Down South

Who needs to go to the South when you have restaurants like The Kingfish Cafe where you can get authenticity in both food and ambience while enjoying your meal! Everything on the menu is delicious and the portions are large enough to be shared between two or three people, but tonight we had a jolly crowd of eight

We started our evening off with an appetizer, Sho’Nuff Fried green Tomatoes topped with hushpuppies. The tomatoes were lightly fried in cornmeal crust and seasoned with southern spices, soft but firm enough for a good bite.  The hushpuppies were crispy and perfectly browned and although we couldn't quite figure out the sauce, some sort of aioli perhaps, all that mattered was it tasted gooood.

Sho’Nuff Fried green Tomatoes

Dinner arrived not much later in what seemed a continuous wave.  Each dish did not fail to please both the eye and the stomach, especially to the latter, we were all quite full and satisfied.

 My Way or the Highway Buttermilk Fried Chicken 

(Three pieces of chicken: breast, thigh, and drumstick with mash potatoes and collard greens)

Down Home Mac and Cheese 

(two kinds of cheeses, onions, bell peppers, a smothering of
mushrooms and wild green salad)

 Jazz it Slow Gumbo

(tasso, prawns, chicken, okra)

I can't say that I liked any dish more than the other because I liked them all!  Each has their own unique flavor that comes only from the South and you can definitely taste it.  The restaurant is a popular with many and is often packed with people both inside enjoying their meals and outside waiting to be seated.  Reservations are not taken here and it is a first come first serve basis. I've come for dinner here twice with the first time being on a weekend and over an hour wait for a table.  However, on the weekdays although there is also a crowd, seating is relatively quick if you come early.  The Kingfish Cafe is open for both lunch and dinner as well as Sunday brunch, providing many opportunities to get your Southern fix!

KingfishCafe
602 19th Ave E
Seattle, WA 98112-4009

Dining in with Garlic Chicken

Another rainy night in Seattle and a craving for some garlic chicken! Easiest thing to do? Bring out your fresh garlic (lots of it), and pot for deep fat frying! This recipe has been passed down from friends and is made mainly by taste and while it isn't quite like Mitsu-ken or Sugois, it has a flavor that speaks of home :)

           Local Style Garlic Chicken

• Chicken breast cut up into bite size fryable pieces
• 2x equal proportions of shoyu (soy sauce) and sugar combined
• 5-6 or more cloves of garlic minced
  
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 2 to 1 proportion of cornstarch to flour mixed in a ziploc bag
  
• Oil for frying

1. Combine chicken pieces, minced garlic, & one of the shoyu/sugar mixture into a ziploc bag and let marinade for at least 30 mins.
2. Mix green onions and other shoyu/sugar mixture together in a bowl and let sit
3. After marinading, place several pieces of chicken into the ziploc bag with cornstarch/flour and coat.  Heat up oil on stove and fry when hot.  Keep adding chicken to dry mixture for coating as frying occurs to ensure each piece is properly coated.  *Note: Oil will thicken when frying as cornstarch/flour mixture make a rue-like form.  May have to switch out oil in between frying.  I do so at least once. Generally, you do not need to completely immerse the chicken in oil, but have just enough to fry sides and bottom, flip.
4. Place fried pieces on paper towel for draining.  After slightly cooled, place chicken in larger serving bowl  and pour green onion/shoyu/sugar mix over the top and lightly mix so that sauce coats each piece.
5. Enjoy over a hot bowl of rice!

Happy Hour at Palomino

What to do on a rainy day after a long day at work? HAPPY HOUR! A great place to go to is Palomino in downtown Seattle.  Happy hour is from 3-6 pm and it's always been crowded when I've gone.  Seating is open as you come so there is no wait and service is generally quick.  Atmosphere and ambience is great with semi dim lighting.  The menu is worth its weight for the price you pay. 

Their signature brick oven pizzas are thin crust and all $5 compared to their regular prices of $11-13  each .  These are fairly large pizzas with options like prosciutto with roma tomatos,  four cheese, and sausage and roasted mushroom.  Our choice tonight was the rotisserie chicken which came with roasted red peppers, sliced onions, marinara, mozzarella, and parmesan. Good flavors and thin enough to feel satisfied when done. 

Selected appetizers are all half off the regular price as well.  The Hot Red King Crab and Artichoke Dip is a favorite with my friend and I and comes with huge pieces of seasoned flat bread for dipping.

All the happy hour menu items are a great deal and look equally delicious from what I've seen on other happy hour goer's tables.  So, if you're ever in downtown between 3-6 pm and need a quick place to grab some cheap and yummy food, why not Palominos?

Palomino
1420 Fifth Avenue
Seattle,WA 98101
http://www.palomino.com

New Beginnings!

Happy Birthday Tidbits! I've created this blog to share bits and pieces of my life with you all especially as I get ready to leave Seattle and return home to Hawaii for a month and then "down under" to Australia.  I want to open up my life and share the exciting places, new friends, awesome FOOD, and sights that I will be seeing in my travels as well as in my life! So lets hele as they say at home, lets GO! 

it's a new day every morning!