Seattle Restaurant Week – 1

Posted on April 24, 2013 by hiyezz

It’s that time of spring again! Seattle Restaurant Week occurred for 2 weeks with some of the best restaurants around the city. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s where these featured restaurants have a set menu for their guests to choose an appetizer, entree, and a dessert for $15 for lunch and $28 for dinner. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to go to the lunch, because personally I think that’s the best deal for such a nice restaurant! This year, I went to Palace Kitchen for dinner with some friends. This is a Tom Douglas restaurant so I knew that I can’t go wrong with this choice.

Atmosphere: Upon walking in, their bar is dead center of the restaurant with tables framing around it. Wide open spaces with high ceilings. It’s also pretty dimly lit.

Pricing: $28 bucks for dinner!

Service: Very helpful server who was really knowledgable. She was also attentive.

Food:

Grilled asparagus, salt and vinegar chips, onion aioli, and dill. Great combination with the aioli and asparagus! Very tasty and a nice portion just for the appetizer.

Grilled korubuta pork tenderloin, coal roasted broccoli rabe with garlic and chili, fried barley, pickled rhubarb, caramelized ham broth. The broth made it a little more tender, even though it already was. I must say there quite a serving of the barley!

My dessert – red velvet cheesecake, whipped with white chocolate ganache and red wine syrup. Wow I couldn’t believe how delectable this was!

My friend ordered this very classic dessert that Tom Douglas restaurants are known for! Coconut cream pie. This literally just melts in your mouth with each bite. Fun fact: You can order this at any Tom Douglas restaurant and if they don’t have any, they will go to a nearby TD restaurant and get it for you!

Overall: I would love to come here for happy hour sometime. I would also definitely get their coconut cream pie…. You can never go wrong with Tom Douglas!

Dinner by the water

Posted on March 25, 2013 by hiyezz

It’s that time of year again! Dine Around Seattle is back! If you don’t know what that is, it’s basically where there’s a month of delicious, but a little more expensive meals, that are offered as a set menu. You get to choose an appetizer, entree, and dessert and there are usually about 3 options per. Great opportunity to try many things at an affordable price.

After some sleepless nights and rough exams, my second quarter of pharmacy school is complete. I celebrated this among with many girls from my class at Ray’s Boathouse.The evening ended with a gorgeous sunset right by the water.

Atmosphere: Located in Ballard, right next to the water.. the atmosphere couldn’t have been any better. Downstairs, on the main floor is the bar with dining and upstairs is the cafe, which is more casual and where happy hour happens.. which looks like I will have to return for.

Pricing: Being that is was Dine Around Seattle – it’s $30 for dinner. They don’t offer a lunch menu, but at other restaurants it’s $15 for the meal.

Service: We had a rather large party of ~16, but the wait staff was really gracious about some of us being late and accommodating all of us. The only negative side I would say is that towards the end of our meal, they lagged a little bit and it took quite some time to wrap everything up.

Food:
Night view of Ray’s

My delicious and very large appetizer. Puget Sound Mediterranean mussels. It was smoked with onion butter, red peppers, and herbs. Served with some crunchy bread. I would have to say my portion of mussels were quite large! The broth was sooo silky and buttery. Soaking my bread into this broth was utterly delectable.

My entree! I was so excited for this one. Idaho wagyu beef prepared at medium rare, served with red chili ponzu sauce, potato puree, and braised spinach. This steak was definitely one of favorite ones so far. Its crust was nice, crispy, and smoked. The meat was tender and quite juicy. The puree of potatoes was definitely pureed to the max. It was sooo fluffy, I’ve never eaten anything like this.. it was like eating clouds.

Dessert! Chocolate Feuilletine (definitely couldn’t pronounce that one). Rum ganache, coconut, and banana run ice cream. The ganache was very, very rich, but the ice cream balanced that out completely. Personally.. I wished there was more of the ice cream

Overall:
I really enjoyed Ray’s and like I said earlier, I will have to come back to try the happy hour. I can see this place being very popular as the weather gets warmer. The food was really great and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Side note, their entrees made it difficult to pick Not a bad thing to have such delicious options! Happy dining There’s one last week!

Almost Like Mom’s Cooking

Posted on March 8, 2013 by hiyezz

After a round of midterms, a group of us decided to go to the International District and eat some Vietnamese food. Vietnam House is next to Tamarind Tree, which attracts many people with its lavish decor and pretty much a fancy fancy Vietnamese restaurant. Vietnam House is much more simple and authentic. They provide a variety of dishes that’s almost as good as my mom’s cooking.

Atmosphere: There are larger tables in the middle made for larger parties and smaller tables surrounding it. It’s not a particularly large restaurant, but a suitable size. They have some simple decor such as the light fixture posted below. Besides that, they keep it to a minimum.

Pricing: Dishes range from $8-$10 for individual entrees. There are also family style dishes that can be shared.

Service: There are only 1 or 2 waiters helping out, but they’re pretty nice and know their dishes. I can tell it’s a family owned restaurant just by how they interact with one another.

Food:

This is called bun thit nuong cha gio. Aka – vermicelli noodles with grilled pork skewers and egg rolls. Probably the next popular dish after pho. This is always a classic, served with fish sauce (essential!).

This is what I got! It’s com tam dac biet. AKA – broken rice with grilled pork skewers, shrimp cake (in the back), and a fried egg on top. Also served with essential fish sauce. Portions are large, and I was so hungry I ate all of it. This is also another classic Vietnamese dish that you can’t go wrong getting here.

Overall: I really like this restaurant because it has such a variety of dishes to choose from. Another one I really enjoy bun bo hue – spicy beef noodle soup. Not like pho, but these noodles are thicker and the broth is much different and spicier. There is an array of meat, including oxtail. If you’re craving some authentic Vietnamese food, this is the place to try!

Valentine’s Day Date <3

Posted on February 19, 2013 by hiyezz

For Valentine’s Day weekend, Johnny and I went to a restaurant nearby the U-district. It’s located in Wallingford in a green house. It’s called Tilth and the owner is Maria Hines, who was actually named one the new top chefs of 2005 according to Food and Wine Magazine. She has also appeared on Top Chef Masters and Iron Chef. Her restaurants are known for using local, organic ingredients.

Atmosphere: From the outside, it’s a green house with some seating in the front area. Not your typical looking restaurant. The front area would be perfect for a sunny day. Once you step inside, the porch is used as seating with some bar stools. There are about 10 tables inside ranging for 2-4 seats (not recommended for large parties!. There is also a mini bar seating right in front of the kitchen. The low lighting makes it ideal for a romantic and intimate date. We didn’t make any reservations, so we sat at the bar in front of the kitchen, which was fine because we enjoyed watching them at work.

Pricing: Smaller portions ranging from about $8-$10 for appetizers and large entree portions are about ~$17-30. The appetizers allow an option of a larger portion, made for sharing. The entrees are also available in smaller portions, which can be nice for trying multiple dishes.

Service: Our waiter, I forgot his name, was really really nice, polite, and chill. It definitely seemed like he knew his stuff and made it a pleasant evening for us.

Food:

Outside the restaurant. Right on 45th

They gave this to us complimentary. It was pickled fennel with chives

My boyfriend really wanted to try this (large portion). This was the creamy jerzy boyz apple soup (he really likes apples). I thought the presentation for this dish was very unique. They carried the soup out in what looked like a ceramic tea pot and this dish with apple bits and caramelized onion shallots in the middle. You can see the shallots floating on top. Then they poured the soup over it. The flavor was pretty intense, but not something you’d really get sick of.
Our first entree (large portion). This was the grilled Dakota beef Hanger steak at a medium rare served with polenta, foraged mushroom, and black garlic demi. Compared the steak we had a Blind Pig Bistro, this crust was softer and not glazed, but probably because it was grilled. It was still very tender. I like the choice of polenta as opposed to the usual potatoes. This really went well with the sauce underneath. Second entree we shared were the duck burgers (large portion). Served with fingerling chips, homemade ketchup, and hot mustard. I’m not usually a fan of mustard but it was pretty subtle. The burgers were also pretty tall, but the toasted buns were soft so you could kind of squish it down. The duck was also tender and not overcooked.
We had to get two desserts. The couple next to us got both and they both looked so good.. This was the dark chocolate sorbet with shaved Theo chocolate and hazelnut on the bottom. With it being so rich, I feel like the salted the sorbet a little bit at the bottom. (PS. Sorry for the different lighting with the last few pictures..)
Bourbon pecan pie. The crust was so fantastic and flaky. I loved it! Johnny thought this was actually better than the sorbet. Dollap of cream on top.

Complimentary espresso truffles. Not sure if it was the way I wanted to end because the desserts were that good.

Overall: I really enjoyed the food and they also offered a tasting menu for $65 per person. Additional cost with wine pairings. There were pictures on Yelp of Tilth’s brunch and it looks amazing. I will have to come back to try that! Marina Hines also owns Agrodolce in Fremont and Golden Beetle. Both seemed to have a pretty appetizing happy hour menu so I will be on the look out to try those. Overall, it was a fun experience, the food did not take too long between courses, which was nice.

Gloomy Brunch Kind of Day

Posted on January 28, 2013 by hiyezz

You know what Sunday’s call for! Brunch time Decided to check out some nearby brunch places not too far from the U-district and we came across Pete’s Eggnest. It was originally called Patty’s Eggnest, but it was later sold to Pete and Voula Sideris (yes, Voula does sound familiar right.. that’s because Voula’s aunt is the owner of Voula’s Offshore Cafe!). It’s no wonder you can see a similarity in the food. The wait was not terrible, about half an hour for two people. I got a friendly vibe right from the start and you can tell that it was family owned.

Atmosphere: Just like any traditional diner, there’s a bar in the front for people to sit and lots of tables. The space is a decent size. The walls were decorated with pictures of family and friends. I can tell there were quite a few regulars from all the cheery conversations.

Pricing: The price is a probably a dollar cheaper than I’ve seen at other restaurants. Scrambles & omelettes are about $8-$9. Pancakes & french toast range from $5-$8. There’s about 5 different types of eggs benedict to choose from and that’s about $8-$9.

Service: Friendly, accommodating.. I can tell they really want to seat you.

Food:
The special benedict of the day! Came with avocado, tomatoes, feta, and hashbrowns. I really liked the avocados with this, it made it less heavy to eat.

This was the standard Pete’s breakfast. Plenty of french toast, we didn’t even finish it.

I was really bummed, the poached eggs were overdone and didn’t give that runny yolk over the english muffins.

Overall: If you’re looking for a traditional American brunch, this is the diner to go to. They give reasonable portions for their price for classic dishes. I would consider trying their french toast and pancakes. Their sandwiches also looked promising. There were lots of options to choose from as well. I would give this place another shot despite the poached eggs.