Older Entries

12/18/10 - Alder Wood Bistro Brew 'n Burger

We just tried the Clark Family Farm beef burger at the Alder Wood Bistro and we were really impressed. We've been enjoying a lot of Clark Family Farm beef, but this was our first burger, and it was prepared by a master. It is our favorite burger now, hands down. We also tried Alder Wood's new extra dark, smoked hopped brew. It was extremely rich, and with the smokey notes it reminded us of drinking scotch. It was an overwhelming drink, so we didn't have very much. We really wanted to be able to finish our wonderful burgers.

Keywords: alder wood bistro, clark family, restaurants

11/08/10 - Honolulu - Sushi Izakaya Gaku

Some years back we had a wonderful time dining at Izakaya Nonbei, but we had gathered that this restaurant was under new management and not quite as good as it used to be, so we decided to try a new place. We were well rewarded by Sushi Izakaya Gaku, a wonderful little restaurant. As so often happens when we find a new restaurant, we made a point of dining there twice, just in case we can't get back there for a while.

To start with, the sushi was wonderful, but our favorite dish was the house made tofu with sea urchin roe, a meat gelee and a bit of wasabi. Our waiter told us to mix up it. We did, and all the flavors blended beautifully. We mentioned that we liked sea urchin roe, so one of our dishes was sea urchin roe wrapped in thin slices of flounder, another great combination.

What more can we say? The broiled sardines with sesame seeds were wonderful. The horse mackerel salad with ginger, shiso and scallions was a great use of shiso which can overwhelm a dish if one is not careful. The thin slices of seared fatty beef were exquisite, well marbled and perfectly prepared. All told, this is a Kaleberg rave.

If you plan to go, get reservations. It's a little place.

1329 S King St
Honolulu, HI
(808) 589-1329

It doesn't look like much from the outside.

Uni wrapped in flounder

That's a quail egg

It's a jewel box inside.

Our sushi plate

Keywords: hawaii, restaurants

09/03/10 - New, at Least for Us, in Seattle

We were briefly in Seattle. We visited a few old haunts like Le Pichet, Trabant, the coffee house, and REI, and we discovered a few new places:
  • Melrose Market - This is a mini-mall of little food shops on Melrose Avenue between Pike and Pine. Rain Shadow Meats alone was worth the visit. There are quite a few interesting places cropping up between Pike and Pine, like Cascina Spinasse, Eliot Bay Books and now Melrose Market.
  • Belle Epicurian - This is a pastry place on Fourth Avenue between University and Seneca, and we nearly walked right by except for the wonderful scent of buttery baked goods. To be honest, we didn't try anything. Despite rumors to the contrary, we Kalebergs can only eat so much. Still, everything had the right look and scent, so we'll be back.
  • Seatown Snack Bar - This is Tom Douglas's latest addition to his empire. It has taken over the retro-1970s furniture store next to Etta's. (See our review below.)

Meat at Rain Shadow Meats

Cheese at Calf and Kid

Belle Epicurian

Seatown Snack Bar

Seatown Snack Bar - A Brief Review

We had a porchetta sandwich, which was almost as good as Salumi's. We also had an amazingly good beef short rib sandwich. They have a great potato salad made with a simple coarse Dijon mustard dressing. We also had a wonderful dish of thinly sliced octopus with turmeric cucumbers and a plate of heirloom tomatoes and avocado skordalia. We were quite impressed. Not only is the food great, and you can get a light snack or a full meal, but they serve all afternoon and into the evening.

Keywords: seattle, food, restaurants

05/15/10 - News From Seattle

We were in Seattle recently for a lightning visit. Everything was a bit of a blur, but we did note the curious sign on the right. It seems to be for a law office, but a closer look reveals a chapel. An even closer look reveals that the chapel offers food and a bar. That sounds like full service to us.

Below we offer our update on Spinasse. They've changed seating plans. Gone are the long communal tables. They now offer more private seating options. The food is as good as ever. That's a shot of their Russian salad with fresh English peas, pickled beets and tuna. We can hardly wait for the local peas to be ready, so we can try this at home.

Food - Chapel - Bar

Tables at Spinasse

Russian salad

Keywords: seattle, restaurants

03/27/10 - Long Beach, Astoria and Environs

We recently took a trip to Long Beach in southern Washington, not far from the Oregon border. We took some pictures, ate some good food and learned a lot about the Columbia River, the Coast Guard and the Lewis and Clark expedition. Follow some of the links to the right to see some of our photos.

A glimpse of the beach

The long beach at Long Beach

A wilder day

Leadbetter Point State Park - a forest walk

Astoria, Oregon, from a pier

The lightship Columbia at the Columbia River Maritime Museum

The river inlets near Fort Clatsop

Trilliums at Fort Clatsop

The barbequed oysters of South Bend

Keywords: oregon, oysters, restaurants, beaches, trillium

02/27/10 - We really have to ...

... write a review of Spinasse. We went back again, and once again the pasta was fantastic. They had ravioli stuffed with swiss chard and walnuts, and even more amazing, they had little packets of ricotta wrapped in meltingly tender pasta in brown butter with sage. The rabbit was as tender and delicious as ever, and they did a wonderful job with their braised pork belly. The skin was crisp and the center succulent.

They're on Capital Hill on 14th Avenue between Pike and Pine. Check out their website and look at the menus.

The bar at Spinasse

Keywords: restaurants, seattle

12/16/09 - More From Seattle

These are just a few more Seattle photos. We had to include the Space Needle. We also have to write a review of Spinasse up on Capital Hill. They have amazing hand cut pasta. We had one dish of little squares served with a rabbit liver sauce that was out of this world, and the wonderful gnocci could have fed an army. The pork cheeks with polenta were tender and tasty. The rabbit excellent, but the surprise was the wonderful almond cake, and we don't even like almond cake. Maybe it was the blackberry sauce and the dollop of foamed olive oil?

The sunset

The Space Needle in context

Spinasse

Keywords: seattle, restaurants

09/02/09 - Sad News About Quinn's

We have sad news about one of our favorite restaurants in Seattle, the place we once considered "meat heaven", Quinn's. They always seemed a bit out of place serving serious food in a beer and burger neighborhood, but now they fit right in. Unfortunately, we no longer do. Good bye to all that, and by "that" we mean marrow bones, tongue hash, crepinette and all of our favorites there.

Keywords: seattle, restaurants

03/27/09 - Gabriel's Rabbit Pates

We were recently asked to do some beta testing by the chef at the Alder Wood Bistro. Gabriel, having recently returned from Spain, had been experimenting with cooking rabbit and making pates. He had made two versions, one a rough country pate, the other more traditional. We gave them both a try. The country pate, with its heartier flavor and coarser texture was our favorite, but we had nothing against the smoother and slightly more delicate version. Which one will be showing up on the menu? We can't say. They're still both in beta.

The country pate, above, and the city pate, below

Keywords: restaurants, food, alder wood bistro

02/14/09 - Review of Maneki

We have finally reviewed Maneki, a Seattle Japanese classic. For over a hundred years they've been serving great Japanese food with a serious emphasis on seafood. We loved it. For more details and ideas on what to order, read our Review of Maneki.

Keywords: seattle, restaurants

02/14/09 - Review of Poppy

We heard the hype about Poppy. We gave it a try. We were not impressed. Indian fusion, imaginative cocktails and a nine dish thali plate sound like a sure winner. To find out why it doesn't work, read our review of Poppy.

Keywords: seattle, restaurants

08/16/08 - Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort

We have finally reviewed the restaurant at Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort, and we were pretty impressed. You can actually have a good Northwestern meal in the middle of the Northwestern wilderness.

Keywords: sol duc, restaurants

05/23/08 - Seattle and Txori

We have just returned from a lightning trip to Seattle. It was an odd trip. If nothing else, our cellphone died. On the upside, we made it back to Txori and had a wonderful meal, just when we needed it, and we checked out the Seattle Art Museum Sculpture Park. The sculpture was very 60s evoking Claes Oldenberg and his giant lipsticks, but more witty. We were impressed by this steel tree, or is perhaps aluminum. We were also impressed by the field of lupines at its feet, all natural, and mostly in bloom.

Keywords: seattle, restaurants, art

03/19/08 - Tamarind Tree Reviewed

We really liked Tamarind Tree, a great Vietnamese place in Seattle. We haven't explored the International District all that much, and we have been disappointed in Vietnamese food in the past. Now that we've found Tamarind Tree, we are planning to do a bit more international exploring and to eat a bit more Vietnamese food. For more details, read our review.

Keywords: restaurants, seattle

03/18/08 - The Little Oven Reviewed

We finally reviewed The Little Oven, and, wow, we were impressed. Port Angeles has a great bakery again. We tried a croissant; that's all they had left, and a whole bunch of their sandwiches. We never even got to try the cinnamon danish. They had sold out at 7:30AM. We can hardly wait for the high country hiking season so we can load up for our on the trail picnic.

It isn't much to look at

Keywords: port angeles, restaurants

02/24/08 - Sabor de Mexico - A Mexican Solution

We've only done a preliminary tasting, but we liked what we tried at Sabor de Mexico. There is lots of bad Mexican food around, but Sabor de Mexico comes through nicely. Check out our review.

Keywords: restaurants, port angeles

   Older Entries