Pomerol

The restaurant scene is ever evolving in the Seattle area, and new ones seems to be popping up left and right.

Pomerol was listed on the local magazine as one of the up and coming, let’s check it out!

Located in Fremont, Pomerol opens for dinner only seven days a week, with the first opening hour as their Happy Hour slot.

With our big group dining, we started off with chicken wings, coddled egg with foie gras, grilled octopus and arugula salad; and big plates of beef short ribs, steak frites and shrimp pasta.

My favorite of all the dishes was the sticky, spicy and yummy chicken wings. Continue reading →

L.A. Food Finds Part I

Los Angeles, a foodie paradise with diverse offerings — from delicious food trucks, to farmers’ markets, to elegant Michelin-starred restaurants, options are endless.

Unlike Washington, with L.A. situated in the warm area of the country, farmers markets are opened all-year round.

My top 2 locations to visit was the Grand Central Market and The Original Farmers Market, and I was surprised to see that both locations did not have as many fresh produce and meat vendors as I thought, but with lots of food vendors.

At Grand Central Market, Eggslut and McConnell’s Ice Cream were the local recommendations.

It was no joke that Eggslut was popular.

We found the line went around Eggslut’s store parameter.

back side of the line

front of the store, which was the end of the line

Continue reading →

Bramling Cross

Our local restaurateur Ethan Stowell has another new addition in Ballard called Bramling Cross.

A pub-style eatery, Bramling Cross is right on the busy Ballard Ave.

Libation menu was extensive, and love that they have cocktails made with beers.

Being a non-beer drinker, I am always looking for ways to stretch out of my comfort zone; and the reason I do not like beer is mostly due to its bitterness — what better way to give beer a go when it is mixed with something else?

I had this beer cocktail called Rayne West, made with Aperol, lemon, Angostura bitter and Rainier beer, and found it much more palatable than beer alone.

Slight lemony, and with all the beer characters intact, but muted and no bitterness, it was tasty.

Continue reading →

Salare

Tucked in the quiet Ravenna neighborhood, Salare creates a casual, neighborhood-restaurant vibe.

Food was excellent (I gave it 4.5 out of 5), the only downside is pricing (which would drop the rating to 3.5 out of 5); it is very expensive when you take into account of portion size.

We did not expect to order 2 proteins and 2 pastas and not be full.

For starter, yellowtail crudo.

The dish looked beautiful with fresh yellowtail, accented with pickled onion and chanterelle mushroom (a rare find), spicy jalapeno and a creamy avocado sauce.

Flavors were excellent but just about a piece of fish each for my party.

We were most excited about the pasta dishes we ordered.

Continue reading →

Manolin

Seattle being known for our seafood, there is no shy of seafood restaurant.

One of the newer addition is Manolin.

When we arrived with the four of us, we saw there was enough seats at the bar for us, but they were broken up by other diners.

We were told we had to wait for almost an hour, and I asked if we could just ask a couple to move down one seat at the bar so we could have the seats that were opened, and the hostess rejected our suggestions and said she was uncomfortable moving them.

It felt like missed opportunity for the restaurant, and created unnecessary waiting time for us.

Well, missed opportunity it was as the rest of my party went to Roro’s because they were hungry, and they partially filled up before dinner — we probably would have had a larger bill at Manolin.

We had plantain chips but it did not seem to be very fresh, a little cold, a little hard, as if it was sat at the counter too long, or that they were pre-fried to anticipate a rush.

Two ceviches were on the menu: one was rock fish and avocado, done traditionally with lime and chili; the other one with albacore, quinoa, grapefruit and cucumber. Continue reading →