lavaca's Profile
Sorrel?
I haven't done so lately, but in the past I've purchased sorrel in the herb section at Whole Foods. It may not be a better deal than the stuff you can get at the farmers markets, though.
Murray's Cheese Shop @ QFC
The U Village QFC has something similar (it was the first of six or seven that they're planning to roll out this year). Although it is certainly better than the previous incarnation of the cheese counter, I admit that I still prefer the selection at the Roosevelt Whole Foods.
restaurant near the marriott courtyard lake union
Re:Public and Brave Horse are good suggestions. Serious Pie (pizza, not mincemeat) is also relatively close. Lunchbox Laboratory is about a 15-minute walk, but the burgers are fun (and huge). I would recommend against visiting the along the lake.
There's also a streetcar that runs from Lake Union to downtown along Westlake Avenue. It provides access to the aforementioned Barolo as well as Farestart and the various Tom Douglas places in Belltown.
Southern Food (better keep your head)
Having just spent a week in the South, I'm already suffering.
Are there any restaurants in the area that serve Southern food beyond barbecue and fried chicken? I'm aware of the Kingfish Cafe, Southern Kitchen, and various Cajun/Creole places, but I'm not aware of any place that really focuses on meat-and-three or low country dishes. Surely somebody is cooking white grits or potlikker gravy.
Visiting Bourbon Country
We ended up going to Maker's Mark for a tour. They are doing work in the barrel room and left that out of the tour but the experience didn't suffer too much. At the end, we got to taste a white whiskey (the first I've found particularly palatable) in addition to regular Maker's and Maker's 46. I decided against paying $42 for the mint julep base, but I will note that this is something they only sell in Kentucky and only for part of the year.
For the drinking, we went to Proof on Main in Louisville and did flights. Although not as focused on bourbon, Harvest also had a nice selection despite being out of all but one of the Pappy Van Winkle vintages on the menu.
I also discovered that the restaurant at the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill sells bourbons like Knob Creek and Four Roses Single Barrel for $6-$7. Paying Kentucky bourbon prices and then returning to Seattle is sort of like paying Seattle beer prices and then going to Washington DC or New York City.
86 Spring Hill, Welcome Ma'ono Chicken & Whisky
Yesterday they made a comment via Twitter about installing another fryer. That should help a bit.
Visiting Bourbon Country
Thanks. I admit that's the answer I suspected I was going to get. We are also visiting Charleston, so I think there are Louisville are where I'll do most of my bourbon-tasting (but that's another thread, of course).
Visiting Bourbon Country
In March I'll be driving north from Chattanooga to Louisville and then southeast from Louisville to Asheville. I'd like to visit at least one of the bourbon distilleries while I'm in the area - do you guys have any recommendations? I am reasonably familiar with nationally-available brands of bourbon, so a place that lets me try/learn about obscure stuff rather than just Maker's Mark, Bulleit, Four Roses, etc would be preferable.
In addition, are there any bourbons that I could find easily in Kentucky but not so easily back home in Seattle?
Seattle specialties
If you want your salmon to say "Seattle!", find a place that grills it on an alder or cedar plank.
Excellent Authentic Mexican In A Nice Setting
I went to the Wallingford location on Friday. It is much larger and has a separate bar. I believe the menu is the same. You should go!
Il Corvo
Yes, you can sit down inside. The seating area isn't huge, though.
There are several pasta choices, which change each day. They also have a really good selection of Italian bitter sodas (if you're into that sort of thing).
Where do you get your specialty cuts?
You could probably assemble an entire pig from Uwajimaya's selection
Failing that, try A&J or Don and Joe's.
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Uwajimaya
600 5th Ave S, Seattle, WA
Pizza week
The happy hour pizzas are about half the size of the regular pizzas. You can also get an imperial pint of beer for $4.
What's your take on asking restaurant to alter menu items or specials?
At a good restaurant, a dish isn't going to be constructed from random ingredients. It's entirely possible that a substitution or omission will lead to an inferior result (which you'll blame on the restaurant, of course) or delay the kitchen (which everyone will blame on the restaurant).
One of the most amusing disclaimers of the "substitutions politely declined" variety I've seen is "if you want it your way...you know where to go"
Breakfast near market or downtown
It's about a mile from the Dahlia Workshop to EMP. Ignore Google and walk south to Denny rather than north to Mercer or Broad.
Breakfast near market or downtown
You are thinking of the Dahlia Bakery, which is indeed only a few blocks from the market (and not as interesting as Macrina or some of the places at Pike Place). The Dahlia Workshop is at Westlake & Harrison, downstairs from Serious Pie #2.
That said, I don't think the Workshop is really worth the trip unless you're planning to test-drive a Tesla or climb the wall at REI afterwards. It's a nice walk (or short SLUT ride), but there's not much else to do in the area unless you work at Amazon or are interested in architecture.
Favorite pork chop in Seattle?
I had a very good pork chop at Quinn's a year or so ago. If it's still on the menu, I would recommend it.
Vitello Tonnato served in Seattle?
Spinasse had it when I visited in January (on the antipasti menu). I have a hunch that's not the answer you're looking for, though.
Taqueria in Seattle?
Places you could try up north are El Camion (Aurora and 117th or 15th NW and 54th) and Taqueria El Sabor (Aurora south of 155th). I can't personally vouch for the exact preparation you're looking for, but they are worth a visit even if you end up with something slightly different.
You could always cheat and drive to the Bellevue Taqueria El Rinconsito, which is very close to 520. It's in the strip mall at 140th & 24th.
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Taqueria El Sabor
15221 Aurora Ave N, Shoreline, WA 98133
What's for lunch in Belltown and South Lake Union?
This month I visited Tutta Bella on Westlake. The pancetta pizza was tasty (olive oil, macerated tomatoes, onions, and basil), but I felt like the pancetta itself was the weakest part - it was difficult to eat and not evenly cooked thanks to the fact that the slices were large and curled up in the oven. A similar pizza using salami or sausage would have been even better. I do think the crust at Bambino's is better, but I also think that Tutta Bella has fixed the issues with sogginess that I sometimes experienced in years past (probably by making the crust thicker).
The deck is really nice for people-watching and has a good view of the Space Needle.
Organic salmon - tasteless in many ways
Ugh. If it's organic salmon, it will necessarily be farmed salmon (since wild fish and game can't be labeled as organic in the US) and have all of the drawbacks that entails.
In any case, organic feed solves neither the culinary or environmental problems associated with farmed salmon, so this is quite a cynical (or misguided) marketing ploy. I would not want to order such "organic Canadian salmon" from a restaurant, but I am lucky enough to live in Seattle and thus have little chance of encountering such a thing.
It's not me, it's you: Mistakes in Recipes
I guess I corrected it twice, once for my sake and once for Andrew Carmellini's.
It's not me, it's you: Mistakes in Recipes
The lamb ragu recipe from Urban Italian says to add half a cup of red wine to a pot full of meat and vegetables and then to cook it all off. The recipe helpfully notes that this should take about ten minutes.
In reality, it took more than forty minutes and turned everything purple in the process (the sauce was much darker than the picture in the book). I knew this was a lot of wine, but I didn't realize just how much wine it was until after adding it to the pot full of meat and vegetables.
Months later, I discovered that the recipe should read "half a cup" instead of "a cup and a half".
How many tries do you give a restaurant?
I am willing to give a restaurant the benefit of the doubt if it is inexpensive and within walking distance of my apartment or office. That said, it's rare that a subsequent visit does much to change my opinion.
If real money or real effort is met with disappointment, I'm not going to bother with a second visit. This city has far too many restaurants for me to be able to justify wasting time on the bad ones.
Vegetarians visiting Seattle from SF
You may also want to consider Sitka & Spruce. It's not a vegetarian restaurant, but they have a lot of non-meat dishes and do good work with them. The focus is on combining local ingredients with preparations from all sides of the Mediterranean (especially North Africa). Although the dinner menu is broader, the restaurant is also open for lunch and brunch.
The bar next door (Bar Ferd'nand) is a nice place for wine, aperativi, and digestivi.
Spinasse Update
What's your opinion on the remodel? Did they just double the size of the dining room or are there more changes?
What's for lunch in Belltown and South Lake Union?
This isn't meant to be a slight on the kitchen, but I felt like Brave Horse was specifically attempting to emulate McDonald's fries. I usually prefer my fries to be dark and crispy, but these worked pretty well for the style. The mustard does help.
The Tom Douglas surcharge is definitely in effect, though. At Uneeda Burger, I could've also gotten a beer for the price of my burger and fries at Brave Horse.
Seattle Weekly's Best of Seattle is out: did they read Chowhound?
There is a Cedars serves Indian and Mediterranean dishes (on 50th) and a Cedars that serves only Mediterranean dishes and has a walk-up window (on 43rd).
Most people are only aware Cedars on 50th, so it's usually safe to assume an unqualified "Cedars" is in reference to that location (in fact, a non-trivial number of Yelp reviews for Cedars on 43rd praise its Indian food).
What's for lunch in Belltown and South Lake Union?
I ended up at Brave Horse and really enjoyed the burger and fries (alas, ordering a pint of La Folie for lunch is incompatible with my company's alcohol policy). The fried pasilla probably isn't worth $3, though.
How does Petra differ from other similar restaurants in town?
What's for lunch in Belltown and South Lake Union?
I work in Lower Queen Anne and sometimes have the urge/need to go for a long-ish lunch. Tomorrow will probably be one of those days, so this is where you come in.
I'm familiar with most of the offerings of Upper and Lower Queen Anne. Belltown and South Lake Union, on the other hand, are within walking distance of my office but hold many places I've yet to try. Pike Place has proven to be too far for lunch, even for relatively quick places like Il Corvo and El Puerco Lloron.
Restaurants I have visited for lunch in Belltown: Boat Street Kitchen (good sandwiches, but the entrees have been more miss than hit lately), Bambino's (worth it even if you can't drink during the day), Tilikum Place Cafe (excellent, probably the best in this list), Local 360 (not bad, but lunch service feels like an afterthought), Barracuda Taqueria (maybe my least favorite taqueria experience in the city)
Restaurants I have visited for lunch in South lake Union: Re:Public (despite the dinner menu's ambition, the lunch menu is really boring), Serious Pie, Dahlia Workshop (as delicious as it is unhealthy)
What else is out there? Is Ting Momo worth visiting yet?
