What a steaming pile of crap.
We were very excited to find a restaurant near our house with decent decor. We started with some brews, of course.
Lisa had the Diamond Knot IPA, which was terrible . . . bitter, with no redeeming qualities. Caine tried the Pike Kilt Lifter. It seemed a bit malty for his tastes, though Lisa enjoyed it . . . flavorful, bright, and spicy.
For our appetizer we ordered the Calamari, which we were excited about, because it was advertised as "strip steaks" rather than the usual rings. Such is usually a sign of quality calamari. Unfortunately, this was horrible. It tasted like fish sticks, and was chewy and tough. Picture Denny's Cheese Sticks full of rubbery fish. This calamari is the reason lots of people think they don't like calamari.
Caine's French Onion Soup (which had a crust of Kraft Green Bottle-looking parmesean on top) was the only bland french onion soup he's ever had. Lisa tried the Cheddar Bacon Potato soup. It was super greasy and the bacon felt raw in my mouth. Gross.
It didn't get any better. We both ordered steak. Caine ordered his rare, while Lisa asked for medium. Caine's steak was medium and Lisa's was a charcoal brick. Nasty. We're pretty sure the "garlic mashed potatoes" that were served with my meal were rehydrated.
FUCK! Use some quality ingredients. We woulda been happier at Denny's; at least there you know the food is going to be crap before you order it.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Cartwright's - Mukilteo, WA
The Tap House - Bellevue, WA
160 Beers on Tap! Mmmm!!!
This was our sole motivation for visiting this restaurant. It had a very "cheesecake factory" or "PF chang's" atmosphere; somewhat corporate, tasteful in a somewhat tasteless kind of way. It was crowded and full of bro's (I blame that on Bellevue), but not so annoying that I would avoid it.
We had the Spicy Lobster Rolls for our appetizer. They had lobster, salmon, cream cheese, and a bit of a spicy kick in the sauce, which was a mere drizzle across the top of each piece. They were also battered and deep fried. Holy crap. We could have eaten a dozen portions of this. It was delicious.
Caine ordered Crab-Stuffed Prawns, which were good, but a little too rich to be a main course.
Lisa had Parmesan Crusted Halibut, which again was good, but not especially exciting.
Really we were there for the beer.
We tried:
Skagit River Scullers IPA - a little bitter, pretty floral
Lagunitas IPA - well done but typical IPA
Oscar Blues Old Chub - Very malty. Nice and interesting, but a whole pint might be a bit much.
Hale's Blonde - It's a blonde. Kinda sweet. Not really my style.
Baron Steinbock - WEIRD. Sweet and bocky. It was at this point in the evening that our tastebuds were overloaded, making things difficult to appreciate.
Alaskan Smoked Porter - very smoky, almost like the rauschbier.
Gulden Draak - Caine said "SO Belgian!" Lots of pear flavor. Good balance between the spice and fruit flavors. Earthy.
Mack & Jack's Black Cat Porter - pretty good... but again, a few beers into it...
For dessert Lisa had the lava cake. It would have been GREAT if it had been served with ice cream. Instead it was hard to swallow, even while washing it down with a pint.
Caine had the fruit tart, which was too tarty and not fruity enough.
Our server, Yan, was great. He didn't try to be clever or too friendly, but we never felt neglected. Good times. We'll definitely be going back.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Great Divide Brewing Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
One of the best things about moving to a new area is becoming familiar with its regional beers. We picked up a $9 Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout by Great Divide Brewing Company. Coming in at 9.5%, this beer has all that you'd expect from such a title. This is a very well balanced Imperial Stout which packs a good amount of vanilla flavor. You can taste the hops and the malt, but one doesn't overwhelm the other.
Viscous, as one would expect from an imperial stout. The vanilla is there, but I think coffee flavors are a bit more prevalent. The finish is a bit more bitter than I'd like, but all in all this is pretty well rounded. On the other hand, there is little here that stands out. It's a good, solid Imperial Stout. For the price I'd spend more time finding something a little more singular, but I can hardly complain.
LNCC
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Zab Thai Restaurant - Everett
What a wonderful discovery! Caine and I, while buying some flea treatment for the kitties, asked the vet nurse where we could get some good Thai food and she recommended Zab's. Located in a dismal corner strip mall, this lavishly decorated restaurant is deceptively large.
Like many Thai restaurants, this place has a pretty large menu. The appetizer choices had us stumped - everything sounded so good. We had no choice but to order the appetizer sampler. This included a pair each of satay, spring rolls, crispy prawns, "money bags," and "crab delight." Every single thing on that plate was delicious. The spring rolls, which were vegetarian (and usually not my favorite), had a surprising amount of flavor, with none of the bitterness you often find in a spring roll. The satay was pretty standard, but quite good. The crispy prawns were actually wrapped in egg noodles, which made for an unusual presentation and good flavor. The money bags were "minced pork wrapped in spring roll pastry and lightly fried." The menu description does this creation no justice. They really kind of resemble money bags, and again, I was surprised at the amount of flavor. Crab delight turned out to be crab meat and cream cheese deep-fried won tons. Holy freakin' crap! Everything was delicious! The appetizers were served with a peanut plum sauce, tangy tamarind sauce, and pickled cucumbers. I was equally impressed by the presentation.
Let me start out by saying I love pad thai. Love it. I could eat it by the pound for just about every meal. Like salsa and mexican restaurants, you can usually judge a thai restaurant's quality by the pad thai. I'm pretty sure that this is the best pad thai I've ever had. Thai food is supposed to be a combination of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy flavors, and this pad thai seemed the perfect balance.
We can't pretend to be experts on thai, but I've eaten a good amount of yellow curry. Zab's Seafood Yellow Curry was not quite what I expected. The coconut milk flavor wasn't as prevalent, and over all it was "creamier" than I'm used to. This is in no way a bad thing, I simply didn't expect it. It was actually quite tasty, if not spicy enough. I fault myself on this. Few people believe me when I say it's almost impossible to make a food too spicy for me, but it is largely true; nor is yellow curry usually made spicy, or so I've been told.
The seafood was fairly good. Not stellar, but the scallops were fairly firm without being rubbery, and the mussels were neither too fishy nor too mushy. I think next time I'll get the mussaman curry.
The service was friendly and prompt, the presentation of all the plates was impeccable, if not overly imaginative. It seems that at every thai restaurant we really enjoy, the staff is extremely friendly and eager to please. Zab is no exception.
We'll definitely be returning, and I would recommend the experience to anyone.
Anthony's Homeport - Everett, WA
Anthony's, for those who are familiar, is very similar to Parker's Lighthouse in many ways. It's right on the water, and you pay for the view as much as you do the food. The food is very good in general, but not the best I've ever had. It's fine dining, but without a pretentious dress code or anything particular unique or unusual.
The two times that we've been, the wait staff and the food have been great. Friendly, efficient, and not annoying.
The first time we went I had pan seared scallops. If they weren't Divers', they were close. I've made scallops before, but I've never gotten quite this good of a sear, which at Anthony's is light and surrounds the whole scallop. Apparently the secret is a coating of flour. But that's another blog. We have yet to find a dish that wasn't at least "good." It's honestly been a little while since we've eaten there. The first time, we stuck to seafood. Our latest venture included steaks. They were good, but not the most flavorful steaks we've ever had (those were at Fleming's, for the record).
My most vivid recollection has got to be their chocolate granache, a.k.a. chocolate lava cake, a.k.a. whatever you call chocolate cake that has a flowing chocolate center. Mmm. Orgasmic is really the only adjective I have to describe it.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Piatti Seattle
Located in the "University Village," which is really just a strip mall.
Oh, where to begin? We had nothing but internet research to go on, and we chose badly. We'll begin with the decor, which was just about one step above the likes Olive Garden: corporate, bland, impersonal, and inoffensive. We should have known better upon driving into the strip mall parking lot. The place was of medium size, and medium crowded for a sunday, mostly families and the like. The bar was passable at best, offering Oban and Mcallan 18 at the higher end of the whole selection. The wine list was mediocre, at best, as well.
We began with the calamari, which was dry, rubbery and fishy, at best. The calamari was served with breaded broccoli as a "garnish," though in all honesty the broccoli tasted better than the calamari.
Perhaps the highest point of the experience was the pre-meal bread, which was dense and highly herbed served quite warm alongside a delicious olive oil/vinegar/herb dip. Very delicious. This is the only truly good thing I have to say about this restaurant.
Lisa had the salmon, which, aside from the horribly mispaired corn and pepper ragu, was entirely bland, especially for what was supposed to be "wild" salmon. It was supposed to be served with "salsa verde," which consisted of about four chunks of tomato and an inordinate amount of chopped cilantro.
I chose the clam linguine, which tasted of little more than salt and chewy noodles. Even the "clams," which could only be identified by the fact that they came in shells, were dried out and entirely flavorless.
We toasted "to a complete failure."