Aloha Ramen

Cupcake Royale - West Seattle

Melting Pot

Frost Doughnuts

Blue Dog Cafe

Fresh Flours

The Counter

Voodoo Doughnuts

Teddy's Bigger Burgers

Tropisueno

Delica - Ferry Building Marketplace

What we ate:

TOFU & CHICKEN PATTY WITH HIJIKI

Free-range chicken and organic tofu patty with hijiki seaweed and carrot. Served in a sweet soy sauce.

ROAST BEEF SUSHI

Roast beef topped with baby arugula, minced shallots and julienne radish, wrapped with seaweed.

WASABI GARLIC POTATO SALAD

Garlic potato salad with wasabi mayonnaise, edamame, snap peas and romaine hearts.

GREEN BEANS SALAD

Green beans and organic shredded carrots with a sesame dressing.

Taste: 6.5

Ambiance: 6

Presentation:6.5

http://www.delicasf.com/

I Love Sushi

What we ate:

TAKO NIGIRI

HAMACHI NIGIRI

JALAPENO BOMBER ROLL

Yellowtail & habanero flavored smelt roe wrapped with salmon. Served with basil-jalapeno sauce.

CATERPILLAR ROLL

Eel, cucumber and avocado roll.

DEEP FRIED WHOLE MACKEREL

Taste: 8

Presentation: 7.5

Ambiance: 8

http://lakebellevue.ilovesushi.com/

Preservation Kitchen

This is such a cute restaurant! It felt as if you were having a meal at someone's home. The ambiance was very inviting...but the food is what put it over the top for me. I loved my omelette and the egg bread toast that accompanied it. Overall I thought this was a perfect place for brunch. Nothing too over the top or fancy, but just a nice place for a quiet, relaxed meal. I definitely want to come back and try out their dinner menu sometime!

What we ate:

THREE EGG OMELETTE

House cured salmon, tomato, grilled red onion, capers. Served with egg bread toast.

THREE EGG SCRAMBLE - VEGETABLES

Roasted red peppers, grilled red onions, roasted mushrooms, grilled zucchini. Served with egg bread toast.

Taste: 8.5

Presentation: 8

Ambiance: 8.5

http://www.preservationkitchen.com/

Root Table

After reading several great reviews on Yelp (which is how I choose most of my restaurants), I decided to check out Root Table in Ballard. It's a pretty small place, but they have very cool furniture. Everything looks like it's been made out of tree trunks! I loved it!

I researched all of the dishes that got great reviews and knew what I wanted going in. Unfortunately, one of my choices wasn't available - Duck Spring Rolls. No worries, we got Corn Fritters in it's place and it was pretty darn good. We also tried their Root Fries (from what I can tell, there was potato, sweet potato and taro?); Stuffed Mushrooms and Menage-a-Thai.

The fries were pretty good, but a bit soggy for my taste. The stuffed mushrooms weren't my favorite, but to it's defense, I don't really care for any type of stuffed mushroom. I only got it cause it had a lot of good reviews. It's stuffed with a curried corn mixture. Pretty bland if you ask me. The corn fritters were great, it came with a siracha-type dipping sauce. The Menage-a-Thai was basically one meat (we chose Chicken), a few pieces of Roti and three type of curry dipping sauces (hence menage). That dish was pretty good...although all three curries tasted alike.

Overall, I thought this was a great restaurant.

What we ate:

ROOT FRIES

Seasoned root vegetables, served with spicy ketchup.

STUFFED MUSHROOMS

Baked white button mushrooms stuffed with curried corn, peas and carrots.

CORN FRITTERS

MENAGE-A-THAI

Three different curries with chicken, served with roti and jasmine rice.

Taste: 8.5

Presentation: 8

Ambiance: 8.5

www.roottablerestaurant.com

Pair

We have been TRYING to get into Elemental over the past two weeks. Seems that in this case, perseverance does not pay off. After 3 unsuccessful attempts on 3 separate days, we gave up (for now). Because Elemental requires you to show up before 5pm to even have a chance to get seated, we were now in search of a restaurant serving dinner pretty early. Driving around, with my Yelp app open, we came across Pair.

Pair is a rather small, but really cute restaurant in the U-District/bordering Wedgewood. I've driven past it several times, but it always looked closed. As we drove past it today, I spotted an Open sign in the window. Bingo, we found dinner!

We walked in and noticed one occupied table in the otherwise empty room. As we were seated, our waiter informed us that it was Happy Hour. Awesome! We decided to try several dishes from both the Happy Hour menu as well as the regular dinner menu.

Everything that we ordered, with the exception of the stuffed grape leaves, was scrumptious. The two dishes that stood out in my mind were the Brisket Sliders and Smoked Salmon Toasts.

Brisket Sliders were so good! 3 for $5?! Here's a hint: Get TWO orders of this!

Smoked Salmon Wild Toasts - seriously good! Maybe it's my strong love of smoked salmon....or maybe it's because I'm a greedy greedy person...whatever the reason, I definitely ate more than my half of the dish.

The quality of food that we got, paired with the happy hour prices (see what I just did - a play on words! 'paired'....haha, ok, nevermind) made this restaurant a real find!

What we ate:

SIDECAR COCKTAIL

HERB AND CHEESE BISCUITS

BRISKET SLIDERS

SMOKED SALMON WILD TOASTS

Pickled shallots, crispy capers & crème fraîche

GRILLED STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES

Fresh mozzarella, olives, sundried tomatoes & pinenuts

SMOKED PORK BELLY

Farro & spring onion salad, wilted chard & ginger-mustard gastrique

STEAK FRITES

Blue cheese chive butter & red wine jus

Taste: 8

Presentation: 8

Ambiance: 7.5

www.pairseattle.com

Kantjil

This was an Indonesian restaurant I went to in Amsterdam...I forget what I ordered, but it was actually one of the best things I ate throughout my trip (other than Stroopwafels that is!)

Taste: 9

Presentation: 8.5

Ambiance: 8

www.kantjil.nl

Tilth

I've always heard great things about Tilth. More specifically, about Tilth's brunch. I like brunch...I like restaurants with good reviews...it was basically a no-brainer.

Tilth is set up inside of an old craftsman house in Wallingford. You feel as if you're walking into someone's home and not a restaurant. We got there about 9:30 on a Saturday morning. There were a lot of good options on the menu, but the one that stood out to me was the crab benedict. Marc got the mini duck burgers. I thought both were pretty good, just not convinced it lives up to the hype. Maybe I didn't try the right dishes? Maybe I'm just not used to fancy breakfasts? I dunno but either way, I don't think I'll come back for brunch. Their dinner menu did look pretty enticing....tempting enough for me to come back for a different meal.

What we ate:

MINI DUCK BURGERS

Served with fingerling chips

DUNGENESS CRAB BENEDICT

Sous vide egg, brioche, spicy hollandaise

Taste: 6.5

Presentation: 8

Ambiance: 8

www.tilthrestaurant.com

Masa

I drove down to Tacoma to visit and have dinner with Angela.  It's been a while since the last time I drove south of Renton.  I don't even know where the good restaurants are.  She suggested Masa, a Mexican Restaurant that transforms into a bar as the night goes on.  

We got there pretty early, about 6:30, but the restaurant was already half full.  The decor was nice, it was dark and a bit on the trendier side.  

The menu offered the normal Mexican fare.  Although I just ate tacos for lunch, I chose to get more for dinner.  I got a taco and an enchilada.  Angela ordered a Surf and Turf Appetizer.  Overall, I enjoyed this restaurant.  It reminded me a lot of the Matador or Pesos.  If I lived in Tacoma, I'd be back.

What we ate:

MASA SURF AND TURF

Seared Steak Tips with Prawns in a Spicy Cream Sauce. Served with Tortillas.

CARNE ASADA TACO

Carne Asada with Caramelized Onions and Cilantro

SHRIMP ENCHILADA

Shrimp, Jack Cheese, Verde Sauce and Spicy Cream

Taste: 7.5

Presentation: 7.5

Ambience: 7.5

www.masatacoma.com

La Carta De Oaxaca

I wanted a quick lunch and decided to try out La Carta de Oaxaca in Ballard.  I heard they had really good tacos.  We got lucky and found parking immediately right in front of the restaurant.  (unheard of on a Saturday at noon!)  However, there were no seats available so we had to put in a to go order.  

The menu wasn't too extensive, but I saw a few good options....I ended up ordering the BBQ Pork tacos.  

The interior of this restaurant was cute. They had framed photos covering one wall, a small bar in the back and an open kitchen where you could see the cooks preparing the food.  

After a 15 minute wait, we had a our food in hand and bill to pay.  $7.00 for two tacos?  Yikes! The to go package I was carrying was tiny.  No chips and salsa.  No other types sides. Nothing.  Just two small tacos.  Hmm...these better be the best tacos ever!

After getting home, I complained about the size once more before diving in....but I'll admit, they were good.  They were damn good!  Fine, fine...the next time I'm craving *good* tacos, I'll shut up and happily pay the $7.00 again.

What I ate:

TACOS AL PASTOR

Barbequed Pork in Homemade Tortillas with Cilantro, Onion and Hot Sauce

Taste: 7.5

Presentation: n/a

Ambience: 7

www.lacartadeoaxaca.com

Cupcake Royale

I love cupcakes.  They're so fun and cute!  

I've had cupcakes from Cupcake Royale once, it was a housewarming gift, but I had never actually been to the shop until today.  Erin and I met here to catch up over some coffee and cupcakes.  In addition to their regular flavors, they were offering Fall Cupcake Flavors - Harvest Pumpkin, Caramel Apple and Carrot.  I chose the Pumpkin. A cupcake paired with good black coffee and great conversation equates to a great way to start the day!

What I ate:

HARVEST PUMPKIN CUPCAKE

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Taste: 7.5

Presentation: 8

Ambience: 7.5

www.cupcakeroyale.com

Macrina Bakery

I've never been to the original Macrina downtown location, but was happy to see that they opened one up near my work.  Located on 1st Ave, its less than a 3 minute drive....plus street parking is actually still free in Sodo District.  

Met CeCe here for lunch.  I really liked the interior, it was very industrial looking.  Plus, we could see the bakers rolling out dough and shaping pastries from where we were sitting through the large windows dividing the bakery to the back.

I'd rate my lunch as average tasting...but seeing as though it was on the pricier side - I'd probably deduct points.  I don't mind paying more for good food..but when mediocre food is accompanied with a larger price tag, it makes me like a place even less.  

I may come back here for coffee and a pastry in the morning, but I most likely won't be back for lunch.

What I ate:

PETIT SANDWICH

Portobello Mushroom, Spinach, Goat Cheese, Balsamic Vinaigrette

RICK'S APRICOT ESPRESSO COOKIE

Taste: 6

Presentation: 6.5

Ambience: 7

www.macrinabakery.com