Specialty's Cafe

My definition of a worthy splurge.

Every time I go to Bellevue Square I get a happy tingly feeling at the idea of enjoying one of these mini quiches and today was no exception.  It is simply delicious and I would much rather splurge on this than any sweet thing... or even any crunchy thing and that is saying something.  Roasted veggies (I'm sure there are mushrooms in there but I just pretend they are eggplant) which include broccoli and carrots and "eggplant" and onion.  A fabulous cheese that is a tasty Swiss I think, but might have some parmesan and a few other things I'm not sure of, and eggs and flour to hold it together but not give it a pie crust because that would just detract from its awesomeness.  I do love this.  I am so glad that I infrequent Bellevue Square and this remains a splurge I can have.... rather than one that will jeopardize my 25 (YES, 25!!!!) pound loss over the past few months.

I am told I cannot think of food as a reward, nor as a reward or a treat or any other intrinsically valued item.  And I don't.  But this isn't food... this is a worthy splurge!!!!!

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. 

Apple apple bo-bapple (I don't know why it's upside down and I'm too tired to fix it)

Options available at Bean Sprouts -- Kids size counter

The awesomeness that is pie-in-a-bowl (as we call it)

The Critic believes these are the best fries ever (Skillet)

Kafka and Mac and Cheese side... Quincy burger plus cold edamame as well.

Palace Korean BBQ -- With Pictures!!

So the sand festival ended up being a bigger hit than I could ever ever EVER have predicted.

He dug in the dirt for 6 hours.  6 hours!  After we left McGrath's we went back for what I figured would be a few minutes... and stayed 6 hours more.  I absolutely could not believe it.

The Critic joined us at the competition and we oohed and aahed over the sculptures for the standard 15 min. and then set to work finding a place to eat in Federal Way because there was absolutely no way I would make it home for my delicious planned meal of braised chicken in mustard sauce over noodles with a warm leek salad (sigh... I was really looking forward to that meal.  Now I have to wait until next week).

With no real options in sight The Critic hit a mental inspiration and searched for Korean BBQ.  And there is one in Federal Way!  Palace Korean Bar and Grill.  I actually have a Living Social (or is it Groupon?) deal for that... in Bellevue.  Guess we'll be going again at some point.

For starters, here is another food history connection.  Years ago we went to The Roadhouse in Federal Way and reached a certain level of devastation when they closed their doors.  And then, we found they still had their Everett location open and their was much rejoicing... until that fateful day.  The day that we found out they too, had closed.  So what's the connection between a midwest roadhouse that you throw peanuts on the floor and a Korean BBQ place?  The location.  Same building!  I suggested that The Critic not mention it to The Big Guy and he didn't seem to notice.  Hard not to... it really does look the same.

Until you get to the food.  A while back we went to a Korean BBQ place with The Critic's good friend JB and his cute little family.  And I forgot to take a single picture OR even blog about it.  So I've been wanting to go again to get some shots for the ol' blog here.

Korean BBQ is a weird cross between Tepanaki and fondue.  Basically they prep all your meats, bring them out raw, and you grill them yourself atop a charcoal thing in the middle of your table.  Along side are a host of side veggies and salads that has who-knows-what in them (probably someone who is Korean or at least knows a lot about Korean cuisine).  I usually try and sample each of them, find one or two that are pretty good, but the real star is the meat.  Usually without sauce or lightly marinated, its really about the meat flavor mixed with the grill.  At Palace they had an all-you-can-eat option that we went for.  Here are a few highlights:

Getting ready to cook!  Those thin beef slices were pretty good if you charred the heck out of them... crisped them right up and they were like meat chips.

Thin slices of beef and pork belly... at the bottom is some raw garlic that we grilled as well.

The stars of our show... chicken and these awesome short ribs.  Next time, this is all we'll get.

Normally grilled shrimp is a huge hit in our household.  These were not my favorite.  Too hard to clean and had a very gulfy flavor to them.  Still fun to watch them cook on the grill though. 

Ahhhh... meat coma.

McGrath's Fish House

No pictures but a fun lunch out with my Big Guy while the FIT is on a trip with his grandparents.  BG and I hit up the Northwest Sand Festival.  Who knew?  World championships and its in the parking lot of a mall... no where near the beach I might add.  The sculptures were pretty cool but the highlight for BG was digging, digging, and more digging in a big sand pit.  All that digging can work up an appetite for you, so we stole away to McGrath's Fish House on the opposite side of the mall.

McGrath's is a part of my own food history.  I went to school in Salem, Oregon, where the original McGrath's was located.  I think it has moved from its original location (or just franchised?  I don't know).  But even though that was "a couple" years ago I still remember their chowder.  Every time my family came to visit, we would eat there for lunch.  And dinner at Olive Garden.  Olive Garden was a big deal back then because it was very rare to find it.

This time around I opted to skip the chowder and try the seafood stew.  It was DELICIOUS!  Maybe this is just because I haven't had a whole lot of restaurant food since May (and I am officially 20 pounds lighter as a result).  We've had a BG birthday trip to Jimmy Mac's I forgot to blog about and I think I've done a Mama Stortini's run for gnocchi and marinara plus grilled chicken skewers (uh, YUM!).  But it really is hard to find food that fits with my low-cal eating plan.  This stew did the trick.

BG was thrilled as well because he got fish and chips, root beer (no diet coke for me means the root beer isn't  Barq's... which he can't have), and to top it all off, a scoop of ice cream.  Not just any ice cream... cotton candy ice cream!  That kid was in heaven.

A perfect little break to head back to the sand festival.

Edited to add...

I did not, I repeat DID NOT forget the Big Guy's birthday.  I just forgot to blog about it.  I think it's because that was a night of living in denial for me.  The Big Guy picked Jimmy Mac's and I planned to eat my favorite salad there and *maybe* one roll plus my big ol' Diet Coke, which isn't blog worthy since I already blogged about all those things.  BUT maybe, just *maybe* I had a couple more than one roll... with honey butter, and some of The Critic's salmon... and a taste of a rib... or two tastes.  Maybe.  And maybe I meant to block out the off-plan night.  But I did not, repeat, DID NOT forget my Big Guy's 7th birthday.

He's a picky eater, but he's pretty awesome.

Barking Frog

Friday the 13th meets our 13th wedding anniversary (a few days earlier).  The Critic and I deposited The Guys with his mom and skedaddled off on our own for nearly 24 hours.  We stayed at Willows Lodge and despite a LONG night dealing with young 20 somethings playing tag in the hallways (and getting some compensation for it, thank goodness) we did enjoy our relaxing stay.  

Dinner was at The Barking Frog.  I have never been, though I have heard of it.  It was good, albeit a little loud for our taste.  If we hadn't just done Rover's we likely would have splurged for The Herb Farm, though that will be a splurge on another day I'm sure.

Interesting tidbit of information I recently heard.  The awards and success for Herb Farm are largely attributed to the chef/owner of Poppy, Jerry Traunfeld.  So it's kind of nice to have experienced the talent at a fraction of the cost.

But this trip was for Barking Frog.  It's a wonderful concept that is becoming an increasing trend... farm to table with the farm being close to the table.  It was a delight to walk through the garden and see all the things that were on our plate.  It also means that planning ahead and looking at the menu is only partly helpful, since what will be presented depends on what is fresh in the backyard.

First up -- bread of course.  I cannot even begin to impress upon you how hungry we were to start this meal!  We nearly ordered any sort of appetizer or starter, but were planning for the bread.  It was okay... it was bread!  The sauce on the side is a sundried tomato tapenade of sorts with fried capers.  I think this might be my first time actually eating fried capers and they are pretty cool... crispy with a saltiness that disappears quickly.  Even The Critic liked it... capers are not his thing.

But of course, we're not really here to talk about bread.  Main course!  I chose scallops.  Of course I did!  You can't read this blog and not know of my obsessions with scallops by this point.  The cauliflower risotto (promised on the website) was replaced this evening with a brown-butter quinoa, which was good, except it was way too buttery for me.  Seeing as how I haven't had so much as a tablespoon of butter in nearly 2 months, it was a bit strong.  But still, I think I made the best choice I could have and the scallops were definitely seared to perfection and fairly well cleaned.  The grilled veggies on top were also quite good.  I debated ordering with "light butter and oil" and likely should have.  I would have enjoyed the meal more had I been so bold.  Still, it was tasty.

The Critic won this round of "who picked it best."  Sadly his "rack of lamb" had been changed to lamb loin on this particular evening, and it tasted rather "lamb-y", but it still was a deeply flavored dish with some amazing stuff going on.  Not amazing was the grilled asparagus.  What's that you say?  How can The Critic and The Coach Foodie not enjoy grilled asparagus?  One word.  It was pickled!  Seriously!  Weird, I know.  I'm not sure why it was.  A braver woman would have asked.  But we just chose to ignore it.  Three stars on that plate... the braised fennel, that port jus, and the DELICIOUS Israeli cous cous.  Those were delicious and brought this meal from so-so to extraordinary pretty quickly.

 

Skipping an appetizer gave us license to try some desserts.  One was great... the other interesting.  First up, maple bacon creme brulee.  Now, creme brulee is not something we often order in a restaurant.  The Critic is quite the pastry chef in his own right with this dessert, even going so far as having a couple years of auctioning off "creme brulee of the month".  But in his repertoire of Kahula and cream, lavender, vanilla bean, and caramel he has yet to tackle maple-bacon.  So we decided we needed to taste that.  First off, I'm not sure where the maple came from.  It really was a more salty/savory dessert (we were properly warned by our server of that).  But it was intriguing and the bacon brittle on the top was certainly sweet.  But otherwise it was much more reminiscent of a breadless breakfast casserole or souffle.  Not bad, mind you, just maybe misplaced?  It seemed like a fancy breakfast treat.  But then I've never been a fan of bacon in dessert.

Last up, chocolate. I mean really, in our house, dessert = chocolate and chocolate = dessert.  No easy substitutes.  This had a lot of fun elements all working together, including a cinnamon "snow" which was both powdery and cold, as well as a malt frozen yogurt.  And then there were the cocoa nibs... I think I have to order cocoa nibs when I see them just to say I did.  This was tasty and quite a delicious way to end the meal.

So happy Friday the 13th, and happy 13th anniversary to my love who gets me and enjoys this crazy dining out passion along side me.  He's not nearly as critical as his name lets on, either.  Love you, Love.  Here's to many more than 13 more.

Salumi

The Guys and I had an iconic Seattle Foodie day today... and I have not one picture to prove it.  We began by heading to Pike Place Market where The Guys both chewed and added gum to the gum wall... I did too.  Never done that.  Yuck.  I'd like to pass from EVER doing that again.  After that, we walked around Pike Place Market where I was careful to avoid all the munchies until I took them to Beecher's.  I mean, every kid needs Beecher's mac and cheese.  Trouble was... they couldn't decide between mac and cheese or grilled cheese.  So I got both.  Wrong decision.  They LOVED the mac and cheese... neither would eat the grilled cheese... which took forever to make and wasn't all that and a bag of chips at the end of the day.  Finally we ended with a stop at "my favorite produce stand" and that's as much as I can tell you about it... it's the place where they snap the bag open (though they didn't do that this time... sad).  Do you have any idea how much money I could spend at the market?  Yeah, me either.

After that, we headed to Pioneer Park (place? park place?  I can never remember...) where the legendary Salumi is.  At the request of The Critic, we went and were going to get several things to try out.  This was really hard for me.  First, the line to get in was easily a 45 min. wait and I had two squiggly worms with no where to sit, and not even the real promise of anything to eat at the end of it, because I'm not spending that much on cured pork for them when they won't appreciate the difference over pepperoni from a pillow bag.  Second, it was just so overwhelming!  Actual food, cut meats, warnings to not place slicing orders without 24 hour notice if there was a line, warnings that certain cuts required a professional slicer... it was nerve wracking! When I did finally manage to order (side note... when sandwiched between two gentlemen in a line, they will assume I am with one of them... even the poor 21 year-old guy behind me who was called "Dad" by the gal behind the counter, to which he responded "I'm mildly offended" and I said "I guess I just turned into a cradle robber?"), I was able to get a sample plate, opting to forego the cheese and olives since they aren't The Critic's thing and I'm not supposed to be eating cheese anyway (15 pounds lost, people!). 

Bottom line?  Delicious and quite the experience.  And someday I'm going back for gnocchi because, well, it MUST be done.