To Market We Go

Seattle's Famous Pike Place Market is not high on our list of places to go. However since it was almost a year since we have visited our sister city to the north and with a limited amount of time we had to strategically map out our day, which revolved around eating of course, therefor a trip to the market was a must. We started with yummy Caffe D'Arte macchiatos up the street from the market.

We couldn't come to Seattle or Pike's Place Market without stopping by the pioneer of Seattle coffee.

We were heading into Pike Place Market for one reason and one reason only. Market Grill.

As mentioned earlier we had a limited amount of time during our visit and we weren't about to waste a precious meal opportunity with silly breakfast foods, we wanted fresh fish sandwiches.

Market Grill's simple stall mirrored their terrificly simple fresh seafood sandwiches. We split a cod and a halibut sandwich. Both were pounded thin sprinkled with seasoning, grilled and served simply with lettuce. Simple, allowing the mild taste of the flaky fish be subtle and fresh. In our opinion a pretty good meal to start the day with.

Market Grill 1509 Pike Place #3 Seattle, Washington 206.682.2654

Thai Tom

If you live in Portland, Oregon you probably know the city has very few good Thai Restaurants. Portland is the puppy mill of Thai Food cranking out the worse, most watered down versions of Thai food. So when we heard the best Thai food in Seattle can be found at a small hole-in-the-wall right around the corner from our hotel, we not only made note, but bee-lined immediately after check-in. We were told if a tiny little Thai man is cooking and blaring heavy Thai metal music we are in good hands.

Unfortunately Thai Tom wasn't cooking, instead we arrived early in the evening and found the atmosphere mellow, playing Thai reggae and with some seats available at the bar. We already had eaten 2 lunches not too long ago and would soon have a big dinner so we placed a to-go order for two noodle dishes. In fact we didn't eat our food until we were back in Portland a couple of days later. Seriously, Portland has crappy Thai food, we were willing to do what it takes!

So, was the food good? 2 days and a plate of pad thai noodles later (which we rarely order) we finally were eating delicious Thai food. Tart, tangy, sweet, spicy, sour! YES! Too bad it's 2 and half hours away, but hey "High Five On The I-5" is what we'll be yelling as we cruise up to our new favorite Thai Restaurant stateside and next time we'll make sure to sit front and center to check out this tiny Thai restaurant in action!

Thai Tom 4543 University Way NE Seattle, Washington 206.548.9548

I Think I'm Turning Japonessa

Japonessa Sushi Cocina in Seattle, Washington is one of the cool kids. A hip urban Japanese fusion restaurant in the heart of downtown that looks like it was outfitted by the Z Gallerie and has one of the best late night happy hours in town. Directly after arriving on the Cascade Starlight Train from Portland we bolted for the late night hot spot and it not only started off our food-tastic tour of Seattle, but was one of the most memorable meals we had in our too short visit to the Emerald City!

We started off with yummy takoyaki. The bonito flakes didn't "dance" like we've seen on other takoyaki we've had, but the light, not-doughy-at-all octopus balls were a hit and good start.

We ordered 2 sushi rolls and ikura with a quail egg. Being a sushi cocina the Barcelona Sunset Roll (top roll pictured below) was the standout of the sushi rolls - spicy yellowtail, avocado, cucumber, topped with yellowtail, tobiko and habanero allioli.

We also ordered the caliente ginger chicken and the garlic short ribs. We like to keep all our meal proteins well balanced. We were hoping the caliente ginger chicken would be like karage, but was a spicy sauce slathered chicken served with taro chips, but the short ribs were exactly what we were hoping - tangy little rib bites.

The highlight of the night was the Ankimo - monkfish liver! Pate of the sea! Deliciously creamy, individual bites of the sea! Delicious!

This was just the beginning of our epic Seattle Food Tour and it was off to a stellar start!

Hell Of A Decade

With our wedding this last summer we completely forgot Fall 2011 was our 10th year together - a decade! The milestone passed without us even acknowledging the occassion. We decided to check back and found that we did spend the day together and actually took some photos of the beautiful autumn day! It was a hell of a decade and we look forward to the next decade and the next and the next and the next and the next and the next....

Champagne Brunch

When news that the London Grill was ending their Sunday Champagne Brunch after 60 years we knew it would be an epic way to start the holiday celebrating (and eating)! We gathered up the troops and crossed our fingers for a reservation on one of the last Sundays the brunch would be served. And it did not disappoint.

When we arrived we were told it would be 10 minutes before our table was ready, which was fine since the stately Benson Hotel was all dressed up for the holidays, including an impressive gingerbread town set up in the lobby.

We started our brunch with some champagne (ppsssttt...it was the good stuff too). We were adviced to try our champagne with some berries from the fresh fruit table, which were so gorgeous I ended up starting off with a whole plate of just fruit. We couldn't resist the gorgeous plump berries, a rare sight in December!

Being the children of casino & buffet connaisseurs we knew to leave the breakfast pastries alone, especially after walking pass the dessert island to our table - (yes, an island in the middle of the restuarant just for desserts).

We started with the "Smorgasbord" table consisting of gravlax with all the fixings, smoked and cold shellfish, a punchbowl of cocktail shrimp, cedar smoked salmon, dungeous crab legs and even sushi!

Once our appetites were opened up we headed for the true stars of brunch and by that we mean what's in the hot chafing dishes, such as eggs benedict, lemon ricotta blintzes, bacon and sausages.

Next was the omelette and waffle stations.

Since brunches usually straddle the idea of breakfast and lunch, the London Grills' brunch is all meals including dinner, which would explain the roasted oysters, steamed clams, perfect little lamb chops, pork tenderloin medallions, chicken spanakopita and of course a roast carving station.

From the plate above, yes there was a fantastic cheese platter with the most delicate and mouthwatering havarti cheese, as well as a terrific salad selection with crab salad, antipasta, pasta and green salads.

Finally after so much savory we were ready to dive into the dessert island. This thing was fantastic with over 10 different cakes, chocolate mousse, lemon and fruit tarts, eclairs, creme brulee, cream puffs, cheesecakes, key lime and coconut cream pies.

As we looked around and realize we were one of the last groups of people to leave the London Gril's brunch we realized sadly we could have made this an annual event, but instead it was a last hurrah! The London Grill's champagne brunch wasn't the biggest or most expensive brunches, but the quality of each item definitely made it a worthwhile meal!

Happy New Year!

We had plans to post this on New Years Eve, but the day and then the whole weekend got away from us, so it's a bit late, but nonetheless sweet.

Three years ago, on New Years Eve, seconds after the clock struck midnight, Mike proposed. Two and half years later we were married! 2011 was a year we hurled ourselves at at full speed! The year went by fast and furious and we didn't even travel anywhere. In 2012 we are looking forward to "settling" into our new lives and new last names! Hope everyone's New Years was great and here's to a 2012 full of love, joy, happy surprises and new adventures!

Natural Celebratory Dinner

One dark December night we walked up to a neighborhood restaurant to celebrate belated and soon-to-be birthdays. With the overindulgent holidays upon us we were looking forward to an all vegetarian dinner at vegetarian/vegan restaurant Natural Selection. We were not disappointed, in fact we were so impressed that we plan to visit the restaurant each season to get our fill of expertly and innovatively prepared seasonal vegetables.

Natural Selection Chef Aaron Woo built his restaurant around "vegetables, fruit and grains served in a warm European-style setting, the menu combines both rustic and modern cooking techniques while highlighting the favors of France, Italy and Spain."

The restaurant was festive, cozy and did have the warm European feel expressed on the website.

We easily settled into Natural Selection's cozy dining room, ready to dig into the prix fix seasonal menu.

Natural Selection makes it easy with only 2 prix fix menus to choose from. Items can be ordered a la carte as well. We ordered a couple great cocktails and the 2 prix fix dinners in order to sample everything. Shortly after placing an order an amuse bouche of red pepper draped polenta bite arrived.

Soon our first course arrived. A delicious sweet hubbard squash soup and roasted maitake mushrooms. The soup was your basic creamy squash soup, but punched up a notch with the addition of cubed chunky squash to add some texture to the soup. The maitake mushrooms were smokey, silky smooth and crunchy all at the same time; paired with creamy potatoes, the dish was the ultimate in earthy flavors.

The next course was the salad course with a golden beet & endive salad and a brussel sprout & sunchoke salad. The beet salad was sweet from the beets and sliced figs, tart and bitter from the apples and endive greens. Crisp and bright. The brussel sprouts were shredded thin and matched the earthy flavors of the sunchokes. The grapefruit added a tart cold flavor to liven up the dish.

The main entrees were a ceppo pasta with arugula (with pumpkin, apple, and brussel sprouts) and a lentil & potato stew (with delicata squash, romanesca, peppers and almonds. The pumpkin blended beautifully with the ceppo pasta, apple and brussel sprouts, a total standout. The beautifully presented lentil stew was very unstew like and completely delicious. The stew was served in and around a small cored delicata squash that was cooked perfectly and easy to cut into.

The final and fourth course was the dessert course consisting of a fruit crumble and spiced pumpkin cake. Like the other 3 courses, the desserts were fantastic. Perfectly portioned and not too sweet, a great way to end our delicious vegetarian/vegan celebratory dinner.

Natural Selection is definitely worthy of a celebratory dinner. Slow paced and laid-back our dinner service matched the deliberate nature of Natural Selection's food. We thoroughly enjoyed the timed meal perfect for a cozy celebration with friends. We entertained ourselved inbetween each meal with palate cleaners and watching the small open kitchen casually pump out each plate.

Even the bar area was tiny and efficient, doubling as the wait and credit card station.

We really enjoyed everything about Natural Selection and can't wait to head back in the early spring to find out what they do with young asparagus and spring greens.