Basically, yesterday rocked. There is no better description.

I’ve been a loyal Tom Douglas fan since high school. I don’t remember when I started eating at Palace Kitchen or Lola, but they were always treats. I dragged all my friends to Serious Pie to celebrate whenever possible. Chris and I held our wedding reception at Palace Kitchen. (We had a larger group dinner the night before at Cuoco.)

I had eaten enough from the restaurants that I thought I knew what to expect, and The Bloggess’s words to live furiously happy cheered me on towards setting up this tour. While I am connected to a few larger blogs (more on that another day), I decided that not pulling strings would be fine. I just wanted a really fun day out in the middle of a stressful quarter. It ended up being one of the most fantastic Seattle day trips I’ve ever been on, and I have the team of all the Tom Douglas restaurants to thank for that.

I wish I had all of your names so I could thank you individually, because I know I misspelled most of them in my notebook in my attempt to keep up. From Liana and Lauren, who started this insanity rolling at Seatown Seabar, to Tom himself showing up at Serious Pie, you’re all amazing. I know I’m gushing, but most of you missed me laughing my head off at Cuoco from the sheer amount of pasta the team tried to feed us.

There are over 300 photos. I have class shortly, and I need to stare at my thesis work. But thank you. Thank you for a day that gave me the inability to answer when someone asked what my favorite dish was.

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.

MOD uses a pizza dough that creates something fairly close to a dinner plate sized-flatbread, thin and crispy, with air pockets dotting the crust. The toppings aren’t sparse, but they aren’t dense like Zeek’s. It’s a slightly nicer version of the standard options – arugula and blue cheese along with your mushrooms and olives.

I ordered the Mad Dog, a meatball/pepperoni/sausage pizza, with pineapple and mushrooms for some semblance of a more well-rounded meal. The meatballs and sausage are more crumbles than anything, but they do lend a nice savory/meaty note that worked really well with the pepperoni and mushrooms. The pineapple is very obviously the canned sort, but not in a bad way, and the mushrooms are fresh.

This is not a pizza I’d recommend going far with (I’ve never tried to reheat it, but I can’t imagine it going well). It does cool somewhat quickly, but not so fast that I’ve ever been unhappy with the experience. The staff are incredibly friendly and glad to answer questions, but most likely you already know what you want, and the lines do move very fast even when there are lines.

You bus your own table. They don’t have a compost option, rare in eco-happy Seattle, but there’s usually little to bus. I can easily clear a pizza off by myself.

It’s not a transcendent pizza experience. But it’s fast, fairly inexpensive, and with a far better selection than Domino’s. And, some days, you really want pizza, and this is a great way to get your fix.

MOD Pizza
1414 NE 42nd Street
Seattle, WA 98105

If you want a pretty day on campus, go to the Rainier Vista. If you want to enjoy an amazing library, Suzzallo’s reading room on the second floor totally has you covered. Me, I love the greenhouses.

There are two major on-campus greenhouses – the Douglas Research Conservatory, over in east campus in the Center for Urban Horticulture, and the Botany Greenhouse on main campus. The Douglas greenhouse is off limits to the public, stuffed full of experiments, but the Botany greenhouse is open during most days the campus is in session. You can spot it from the road, and it doesn’t look like much. The walking bridge shadows the UW Farm and the palm trees, and the doors always look closed. Ignore the small signs on the door that don’t list the open hours and walk in.

Mind you, this is still a research greenhouse – most of the doors are labeled ‘Researchers Only’ – and there will be days when it’s closed for no obvious reason. It’s a small collection compared to the Volunteer Park Conservatory, and not exactly built for visitor enjoyment. The plants have small labels, mainly for the benefit of the staff, and there are few educational signs or creature comforts. The day I visited they were feeding the carnivorous plants, so Tiffany blue caterpillars were sticking out of one of the fly traps. (I thought that was pretty awesome, but I can talk about dissections while eating.)

Ignoring all that, the first immediate benefit of the Greenhouse this time of year is that it’s warm. Muggy, glasses-fogging, in a way that reminds you that one day it will be sunny outside. After you reheat enough to really look around, it’s an impressive collection of plants. There are usually two main areas open for visitors, the desert room and the tropical room, and I only had time to go visit the tropical room.

There are benches lined with orchids, with a few just beginning to bloom. Ferns and palm trees fight for your attention. My favorite section is the carnivorous plants tray, a mossy bed covered in 4″ pots of venus fly-traps and sundews with pitcher plants hanging from the ceiling. I am horrible at raising carnivorous species, so I really enjoy seeing these plants thriving. (If you’re present in the summer, you can catch them in bloom, which can be surprising. Venus fly-trap flowers look like daisies.)

If you want a more manicured experience, I highly suggest the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden, which has nice benches and plenty of educational signs. I go there when I want to check out garden species doing their best. But I love the unusual spots on campus, and the Botany Greenhouse is a treasure.

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.

ART Restaurant is tucked behind Fran’s within the Four Seasons Hotel, and is actually a bit hard to identify at first as a restaurant. It’s sort of a continuation of the lobby that happens to have a staff member for front of house smiling at one end. When you enter, you find yourself in a quiet bar/lounge area with a fantastic view of the water. As it was a grey/overcast day, I decided to focus on the cheese.

The afternoon I went, I was the only person attacking the counter. For $14, you could taste the eight cheeses on display, from washed rinds to blues, with a mix of dried fruits, cured meats, and olives artfully arranged in bowls or plates. The cheeses had small cards describing the type of cheese presented and the overall texture or flavor. They also had wine recommendations for those so inclined. (The glass wine rack looked pretty impressive as a focal point along the wall, but I rarely imbibe.)

I chose a few of the milder cheeses, such as my beloved Cirrus and a mild washed rind cheese, then sat down to eat. The dried fruits, grilled vegetables, and cured salami were loved salty/sweet counters to the mild cheese, and I especially liked the dried mango slices with the Beecher’s flagship. My one frustration was that the bread options were either a somewhat soft baguette or thin crackers. Neither particularly did anything to enhance the cheeses. A thicker, heartier cracker or crostini would make this counter amazing. I still relished my plate, and went back to try more options. Ships passed in the background, and I listened to the murmur of the bar while I pondered which cheese worked best with which bread. With the attentive but unobtrusive staff checking on me as every so often, it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Compared to $20 to eat a full cheese plate at Palace Kitchen, it’s a steal that gently introduces you to local cheeses without the guilt of wasting a whole block of something you don’t like. And they have a late night option after 9 pm for $7, which would absolutely be one of the best evening snack happy hours in town. I’d like to see some tweaking, but it’s a place I want to return to in the near future, as good cheese is best shared with friends.

ART Restaurant
99 Union Street
Seattle, WA 98101

Eleven restaurants. Over 4.5 miles of walking. One day of insanity. And I want you to join me.

Here is my schedule:
7-7:30 am: Serious Biscuit

8-8:15 am: Dahlia Bakery

9-10 am: Seatown Seabar

11-11:30 am: Ting Momo

12-1 pm: Dahlia Lounge

1:30-2:30 pm: Serious Pie Virginia

3:30-4 pm: Etta’s

4:30-5 pm: Lola

6-6:30 pm: Brave Horse Tavern

6:45-7:30 pm: Cuoco

8-8:30 pm: Palace Kitchen

Katie Okumura over at Tom Douglas is worried for my health. Chris thinks this is made of pure awesome. Yoni just makes noises; I’m not sure what they mean. I just want to see if I can even do it.

Where do you come in, then?

I have reservations for two at a good number of these places so I can get booths to not distract people as much while I’m snapping away. And I’d really love to have company, and maybe make a new friend or two. And, I admit, I only intend to eat a bite or two at every place, as otherwise I’ll be in pain, so there will be plenty to share. But I can also crack really bad jokes about cupcakes and I love meeting new people. (And I now know way too much about nutria, but that may not be your cup of tea.)

If you’re interested, send me a DM on Twitter, email me, or catch me on campus. Adventures are often way more fun with others.

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.)

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.

The dough was easy to work with, more milk chocolate mousse than cookie dough. I had trouble forming it into a proper log shape, as I had forgotten to moisten my fingers first, but the loaf sliced neatly after the first baking. I snuck a nibble off the edges, and they tasted great. (The guys far preferred the biscotti at this point.) After the second baking, they were crispy, cocoa-infused treats, even with my manhandling. I was so excited to photograph them! But… they didn’t want to photograph. At all.

And it was awful. Out of 100+ shots, maybe three were okay. I could practically hear Matt Armendariz gently laughing at me from the sidelines. (Matt seems way too nice to actually poke fun at my failures, but my demons decided on his visage for the day.)

To be fair, it was nearly 5 p.m. when I started taking pictures and the light in my apartment is awful. And my flash is worse. (Yes, I need to invest in a better flash, but that has to wait for another day.)

Looking over the shots, the main issue is the biscotti themselves – they’re brown. And dull-colored, with nothing in them besides cocoa. So, there’s simply no contrast. I lack a macro lens, so getting a decent texture shot without flash wasn’t going to happen. Maybe if I make them again I can plan ahead and make them along with vanilla biscotti, if only to create some form of contrast. But I rarely plan out my baking to that level, so I doubt it.

The moral is that I absolutely intend to make these again, and I’ll probably even try photographing them again. I just hope my pictures don’t deter you from trying this recipe out, because they are definitely tasty little cookies.

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.

The small shop uses a mainly white setup like Melt Waffle & Frozen Yogurt, with white tables and cute retro-styled white chairs, but invokes a coffee shop more than a crepe store. Wood paneling with neon red lighting makes up one wall in the background and local art is aesthetically placed along two of the walls. The cutlery is stainless steel or compostable, with lovely waffle-friendly plates if you’re eating in. (You do bus your own dishes, but that means walking all of two feet. And, hopefully, you’ll have little to clean.)

I ordered two waffles, one plain ($3.25) and the seasonal ($6), with orange marmalade, whipped ricotta, and dark chocolate shavings. The first one, lightly dusted with powdered sugar, was waffle joy. For starters, it’s a larger waffle than Melt’s, and a bit more vanilla based for the dough. The pearl sugar was nicely integrated, creating an evenly caramelized exterior and a chewy, yeasty, vanilla-scented doughy interior. If you’re new to liege waffles, you should definitely try it.

The seasonal one was a bit more of a challenge for me. The main issue here is that the marmalade they use is a foghorn of citrus, graced with the ability to drown out all other flavors in its wake. The rinds were further intense bursts of flavor, in strips of a size I once thought were only meant for orangettes, and very chewy. And there is a lot of marmalade on this waffle. A lot. Please don’t interpret this as my disliking the waffle, or even the setup. I just was expecting a gentler marmalade experience, so I got distracted by comparing bites of marmalade with rind and waffle to rind-free marmalade and waffle. I’m sure marmalade enthusiasts would squeal with delight over this treat.

Once I got past my miniature marmalade moment, it was great. The ricotta was fresh and delicate, and with a rind-less dollop of marmalade it was just right for my palate. The chocolate didn’t sing through as much as I hoped, acting more as a background note than a major player. And that’s okay, as the marmalade was definitely the star of that show.

If you’re not a sweet waffle fan, fear not! They have savory waffles ($3-$6.50), ranging from brie and basil to the current seasonal offering of dates and blue cheese. And that coffee shop vibe isn’t just for show – they’re slinging Stumptown coffee with a lovely espresso machine and even make seasonal drinks like hot cranberry cider. As the shop went quiet after I inhaled my waffles, Paul and I chatted about ingredients and their Globe stand mixer, which I covet, and complained about the Seattle Freeze. Sweet Iron is a place to grab your coffee, chat with the uber-friendly staff, and wait out the passing storm. I just hope I can drop by again soon, and maybe make myself into a regular.

Sweet Iron Waffles
1200 3rd Ave, Suite 110
Seattle, WA 98101