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By Kevin Finch on December 19, 2011
Just came across a brilliant repurposed design idea at The Flying Apron in Fremont: a wall between the kitchen and a hallway made out of old doors.
Posted in restaurant design | Tagged bakery, Flying Apron, Seattle restaurants |
By Kevin Finch on October 24, 2010
In her blog, All You Can Eat, Nancy Leson did a great job describing a night at Seattle’s recently-opened Book Bindery which sits next to the ship canal on the north flank of Queen Anne Hill. Your typical big box warehouse this is not. Most of the footprint is taken up with the Almquist winery and distillery, but the end of the building formerly used to make books is now a restaurant. Not just any restaurant either. The space manages to be both casual and elegant and the food Shaun McGrain is sending out of the kitchen suggests that the Book Bindery is poised to slip past many of its culinary neighbors to claim a top spot in the local ranking of fine dining establishments.
Order a glass of the Almquist Family Vintners wine and start with the simply stunning Compressed Watermelon with Crispy Pork Belly and Garden Basil. At $12 it just might be the best appetizer I’ve had all year. Check out the food images posted on the the restaurant website for the full food porn picture of this amazing dish.
No doubt Seattle will deluge the Book Bindery so if you have the chance to book a reservation soon… do it. With nearly all the entree prices in the twenties, it is truly a fine dining find.
Then there is their decision to close Sunday night and stay open on Monday evening. This seems like a possible stroke of genius and insures them a steady stream of other chefs and industry professionals looking for a great place to go on the one night of the week nearly everyone else is closed.
Posted in dining, wine | Tagged Almquist Family Vintners, Book Bindery, Nancy Leson, Seattle, Seattle restaurants, Shaun McGrain |
By Kevin Finch on January 30, 2010
Last week I followed up on a tip from Josie Urbick about a Seattle taco truck with a unique item on the menu: a Mexican hot dog ($4.50). She described it as an almost unthinkable gut bomb that had to be eaten to be believed.
At 9 pm last Thursday I decided it was time.
I found Flair Taco on just off the main drag between Fremont and Ballard (North 36th Street that turns into Leary Way). The beat-up truck sits in a parking lot at the corner of North 36th and Phinney Avenue North. When I arrived, 0wner Angel Aguilar was unloading food for Flair’s Friday and Saturday bar close rush.
“The cops stand right over there on the corner,” he said, “and when guys come out of the bars they have a decision to make: try to drive or come eat tacos. Most choose tacos. This parking lot will be packed tomorrow night.”
I had already ordered my Mexi dog, and asked about the story behind it. I make it a point to eat at nearly every taco truck I drive by and never had seen a hot dog on another menu.
“These are how everyone eats hot dogs in Mexico,” Aguilar said. “I grew up eating them just like this. Then I came to the states and saw a hot dog on a menu. I ordered it only to be stunned. This wasn’t a hot dog. It had nothing on it! Finally I saw the relish off to the side and thought at least they had jalapenos. But when I took a bite, I said ‘What the hell is this?’”
Long story short, when he opened Flair Taco with Johnny Flair, Aguilar added to the menu a hot dog the way Cardiac Arrest intended it.
I doubt I’ll eat another dog again without thinking about Aguilar’s Mexi version. I’ll also be back with friends. Sure it is a gut bomb, but some gut bombs are worth it once in a while.
I’m also making a note to bring my passport because Flair has another unique item on the menu called the Passport Meal ($9.00). It is whatever Aguilar decides it is when someone orders it, but he categorically refuses to sell you one without seeing your passport. His iPhone has picutres of everyone who orders the meal and comes with proper documentation.
Posted in dining, play, travel | Tagged Fremont, Mexican food, mobile restaurants, Northwest restaurants, Seattle restaurants, taco trucks, Washington restaurants |
By Kevin Finch on September 16, 2009
I hear stories about how awkward it can be to eat alone… stories of being shuffled into corners or tables back by the door to the kitchen, rude wait staff, and uncomfortable moments on loneliness in the midst of others so obviously together. And I can imagine that eating alone all the time could be hard.
Yet so many of my meals out… reviewing restaurants… require me to eat with others, and this admittedly warped perspective has allowed me to discover the gift of eating alone. Two of the best meals I’ve eaten this year have been meals alone: one in New York City on Memorial Day weekend (Eleven Madison Park) and a second tonight on the west coast in Seattle’s Le Pichet.
The food on both occasions was wonderful, and, come to think of it, French. Elegant and daring at Eleven Madison Park. Rustic and simple at Le Pichet. Not that I’ve come out of the closet as a Francophile… I haven’t.
In fact, what was most memorable about both meals wasn’t the great food at all, but the wait staff and specifically how they treated me as I dined alone. At Eleven Madison Park it was Reilly and Chris who went out of their way to describe the food and discuss the wine. Tonight it was Aaron who did both.
I got to glimpse briefly their delight and expertise as they described the possibilities represented by the menus and my interest was met with enthusiasm and a willingness to take extra time pointing out details I’d surely have missed if I’d been at the table with a party rather than alone.
In fact, in the end it didn’t feel like I was eating alone at all. They made space for me, offered real hospitality, and set a table that felt a lot like home. The food was more refined, but what in the end I’ll remember long after I’ve forgotten the flavors is their grace.
Posted in culture, dining, travel | Tagged dining alone, eating alone, Eleven Madison Park, French cuisine, French restaurants, great service, Le Pichet, New York City, Seattle restaurants, serving, waiters |
By Kevin Finch on August 10, 2009
I’m not quite sure what has happened this year: free tickets to Mariner’s games three times in four months. Tonight it the tickets were even Suite tickets.
This meant FREE food and drinks throughout the game.
But I also had a mission. After my recent Ivardog encounter I felt it imperative that I try the iconic sushi of the stadium: the Ichiroll.
$9 behind home plate buys you eight pieces of what is essentially is a spicy tuna roll with matchstick cucumber thrown in for good measure. I’ve definitely had worse sushi, but that faint praise. Our sixth inning sample was better than most supermarket rolls, but only barely. It was dominated by an extra wasabi kick that took the spicy level up to the point that it was hard to taste the fish. The rice was also gummy.
I love the IDEA of the Ichiroll as well as the name, but the execution significant room for improvement. So far the Ivardog is clear front-runner in the Safeco Field concessions smack-down. Yet I did get a tip via Facebook that the Kidd Valley hamburger from a stand out behind left field needs to be tried before an overall winner is selected. I guess this means another visit to the ballpark.
Posted in culture, dining | Tagged baseball food, Ichiroll, Ivardog, Kidd Valley, Mariners, Northwest restaurants, Safeco Field, Seattle restaurants, Seattle WA, spicy tuna roll |
By Kevin Finch on July 29, 2009
After a week of heavy eating with some of the best chefs in the Northwest, I planned to simply order a glass of juice or a cup of tea at Café Presse this morning. I’d arranged to meet Charles Drabkin there to follow up on a conversation begun over the weekend at the International Pinot Noir Celebration, and while food and cooking would inevitably be part of the conversation, I didn’t plan to eat anything.
But Drabkin spoke so enthusiastically about the food coming out of the kitchen that I felt a moral obligation to try something on the menu.
I looked for something cheap and noticed the omelette for a buck or two less than on any breakfast menu I’ve seen for quite some time. I ordered one with mushrooms… not expecting much given the price… and when it came my expectations were met. It was plain and completely alone in its dish.
But two bites into the omelette I started to wonder how in the world I was going to make it in for breakfast weekly given the fact that our home is on the other side of the state.
Most places use omelettes as a comatose-producing egg wrap for a mess of cheese, meats, and occassionally vegetables. The perfect omelette at Café Presse is a study in simplicity. You taste egg, perfectly cooked, and, in my case, mushrooms. There was also a slight tang inside that I’m still trying to identify in the hopes that I might try to make something similar at home. I hate to admit I couldn’t identify that third element immediately, but I’m willing to fess up in the hopes that one of you do know and will tell me. Please.
It didn’t even occur to me to reach for the salt or pepper. And Tabasco? Not a chance. You don’t mess with perfection.
Posted in cooking, dining, travel | Tagged breakfast, Cafe Presse, Capitol Hill, Charles Drabkin, mushroom omelete, Northwest chefs, omelet, perfect omelette, Seattle, Seattle restaurants |
By Kevin Finch on July 29, 2009
I met Boka’s Executive Chef Angie Roberts this weekend in Oregon and after a taste of her amped up breakfast hash, I was very interested to find my way into her restaurant in Seattle soon afterwards. Last night on the back end of a Mariner’s game (we left BEFORE Ichiro’s game winning hit at the bottom of the 9th) we stopped by Boka’s sleek space in Hotel 1000 for appetizers and dessert.
But first the space…
Near the center of the room is a stand of glass bamboo. Equally striking are the walls in the back reaches of the dining room: they gradually change color throughout the evening. Our server said these transformations are programmed along certain themes such as “sunset colors” but confessed that she didn’t know what the current for the night might be. Whatever it was, it included a cool blue and a blood red along with white and purple. Maybe the theme for the night was Patriotic Eggplant.
I seriously doubt I would ever be inspired to decorate my home to look like a cocktail lounge lifted out of the Jetsons, but it Boka’s version is a great spot to spend a few hours. Good food certainly helps, and Boka throws in the food righteousness factor with a menu that is upwards of 75% organic and as local as possible. Expect individual farm names on most of the dishes on the menu.
We opted for an heirloom tomato salad with fruit grown on Billy Alsott’s farm and a small plate of of goat cheese gnocchi served with smoked tomatoes (excellent), porcini mushrooms (meaty), toasted pine nuts and shaved parmesan cheese. I was enjoying myself and quite full before Sous Chef Andrew Pritchard appeared with the most memorable dish of the night: a selection from the brand new dessert menu.
It is listed under a somewhat confusing name,”easy like sunday mornin’, but don’t let a little menu camouflage get in your way. Megan start to eat while I talked with Pritchard, and I should have known that something was amiss when she didn’t stop. Just seconds before Pritchard arrived at the table, she had said with conviction that she couldn’t eat another bite.
Easy like Sunday morning’ is technically a sundae, but unlike any I’ve encounter in recent memory. Put together a remarkable graham cracker ice cream with a huge pillow of house-made marshmallow skewered on a stick of sugar cane and suspended over the bowl with a tiny pitcher of hot fudge sauce on the side. I may not be able to eat another s’more again with thinking of Boka and beginning to weep silently. Okay… that might be a bit melodramatic, but it truly was a treat… so much so that I completely forgot to pull out the camera until we’d almost destroyed it entirely.
Posted in culture, dining, travel | Tagged Andrew Pritchard, Angie Roberts, Boka, gnocchi, graham cracker ice cream, Hotel 1000, Ichiro, Jetsons, Mariners, marshmallow, Northwest restaurants, organic, s'more, Seattle restaurants, Seattle WA, sundae |
By Kevin Finch on April 4, 2009
Last night a friend dropped me off at the SeaTac Doubletree at dinnertime. We had driven over for the Western Regional Conference of the American Culinary Federation, but he had a dinner appointment and I wasn’t on the guest list. On impulse I posted my dining dilemma on Facebook: “Kevin is in Seattle near the airport without a car. Any Seattlites up for dinner?”
I was curious if anyone would respond. Four did, including my cousin Ken who not only responded, but jumped back in his car with his two daughters and picked me.
I didn’t bother to look at the Doubletree room service menu, but I’m almost certain it didn’t list Pho Ga (Vietnamese noodle soup with chicken) or Phad Se-ew. Big money says they didn’t offer a Tapioca Pearl Smoothie in strawberry, and even the fried rice would probably have been at the bleeding edge of hotel restaurant fare.
Happily, all of these were on the menu at Best Pho and Thai in Renton not far from Ken’s office.
So we ordered them.
And got cream puffs on the house for dessert.
Thanks Ken, Marissa, and Allison for my first Facebook-facilitated dining hook-up to date.
Posted in culture, dining, travel | Tagged American Culinary Federation, Best Pho and Thai, boba, cream puff, Facebook, fried rice, Ken Clowers, pho, Pho Ga, Seattle restaurants, smoothie, tapioca pearl tea |
By Kevin Finch on February 2, 2009
I’m not quite sure what I expected from a 20-year college reunion, but I was disappointed by the gaping holes in attendance. The place? Seattle Pacific University tucked in between the north flank of Queen Anne Hill and the Ship Canal in Seattle.
Maybe it was because no one else knew quite what to expect, and preferred to avoid awkward and ill-defined situations. Maybe nearly everyone but me decided that if they hadn’t talked for 20 years and not missed it, the relationships didn’t need attention. Or maybe they have all moved to Malawi or have posts in the new administration or are on the run from the IRS. All I know for sure is that only a few of the people I really wanted to see materialized to slap on a name tag.
Two great friends, Kevin and Marci Johnson, redeemed the situation, and in the middle of the day we slipped out for Thai food. I can’t speak for them, but talking about life over lunch felt much more comfortable than standing in a cavernous lobby of a college building trying to remember names, summarize 20 years in a sentence or two, and internally assess who has benefited from 20 years and who hasn’t.
Maybe the discomfort of the reunion lowered my expectations for lunch. Or maybe the fact that Ying Thai Kitchen looked closed and empty at high noon had something to do with it.
For whatever reason, I had resigned myself to mediocre fair. I deferred to Kevin and Marci on what to order for our table after a half-hearted glance over the menu. The Coriander Beef sounded vaguely interesting and the Roasted Duck Pineapple Curry looked like an intriguing departure from most Thai menus. But Kevin was in the mood for Panang Curry and so Panang it was.
Dang Panang.
The dish clocking in at two stars offered almost no heat, but that can easily be remedied next time. Because there needs to be a next time. Panang Curry has not been one of my benchmark Thai dishes, but it just became one and the Ying Thai Kitchen version is going to be a tough standard to top.
Posted in cooking, culture, dining, play, travel | Tagged 20 year reunion, Coriander Beef, Kevin Johnson, Marci Johnson, Panang Curry, Queen Anne Hill, reunions, Roasted Duck Pineapple Curry, Seattle, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle restaurants, Thai food, Thai kitchen, Ying Thai Kitchen |
By Kevin Finch on August 13, 2008
Anne suggested we try Le Pichet or Lola for breakfast, and Lola’s online sample menu included a ‘sweet pea omelette’. This tipped the scales in favor of Tom Douglas’ 4th Avenue restaurant.
I’ve been looking for an excuse to swing into Lola since last fall when I worked for five days alongside Cammie and Josie on an organic goat farm. They both worked on Douglas’ staff at Lola, and spoke highly of the food. Yesterday presented that opportunity in the hopes of a sweet pea omelette.
Unfortunately the sweet pea omelette was on hiatus in favor of a Dungeness crab version. The only sweet peas on the menu appeared as part of Tom’s Big Breakfast that promised “pacific octopus, sweet peas, pork belly, and a sunny egg” for 16 clams.
Now my history with octopus-started years ago in Chinatown in college-has mainly consisted of chewing the tasteless equivalent of Michelin tires. Yet if Douglas was willing to feature this member of the mollusk family so prominently on his menu, I decided to risk another run-in with rubber.
It was a risk worth taking. Douglas’ octopus was stunning and anything but road-worthy. Add in a light cream sauce with fresh herbs that puddled on the plate, the pork belly, sweet peas, and slivers of sauteed onion under an egg, and the result was both wonderful, unexpected, and a far cry from your typical big breakfast. After several tentative bites, you forget the dish’s exotic ocean and farm origins in favor of simply enjoying the flavors.
Afterwards you can slip across the street and pick up a loaf of fresh bread from the Dahlia Bakery (another Douglas business) for lunch or dinner. And if you don’t have a hard and fast rule of ‘no dessert after breakfast’ you might try one of the bakery’s cherry almond scones or a coconut cream pie bite.
Posted in dining, travel | Tagged bakery, Lola, Northwest restaurants, octopus, Seattle, Seattle restaurants, sweet pea, Tom Douglas |
