Wright Eats

I’ve been waiting for The Corson Building to start brunch for what seems like for-e-ver.  At around the time that The Corson Building opened last year, my favorite brunch in Seattle, the one at sister-restaurant Sitka and Spruce, closed.  It was a sad day when we walked up on a Sunday morning, only to find that brunch was gone.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we were at the Corson Building today on their first day of Sunday brunch service.  This time around, they take reservations along with walk-ins, unlike Sitka which was walk-in only.  We were happy to find brunch just as we remembered (although here with grapefruit juice! – my morning drink of choice).  There’s the buffet full of cold salads made with local produce, homemade yogurt with local honey and nuts, pâté with kumquats, and fresh baked almond macaroons.  And then you have your choice of one of the two hot dishes made-to-order – today I ordered the poached egg with locally-foraged boletes and a touch of creme.  A simple, delicious dish, which I finished by dredging my bread through the runny yolk and creme mixture.

One thing that’s sadly missing from brunch at The Corson Building is U.S. barista champion Bronwen Serna’s espresso drinks.  That was one of the things we looked forward to most at Sitka, but The Corson Building has no espresso machine and therefore no Bronwen.  Anyone know where she might be serving espresso nowadays?

Although tasty, I don’t know if we’ll be going back as much as we frequented Sitka for brunch.  Eastlake is a quick jog down the road, but Georgetown just isn’t as convenient for us.  But we chatted briefly with Chef Emily Crawford afterwards, and she remembered how Eric wanted to try the fried chicken and waffles, which they once had on the menu last year.  She thought they might try that later this month.  I hope we don’t miss it again!

The Corson Building
5609 Corson Ave, Seattle
(206) 762-3330

Who would have thought that Seattle would have not one, but two retrofitted Airstream trailers serving delicious street food?  Not I.  So when fellow food-blogger Keren Brown announced that this month’s blogger get-together would be at the newly-opened “pig truck,” aka Maximus / Minimus, we couldn’t wait to go!

Maximus / Minimus is the brainchild of Kurt Beecher Dammeier – yes, the same person behind Beecher’s Cheese and other Seattle food endeavors.  Kurt explained to our group yesterday that his son, Max, has been getting more rambunctious lately as he approaches his teens, so Kurt has taken to calling him Maximus.  Kurt liked the name, and as he’s been working out a plan for bringing his pulled pork sandwiches to the masses, he thought about using it.  But, that word alone wasn’t quite right, until one day he thought about adding Minimus after it, and suddenly the yin-yang theme crystallized: offer every item on the menu as either Maximus (hot and spicy) or Minimus (sweet and sour).  Couple that with the pork theme, and you’ve got yourself a pig truck.

The “SOMEPIG” mobile; a Minimus cup of Hibiscus Nectar; the menu.

Vegetarians and vegans need not fear a visit to the pig truck, because there’s a veg sandwich with fennel, onions, and bulgur on the menu, which we hear is quite tasty.  Sides include chips (thinly sliced potatoes, beets, and sweet potatoes fried in rice oil, with fried green beans and jalapeños on top) and slaw (spicy or sweet, of course).  In the eco-friendly cup, pull yourself some Hibiscus Nectar or Ginger Lemonade from the spigot built into the side of the truck.

Sculpted metal pig’s ear; reflection of the sandwich line; one of everything.

So, how was it?  Keep in mind that this was just the second day the truck was open.  Dawn and I got chips (no min/max choice here), plus min and max versions of the pork sandwiches, slaw, and drinks.  The difference between the Minimus and Maximus pork sandwiches was subtle.  The Min was a little sweeter, and the Max not spicy enough for our taste.  Kurt told us that we can order “extra hurt” on the Maximus to make it spicier; I’ll do that (or maybe even a “double hurt”) next time, but I hope they make the Maximus spicier by default.  The veggie chips were crisp and nicely seasoned.  The Minimus slaw (sweetened with tamarind) had the edge for me, and we both preferred the hibiscus nectar Minimus drink.  All-in-all, it was pretty good.  We ordered too much food, so I’d recommend splitting slaw or chips with someone.  Will we go back?  If we’re in the area, say before a downtown show, then sure.  And it would certainly make a good stop for downtown lunch.  But I don’t think we’d make a special trip there just for the truck – for us, Skillet still has the edge on Seattle street food.

Maximus / Minimus
2nd & Pike, Seattle
(206) 601-5510

Is Fremont becoming the Seattle sandwich mecca?  First Paseo, then Baguette Box, now Homegrown Sandwiches.

Light pours in through the tall windows in front, with equally tall chalkboard menus lining one wall, detailing the numerous options.  We’ve visited Homegrown twice since they opened last month, and word of their opening has clearly gotten out – every seat was filled on both visits, with more people standing around, waiting for to-go orders.  Homegrown’s environmental mission is summed up nicely on one chalkboard that lists each sandwich ingredient with three possible checkboxes: local, organic, and sustainable.

Dawn and I both enjoyed the grilled cheese with melted Beecher’s Flagship and caramelized onions – it’s like eating a French onion soup sandwich.  Everything else we tried (the Reuben, a turkey and avocado, and a sweet potato and black-eyed pea cake) was basic but tasty.  The staff is very friendly and helpful, though it seems like they’re still figuring out their system, given mistakes with orders on both of our visits.

I like the sustainable approach that Homegrown is taking, and I’ll be back next time I’m in Fremont to try more sandwiches.

Homegrown Sandwiches
3416 Fremont Ave N, Seattle
(206) 453-5232

I had requested beautiful weather for my birthday, and woke up to the warmest day yet this spring.  The sun was streaming through the arboretum as we headed to Rover’s this morning for their first ever brunch.  We were even the first to arrive.  (After seeing our photos in A Day at elBulli last month, whenever we’re the first to show up anywhere, we importantly declare to each other, “The first guests arrive.”  Flip to page 19:45 if you have the book.)

They offer two- and three-course fixed price menus ($25 and $35, respectively), but we designed our own two course brunches from the à la carte menu.  Eric’s braised pork belly with poached eggs and harissa hollandaise was out of this world, and my arugula, mushroom, and herbed goat cheese omelette was light and fresh tasting – perfect for a spring morning.  We finished with selections from the “Sweets” section: the most gourmet coffee cake ever for Eric, and beignets for me.  We were stuffed and happy as we rolled ourselves out into the sunshine.

Now I’m planning to curl up with my new book, Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris, to decide what we should do on our vacation there this year.  And maybe I’ll try out my new game, Foodie Fight, with Eric.  If only the weekend could last another day…

Rover’s
2808 E Madison St, Seattle
(206) 325-7442

Earlier this year, our friends Eric and Kye were telling us about the Japanese dish called sukiyaki, and how it’s difficult to find at restaurants in Seattle.  Eric’s description of it sounded so good – cooking sliced meat, noodles, and vegetables in a rich, bubbling broth of soy and sake, then dipping the hot food in raw egg just before eating, for an extra touch of flavor.  When he mentioned the possibility that Chef Taichi Kitamura of Chiso Kappo might be able to prepare a special sukiyaki dinner, our immediate response was “Sign us up!”  Eric twisted a few more people’s arms, and before long the anticipated day arrived and nine friends sat at a long communal table to enjoy this unique dinner.

Top: bluefin tuna in yuzu juice, served atop Chinese mustard greens. 
Bottom left: our waitress describes the appetizers. 
Bottom right: Highly-sought-after Shigoku oysters from Taylor Farms.

Left: Taichi explains to his captive audience how to prepare sukiyaki. 
Top right: udon noodles, crysanthemum leaves, baked tofu, shirataki noodles, and thinly-sliced rib eye steak.
Bottom right: almond pudding with lychee fruits and goji berries.

Lifting shiitake and enoki mushrooms out of the delicious, bubbling  soy/sake/kombu/sugar broth.  On the right, cracked egg and dipping bowl.

David demonstrates eating sukiyaki at Chiso Kappo.

Chiso Kappo
701 N 36th St, Seattle
(206) 547-0937

Ethan Stowell’s fourth restaurant, Anchovies and Olives, opened Thursday night in Capitol Hill.  We stopped by yesterday to see the space and try a few dishes.

Gnocchi with lobster and mint

A&O is on the corner of 15th and Pine, making it a great spot for people-watching, with a seemingly never-ending parade of folks outside.  Inside, the high-ceilinged space is simple, with an open kitchen like Tavolata and How to Cook a Wolf.  The food is reminiscent of both places, but here, it’s focused on seafood, with a seafood component in every dish.

Highlights for us included romanesco cauliflower salad with soft-cooked egg (perfectly dressed and seasoned), gnocchi with lobster and mint, and ocean trout with yellowfoot mushrooms and sunchoke purée.  We had heard good things about the spaghetti with sea urchin from friends who went the night before; the flavors were all there, but the pasta was undercooked and too chewy.  We neglected the crudo appetizers tonight, but intend on trying them next time.

Dessert options are simple – a sorbet, a gelato, and a cheese plate.  Dawn enjoyed the grapefruit campari sorbet, while I had a sweet ending of chocolate and orange gelato.

Anchovies and Olives
1550 15th Ave, Seattle
206-838-8080

Omakase at Tojo’s.

When our friends Michael and Susan proposed that we make a trip up to Vancouver to celebrate the Chinese New Year, it took us about two seconds to say yes.  It had been a year since our last trip, and we’d been wanting to go back to some of our classic favorite restaurants.  The parade in Chinatown sounded like it’d be fun, too.

So we packed our bags and an empty cooler, and off we went on a Friday afternoon.  We arrived in time for a late dinner reservation at Tojo’s.  It’s been long enough since we’ve dined there that we hadn’t yet seen the new digs.  They’ve moved from a tiny second floor location, to a huge, bright ground floor restaurant.

Our meal was outstanding.  Highlights included: sablefish and sea urchin in a smoky-yummy sauce inside a sea urchin shell; a sesame albacore that reminded me of our favorite starter at Kisaku (but even better), and two kinds of amazing toro nigiri.  The food is special, but the bill at Tojo’s is steep.  Four of us spent as much that night as ten of us would the next evening.  Definitely not an everyday kind of meal.

Oyama Sausage Company; Japadog; fish at the Granville Market.

Saturday morning, we headed straight to Granville Island for coffee and doughnuts.  We’d had great coffee at JJ Bean on a previous trip, rivaling some of our favorite coffees in Seattle.  John and Eric waited in line, while Jacki and I walked around the corner for Lee’s Donuts.  Unfortunately, the filled doughnuts I wanted weren’t ready yet, so I decided to wait.  They said it would be only 15 minutes.  So we grabbed our coffees (which were indeed as good as I remember), and wandered off around the market.

When we arrived back at Lee’s, there they were.  The puffy, sugar-coated doughnuts were ready, with more coming out as we stood there deciding which one.  I finally settled on the lemon-filled, and Eric the chocolate Bavarian.  Oh, man, these were even better than last time.  This was the warmest, freshest doughnut I’ve ever eaten.  The lemon was oozy and sweet, but not overly, with the crunchy sugar on the exterior coating my lips as I tried not to squirt lemon everywhere (I’m sometimes a messier eater than I like to admit).  Eric made some comment about how my lips looked like a margarita glass.

Bread at the Granville Market; JJ Bean coffee; the kitchen at Vij’s.

After picking up some pork lomo and speck from Oyama Sausage Company for our trip home, along with candied fennel seeds, a few pocky sticks for snacks, and matcha tea from one of our favorite Granville stands, South China Seas Trading Company, we headed back downtown.

Eric and I were torn between Japadog or Kintaro Ramen for lunch.  With limited time in Vancouver, we could only do one, so we let our friends decide.  With a six-year-old in party, hotdogs won out.  The little stand on a street corner looked like a normal hotdog stand until you took a closer look at the menu: Terimayo, Misomayo, Okonomi, and Oroshi dogs.  The Terimayo was an all-beef hotdog with Japanese mayo, nori seaweed strips, teriyaki sauce, and fried onions.  With juice dribbling off my fingers, I managed to switch with Eric so I could try the Okonomi next.  It was a juicy Kurobuta pork sausage with okonomiyaki sauce, bonito flakes tacked down from the breeze by Japanese mayo, on top of fried cabbage.  We realized we should have ordered a third, but by this time the line was loooong, with a crowd waiting for their dogs.

Japadogs! Okonomi (top) and Terimayo (bottom).

We spent the afternoon doing a brief bit of shopping followed by a long walk from downtown to the waterfront and halfway along Stanley Park’s exterior edge, before cutting back through the duck pond and up to Denman.  It was a gloriously sunny day, and all of Vancouver seemed to be out.  We didn’t realize how lucky we were with that weather.

It was 4:30 when we headed off to dinner.  Why so early?  We had to get in line for Vij’s.  We were the first in line at quarter to five, and the queue started forming moments later behind us.  By the time the doors opened at 5:30, the line stretched two storefronts down!  It was a good thing we arrived when we did, because our party of ten would have otherwise had hours to wait.

I’ve written about Vij’s here before, and it is still my favorite Indian restaurant anywhere.  While we were deciding what to order, the wait staff served us nibbles of hot pakoras and pooris, along with complimentary chai.  We ended up ordering about a dozen dishes, all good, some outstanding.  I’d forgotten why the lamb popsicles are so popular, but quickly remembered – they were juicy and perfectly cooked, with that amazing cream curry.  I was also a big fan of one of their simplest dishes: saag paneer.  I wonder why that isn’t in their cookbook?  I will make any dish in that cookbook that has paneer – the recipe is simple and turns out great.  My favorite dessert this evening was the gulab jamun, which was the best version of this sticky fried dough I’ve had.

Dining at Vij’s; saag paneer.

We couldn’t leave without a stop next door at Rangoli to pick up some of Vij’s food to fill our cooler for the trip home.  Rangoli is a more casual cafe along with a marketplace selling Vij’s meals, spices, and their excellent cookbook.

The next morning, we all met in Chinatown for the Chinese New Year festivities.  It was a rainy, cold morning, not much different than a winter Seattle day, except for the intermittent wet snow.  After staking out a prime position on the parade route, we eventually gave it up when we all started freezing, and headed over to the Classical Chinese Garden instead, where the gardens were open and booths outside were set up with face painting and crafts for the kids.  While groups with their costumes assembled for the parade, dancers and drummers performed under a tent where everyone crowded in to stay dry.

Rain was constant during the parade, and umbrellas lined the curbs while the colorful groups paraded under the Millennium Gate.  Firecrackers, dragons, and ox helmets were everywhere.  After about 45 minutes, we left to find some dim sum to warm up with.  We headed downtown to Kirin for a change from our usual visit to Sun Sui Wah.

Chinese New Year parade; dim sum at Kirin.

Instead of carts wheeling past, at Kirin you order from a menu and everything comes out made-to-order.  Everything we ordered was good – definitely better than anything we can get in Seattle.  My favorite was the savory radish pudding, a Chinese New Year specialty.  After finishing up with some red bean and sesame desserts, we were on our way home.  Short weekends like that always leave me wanting more, but fortunately Vancouver’s just a short drive away.  Any tips about where we should go next time?

To see more photos from our weekend, go to our photo gallery.

Tojo’s, 1133 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC

JJ Bean, 1689 Johnston Street, Vancouver, BC

Lee’s Donuts, 1689 Johnston Street, Vancouver, BC

Japadog, 899 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC

Vij’s, 1480 W 11th Avenue, Vancouver, BC

Rangoli, 1488 W 11th Avenue, Vancouver, BC

Kirin, 1166 Alberni St, Vancouver, BC

We don’t make it to West Seattle much.  Sure, we’ve made the pilgrimage for amazing pastries and chocolates at Bakery Nouveau, and have had several omakase and kaiseki dinners at Mashiko’s.  But West Seattle isn’t the first place we think of when deciding on where to go for food.  So, after hearing good things about Spring Hill from foodie friends we trust, we hopped in the car and checked it out.  Boy, am I glad we went.

We met up with some friends on a Sunday evening last month.  Our friends arrived before us, and got to talking with a food photographer who was taking pictures for an upcoming menu.  He had a lighting setup in the back of the restaurant, which I wouldn’t have minded borrowing for a couple of pictures!  My distraction was tempered when hunger kicked in, and I focused back on the menu.  I arrived thinking that I’d order off of the New Urban Eats prix fixe menu, but enough things on the main menu caught my eye that I switched plans and shared a few dishes with Dawn.

My butter lettuce salad with herbs, radish, parmesan, and citronette arrived, nicely dressed – simple, crisp flavors.  Dawn made a great choice by going with the duck egg yolk raviolo with green sauce, which had thin slices of duck breast prosciutto layered on top and garlic chips on the side.  A rich, decadent, perfectly executed dish.

Things really got rolling when the entrées arrived.  The handmade pappardelle with Bolognese sauce had an alluring, intense flavor, so much so that our friend had to defend her dish from our roving forks.  Wood grilled rib eye steak with twice baked potato rissolé, foraged mushroom ragout, and kale was cooked to perfection, and even had a subtle herb flavor in each bite of meat.  As good as this was, everyone at the table agreed that my roasted duck breast was the winner, served with cabbage sausage, quinoa waffle, spaghetti squash, and orange-maple mustard.  Now, I’m a huge fan of waffles with dinner (chicken and waffles, anyone?), and yet I was still surprised at how well the quinoa waffle went with the tender and succulent duck breast.  Dawn’s sautéed black cod with smoked clam panzanella was as good as expected; apparently we’re on a black cod kick lately, as one of us seems to get this fish every time we go out.

For dessert, we all shared several dishes.  A lemon meringue tart with lavender was fine, but I’m not a huge lemon fan, so this fell into the “a bit too tart” category for me.  An ice cream sampler included orange mimosa sorbet (least favorite of our group), salted peanut ice cream (I could eat a gallon of this stuff, it was so good), and yogurt ice cream (tangy, yummy).  But then there was the hot chocolate s’mores topped with cinnamon marshmallow, with homemade cinnamon graham cracker cookies with nutella filling on the side.  While the cookies were a bit too dry and needed a touch of salt for flavor, the hot chocolate-marshmallow-gooeyness was simply outstanding.

My only complaint about dinner had to do with service: I dislike when bussers clear the table while people are still eating.  And as happened this evening, I really dislike when someone reaches over me as I’m trying to take a bite of something, just to get the empty plate next to me.  It’s one of my restaurant pet peeves, and a surprising number of waitstaff at upscale restaurants in Seattle do this.  Nevertheless, our waitress was very nice, checked on us at all the right times, and graciously let us sit and catch up with our friends long after dessert was done without bothering us at all.

Spring Hill is on my must-visit-again list, and perhaps next time we’ll go for Monday night “spaghetti night”!

Spring Hill
4437 California Ave SW, Seattle
(206) 935-1075

We’ve enjoyed many dinners at our neighborhood restaurant Pair over the past few years.  Owners Sarah and Felix Penn opened their second restaurant Frank’s this month, just a few blocks away from Pair, so we stopped in for dinner on their first Friday night to see what the new place is all about.

Dark wood paneling, soft lighting, and high-backed booths give a relaxed, low-key vibe to the restaurant.  We were seated on the Oyster House side of the restaurant, opposite the tall doorway that leads to the Parlor and bar.  I’m glad I made a reservation, because they were full by 7PM and turning people away.  We had a hard time deciding between all of the tasty-sounding options on the cocktail and dinner menus, but we finally agreed on a few things to share.  Dawn sampled an Air Mail cocktail (lime, honey, rum, champagne) while I went for the Pear & Cardamom Sidecar (a nice twist on the classic drink).

Our plate of buttery and flaky cheddar biscuits with ham arrived first, with a small ramekin of Calvados apple butter on the side.  It was a tasty, homey dish, and I’d buy jars of that apple butter to go if they were for sale.  Next up were two mini lobster rolls, served on house-made hot dog buns, with a butter lettuce leaf tucked in.  As Sarah explained, the lobster is served Cape Cod style (mixed simply with mayonnaise), sans celery as you might find in some parts of Maine.  These definitely felt like fancy lobster rolls, with a subtle grill flavor in the slightly crunchy bread, more haute than what you’d find on the roadside in Maine.  Quite tasty, but also quite pricey at $9 a roll.

Dawn tried the chard and ricotta pansotti (a triangular-shaped stuffed pasta), and it was nice and rich – a decent vegetarian option.  I loved my filet mignon with horseradish parsley butter.  The steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare, melt-in-your-mouth tender, with deep flavor.  Easily one of the best steaks I’ve had in the past few years, and a great value compared to any of the pricey steakhouses around town.  With a side of creamed kale to go with it, I was in heaven.

For dessert, we shared caramelized bananas with three ice creams.  The presentation was interesting, with the ice creams served in a single stack of round discs, but when I took a bite with all three, they just didn’t go together.  Each had a different consistency (one was soft, two were hard), and the chocolate ice cream didn’t have a smooth texture (slightly crystallized, like it didn’t freeze properly).  The bananas were good, but overall this dish didn’t impress me.

As to be expected during opening week, there were a few hiccups during the evening.  It was a full twenty minutes before our waitress came over to our table to even say hello (we were starting to think about leaving), and when she arrived, she apologetically told us that she had forgotten about us.  While I’m sure that’s the honest truth, it’s not the greatest thing to hear as a customer.  It also felt like we were re-forgotten after every course during the evening, with long waits the norm.  Our favorite moment was when our waitress came by and asked, “Has anyone dessert’d you yet?”  Well, no, no one has taken our dessert order, but yes we have been deserted!  It looked like the staff was in the weeds on this first busy evening, so I’m sure they’ll straighten things out.  I’m eager to go back to try some oysters, the razor clam fritters, and another one of those steaks!

Frank’s Oyster House & Champagne Parlor
2616 NE 55th St, Seattle
206-525-0220

Italian.  It’s my favorite cuisine, but for years, I’d hate to eat it dining out in Seattle.  When I moved here, there were plenty of Italian-American restaurants.  You know the kind, where sauces are heavy and poured on top of too-soft pasta, and the kitschy Italian music is playing.  But Seattle was deprived of many places that even came close to what I could make at home with a few simple fresh ingredients – isn’t that the essence of what Italian cooking is about?

Recently, though, Italian restaurants have started coming into their own in Seattle, serving food that emphasizes our local ingredients while evoking the authenticity of the cooking of Italy, down to the handmade pasta.  Spinasse in particular has been the standout for me recently, but another new Italian place opening in a tiny corner of Wallingford took me by surprise.  Cantinetta welcomed its first guests tonight.

I was intrigued when I heard that Morgan Brownlow would be its sous chef.  We first came across Morgan’s cooking in Portland, just before he left clarklewis in 2006.  We had an outstanding meal there, and were pleased to try his food again at Lark’s second Whole Beast Dinner a couple years ago.  There, Johnathan introduced Morgan as master of the pig:  he works with the whole animal, breaking it down and cooking with all of its parts.  That night we had his pork snouts alla Milanese, which is one of his specialty dishes, along with a pig ear salad, and lardo cracklings, all delicious.

We were pleased to see Morgan’s obvious hand on the menu tonight.  This time, trotters were there in his Milanese-style with a Salmoriglio sauce.  Garlicky and tangy, they were delicious.  Along with our antipasti, we also enjoyed speck with winter squash, billed as a side-dish on the menu.  We dredged the pork-wrapped squash in the sweet brown-butter agro-dolce sauce, grabbing some fried sage leaves along the way.  The three small morsels were gone too soon.  Balancing the rich dishes, we also chose a salad.  It, too, featured the pig, with bits of tesa (a type of pancetta) nestled among the chicory and walnuts.  It was well-balanced, with the perfect amount of cracked black pepper.

Trevor Greenwood came over before our meal started to recommend our wine.  He’s the owner of Cantinetta, wine steward, and an alumnus of the authentically Neapolitan Via Tribunali.  This was our second clue that Cantinetta might be something other than ordinary.

Next course was the pasta.  We ordered two pastas, both handmade, and both wonderful.  The dishes were a bit pricey for what you get (for example, only six ravioli), but on the other hand, where else are you going to get pasta this good?  Not Tavolata, maybe not even La Spiga.  I’d say that only Spinasse has an edge on the pasta, with a more tender and delicate bite.  But with hazelnut fed pork inside Cantinetta’s ravoili, and perfectly seasoned hedgehog mushrooms and chestnuts on the tagliarini, tonight’s was among the best pasta I’ve eaten in Seattle.

I wished we had some bread to sop up all the lovely sauces on every plate.  A chewy soft foccacia served when we ordered was gone before the food arrived.

For our secondo, we ordered the black cod.  We opted for the fish instead of the lamb sausage, to balance our meat-heavy meal.  We were pleased with our choice: the sizable piece of fish was perfectly tender and buttery, with sweet carrots and leeks served simply underneath.

We thought that three antipasti, two pasta, and one secondo would be enough for four people before we headed into dessert, but we were still feeling hungry.  So we ordered the house-made lamb sausage after all.  Served over polenta, with peppers and olives, it was a rich dish, slightly sweet from the peppers.  While we enjoyed it, the table was in agreement that it was our least-favorite of the night.

The executive chef Brian Cartenuto came around briefly to our table as our plates were getting cleared.  He was making the rounds while the kitchen got a slight breather after the first wave of tables.  He’s new to Seattle, arriving here in November (what a welcome, with our deluge of snow).  He previously worked at restaurants in the other Washington (DC), and then a cruise line before landing here.

He continued around the packed room, to visit with each table.  There seemed to be two types of parties in house:  the young hipsters at the bar, and families over by the windows, including one young family with an infant and another with a preschool-age child.  Kids seemed welcome here:  the front waiting area even has a tiny chair for the little ones, and the noise level was loud enough that parents didn’t have to worry about small outbursts (yet, amazingly, it wasn’t so loud that you couldn’t talk comfortably with your dining companions – a welcome change).

Immediately after our plates were cleared, our dessert arrived.  The waitress had warned us at the beginning that we should save room for their molten chocolate cake, and said that it would take 20 minutes to order.  Our friend made it clear to her that we definitely wanted it, so it arrived even before our dessert menus.  Molten, indeed, the cake was gooey and decadent – probably the best version I’ve had in a while.  We enjoyed it while selecting our second dessert, an olive oil polenta cake.  Light and airy, with a bit of crunch and hint of lemon, it was a lovely ending to the meal.  Cantinetta would make a good late-night stop for just dessert, perhaps at the bar with a limoncello.

Four of us paid a bill of $200, which included cocktails, a bottle of wine, and after-dinner drinks.  Not cheap, but honestly, pretty in-line with anything like it in Seattle.  We’ll be keeping an eye on Cantinetta and likely returning soon.

Cantinetta
3650 Wallingford Avenue N, Seattle
(206) 632-1000

Eric Bahn was greeting guests at every table tonight, his first official night open on the Eastside.  We were impressed with the interior of the new Monsoon, as it’s quite a transformation from the previous Porcella space.  He explained the thought they put into every detail.  The marble at the bar is from Vietnam, the wooden screens are antique Chinese pieces from David Smith, and the posts flanking them are reclaimed from a church in Hoquiam.  Altogether, the place is modern, cozy, and comfortable.

You see a long bar with lanterns overhead on the left as you enter, and a large dining room on the right.  There’s another smaller dining room tucked away in back, where we were initially going to be seated, but we preferred to be up front where the activity was.

The menu was overwhelming at first, with a huge list of detailed menu items and no categories beyond “raw bar” and “dinner.”  After staring at the menu fuzzily for a while, we realized that the white space delineated the different types of food: appetizers, seafood, meat, side dishes, etc.  We managed to narrow down the choices, and settle on kona kampachi sashimi with lime from the raw bar, imperial rolls with kuraboto pork and shrimp, a catfish claypot, the drunken chicken, and wokked soft noodles with mushrooms and duck egg.

While we waited for our meal to begin, I tried their signature plum wine martini.  It was just the right mix of tangy, sweet, and sour.  Then the food arrived.

Our first bite was of the sashimi, which was lively and flavorful, with crispy shallots adding a nice texture.  The rolls were also excellent – hot, crisp, and tasty with the dipping sauce.  Catfish was next, and the first bite was an unexpected burst of flavor – we both looked at each other simultaneously, impressed.  The cracked pepper on top was generous, adding an interesting dimension.  We both agreed that it was one of the most impressive dishes of the meal, although it was good to split since the flavors were strong and I don’t think I could have finished the whole thing myself.  The drunken chicken is a standard at all of Eric’s restaurants, and was as good as always, although probably our least favorite among the other dishes.  I think I liked the soft noodles the best.  The egg, mushrooms, and noodles were well balanced, where nothing overwhelmed the other ingredients.

For dessert we had trouble deciding between the banana cake with savory coconut cream, which we’ve had and loved at the original Monsoon, or the bananas wrapped in sticky rice with jackfruit cream.  We opted for the latter, to try something new, and wished we’d ordered the cake instead.  It’s not that the dessert was bad, but the rice was a bit chewy and slightly bland.  My recollection of the banana cake is more favorable.

This is the beginning of a wave of new restaurants on the Eastside.  Also coming soon are Wild Ginger, Blue C Sushi, Boom Noodle, and the second location of Barrio which just opened in Seattle last week.  El Gaucho, Pearl, and even Top Pot Doughnuts, have also opened recently.

Monsoon East
10245 Main St, Bellevue
(425) 635-1112

Longtime readers might recall Dawn’s post earlier this year about Jack’s Tapas Cafe in the U-District.  We thought it was worth sharing some more thoughts on Jack’s, now that we’ve had a chance to dig in and try more of their menu.

Jack’s, Chiang’s Gourmet (in Lake City), and Szechuan Chef (in Bellevue) are our favorite Chinese restaurants in town.  Jack’s cafe is a very friendly, low-key, family-run affair, and is the kind of place where you can easily fall into a rut – once you stumble upon an excellent dish, you may find yourself ordering it time and again.  But fight the temptation!  There are many great dishes to be had.  For starters, try the hot and sour soup (it’s among the best we’ve had around here), or the sesame scallion bread (with its many soft layers and crispy pan-fried exterior).  Their hand-shaved noodle stir fry is a must, as is the sour napa cabbage stir-fry with lamb; the latter has a wonderfully unique flavor that keeps me coming back.

Green beans, pigs ears, and sesame scallion bread at Jack’s Tapas Cafe.

We’re glad our friend Jim recommended we try the mixed vegetables, chicken, translucent noodles with golden crown dish – a large plate with an egg omelet serving as the crown, covering the rest of the ingredients.  (We’ve found that this dish doesn’t fare quite as well for take-out, so save it for your in-house dining.)  On a lunch visit just today with friends, we finally tried the eggplant with basil and now it’s on our must-order list for next time.  In return, we introduced them to the slightly spicy green beans with beef.  We always order too much food at Jack’s, but I have no problem eating those green beans leftover.

Not everything makes it on the must-order-again list for us.  I found the pigs ears appetizer to be a bit too tough and leathery, and the tofu with Chinese chives was good, but not top-tier.

Next visit, I’m trying the highly-recommended three cup chicken.  What else do you think we should try?  Post your recommendations below.

Jack’s Tapas Cafe (Mainly Chinese)
5211 University Way, Seattle
(206) 523-6855