Two years ago, I took Dane and Tate to Seattle for a brief culinary roadtrip (tag=Seattle foodfest). This year, we decided to go again and were lucky my husband's travel schedule had an opening last week...he is one busy guy! We returned to the amazing
Ace Hotel (more on that later) and lucked into some fabulous new restaurants while revisiting a few old favorites.
If you're hungry, grab a snack and take a peek at our three-and-a-half day gastronomic extravaganza, one dish at a time.
We arrived after 1pm on Wednesday and were pretty famished by the time we stashed our bags at the hotel. As we walked down First Avenue on our way to "best breakfast in Seattle" Lola we saw a relatively new restaurant about two blocks from the Ace: Local 360. Rather than walk the extra blocks to Lola, we decided to check it out.
Local 360 primarily focuses on regional sources for meat, dairy, produce, and bread. The interior is stunning (rustic/natural) and the food is divine. Above is the to-die-for fried chicken WITH BACON sandwich Tate and I shared. Topmost is the pulled pork sandwich Dane had (Paul tried the bar burger which I forgot to photograph).
Tate and I also split a beet salad with argula, fennel, blood oranges, walnuts and feta, really good and really popular all over Seattle this time of year. I kid you not, a version of beet salad was at EVERY restaurant we frequented.
This is seriously cool - a regularly updated list of where everything on the menu comes from. I love the "Mad Hatcher" chicken/egg ranch!
Paul and I started sourcing local coffee bars soon after lunch. On the recommendation of one of the servers at Lola (we stopped so Paul could check out the menu), we headed over to Top Pot Donuts on 5th Avenue.
Jackpot!! They make the most awe-inspiring donuts every day and their coffee is pretty good, too. We picked up a raspberry old-fashioned for Tate and a Boston cream-filled donut for Dane.
Later that evening, we headed to Serious Pie for dinner. It was too dark to photograph the delightful goat cheese, caramelized onion, and fresh basil pizza we shared (Note: I brought a flash on the 2010 trip if you want to see a few pizza photos).
It was almost 7pm when we left and we decided to stop at Top Pot to share a donut for dessert. We arrived 5 minutes before closing and discovered they didn't have someone from the local homeless shelter coming to pick up leftover donuts. So guess what? They gave us 15 donuts FOR FREE!! We think this was the story of the trip, one we'll recount for years to come.
The next morning, we went to Lola for breakfast and had three (!) orders of their one-of-a-kind beignet donuts with vanilla mascarpone and homemade jam. Paul finally understood our collective obsession with Lola donuts!
Next, on to Stumptown for serious espresso drinks. We had to trek about 12 blocks (uphill, much to the boys chagrin) but it was totally worth it. Lots of locals wanted us to try their favorites (Bedlam Coffee, Bauhaus Coffee, etc.) but to us, Stumptown. Is. King.
I had a lot of fun testing my new photography skills inside Stumptown (manual settings, spot metering, natural light only). What do you think, have I improved a bit?
After hanging out at a few coffee shops on Capitol Hill, we headed over to a new mini collective, Melrose Market. It's a locavore's delight, a collection of restaurants and shops housed in a former auto body shop, each business focused on local, sustainable and organic items. I feel there's an entire post about Melrose Market coming, please stay tuned. Meanwhile, check out the outrageous-looking sandwich above! Turkey, bacon and avocado on locally-made (Macrina Bakery) bread from a darling food stand called Homegrown.
Tate and I shared the turkey/bacon sandwich and another beet salad (equally good to the one at Local 360). Dane had a Caesar salad and Paul tried another of the sandwiches. My memory starts to become a blur at this point - there were so many good things on the menu!
Across from Homegrown is a small butcher shop with the healthiest, most beautiful cuts of meat I've ever seen. What do you think about the gorgeous color on that steak?
Not that I was ready to eat again after our sumptuous breakfasts and lunches, but we had a reservation at one of Ethan Stowell's restaurants, How to Cook a Wolf, that night. It was very nice but we weren't as impressed as most of the people who give it rave reviews. Maybe it was because the service was fairly indifferent and the food no better than most high-end Italian restaurants in the U.S. After eating a best-ever tortellini al ragu in Bologna, I guess we're just a bit jaded.
The next morning (Friday), it was back to Lola for another over-the-top breakfast with two bags of donuts, scrambled eggs with feta and fresh dill (my special request), and their housemade granola, which Dane could not get enough of.
Update 3/2: I just found out they are releasing the granola recipe in an upcoming cookbook (The Dahlia Lounge Bakery Cookbook, est. arrival of 10/23/12). We are totally stoked because this is without a doubt the best granola we've ever had. Breakfast lovers, rejoice!
After Lola, we upped the sugar quotient by getting coffee (me=machiato) at Top Pot along with a few donuts. They really are the best old-fashioned donuts I've ever had. Totally different than the beignet style at Lola but fantastic in their own way. Look at the perfect balance of icing to cake below - dang, I wish we could make them at home!
After our second breakfast, we walked over to the Space Needle (Dane and Tate went up themselves - hooray for teenagers) and EMP, the Experience Music Project (Seattle's best attraction, in my humble opinion). We had a blast making our own music video (really!) and checking out the Nirvana exhibit - more on that in a future post, especially if I can get the videos loaded onto YouTube.
We took the monorail to Pike's Place Market area, meaning to grab Tate a pulled pork sandwich at Etta's, another fine Tom Douglas restaurant. Sadly, it is no longer on the menu so we opted to try elsewhere and come back for the evening's "crabby hour" between 4-6pm.
We headed back towards the Ace and spontaneously decided to eat at Macrina Bakery, which is literally across the street from the hotel. Boy, are we glad we did! The butternut squash/pumpkin seed bread Paul ordered (above) was phenomenal as was the carrot/beet soup and field greens salad I had (below). Dane and Tate chose meat-filled sandwiches and swapped halves.
For dessert, Tate was certain their pot du creme (below) was delicious. Of course, he was absolutely correct!
I wanted to try their daily desssert special, a rustic almond cake with chocolate sauce (below). Heavenly.
Again, it was nearly impossible to eat dinner after successive carb-laden breakfasts and lunches. We went a little lighter at Etta's, catching the end of happy hour and finally having some local seafood (Dungeness crab and shrimp).
Paul and I got up a bit early on Saturday and made the long trek to Stumptown once again.
We got a bit of exercise, had some private time as a couple and enjoyed good-to-the-last-drop cappuccinos...fabulous!
On the way home, we had the boys meet us at
Local 360.They are not open for breakfast during the week so this was our one and only chance to try their delicious brunch. Dane, surprisingly, ordered the chicken and waffles as did Paul and Tate. It's a funny, Southern thing but SO well done at
Local 360.
We headed back to EMP to make another fun music video (truly, one of the most awesome things to do with your kids in Seattle) then whipped over to Lola for one last lunch. I was craving another salad after all the breadstuffs I'd ingested, and Lola's Greek version (below) was nice and light.
Tate finally got to have his cherished lamb burger and he enjoyed the taste and texture of the chick pea fries with roasted red pepper dipping sauce (below).
That's our edible adventure... do you feel a bit full yourself now?
