Category Archives: Food

MOD Pizza: college munchies

Posted on by
Reply

MOD Pizza’s pizza must be what college students dream of. A pizza, with anything and everything on it, ready within a few minutes of ordering, for $6.88 + tax. It definitely feels like the kind of place that thrives in the college/tech town of Seattle, and especially around the University of Washington. The chain displays graffiti-stylized logos (‘Are you a MOD?’), papers for local bands on the walls, simple benches and booths, and blue/red/white pops of contrast. Alternative music blasts in the background. A can of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer ($1) is cheaper than the local, non-fountain soda. There’s a pile of foil-wrapped ho ho’s by the register in case you want something sweet to go with your savory. (They do have cinnamon knots, but I have yet to try them.)

The day I went in there was no one waiting in line, so I had my pizza ready within 4-5 minutes, and I grabbed a small booth in the corner. There are small plates for your pizza at each table, in case you had some weird idea of sharing. Forks and knives are available, but I usually don’t bother with them. The crust doesn’t work well with them, and the pizza’s never blisteringly hot.

Continue reading →

ART Restaurant and the infamous cheese counter

Posted on by
Reply

I adore cheese. I used to pack Cirrus cheese from Mt. Townsend Creamery in my field lunches. One of my all-time favorite foods is nachos, and I’m still sad I’m no longer near a Green Cactus, because I have yet to find a proper equivalent that’s not made by me. (Some days you just don’t want to turn the broiler on.) I’m a wuss towards the blues and the uber-aged stuff, but I’m quite content with good crostini and camembert, and I drag visiting friends to Beecher’s.

Ever since I’ve had enough time to actually hunt down good food in Seattle, I’ve been hearing about ART Restaurant and their cheese counter. I’m a loyal follower of Fran’s, and often visit the store adjacent to ART for my sugar fix. But it was always ‘next time’ for the cheese, because I usually had caramel at that point. This time, I trekked the arduous trip out to 1st and Union specifically with lactose in mind.

Continue reading →

Dishcrawl review, part II – pros and cons

Posted on by
Reply

As the first post was really long – and without pretty pictures – here are the overall impressions that I took away from my evening with Dishcrawl.

The benefits of Dishcrawl:

  • Attending forced me to – gasp – go out to Ballard and actually try places I’ve talked about. Truly, an achievement.
  • Overall, the food was good, and the service and staff at each place were friendly and helpful.
  • At $30, attending a Dishcrawl is a fairly cheap outing, even if it doesn’t include drinks. You could do far, far worse at that price.
  • I got to test out Uber with a nice discount specifically for the event, which was especially awesome as my bus wasn’t running.

Overall cons:

  • I wanted to photograph things with my DSLR, but every place we went to had mood lighting. Some people were willing to use the flash on their cell phones, but that made me uncomfortable.
  • It became unclear how long we were staying at each place, as things got slightly behind schedule and we only had five minute warnings. I don’t mind relaxing, but I found myself wondering how to pace myself for each mini-meal.
  • It was hard to hear what the chefs and staff had to say at many of the locations, which was something I was excited for.
  • I had a great, great desire for better meal coordination. Carbs/cheese + carbs/meat + fried things = mild nausea. And the stuff at La Isla looked pretty interesting, I just couldn’t handle it.
  • Following from the previous point, smaller servings would have actually been nice.

Overall, I was impressed. Dishcrawl managed to drag me out of Capitol Hill – on a weeknight, no less – and introduced me to places I’d never been to. I do have some quibbles, but I think they’re just getting started in Seattle, and will hit their stride soon enough.

(Full disclaimer: I won two tickets through @kristinpotpie/http://kristinpotpie.wordpress.com/. Chris bought a ticket to join in, but later called in sick.)

Dishcrawl review, part I – the food

Posted on by
Reply
So on Tuesday, Anne and I trekked out to Ballard to join the group of Dishcrawl for a night of culinary awesomeness. The concept is simple: four restaurants, four different bites, all within a few blocks of each other. It’s a great excuse to try out some of the better spots in a neighborhood. I’m going to review three of the places - BalMar, Volterra, and La Isla - as I had to leave early and missed out on killer gelato.

BalMar
BalMar does a great job at setting the mood for small talk. A lovely, darkly stained bar is hidden behind small tables, and candles are everywhere. There’s an area upstairs – where Dishcrawl smartly had us sign in – for parties and events with plush leather seats and stools.After we went downstairs to start the evening, one of the co-owners came out and introduced herself. She then talked about how most people come to the 6-year-old Ballard institution for the alcohol, and she was visibly excited to show us what they could do.The first course of the evening was macaroni and (Tillamook) cheese with fried onions and three petite spanikopita. The macaroni sauce was mild and creamy base with a hint of spice, and was topped by a sharp cheddar crust. The fried onions and crust were the best part of the dish, savory and spiced just right. They served the dish in a ramekin; I think it would have been even more glorious in a shallower dish to let that crust take center stage.

The spanikopita were lovely – and, frustratingly, the only item that focused on leafy vegetables the entire evening. (I find myself lately wanting more kale and less beef in my dinner options.) But they were great little bites, with the phyllo shattering nicely and contrasting with the spinach and occasional morsel of cheese.

Volterra
Volterra has ambience, but in a different way than BalMar, all pale tiled floors and dark wood. The room we ate in was their main dining room, with larger tables so we could socialize with other members of the group.

The chef came by to introduce the meal: polenta with a bolognese sauce and shaved parmigiano-reggiano cheese. The polenta was a creamy, well-executed bowl of winter comfort food, with a rich sauce that worked amazingly well, especially with the provided bread. But there was a lot of it, so I mainly ate slowly and talked to my tablemates.

La Isla
By the time we got to La Isla, we had just had a very large quantity of carbohydrates, so I was a bit nervous – my stomach was already threatening to explode.

There was no assigned seating area here; instead, we sat along the bar, which, combined with the music loud enough to drown out quiet chatter, made group socialization difficult. (Anne and I ended up by ourselves in one section opposite the rest of the group.) The servers brought out chicarrones de pollo, small bites of fried chicken, and carne frita, a mini pork rib with shredded onions.

I admit, I tried only one bite of the chicken, which was mainly grease. I am not going to judge La Isla’s food based on this, and feel it deserves a second chance.

After the food arrived, I realized it was nearly ten, so I called it a night and took a cab home. Next time I’m in Ballard, I need to return to D’Ambrosio Gelato, the scheduled fourth stop on the tour.
(Full disclaimer: I won two tickets through KristinPotPie. Chris bought a ticket to join in, but later called in sick.)

In which biscotti photography eludes me

Posted on by
Reply

Over the weekend I tackled a new type of recipe for me: biscotti. I usually make drop cookies or cakes, and thought biscotti were interesting but too dainty for my kitchen. For I admit it – I am a messy baker, one that trashes kitchen space with abandon until I’m finished working. I will avoid cleaning until the last minute with the excitement of a three year old being told they must eat their spinach. So, they weren’t on my to-do list.

I decided to try biscotti at last, in all honesty, out of being stuck on what to write about for the blog. I wanted to make cookies, but we were out of lemons and cream cheese, and I wasn’t in the mood to make any of the old standards or things that required only egg whites or yolks. So, I found a recipe for chocolate biscotti from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by the awesome Alice Medrich and went to work.

And they were glorious. Continue reading →

Sweet Iron Waffles – the calm within the storm

Posted on by
1

When I was younger, I remember walking by myself around downtown Seattle on a really windy day. Being short and delicate, the breeze pushed me around fairly easily; my friends joked I was a kite without a string. I felt some serious nostalgia about those days last week as I tried to stay upright while waiting for the crosswalk light to turn green to walk to Sweet Iron Waffles.

After I passed that first test – and managed to shut the door – it was relatively peaceful inside. The staff were prepping the waffle machines and eating lunch, and as I ordered another guy joined us to eat a waffle and read the newspaper. You could still hear the wind howling outside, but it was slightly drowned out by Modest Mouse. Continue reading →

Deathcake Royale – a coffee conversion

Posted on by
Reply

I don’t like coffee. At all. I was one of those kids who ran past the ‘grind your own beans’ booths at the grocery store because the smell made me nauseous. I still can’t drink coffee, and I at least only find the smell mildly unpleasant now. Even so, I love taking opportunities to expand my coffee and food horizons.

In general, though, I’m a cocoa kind of girl – or, while I was waiting yesterday at Cupcake Royale, a steamed milk with vanilla kind of girl. The chain was hosting a coffee/spirits/Deathcake tasting at all of their locations, and I ventured out into the cold to try the Deathcake out in the name of culinary science. For the uninitiated (read: those not from the Seattle area), the Deathcake Royale is an homage to all that is good and sugary: Theo chocolate cake, Stumptown coffee ganache, and fleur de sel, topped with a wee confetti heart. At $3, it’s a tiny, not super cheap little bite of richness, but everyone swore up and down it was worth it. But I was still nervous.

I was nervous because when I hear ‘coffee ganache,’ I think of two possible variations: ganache using coffee to enhance the chocolate, and ganache with the coffee flavor front and center. Given that it was Stumptown coffee being used, I assumed that that ingredient would be the star of the show, and I had been selectively avoiding this Valentine’s Day tradition for years. I was woefully mistaken. The ganache is lovely and delicate, holding in the rich chocolate center. The fleur de sel can be a bit overpowering, but that helps it to linger as you savor your Deathcake. I totally snuck another morsel, and then went to buy more for later.

Also in attendance was Stumptown, which I still sadly avoided (though I adore their Mast Brothers cocoa), and Pacific Distillery’s absinthe, which was heady of anise in a way that made my nose tingle. But I was really too distracted by the Deathcake for alcohol. Another day, maybe.

If you’re not a fan of chocolate with coffee, but adore chocolate, I definitely feel you should try to get your hands on one, and at least give it a shot. But do so soon, for I just bought a three pack, and they stop selling them for the year on February 14th.

Cupcake Royale
1111 East Pike Street
Seattle, Wa 98122

Pie Tatin – a love affair with Frankensteins

Posted on by
1

Not the book – frankenstein desserts.

I am a very, very lazy baker in that I don’t often start on huge projects. Sure, I can bake a ton of cookies at once, but I much prefer baking six and freezing 60 so I can avoid the oven when I’m craving cookies. (Then again, in our household cookie dough doesn’t survive for long.) I talk big, mostly of days where I got really bored and made 1,000+ cookies in one sitting, but that was when I worked a job where I had three days off a week. Grad school does not lend itself to the opportunity to go all-out in a home kitchen.

Continue reading →

New Year Libations

Posted on by
Reply

On Thursday Chris and I donned our best snow gear and walked to New Year Libations, trekking poles in hand. I wasn’t able to stay long, as it was – gasp – a school night, but I still had a great time snapping pictures and meeting some amazing people. Thank you Schemer, Seattleite, Google Places, Wild Ginger, Bastille Seattle, Bathtub Gin, BOKA, Little Water Cantina, Poquitos, Tavern Law, The Pink Door, Tini Bigs, and everyone else who helped make it a fun evening!

Continue reading →

Melt Waffle – experiments with sugar and yogurt

Posted on by
1

Google Seattle recently checked out Melt Waffle & Frozen Yogurt, north of Seattle in Mountlake Terrace, and I had the chance to check it out with Charles Koh and the Google Places crew. And it was a blast!

Melt is not too far off exit 181 from I-5, but the parking lot has difficult entry points. Once you succeed in parking and actually walk in, it’s white and open. With 90s pop/dance music playing and edited quotes from former presidents about waffles on the walls, the mainly white décor reminded me of a lot of the bubble tea and crepe shops in the area. There are small tables for gathering with friends, and comfy chairs in the corner.

Melt Waffle

But you’re not going to go here for crepes or bubble tea. No, Melt serves ‘pearl sugar waffles (also known as ‘Liège waffles’) and frozen yogurt: individually, in sundaes, and ‘build your own.’

Tasty, tasty waffle

First, a quick primer on pearl sugar, or Liège, waffles. They’re a cousin of American waffles, so if you’re expecting huge, fluffy, batter-based waffles, you’re going to be disappointed. Originally from Liège, Belgium, pearl sugar waffles are small waffles made from a yeasted dough liberally mixed with pearl sugar. After a few minutes in a waffle iron, these lovely treats are dense, chewy, and caramelized, kind of like eating a very special, flattened brioche. Sweet Iron in the U-District and downtown Seattle makes the same kind of waffle, so that’s much closer to Melt’s works than going to I-HOP.

In fact, Sweet Iron and Melt have very similar waffles. As these waffles are best fresh out of the iron, I can’t compare them side by side very well, but they’re both fantastic waffles, and the shops use very different topping options. (Sweet Iron goes for more seasonal offerings, like compotes, and Melt is big on the candies and fruits.)

Back to the menu. At Melt, one waffle is $3, two waffles with two toppings is $3.99, and it’s $4.95 for the Melt waffle, a single waffle with frozen yogurt and two toppings. Listed menu waffle options are priced accordingly. Eugene Yang, the owner, and his staff are super friendly, so definitely ask questions if you’re not sure what to order.

Strawberry-caramel Melt waffle

The base menu of waffles ranges from Strawberries N’ Cream (two waffles with strawberries, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup) to the Chocolate Meltdown (Reese’s Pieces, M&Ms, chocolate chips, hot fudge and whipped cream). The Chocolate Meltdown is incredibly rich, but the Hawaii 5-0, with mangoes and coconut, is far more refreshing.

If you don’t think you can handle the dense richness of pearl sugar waffles, or you just want some yogurt with your waffle, go for the Melt waffle. The yogurt, which cools the waffle as you eat, works really well in cutting into the waffle’s gustatory gluttony.

Melt has two types of toppings – free condiments (caramel, chocolate syrup, etc) and toppings, chilled and dry. You can get every condiment if you so choose, though given that that would mean getting honey, maple syrup, and marshmallow syrup on one waffle, that could send you to a dentist after finishing. Dry toppings range from granola to gummy bears, and chilled is a variety of seasonal fruit and mango.

They currently have five flavors of yogurt, including a vanilla/chocolate swirl, but it’s written on a dry erase board so they can update the list with seasonal flavors. They had Whopper and Strawberry Lemonade while we were there, which were accurate but sweet. The vanilla yogurt was a non-tart variety and on the sweet side, with a lot of yogurt for the price. I wouldn’t go here to replace my Menchie’s addiction, but I liked it with the waffles.

I ordered three waffles while there: a plain waffle, a vanilla/chocolate yogurt, strawberry and caramel Melt waffle, and a Melt waffle with vanilla yogurt and every fruit topping and mochi. The plain waffle was exactly what I was hoping for, hot, crisp, and fluffy. The first Melt waffle was a little disappointing, but I think that was more because strawberries are out of season, as the behemoth fruit waffle was amazing. I especially loved the warm, pillowy treasures of mochi hidden underneath all the fruit.

Melt waffle in progress

If you’re still hankering for fluffy, fluffy waffles, don’t despair – they have a secret menu where you can also order Belgian waffles! Eugene said he is currently testing customer interest, but I saw some tantalizing Belgian waffles pop out of the waffle iron while I was there.

Finished Mega-Melt waffle

I think it’s a neat idea overall, though I admit I’m not up in Mountlake Terrace enough to really take advantage of the place. They’re talking about expansion for 2012, though, so I’ll be watching for a Melt near me.

Melt Waffle & Frozen Yogurt
4311 212th St SW Ste 110
Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043