Results tagged “dining”

The last two weeks we've been deluged with PR about restaurant specials for Valentine's Day, and we kept putting off doing a list. Now our procrastination--and yours, if you still haven't made plans--has been rewarded by someone else doing the work for us. Seattle Metblogs has a great list of prix fixe menus, the P-I has some low-budget Valentine's ideas, the Weekly has "8 Things To Do" and some more foodie suggestions, and Seattle Foodster has a V-Day restaurant roundup, too.

That sure didn't last long, did it? Barely nine months.

Look up the definition of “hot-to-trot” and you’ll find two sets of meanings: (1) willing and eager and (2) sexually exciting.

Braiden Rex-Johnson's new book, Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining, is a fine complement to Kurt Dammeier's Pure Flavor (reviewed by Seattlest back in August). Affectionate portraits of leading players: wine makers Bob Betz Kay Simon, Harry McWatters; unique restaurants, cooking techniques, recipes. Rex-Johnson, a familiar name whose previous books include the iconic Pike Place Market Cookbook, writes a food & wine column for Wine Press Northwest and served as food editor at Seattle Homes & Lifestyles.

The glorious fall sunsets have disappeared along with the mouldering husks of Halloween pumpkins, and according the weather report, we can all expect a long, cold, wet weekend. But this being the Northwest, that's never stopped us from getting out and about; here's the weekend plans of your intrepid Seattlest contributors:

Last year Seahawks kicker Josh Brown publicly announced his crush on Carrie Underwood. He'd even gotten her phone number. But soon after, Underwood was linked to Cowboys QB Tony Romo.

Stand at the corner of First and Pike, and you almost hear the thunder of Seattle's hotel wars, the howitzers of the future as they battle for attention in the trades, the travel mags, the lifestyle glossies.

We really hesitate to head out for curry, as it’s a staple in our cooking repertoire – sort of our emergency food. But when we found ourselves at Racha recently, we decided to give the exotic sounding Jungle Curry a try.

We don't mean to steal Mary's thunder; however, her photograph moved us to write down some of the thoughts we've been having about the Ballard Denny's closure. We knew it was coming; however, just like the presence of vampires in Sunnydale, we didn't actually want to think about it. The light, the clouds, the darkness of the trees, and the Shell sign way in the distance all punctuate the loneliness of the now-derelict sign.

It's a big, bad world out there, and there are plenty of reasons to be mad as hell. An undisclosed conflict of interest? Well, depends on the circumstances: whose conflict, whose interest?

North of Seattle, in Lynnwood, is the restaurant Kirirom. Lurking low in the shadows of the big box stores, the chain restaurants, and the Alderwood Mall, Kirirom means “mountain of joy” and is a national park in Cambodia.

You know the type, the ultra-picky customer whose complaints ruin dinner for everyone in the restaurant. The self-appointed lightning rods for tough steak, spilled wine, fallen soufflés, incorrect checks. Waiter, there's a fly in my drink! Miss, there's no gremolata on the osso buco! You want to find her car in the parking lot and let the air out of her tires, or send a mash note to her table: "STFUA!"

Our cooking habits this summer have followed a peculiar pattern. First we go the farmer’s market when ravenous (always a bad idea), then we impulse-buy produce, and finally at home we wonder: what sort of a meal could we possibly fashion out the eclectic collection of ingredients now sprawled out all over our kitchen?

Just because it's a modest storefront doesn't mean it's a hole in the wall. Au contraire, mes amis. Two new spots in Belltown--both French--forgo pomp in favor of hospitality.

Seattlest isn’t really a discriminating diner. We don’t have a sophisticated palate. We don’t demand impeccable service. If we get what we order, the food is reasonably priced and tasty, and the wait staff leans friendly, we’re content. We do, however, expect near-perfection from new restaurants. And fair, unbiased criticism from those who evaluate them. After reading a “first look” review of new Ballard eatery Austin Cantina, and subsequently eating there Saturday night with our chicken fried steak-loving friend, we felt duped on both counts.

There's an article bemoaning our pending loss of Daly's Drive-In in Eastlake in the Post Intelligencer today (with accompanying blog item--probably both inspired by a slightly previous blog item from the Stranger) headlined "Popular drive-in on way out." The thing is, Daly's isn't popular. It should be, and it was, but it isn't.

Rachel Hynes is a former barista and yet still enjoys spending time in espresso places. She reviews them for us.

Substitute restaurant reviewer Leslie Kelly has reached the end of her stint at the Post-Intelligencer and Managine Editor David McCumber (among many, many others) is breathing a huge sigh of relief. How'd this kid from Spokane end up in a big-city newsroom, anyway? Hsaio-Ching Chou, who signed off on the deal for Kelly to cover Rebeka Denn's "family leave," ain't around to answer, having gone off to PR-land. But Kelly's six-month tenure leaves a mound of unhappiness.

A year ago, under the headline "Eatin' Good Outside the Hood," we wrote about dinner at Union Bay Café in Laurelhurst. Couple of months later, owner-chef Mark Manley announced he's closing down: "After 21 years, it's time to move on." Gulp.

The food news may seem depressing, but there's hope. Bear with us.

Once upon a time, we had a nice boyfriend with whom we discovered Szechuan Noodle Bowl, a veritable gem in the International District. We ate noodles, we held hands, we gazed into each others’ eyes. But somewhere along the line, it seemed that not all of the times were as good as those we spent at the Noodle Bowl and sadly, we were...let go. Now, getting dumped was painful, but giving up Szechuan Noodle Bowl would have been insupportable. We resolved to go at once with our friends and family and rid the Noodle Bowl of its aura of failed romance.

When will they learn, those pretentious New Yawk snots? With the solemnity befitting the announcement of a cure for cancer, the NYTimes reports that three Gotham spots now serve Montreal's beloved junk food, poutine. Whazzat? Duh: french fries with cheese curds and gravy, dumbo.

Last year we lamented a less-than-stellar meal at a forgettable Japanese restaurant, wishing we’d instead gone to ol’ reliable: Takohachi. Especially after an active day, we crave the salty goodness of the grilled mackerel dish known as saba shioyaki, or saba-shio for short.

National dining correspondent Kyle Anderson has the scoop on a great place to stuff yourself this afternoon

Princess Cruises and Holland America are both currently in a kind of limbo in Seattle. They use Terminal 30 by Harbor Island which the Port wants to convert back to something that can be used by container ships. The plan is to move the cruise berths to Terminal 91 in Magnolia where they can be properly outfitted with shore power and whatnot, but the cruise lines aren't excited about it because that will mean a bigger moorage bill for them and they'll have to schlep their passengers that much farther from the airport. Last month the Port announced that it was delaying the project, uh, until construction prices come down? Does the Port know something we don't? Construction prices don't come down.

If you missed Reggie Wilson's group at On the Boards a few weeks ago, you have the chance to not only make up for it, but to add three other stellar choreographers and one of Seattlest's favorite dance companies to the bill. Opening this evening at Meany Hall as a part of UW's World Series, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company performs the Seattle premiere of colôr-ógrăphy, n. the dances of Jacob Lawrence. There have been many works of dance inspired by works of art (and obviously, vice versa), but this strikes us as one of the most inspired and poignant pairings we've heard of. We've long been a fan of Lawrence's ability to craft narrative and emotion with simple graphic representations peppered with explosions of color and implied motion (his "Ironers" hangs in our dining room, still by far our favorite).

A long line before a restaurant’s opening time often speaks volumes to the quality of the ensuing dining experience.

The first thing we noticed when we got to Egan’s Ballard Jam House on Saturday was that the place was designed by architects from Mattel, with parts left over from Barbie’s last house. The front room is as roomy as the backseat of a Volvo. The main dining/concert room is like an elongated hallway with a stage built into one wall. Even before the band started, the placed felt packed; this was because there were 31 people there (we counted).

Times are good for folks with new Italian restaurants (Sorrentino, Tavolata, Barolo, La Spiga, Bèato): lively, fiercely independent, stamped with the vibrant personalities of their owners. And then there's the local outpost of Il Fornaio at Pacific Place, a chain that's been around for years, putting its own stamp on regional Italian cuisine with a monthly "culinary festivals."