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butterflydreaming) wrote2013-10-13 03:15 pm
butterflydreaming) wrote2013-10-13 03:15 pm
Entry tags:
Food, glorious food
In honor of coffeedaiv's birthday, it has been a food weekend.
Friday night's dinner at Resto, the hidden gem downstairs that took of the Thomas St. Bistro space, started off the gustatory celebration. We had their rosemary flatbread with pignola white bean dip, duck ragout gnocci (as an appetizer), pork tenderloin for D, and the whole croaker fish for me. Chang and Johanna are our friends, and it makes the dinner experience there both social and homey. The food has always been amazing, and if you aren't excited by the current menu items, it's only because the descriptions can't do the dishes justice. The menu changes as interesting things come in season, and Chang is inspired to something new.
The wine at Resto is making me a fan of wine. I'll have a glass of house red, most times. With our eye-crossingly good rustic lemon & house made mascarpone cake soaked in amaretto, J brought us a nice lemony white wine that paired better.
Saturday morning, I met up with L while D was still snoozing. We went to check out Storyville's new Pike Place Market location. I had time for a gourmet crumpet (fresh crumpet, ricotta, orange marmalade, and almond butter) from the Crumpet Shop. The Crumpet Shop has endless self-serve tea. I love their crumpets so much, but rarely get them because I feel that I have to earn them by getting up disgustingly early. That's the only time when they are not mobbed.
Storyville Pike Place is located upstairs from The Crumpet Shop. It has three large windows that allow in lots of natural light. You order your drinks from the same person who makes it, gets your chosen foodstuffs, and rings you up. They have two or three stations at the bar. It's the opposite of the Starbucks cattle chute system, and it is nice. There are things that I personally dislike about Storyville, such as their insipid logo that is on everything including the napkins, the weirdness of the block and curve layout in a non-square space, and the profligate use of incandescent bulbs and halogen lights that is a pet peeve. That said, this is a classy addition to the Market and a good place to meet someone. If you want a coffee-centric experience, go to Seattle Coffee Works instead and order from the "slow bar."
D has made a birthday tradition of all-you-can-eat waffles, from the Pike Place Grill. The restaurant is dive-y in a good way. The coffee is usually pretty good, and the endless waffles are cheap. They put a lot of booze in their Irish coffee.
Needless to say, we didn't need lunch. The original dinner plan was The Manhattan steak house on 15th, where we have enjoyed dinner before. We made a last minute change to something simplier: Ezell's fried chicken.
It's still very good fried chicken, and it was a tasty meal. Still, it wasn't as quite as good as I remember. The chicken seemed a little fattier, with a greasier mouth feel. I wonder if this is because we've been eating local/organic (organic, if purchased from the big grocery store, local if from the co-op) chicken in the last few months. It might be related to Ezell's expansion into franchising and food trucks. (If, for example, they changed from their long-time chicken supplier to a larger one that contracted for all locations.)
Today, we had brunch tamales from the tamale stand at the farmers market. I'd had a tamale from the Rancho Bravo food truck last week, so I had Mexican tamales on the mind. The tamale stand tacos were outstanding, larger than I expected, moist and delicious. The jamaica drink (sweetened hibiscus flower tea) included with the combo was flavorful.
We also had pastries -- a cherry strudel for me, a cherry kolchak for D -- from Little Prague. Then we picked up food for "tea time" as well as delights for later in the week. This included fresh tomatoes from Kittitas Valley Greenhouse; a cheese sampler (Off Kilter, Cirrus, Campfire, & Seastack) from Mount Townsend Cheese; dried chick peas; Rachel's cranberry & quince ginger beer; stew beef, bacon, and mini yukon potatoes from Olsen Farms; pretzel knots, focaccia, and cookies from Columbia City Bakery. Whew!
Dinner tonight will be homemade meatballs, with the focaccia.
It's such a bounty. I feel a little overstimulated by the variety of excellent food over the last few days. I sometimes think about what it would be like if eating was just another biological necessity to me instead of being such a focus. It would certainly be more convenient, and cheaper, to eat for fuel and that's it. The ideal state, as I've said before, though, would be to be able to get by on small, extremely simple meals most of the time, and then eat a Dionysian feast whenever I liked. What actually happens is that I eat in pursuit of pleasure, or eat everything in sight because I'm ravenously hungry, or eat restaurant food because it is convenient, or eat in a rush because it's lunch and we don't have a break area.
coffeedaiv's birthday, it has been a food weekend.Friday night's dinner at Resto, the hidden gem downstairs that took of the Thomas St. Bistro space, started off the gustatory celebration. We had their rosemary flatbread with pignola white bean dip, duck ragout gnocci (as an appetizer), pork tenderloin for D, and the whole croaker fish for me. Chang and Johanna are our friends, and it makes the dinner experience there both social and homey. The food has always been amazing, and if you aren't excited by the current menu items, it's only because the descriptions can't do the dishes justice. The menu changes as interesting things come in season, and Chang is inspired to something new.
The wine at Resto is making me a fan of wine. I'll have a glass of house red, most times. With our eye-crossingly good rustic lemon & house made mascarpone cake soaked in amaretto, J brought us a nice lemony white wine that paired better.
Saturday morning, I met up with L while D was still snoozing. We went to check out Storyville's new Pike Place Market location. I had time for a gourmet crumpet (fresh crumpet, ricotta, orange marmalade, and almond butter) from the Crumpet Shop. The Crumpet Shop has endless self-serve tea. I love their crumpets so much, but rarely get them because I feel that I have to earn them by getting up disgustingly early. That's the only time when they are not mobbed.
Storyville Pike Place is located upstairs from The Crumpet Shop. It has three large windows that allow in lots of natural light. You order your drinks from the same person who makes it, gets your chosen foodstuffs, and rings you up. They have two or three stations at the bar. It's the opposite of the Starbucks cattle chute system, and it is nice. There are things that I personally dislike about Storyville, such as their insipid logo that is on everything including the napkins, the weirdness of the block and curve layout in a non-square space, and the profligate use of incandescent bulbs and halogen lights that is a pet peeve. That said, this is a classy addition to the Market and a good place to meet someone. If you want a coffee-centric experience, go to Seattle Coffee Works instead and order from the "slow bar."
D has made a birthday tradition of all-you-can-eat waffles, from the Pike Place Grill. The restaurant is dive-y in a good way. The coffee is usually pretty good, and the endless waffles are cheap. They put a lot of booze in their Irish coffee.
Needless to say, we didn't need lunch. The original dinner plan was The Manhattan steak house on 15th, where we have enjoyed dinner before. We made a last minute change to something simplier: Ezell's fried chicken.
It's still very good fried chicken, and it was a tasty meal. Still, it wasn't as quite as good as I remember. The chicken seemed a little fattier, with a greasier mouth feel. I wonder if this is because we've been eating local/organic (organic, if purchased from the big grocery store, local if from the co-op) chicken in the last few months. It might be related to Ezell's expansion into franchising and food trucks. (If, for example, they changed from their long-time chicken supplier to a larger one that contracted for all locations.)
Today, we had brunch tamales from the tamale stand at the farmers market. I'd had a tamale from the Rancho Bravo food truck last week, so I had Mexican tamales on the mind. The tamale stand tacos were outstanding, larger than I expected, moist and delicious. The jamaica drink (sweetened hibiscus flower tea) included with the combo was flavorful.
We also had pastries -- a cherry strudel for me, a cherry kolchak for D -- from Little Prague. Then we picked up food for "tea time" as well as delights for later in the week. This included fresh tomatoes from Kittitas Valley Greenhouse; a cheese sampler (Off Kilter, Cirrus, Campfire, & Seastack) from Mount Townsend Cheese; dried chick peas; Rachel's cranberry & quince ginger beer; stew beef, bacon, and mini yukon potatoes from Olsen Farms; pretzel knots, focaccia, and cookies from Columbia City Bakery. Whew!
Dinner tonight will be homemade meatballs, with the focaccia.
It's such a bounty. I feel a little overstimulated by the variety of excellent food over the last few days. I sometimes think about what it would be like if eating was just another biological necessity to me instead of being such a focus. It would certainly be more convenient, and cheaper, to eat for fuel and that's it. The ideal state, as I've said before, though, would be to be able to get by on small, extremely simple meals most of the time, and then eat a Dionysian feast whenever I liked. What actually happens is that I eat in pursuit of pleasure, or eat everything in sight because I'm ravenously hungry, or eat restaurant food because it is convenient, or eat in a rush because it's lunch and we don't have a break area.
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