Results tagged “restaurant”

"Delancey, Ballard, Seattle" by suomynona , from our Flickr pool

If Baguette Box is a little too gourmet for your budget, say hello to banh mi at Ballet. The sandwiches arrived a while ago, actually, but the menu took a while to show up. Ballet is a Vietnamese-fusion joint off Broadway on Pike Street on Capitol Hill. People who live and work in the Pike-Pine corridor use it like a cafeteria (the worn interior and cheap prices complete the effect).

We knew that SkyCity—yes, the restaurant in the Space Needle—attracted tourists, but never did we imagine that it would be Seattle’s highest-grossing independent restaurant in 2008, earning $15,116,739. That is more than 275,000 meals served over the course of the year. Who said something about a recession? We are suckers for a good view of the Seattle skyline, but come on, we know the Emerald City has some serious culinary talent that rivals the Space Needle's food--and maybe even the view.

We got a postcard on Saturday that there's a "Restaurant, Retailing & Business Seminar" today at 3 p.m. at Seattle Central Community College for businesses around the Capitol Hill light rail station. "Come learn proven techniques to increase sales and profits," it says, and is co-sponsored by the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce. Two restaurant consultants, a retail consultant, and an HR executive will be there to talk about taking orders over the noise from the backhoe...uh...branding and reducing employee theft.

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.

Well, sorta. Tuesday night, Seattlest hit West Seattle's Than Brothers (our favorite of all the branches, if only for the close-to-home location) to soothe our cold-ravaged sore throat with some tasty noodle soup. As usual, the service was insta-quick. The broth was a little bland, though we were veering toward that can't-taste-anything phase, so maybe it was us. (Did the small bowl recently become smaller? We got to the bottom and had room for more, which has never happened.) The cream puff was delicious. The cockroach crawling around on the checkout counter beside the tip tray? Not as good.

• CHS datamined the scoop on the newest new restaurant to hit Odd Fellows Hall, Tin Table: "We believe that food and wine should be an experience for the senses and a festival to spirit."
• Seattle Metblogs realized the hard, concrete fact that we all probably have been trying to avoid stubbing our emotional toe on: a decision on what to do about the Viaduct will never arrive. (In the meantime, Ballard is still holding out for a tunnel.)
• TechFlash reported on Amazon's economy-defying holiday traffic surge--their traffic was up 7 percent compared to December 2007. Though we wonder how much of that was Seattleites checking to see where their snowbound packages were.

    

As we were saying just yesterday, there's a new cafe in town. Oddfellows Cafe. They opened in the teeth of weather in the teens last night, so we thought we owed it to them to trudge down Broadway and take a look at the new digs. It's much more spacious inside than we expected, more like Smith than cozy little Volunteer Park Cafe. The menu was limited, thanks to the effects of snowy, icy streets on deliveries. But the bar was pouring cocktails, and the beef stew had already won some hearts. (Sidebar: since we were promised a "great value" on food, can we discuss the $6 side of French fries? Seems de trop, even with a "special sauce." You know, what with the ongoing "longest recession of the post-war era" and all?)

How to describe Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991) to an American public? Where to pigeonhole him? Part world-weary lounge lizard, part genius musician, he was the archetype of the French artist as intellectual and sexual predator. On television: heavy-lidded, cigarette, old in his youth yet youthful when his face became lined with years. On records: a voice that percolated through a haze of smoke. In person: consort of Brigitte Bardot, France Gall, Jane Birkin.

Venerable institution but family-run, very private. So we get this announcement: "In its 58-year Seattle history, Canlis Restaurant has been no stranger to being credited with “firsts”: team-style service, designing an open kitchen, pioneering what has become Northwest cuisine. Now, in a bold statement about how much the restaurant has evolved and its envisioned future, the Canlis family is holding its first-ever press conference to share momentous news." What can it be? Are they selling? Hiring their own new GM with an unpronounceable name? Will there be food? We'll let you know tomorrow.

Party-planning troika Seattlest and Seattle Metblogs, and CHS want to hold a special BlogsGiving Evening (TM) around mid-November, and we're soliciting suggestions for a venue that can hold about 75-100 thirsty and slightly hungry people and their iPhones, laptops, and digital cameras. If you or a venue you know would like to be part of this evening to benefit inter-blog amity and a local food bank, please drop us a line: editor at seattlest.com. Our operators are standing by!

As has been reported elsewhere, and in this morning's Neighborhood News Roundup, Capitol Hill's Cafe Presse has a new sidewalk deck. While we applaud outdoor seating long and often, this deck takes a big bite of the available sidewalk. What with curb parking (and car doors opening suddenly) and Presse's curb signs, you now have to curve all the way to the curb and pass single file.

We have no idea why there isn't an exclamation mark after new restaurant Olivar's name. It just seems natural. But there isn't, even though they must be excited to be open. We didn't go to the grand opening last night, but we could smell the kitchen and it made us very hungry.

Listening to KEXP the past few mornings, we heard an ad for 12th Ave's Trace Lofts that caught our attention, and not in a good way. Apparently, one of the establishments going into the condos' Trace North building is a Mexican restaurant. Named Barrio. Take it away, press release:

Now that the weather is finally get warmer, it's time to plan some summertime drinking. Enter The Saint, the new tequila bar/Mexican cantina from Havana owner Quentin Ertel. What was once the ugly (and scary) Wing Dome behemoth is now the soothingly sky blue building at the corner of Olive and Bellevue. Ertel describes his latest social club as:

a tequila bar that would appeal to afficionados of the good life; a place where the grapefruit juice is always squeezed fresh and the pace is a little slower; where the cocktails are built from a library of fine tequilas; where the cocina bustles with cooks making food from scratch. A place where a little bit of extra love goes into everything, an homage to the time-honored process of making one of the finest spirits on earth.

3) Shortly after Dick's opened, local cab drivers dubbed it Ricardo's Club 19 because of the 19¢ hamburgers. Local wisenheimers persuaded people to dress up and hit the new nightclub in town, inspiring dates to tell them "You're such a Ricardo." When hamburger prices rose to 22¢, the name followed suit. Today you can visit Ricardo's Club 120.

Last month, Ron from Beacon Hill commented that he prefers Roy's BBQ to the nearby Jones BBQ. This spurred us to get off our ass and finally check Roy's out. The verdict: hot damn, that's a good sandwich.

We’ve been through this before.

To begin with, the drinks were well-balanced and girly-sweet without being cloying. As to the noshes, we sampled seven of the restaurant's small plates, nearly half the appetizer menu ($8.50-$3.50). The Boom edamame puree was made for dippin' with homemade salty sweet potato crisps. We found the curry potato korokke to be a tad underwhelming, as we needed a little more oomph from the ginger creme fraiche, but our companion disagreed, describing the fried croquette as a "curry blast followed by a potato fist."

When we lived in LA we had no problem watching the Huskies play at Pauley Pavilion. We could just get in our car, hop on the 10, and presto, eight hours later we were in the building.

It seems time for the yearly Seattlest commentary on Paseo Caribbean Restaurant. But since they’re on their annual winter leave, this Seattlester traveled nearly 3,000 miles in search of a comparable Cuban sandwich. The destination: Miami’s El Palacio de los Jugos. The dish: a Medianoche. So how does Seattle’s sandwich stack up to a real Midnight Cuban?

For some reason, though we are committed Capitol Hill brunchers, we had not discovered what wonders Monsoon has going on in their little 19th Ave E hideaway. Behold, the Monsoon brunch menu (pdf)! Last Tuesday night, Eric and Sophie Bahn, the chefs, invited a passel of foodie blogging folk over to try out the brunch menu. You had people like Matthew aka the rootsandgrubs guy, Angela from the Stranger -- and somehow we made the...

We normally run from a restaurant that’s advertised as Chinese and American. Common sense, but it also dates back to a day in New Hampshire when we walked into “Judy’s (or whatever her name was) Chinese Restaurant” and were given dinner rolls and butter along with our menus.

Yesterday Seattlest said the following:

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

Seattlest and Mrs. Seattlest have been getting take out on Friday nights at Chantanee Family Thai Restaurant in Bellevue for almost 3 years and have found no better Thai restaurant on the Eastside. From time to time, we eschew the styrofoam containers and eat our meal in the gold and purple themed interior. The service? Efficient and friendly.

Monte Cristo: Baker's Restaurant and Sweet Parlor.

After 14 years as executive chef at Ray's Boathouse, Charles Ramseyer is leaving town. Bailing out. He's been recruited by celebrity restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow (TV's ) to open a new joint in Noo Yawk City called Wild Salmon. Opening day scheduled for April 6th. Charles says he's wants to bring the Pacific Northwest to Manhattan; meanwhile, he offers this advice to those he leaves behind:

KARAOKE: Wednesday night is always karaoke night at the Little Red Hen, an outpost of country music that's inexplicably smack dab in the middle of Volvo-driving, NPR-listening, holiday-tree-owning Green Lake. The crowd veers toward the early-20s spectrum, so if you need a break from parties where people discuss mortgages, the new Whole Foods, and their fucking jobs, this is the place to go. Tip: Bring cash so you can buy beer from the guy with the cooler instead of standing in a long line at the bar.

"I don’t venture north of even the cut, unless provoked." So said one Seattlest contributor when we asked what inspires us to turn our backs on downtown and drive north. Wimp.