Savouring Seattle - Final Chapter

I have to say, for a rainy weekend, Seattle sure was dry and sunny-ish for most of our stay! We could have sat in our hotel room and waited for the sun to properly set into the distance, but we had more eating to do!

Flying Fish was recommended to us as a good place to experience true Seattle seafood, and my goodness were they ever right! The restaurant itself had a slightly industrial feel, with high ceilings, exposed pipes and light fixtures, walls of windows toward the dark street in the background.


The halibut was fresh, straight out of the ocean, and prepared with full respect for the flavours and textures of the fish itself. The carrots retained their bite next to the pillowy soft flesh of the fish.

My scallops were gently caramelized and served with buttery soft and smooth puree of turnip. The crispy pancetta added salt and crispiness to this delicious dish. If I could have it weekly, I would! It sure satisfied all of my needs in one dish, sweet, salty, crispy, soft... And then the delicious centre of a not fully cooked through scallop. Is there anything better?







But the star of the show, if the scallops did not take home the trophy, was truly the chocolate lava cake dessert. They could have skipped the chocolate sable, the lava cake shines bright enough to light up the whole restaurant. It spoke directly to my very chocolate loving heart. The vanilla ice cream sat on a crunchy chocolately crumble, and the espresso syrup held it all together. We've all had less than perfect chocolate desserts out and about, but if you are in the Seattle area and looking for chocolate dessert, I have found it for you! 

Our Saturday night ended on a high dark chocolate flavoured note. Only a few short hours of Sunday left of our Seattle eating extravaganza! And only one more area on our list left undiscovered...

Seattle's International District is kinda like a Chinatown. But not like Vancouver's Chinatown. Unfortunately. We walked all the way from our hotel to the International District, craving amazing dim sum in new surroundings. The sun was shining and the wind was extremely cold, but we couldn't figure out why there were no buses along the street, our concierge had said it ran along this street and ended up in the International District. Only later did we discover the underground bus system of Seattle, remarkable and probably all thanks to the old underground network mentioned in Seattle part 2.

Arriving in the International District early on a Sunday morning was rather dull. Where were all the people? Where were all the good restaurants? Nothing was open, and those that were open had maybe 2 out of 6 tables occupied. Not exactly the kind of place we were looking for. Now we were HUNGRY, after our long walk and the thought of dim sum, so we were almost at the point of giving up and giving in to one of the less desirable places along the way... But then, we turned a corner, and as if by magic, there appeared a restaurant in front of us, with a huge line up: Jade Garden Restaurant! Ironically, the owners are from Richmond, BC, just another hint at Richmond being the best place in the North West for true Chinese cuisine... That, and the fact that our Vancouver favourite is Jade Dynasty on Pender, made us devote our Sunday brunch to Jade Garden Restaurant.

The sad part when I go for dim sum is that I cannot stop to take pictures. Inner monsters take over, jump out and start eating before I even gather my thoughts to think of it as another picture opportunity. Rice rolls with shrimp, shrimp dumplings, turnip cake (steamed or pan fried, depending on my mood du jour), vegetable dumplings, I just can't help it. (I really should go see a shrink about it. That and chocolate.) All I can tell you is that dim sum at Jade Garden Restaurant is good quality dim sum. It is an authentic Cantonese dim sum restaurant, where the service is minimal, the steam baskets are hot, the trolleys are loaded to beyond their capacity, the servers are expert acrobats maneuvering between packed tables of happy families busy eating.

Full from dim sum and still managing to dodge the rain clouds, we make our way back to our hotel. We have to check out, and with some hours to spare, we make it down to Pike Place Market one last time. What a place, what a market, what an experience. One last attempt at a picture of the both of us.

But wait! We have to eat something before getting on the train again! Hmm... I could have sworn we missed at least one of Tom Douglas' restaurants, and what would you know, they're all conveniently located close to our hotel! I once mentioned Serious Pie to someone I know from Seattle, and his eyes lit up. Literally. Taken completely out of context and in a different country, those two words create emotions in people.

Serious Pie is a small restaurant that is serious about their pies. A small menu that focuses on doing a few pizzas seriously well. Unfortunately with pizza comes garlic, so my choices were limited. But their Penn Cove clams pizza is naturally garlic free and, lucky for us, seriously good! Crispy crust, well seasoned toppings and their own house pancetta - a very serious pie! Tasty pizza, good atmosphere, and I wish we'd had more time and bigger stomachs...

And so ends our Seattle foodie safari anno 2012. We look forward to returning next year for new and old flavourful favourites! We took Amtrak back up to Vancouver and returned to our daily grind, and tried to recreate some of the flavours of Seattle in words, in the hopes that you'll get tempted and try some out too.

Now, let's get talking about some Vancouver favourites... What are yours?

Seattle's got me by the tastebuds! Part 2

It's Friday night in Seattle. The clouds are threatening to open up and soak everything, everywhere. We cautiously brought an umbrella and set out from our hotel to our dinner destination for the night. We have been talking about this restaurant for a whole year, since we last visited Seattle and did not (gasp!) visit this place. I'm talking about... The Crab Pot.

Just look how festive their beverages are!! Joe was feeling extra adventurous this evening and decided to go with a Pirate's Punch. I prefer my fun drinks frozen and served with a souvenir glass so that I can attempt to recreate the feast at home, complete with one Crab Pot (plastic) glass. 

The Crab Pot is amazing for so many reasons, it's going to be hard to not write on for days about them.

1. After we order, they bring a mallet, a cutting board and bibs. BIBS! We get to tie plastic souvenir bibs around our necks and take fun pictures - this is going to be GREAT!
2. Drinks are tasty!
3. No garlic? No problem! Our feast is served without the regular sprinkling of secret spice mix, although Joe gets a little portion of it on the side, in case he wants to dip the goods in extra flavours! (He didn't actually end up doing this, as the seafood in itself was SUPERB and did not need the added garlic, salt, etc.)
4. When our food had been prepared by the chefs, it was brought to our table and POURED OUT IN A BIG PILE IN FRONT OF US. I'm sorry. It was just ridiculously original. Look, my food's on the table! Pardon the plate on the side, it stemmed from a starter that was totally and utterly overshadowed by the feast ahead. The starter had garlic, so I just had a nibble. I'm sure it was good. I just couldn't have it.
5. The crab. Both the dungeness crab and the snow crab were absolutely rocking delicious. We got to crack through both types of shell, figure out how to get the most flavour and meat out of the nooks and the crannies, and if we wanted to, there was melted butter to dip it into. We didn't want to. None of the food needed it, really.
6. The shrimp (shell on), the clams, the mussels. It was all so fresh, so good, so fun! The fillers were corn on the cob (delish), andouille sausage (garlic alert) and red skinned potatoes. The only thing remaining after we feasted until we could feast no more, was potatoes and andouille.

After our Crab Pot adventure, as we stumble on back to our hotel, full of seafood and big smiles, we agree to make it a must-eat-here stop every time we visit Seattle... And the rain held back until we got home.


Breakfast is one of my favourite meals ever. Maybe it stems from working overnights in hotels, and going out with the other night owl girlies after work (8am) for a few mimosas and some good food before going home to sleep the day away? I don't know. That's my theory, and regardless how I got it, I am now addicted to great breakfasts and brunches.

In our room at the Westin Seattle, there was a magazine featuring breakfasts and brunches around Seattle. There were so many to choose from, but one restaurant in particular stood out to me: Toulouse Petit. I have forever wanted to visit New Orleans to discover their food scene, and suddenly, right there in Seattle, there was a chance to taste the South!

So garlic intolerance can really get in the way on so many occasions, Toulouse Petit included. Luckily, Joe ordered the Spicy Shrimp Creole and Eggs over Creamy Grits so that I could at least taste it. I had to "make due" with the most wonderfully creamy and sweet and luscious Crème Caramel French Toast. I am a sucker for french toast at the best of times, but here they've combined it with flavours and textures of Crème Caramel! HEAVEN on a plate, with a pear caramel sauce, pecan butter and fresh strawberries.

We also tried their freshly made beignets with chicory anglaise, as I hear that is what one does should one be in New Orleans, and we kinda were. Yummilicious! Oh, and did I mention, wholeheartedly recommended!?


So once we regained the ability to move after our wonderful breakfast at Petit Toulouse, we snuggled under an umbrella while walking back towards downtown, we had some shopping to do at Pike Place Market. Right across the street from the market there's usually a barbershop quartet, without the barbershop. They sing to entertain people lining up for the first ever Starbucks, the one and only, the original location. Yup, it's still there. It's not big, nor flashy. It doesn't look as good as most modern Starbucks. And it serves the same coffee, tea, or whatever you may fancy. The line up is long and the wait for your beverage is longer. But I've been there, and I had a beverage from there, so yay!


What else does one do in Seattle? We were heading for an underground tour, as we were curious about what could be found underneath the streets. Bill Speidel's Underground Tour took us to Pioneer Square, an area we had yet to discover in Seattle. As we hadn't had lunch yet, we were on the look out for a place to eat close to the tour starting point. When we bought our tickets, we also got a discount voucher for the Underground Cafe, AND, if you purchase something from the cafe, you automatically get priority seating for the tour. I don't think I would look the Underground Cafe up for any other reason than good seats for the beginning of the tour, but there you go. The burger filled a hole, the hot dog could have been from Ikea, and when I started writing this installment of our Seattle tour, I couldn't even remember where we had lunched that day.

Bill Speidel's Underground Tour takes you below the streets of Seattle. Without getting into too much detail, the original Seattle was built on a flood plain, and sewage came back in with the tide twice daily. The sewage system improved in stages, and at one point, you were only safe from further nasty flooding if your house was built slightly higher up than that of your neighbour's house. All in all, what remains today is a network of hollow sidewalks, between basements of buildings and the propped up, solid streets. Our guide had a story teller's heart, and we could have wandered on and listened for many more hours. We laughed, listened and exclaimed "EWW!" at all the right places.


And so ends the second part of our Seattle adventures. One more part to come, before I leave Seattle be until next year, when we hope to go back for some more Crab Pot and Toulouse Petit, for sure!