A Sweet Sisterly Seattle Weekend

Seven, nine, two hundred and twenty-six point five.  These were respectively, the number of gastro-locales visited, hours spent in the wonderful Emerald City, as well as the accumulated number of kilometers traveled.  We strolled (the wonderful streets of downtown Seattle), we ate (more accurately, gorged) and we conquered (the surprisingly short border waits).

top row (from left to right):

1 - Our wonderful Trader Joe's haul
2 - Coconut Cream Pie Bites, Dahlia Bakery
3- Beef and Onion Piroshky, Piroshky Piroshky
4 - Top Pot doughnuts
5 - The ever lovable Pike Place Market

bottom row (from left to right): 

6 - Combo vermicelli with grilled pork, chicken, shrimp, spring rolls, Green Leaf
7 - Macarons, Le Panier Very French Bakery
8 - 'World's Best Mac n Cheese', Beecher's Handmade Cheese
9 - Flagship, basil and tomato grilled cheese, Beecher's Handmade Cheese
10 - Pizza with sweet fennel sausage, roasted peppers, provolone, Serious Pie

** I apologize for the inconveniently small photos as the layout of my template would not allow for bigger photos! Sorry!

Pigging out in PORTLAND :8)

Hi all!

To sum it up, the gastronomical adventures that we embarked upon in Portland were beyond spectacular.  And by spectacular, I mean the fact that til this day, I still dream of those wings from Pok Pok's.  Unfortunately, time and stomach constraints prevented us from trying more but a trip back to Portland this summer is definitely in the works!  I feel an immediate need to sample more of the food carts, especially the more popular ones, since Portland is practically a food cart haven. As well, if some of the joints listed below seem somewhat familiar to you, that's because they are! This trip was particularly Food Network-driven (specificially, Triple D's aka Diners, Drive-ins and Dives driven).  To say that the overzealous disposition that Guy Fieri exhibits is an understatement.  The dude can make anything look and taste good, lol!

Please fasten up your seatbelts as I take you on a (though, short but) whirlwind tour of just a fraction of Portland's culinary gems!

These should seriously be renamed as "THE wings"

Pok Pok:

-Southeast Asian cuisine
-Arguably the #1 "must-eat" spot in Portland
-No resos accepted - sibling resto-lounge located across the street where you are welcomed to have a drink while waiting for a table at Pok Pok's
-Absolutely cannot miss: Ike's Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings - named one of the Top 10 Restaurant Dishes in America by Food & Wine Magazine in 2007 as well as the excellently-crafted cocktails

Overall: 9/10

Pork Belly Cubano

Bunk Sandwiches:

-Gourmet sandwiches

-Favourites: Pork Belly Cubano, Roast Beef

-very limited seating

-very busy during lunch hours though the line moves pretty fast!

-Overall: 7.8/10

Masu Sushi:

-modern setting in a very spacious room equipped with a bar housed in the centre

-Japanese fusion incl. innovative sushi rolls

-$$

Favourites: Mount St. Helen's roll, Japanista roll

-Overall: 7.9/10

Mount St. Helen roll

Voodoo Doughnuts:

-almost-guaranteed line-ups (we waited approx. 20 mins)
-the doughnuts themselves aren't the best in taste per se, but seriously, where else can you find Captain Crunch, Fruit Loops, bacon, etc. on a donut with names like ODB and other provocatively similar monikers...
-yes, there is a lot of hype about this place, that's why you need to come and see if it is worth all the hype! lol
-Overall: 7.6/10

Blue Plate Lunch Counter:

-Favourites: Northwest Sliders (Triple D-approved), Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Tomato Soup, House Sodas!!!
-I would call this place a definite gastro-diner (not your typical run-down, average-tasting diner)
-Overall: 7.8/10

Devoured and demolished! lol

 

Food Carts:


Aybla Grill:
-Mediterranean & Greek fare
-had a chicken gyro (didnt remember many specifics of it but remembered it tasted really good!!!)
-Overall: 7.8/10

Enchilada with beans & rice

Tito's Burritos:

-Mexican

-Enchilada Combo Plate (with rice and beans): less than $6
-authentic & delicious!!!

-AWESOME value!!!!!

-Overall: 8/10

The Dump Truck:



Mr. Ma's Special: pork, ginger, scallions
8 for $6 (not bad! I think we ended up getting 9)



-Delicious, homemade, generously-filled dumplings (more like potstickers!)
-Limited selection of dumplings

-Innovative ingredients: Bacon double cheese (yes! you read it right!), Portabellos, rice noodles and ginger

-Nice selection of accompanying sauces (always a 'plus' in my books!)

-Overall: 8.5/10

 

Posted by: J





Whistler Eats!

This past weekend was spent up in the gloriously beautiful snowy slopes in Whistler in celebration of a dear friend's birthday.  It is one of the world's top ski resorts and a venue host to the 2010 Winter Olympic games (also, it was the destination where Seal proposed to Heidi Klum in a custom-fitted igloo).  Whistler is the perfect spot for your winter getaway, summer getaway (ziptrekking, anybody?) as well as home to fine culinary spots for tourists and non-tourists alike (hello, remember Hell's Kitchen being filmed at Araxi? Yeahh, thought so!)

best. brunch. ever.

Though no visits to fancy restaurants were planned or expected (Araxi will have to wait), a memorable brunch was had, indeed.  Conveniently located in the Summit Lodge and Spa, right in the Whistler village, Elements was nowhere near a disappoint.  It was here where I had the most perfect brunch ever- a Sauteed Spinach and Goat Cheese Eggs Benedict topped off with a sundried tomato hollandaise.  The eggs were perfectly poached and runny, there was a generous amount of spinach and goat cheese and I loved the sundried tomato touch to the perfectly-composed hollandaise sauce.  Throw in their signature potato tartlet with a dollop of their chive creme fraiche as well as a shooter-size sample of their breakfast smoothie - this meal had my tummy and appetite beaming for the rest of the trip! 

Elements' Classic Breakfast

My dining companion opted for the Classic Breakfast which was fully equipped with two free run (scrambled) eggs, duck sausage, honey ham, 2 slices of their artisan bread and paired with once again, their signature potato tartlet and a smoothie shooter - a standard but healtheir and fancier version of the classic breakfast!

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Wings
in a garlic butter hot sauce

In the evening, we visited the Whistler Brewhouse - a sibling restaurant to Yaletown Brewing Co. in Yaletown here in Vancouver.  It was exactly how I expected it to be - a loud, enormously spacious, dual (or multi) level restaurant fit for small and large parties, as well as the perfect venue to catch a hockey game.  As a starter, we shared the Crispy Buttermilk Fried Chicken Wings in a garlic butter hot sauce.  The batter was thick and crispy and served as a nice, flaming start to the meal.  For my entree, I went for the Bang-Bang Chicken Salad with romaine lettuce, oriental vegetables (loved the shitake mushrooms!), roasted cashews and dressed in a sesame-soy vinegarette.  I loved the crunchiness of the romaine lettuce and cashews paired with the sweet flavours of the sesame dressing. 

Bang Bang Chicken Salad

Though not very many culinary destinations were explored on this quick mini getaway.  The food aspect of it was definitely satisfying and is to be continued until my next Whistler adventure!

Vivaaaaaaaaa Miami!

In the land of the superficial, the glitz, the glamour, the oozing night club scene, the South Beach diet, the vibrantly-coloured Art-deco style architecture and everything in between...comes fine, delectable gastronomic finds. From Haitian to Japananese Pan-Latin cuisine - everything we tried was devoured (and demolished)! A sad regret was not being able to try out the Cuban cuisine in Miami (and thus had to resort to buying a Cuban sandwich of mediocore quality, as our last hope, before departure). All in all, the food in Miami did not disappoint (after endless amounts of research, of course). :)

Here is a summary (in pictures) of our yummy, unforgettable Miami eats:

Miami Vices: Pina Colada & Strawbery Margarita
with a (not-so-pleasant) shot of rum in the middle

1st stop: Hard Rock Cafe for some good ol' American grub :)

Tuna Ceviche swimming in a chilled coconut-infused broth ...yum

Fried Gator Tails at Everglades' Gator Park

.... tastes juuust like chicken!

BEST gyozas i've had ..to date: Duck Confit Gyozas with spicy ponzu sauce

BBQ Pulled Pork at Sun Life Stadium!

Arepas!
Cornmeal pancakes sandwiched with mozarella cheese! SO GOOD





Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy Bar with buttered popcorn ice cream

Spicy Crab Mix & Chorizo-Stuffed Calamari

Kobe Beef Tartare...cost an arm & a leg, but soo worth it!

a 'this little oinky' vacay trip is not complete without trying
the local fusion rolls!!!



Scrumpdillyicious Seattle!

Scoe and I recently took a road trip down south to check out the flourishing culinary scene of Seattle, also known as the home which bred Starbucks, Microsoft, and Nordstroms (betcha didn’t know that! ). Prior to the roadtrip, I had been researching (endlessly) a countless number of food blogs-mostly from the Urban Spoon site. To my surprise, the number of food bloggers (in my opinion) greatly outnumbered the ones currently found here, in Vancouver. For a while, I must admit that I was kinda addicted to reading the food blogs from Seattle. That sparked an immediate interest and urge (as well as a well-composed (I must say) spreadsheet of ‘Places to Eat in Seattle’.

The hardest task was of course, narrowing the places down from 20+ to about, 5-6. From fusion Vietnamese cuisine to Italian cured-meat sandwiches and fusion food carts (Korean tacos, anyone?), it was not easy, I tell ya!

Alas, the resulting destinations that would be blessed by J & Scoe’s presence (haha) were: Umi Sake House- a hip, trendy, sake and innovative sushi restaurant/bar, Pike Place Clam Chowder- a central locale known for their assorted types of chowders, Brouwer’s Café – a “gastro-pub” known for its fine selection of European beers and Belgian fare, Po’Dogs – a new little joint featuring ‘gourmet’ hot dogs with toppings you would not typically see on your average dog, Txori - a tiny little bar in Belltown offering tapas dishes of Spanish descent, and finally the Original Pancake House – an American chain which serves your typical breakfast fare…with a few specialities


Don’t wanna write tooo lengthy of a post here – hopefully a few notes on each place will suffice :)

Umi Sake House

- huge, trendy restaurant known esp. for their special rolls and diff. concoctions of sake-based drinks

- located in the heart of downtown

- excellent, excellent fresh sushi (although it comes with a price!)

- service was average, nothing to boast about, rating 9/10

from left to right: Thunderball roll, Hotter than Hell, Street Fighter Roll, Moonraker Roll

Pike Place Clam Chowder

- popular chowdah joint known for their variations of chowders
- tourist trap, in my opinion – there are so many similar joints alike, in the market, that would serve better quality chowders
- pricey, pricey, pricey
- limited seating
- service is average, at best

- rating: 7/10

Brouwer’s Café:

- restaurant/pub offering above average food of Belgian descent
- located 10-15 mins. of a drive from d/t
- tasty pomme frites with numerous mayo choices, though mussels were disappointingly small!!! 

- rating: 7.5/10

Po’Dogs

- relatively new joint offering tasty, gourmet hot dogs
- offers beer
- prices aren’t tooo bad
- the bun is one that acts sort of like a shell/cushion for the weiner – one that would prevent the weiner from slipping! You would really experience the benefits of this while you're eating this, hehe

- rating: 8/10




Txori

- nice little Spanish tapas bar ideal for a small group of friends or a casual, romantic date!

- delectable cocktails, heavenly tapas & main dishes

- 10-15 mins. drive from d/t (located in Belltown)

- Rating: 8.5/10

Original Pancake House

- American chain that serves your typical breakfast fare…with a few specialites including the Dutch Baby and the ginormous apple pancakes (which I ordered)
- warm, friendly service
- left us feeling more-than-satisfied :)
                                                       - rating: 7.5/10



On the drive home, we also stopped in Bellingham to try out a Mexican joint that was recommended by one of Scoe’s friends:

Mi Mexico

- conveniently located across from the Bellis Fair Mall
- vast menu, colourful ambience, friendly service
- huge, huge portions
- pretty tasty Mexican fare
- authentic
-rating: 7.3/10


** All in all, a successful trip! Perhaps, another trip to Seattle will be in the works for the future...considering that there are still 20+ places left on our list that were left untried.  Thank you, Seattle!


Love,


foodmatik :)