repair broken sentence and add sad water anecdote.

Yes to both as of April 2003.

A late contribution about our dinner at Etta's... Once again, I was reminded of the power of local ingredients. I usually avoid salmon at restaurants because I've eaten too many plates over the years served up by cooks who 1) couldn't get the good stuff and 2) didn't know what to do with it when they did. But at the risk of sounding like a tourist, I am coming to love ordering salmon in the PacNW. The fish at Etta's was tender, perfectly cooked, and delicately flavored. c

Sad indeed. I had the cottonfish, and the ground and loosely deep-fried fish gave me -- very briefly -- one of those wonderful food discovery moments where I thought, "I've never had anything like this before!" But then I tasted the cartoonishly sweet sauce. Ugh. c

There's a mid-century building with hipster cool lurking just beneath the surface available at the corner of Jackson and Rainier Ave.. Lotsa commuter traffic = Perfect place for a Top Pot! c

Good point. I shouldn't have said "perfect" -- that's an unrealistic expectation. Please allow me to rephrase: I do not take enough pleasure from the atmosphere that Canlis affords to make up for what I consider to be its lack of accomplishment in food. YMMV. As to price point, I'm not sure whether I'd look forward to or recoil in horror from the day that I didn't consider price a factor when evaluating a restaurant. (apologies for the verb-tense-fu) c edited to remove extra quote tags

ScorchedPalate and I really enjoyed our dinner on the 10th -- ya gotta love spending more on wine than you do on food. I was especially impressed by the attention to texture throughout the meal. For instance, the crunchy bits of salt on the otherwise completely Japanese-style ahi tuna and seaweed salad were a revelation. Also, the textures of the watercress soup and salmon mousse were perfectly balanced, the former thicker than you'd expect and the latter creamier and smoother than you could imagine. Where they mingled, it was nearly impossible to tell one from from the other (other than by flavor, of course). Now, just because this thread has been such a Union love-fest, I'll play the heretic critic <devilish grin>... 1) Ask for a table away from a window. They absolutely radiate cold. 2) The blueberry sorbet was a "something" bomb, but not, IMHO, blueberry. I don't know where y'all buy your blueberries, but mine don't come that tart. Paired with the creme fraiche, the whole dessert was a party of sour. And finally, an anecdote. Our waiter was just a bit behind all night -- we sat for some time waiting to put in our order, our wine would arrive just after the food that we'd ordered it for, he got the first bottle wrong...not big stuff. He knew it was happening and apologized profusely toward the end of the meal, explaining that he had one of the local food critics at another table and implying that things weren't going as smoothly as they should. I certainly believed that he was having a rough night when I saw how his hands were shaking while he refilled our wine glasses! Still, a wonderful night by any estimation -- we can't wait to return! c

I've been to Canlis three times over (roughly) as many years. I thoroughly enjoyed it the first time, thought it was good for what it was the second time, and walked out the third time wondering why I'd bothered, which is a little disconcerting after you've just dropped $500+ on dinner for four. I suppose that there's a certain amount of familiarity breeding contempt in my evaluation, but I also think that when a restaurant presents itself at that level, everything has to be perfect, every time. I don't think that Canlis justifies the premium that they charge just because they're Canlis. c

We were awfully fond of the Stumbling Goat when we lived up that way. Glad to hear that it's holding up. Okay, back to the thread: Underrated Chiso (great sushi in Fremont) Oobas (spectacular taquerias in Redmond and Woodinville) St. Cloud's (brunch in Madrona) Overrated Herbfarm Flying Fish Red Mill

Anita and I looked in on the Rue de Lyon this morning on our way to Essential. Based on the layout, our guess is salon or spa, not restaurant.