restaurant week.

my roommates and i decided to take advantage of the 3 course for $25 menu for seattle restaurant week at avila restaurant in wallingford. avila is a perfect example of how front of the house and service really have an effect on how the eater perceives their food. unfortunately, avila's service left a bad taste in all of our mouths, even after 3 delicious courses.
we arrived with 1 minute to spare before our 7:30 reservation, and were told that our table wasn't ready. we were flexible, and the friendly bartender kept us happy with free champagne (and refills!) at the bar. normally, free champagne would cajole me, and it did for the first part of the meal. the waitress took our order and the wine, bread, and appetizers came out without a hitch. the appetizers were by far the strongest course of the meal. roomie a had the mussels (yuck!) and i was even brave enough to try one. as a fishlover, however, she said they were awesome and dipped some of the left over bread into the housemade vermouth and green garlic at the bottom of the dish. roomie m had the pan fried asparagus, which were tender but still crisp and super flavorful. my appetizer was a really yummy goat cheese souffle with greens. i was really pleased with my choice.
after that, however, the service really went downhill. our entrees took almost 40 minutes to come out. as we watched people who had ordered after us get their entrees, we wondered if we had been forgotten. i'm an avid top chef fan, i know that sometimes a course gets messed up in the kitchen, and i'm totally ok with it. however, the lateness of our entrees was never acknowledged or appologized for by our server. in fact, she never even came over the refill our water! luckily i was in good company with good wine, or this situation could have been really miserable.
i had an artichoke and endive crostada that had an amazingly flaky and sweet crust. it was a well-rounded and hearty vegetarian dish, that i was completely satisfied with. the girls both had the halibut, which i'm told was well-cooked but poorly dressed. the menu explanations were brief, and with no guidance from our waitress the girls found their plates with two mystery balls (which turned out to be breaded and fried manilla clam meatballs) and a foreign green liquid (still not entirely sure of contents). now, i'm all about trying new foods. however, i would definitely like to know that those foods are before trying them. the girls were great sports, but i could tell they were both disappointed in the cohesiveness of their halibut dish.
we finished with a dessert that definitely made up for the silly halibut. we had one of each offering and rotated a warm malted chocolate souffle, spiced bread pudding, and chilled rhubarb soup. in my opinion, the soup was the star. tart rhubarb is a personal favorite of my pallatte, and this one was paired with a angel-food-like puffy cake in the middle and topped with white chocolate creme. the souffle would be best described as "one-note." it was tasty, but nothing i've never tasted before and portioned substantially larger than it needed to be. the bread pudding was really flavorful and came with a tart yogurt gelato (yet another meal component we had to ask about) from fainting goat gelato right down the street. this definitely spiked an interest in me to blog some local gelato in the very near future!
all in all, avila is a place of good food and innovative ingredients. however, something as simple as lack of water and spotty service really overshadowed the food. i think i'll venture out and try a lot more restaurants before i return to avila.
photo cred to www.avilaseattle.com.

fishless in bellingham!

this lovely saturday i decided to take a 24hour trip to bellingham to visit the fabulous k and sample some cuisine and lower priced drinks. now, i have become quite the creature of habit when it comes to visiting bellingham and tend to do pretty much the same thing every time i go up there. this time we did try a new spot for dinner though.
we took a walk in the beautiful sunshine (!) down to the chuckanut brewery and kitchen with our good friend gl. the place was adorable, there was live banjo music, and new beers for me to sample on tap. while the beer was good, the food wasn't nearly as delectable as i would have hoped. i had a goat cheese tart which was pretty good, but my cup of veggie soup tasted like luke warm pace picante sauce. mild pace picante sauce. not a good look. gl ordered some yam fries to share, which were not to the standard of my favorite yam fries in seattle at smith. while the aoli was really good and smokey, an aoli doesn't save a burnt soggy fry, good sir.
the night continued with tours through entirely too many bars to name or judge. one i did enjoy and would like to visit again on my next trip is uisce (pronounced ISH-KAH). it's a traditional irish (gaelic) pub with a killer atmosphere and a ridiculously comfy couch by the fire.
in the morning we nursed our hangovers with an old bellingham standby, the bagelry. this place has the best sourdough bagels EVER and is pretty much always packed. i always stick with the veggie sandwich with regular cream cheese on sourdough, which comes with tomato, onion, and a mountain of sprouts. there are millions of both schmear and bagel flavors, so the combinations are endless.
to round the day out, this ice cream conniseaur HAD to stop in at mallard ice cream. this place seriously rivals molly moon's and has WAY more flavors to choose from. i had a tough time deciding but had to eventually go with the earl grey, which was absolutely perfect! another favorite is the rose, which tastes like sweet rosewater and is super refreshing. mallard is so good, it is worth driving all the way to bellingham just to have some.

holy benedict, batman.

as much as a HATE seafood i LOVE breakfast. if i had to pick one meal to eat for the rest of my life i would absolutely choose breakfast or brunch. now, with this morning meal obsession comes some majorly discerning tastebuds for eggs benedict.

before i even go out to breakfast with someone, i check the online menu to see if they have a decent benedict selection. by far, my favorite comes from glo's on capitol hill.

the classic eggs benedict comes with a roasted tomato, a perfectly poached egg, and a savory, lemon-y, hollandaise. glo's also deviates from the classic with an eggs californian (avacado and tomato), eggs blackstone (bacon, tomato, and spinach), and a salmon benedict (need not apply to this blog, mister!) each one is absolutely impeccable (i'm pretty sure you fish-lovers will love the salmon).

for those of you who cringe at a butter-based sauce and a runny egg yolk there are many other options for you at glo's. my morning companion, the amazing gb, had another personal favorite in the vegetarian biscuits and gravy. the biscuits are huge and flaky and the gravy is unbelievably flavorful. meat-maniacs won't miss the traditional sausage chunks at all.

service is personal and friendly, and the coffee flows very favorably. on a weekend, you will definitely have to wait, but it will most certainly be worth it! take it from me, order a piece of the ridiculously delicious sour cream coffee cake, chill out, and wait for the best benedict of your life.

baby, let's talk cupcakes.

the time has come.
more than a foodie, i consider myself a completely official cupcake conniseur. today we're going to talk about my latest cupcake experience--my first time at yellow leaf .
nestled in belltown, dangerously close to dahlia lounge, yellow leaf is the lesser known of the seattle cupcake titans. however, i predict that they will soon go the way of the trophy or the cupcake royale. they flavors are innovative and well executed, the ambiance is small and homey, and they seem to really love what they are doing.
my partner in cupcakes and i tried the two signature flavors of the house. i had the tomato soup (whaaaaa?!?!?) and g had the pancakes and bacon. don't be led astray by the name tomato soup, as it is really just a semi-savory spice cake with a chocolate ganache and frosting. it was really unique in taste, and i was happy to try something i'd never had before. the pancakes and bacon, which i was granted exactly one bite of, was a weird experience. much like willy wonka's three-course meal gum, this pancake cupcake tasted exactly like when you take a piece of buttered pancake, pick up a little piece of bacon on the fork and then swirl it all around in the excess plate syrup. the little flecks of bacon in the maple cake base will please any bacon addict.
the flavor rotation at yellow leaf is a little different, as they have over 90 flavors on a constant rotation. on any given day you can find a new flavor to try, which makes each visit a suprise. some that were not offered on my visit, but i hope to sample in the future include: rainbow sherbert, earl grey, spumoni, and sweet licorice. i believe that the normal flavors [chocolate, vanilla, red velvet] are there everyday for you classic types, but it's this idea of suprise flavor that really puts yellow leaf in a special place for me.
however, it'll take a lot to convert this cupcake royale girl, to any other seattle cupcake shop.
ps. pictures are of me and g enjoying our cupcakes on the go:)

tom douglas lunch date.

for some reason, when people talk about seattle dining you hear dahlia lounge consistently peppered through conversation. this is why, today, my bestie g and i checked it out for a quick lunch. i did see that the dinner menu was more extensive and showed a bit more variety, but i was happy with the opportunity to check out the place i've heard so much about.
really, what dahlia boils down to is flavor. it's simple food, served on simple plates, and with simple garnishes. the flavor, however, is anything but simple. tom douglas, isn't a famous seattle restaurateur by accident. the complexity in even the simplest dishes is what keeps dahlia lounge, and douglas's other seattle restaurants on the tips of everyone's tongues.
now, dahlia is currently participating in the month-long march event dine around seattle, which showcases 30-something restaurants offering 3 course prix fixe dinner menus for $30, with many others serving a similar $15 lunch. g and i could not resist partaking in the great deal and enjoying a 3-course lunch!
the special lunch menu offered a spring greens salad, tomato soup with croutons, or albacore poke for appetizers, a beecher's grilled cheese, pork hum bao, or pan-seared chilled albacore for entrees, and lychee sorbet, coconut cream pie, or a vanilla bean eclair for dessert. i am a big sucker for grilled cheese and tomato soup, and this definitely put what i craft to at home to shame! the tomato soup was fresh, textured, and perfectly seasoned, and the beecher's cheese oozed from the rustic potato bread like some sort of cheese-lover's art form. g had the salad to start which was large, deliciously dressed, but pretty plain overall. for entree she tried the pork hum bao. it was served with steamed gai lan [chinese kale] and sticky rice.
for dessert, we couldn't try two different things because we were both already in love with the lychee sorbet before we even tasted it. and we were not disappointed when it arrived with an amazing sesame ginger sauce on top. the lychee flavor was true to life, and the not-too-sweet dessert left us feeling light, refreshed, and fully satisfied with our dahlia lounge experience.

i scream. you scream.

today is the day that i share internet elaboration on my favorite seattle spot of all MOLLY MOONS!!! with two locations [capitol hill and wallingford] this ice cream boutique is absolutely irresistible, intriguingly delicious, and eco-friendly to boot. i love it so much, i even own a molly moon's t-shirt! if you want one for your very own, you can't purchase online just yet...but mine and many more are on sale at either location.
now, my molly moon's knowledge might be borderline embarrassing to most, but i take great pride in having at least sampled nearly every flavor in the repertoire. molly moon is an actual person, and shares her actual given name with the shop. this woman is an ice cream genius. on any given day in the shop you will find such flavors as salted caramel, [girl]scout mint, balsamic strawberry, or theo chocolate [straight from the fremont chocolate shop, which will be blogged as soon as it's visited by yours truly!] toppings include fresh fruit compote, cajeta, lemon curd, and a completely perfect hot fudge. the flavors and toppings rotate, and a new flavor is always popping up to challenge your taste-buds' threshold.
whenever i have visitors to the seattle area, i always take them to molly's and we are never disappointed. beware of going on a warm friday or saturday night, as there can be a line wrapping around the block and on a heavily visited day the shop may run out of (gasp) waffle cones! and trust me, you want to have the option...as they are AMAZING.
and just one more tip to the inexperienced ice cream patron--don't fret if you can't decide between two flavors and know your tummy won't allow a double scoop. you always have the option of asking for a "split scoop" and getting a half scoop of each of two delicious flavors. try salted caramel with maple walnut or theo chocolate, mix one of the featured vegan sorbet flavor with a bit of the scrumptious vanilla bean, or go OFF and try a sample of them all. you won't be sorry and you'll always come back for more!

the classy vegetarian.

my lovely mama and i celebrated her birthday at the greenwood vegetarian eatery carmelita. mama is a vegetarian, and i am a recovering vegetarian, so the swanky little place was right up our alley. aside from minor parking difficulties, the evening was amazing, and the food was even more spectacular than i might have imagined.
now, mama's birthday is a special holiday, so we really went off and tried a ton of stuff. eating on a budget is usually my rule of thumb, but that definitely goes aside to celebrate her! we started with an appetizer of a port-poached pear with goat cheese sorbet and a green salad with candied walnuts. it was a borderline dessert, but absolutely delicious. the pear was named in the menu as a jerzy boyz pear, which i felt suprised i'd never heard of. but after some research, i learned that jerzy boyz is the name of the farm of origin of the pears, not a specific variety. [for more info on jerzy boyz organic apple and pear farm click here]. the table next to us ordered the enviable beet carpaccio, which i will definitely order next time.
as for entrees, i had the absolutely irresistible root vegetable pot pie--served in a ramekin with a warm side salad of greens with hazelnuts and marinated hedgehog mushrooms. the pot pie had a rich, mushroom-y base and featured carrots, potatoes, and turnips. the crust on top was perfectly flaky and the overall result was ultra-comforting and addictive. i could barely stop eating long enough to try my mom's dish on the other side of the table. thank goodness i did, because her purple rice and green onion cake was completely spectacular. served with sugar-pie pumpkin mash and a phenomenal cashew sauce, the dish had the hearty complexity that one typically misses in vegetarian dishes. the giant man to our right looked over and said "i'll have what she's having," when harry met sally style.
now, it being a celebration, we certainly ordered dessert. we didn't even split it. we got TWO. first, mom's pick, the carrot cake [sans raisins, much to her excitement] topped with fennel ice cream (!) and candied fennel seed. the cake was not-too-sweet, and the ice cream was the star of the dish. my choice was the special, a passion-fruit and goat cheese creme brulee that was topped with minced pickled rhubarb. YUM. the brulee was super rich, extremely complex in flavor, and with the perfect bruleed sugar crunch on top.
my mom is seriously already planning on what she might order when we go back, which will definitely happen in the not-too-distant future. and we might just have to take a gallon of that fennel ice cream home with us!