Culinary Fool

First Look: Trader Vic’s

15-Jan-2007

Originally published on The Spirit World in May 2006.

I’m not sure that "First Look" is the right category for this post – I mean Trader Vic’s has been around since the 50s and in their heyday you could find one in nearly every major city in the US, it seemed. And, before they began slipping from favor, I had visited several of them starting sometime in the late 70s. However, one by one many of the US locations have closed, even as their popularity overseas has been increasing. Both the Trader Vic’s in downtown Seattle and in Portland (Oregon) closed several years ago. So, we were all excited when they announced the opening of a new location Bellevue.

So I guess this is a First Look – of the second time around.

The Cocktail Club gathered at the new location last Monday. We had a really good turnout as some folks who hadn’t been able to make it the last few times were able to show up and a couple people also brought friends along (yeah!). So along with about 6 regular members we had 1 newer person and 2 brand-new people.

It was a good thing we had such a large group! Take a look at Trader Vic’s Cocktail Menu (pdf) and you’ll see why…

I am happy to report that we made a good sized dent in that menu. Between the 9 of us we sampled quite a few offerings:

Gun Club Punch
Tika Puka Puka
Honi Honi
Mai Tai
Soft Bahia
Zombie
Suffering Bastard
Pino Pepe
Scorpion
Menehuni
Dr. Funk of Tahiti
Potted Parrot
Peach Tree Punch
Cafè Diable
Tortuga
Tutu Rum Punch
Navy Grog
Dr. Funk’s Son

Of all the drinks we sampled I am happy to report that only one seemed a bit sweeter than necessary – always a challenge when the theme is tropical, with all the fruit juice involved! All of the others seemed to strike a nice balance with their various ingredients and were well-crafted.

We also sampled a few nibbles – I can tell you that the Crab Rangoons were excellent and the Almond Duck Tidbits were good but odd textured. I heard the Cheese Blings hit the spot and the Cosmo Tidbits (a pupu platter) were yummy. A couple people ordered full meals and they looked great but by that time I was deep into socializing and not so much documenting so I have no photos or any real evidence about those meals!

All in all it was a very good evening! Good location, great friends and conversation, fun times! I would say that all of us plan to return sometime soon – so many cocktails to explore – to say nothing of other menu items that called our names!

Trader Vic’s Bellevue

700 Bellevue Way NE, Suite #50 (In Lincoln Plaza, across from The Westin)

Bellevue, WA 98004

MxMo 11: Winter Warmers

15-Jan-2007

Today is Mixology Monday 11 and the theme is Winter Warmers.

The good folks at Imbibe Unfiltered (the blog for Imbibe Magazine) are hosting this month’s event.

I guess when you hear the phrase "Winter Warmers" you tend to think of hot beverages. And for the Spirit World entry I stayed with that idea by posting about Spanish Coffee. But I’m going to expand that definition just a bit to one of my favorite winter drinks, which can be warmed but is never really hot, yet is one of the most warming drinks around – did you follow that? :-)

The drink I’m referring to is The Beautiful. You don’t too often see it listed on menus, although most places on the coasts know how to make them. And it is actually one drink that I don’t mind telling a bartender how to make if he doesn’t know it because it is so simple. The Beautiful is simply 1:1 Grand Marnier to Courvoisier.

Generally it is served in a brandy snifter, although one of my Spirit World co-writers has complaints about brandy snifters. He also complains about heating brandy but I’m going to suggest you do it anyway! I’m such a rebel! Actually, while I understand his points I think you just need to learn how to sip these beautiful beverages.

He complains that the glass (and this is even more when heated) concentrates the fumes so much that you are nearly knocked out and your nose singed when you go to take a sip. And, yes, if you inhale deeply just as your nose reaches the glass the experience can be rather unpleasant. However, if you slightly inhale as your nose approaches the glass the heated essence you encounter is just a glimpse into the wonderful flavors that await.

Also, instead of heating this drink over flame I prefer to use the method most establishments do. Fill an old-fashioned glass with hot (almost boiling) water, then place the snifter on it’s side with the snifter just touching the water in the glass. Then you slowly turn the snifter, gently heating the glass on all sides and as a result also warming the golden liquid within.

As you sip, not only do you have the sensation of the flavors playing across your tastebuds but the warmth of the liquid spreads throughout your body as it slips down your throat. (Side note here, there are really no poetic terms for throat – neither esophagus or gullet bring to mind anything pretty!)

This drink is perfect après ski, sitting in front of a cozy fire in your own home, as a chill fighter if you’ve been out running errands in the winter weather and decide to pop into your local establishment. And because it is so easy it truly can be a relaxing end to a long day.

So give The Beautiful a try and your world will soon be…. beautiful.

Hops and Props

13-Jan-2007

If you live in the Seattle area (or you even may want to fly in for this) mark your calendar for this year’s Hops and Props held at the Museum of Flight.

The date: February 10 at 7:00 pm

This is an international event with fifty craft breweries from eight states and five countries pouring samples. And if you opt-in for a VIP ticket you also get a private tasting of specialty brews. From last year’s reports this is a great beer tasting event.

In addition to the beer samples your admission includes live music by Seattle band BD & the Rockits, food selections (by McCormick and Schmick’s), a commemorative tasting glass, an educational tasting guide and access to the Museum’s galleries.

If you can plan ahead general admission tickets will cost you $50 but the price goes up to $60 after January 15th. Tickets can be purchased at the Museum of Flight gift shop or online.

First Look: Suite 410

13-Jan-2007

First published on The Spirit World in April 2006.

Last Monday the Cocktail Club gathered to check out a fairly new lounge in town, Suite 410. They’ve actually been open 6 months or so and some time back R and I, working from various snippets of information, had tried to stop by on the spur of the moment but couldn’t find the place (mostly because we didn’t remember the exact name, which also happens to be the address and we knew the vicinity but not the actual street – I’d say we were doomed from the get-go). RH was very familiar with the place, though, and had given it a tentative thumbs up. The tentative was only because the owners had been toying with the idea of changing the focus and drink menu to have broader appeal (read: change to sugary, sweet cocktails), but so far they have resisted.

I arrived shortly before 7:00 and found out I was at the tail end of Happy Hour. Too bad their website doesn’t have useful information like the fact they have Happy Hour (and I also wish they had their menu online). Oh well, I’ll file that little bit info away for future use. It’s a nice Happy Hour menu, too. Martinis, Manhattans, and some specialty drinks are all $5, well drinks are $4 and there was also some discount on beers and wines, I believe. They had a little buffet set up along one window, however there was quite a large group blocking access to it so I didn’t check it out.

Several things about the place that I liked: hydraulic bar stools – fun!; purse hooks under the bar – always a plus; the dark woods and overall ambiance; the bartenders – very friendly and personable; and, with slight exceptions, we liked the cocktails, too. The only thing I didn’t care for is that the place is really loud so it’s hard to have any sort of conversation with anyone except the person sitting right beside you. The music was a bit on the loud side but really it seems that the design of the bar itself is the main issue. There are lots of hard surfaces and big windows that seem to bounce the conversations all over the place. It’s not so bad as to keep me from going back, but I’d never bring a group there again. Then again, I don’t think that was really what they had in mind when they opened the place, anyway.

There were six of us at this gathering: R, JH, C; MJ and EM, two newbies; and me. Between all of us we tried nearly all cocktails highlighted on the menu and some were sampled more than once. Some standouts were the Hot Mango Love, which has been mentioned in other reviews and has the definite stamp of its creator Ryan Magarian who was the menu consultant; the Pisco Sour – frothy, thirst-quenching and sporting a nice sprinkle of fresh nutmeg; the Bellini, properly made with white peach puree; the Black Cherry Swizzle – a tart and light cherry mixture, although they could do away with the Maraschino garnish; and the Grapefruit Cosmo that was actually made without the normal grapefruit vodka as they were out of it.

The Quince Mustard Margarita was good but we couldn’t quite figure out the quince mustard element. The Grapefruit Margarita was described by MJ as needing a bit of smoothing. Pretty small nits in the scheme of things. I know we’ll all be back to Suite 410 soon – especially for Happy Hour.

At $5 for their premium drinks, it’s one of the best deals in town!

Suite 410

410 Stewart St

Seattle

206.624.9911

Work in Progress

12-Jan-2007

I’m in process of adding a bunch of restaurant write-ups that I originally posted over on The Spirit World but would also like to have them here on Culinary Fool. So over the next few weeks every now and then you’ll see a post that starts with "Originally posted on The Spirit World Month Year". Veil was the first one I added and there are about a dozen more. Just wanted to let you know what that was all about!

Urbanspoon

12-Jan-2007

You may have noticed a new little logo on my restaurant write-ups. It’s a blue and orange logo of a little spoon and above the spoon is a percentage and a "number voted". The one to the left is a different version than I generally use.

If you click on the logo it takes you to a fairly new site, Urbanspoon. The good folks there contacted me last November, I think, and told me about their vision of bringing together all the various restaurant reviews into one place. So they have consolidated the critics’ reviews from the Post-Intelligencer and Seattle Times, The Weekly, The Stranger and CitySearch. There actually may be other sources, too, but those are what come to my mind.

In addition they’ve set up a system for bloggers to add their posts. So that little logo at the bottom of my posts does three things. It gives you a quick way to see how others have rated the place, makes it easy for you to click out to Urbanspoon to get details and see what others are saying, and for those who start at the Urbanspoon site it provides a link back to my post so you can read all of the things I had to say – which is the most important thing, of course! :-)

I am only recommending this service now as I wanted to sort of see what happened with Urbanspoon. As you know there are a lot of people with great ideas but they often take a lot of work to carry through and sometimes the long hours just become too hard. Especially for these start-up ideas where you may hope to make money someday but there are months, or even years, spent getting to that place.

So I’ve watched what these guys are doing and I’m pretty impressed. They continue to add new features and have recently expanded their cities to include Chicago and New York. San Francisco is scheduled and others will come online over time.

You can use the site anonymously or you can create an account which allows you to track restaurants you’ve rated or create a wishlist of places you’d like to visit. They are creating community aspects by allowing you to see who has rated a place and take a look at their list of favorite restaurants. They’ve also added some fun features such as "Seattle at Night" which shows a point of light for every restaurant. Clicking on the map will take you to the neighborhood where you clicked and show you a list of places.

There’s much more out there so go take a look.

First Look: Veil

11-Jan-2007

This post first appeared on The Spirit World January 2006.

Thursday night a friend and I stopped by one of the new places in town. Veil is being discussed amongst all good foodies in the city and everyone who has not yet been there is planning to check it out soon.

Located in the new little center of dining pleasure on the east side of lower Queen Anne, Veil adds a bit more momentum to the upscaling of this little neighborhood. Although I had read a couple reviews and had several people ask me if I’d yet been there I didn’t know that much about the place, except that the chef, Shannon Galusha, had trained with Thomas Keller.

Upon entering you turn left to enter the lounge. The bar sits at the far end of the room but the focus of the room is the long table that runs from the entry point to the bar. It is surrounded by the little cube stools that seem to have become so popular – at least in Seattle lounges. On your right are two large cozy sections of banquette seating which could easily hold eight or more depending on how many little cubes you scrunched in. The left side of the room has similar bench seating but since that is the window wall, they don’t have the same cozy vibe. Everything is white. It’s white on white on white. If you’ve been to Bada Lounge in Belltown the feel is very similar. It also reminds me of The Blue Door in The Delano Hotel in South Beach. The lighting is light pink. I hadn’t realized how pink until I looked at my photos. Since I normally don’t use a flash the photos sometimes reveal more than you notice at the time.

We started out at the main table but then one of the benches opened up and we moved into the protected space, sharing it with two other women who had also been at the table. There was plenty of room for all of us to spread out and still have private conversations. It was very nice.

I ordered a Rosemary Bellini and my friend ordered a Margarita. We had a hit and a miss. My Bellini was really wonderful, although you will need to like rosemary to enjoy it. As you lift the champagne flute to your mouth, the fragrance of the rosemary hits your nose and reminds you of sunny places – something we desperately need in Seattle right now as we head into our 27th day in a row of rain. That’s a lot, even for us! The drink itself is just lightly enhanced with the rosemary flavor. It was really quite good. Although I did find myself munching on a rosemary leaf a couple of times!

On the other hand my friend’s Margarita was not really up to snuff. It seemed to have been made with mix instead of fresh lime juice. Something a bit inconceivable, in this place that prides itself on only the freshest of ingredients!

The food was very good and presented in the French Laundry style – big oversized plates surrounding small bites of exquisite flavors. We tried the Peanut Butter and Jelly Foie Gras (a bit gimmicky but the foie gras was perfectly prepared), a Lobster Macaroni and Cheese (absolute heaven!), and White Asparagus with Crab Salad (another winner).

Prices are not cheap, as you may expect, but not out of line; plates are small but extremely satisfying! I’ll definitely be back again. Maybe not on a weekly basis but certainly regularly. There were several items on the menu I would have liked to have tried and since the menu will be constantly updated I think this will be an ongoing quest.

Veil

555 Aloha St. (@ Taylor) in Lower East Queen Anne

Seattle, WA

206 216 0600

It’s Playoff Time!

11-Jan-2007

This post also appears on The Spirit World.

We’re ramping up to Superbowl weekend and it’s time to be thinking about football party food! Now this is not necessarily tailgating food but it could work for that, too. I’m actually in a class Sunday while my Hawks are playing but if I were at home this is what I’d be having!

When watching football I really need to just have a nice tall, cool one instead of a cocktail. So pick your favorite beer – check out the Brewsday columns for some recommendations – and then focus on your snack.

These wings are not Buffalo Wings but the beauty of them is that there is no deep-frying involved; they are very low effort to pull together but they are salty and savory enough to pair with that beer you choose. And this recipe is super easy to double or triple for larger groups.

You can either buy fresh chicken wings and cut them yourself (don’t use that last little tip piece – just the drumette and the center portion) or every supermarket carries 5 or 10 pound bags of frozen wings that are already cut. If you use those frozen wings make sure you defrost the amount you need in the refrigerator prior to adding them to the marinade.

Teriyaki Chicken Wings

About 2 pounds or 24 chicken wing pieces

¾ cup soy sauce

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp. garlic powder

For the marinade mix the soy, sugar and garlic until sugar is dissolved. (Get it as close as possible – it may not totally dissolve.) Put the chicken into a one-gallon zip lock bag. Pour the marinade over the wings. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible. Let the chicken marinate for 2 hours or overnight. Move the bag around now and then to make sure all pieces are in the marinade at some point. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the chicken pieces in a single layer in a 9”x13” pan. Pour the marinade over the top. Bake the chicken for 45 minutes, turning once half way through the cooking time.

Shrimp and Avocado

10-Jan-2007

Sticking with my desire to enjoy simple, clean tastes and wanting to use some of my "leftovers" from last night’s shrimp sauté I decided to pull together a classic taste combination with a twist.

First, I peeled half a dozen of the shrimp and cut them into bite-size pieces. Next I added some fresh squeezed lime juice, a bit of salt and some chopped cilantro. I let that sit while I worked on the final pieces.

I had a perfectly ripe avocado hanging around so I cut it in half. The side with the pit remaining went into the fridge. I removed a bit more avocado from around the natural cavity left from the pit in the other half. I then took the half out of the skin in one piece. You can use one of those new fangled avocado tools, if you must, but a spoon will work just as well. I generally don’t even use a spoon, instead opting to carefully peel the skin off in pieces until I’m left with a beautiful avocado half.

Now comes the twist. Many of the friends who attend my Holiday Party bring me nice thank-you gifts. It’s very sweet of them! One gift I received this year was a bottle of Deerfield Ranch wine and a bottle of their Ginger Lemongrass Grapeseed Oil. Besides the fact that we are learning about all the health benefits of grapeseed oil, it has a wonderful sort of nutty flavor to it. Add the ginger and lemongrass flavors and you have an exotic blend of flavors complimentary to many food preparations.

Since the shrimp had been sautéed in oil I had to be a little careful how much I used (you know next time I might actually sauté them in this oil!) but I tossed the shrimp mixture with a teaspoon or two and drizzled a little right on the avocado.

Next I placed the shrimp in the avocado cavity mounding it high, spruced up the plate with a little additional cilantro and a couple slices of lime and lunch was ready!

Simple Sautéed Shrimp

09-Jan-2007

I think because of all the rich food, big meals and constant entertaining that happens during the holidays that I often find myself striving for simplicity once January rolls around. Don’t get me wrong – I love all the wonderful holiday food but now it’s just time for a bit of a change.

Today, the wind and rain picked up again this afternoon. I looked out my office window and the sky was such an odd shade. It looked bruised. It was deep purple gray with a yellow tinge. Menacing. Not only did my thoughts turn to simple food but they also turned to warmer and sunnier climes. Luckily for me I must have known this longing would come as over the weekend I picked up a pound of Baja shrimp.

Now I know those of you down on the Gulf will be making that little "pffft" noise in disgust right now, believing that your shrimp is the best there is. I won’t argue with you but I love the sweet, succulent shrimp that comes from the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. I’m sure that part of it is that it also brings back many memories of lazy time spent wandering around little towns; swimming in the warm, turquoise waters of Sea of Cortes; watching the powerful waves of the Pacific beat against the shore; and, of course, sipping a favorite ice cold beverage, feet in the sand, without a care in the world – except to decide if you will rouse yourself for dinner and head to one of the shrimp bars or outdoor grills for dinner. In other words those shrimp are not just a meal but an entire vacation.

There are all kinds of things you can do with them but probably my very favorite is just to let the shrimp take center stage.

Simple Sautéed Shrimp

Add olive oil to a cold sauté pan. Add two or three (or more!) smashed cloves of garlic and one dried hot pepper like a Thai Dragon. Heat the oil until the garlic begins to sizzle. Add shrimp (heads removed, shells left on) just until they form a single layer in the pan. Depending on how much shrimp you have you may need to do two or more batches.

Watch the garlic carefully and when it starts to get brown remove it from the pan (by this time it will have flavored the oil). Continue sautéing the shrimp for about 2 or 3 minutes per side, just until they turn a nice salmon pink.

Remove them from the pan and serve with lime slices or wedges.

To eat, peel the shrimp and squeeze the lime over them. Smile and be happy.

You can serve them with a nice salad, maybe some bread and a Mexican beer or glass of Sauvignon Blanc would definitely be in order! Then again, maybe all you need is the shrimp.