Seattle

pomegranate cocktails

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diva quaranta

The other night we had the honor of attending a rather lively party that started out at the Chapel Bar (a funeral home in a previous incarnation) in Seattle. I’m always hesitant about ordering a mixed drink at a new place until I know they know what they’re doing, so I started with a Hendrick’s on the rocks with cucumber, always a safe choice.

Chapel Bar

But once I had tasted someone else’s The Carpenter and the Walrus (bourbon and sweet tea with bitters, surprisingly good), I realized Chapel seemed to have a grip on their cocktails, so I ordered a Pomegranate. It was tequila, lime and pomegranate juice – a very nice combination, and one that kicked rather a wallop. The ladies next to me were drinking the same thing but with vodka, basically a tart Cosmo – it didn’t really do anything for me, I preferred the tequila. Soon after this, we made our escape, needing to sober up before the drive home.

pomegranate juice

But the notion of pomegranate juice in a cocktail was an excellent one, inviting further experimentation. Continue reading →

Dinette

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Dinette

The other day I saw a thread on Chowhound, discussing which restaurants people were most concerned about closing. One that was mentioned several times was Dinette, a place on lower Capitol Hill that has been on my must-try list for far too long. We were in town this weekend for a dance concert, so we made sure to make it to Dinette for dinner.

Dinette

There was some difficulty finding a parking space, and we ended up in the Diamond parking lot at John and Summit, which impressively listed about four different rates for weekend parking. Pick your favorite?

Finding the restaurant was no problem, and getting a table was definitely no problem, as the place was nearly empty the entire time we were there. I hope for the restaurant’s sake they do a much brisker business later in the evening, because this is a wonderful place. Continue reading →

Poppy: a slightly grumpy report

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Poppy

I was really excited about this place when I first heard of it. Not only is it owned by the former chef at the Herbfarm (a place we’ve never scraped together enough moolah to go) but the central conceit of the place revolves around a daily tasting menu served all at once, called a thali. It sounded really cool, a very gourmet take on Indian food, like Vij’s in Vancouver. That’s not really what it was like, though.

Just to get them out of the way, I’ll tell you the three things I didn’t like about Poppy. I felt rushed, my drink wasn’t very good, and I didn’t think the different items on the thali went together very well. There, I said it. Most of the food was very good and the service was attentive, but I just didn’t have the dining experience I was hoping for. I admit, though, my expectations were pretty high.

Poppy Continue reading →

Smith in the morning

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Smith
Smith

CAPITOL HILL, SEATTLE: Stumptown coffee, dead animals nailed to the walls, mimosas served in juice glasses, and some of the ugliest portraits I’ve been lucky enough to see – this is my kinda brunch place. Actually, Smith seems like more of a bar than a restaurant, but if they’re cool with being open at ten on a Saturday morning then I’m happy to eat there.

Smith

It’s not one of those sunny, yellow, cheery brunch places. The walls are dark, the woodwork is dark, the main windows face west, and the waitstaff had a humorously morose air at being awake so early. Plus the aforementioned dead animals. The coffee was insanely strong. Continue reading →

drink of the week: Dragon's Toe

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Liberty bar

I’m not always a big fan of cocktails. I love the idea, and the fun of watching a bartender put something together for me, but so often the end result just makes me wish I’d ordered a glass of gin on the rocks. Too sweet, too bitter, or just plain weird – what’s the point? I generally stick to one of a few old-style drinks (whiskey sour, sidecar, gin martini, etc) unless I feel like the bartender really knows his or her business.

Last week we stopped into a bar on Capitol Hill called Liberty. We were on our way to Poppy for dinner (more on that later) and wanted to spend some quality time with a good drink first. Liberty has one of the longest cocktail lists I have ever seen, and it’s real stuff – not just sugary vodka in martini glasses, one of my major peeves. It looked promising, so we boldly ordered off the menu. Being the gin hussy that I am, I ordered the Aviation Old-fashioned (gin, two kinds of bitters, a big honking strip of orange zest), and Jon ordered something called a Dragon’s Toe.

Liberty bar

I liked my drink; in fact, it grew on me as I drank it to the point that I really missed it once it was gone. But the Dragon’s Toe was love at first sip. See the ingredients on the menu in the picture? Bourbon, ginger water, ginger ale, and cucumber. Sounds weird, tastes magnificent. The spicy sweetness of the bourbon is magnified by the spicy ginger and sweet ginger ale, and the cucumber cools it all down without clashing. Who woulda thunk?

drink of the week: Dragon’s Toe

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Liberty bar

I’m not always a big fan of cocktails. I love the idea, and the fun of watching a bartender put something together for me, but so often the end result just makes me wish I’d ordered a glass of gin on the rocks. Too sweet, too bitter, or just plain weird – what’s the point? I generally stick to one of a few old-style drinks (whiskey sour, sidecar, gin martini, etc) unless I feel like the bartender really knows his or her business.

Last week we stopped into a bar on Capitol Hill called Liberty. We were on our way to Poppy for dinner (more on that later) and wanted to spend some quality time with a good drink first. Liberty has one of the longest cocktail lists I have ever seen, and it’s real stuff – not just sugary vodka in martini glasses, one of my major peeves. It looked promising, so we boldly ordered off the menu. Being the gin hussy that I am, I ordered the Aviation Old-fashioned (gin, two kinds of bitters, a big honking strip of orange zest), and Jon ordered something called a Dragon’s Toe.

Liberty bar

I liked my drink; in fact, it grew on me as I drank it to the point that I really missed it once it was gone. But the Dragon’s Toe was love at first sip. See the ingredients on the menu in the picture? Bourbon, ginger water, ginger ale, and cucumber. Sounds weird, tastes magnificent. The spicy sweetness of the bourbon is magnified by the spicy ginger and sweet ginger ale, and the cucumber cools it all down without clashing. Who woulda thunk?

a progressive dinner

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Matt's in the Market

We had tickets to a rock concert on Friday night in Seattle, so we took advantage of the location to do a sort of pub crawl around the Pike Place Market beforehand. We had intended to start out at Elliott’s Oyster House for happy hour, for a real touristy sort of experience, but the place was jammed with people. Instead, we wandered up the hill climb to Le Pichet, our favorite French cafe.

Le Pichet

They had plenty of room, so we got a demi-pichet of Cotes de Gascogne white wine and a dish of very stinky olives, along with a sweet crunchy baguette. It was a perfect way to settle into the evening.

Le Pichet

Le Pichet

By the time we’d worked our way through the bread and olives, it was 5 o’clock, so we went back down through the market to give Zig Zag Cafe a try. I’ve heard nothing but great things about the cocktails here, and have been meaning to try it out for ages.

Continue reading →

Joule again

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dinner at Joule

Ever since our first visit to Joule, we’ve been anxiously awaiting a chance to go again. Honestly, wouldn’t you want to patronize a place that offers bacon butter on a baguette? I have to admit, though, we didn’t order that this visit. Had to leave something for next time.

This was a surprise dinner out – my parents got last-minute tickets to Aida and we all decided to go out together. Four people turned out to be a great number for Joule, since we got to try a lot of different things, but each dish split four ways quite easily. We drank a bottle of very affordable verdejo and had a great time.

dinner at Joule
dinner at Joule

We started with two salads: the “Bloody Mary” with tomatoes and pickled okra, and a mizuna salad with buttermilk dressing, roasted grapes, sliced radishes and whole mint leaves. Both salads were bright and acidic, very refreshing on a hot afternoon. Continue reading →