Food Is My Coach Bag: The Armory

You have probably assumed I fell off the face of the earth, right? Not quite... just not eating out like we used to. My plan is working well... down 22 pounds a bit. I still have a ways to go but all in good time, my pretty, all in good time.

I now get to eat two days on my own. This week we had tickets to see the King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center (last time it will ever be here, or something like that). So we planned to eat at the Seattle Center House. What? What's that you say? I swore I'd never eat there again? Absolutely right... until they gave it a swanky foodie makeover and called it The Armory. Now THIS I had to check out...

First, the proprietors are updated, many of them spinning off from some of my favorite food trucks/Seattle restaurants. I was most excited to hear that BigFood would be there... and probably most disappointed to hear that they didn't have the same menu, including their fabulous flatbread. I had dreams of this that were quickly squashed. But I had also heard from a friend, we'll call her The Volleyball Player, who said a friend set up a new place called Bean Sprouts designed for those looking for a healthy option for kids. Walking in also saw names I recognized like Mod Pizza and Skillet Counter. And a bunch of new places I'd never heard of before. All of it looked fresh. All of it looked swanky. And all of it looked metallic and shiny and new.

The Big Guy was the first to ruin the illusion. "I want Subway". Yep. One of two old standards, the other being Quincy's burgers. Which is what he got. Fine. We all know he doesn't appreciate interesting food. I still have my little FIT to get involved in the foodie scene. Off to Bean Sprouts we go!

Bean Sprouts was cute. It resembled those Bento lunches everyone is pinning these days. FIT picked something called an "Apple Apple Bo Bapple" which had apple slices, cheddar cheese slices, and a parmesan dressing, all on whole wheat bread shaped like an apple. All organic, of course. And side options included FIT's favorite "Edamommy". Seemed like a win-win-win! Not quite though... the dressing was very strong, which sort of took the appeal away from anything it touched. And the edamommy was cold, which is a Cardinal sin in his book. So it definitely wasn't a favorite. He was excited to go back and get a cake pop for dessert, as was The Big Guy... he picked a chocolate cone with teddy grahams and other stuff on a cone... until he realized that it was chocolate hummus. Um, he passed. Surprised? Me either. When we asked about the chocolate hummus she gave us a chocolate chickpea cake pop. FIT tried it and was not a fan. The Big Guy of all people thought it was awesome and loved it. All in all I don't think we are Wallingford enough for a place like Bean Sprouts... but I'm still glad its there.

The Critic enjoyed a meat pie via a pie place whose name I can't recall because the Blogger app didn't save my most recent notes. :-/ (I have a love/hate relationship with that guy... it also removed my location. Hmph...). He thought it was quite tasty.

I headed to the aforementioned Big Food to get (which turned into NOT get... did I already mention that?) my flatbread. Instead I got a small side of mac and cheese with bacon and what I tasted of it was tasty, but most of it went to the FIT. Sometimes you have to to take one for the team. The Critic did get me a sample of their rosemary-balsamic lemonade. This was quite intriguing to me as The Critic was quick to point out... I consume balsamic like its going out of style these days. The calorie plan I am on allows for unlimited vinegars as a flavor enhancer and I have found all sorts of applications for the glorious balsamic vinegar... adds a ton of flavor without the calories. So yes, I was certainly intrigued. But I hate to "drink" my calories so lemonade wasn't in the cards for me. Ah, but a SAMPLE... that would be fine. Here's the weird part. It tasted just like lemonade. Now for some, that's a great thing. But to me, I was really WANTING it to taste unusual... special... unique. I was so busy noting how much it just tasted like everyday lemonade that I kind of forgot to listen to him when he said it was sugar-free. See they added strawberry to keep the sugar out. And then the balsamic takes out the strawberry flavor. Or the rosemary? And the other did something else to neutralize it. It took so long to process all this that it was easily the next evening before I realized I *could* have had a glass without worrying about straying from my calorie-plan. But then I remembered it just tasted like lemonade... so I was okay with not getting it. Weird.

I went to Kabab for my dinner and got... what else? A kabab. A Kafta kabab. The meat itself was pretty good but the pita was sub-par for me... too thin and too tortilla-like. The sauce had no where to go but out and the lettuce on it was simply shredded iceberg lettuce and there was too much of it.

But a dinner anywhere within spitting distance of Skillet just wouldn't be complete without pie in a bowl. And as much as The Guys don't like it (they don't like the salt... which just shows that they don't know a thing about delicious food), The Critic and I can't resist it. So the evening ends on a delicious high note. And next time we will be happy to try out any of a dozen other places that we had to pass over this time.

My overall opinion on The Armory is that I hope it continues to evolve. It is not quite what I hope it will become. But it is amazingly improved over what was there before.