Seattle Restaurant Reviews

I’ve been without access to my blog for a while, so I’ve got some serious catching up to do.  Starting with my trip to Seattle which I just realized was a MONTH ago.  Wow, time flies.

I don’t often do restaurant reviews (in fact, this may be the first one) but a couple of the places we ate in Seattle I thought deserved special mention because they really blew both Lisa and I away.

The first night we were in Seattle we drove out to the Fremont Neighborhood to visit the Fremont Troll and also hunt down some dinner.  As we passed through the streets nothing really caught our eye until Lisa spied a joint with a large red neon sign proclaiming “WHISKEY”.  Being an aficionado of the brown stuff Lisa was intrigued.  We circled around a second time and again nothing jumped out at us so we decided to give the “Whiskey” a shot.  As we walked up we discovered the name of the place was actually 9 Million in Unmarked Bills.  We stepped inside and the theme was Prohibition era speakeasy with nods to bank robbers and ransom artists which included a drink named after the famed Northwest robber D.B. Cooper. (*Side note: I looked up DB Cooper, and his ransom that he requested was only in the neighborhood of 75,000$.  That was a lot of money for the early 70’s, it’s about a million and a half in modern dough, but it still seems like a paltry sum of money to hijack a plane for, but as Lisa noted, it’s a small enough amount that he could live comfortably and yet not draw attention, although it is presumed he did not survive his parachute jump from the airplane).  Being a whiskey bar the first thing we looked at was the drink menu.  Lisa’s first drink was an Old Fashioned which included bourbon, orange and a brandy soaked cherry, she said it was good but wasn’t too terribly impressed with it.  My first drink was a Mint Julep made in the traditional fashion with bourbon, sugar and mint.  It was fantastic.  Next came food and it was incredible! Lisa got a little skillet steak cooked with peppers and onions and was on the happy hour menu.  We also split an order of the truffle fries which were served with truffle oil, Parmesan cheese and herbs and they were divine.  I got a small pizza with fresh mozzarella, wild mushrooms and truffle oil and I was astonished at how good it was.  After eating we ordered a second round of drinks so we could try some different things.  Lisa got the aforementioned DB Cooper which was made with bourbon, sour mix, lime and frothed with a shaken egg white.  She really liked this, and I was a little iffy on the egg white, but took a sip and it was good.  I got a drink called Red Sky at Night which was a nod to sailors and included (appropriately) rum and was served hot and garnished with a cinnamon stick.  It was really really good.

The second day in Seattle we spent the majority of the day at Pikes Place Market, and of course being right on the waterfront the goal of the day was to find some good seafood.  After wandering around and looking at menu’s we decided on the Athenian. Lisa had seen several things she liked right away, while I had to search for a little while.  I didn’t want to just get something fried, and also I wanted something local.  Several things with the large prawns looked good but they were from the Gulf of Mexico.  I was going to have to step out of my comfort zone if I wanted to have an experience of the local flavors.  Lisa had decided on the Seafood Saute which included whitefish, salmon, clams, mussels and those giant prawns (which were HUGE) cooked up in a white wine sauce with peppers, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes.  It looked amazing, and she said it was.  I tried one of her fries which had soaked up some of the broth and it was amazing.  I ended up ordering the seafood fettuccine which came with mussels, clams, those huge prawns and “seafood selections”.  I know for a fact it had salmon, and I assume it had the same whitefish that Lisa’s dish had.  I like oysters, and I had tried fried clam strips when we were at Mo’s in Cannon Beach, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to like clams and mussels from the shell (essentially steamed and then tossed with the pasta).  Turns out, it was really incredible.  I also wasn’t sure about the salmon, but it also was very good.   The atmosphere couldn’t be beat either.  Up on Pike “street level” which is about 3 stories above the waterfront streets which gave us an amazing view of the piers which included shops and the Seattle aquarium as well as the ferry boats coming and going.  After lunch we would take one of those ferries out to Bainbridge island and get a view of the city from the waterside.

If you’re ever in Seattle I highly, highly recommend these two places.

 

Coffee Culture

I’ve sort of forgotten about my blog here recently as I’m still trying to find work and a place to live and get settled here in Portland.  I’m sure all four of my readers are very upset at this.  I apologize.

It’s very much cliched that the Pacific Northwest is a heavy coffee culture.  Like most cliches, there is a strong ring of truth to it.  People here love their coffee.  People are loyal to certain brands, certain coffee shops and certain baristas.  I think I mentioned in an earlier blog post that it surprises me that the “chain” stores like Starbucks and Seattle’s Best can stay in business since everyone seems to prefer their local corner shop, but apparently they do well enough.

Lisa and I got coffee yesterday evening while we were grocery shopping, jet lag for her and just a lack of caffeine for me, interestingly at a Starbucks, since that was what was available in the store, and Lisa was beside herself giddy that I ordered my coffee with no room for cream.  She said she takes enormous pride in the fact that she has (quickly) converted me to a black coffee drinker.  A combination of “pressure” from her (not really), my desire to try things, and I think the largest part is, access to fresh, good quality coffee, have contributed to this transition.  My first cup of black coffee was at Lisa’s favorite shop Rain or Shine at the corner of 60th and Division.  The store allows you to pre-order refills and knowing we were going to be there a while I ordered two cups.  They had two styles of coffee to offer and I just picked one at random and made my normal cup with milk and simple syrup.  When it came time for the second cup I wanted to try the other style and I figured if I wanted to taste the difference I should try it with nothing in it.  I figured if I didn’t like it I could take a few sips and then add the stuff to it.  Well, I ended up not needing it.  The coffee was mild and smooth, not bitter at all, and even had a little bit of natural sweetness.  Now when I go back to Rain or Shine, this is the coffee I get and it doesn’t need anything added to it.

The coffee in question that blew me away was the El Salvador coffee from Portland Roasting.  Portland Roasting, along with Stumptown Coffee Roasters, is one of several local coffee roasters that hail from the Portland area.  The fact that the coffee was roasted fresh only a few days ago and shipped locally, rather than sitting in a can on a grocery store shelf since God knows when makes all the difference in the world!  This is not Folgers.  Some coffee shops, such as the Water Avenue Coffee Company and McMenamin’s roast their own coffees in house.  The smaller local places also create a relationship with the farmers and know exactly where their coffee comes from.  Some of them will even pay a premium for a farmer to grow and supply coffee beans ONLY to them.  Higher quality coffee and higher pay for the farmers is a win-win all around.  Dealing directly with the farmers also ensures the farmers are actually getting paid and not getting ripped off by a middle man or distribution company.

On the other side of that coin of course is the fancy, expensive espresso based drinks like mochas and lattes.  Lisa doesn’t drink these very often, but I occasionally indulge.  I like a good mocha from time to time.  One of the first mochas I ever had was from a coffee stand in EPCOT and it had such a strong flavor of chocolate that I couldn’t even taste the coffee, which at the time I liked it that way.  Lisa says around here that’s just known as hot chocolate.  Since I’ve been here, I’ve had a couple other mochas and they’ve run the gamut of being very chocolatey and dressed up with whipped cream and chocolate syrup, down to the traditional drink with foam only and just a slight chocolate flavor on top of the espresso.  The mocha I had at Water Avenue (which I wish now I had taken a picture of, but that just seemed very out of sorts) kept the design in the foam all the way down to the last sip, which is a sign of a perfectly pulled espresso and well made foam.  It was delicious, and it was the one previously mentioned that only had a slight chocolate flavor, you could still very much taste the coffee.

I still don’t see any point to drink the godawful iced whatever stuff from Starbucks that’s laced with sugar syrups and milk and 2000 calories, but a good traditional mocha or latte or cappuccino can be a nice treat without breaking the waistline.  100 calories or so for the added milk is really all you’re looking at.

And yes… if you walk into a non-Starbucks and try to order a “Frappaccino” which is a nonsense drink that doesn’t exist, yes they will laugh you out the door.  For example, a macchiato is a cup of espresso with a very small amount of milk.  This will be served to you hot and in a small cup.  What they call a macchiato at Starbucks is some monstrous iced thing with milk and whipped cream and who knows what else.  Lisa’s barista friend Jeremy says depending on how nice you are, he may give you exactly what you order (which is not what they are trying to order) or he may give you what you really want, which is actually an iced caramel latte.

So when you come to the Pacific Northwest make sure to try some good fresh local coffee! You’ll be glad you did.