Feb 3 2014

Chef Knows Best – Billy Beach Sushi

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The Black Night goes to Billy Beach sushi almost every week with his favorite sushi chef, Hutch who was at Otodo and the Japonessa.  This was my first time at Billy Beach, although I have hazy memories of sashimi and a gigantic chocolate calazone from Otodo back in the day.  Hutch knows exactly what he’s doing and all of the sashimi is extremely fresh.

Basics: salmon (fatty), yellowtail (has that firmness on the ititial bite before melting), mackeral (perfect amount of brininess with pickled kelp and ginger on top to balance things out), kampachi (he got out a whole new fish for us!), crab salad.  Just the way they were meant to be. Continue reading »

Jan 27 2014

Bikinis and Bocadillos at Chico Madrid

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Let’s start off with, I love Spanish food.  My favorite restaurant is Harvest Vine, so I was excited to hear about a Chico Madrid, a spanish cafe, for a casual lunch. (I’ve already been to Aragona – more on that another day).  They have red and white sangria on tap and they pull a delicious house-made chocolate syrup mocha and house-made vanilla syrup latte.  The Black Night ordered a second mocha while we were there, and he used to be a barista – that’s serious.  I could have just had those two drinks and it would have been my favorite coffee shop – they serve cafe Vita, if you’re curious.  Continue reading »

Jan 25 2014

Truffles (of the mushroom variety) at Starbucks

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Starbucks opened a THIRD store at the U-Village (an outdoor shopping plaza located next to the University of Washington).  It’s next to Din Tai Feng (of absurd soup dumpling following) and Molly Moons (of local ice cream mogul fame).  It’s called Starbucks Reserve specifically, though I’m not too sure why.  Did they need a 3rd Starbucks here?  Yes, they did.  The other two are either a) packed with college kids studying or b) on the other end of the wet parking lot.  This Starbucks rifts on the design of their rose gold holiday cups – angled, sophisticated, warm hued.  You see it in the wood, the metal accents, and the clean lines.  This is the sophisticated Starbucks and it serves wine and small plates.  There are a couple of other Starbucks in the Seattle area that have been doing this (Olive Way, Madison Park, Issaquah, Roy Street Coffee), but this is the first one to get a special name.  I’m guessing it’s Starbucks foray into line extension rather than diversity.

They have bacon wrapped dates, brie plates, chicken skewers, flatbread just to name a few items.  I had the truffle mac and cheese.  Yes, truffle mac and cheese.  Golden crunchy crust, white cheddar, whiff of truffle oil.  I’m not sure how much it cost me, but it was delicious for coffee shop food, though it doesn’t pair well with coffee.  I think it was meant for the Riesling…  I knew that though. I’d recommend it, enough that I’m blogging about it instead of writing my annual review…  😛

Jan 2 2014

$1.50 Oyster happy hour – Ballard Annex Oyster House

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My sister can eat 4 dozen oysters in one sitting – I kid you not.  She is amazing when it comes to oysters and I am allergic to them.  However, it’s the holidays and she’s back in town from SFO, so I make sure we have oysters while she’s home.  Usually, we go to Elliots for oysters, but happy hour there can be a chore to wait for. Salumi had recommended Ballard Annex Oyster House, so here we landed after 8 hours of shopping.

$1.50 for oysters – these were high quality oysters, briney and fresh, she loved them and they were well worth the trip. she also says they left the brine inside the oyster, which is a hallmark of an expert oyster shucker.

new england poutine – new england clam chowder over french fries with parmesean cheese; this was the perfect starter and I’d love to try to the chowder on its own next time

mussels pistu – swap escargots for mussels and cover them with cheese, dunk them in butter, tastey!

salmon cake sliders – lots of salmon, great flavor

saute calamari – a good portion, a little salty, well cooked to perfect consistency with just enough snap to know it’s done without being rubbery

salmon fetteccini – a little salty, served with a side of mushrooms and kale, still flavorful

The booths are cute, service is friendly, and I would definitely recommend it for happy hour.  Entrees are on the pricey side, but I would consider it a nice low key seafood joint.

SUMMARY
Overall: happily ever after
Highlights: oysters on a half shell, new england poutine
Footnote: Wednesday evenings are $1.50 oyster night

Ballard Annex Oyster House on Urbanspoon

Jan 2 2014

French Bistro – Loulay

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I am a fan of Theirry Rauturea.  I am also a fan of french food on all its fancy airs or casual in its comfort.  And given that Rover’s is no longer an option, Theirry’s Loulay is the next place for all the precision and complication of french cuisine without the fuss of formal four hour dinner.

Salumi and I went to Loulay about 2 weeks after it opened, so they were still getting their barings, but the place was bustling and packed. Theirry was personally greating all the guests at their tables as he always did at Rovers – it’s nice to be able to meet the chef behind the magic.

We ordered:

Crab beignets- think balls of crab cake, perfectly crispy on the outside with flakes of crab meat on the inside

seared foie gras – i never pass up a chance for seared foie, and this one held up quite well with the apples and the accompanying bread, but I would say it was a touch on the tough side – a tad over cooked to give it a firmness that prevented it from melting in your mouth.  The flavor combination was still great – nothing revolutionary, but solid.

duck trio – leg, breast, bacon; delicious!  They know how to do duck right in french cooking – always tender and moist, complimented by demi-glace sauce

wild salmon – the french are not known for their salmon (more their trout), but this a very well cooked salmon. fatty and lovingly paired with a farro salad that provided a nice vingeary contrast

beignets – le cirque beignets these are not, but it’s hard to go wrong with a beignet drizzled in caramel, even if it is a bit dense.

hot chocolate – this dessert with brioche and butter is supposed to be Theirry’s favorite dish growing up; dipping buttered bread in hot chocolate – I’ve never tried that before, but now I have and I prefer the two seperate.  This is hot chocolate – not chocolat chaud, so do not expect sipping chocolate.  Props to the heavenly butter that came with the brioche though.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Loulay, a larger and slightly more gourmet version of Luc. While the appetizers didn’t wow, the main entrees are well worth the visit.  And they’re open until 11pm with their bistro menu, which still features a burger.  It was a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season – good food, good friends.  🙂

SUMMARY
Overall: happily ever after
Highlights: duck, salmon
Footnotes: they have some inventive mocktails that I would recommend, sit up at the chef’s counter for an unobstructed view of the kitchen action

 

Loulay Kitchen & Bar on Urbanspoon

Nov 26 2013

Life in Cherry Blossoms – Bloom

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On a freezing winter night, the Black Knight and I ventured out for my favorite cold weather food – soup noodles. Ramen, pho, udon, beef noodle soup – it warms the soul from the inside out on the coldest of nights.  Farm to table japanese food with pork belly to boot – sold!

So Bloom is the new re-incarnation of Showa, which was replaced by Le Petit Cocheon, which were just at a few weeks ago?  Funny how things come back full circle…  We sat up at the bar with friendly bartender Mike, who we loved, and was nice enough to chat with us about weird dreams and the chemistry of cooking alcohol.  We asked, he delivered, every time.  🙂

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Nov 26 2013

Rocking It – Rock Creek Seafood

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My dad loves seafood.  Loves it and makes some of the most perfectly cooked salmon both grilled and pan seared that I’ve ever eaten.  His favorite is whole fish though – nothing is more exciting at a restaurant to him than munching on the fish head to get the last bits of fish.  This is usually met with a bit of shock in western restaurants, but it’s perfectly normal at an asian one.  The fish is always served with a head at a chinese restaurant – that’s how they prove it’s fresh.  😛  So I’m always on the lookout for a great seafood restaurants, and while seattle has a plethora of restaurants that serve seafood, there are not that many that specialize in it.  Seastar, Ettas, and Rays are the standards that usually come to mind.  Recently, there has been a trend toward seafood with Barnacle, Westward, and most recently, Rock Creek opening.

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Oct 31 2013

Only the Freshest – mkt

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I had the great fortune of making a great friend at jury a few weeks ago.  She noticed that I had snagged myself a Salumi’s sandwich and we struck up a conversation.  It turns out – we both love food and working out;  we’re going to get along wonderfully.  I shall refer to her as Salumi since that’s how we met.  🙂  Since we had so much in common, especially food, we decided to go out for dinner together and try a restaurant on our wishlist.  Given that I’m a huge fan of Ethan Stowell and tapas, mkt seemed like the perfect choice.

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Oct 21 2013

“For Shore” – Voula’s Off Shore Cafe

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This is a famous local cafe that Guy Fiori visited, but we happened upon this joint after searching for brunch places in the U-District. I don’t know why this place has never been on my radar, but the line was 30 minutes at noon on Sunday. You’ll have to wait outside, so dress warmly.

Prince Charming had the pinata benedict – it did not disappoint. Creamy hollandaise sauce smothered a meaty smoked pulled pork. I didn’t taste any chipotle in the sause, but maybe I didn’t enough enough of it. I had the Denver Omelet. The egg was fluffy and thick, with what seemed like chedder cheese sauce inside. It’s filling! Both plates came with a very healthly side of hashbrowns.

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Oct 17 2013

This Little Pig – Le Petit Cochon

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Always on the search for delicious new restaurants, the Black Knight and I, had reservations at Le Petit Cochon in Fremont for Friday night dinner.  Even at 7:45 we had to wait about 30 minutes before we were seated in the bar, but given that they had literally opened a week ago I expect those wait times will decrease.  The Black Knight says that if there’s a pris fixe menu, then we should order it because it will showcase the best of the restaurant.  Who am I to argue with that reasoning?  It was also the first night they were serving the pris fixe menus ($65), so there was some confusion around the wine pairing ($25) and timing of the dishes.

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