Tuesday, April 29, 2008

not a diner and not a steal but damn good

so in writing about a place to eat i find that after one visit can be enough yet after a couple - i then feel as though i can put both feet down and write something a bit more complete. steelhead diner fits this criteria. what pushed me here was last weeks sunday LA times article and i was just there a week back. my two other previous visits i liked this place - and i liked it a lot yet there was something nagging about this place. i think it was because it is called a diner and it ain't no diner but that is really dumb. so maybe it was because i thought the food was great but it seemed to lack something...yet i could not put my finger on that (more on that later). whatever the reason - here is my assessment from three visits - - last one first. a week back frank and i were starving and she had to eat something "bad" and when she says bad, that means gravy or chicken fried steak or something to that caloric/arterial death defying meal. we were downtown, half awake and ready...we ended up at the steelhead diner and good thing. we ordered family style and got a house salad which was iceburg lettuce, bacon, blue cheese, boiled egg, red onion and lorenzo dressing. a shitload of dressing - too much as i want to taste my bacon!! still it was tasty and fullfilled "bad" desires. next up, fried chicken sammich with fries but we went the gravy route and got poutine (!!) as written about below. the sammich was great, white meat cooked perfectly, hot and with slaw - tasty. the poutine was not as exciting missing a serious bite that i like with poutine and frank said she would have liked the fries crispier...me too - good point. we got some desert in the form of rhubarb cobbler with vanilla ice cream...perfection. we napped after this meal but wait, i said i was going to write about a couple other times i went there - what about the caviar pie? what about the crab cakes? the meal i detailed above was the lesser of the three visits as the caviar pie and the crab cakes as well as the pork sandwich and the black cod i had there before were pretty close to perfect. does a place go up or down after being open an extended period of time is a case by case study but i will give them another try as my family is visiting this week and god knows, they read that damn LA times article.

Monday, April 28, 2008

PBC pt. II

people love their breakfast out in our fair emerald city. i'd be hard pressed to say i have a favorite however that is enough pressure for me to say my favorite for the past couple years + is the portage bay cafe. and a funny place in that people i trust their food opinions think it is merely ok to downright bad to other folks who say it is a godsend - truly fantastic! the place is wildly popular - every single saturday and sunday morning it is crowded and a wait is going to happen. i have my favorites here including some greek style omelette with spinach, bacon (and damn good bacon too), myzithra cheese and some basil pistou on top. another favorite is the black bean pancetta cake with two poached eggs...good potatoes too. the many people who are big sweet fans go back for the pancakes, french toast and daily specials so that they can go to the breakfast bar which is basically, dress up your sweet morning treat with a variety of berries, nuts and god only knows what...about four years back i was there with my pal FAH and she ordered something sweet which we shared...and they had marcona almonds...which i later learned was a mistake to have those out instead of the regular california almonds. oh well. anywho, i am writing about the portage bay cafe as they are about to launch their second location in the south lake union locale. i went to the opening party last friday night and they snagged a great location and an even better look inside! following suit with so many other places as of late, they will have a community table and lots of space. no matter this place will be nuts like the original on roosevelt.

great news too...the menu remains the same and that means they will probably loosen up some of the flow from the original location. so, whether you like the portage bay cafe or not - i think this will be a great addition to the neighborhood that also houses my gym. oh the irony!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

supermercado

so you think whole foods is expensive? it is. and i think so too but i think they are a great supermarket in that they have an exceptional selection of fish and meat, the vegetables are usually very good (although i'd rather shop at one of our many farmers markets) and pretty much everything else is darn good. yet, i rarely go there...they do have some decent pate and a great cheese selection but still, too damn expensive! so i go all over the place - to uwajimaya, i go to mcpherson's fruitatorium/vegetaria and i also go to the ballard market near my office. i will go as far as saying if they had an even better cheese selection and a charcueterie - this would be one stop shopping for me. nonetheless, it is better than whole foods solely because it is a locally owned place, every employee i have spoke with say they get treated very well, they make a damn good sandwich (try the grilled ruben) and all my drinking pals say the wine and beer selection is top shelf all the way!! but be warned as it is not inexpensive however it is less expensive than whole foods and a lot easier on the conscious than *shudder* safeway or qfc. frankly i like going all over the place for foods, hell, i go to the leschi market for bacon and sausage (it rules! best bacon in town!) but seattle, you have an exceptional, locally owned store!! GO!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

skilled with a T


blah blah blah. everybody has suggestions on where to eat. i am relentless with my suggestions and furthermore, i am not sure why i bother to listen to anybody as i seem to dig out places without barely looking. case in point, skillet. have you heard about these folks? sure you have...first - you get an airstream trailer, you go to different locations, you get busted by the health dept., make great food - yup, pretty damn good food too. after a rather important meeting this morning, i went to skillet as they parked in ballard for i had to get me an egg sammy for breakfast. decadent and gooey, this was tasty my friends! crazy texan sweet bread toasted encased with two fried eggs (over easy), some pork and a chili sauce that was not smokey nor too hot but tasty all the way. good. wait, great and maybe a bit much for later i am there four hours later with kak and she orders not only a pulled lemongrass pork sandwich with fries - she orders the damn poutine! i am not even hungry from my late breakfast and yet, i dive into the poutine...thank god we are near a hospital!what is poutine? only the most trendiest of dishes currently here in seattle. quinn's serves it - so do a couple other places and hey, fine with me because it is decadent, delicious and rather weird. i like the name too! so, back to the trailer park food - good times and not a secret by any stretch - there were about fifteen or so people there for lunch! find them, go and rejoice because finally, seattle has street food!!! and it is good. really good.