OK, I had lobster TWO times on Saturday. THAT is one of my definitions of a Great Day.
The first time, I was with Mike the Magnificent Contractor. We met at Joey's in Southcenter for lunch. He ordered an Ahi sandwich (which he said was not bad...) and he recommended that I try the Lobster Grilled Cheese sandwich. With a little more lobster, it would have been amazing...but with the little bits of lobster in it, it was pretty darned good. Crispy, browned bread; tangy, gooey cheese; and...lobster. I would probably order it again, but find some way to finagle some more lobster between the bread slices.
I had lobster--again--at dinner. Mr. Foodie & I went to the Barking Frog in Woodinville for our anniversary. When our most awesome server, Gina, handed us the menu, my eyes immediately snapped to the Popcorn Lobster in the appetizer section. A generous number of these lobster fritters came in a cute little basket that looked like a miniature version of the fry baskets you see at fast food places--except no oil was dripping off of this beauty.
Inside--a pile of lobster chunks in batter that was as light as air--Gina told us the secret was beignet batter. Oooooh, lobster donuts. Excellent. Could life get any better than it was at that moment?! I told Mr. Foodie that I was prepared to go out and buy a deep fryer for the kitchen right there and then, if we could make these every night! A really lovely ginger sauce accompanied this dish. It was absolutely spectacular--the kind of appetizer that makes you want to go out for a cigarette, even if you don't smoke.
Mr. Foodie ordered the Grand Marnier Prawns, which were also deep fried, and covered in an amazing, orange-y glaze. The kitchen smartly put these on two plates for the two of us.... I reluctantly gave up one of my prawns to Bill, since he actually ordered them. If I hadn't been ready to roll around in the lobster, I would have thought I'd died and gone to heaven with this plate. Plump, tasty shrimp alongside a nice little stack of mixed greens with a lemongrass vinaigrette. Lovely.
I ordered the Red Beet Salad with mandarin orange slices, hazelnuts, goat cheese and vanilla honey drizzle. This was a THOUSAND times better thant the roasted beet salad I attempted to make earlier in the week. Bill got the Mixed Green Salad with julienned apple, Oregon blue cheese crumbles, toasted walnuts and creamy blue cheese dressing. Both were tasty.
For dinner, Bill ordered some of the most amazing scallops I've ever had the pleasure of eating. The Ginger Crusted Sea Scallops were served on a savory bed of lentils, bacon, pea vines, mushrooms, cipollini onions, crunchy smoked almonds--all lovingly tossed in a light curry coconut sauce. The scallops had an amazing brown sear on the top that imparted a brown-butter flavor that just about knocked you off your chair. And the mixture they were served upon had amazing texture (those almonds!!!)and was earthy and chewy and, well, just perfect.
I was having a hard time figuring out what to order. Any of the entrees could have been amazing. Ahi? New York Steak? Duck Breast with huckleberry risotto and duck confit?
In the end, I chose the Northwest Beef Tenderloin, which was served on top of gnudi (which, apparently are large gnocchi) and mushrooms--with a thick gorgonzola cream anchoring the plate.
Here's my official verdict: um....wow. Holy smokes, what a dish! The tenderloin is cooked sous-vide (and thanks to Top Chef, I now know that this means the meat is put in an air-tight vacuum bag, placed in hot, not boiling water and cooked slowly for a verrrry long time). What results is meat that literally melts in your mouth and is jammed full of flavor. The combination of the velvety beef with the buttery gnudi, the earthy mushrooms and the unbelieveable gorgonzola sauce was almost enough to make a girl faint. Words really fail me here, but I can safely say: this was the best dinner of 2009. And we've had some G R E A T dinners.
I wish I could say that after all of that, we didn't order dessert, but we did. I had a little scoop of homemade caramel ice cream served with a shortbread cookie, which was lovely, and Bill had an apple crumble, which also came with the caramel ice cream.
Those were both really nice--but I secretly was kicking myself inside: I should have ordered more lobster donuts for dessert instead.
Joey's
758 Southcenter Mall
Tukwila, WA 98188
206.835.6397.
Barking Frog
14580 N.E. 145th Street
Woodinville, WA 98072
425.424.3900
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Mac and Cheese Heaven: Salty's at Redondo
So, if you know one thing about me at all--and specifically me and food--you should know that I love macaroni and cheese. Really, really, really LOVE macaroni and cheese. Mostly, I love my mom's macaroni and cheese with Spam with all my heart, soul and stomach. Mom's macaroni and cheese is the pinnacle of mac and cheesieness. Nothing can touch it. A pound of elbow pasta, 4 cups of shredded cheese, two cans of Spam. Yeah, baby. That's what I'm talking about.
I know what you're thinking. "SPAM? REALLY? SPAM?" And I know you're thinking it just like that, in capital letters. Well let me tell you. You have not had Spam, and you have never had macaroni and cheese, until you've experienced this dish. You will in fact love it, and you will in fact never forget it.
A not-so-close second would be....Stouffer's macaroni and cheese. Wait, frozen mac & cheese? Yes, I admit, I do love the flavor, but it has a big psychological appeal as well: Stouffer's mac & cheese was my comfort food growing up. Skin a knee? Stouffer's. Get dumped by a boy? Stouffer's. In college, and out of money for the semester? OK, the true answer to this question is Kraft macaroni and cheese, but I went for the Stouffer's otherwise. That frozen mac & cheese got me through a lot of rough spots over the years....
So every time we're in a restaurant that offers macaroni and cheese on the menu, I hesitate. Because I already know it can't live up to the perfection I grew up with. On the rare occasions that I do order a mac & cheese dish, I inevitably leave disappointed. Last year, during my birthday dinner at Purple in Woodinville, I got an order of their lobster mac & cheese for the table. Wrong choice, birthday girl! What a disappointment. There was no cheese flavor, no lobster flavor, no flavor flavor. A bowl of semi-cheesy mush with some bland lobster meat stuck on top. Sigh. Like Charlie Brown believing that maybe this time, this one time, Lucy will actually hold the football and he will actually kick it to kingdom come.... No. We both fell on our keisters.
What made me go for the crab macaroni and cheese tonight at Salty's at Redondo? Well, for one, the Salty's chef from the Alki location has blown me away the last couple of years at an annual charity event at South Seattle City College, where I'm going to wine school. And two, I needed some comfort food! (It's a long story, involving a big hole in my kitchen where the fridge should be, and Best Buy delivering the wrong fridge not once but TWICE...a saga that's been going on since December 12th.....!!!!) But really, I just needed a good bowl, a lovely bowl, a cheesy bowl of macaroni goodness.
And Salty's came through. It was most definitely the best macaroni and cheese I've ever had in a restaurant. Perfectly seasoned, a GREAT mix of cheeses, perfectly creamy, with a massive helping of crab chunks on top. It also had a huge mound of arugula piled on top, which I quickly tossed over to the bread plate. A few pieces of it mixed into the pasta were great; a tumbleweed of it: nah. (There were also some teardrop tomatoes in the bottom of the bowl--why?)
I apprehensively put the first bite in my mouth--and I almost cried. Well, not really, but it could have happened after the day I had, you know? I could not believe my mouth. IT WAS AMAZING! Texture+taste+cheese+crab=Yes! Yes! Yes! I ate it slowly, relishing each bite, like I was tasting a million dollar dish.
I will never be able to order anything else at Salty's. It's just how I am. Why try anything else, when you've found the dish that curls your toes? And when you go there and order it, drink champagne with it. You will thank me.
Mr. Foodie, who loved the mac & cheese as well, ordered the "small plate" of grilled salmon with pesto mashed potatos. (Potatoes? Po-tah-tos?) Those green mashers with that perfectly cooked fish was just lovely. And our appetizer trio consisting of crab cakes, calimari and coconut prawns was nice, although the crab cakes could have been crispier. The calimari was my favorite of the three, which is a pretty astounding feat, seeing as I don't even like calimari!
If you know of a great restaurant mac & cheese, let me know. I will continue my search, and report back as details...and dishes...become available.
Salty's at Redondo
28201 Redondo Beach Drive S.
Des Moines, WA 98198
253.946.0636
Tacoma Direct Line: 253.272.0607
I know what you're thinking. "SPAM? REALLY? SPAM?" And I know you're thinking it just like that, in capital letters. Well let me tell you. You have not had Spam, and you have never had macaroni and cheese, until you've experienced this dish. You will in fact love it, and you will in fact never forget it.
A not-so-close second would be....Stouffer's macaroni and cheese. Wait, frozen mac & cheese? Yes, I admit, I do love the flavor, but it has a big psychological appeal as well: Stouffer's mac & cheese was my comfort food growing up. Skin a knee? Stouffer's. Get dumped by a boy? Stouffer's. In college, and out of money for the semester? OK, the true answer to this question is Kraft macaroni and cheese, but I went for the Stouffer's otherwise. That frozen mac & cheese got me through a lot of rough spots over the years....
So every time we're in a restaurant that offers macaroni and cheese on the menu, I hesitate. Because I already know it can't live up to the perfection I grew up with. On the rare occasions that I do order a mac & cheese dish, I inevitably leave disappointed. Last year, during my birthday dinner at Purple in Woodinville, I got an order of their lobster mac & cheese for the table. Wrong choice, birthday girl! What a disappointment. There was no cheese flavor, no lobster flavor, no flavor flavor. A bowl of semi-cheesy mush with some bland lobster meat stuck on top. Sigh. Like Charlie Brown believing that maybe this time, this one time, Lucy will actually hold the football and he will actually kick it to kingdom come.... No. We both fell on our keisters.
What made me go for the crab macaroni and cheese tonight at Salty's at Redondo? Well, for one, the Salty's chef from the Alki location has blown me away the last couple of years at an annual charity event at South Seattle City College, where I'm going to wine school. And two, I needed some comfort food! (It's a long story, involving a big hole in my kitchen where the fridge should be, and Best Buy delivering the wrong fridge not once but TWICE...a saga that's been going on since December 12th.....!!!!) But really, I just needed a good bowl, a lovely bowl, a cheesy bowl of macaroni goodness.
And Salty's came through. It was most definitely the best macaroni and cheese I've ever had in a restaurant. Perfectly seasoned, a GREAT mix of cheeses, perfectly creamy, with a massive helping of crab chunks on top. It also had a huge mound of arugula piled on top, which I quickly tossed over to the bread plate. A few pieces of it mixed into the pasta were great; a tumbleweed of it: nah. (There were also some teardrop tomatoes in the bottom of the bowl--why?)
I apprehensively put the first bite in my mouth--and I almost cried. Well, not really, but it could have happened after the day I had, you know? I could not believe my mouth. IT WAS AMAZING! Texture+taste+cheese+crab=Yes! Yes! Yes! I ate it slowly, relishing each bite, like I was tasting a million dollar dish.
I will never be able to order anything else at Salty's. It's just how I am. Why try anything else, when you've found the dish that curls your toes? And when you go there and order it, drink champagne with it. You will thank me.
Mr. Foodie, who loved the mac & cheese as well, ordered the "small plate" of grilled salmon with pesto mashed potatos. (Potatoes? Po-tah-tos?) Those green mashers with that perfectly cooked fish was just lovely. And our appetizer trio consisting of crab cakes, calimari and coconut prawns was nice, although the crab cakes could have been crispier. The calimari was my favorite of the three, which is a pretty astounding feat, seeing as I don't even like calimari!
If you know of a great restaurant mac & cheese, let me know. I will continue my search, and report back as details...and dishes...become available.
Salty's at Redondo
28201 Redondo Beach Drive S.
Des Moines, WA 98198
253.946.0636
Tacoma Direct Line: 253.272.0607
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
2005 Neo Spanish Red Wine-Ribera del Duero
This is hands down, the most amazing Spanish wine I've ever had. And it's only 3 years old--a mere toddler! I got raisin, sour cherry, raspberry and black pepper on the nose. The first sips were spicy, with balanced fruit and a black pepper finish. After a few minutes, it opened up nicely into an oaky, vanilla and toasty glass of velvety yum.
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