Soaring – Lark

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J. Lo comes a long way from D.C. to visit us and he’s always looking for extraordinary dining experiences in Seattle. I’m happy to oblige, as conversation is always full of witty banter, worldly affairs analysis, and the allure of great food. I had a couple of options that I threw out, but the seared foie gras with huckleberries sealed the deal for Lark.  In a party of five, we were able to try quite a few dishes.

lark - chilled corn soup

chilled corn soup – with truffle mascarpone and chanterelle mushrooms; this dish was perfect with the sweetness of fresh corn, made creamy with the mascarpone, enhanced with a little texture from the chanterelles and punctuated by the truffles; we had a hard time figuring out who was going to get the last bite of this dish it was so good – definitely one of the highlights

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A Dash of Everything – Herb & Bitter Public House

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My friends from Cali were stopping through Seattle after an epic Alaska cruise, and they were so very sweet to add me to their itinerary before they headed home. When I offered to find a place for dinner, they asked for a place with good food and good drinks. And by good drinks, they meant beer, wine, and cocktails. For a girl that’s ridiculously allergic to alcohol, it’s one of those things I only have second-hand knowledge of.  So, I found a craft cocktail bar – Herb & Bitter Public House – that serves tapas. Tapas at a craft cocktail bar?  Who am I to judge whether or not craft cocktails go with tapas, when I’d have tapas any day!

herb & bitter - kefta kabobs

kefta kabobs – lamb skewers with charmoula, carrots, fresh garbanzo beans, and currents; the currents gave it an unexpected sweetness that helped amp up the dish

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Divine – Harvest Vine

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Harvest Vine is without doubt, my favorite restaurant in Seattle. From the very first time I came here, on a whim to try something different, to all the times I’ve come here for my birthday and to celebrate a host of other occasions, it has never disappointed.  I remember the first time, sitting at the kitchen bar watching the Joey work his magic and Jose strolling in and just playing with ingredients for fun and serving them to the lucky few at the bar.  I was spellbound by the way the flavors come together, the inventiveness of each plate, and the parade of dishes we would try and hope that we had room for more. Though the kitchen has evolved over the years with brunch and a new chef, Harvest Vine is what made me fall in love with tapas.  On this night, my birthday night, my Black Knight dined here and I fell in love all over again.

harvest vine - beet carpaccio

beet carpaccio – paper thin slices of pickled beets sprinkled with salt, garlic, and floating in olive oil; they were a little heavy handed with the olive oil and a little inconsistent with the salt as it was in clumps causing some slices to be much too salty

harvest vine - jamon iberico bellota

jamon iberico bellota – the nutty fat just melts in your mouth with the richness of the pork – this is one special jamon that makes you want to lick the bits of melted fat off the plate; we only ordered 1 oz., but I was originally thinking we needed 2 or 3, but we seriously thought about ordering it for dessert as well. Note, it’s $20/oz.

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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 »


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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