recently, i attended (by way of working at)seattle weekly's voracious tasting. this spectacular sold-out event was probably one of the coolest things this foodie has ever seen.
seattle weekly rents out the historic paramount theater and turns it into a tasting extravaganza that is bustling, elegant, and [most imporantly] DELICIOUS. the entire floor level of the theater is filled with tables offering tasty samplings from some of seattle's hottest restaurants and bars. tables this year included: bastille, luc, joule, emmer&rye, and toulouse petit, along with many other fine dining establishments. the floor was crowded with excited guests aiming to sample just about everything within their reach, most with a full wine glass conveniently clipped into their bamboo tasting plate as well as a few shot-sized cocktails from such buzzed-about bars as tavern law, liberty, and knee high stocking co.
the vibe in the room as absolutely amazing, and the guests were all getting one of the best food deals i have ever seen in my life. groupon, eat your heart out...these lucky diners were chowing down on treats from over 20 restaurants, drinks from more than 10 bars, and were drinking from a 100% open bar for only $35 general admission and $75 VIP (one hour earlier entry and a gift bag that held swag worth WELL over the cost of the ticket.) my mind was blown.
on top of all of this commotion, a treasure awaited the guests in the upper level of the theater lobby. this entire floor was set aside for DESSERTS. from a beautiful woman wearing a dress with dozens and dozens of cupcakes on each tier (from seattle cupcake staple trophy cupcakes), to made-to-order organic molten chocolate cakes with a choice of gourmet sauce toppings (from hot cakes confections), to miniature waffles topped with strawberry rhubarb compote and candied pistacios (from sweet iron waffles) there were sweets coming at me from every angle. and, let me tell you, i sampled every. single. one. my personal favorite dessert, a turtle (chocolate with caramel and pecan) flavored frozen custard from peaks frozen custard, led to an immediate visit within the week of the voracious tasting to share the wonder of frozen custard with others. you can bet there will be a blog to follow after i sample a few more of their constantly rotating signature flavors.
ok, i can tell i'm just upsetting those of you who either didn't know about the voracious tasting or were too silly to buy tickets this year. i don't want to upset you anymore, so i will just encourage you to keep your ears open for news of next year's tasting. this year's tasting was only the second annual, so i can assure you that it is just going to get better, and better, and better.
Showing posts with label downtown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label downtown. Show all posts
Friday, May 13, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
dine around seattle is BACK!
making upscale dining affordable to the downtrodden with well-trained palates, dine around seattle comes but once a year and offers three course meals for an amazing 30 dollars. i love this for three reasons:
1. i'm pushed to try restaurants that i've been leaving alone because they're "too expensive."
2. if you bring the right two friends with you, you can sample and enjoy three different appetizers, three different entrees, and three different desserts. now that, my friends, is bang for your buck.
3. you are pretty much forced into getting dessert! who can say no to a dessert INCLUDED in the price. that would just be wasteful, silly. and that friend of yours who always passes on dessert and sneakily insists on "trying" a huge bit of yours...with this deal she is losing money by not getting her own. it's beautiful.
i'm planning on at visiting at least two of the restaurants included in this year's lineup (you can peep the choices here). the first tour included a trip with my roomie (a) and her coworker (l) to lecosho.
nestled on downtown's harbor steps, lecosho is well-known for its meats and delivers on the promise printed across the banner of their website: "food we like." and i did, i really liked the food at lecosho. i didn't LOVE it. hey, they can't all be a homerun, and we should still celebrate a triple.
during dine around seattle, you are given a menu with three appetizer, three entree, and three dessert options. my dining companions and i all selected a different appetizer. i proclaimed that i could choose the cheesiest one (duh) and went with the manchego stuffed dates, a had the house green salad, and l had the lamb sausage-stuffed grape leaves. the lamb sausage was a standout, and the dates were pretty scrumptious as well. the salad was pretty standard. the soft boiled egg on top WAS perfectly cooked, though, and i do love me a perfectly cooked egg with a nice soft yolk.
the main course offered pasta, pork or quail. no one really wanted to waste this opportunity on pasta. two of us chose the pork and one the quail. the pork chop was HUGE and served over a delicious potato and parsnip puree and some delicious beets. being the recovering vegetarian that i am, big ol' pieces of meat sometimes prove too much for me. if it were my dish, i would have doubled the amount of garnish and halved the chop. i like to assemble juicy little bites including a little of everything on the plate, and i was out of sides about halfway through my pork...and i was being very conservative! a's quail was so little comparatively, it felt rude to have that much meat in front of her. her sides, of corona beans and arugula salad were in desired portioning and completely delicious. if you've never had a corona bean before, it's bigger than a butter bean, and more firm. they were cooked to perfection for a's plate and i borrowed more than a few over to mine.
for dessert, none of us could pass off on the completely unique semolina custard cake. that was all the menu said, but it was also served with a hefty scoop of fresh whipped cream and some sort of a compote (my guess was huckleberry with a port wine, probably should have asked the waitress). the cake was moist and not-too-sweet, and had the texture of the most sumptuous cornbread you could imagine. the ratio of whipped cream to cake was way off and myself and l both left at least half of ours on our plates.
i don't think i need to return to lecosho for dinner, but i do want to try some of their more casual stabs at cuisine at lunch time, where they offer very reasonably priced gourmet salads and sandwiches. the restaurant also boasts a late night happy hour (10 to 1 on weekdays and 11 to 1 on friday and saturday) with some tasty little morsels to offer and a $4 wine, $3 beer, and $5 cocktail special.
1. i'm pushed to try restaurants that i've been leaving alone because they're "too expensive."
2. if you bring the right two friends with you, you can sample and enjoy three different appetizers, three different entrees, and three different desserts. now that, my friends, is bang for your buck.
3. you are pretty much forced into getting dessert! who can say no to a dessert INCLUDED in the price. that would just be wasteful, silly. and that friend of yours who always passes on dessert and sneakily insists on "trying" a huge bit of yours...with this deal she is losing money by not getting her own. it's beautiful.
i'm planning on at visiting at least two of the restaurants included in this year's lineup (you can peep the choices here). the first tour included a trip with my roomie (a) and her coworker (l) to lecosho.
nestled on downtown's harbor steps, lecosho is well-known for its meats and delivers on the promise printed across the banner of their website: "food we like." and i did, i really liked the food at lecosho. i didn't LOVE it. hey, they can't all be a homerun, and we should still celebrate a triple.
during dine around seattle, you are given a menu with three appetizer, three entree, and three dessert options. my dining companions and i all selected a different appetizer. i proclaimed that i could choose the cheesiest one (duh) and went with the manchego stuffed dates, a had the house green salad, and l had the lamb sausage-stuffed grape leaves. the lamb sausage was a standout, and the dates were pretty scrumptious as well. the salad was pretty standard. the soft boiled egg on top WAS perfectly cooked, though, and i do love me a perfectly cooked egg with a nice soft yolk.
the main course offered pasta, pork or quail. no one really wanted to waste this opportunity on pasta. two of us chose the pork and one the quail. the pork chop was HUGE and served over a delicious potato and parsnip puree and some delicious beets. being the recovering vegetarian that i am, big ol' pieces of meat sometimes prove too much for me. if it were my dish, i would have doubled the amount of garnish and halved the chop. i like to assemble juicy little bites including a little of everything on the plate, and i was out of sides about halfway through my pork...and i was being very conservative! a's quail was so little comparatively, it felt rude to have that much meat in front of her. her sides, of corona beans and arugula salad were in desired portioning and completely delicious. if you've never had a corona bean before, it's bigger than a butter bean, and more firm. they were cooked to perfection for a's plate and i borrowed more than a few over to mine.
for dessert, none of us could pass off on the completely unique semolina custard cake. that was all the menu said, but it was also served with a hefty scoop of fresh whipped cream and some sort of a compote (my guess was huckleberry with a port wine, probably should have asked the waitress). the cake was moist and not-too-sweet, and had the texture of the most sumptuous cornbread you could imagine. the ratio of whipped cream to cake was way off and myself and l both left at least half of ours on our plates.
i don't think i need to return to lecosho for dinner, but i do want to try some of their more casual stabs at cuisine at lunch time, where they offer very reasonably priced gourmet salads and sandwiches. the restaurant also boasts a late night happy hour (10 to 1 on weekdays and 11 to 1 on friday and saturday) with some tasty little morsels to offer and a $4 wine, $3 beer, and $5 cocktail special.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
a musical meal.
photo is of me and my main squeeze enjoying some tunes and foods at the triple door.
have any of you ever ventured to see a concert at the triple door? well, if you haven't it's a one-of-a-kind viewing/dining/drinking/social experience. i never feel like i wasted my money after visiting the triple door as i sometimes do as i walk into the cold arms of the hotdog vendor's cart outside the showbox. why do i love thee, triple door??? let me count the ways.
1. reserved seating.
now, i know that a lot of the amazingness in the seattle music is spontaneity. which is why i enjoy a good old fashioned sardine packed crocodile cafe show just as much as the next guy in a flannel. but doesn't it get tiring trying not to bump into the sweaty guy next to you during every concert??? the triple door gives me the opportunity to relax, take a seat, and not have to worry about squirming my way back up to it if i (gasp!) must use the ladies room. and, for those of you who cringe at the idea of advanced purchase...you can always attend a non-sold-out show and enjoy the standing room. but, methinks if there's a table/seat available, you'll sit in it.
2. drink service.
the most annoying part about seeing a show at a bar is having to push your way to said bar in order to order. at the triple door, a nice chap or gal will swing by your table in an extremely timely fashion (i'd say once every 1/2-3/4 of a drink, depending on your swilling technique) to check and see if you'd like some more. then, this same delightful human will bring you your tab during the encore...before the lights come up. what, you ask??? you mean i don't have to stand in the ridiculous line of folks waiting to close their tab before i leave? no, my friend, it's taken care of. and guess what? you've spent about the same amount on your ticket as you would have at the moore, the showbox, and less than the paramount. kudos to you.
3. food while you wait.
this is where this whole 'food blog reviewing a venue' part comes in. if you're like me you are generally early for a concert. you want to have a decent place to view from, you love the hit/miss/jewel in the rough aspect of a supporting act, and you sometimes get a little bored waiting for the music to finally start. fear no more, because the triple door gives you the option to come in up to 2 hours before the show and eat a delicious meal prepared by nextdoor neighbor wild ginger. if you're not familiar with wild ginger, it's a pretty popular seattle asian-fusion place that seems to always have a tremendous wait for a table. vegetarian and fishless options are readily available on the menu and delivered directly to your spot in the triple door lounge while you and your companion(s) await some sweet sweet music.
the menu is definitely carnivore driven, but there are a few veg options (good luck to you if eggplant isn't your thing. but, then again, if your a vegetarian...being picky about your vegetables probably isn't a good plan). a personal favorite is the thai passion tofu, a tofu and eggplant mixture with a ton of kafir lime and basil leaves in a sweet/tangy soy sauce. i will admit, though, that this dish isn't one you'd like to make an entire meal of. so, hopefully you and your partners in concert dining can do like me and mine did and share a little bit of everything around the table. so, do like i do, and consult what everyone is getting. if you're lucky, it won't be that darn 'princess prawns' and seem to pass by on just about every waiter's tray. seafood is gross enough, thank you, i certainly don't need to look it in the eye.
special tip: a big, comfy, high backed booth can be reserved (for the same price as any other ticket in the house) when you have a group of four, along with the option to pre-pay for food when you purchase your ticket. so, think about getting a group together, going on a double date, or taking your parents and sibling out for a night of great music, comfy seating, drinks delivered to your table, and delicious asian fusion cuisine. even if a few notes fall flat, you'll still be happy you went.
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