New: I recently challenged cousin's boss to a fundraiser race. Post-attempt to train I decided to go grocery shopping and pit stop at my old neighborhood espresso stand. Not such a great idea on an empty stomach and dehydrated from exercise.
To calm my jitters, I excitedly decided to go to Mike's Chili Parlor. If you've been reading with me from the beginning, you'll know this has been a place I've been wanting to try for quite some time. (Sign says "Chili, beer, cash only" - who wouldn't want to try that?!?!)
Besides, it's never good to grocery shop at Trader Joe's when you're feeling all wacky. Came in, sat down at the bar, and ordered a bowl of chili with onions, jalapenos, and cheese.
It was a Sunday, and the Redskins were on - so it was very difficult not to order a beer to go with it. But since I already felt like I was self-imploding on the spot, I stuck with water.
How it looks when you mix it all up! Mmmm.
Final verdict- delicious, but not good for my sensitive digestive track after what it was already telling me. I made it through grocery shopping, but let's just say.... I had to run home quickly. And very. very. carefully. Didn't realize there were so many bumps in the road on the way from Ballard to Northgate.
Happy hour with some physics friends turned into dinner with 1. So we decided to treat ourselves to Bizzaro instead. I miss Italy more than I realize. We had to get the drunken clams: Dad, I know you don't like tomato based clam stuff, but this was GOOD. Let me make it giant so you can see better.
See the focaccia for dipping?
All meals come with a salad. I think the carrot thing was dumb. Just make me a smaller carrot. Kind of strong on the dressing too, but I love the radishes!
The standard menu looks appealing enough to hook you into wanting to go again right away, but the seasonal menu is just too tempting to pass up!!
Exhibit A: Pumpkin ravioli with sage butter sauce
It looks like it's a cream base- but it's not!! SCORE!
Exhibit B: Happy Sausage Pillows with duck/bacon sausage
To the rest of the world, it's known as gnocchi. But I like this idea of calling things pillows.
We were understandably stuffed after this meal, but everything tasted so good I wanted to try dessert. My companion was being a wussy, so instead of the cheese plate - which is charmingly described below:
I got tiramisu! It was painfully delicious. I could hear my heart rasping as it slowed down from all the cream.
Standard: A week or 2's worth of recovery and I headed out to Mexican with some friends to Carta de Oaxaca.
I got my favorite dish there- caldo de pescado. Which is a spicy fish soup.
It's not lemonade, it's a pomegranate margarita, and that's not beer, it's water.
They have tons of salsas - and the biggest love/hate relationship I have with it is the habanero salsa. I love habanero, but the habanero does not love my gut.
As a side, we all split some fish tacos. They're not fried like most fish tacos, and stop thinking dirty. It's not that kind of fish taco.
Do you see what I see? That's right! Radishes! They are good with tacos. Who knew?
Personally, I am not a fan of mole. With the amount of food mixing I do, you'd think it'd be right up my alley. I don't know why I do not like the chocolate sauce. I just can't explain it. But if you do, this place is known for their mole. My dinner mates got two versions:
Mole Negro Oaxaqueno: black chili mole. Say that 3 times fast.
And
Tamales de Mole' Negro
Dad came into town, so the standard first stop was Mike's Noodle House. Blanched tripe/liver, and fish congee. I don't eat liver. The only time I ever had was in honor of my paternal grandmother when she passed away. It was her favorite. We'll let her keep that as just her own.
The sauce goes with both dishes pictured. It's jalapeno with soy sauce and sesame oil.
The sauce is also good for dipping shrimp into if you ever get bored of cocktail sauce!
It was also Restaurant week in Seattle, so I coerced Dad into trying something we normally wouldn't consider: Lola. It's a Tom Douglass -Greek style restaurant. Mar loves the donuts there, and I would recommend the breakfast with octopus in it. If you love seafood I think you can consider the weirdness more of a novelty. A delicious, savory novelty.
First course: Tzatziki and pita. Lamb kebabs.
They were two separate orders, but this is what I did with it:
Helllllllz yeaaaaaaaaa.
The waitress and I kind of had an awkward stand-off. I asked if there were any dishes without garlic, or minimal garlic. (Another ingredient that does not reciprocate my love for it). She looked at me and said, "This is a Greek place....."
I get what she's implying. I mean, think hummus. Ya. I know. But my Dad is in from out of town and it's restaurant week, so he should try your restaurant. Just help me out here, lady.
After a few rounds she snapped out of it and was able to very professionally and politely recommend this:
Not on the regular menu: cornish hen.
The dish that probably didn't have spit in it - Leg of lamb. You know there was garlic.
Dessert was all mine, because Dad doesn't really do desserts. I picked baklava and honey spice cake. I think the baklava came with cinnamon whipped cream, and the honey cake came with a thyme whipped cream.
Boxed it home for later. The garlic was getting to me.
A few weeks later Ash and I hit up Voula's. Which is a greek-style breakfast joint. Also featured on DDD. May have been the same episode as Mike's Chili. I think last time I got the Naked hobo with ham. This time I made sure I got the pinata benedict.
Pulled pork and hollandaise with a kick!
Ash didn't like it because it was overly smokey. Admittedly, it did overpower the rest of the dish. I like meat, so I was still okay with it.
A week later, I went to bfast with Viet at Senor Moose. No actual moose on the menu, but very good Mexican. (yes... I am starting to get tired of Mexican at this point).
I had only been here before for dinner, so it was exciting to get to try breakfast.
Chorizo con huevos
Turns out, chorizo and scrambled eggs just reminds me of a camping trip from my childhood in Cali.... This was much better than back then.
After tailgating the husky game some friends and I went to Wing Central in the U. District to watch the game.
If you want spicy, but a bit different from regular buffalo wings you should try the blazing bbq. With blue cheese. But that is just preferred over ranch for any wings I eat.
Apparently, at this restaurant all beverages that appeal to me have "Men's Room" in its name. I don't know why.
Regular bloody mary's there come with veggies. Bloody mary with bacon vodka though, must be named "Men's room mary." It also substitutes the pickled vegetables for this:
Cold bacon. That's right, cold.
The cold bacon was off-putting at first. Then I put it in my drink and let it soak up some flavor. Much more acceptable.
I then switched to beer. Wanted red ale. The only red ale they had was "Men's room red ale." Honestly, I don't understand why they were described this way.
To try if you ever visit: 1 of their 51 bomb shots, and their hell wing. You can order the hell wing individually, and you have to sign a waiver to eat it. Didn't try it at the time. But you know where that will lead to, right?
Yes. Tears and the bathroom.
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