3 Course Meal for $25 what???!

Sadly today is the last day for the Seattle Restaurant Week.  It was a 12 day long (April 18-29th) dining adventure for those who took advantage of the amazing $25 deal for a three course meal at some of Seattle's best restaurants.  Last night, my girlfriends and I decided to do exactly that and headed to the Capital Grille in downtown for a night out of fine dining!

Steak??

The ambiance of the restaurant was seemingly quiet from the outside, but as we sat down to dinner, it was noticeable harder to hear each other around the table.  The restaurant was crowded and busy even at 7:30 pm when we were seated.  A basket of fresh bread was served to us first in which a variety of choices were displayed. The basket included everything from flat bread, to rye, to bread with toasted cheese on top, and different rolls.  This was just enough to whet our appetite before our 3 course dinner came.  Some of us had difficult decisions to make as we stared at our menu.  Our appetizer selections included  a salad of field greens, tomatoes, and fresh herbs or clam chowder, main entree selection was filet mignon, porcini rubbed prime rib eye with 12 year old balsamic vinegar, or seared citrus glazed salmon and dessert selections were flourless chocolate expresso cake or passionfruit sorbet.  I must say, it was a tough call to make between the main course options, but our waiter recommended the mignon and I went with it along with the chowder as my first course and the expresso cake as my dessert.

Chowder

Filet mignon with side of creamed spinach

Flourless chocolate expresso cake

The chowder was not too thick which I like and as far as chowders go, it was a good one.  The filet mignon I had medium well done and it was cooked perfectly with a bit of pink in the middle.  It was tender and after about half I was full.  I don't usually eat beef and this cut was a bit overwhelming along with the side of creamed spinach.  It was a very rich entree. I think I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would because I've come to the conclusion that beef doesn't satisfy me as much as a good seafood dish.  The only reason I chose a beef dish was that this restaurant is a steakhouse and so of course I must order a steak.  The expresso cake was also very very rich, but had a good coffee flavor.

In all, although Capital Grille may have been a restaurant I would never have gone to if Seattle Restaurant Week was not going on, I think I would have been fine if I didn't ever try it.  It may be that I just don't enjoy steak as much, but the meal wise I did not enjoy as much as I thought I would.  I enjoyed the company more and that was the goal of the evening, to have a good time with the girls, so cheers to a good night!


Capital Grille
1301 Fourth Ave.
Seattle, WA 98101

Caribbeans continued...

I have tons of photos and I wish I could show them all, but here are a few of my favorites :)

 In between boats...

Blue blue waters...

Warm, beautiful beaches

Best place to be!

Looking out for ya!

Zipline time!

Beautiful sunset!

Shadow time!

Banana ketchup on plantain chips yum!

Our hardworking chefs

Old San Juan

End of a great trip! The week went by quickly and I fear that I have been spoiled by this vacation.  We all need little breaks from life and it is these times when we realize the importance of our relationships with others and the need for time to relax and enjoy life for what it is. 

Shore Excursions!

Each day we stopped by a different island and the passengers were allowed to explore the island via a shore excursion through the cruise ship or meander on their own and try to navigate to their destination.  Our first two days we stopped in St. Thomas and Tortola and did not sign up for shore excursions but tried to find our own way about. One thing we learned is that on these islands it is hard to travel on your own.  In order to get around you need to get a taxi and they are hecka expensive with only two passengers.  The weather was cloudy for the first two days and so most of our plans fell through and we ended up not doing much on these two islands because of that.  We did get to see gardens with lots of tropical flowers and wander the streets where jewelry seemed to be the main seller.

View of part of St.Thomas

Green gardens!

Cute Caribbean Spice store

After the disappointing first two days we decided it was better to sign up for the shore excursions so that we could at least have an easier and stress free time seeing and having fun on the islands.  We arrived in Antigua the third day and had an awesome time kayaking and snorkeling there.  The waters are blue, clear, and warm.  It was amazing!

Antigua

Our fourth day landed us in St. Lucia and I have to say this was my favorite island. We did a bus tour of the island along the Soufriere area that took us to see the landmarks of the Pitons, the Diamond Waterfall and mineral baths, and the world's only drive-in volcano, Sulphur Springs which really did smell. This island is so beautiful and lush.  Everywhere along the roads there were mango trees, breadfruit trees, bamboo, palm trees etc.  The people were friendly and our tour guide, Sammy was so funny and sweet.  We ended the tour with a Creole lunch and then headed down the windy road back to our cruise ship.

The Pitons!

Sammy our awesome guide!

Barbados was our last island and we did a canopy adventure which was a zip line adventure! This was pretty fun. We were harnessed , helmeted, and gloved and zipped over the trees 7 times with distances ranging from 150 feet to almost 300 feet.  It wasn't as scary as we thought it would be and we had a lot of fun talking with others in our group.  I also learned the true value of a hard helmet when a branch fell from above and thoroughly wacked me on the head.  Totally unexpected, but no one got hurt and that branch got laughed at as I tucked it into my harness and brought it back with me.  We also got to lounge at the beach this day after our canopy tour which was wonderful!

Ready to do some zipping?

Wheee!

What can be better than a day at the beach??

In Old San Juan, the architecture was quaint and picturesque.  Everything is of the old style and it was interesting to see the different buildings and the rich historical buildings and forts.  I'm really glad we got to stay an extra day in Puerto Rico.  It was by default this happened actually because as we were booking our flights back home we discovered that it would be cheaper for us to fly out on Monday versus on Sunday. Great addition to our trip!  

Feels like we're in Greece

I love the vibrant colors

 Puerto Rican food here we come!

More to come.........

Back from the Sunny Caribbeans!!

I'm back in rainy Seattle! The past 8 days in the Caribbeans with my best friend was wonderful! There is no way I can post the 400+ pictures I took, but I will post highlights.  We flew out of Seattle early last Sunday and arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico around 7 pm.  Our cruise ship the Princess Caribbean sat  in dock with a couple of other cruise ships which we also saw at the other ports we stopped in throughout the week.

Early flight out, just in time for the sunrise

Our itinerary for the week:
Day 1-St.Thomas
Day 2- Tortola
Day 3-Antigua
Day 4-St.Lucia
Day 5- Barbados
Day 6-open sea  heading back to San Juan
Day 7-one day/night in Old San Juan
Day 8- Departure for all day flying back home

Arrival on the Princess Caribbean!

I was worried about being seasick initially as I had been on one other cruise before and had felt the sea rolling under me.  Surprisingly though, I was perfectly fine on this trip and was glad for it.  I'm not sure if maybe we were traveling slower between islands or if I just outgrew my seasickness, but whatever the case I did not have to worry about feeling green.  Our cruise boat was huge! It had 17 decks all with a different name.  Our cabin was located on deck 14 Riviera. It took a couple of days before we were accustomed to the various dining locations, entertainment areas, etc and even then sometimes when we took the stairs we'd keep walking and would pass where we wanted to go.  There were two pools on the 14th floor as well as a hidden back pool which we discovered on our 2nd to the last day.  Lots of passengers lounged on this deck as it also carried the pizza, burger, and ice cream station as well as the two buffet locations on board. Yes, can you tell ...a lot of eating took place on board. 

Home for the next 7 days

Palm dining room

Breakfast!

Top- salmon, focaccia, pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, cinnamon
pastry, turkey link, scrambled eggs with sauteed mushrooms

We had our dinner seating in the Palm Dining Court, but also had tried the other dining halls, Island and Coral which accommodated open seating when we missed our scheduled 6 pm dinner time due to oversleeping or movie watching.   The food on board was just ok for us. I had been on a cruise with Princess to Alaska and I remembered it being fantastic, but the food did not seem as fresh or as appetizing this time around during dinner.  We did enjoy the daily tea time they had from 3-4 pm as well as the fresh thin crusted pizzas and the morning omelets with as much fresh fruit as you want from the buffet line.  I think I overloaded on fruit everyday with pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, honeydew melons, tangerines, etc.  Wonderful! 

Off to the Southern Caribbeans!

I'm headed off for a week long cruise in the Caribbeans!  Leaving tomorrow morning bright and early from Seattle at 6 am to Dallas, and then finally to Puerto Rico at 7 pm where we will then head off to our cruise boat and proceed to leave dock at 11 pm! I'll have lots to post upon my return, but until then happy eating!!

Another Tom Douglas special....

Finally! I tried another of Tom Douglas' restaurants.  I've only ever been to Dahlia Lounge, but right across the street is his other restaurant, Lola.  I've always wanted to try it, but I am a creature of habit and Dahlia's is wonderful.  My friend however suggested Lola for lunch yesterday and I'm glad she did.  The decor and ambiance of Lola is similar to Dahlia's, but seating wise it seemed smaller.  We arrived around 12:30 pm, right with the the rest of the lunch crowd and thus regular seating was full.  Because the wait would've been 20 minutes, we decided to sit at the bar which was just as good and had a wonderful lunch. 

Grilled prawns, spring vegetables, chermoula

Anderson valley lamb burger 

spicy Lola ketchup, chickpea fries

I had such a good experience with my lamb burger in Australia that I decided to try it again at Lola.  In addition to the burger though, I was really intrigued by the chickpea fries that came on the side.  Interesting concept and it looked delicious. The burger was not as moist and flavorful as the one from Australia, but the fries were delicious! They had a great flavor and a starch like consistency, but not oily at all like a regular french fry.  I really enjoyed it with the special ketchup that was provided.  My friend had the special of the day which was the grilled prawns with salad and she enjoyed it as well.  I had a taste of the dish and found the prawn to be fresh and tasty.

Overall, Lola has a nice feel to its restaurant.  The food is more Mediterranean style compared to Dahlia's Northwest flair, but as always with Tom Douglas' restaurants, there are great dishes and many new things to tantalize your taste buds with.

Lola
2000 4th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121

Bai Tong

So, I've been looking for a good restaurant to hold a party of 30-35 people in south  Seattle.  After much searching, I found through my reliable source (Yelp) the perfect place..... Bai Tong.  It is a small Thai restaurant close to Southcenter mall in a little shopping complex.  From the outside it doesn't look very big, but the inside is surprisingly spacious and beautifully decorated.  Yelp gave great ratings for the food and the location worked well for my purposes.  My friend and I decided to head down tonight for dinner to taste the food and decide on our menu for the party.

The waiter recommended several favorite dishes of the restaurant for us to try; an appetizer, Gai Hor Bai Toey (Chicken Wraps), entree of crispy garlic chicken, and we decided to try the  pad sei-lew with beef.

Thai Ice Tea

Gai Hor Bai Toey (Chicken Wraps) 

Thailand's favorite chicken dish prepared in a traditional way wrapped in 

a Toey leaf (herb leaf) and served with a special sweet sauce.

Crispy Garlic Chicken

Crispy chicken, stir-fried in sweet garlic sauce, served with 
shredded cabbage and topped with crispy basil.

Pad Sei-Lew

Wide rice noodles stir fired with beef, broccoli, egg, soy sauce

The chicken wraps were certainly the most interesting dish I've ever had in a Thai restaurant.  It is a traditional dish with a pretty sizable piece of chicken wrapped in an herbal leaf and deep fried.  Lot of moisture and flavor. The garlic chicken was not what I was expecting as I grew up with garlic chicken made local style in Hawaii.  It did not have enough of a garlic flavor and was a little too salty, however, it was very crispy and the next time we order it I think I want to increase the spiciness level as well.  We went with 2 out of 3 stars and there was no heat at all.  The pad sei-lew was typical. We both thought it was just ok and for the party will probably go with their signature pad-thai dish.  The Thai tea however, was perfect and refreshed our palates! 

All in all, both of us were happy with Bai Tong.  It is perfect for our party in terms of food, location, ambiance, and price.  We'll add or take away to some of the dishes we tried today, but yay to finding and trying out new restaurants!

 

Bai Tong
16876 Southcenter Pkwy
Tukwila, WA 98188
206-431-0893

A Slice of Bakery Nouveau

I've had a craving for a good pizza for the longest time.  In fact, ever since I came back from Australia I've been meaning to grab a good slice.  Bakery Nouveau in West Seattle is best known for there delicious baked goods like their wonderful twice baked almond croissants or chocolate croissants, but they also have a fresh selection of breads, sandwiches, and pizza's on hand for lunch.  I've only ever been to Bakery Nouveau for breakfast, but since today was so beautiful and I had a lunch date, I decided to mosey my way over there.

One of my favorite places in Seattle!

Baked goods from chocolates to pastries, to sandwiches!

There were at least 6 or 7 different types of pizza's on hand and oh my they all smelled and looked wonderful.  There was mushroom, pepperoni, vegetarian, caramelized onions, ratatouille, and more! The slices were generous and I wanted to try everything! I decided to go with the ratatouille only because I'd never had that on a pizza and because my server said it was one of his favorite pizzas.  My friend went with the thick Sicilian style caramelized onion pizza.

Giant Ratatouille Pizza

Giant Sicilian style Caramelized Onion Pizza

The crust was crispy, chewy, and light, and the sauce was delicious! Everything tasted so fresh from the vegetables on top to the cheese and the bread itself.  I really enjoyed it.  Since the rectangular shaped slices were so large, both my friend and I cut our pizza's in half only intending to eat half, but we ended up eating the whole thing. It was that good! I recommended coming down to Bakery Nouveau for lunch.  There sandwiches on fresh baguettes also look delicious and as always there are the croissants and sweets for those of you with sweet tooths.


Bakery Nouveau
4737 California Avenue Southwest
Seattle, WA 98116-4412
(206) 923-0534