March Restaurant Field Report

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about some local Seattle restaurants that were on my list to eat at. Well, I had the opportunity to visit a few of them and will share about those experiences, as well as new restaurants on my list. I hope to make this a regular monthly feature, so keep an eye out for future Restaurant Field Reports!

Cross off the List

Tougo Coffee Co: My first experience here was a sandwich for lunch. They don't actually make their own food, but get it from a local, organic food company. The turkey sandwich was good, but what I enjoyed more was talking with the owner of this brand new coffee shop for about 15 minutes. I was impressed with him, so I brought Christy over the weekend to get some coffee the next day and we weren't too impressed with the coffee. I am willing to give it another chance, but I haven't been back since.

Seastar: I was really excited about this new seafood restaurant above Whole Foods and knew that both my dad and Christy's dad would like it, so when Rich came to visit about a month ago, we dined at Seastar, and didn't regret it. While the service was a little slow, it was only their second week open I think, the food was absolutely delicious! Rich ordered cedar-planked salmon, Christy had the mahi mahi, and I can't remember what I had, and we also shared an excellent bottle of Chateau Ste. Michelle's Cold Creek Chardonnay. I can't wait to go with my parents! They also have a great Happy Hour, so I'll have to try that sometime too.

Feierabend: Christy and I have been here twice and look forward to taking our family and friends here. It's two blocks from our church, so its a convenient Sunday lunch spot, though is in second place behind Portage Bay Cafe for our fave after church cuisine. This German pub has a good ambiance with a great selection of beer and a separate glass for each type! We had a great brat sandwich and pommes frites with curry ketchup the first time and absolutely loved it (Curry ketchup with pommes frites are served at Christy's favorite Scandinavian bar in Ballard, so it must be a European favorite). We sat at the bar that looks into the "kitchen" and enjoyed watching the 3 men at work. I call it a "kitchen" because it was the same size as our small kitchen in our apartment and is completely open to the restaurant. This time we got Wiener Schnitzel with cabbage and spatzle and it made me feel as if I were with the rest of my family traveling and dining in Austria and Germany!

Purple Cafe: Where to start here...Christy and I met the fabuluous Jen Tracy here one night as she was in the middle of a conference downtown. I hadn't met her yet, nor had I met Purple Cafe: neither let me down. Jen works at PLU and works with the class representatives (Christy just become the 2008 class rep a few weeks ago!). We met her at the bar upstairs and quickly grabbed a mini-table once one was available. These tables were so low that I could'n' fit my knees below them and there wasn't enough room between the table and bench to put my legs in front of me, so needless to say it was a little uncomfortable. The restaurant had a good vibe, with candle chandeliers and an enormous, spiraling wine tower in the middle of the room that dominates the spacious, high ceiling room. Now, on to the important topics: food and wine. My standard approach to wine by the glass at a restaurant is go with a Prosser wine, but sometimes I'll get an Argentine wine to change it up. I am a firm believer that Prosser wines are better than every other wine! Actually, I think that most wines taste good, but it always tastes better when it is inexpensive and made in Prosser (or at least the grapes are grown in Prosser). That's another blog post for another day, but back to Purple Cafe, I got an Argentine Malbec that was delish. The food was the best part. We ended up sharing 3 different dishes: pumpking gnocchi with pancetta bits (think bacon bits, but way fancier...Jeannie, we are going here next time you visit), calamari with a moroccan tomato aioli, and a chevre goat cheese and braised mushroom pizza, and yes, it all tasted just as good as it sounds! Definitely can't wait to go back!

Add to the List

Most of my inspiration for these restaurants come from the Seattle Magazine latest issue of Top Restaurants.

Thali
Poppy: This Capitol Hill eatery features an Indian format of food called Thali, which is a selection of dishes served in small bowls all on a big plate. My impression is that you would order 1 and share it with someone. I didn't know it was Indian food until I Wiki-d, and after reading the description in Seattle Magazine, I'm just really not sure what to expect. We walked by it yesterday and it looked fun, with an eye catching logo that almost seems to be from the 70's.


Spanish
Taberna del Alabardero: I first heard about this place just on Friday at dim sum lunch with some co-workers, then saw it in Seattle Magazine. From what I heard, they had 10 different types of paella, which sounds magical and I'd be surprised if my dad doesn't leave Switzerland tomorrow to fly home early and beg me to take him here! After taking a look through their website, it sounds like this place is the real deal. This Belltown paella house is the second location for Taberna, and the first, which is a few blocks from the White House, has been voted the "best Spanish restaurant outside of Spain" after opening 35 years ago. Seattle Times claims its Tapas Menu is one of the best Happy Hours in the city. Seattle Magazine calls it the "most authentic ethnic restaurant in Seattle." Boy, I'm getting hungry...

Ok...got a snack (ants on a celery log)...back to work as I watch Tiger Woods battle to win his first PGA tourney of the Year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.


French-Spanish
Olivar: This may sound a little weird, but I think the person that might enjoy this restaurant this most is my friend Sean, who spent a semester in France last year and enjoys food. I say it is weird because it was picked as the "Best Restaurant for Romance on a Budget" by Seattle Magazine. Christy and I walked by this place in Capitol Hill yesterday and it looked like fun. Kinda a rustic, European style place with things on the menu that are supposed to be delicious, but I've never tried, like duck confit and stuffed rabbit. Sean, what do you say? Man-date this summer?

Sounders Goals

Check out this video of the three goals scored by the Sounders in their 3-nil victory from Thursday night (courtesy of www.SoundersFC.com, discovered from Seattle Times Sounders Blog). Kevin Calabro, former voice of the Sonics, provides play by play. Go Sounders!

Sounders FC Win Their First MLS Game!

The Seattle Sounders FC won their season opener in their first season as an MLS expansion team tonight! They beat the New York Red Bulls 3-0 in front of 32,523 fans at Quest Field, but we were not in the stands (more on that later). I'm stoked that the Sounders won and have been waiting for this game for months as I've kept track of their preseason progress from the Seattle Times Sounders Blog. Today was a huge day for Seattle sports, with both the Sounders and UW Huskies winning. Perhaps things will start looking up now for the Seattle sports scene. So, now that you know that the Sounders won, you get to hear about our quest to watch the game.

The best option would have been to buy tickets to this historical game, but the tickets all sold out in the first 15 minutes they were available. So with that option dead, I thought it would be fun to organize to watch the game at a local Irish pub (St Pattys week) where I knew they had a bunch of tvs. I worked with a friend who knows people at Paddy Coynes and they said they didn't have anything planned and I even got our apartment manager to publish a flyer in 3 apartments in South Lake Union advertising the event. Then, out of nowhere, a checkstand clerk at Whole Foods offered me her and her husband's tickets to the opening game. I was ecstatic and gave her my buiness card and she was supposed to call me. Naturally, she never called me and I stopped by Whole Foods yesterday after work and luckily found her, but unfortunately she got someone to cover her shift so they can go to the game now...sigh, good for her...bad for me.

So Christy and I wandered over to Paddy Coynes to watch the game, and guess what happens: they only have one satellite feed and everyone was watching the Gonzaga game and the rest of the March Madness, so that kind of fell apart. I don't think anyone else was coming anyway. So, then we tried out the German pub called Feierabend, but they only have one TV and it was on NCAA basketball too. Sigh...so we ended up at our go to restaurant, Southlake Grill, and not only did they offer to change the channel on one of their TV's, but they let us go up to the private room with a sweet TV just for us! We didn't miss the kickoff (or whatever its called at soccer games) and enjoyed a delicious hummus platter and habenero pork enchiladas. We watched the game with the general manager, who is a really nice guy we've talked to before, and a girl our age and her brother from Minnesota. The Sounders scored two great goals in the first half, to which I yelled "GOALLLLLLLL" and woke up Christy, who did appreciate the goals upon watching the replay. We headed home to watch the second half, and of course the Sounders won 3-0. They played great, especially for an expansion team. And we didn't even have Beckham-esque Sweedish superstar and underwar model Freddie Ljungberg for the game. The difference is that Ljungberg is recovering from surgery, whereas Beckham is being a punk and doesn't wanna leave his pretend team in Europe (AC Milan) to play with the real team (LA Galaxy).



Well, thanks for reading and know that Christy and I are super excited to go to a few Sounders games this year and are looking for friends and family to go with! Check out their schedule and let us know if you wanna go to a game with us.

BTW- I went 14 of 16 in my bracket picks today! Check out my bracket below.

Weekend in LA

Christy and I spent the weekend in LA visiting my incredible 92 year old grandma. We had a wonderful time and will write more about the weekend soon, but for know you can check out the photos in my Facebook album. If you have a Facebook account, then you can find the album in my profile page and comment on the pictures. Enjoy!

SNOW!

Its snowing in downtown Seattle! I don't think I've seen it snow from my 10th floor window yet and it is very exciting! When we got all the snow in December, I worked from home or it was on the weekend. I have been trying to think of a topic to blog about for the past few weeks, so this seemed appropriate.

On another note, I have an updated related to my last blog was all about stem cell research. Today, President Obama officially repealed the policy that restricted federal money to fund embryonic stem cell research. We'll see how this plays out.

Well, in the time it took my type this all, it has stopped snowing again and I can now see Queen Anne Hill (I couldn't during the snow flurry). Exciting, breaking news from downtown Seattle!

Spring weather in Seattle/Puget Sound baffles and frustrates me to no end. You'd think that after 4 years of living in Tacoma, I'd be used to the fact that it could be sunny, rainy, hailing, or snowy all within a half hour. Maybe I notice it more now since I have a better view of it from my window. I grew up in Prosser, where if it was sunny in the morning, then it would usually be sunny all day, or cloudy in the morning = cloudy all day...so simple.

Christy and I are flying to Los Angelos to visit my grandma this weekend (it better not snow down there!). We haven't seen her since the wedding, where she wasn't really herself because of a fall right before she flew up to Seattle. She sure was a trooper though! My aunt's Teresa and Carolyn and cousin's Charlie and Anne will also be around too, so it should be a great time!

Well, Happy Birthday to Dean (either 24 or 42, I can't remember). We had fun celebrating Christy's uncle's birthday with the whole Van Vleet clan at her grandmas house. Saw some pictures of Diane playing nurse as an 8 year old with the same smile she has now.

I guess that's it for now. Nothing profound, but its the latest and greatest from our life in Seattle.