Bluebird Homemade Ice Cream & Tea Room opened on Capitol Hill, just down the block from The Elysian on Pike St.
Blueberry Sorbet
Northwest Strawberry Ice Cream
Very tasty. Go get some. The sorbet was an experiment (special) so it may or may not be on the menu when you visit.
1205 E Pike St.
Seattle, WA 98122
Pisco eats at Coastal Kitchen every once in a while; usually for their brunches, which are hearty and accompanied by well-crafted espresso drinks. Dinner is often hit or miss, perhaps because every few months they throw darts at a globe and feature that region’s cuisine. [What was it this time? Morocco? Tunisia? Pisco only recalls merguez on the menu.] This often works well but it can be a little unpredictable. This from some who loves unpredictability…
But tonight Pisco and K dropped by for dinner; a quiet night where sitting at the bar yielded a perfect view of the kitchen crew executing orders in a jovial yet professional fashion. We had one burger and one breakfast. For dinner. Yes, breakfast.
The burger was excellent. Rare, topped with bleu cheese and slices of avocado; this was a configuration previously unknown to my tastebuds. How could this have been? The creamy avocado was a lovely counterpoint to the salty bleu; the grass-fed beef was spot-on rare, and appropriately sized. (Thank you, CK, for not subscribing to the “Too Big To Fail” burger philosophy.) The fries were nothing to write home about, and so we shan’t.
The breakfast was equally enjoyable. Three eggs over easy, three fatty sausage links, two grilled thick-cut slices of toast, and a lightly cheesed pile of hash browns (or was it mashed potatoes? A mystery in the bar’s low lights) was enough for two diners, and we didn’t even make a dent in the potatoes.
Professional, low-key service was just right for this tranquil Thursday night. Well done, Coastal Kitchen. Pisco salutes you.
Pisco and a friend drove by what looked like a new restaurant on Friday, and decided to stop by and check it out. Turns out it was Barrio, a nuevo latino/small plates establishment. We asked our server how long they had been open, and she replied, “Today’s the first official day!”
With that in mind, we ordered a small spread of food as a first round, and decided to eat a bit, and then order more as we saw fit.
First impressions of the decor: large space, high ceilings, a long and curvaceous bar, visible kitchen. There is a large grid of oil lamps on one side (maybe a couple hundred?); Pisco wonders whose gets the job to light and extinguish them each night. The entry doors are massive, but allow large drafts into the room, so bad that we had to change tables ten minutes after sitting down.
We perused the drink menu, and the folded paper food menu. The drink menu fits into a neat slot built into underside of the table. Handy for you thirsty folk! It’s arranged by primary liquor: tequila, vodka, rum, etc. Pisco ordered a Toronto (rye, Fernet Branca); Pisco’s friend D ordered some drink with a cucumber in it. The Toronto was a hit – dry, tasty, and the right way to end a long work week; recommended.
We ordered four items off the menu: a pumpkinseed hummus, chorizo and egg taco (2), duck confit tamale, and churros with spicy chocolate.
The pumpkinseed hummus was bright orange, and had the texture of a dry (regular) hummus. Served with one bowl of corn chips, and another bowl of yucca chips (on request), it was a good start to the meal. Be warned that it packs a bit of heat on a long fuse; you won’t notice the warmth until you’re almost done with the bowl.
The chorizo and egg tacos arrived next, and they were the high point of the meal. The chorizo is house made: succulent, spicy, and not overly oily; it was the best chorizo I’ve had in ages. Accompanied by a gently fried egg, it was platonic ideal of a breakfast sandwich. Highly recommended.
The duck confit tamale came next, slathered in a dark, pasty sauce that looked like a mole. Mole it was not! The chef had charred a bunch of peppers, and then pureed the whole lot; it worked well with the duck, which was tender. Pisco has recently eaten an awful lot of good duck (in Beijing), so it cannot be said that this duck was off the charts, but the dish worked well.
Surprisingly full after just these three dishes, we ordered churros with hot chocolate sauce to end the meal. The chocolate was warm, rich, slightly spicy, and perfect. The churros, unfortunately, had been taken out of the fryer 45 seconds too early and they were a soggy mess inside. This did not stop us from devouring all 5 churros, mind you, but you could have dipped churro-shaped sawdust cakes into that chocolate and you’d still be delighted.
Service on the whole was quite good, considering it was their first day. Our server was earnest and attentive and intent on ensuring we had a good experience. We mentioned that the churros were a little undercooked (because I’d rather they find out from me than some more-widely-read reviewer), and they were taken off the bill. Classy.
Overall it’s a very good experience. We didn’t try too many of the dishes, so a trip back to sit at the long bar is definitely in the future.
Food: B+
Ambiance: B
Service: B+
Value: B+
Overall: B+
Pumpkinseed hummus
Chorizo and egg tacos
Duck confit tamale
Churros and chocolate
Barrio
1420 12th Avenue
Seattle, WA
Pisco dropped by Ethan Stowell’s newest venture, How To Cook A Wolf (awesomely useless site) for a late dinner and walked away with a good vibe. The venue is small (30 seats, perhaps?) and high-end cozy: perfectly dim lighting, ample use of warm tones in the copper wall accents and cork-lined bar, and a marvelous installation of light-toned bent-wood panels from mid-height to the ceiling, which immediately gave me the sense of sitting underneath a mutant Eames lounger. It felt rather thrilling.
The room was full when we arrived just before 10pm, but the hostess graciously offered to call us when a couple seats became available. We gave a mobile number, and then strolled over to Sorrentino, where Fabio poured a great Campari aperitivo at the bar. We chatted briefly about La Spiga, where he used to work, and commiserated about its decline into incredible snobbery popularity after its move to ritzy, high-ceilinged digs on 12th Ave. C’est la vie.
We return to Wolf after the call came that seats were available, and sat down at the bar, just a few feet from Ethan as he calmly threw some greens into a bowl. He has an air of comfort and competence around him; Pisco wishes that more people were that good at what they do. Competence is a truly beautiful trait to behold; it’s a shame that this world provides so few opportunities to see it.
The menu is midsize – perhaps twelve appetizers, six mains, and five desserts. We were informed that they had run out of the soft-boiled eggs with anchovy, which ruined my plan to get the eggs and another appetizer; nothing else sounded appealing at that hour. Luckily there was a tagliatelle bolognese on the mains list; my friend A opted for the frisée salad.
The pasta was a simple, lovely dish, not overly large, but certainly filling enough for most guests. The tagliatelle ribbons tasted fresh, were light on the palate, and perfectly al dente. The ragù was rich, moist, and much better than the last sample Pisco ordered (appropriately enough at La Spiga).
Pisco only had one taste of the salad, but it was remarkably flavorful – a tart, rich bite from just a couple leaves that will remind him to order it next time.
The bread that accompanied our entrées was fresh, having a crunchy crust and light, elastic crumb (center). The olive oil was refreshingly light; both were refilled as we practically inhaled the first plate.
The crowd was reasonably diverse, with upscale patrons ranging from older couples, young women at the bar, and an assortment of Upper Queen Anne hipsters passing through.
Overall, it’s a great new place – Pisco would return solely on the fact that they nailed the lighting, but the experience is overall quite pleasant. It’s appropriately priced too, with appetizers from $5-15, and mains from $12-20. Go there with your friends, lovers, family, or when jonesing for a fresh late-night pasta.
Food: A
Service: B
Ambiance: A
Value: B
Overall: B+
How To Cook A Wolf
2208 Queen Anne Ave. N. [map]
+1 206 838-8090
There are many places on the “to visit” list, and given the limited opportunities to dine out, it’s always a toss-up between exploring new places and returning to old favorites. Pisco has known about Seven Stars Pepper for quite some time, but never had the chance to experience it. What a mistake to wait so long!
Four of us made our way to the second floor of the commercial center on 12th and Jackson – a nondescript building save for the ramp that descends sharply to an underground parking garage. The restaurant was busy, but service was swift – a scallion pancake was on the table almost instantly, as were three bottles of Tsingtao. Overcome by the delicious smells in the air, we promptly overordered: hand-shaven noodles, Szechuan crab, deep-fried chicken, pea sprouts, and yes, even a whole deep-fried tilapia. For those keeping score, that’s five entrees and one appetizer for four peckish friends.
The noodles were delicious, though Pisco is not an expert on this dish. They were markedly better than the hand-shaven noodles at Shanghai Cafe in Factoria, which are supposedly quite good.
The Szechuan crab is said to be their best dish, and it’s a winner. Hot, covered in spice, and extremely large, we could not help ripping off the legs and sucking off every last bit of meat. It was messy, and copious amounts of beer were consumed as we reveled in the spice. This is a must-order dish.
The fried chicken was competent; slightly reminiscent of karaage chicken but spicier. The pea sprouts were crisp and brightly colored; they tasted much as they looked.
The whole fried fish was nearly perfect; had it not been just barely overcooked it would have been heavenly. But with fried fish, those last 10 seconds make all the difference.
Total bill was around $120 including tip and tax for 4.
Pisco can’t wait to go back again soon.
Service: A (friendly and fast)
Food: A
Value: B
Seven Stars Pepper
1207 S Jackson St
Seattle, WA 98144
(206) 568-6446
[map]
Pisco has visited Palace Kitchen numerous times, and it’s a reliable, solid experience. It’s especially good late at night, when the bar is packed with people and you can feel the energy buzzing in the air. Say what you want about the food, but there are precious few places in the Emerald City where you can find a broad range of folks eating and drinking with gusto past midnight.
Today was a friend’s birthday so three of us headed out for an early dinner after roaming around downtown. Pisco can’t remember the last time he ate before dark (last spring?) but given the menacing cloud cover, wind, and intermittent rain, it might as well have been night.
The menu looked good and we ordered a few small plates to start. The goat cheese fondue was a winner, though it’s hard to imagine anything that would not taste insanely delicious after being dredged though melted goat cheese. The cheese plate was excellent too, with the schloss cheese going quite well with the accompanying oatmeal crackers.
I remember seeing the description for the Carbonara dish – something about fresh homemade noodles, chanterelle mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, and an olive oil-based sauce. I asked our server if there was any pancetta in it, and he said no – it was essentially a vegetarian version. “You could, of course, order some bacon on the side, and many of our customers do that,” he added. Pisco makes a quite decent carbonara at home, so in the interest of exploring another version, he took leave of his senses and ordered the dish.
Let’s review the essential components of a carbonara dish: pasta, eggs, cheese, cured meat (guanciale or pancetta), and black pepper. Its likely origin (rather, the story I like best) is that it was eaten by the “carbonari” (coal miners) in Italy who could only take long-lasting supplies with them to the mines. It’s a hearty dish, and when its powerful flavors come together in the right combination, it is heavenly. Unfortunately, what came out was so far from what I expected that I immediately disliked it. Vegetarian carbonara? An oxymoron. There were no cured meats on the plate, and if they had used black pepper it could not be detected. Instead, there were a handful of chanterelles scattered around the plate, and leaves of escarole mixed with the fresh pasta. In retrospect I can’t imagine a more effete version of this classic. Escarole? Please.
It was not completely without merit – the house-made noodles were delicious. Light and fresh, cooked al dente, they were the only redeeming feature.
I think if this dish was marketed as something other than pasta carbonara, it would be quite good. I can imagine quite a large number of people who would like something similar to this. But for the love of all things Italian, please don’t call it carbonara! Somewhere in Emilia-Romagna, an old cook named Luigi is turning over in his grave.
And while I’m ranting about authenticity – please serve the limoncello ice cold. It’s quite good, a bit less potent than other versions I’ve had lately, but it needs to be chilled to get the right effect.
I love the Palace Kitchen, and I’ll be back soon, but I won’t be ordering the carbonara.
Pisco stumbled across Maekawa online somewhere in the past few days and immediately resolved to pay a visit. An open-late, second-floor, somewhat-hidden, izakaya-serving resto in the ID? Sign me up.
The ambiance is thoroughly Japanese and somewhat timeless. The bar and restaurant feature plenty of light wood, as so many Japanese places do, and lots of handwritten signs with menu specials tacked to the wall. Add the diverse mixture of suited businessmen, hipster students, and a few bar personalities, and it could have been Tokyo in 1985 or 2015. Quite special, that timeless feeling, and I wish more places had it. I also wish more places played loud, sugary, energetic J-pop. Redundant? I don’t care. Pisco hearts J-pop.
We ordered four items: grilled beef tongue, takoyaki, gyoza, and onigiri. The beef tongue came first, and the four large slices were good, though not as tender as I would have liked (Tsukushinbo, by contrast, serves a stupendously tasty and tender version). The takoyaki was tender and flavorful, as was the gyoza. The onigiri came last and was a nice finish to the meal; munching on the crispy rice left me with a peaceful, satisfied feeling.
Four small dishes came to $19 before tip. The kitchen is open relatively late (closed around 11p on a Tuesday, they might be open later on weekends), and Maekawa will certainly become one of Pisco’s new regular haunts. Finally, a small Japanese bistro with good food that doesn’t abuse its customers (yes, I’m looking at you, Maneki, and I don’t know why you mistreat me so, and I especially don’t understand why all my Asian friends seem to get such good service in comparison… yes your food is good but I don’t think I’ll ever go back).
Maekawa
601 S. King St. [map]
Suite 206
Seattle, WA 98104
Phone: 206-622-0634
Today was an epic day from start to finish. Exciting, thrilling, at times trying, it’s one of those days I hope to remember for a very long time.
Highlights of the day included pastries and coffee at Essential Baking Company, cramming a record five people into a Mini Cooper, jaywalking in front of a police officer (as if he would have arrested me at a parade), and getting a table for 10 at Lola.
I’ve eaten at Lola several times, but always for lunch and dinner. Today they were serving brunch when we walked in (shortly after 1.30p) and I knew I would have my chance to taste the much-touted Tom’s Big Breakfast. From their menu:
Tom’s big breakfast: grilled pacific octopus, pork belly hash, bloomsdale spinach, feta, olive oil fried egg
I can tell you that the dish lives up to the hype. The octopus was fleshy and tasty, grilled perhaps 2 seconds beyond my preference, but quite a minor quibble. The pork belly hash was chunky and rich – less a classic hash than a small handful of cubed delight. Eating a piece of octopus, a small pork belly piece, and a mouthful of egg with its blissfully orange/yellow yolk… paradise.
Let me also sing the praises of the bloody mary; it was the best bloody mary I’ve had in Seattle, hands down. Hallelujah! What was it around the rim? Sea salt, to be sure, and something that added a smoky flavor to the drink. Smoked paprika? No idea. We’ll have to go back and check; we were all laughing too hard by the end of the meal to suss out the ingredients.
Of course I couldn’t stop there. The woman sitting next to me ordered pork kebabs with harissa and honey. Can we talk about the pork for a minute? Grilled to perfection, tender, bursting with smoky, piggy flavor. A slightly spicy sauce (the harissa) had been added, balanced with a brush of honey. How do I know this dish so well? After finishing Tom’s Big Breakfast, I ordered a plate of the pork kebabs. And another bloody mary. Yes, an entire second meal. People were staring, perhaps appalled by my gluttony, but I didn’t care. This was a meal that deserved to be consumed with gusto, and I did my level best.
This hedonistic brunch for 9 came to around $210, tip included, although one person (I won’t say who), with his voracious appetite for food and drink, probably accounted for much more than his share. I’ll be returning as soon as I possibly can.
Anthony Bourdain is the best food writer walking this tasty green earth. He doesn’t like the Food Network. Or maybe he does. Enjoy his rant.
