Category Archives: seattle

party cheese is in the house tonight

Posted on February 9, 2012 by emily| 1 Comment

I never win anything!

Or should I say, I almost never win anything!

Because I totally won something this week!!! Not, like, a beachfront mansion or a new Jeep Wrangler or anything (IF ONLY, right?), but: a $50 gift card to Metropolitan Market! I entered my business card in a drawing at the Seattle Foodportunity food writers networking event a few nights ago. Lo and behold, I received an email saying that I won! ME! Won something. Amazing.

So the real question is, what do I do with $50? I mean, that’s a few bottles of decent wine right there. But that’s such an obvious answer, you know? So I started thinking, what would I like to spend $50 on at the grocery store but would normally never treat myself to?

happening

every day I'm shufflin'

Then I remembered a conversation (okay, multiple conversations, let’s be honest) my friend Sonya and I have had regarding cheese. Namely, wheels of cheese. Those massive ones you see at specialty markets, where you can buy just a slice for a reasonable price, or spend like $80 and get the whole gigantic wheel – something I have never seen anyone do. Sonya and I often joke about having a “wheel of cheese party” where we just invest in a big wheel of cheese and tell everyone to bring a bottle of wine, then blast some LMFAO, and then all our guests just jam out and eat one huge orb of cheese all night long.

The best, most hardcore party, right?!

me: Maybe this is a sign that I should buy that wheel of cheese
Christa: hahahahha. omg did you watch HIMYM??? because it involves a huge wheel of gouda that Lily buys on the internet.
me: NO, I DIDN’T WATCH IT YET
me: THIS IS ALL SO SERENDIPITOUS
me: DID I SPELL THAT RIGHT
Christa: YES I THINK YOU DID

This is my chance. My chance to celebrate over a monumental wheel of cheese. I think it will be $50 well-spent. The problem (if we can call too many parties a “problem”) is that I already have my birthday parties (multiple) and Oscar party coming up this month. Can I somehow fit an ocean of cheese into this equation?!

I owe it to myself to try.

 

StumbleUponShare

→ 1 Comment

Posted in food, seattle

skillet diner (or, die-ner)

Posted on August 15, 2011 by emily| Leave a comment

“Do you think if I ate here every day, I would die?”
“We all die eventually, Emily.”
“I mean, obviously someday I’ll die no matter what, but if I ate here every day, would I die faster? And more deliciously?”
“…yeah, probably.”

After a Saturday night of extensive cocktail sampling in Belltown,  Bunny and I met Shawna and Katie for a very necessary brunch at Skillet Diner on Capitol Hill. I’m sure many of you know Skillet as that airstream food trailer with the amazing bacon jam burger. What you might not know is that they opened their very own full service restaurant, and it is to DIE for.

Once the initial spicy, garden-fresh Bloody Marys (Maries?) were ordered, the smorgasbord began. I chose their breakfast sandwich, complete with house-made guanciale (basically pork jowl bacon), eggs over easy, American cheese, and a huge biscuit. I had to eat this sucker open-faced. Refreshingly, it was paired with a salad instead of potatoes. I don’t think this dish needed any more greasy goodness.

But let’s not get too excited about the merits of the side salad, because Shawna’s meal completely owned all of us. First of all, she got the fried chicken sandwich (fennel-encrusted fried chicken, jalapeno aioli, and kale on potato bread) – something I already knew was amazing from sampling it at Voracious earlier this year. The real star of the show, though, was her side of poutine fries. I mean… HONESTLY.

Also clogging my arteries while simultaneously improving my outlook on life was the ultimate grilled cheese, with brie, cheddar, and American cheese on brioche toast. Don’t you dare think we didn’t decide to add Skillet’s signature bacon jam.

Finally, Bunny ordered the deconstructed beef hash with fingerling potatoes, fennel, roasted onions, carrots, and fried eggs… but, true confession: I was so obsessed with eating the mountain of poutine that I neglected to take a picture of the hash. I promise it was beautiful and delicious as well, though.

The question on everyone’s minds: after a long afternoon of beers at the Mariners game and cocktails at Toulouse, did Shawna, Katie, and I hang out in Shawna’s car and scarf down the cold poutine leftovers out of our to-go box?

Um… no… no, we did not.

StumbleUponShare

→ Leave a comment

Posted in restaurants, seattle

Tagged , , , ,

it’s national s’mores day!

Posted on August 10, 2011 by emily| Leave a comment

Well, the title says it all. It’s National S’mores Day! Or NSD, as it’s called in the more sophisticated culinary circles. Clearly today’s lunch calorie rations couldn’t be wasted on the salad I packed. We rounded up a group and headed to Dahlia Bakery, where they were doing the cutest streetside campfire.

Housemade marshmallows, cinnamon graham crackers, and your choice of milk or dark chocolate. I went the milk chocolate route.

Everyone knows I have a very weird thing for marshmallows. I LOVE THEM.

Ugh YUM! Thanks, Tom Douglas!

StumbleUponShare

→ Leave a comment

Posted in restaurants, seattle

Tagged , ,

now open: grace kitchen

Posted on August 10, 2011 by emily| 1 Comment

I was fortunate enough to garner an invite to the soft opening of Grace Kitchen, University Village’s newest restaurant addition. While I’m a bit suspicious of “mall food,” this definitely does not fit under that category. With a menu designed by Jerry Traunfeld of Poppy and Herbfarm fame, Grace features elevated comfort food, complete with Stumptown coffee, Macrina pastries, and top-shelf cocktails.

The whole comfort food trend has been around for a hot while now, sure, so how does Grace hold up in the genre? Here’s what we sampled:

To start, deviled eggs. Once again, major trend alert! I cannot tell you how many bars are featuring these snacks. I think my favorites are at Anchovies and Olives. Anyway, these were some delicious little bites as well, stuffed with smoked salmon, sour cream, and obviously a generous amount of dill on top. We liked.

Ham and manchego cheese croquettes were our second starter. (Is that an oxymoron?) Hot, greasy, cheesy, and salty – our table agreed that these guys would be the ultimate 2am drunk food. To me, the best part of this dish was the apricot-mustard dipping sauce. I could eat that like soup. Gross? Maybe. The only downfalls of this dish were: presentation could be a bit fancied up, and… more croquettes per order! (We had five in our order. Maybe we’re just greedy.)

Continue reading →

StumbleUponShare

→ 1 Comment

Posted in restaurants, seattle

Tagged , , ,

wasabi bistro, back and better than ever

Posted on July 28, 2011 by emily| Leave a comment

Business lunch at Wasabi Bistro this afternoon. They took like five bajillion years to renovate, but it was worth the wait. The decor is swanky and fun, full of clean designs and interesting choices. Most importantly, the sushi is as fresh, creative, and tasteful as it was in days of yore. Since reopening I have hit up Wasabi’s happy hour more times than I’d like to admit, and today’s meal was just as delicious.

Wasabi does happy hour every day from 4-6p and 11p-1a. Highly recommended. Or hit them up for a lavish lunch, if you’re eating on the company dime. Obviously.

StumbleUponShare

→ Leave a comment

Posted in restaurants, seattle

yeehaw! bravehorse tavern

Posted on June 28, 2011 by emily| 5 Comments

Everyone in Seattle knows that Southlake is blowin’ up these days. I would describe the hood as “up and coming,” but please, how cliche can you get?

It’s true, though.

Used to be that Feirabend was the only bar in the area that excited me, but hold your horses (pun intended, clearly) because there’s a new kid in town and he’s ready to get down!

Said kid is Tom Douglas, and he opened a restaurant mini-compound that includes Cuoco, Ting Momo, and my bar of the hour, Bravehorse Tavern. Much more laidback than most of Tom’s other endeavors, Bravehorse is the saloon of my cowgirl fantasies. As my boy Will Smith would say, we gon’ to the wild, wild west. Seriously, how many horseshoes, rustic wood accents, and whiskey specialty drinks can one place pack in?! Not to mention, the food is tasty and cheap! $6 for a perfectly good burger. Not to mention soft pretzels with myriad sauces, a great beer list, poppyseed coleslaw, and hand-dipped corndogs…

There’s peanut butter bacon dippin’ sauce in them thar hills.

I realize it’s weird how much I like cole slaw, but I really don’t care at this point.

Yippie-ki-yi-yay!

Oh, and there’s shuffleboard.

Bravehorse is so good that I went twice this week. And drank a $5 HH Equestrian both times. No regrets, just love. Giddyup!

StumbleUponShare

→ 5 Comments

Posted in booze, restaurants, seattle

Tagged , , , ,