Quinn's Pub

Frog Legs?!!  Still can't believe I ate them, but glad that I did.  

P.S. - Tastes like chicken!  :p

What we ate:

FRIED FROG LEGS

Served with Bleu Cheese and Tabasco

Taste: 7

Ambience: 7.5

Presentation: 7

www.quinnpubseattle.com

Ristorante Machiavelli

Cute Italian restaurant with above average Italian food.  This place is small and crowded - 20 minutes to get a table, but well worth the wait.  I ordered the "special" - Butternut Squash Lasagna.  Excellent!!  

There wasn't anything too fancy on the menu, just normal pastas and salads you'd expect to see on any Italian menu.  No new-fangled pasta with trendy ingredients here!  And although I love trying out new restaurants with interesting dishes, it's nice to go to somewhere where you know exactly what you're getting and what to expect.  

What we ate:

BUTTERNUT SQUASH LASAGNA

HANDMADE GNOCCHI AL SUGO

Hand Rolled Potato Dumplings with Tomato Basil Sauce

Taste: 7.5

Ambience: 7

Presentation: 6.5

www.machiavellis.com

Monkey Bridge

I am a sick girl.  Pho isn't necessarily my favorite food, but when you're sick - it sounds wonderful.  Since pho isn't the type of food you can get 'to-go', I convinced CeCe to meet me for dinner tonight.  We weighed our options - Monkey Bridge vs. Than Brothers - both on NW Market Street....we went to the cleaner-looking of the two.

I, of course, had the pho.  CeCe order the Beef and Rhubarb Stirfry.  Both were good.  The pho I had here was probably the best I've ever eaten.  I don't usually care for oily broths, so I ordered mines with vegetable (as opposed to beef) broth.  The pho was delicious!  CeCe's dish had rhubarb, something we were both unsure about.  When it came out, it looked like green eggplants (aren't rhubarbs supposed to be red?!)  Either way, her dish was quite tasty as well.  

The restaurant itself was really cute.  It's small, but nicely decorated (they even had Halloween decorations up!).  Cozy place.

I'd definitely come back here again!

What we ate:

PRAWN PHO

Pho Noodle in a Cinnamon, Cloves and Star-Anise-flavored Vegetable Broth with Prawns, topped with Green Onions.

VIETNAMESE RHUBARB AND BEEF (COM BO XAO BAC HA)

Beef sauteed with Vietnamese Rhubarb with Ground Peanuts, served with Rice.

Taste: 7.5

Presentation: 6.5

Ambience: 7

www.themonkeybridge.com

Portage Bay Cafe

Today was my last day at HL2 so for my 'farewell lunch' we went to a restaurant down the street called Portage Bay Cafe.  I've been here once before for lunch and once for brunch - both times were good.  

I am not feeling so hot right now and wanted soup, but the soup options didn't quite grab me, so I chose the Fish of the Day Sandwich.  CeCe also took a photo of her lunch - she ordered the salad special containing roasted vegetables.

What we ate:

 FISH OF THE DAY SANDWICH

A filet of fish (ling cod) is grilled rare with Cajun spices and layered with organic greens and tomato, finished with jalapeno glaze.  Served with an organic house salad.

ROASTED VEGETABLE SALAD

Organic greens tossed figs, roasted peppers and eggplant.  Served with bread.

Taste: 7.5

Presentation: 7

Ambience: 7

www.portagebaycafe.com

Athina Grill

CeCe needed to stop by the drug store, so we drove up to Queen Anne on our lunch break.  We walked around looking for somewhere to eat and decided to try out Athina Grill.  I like Greek food, so it sounded like a good option.  

I had the the Chicken Soulvaki Pita with Fries (weird that they serve this with fries, but whatever...) and Cece just had the Eggplant Spread with Pita (which trust me, tasted better than it looked).  

There are better Greek restaurants in Seattle and better restaurants in general in that area of Queen Anne....I wouldn't go back to Athina Grill.

What we ate:

CHICKEN SOULVAKI PITA WITH FRIES

EGGPLANT SPREAD WITH PITA

Taste: 6

Presentation: 5

Ambience: 5

Athina Grill

Hotel Monaco

Gina is an food picture-enabler and I love her for it! Look at what she text messaged me....a wonderful photo of her Lemon Meringue dessert she had at a work lunch.  She says, "It looked better than it tasted..."  

Her company treated them to a lunch at the Hotel Monaco in downtown Seattle and her ratings are as follows:

Taste: 7

Presentation: 8

Ambience: 6

www.monaco-seattle.com

Fuel Coffee

I always see Fuel Coffee when I drive through Wallingford but either didn't want coffee at the time or didn't have time to stop in.  But today, since I was going into work today (on a SATURDAY!) I decided to take the long way to the freeway and give this place a try.  I'm glad I did, the coffee was great (Cafe Vitta, I believe) and the scone wasn't too bad either.  I would come back.

What I ate:

GRANDE COFFEE, BLACK

SCONE

Taste: 7.5

Presentation: n/a

Ambience: 6

www.fuelcoffeeseattle.com

Purple Cafe & Wine Bar

When asked, I always choose Purple Cafe & Wine Bar as one of my (if not, top) favorite restaurants in Seattle.  The food is great - you can choose from small plates or whole entrees.  I tend to stick to the small plates so I can try lots of different things.  

Purple has an amazing ambience.  It's dark, cozy and has a HUGE wine tower in the middle of the restaurant.  I love looking at it...it's mesmerizing!!!

Then there's the WINE!  Wine, wine, and more wine.  Tittarelli Malbec Reserva - the bestest in the westest!  We had this at my b-day celebration here and we had it again tonight.  It's so good! I have searched high and low for this wine in several wine shops....but it cannot be found.  Of course, the wine shops offer to order it in for me, but I always decline - when I crave it, it's a great excuse to visit Purple.  :)  This place is perfect in my book!

L.O.V.E. this place!

What we ate:

WHITE BEAN, ROASTED GARLIC AND ROSEMARY SPREAD WITH PITA

MOROCCAN BRAISED CHICKEN SALAD, CARROT AND CHICKPEAS

CRAB AND FENNEL SALAD WITH MEYER LEMON AIOLI AND AVOCADO

CONFIT ARTICHOKES, NICOISE STYLE OLIVES AND SICILIAN OLIVE OIL

ASSORTED CHEESES

LOBSTER MAC AND CHEESE (no picture)

Taste: 8.5

Presentation: 8.5

Ambience: 9

www.thepurplecafe.com

Zeeks Pizza

I had been craving pizza for days now.  I've been telling CeCe about this craving for days now. To shut me up, we went to Zeeks for lunch.  MMMMMM...craving aborted!

What we ate:

FORAGER PIZZA

Prosciutto, Portobello Mushrooms, Roasted Red Peppers, Arugula and Fresh Oregano layered over Mozzarella, Provolone Cheese and an Olive Oil Glaze.

Taste: 7.5

Presentation: 6

Ambience: 6

www.zeekspizza.com

Red Robin

What I ate:

BLACKENED BAYOU BURGER

Blackened Burger topped with Roasted Red Peppers, 'Angry' Onions, Pepperjack Cheese, Creole Mustard Sauce and Cabbage-Carrot Mix on a Jalapeno-Cornmeal Kaiser Roll.  

(The kitchen was out of the Cabbage-Carrot Mix, so it was substituted with Lettuce.)

Taste: 7.5

Presentation: 6.5

Ambience: 5.5

www.redrobin.com

Trader Joes

The Falafel Quest continues...this time - Trader Joes.  Not good, but not horrible.  Would I eat it again? Sure.  But it would probably be just for the hummus, pita and tabbouli salad.  The falafel was soggy and pretty oily.  

What I ate:

TRADER JOES MIDDLE EAST FEAST

Falafel, Pita, Hummus, Tabbouli Salad

Taste:5.5

Presentation:5.5

Ambience: n/a

www.traderjoes.com

Allrecipes.com - S'mores Bars

S'MORES BARS

Made these for Tyson's Housewarming Party

Recipe

Thai Siam

Met Tim for dinner here and since it was a 'new to me' Thai restaurant, I had to try the Pad See Ew. With Thai restaurants on every corner in Seattle, you have to have that one baseline item when trying a new place.  Most people go with Pad Thai, but not me, I use Pad See Ew.  If a restaurant's Pad See Ew is not up to par, I won't be back again - plain and simple.

Thai Siam, sad to say, had a mediocre Pad See Ew.  I've heard good things about this restaurant, but with so many Thai options in Seattle, it just doesn't make sense to waste another Thai meal at a restaurant with sub-par Pad See Ew.  Moving on!

What we ate:

PAD SEE EW WITH BEEF

Thick rice noodles with beef in a special soy bean sauce.  Served with Broccoli and Bean Sprouts.

THAI SIAM YELLOW CURRY

Special Yellow Curry with Coconut Milk, Potatoes and Onions 

TOM YUM GOONG

Spicy Hot and Sour Soup with Shrimp, Mushrooms, Lemongrass and other special Thai herbs and spices.

Taste: 6.5

Presentation: 6

Ambience: 5.5

www.thaisiamrestaurant.com

Tokyo Restaurant

Tokyo is a small Japanese restaurant in a Factoria Strip Mall, very unassuming.  Dinner here is always good, you can count on delicious food and good service.  Plus - they make the best Chicken Katsu I've ever had!

What we ate:

NIGIRI SUSHI

(2-pieces) Hamachi, (2-pieces) Amaebi, (2-pieces) Sake

HAMACHI KAMA

Grilled Yellowtail Collar, Seasoned with Salt

COMBINATION DINNER

Chicken Katsu, Salmon Teriyaki, House Salad, Sunomono, Miso Soup, Rice

Taste: 8

Presentation:6.5

Ambience: 6

www.tokyojr.com

Allrecipes.com - Ham and Cheese Frittata

HAM AND CHEESE FRITTATA

Recipe

I made this for dinner one night, along with a recipe for TOASTED CIABATTA WITH BALSAMIC SYRUP I watched Giada De Laurentiis made on show. Sounds weird...but seriously soooooo good!

Recipe