Join Us For Dim Sum at Dahlia Lounge
As you know, March is Dine Around Seattle month, where restaurants jam with the hubbub of deal seekers. And Dahlia Lounge will be no different, bless their hearts, feeding the masses on the cheap.
But don’t worry. Because Seattle Foodies has your back, you won’t be elbow-to-elbow with the herd for the March First Friday Lunch Club. We’re getting a double dose of exclusive: we’re taking over the private dining room at the Dahlia Lounge, plus we’ll feast on a custom session of dim sum creations from Dahlia’s sous chef (and Lovefest! wizard) Adrienne Lasko!
The drill: arrive at 11:30am on Friday, March 5th, and start gorging. The cost is $25/person (before tax & tip) and includes drinks like coffee, tea, and juice. But go ahead and fortify yourself with additional beverages if you like—they’ll keep track with separate checks.
So finally. Will Seattle have an awesome dim sum joint? You be the judge. Adrienne will be looking for your foodie feedback, so please join us and help shape the future of delicious dim sum in Seattle!
And please R.S.V.P. by next Wednesday so we can get a headcount to Adrienne.
UPDATE: Adrienne just sent this menu proposal:
Soup:- Family-style congee with all the fixings
- Curried samosas
- Shiitake chopsticks
- Five-spice duck wontons
- Eggplant humbao
- Pork momo (dumplings)
- Banana leaf ~ sticky rice
- Chinese broccoli ~ miso hollandaise
- Ginger ~ scallion Hong Kong soba noodles
WOW! Now I am drooling!
Join Us Friday at Baguette Box
With Lovefest! fast approaching, February’s First Friday Lunch Club will go for something that feels a bit more simple and casual. But don’t be fooled, there’s nothing simple about truffle fries, braised Bershire pork belly, Painted Hills’ lemongrass steak, or roasted leg of lamb sandwiches. Or any of the other delicious sides, sandwiches, and salads that Eric Bahn (owner/chef of Monsoon and Monsoon East) is serving at Baguette Box (1203 Pine Street, Capitol Hill).
Baguette Box is definitely one of my favorite joints. So please join us next Friday, February 5 at 11:30. Depending on how many can make it, we should be able to graze most of their menu, which you can browse by clicking on the image above—but have a napkin handy, because you’ll be drooling in no time.
As always, please please R.S.V.P. if you’re coming so we can work with Eric’s crew to handle our group.
See you there!
Join Us Friday at Txori
Another year, another thousand or so meals to look forward to! If that sounds daunting, perhaps you’re feeling a wee bit saturated from all the holiday feasting. But fear not: we have the solution for January’s First Friday Lunch Club: tapas are the smallest of small plates, and Txori (2207 2nd Avenue, between Blanchard & Bell) packs some phenomenal tastes into those little Spanish bites. (Txori is the Harvest Vine’s little sister.)
So this Friday, we’ll let everyone set their own pace. Nibble one or two bites, or mow through the menu (separate checks are in order, I think). Personally, just thinking about Spain will help me get through this dreary, rainy week.
We’ll arrive just before Noon when they open. As always, please R.S.V.P. if you’d like to join us so we can work with the restaurant to accommodate everyone.
See you then!
P.S. Fast guide: “Txori” is pronounced “chore – ee” and “pintxos” means tapas. Just remember that “tx” is Basque for “ch” and you’ll be fine.
First Friday Foodie Lunch Club: Serious Pie
Today the First Friday Lunch Club finally got serious. Not because we clubbed Serious Pie, but this month we did some advance planning (and “research”) with the restaurant manager (Scott) and chef (Gray Brooks). The result was a pre-planned appetizer and pizza tasting that ranged deliciously across (nearly) the entire menu.
But we weren’t too serious. When Grace ordered a glass of wine, the rest of us fell like dominoes (the game, not the abominable pizza). And with wine all-around it was a good thing that the appetizers and pizzas were on autopilot. And what appetizers and pizzas they were.
The apps were rich and generous, filled with a variety of seasonal flavors. Sweet sour winter squash “caponata” (traditional caponata is made with eggplant) with cipollini onions and pine nuts. Cute thumbelina carrots with sage and chunks of ricotta caprina. Even the foods we wanted to hate as kids: Baby beets richened with anchovies, crunchy with pistachios, and brightened with mint. Brussel sprouts with pork belly and crisp croutons. And then there was the crazy good (and crazy fun) toasted apple sandwiches with truffle fonduta for dipping.
Not bad for a warm up. But the pizza . . . well, it’s no wonder Serious Pie’s been in the middle of a snowstorm of accolades recently (One of Seattle Met’s Top Ten Restaurants, Nancy Leson In Lust with Serious Pie, Andrew Zimmern: “easily the best pizza I ate all last year”).
One reason, and my favorite thing about Serious Pie, is that they don’t “break” the cheese. Most places load up uncooked pizza dough with toppings and cheese, slam the whole mess in the oven, and cook it til the crust is done. The result? The cheese goes beyond melt and breaks, just like a bad mayonnaise. The oil-and-milk-solid emulsion separates, leaving greasy pools of oil soaking the pizza (and your hand). Serious Pie cooks their crusts and toppings first, and adds the cheese for the last minute or so. The result? Creamy, melted cheese goodness. At Summer Camp 2008, we did a side-by-side taste test. The broken cheese was a disgusting mess compared to the rich, velvety cheese-done-right. (Other pizza joints, please, pretty please take note!)
My other favorite thing about Serious Pie is the fantastic flavor combos. Cherry bomb peppers and sweet fennel sausage. Roasted chanterelles and truffle cheese. Penn cove clams, house pancetta, and lemon thyme. House salumi, Walla Walla onions, and Sole de Sardegna cheese. Guanciale, soft egg, and arugula. Delicata squash, garlic, and gorgonzola lucifero (with chili peppers). They speak for themselves. And none of which, by the way, are allowed to make the crust soggy. (Other joints, pretty please?)
I’m drooling.
As if things couldn’t get better, we welcomed two Christinas and Kathy as new-comers to the Club. Next month we’ll be lunching on December 4. So just holler if you’d like to join us!
First Friday Foodie Lunch Club: Green Leaf
If you love treasure hunts, then you have to love Seattle’s International District, where gems lie hidden in unassuming places. Green Leaf Restaurant is one of those places, and when the First Friday Foodie Lunch Club chose them for October, I rushed out to do some reconnaissance work in advance. Multiple times, in fact. Yet by the time fifteen of us foodies arrived for our lunch feast, I was eager for more.
To say Green Leaf has super-fast service, fresh, crisp produce, clean, bright flavors at unbelievable prices (as reviews for decent Vietnamese restaurants inevitably do) would be accurate, but misses what makes them special. It’s the consistent, and obvious care that they take in the kitchen. Fried dishes are crisp and hot, not soggy or oily. Like the Vietnamese pancakes, full of shrimp and creamy with coconut, with edges so crisp they flake apart. The platter of fresh lettuces and herbs and dipping sauce make this one a messy but must-order dish. Grilled dishes have crunch and deep flavor. Even the fresh spring rolls, with lettuce, shrimp, and pork, pack a wonderfully crunchy fried center that elevates this simple appetizer, and also tells you they’re made to order rather wilting in a cooler in huge batches.
Places like this remind me of the origins of much of classical French cuisine. Humble (meaning cheap) ingredients transformed through creative and careful preparation into something amazing. Green Leaf does exactly this with fresh and simple ingredients, inventive twists on Vietnamese classics, and an apparently highly trained and consistent kitchen staff. It’s so good, the tiny bill always shocks me, as if somehow it’s cheating to get so much for so little.
One final bonus: their recent remodel and expansion upstairs added tables and one of the swankest I.D. bathrooms, but mercifully did nothing to diminish the magic.
First Friday Foodie Lunch Club: Lunchbox Laboratory
Ah, delicious, languid Friday afternoons. A late-summer day, warmed by sun streaming through an open window, and pinned down by a humongous, monster burger in your belly. What a beautiful beginning for the Foodies First Friday Lunch Club. Starting today, and every first Friday of the month until the Sun burns out, Tom Douglas Summer Campers are reconnecting to share the previous month’s food exploits and, of course, to eat.
For our inaugural feast, nearly 20 of us “clubbed” the good folks at Lunchbox Laboratory, where we gorged on their burger creations using beef, lamb, buffalo, prime rib, even a duck and pork combo (“dork”), piled with 10-15 daily cheeses, bacon, and other reach-for-the-sky ingredients. Check the menu on their seizure-inducing website for advance build-your-own strategery, or just show up and choose from the innovative daily specials board. Make sure you bring enough friends to order all the sides (onion rings, skinny fries, sweet-potato fries, tater tots) and their assortment of specialty salts (smoked Asian salt, rosemary sea salt, and more) and sauces. And don’t miss their best-in-the-business milk shakes (served in lab beakers, of course). The hardest part of eating at the Lab is choosing, but don’t worry: there’s usually enough of a line to give you time to peruse all the options.
Shown above, the only burger said to be visible from space: my lamb and bacon Frankenstein. And what’s that in the background? The camera caught fellow foodie Bruce in the act of forking his dork! (Personally, I prefer to use my hands.)
