Lowell’s
Technically Day 1.5, i guess (we arrived late last night). I don’t mind during touristy stuff my first time in a city, so we stopped by Pike Place Market. Thankfully, I saw a fish being thrown pretty quickly, so we were able to move on.
Had read on Reddit that Lowell’s was tasty and had a good view. I think I was expecting a better view, TBH, but the food was certainly better than it had to be (given the location), and I liked the dive-bar feel (partner didn’t think it felt dive bar-y at all). Corned beef really nicely seasoned. Partner’s hash browns were WAY crispier than mine (wish mine had been as crisp). They buttered my rye toast w/o me having to ask. Eggs for both our dishes were perfectly cooked.
Le Pinchet
Saw this on the NYT article about 25 best Seattle restaurants. Fennel bisque was SPECTACULAR. Everything was quite good. I was surprised by how wide my baguette was, and smears of butter were needed to add some much appreciated moisture. Dressing on salad was delish but a bit over-dressed. Mousse was a touch too dark chocolate-y for me, but partner loved it (and I still thought it was quite good). Really enjoyed the yogurt cake. It was black tea creme anglaise; I just got complexity but not “tea.”
Housemade toffee w/ local honey very tasty.
This place used to be a different French restaurant b/f, but the servers were all retained (and have been there for yrs and yrs, from what we were told). The experienced waitstaff was evident; my water glass was refilled VERY quickly (b/f I even realized it was low). Sitting outside reminde dme of our trip to Budapest last yr in the best way.
Paju
Paju initially said they had finished serving for tonight and then, 1–2 mins later, realized it was earlier than they had thought and agreed to seat us. Woo-hoo! BEAUTIFUL interior, and the smell of wood smoke is just terrific (and it’s permeated all of our clothes!). Yellowtail crudo (+ serrano and naengmyun broth) so delicate. Octopus was perfected cooked. I thought the tonkatsu + mayo on the jeon might be a bit too busy; it was not, but was a bit more like an okonomiyaki than a jeon, IMHO (but still wonderful). Branzino simple and lovely w/ the skin just having a kiss of smoke. Wouldn’t have minded larger banchan to help refresh the palate.
Our server was SO sweet and knowledgable and the manager was also very warm and friendly.
They were in a diff location b/f and just opened in a new location 2 wks ago (I think that’s what our server said). The menu is quite short and will grow.
Hah! Just before I took the pic, I told partner, “I need to take a pic of the crust for the board.” Glad you appreciated it.
The seeds added some texture, but I can’t say it was more than simply a very nice piece of toast. Thought the food here was very good, and I think the place might be woman-owned (all the servers were female or were presumably assigned female at birth, which I thought was cool and couldn’t have been a coincidence).
We’re flying out tomorrow afternoon. Hope our good eats continue (we’ve basically limited ourselves to places w/i walking distance or fairly easily accessible by bus from our hotel in Uptown/Lower Queen Anne).
Some random, non-food related thoughts b/f I forget:
Seattle’s public transporation is… not that extensive
It’s surprising how the neighbors are so distinct in such a small area; one area can feel so diff from another area just 2 blocks over
The drivers here are horrible. As in, nearly as bad as West LA.
The servers here have all been so super friendly and many of them are such characters (in a good way)
There’s a super restaurant, Matt’s in the Market, right across from the ‘flying fish market.’ Upstairs. We’ve been eating there for years and always pleased.
Seattle really isn’t set up for good traffic. Water on both sides. And, for the life of me, I’ll never understand why/when it’s bad. When you think one direction (on I-5) might be bad, no, it’s the other direction. We had an appt. near the airport and we live to the north. Took 30 minutes to get there and over an hour to get back - with no sign of accident(s).
The replies here reminded me that I need to complete my reviews. Okay, let’s see how much I remember from the last few meals…
Tilikum Place Cafe Really lovely atmosphere, and the servers are a total hoot. I didn’t really know what a dutch pancake was. The interior was something btw custard and bread. Quite pleasant, although I don’t think it fundamentally has a lot of flavor on its own.
Server warned me that the phyllo lamb pie had a lot of “greek” seasoning and that the lamb was gamey. Aren’t those good things? She hesitated a bit and then responded, “Yes.” After taking many bites, I get the warning. The first few bites are SO flavorful, and then some palate fatigue sets in. It’s a bit TOO strongly flavored for the pie to be eaten by one person. Partner said his Baked Eggs were very good.
Sal Y Limon
Completely respectable Mexican food. Chips + 3 salsas was artfully presented, and I really enjoyed the flavor of my Molcajete. Don’t recall much about partner’s shrimp enchiladas, other than being totally fine but my dish being tastier.
Bacco
Meh. We ate here b/c we wanted to hit up the nearby Central Library (which, while relatively closeby, is up a VERY, VERY steep hill). It wasn’t terrible by any means, but it felt very… perfunctory. I would expect the potatoes in a “hash” to be much smaller. And the salmon in my hash (under the egg), while plentiful, bordered on inedibly salty (and I generally like really salty food). A skip, for me, although a relatively reasonably priced place in this area does serve a function.
Decided to try Culture Kitchen b/c we wanted to see the inside of the Museum of Pop Art but didn’t have time to actually see the galleries themselves. The cafe was an unexpected treat! Crab melt just lovely, and THE BARTENDER MADE ME AN OFF-THE-MENU STRAWBERRY LEMONADE!!! Which was really delicious, BTW. Woman had some serious skills (at least in the non-alcoholic realm; I have little doubt she’d be great w/ real cocktails). Nice “correction” after Bacco.
Yeah, I wouldn’t call Sal Y Limon great. I did think it was better than ho hum, but maybe I got lucky w/ my dish. I also have a soft spot for Americanized Mexican places (very homey and comforting to me).
IIRC we went three times so felt it could be good. I kinda wanted to talk to the owner. But, yeah, definitely Americanized and not a darn thing wrong with that.
Eggs for both our dishes were perfectly cooked.
