ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
I was seriously thinking of not going in. I stood outside for a minute or two, but decided to give Jinya Ramen Bar a shot anyway. A little background. Our good friends ate there after it soon opened in Bellevue in March, along with so many other eager rameniacs that the two of them had to sit... Continue Reading →
It has been getting warmer in Seattle. Warm weather tends to stimulate my appetite for barbecue. Only a few blocks from my daughter's condo, maybe The Boar's Nest would fit the bill. Opened in 2011, The Boar's Nest specializes in pulled pork and ribs, though there are also chicken and links on the menu. Looking through... Continue Reading →
Maria Hines is a celebrity chef around here. She was recognized with a James Beard award (Best Chef Northwest in 2009) and had beaten out Chef Morimoto on Iron Chef. Her restaurant that she opened in 2006, Tilth, is noteworthy not only for its fine cooking but its use of mostly organic and sustainable ingredients. In... Continue Reading →
It was the Spring run of Restaurant Week again earlier this month. Over 130 Seattle area restaurants offered three dinner courses (a starter, main and dessert) for $30. Some restaurants also had a lunch menu for $15. Monsoon East in Bellevue (and its sister restaurant, Monsoon, in Seattle) always seems to participate in this and the similar October festivities,... Continue Reading →
Last weekend was likely the best for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. It was warm and sunny and the flowers were reportedly in full bloom. But weekends invite the most crowds. Though we hadn't gone in years, with the remainder of the week forecast to be rainy, we decided to skip one of America's great... Continue Reading →
Maybe it's because I'm noticing it more, but the Mexican entrée known as molcajete has been appearing on more menus. Aside from being a stone kitchen tool for grinding food products, it is also the name of a kind of preparation typically served in the bowl itself. I've said before, the best one I ever had... Continue Reading →
We arrived at LAX just before the noon hour. The cacophony and immensity of the airport easily dwarf those of Sea-Tac which we left a few hours before, the warm and sunny weather in Southern California being a fair exchange for Seattle's current spate of rainstorms and relative chill. My wife's sister and her good... Continue Reading →
Is it possible that Tamarind Tree is the best Vietnamese restaurant in Seattle? One might be tempted to say so after patronizing it. And why is it that it doesn't come up in culinary conversations as much as, say, Green Leaf, which many do regard as without equal in these parts? One reason could be... Continue Reading →
What do you get when you blend perfectly cooked squid and shrimp, succulent chicken breast, meaty shiitake, shaves of dry cured and smoked ham reminiscent of a Smithfield, chicken meatballs and nappa cabbage, each revealing its essence in a rich chicken broth as fine as I've ever tasted? You get the Shanghai Café Tofu and Cabbage... Continue Reading →
Purely vegetarian restaurants are hard to come by. Chances are better in large metropolitan areas, Seattle included. To cater to the growing numbers of vegetarians, it's small wonder that there aren't more Indian vegetarian restaurants in America since the subcontinent is generally regarded as the greatest source of vegetarian cuisine in the world. In the Seattle... Continue Reading →
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