The Bite 2008

Holy Shit! The Bite of Seattle always creeps up on me and then next thing you know I spend the following day hung over, full for weeks and sad that the Bite reminds me summer wont last forever.

For the last few years it has become an annual tradition for myself, babs, leroy and carbo to over indulge. Apparently over 500,000 people attened the 27th annual event this year over the span of three days, we went on Sunday. Carbo and I attempted to take the monorail to the center to meet our eating partners but it was broken down. wtf. So we walked over to the Seattle Center and all met up by the fountain. As always our first stop was The Alley, now hosted by Mr. Tom Douglas. For $9.50 you can sample seven items from a handful of Seattle restaurants and all proceeds from The Alley benefit Food Lifeline. The menu changed from Fri-Sun and after looking them all over, I really wish I would have been able to sample Friday's menu. Anyway, below is the plate followed with what is represented.

Gelatiamo
Chocolate Gelato - Delicious, smooth, rich in flavor but low in fat, this is Gelatiamo's Chocolate Gelato
Volterra
Porchetta Sandwich – Pork roasted with garlic, fennel and herbs on a rosemary roll
Al Boccalino
“Ancient” Roman Meatballs – Meatballs with red wine, honey, cumin, celery and fresh peas
Crush
Crispy Skinned Blue Prawns with Corn Soup and Basil
Green Leaf
Grilled Beef with Lemongrass – Thin-sliced rare beef steak and pork belly grilled on a lemongrass skewer and served with an anchovy pineapple dipping sauce
Lola
Cumin Scented Leg of Lamb, Pita, Tzatziki
Brasserie Margaux
Smoked Salmon Éclair – Smoked salmon and dill éclairs with goat cheese, capers and Walla Walla onions confit Balsamic glaze

My favorite taste was the corn soup from Crush, followed by the pork sandwich from Volterra...as a group traveling with a Fishatarian, we did some trading of bites too. Another part of The Alley is the wine tasting that we also always particpate in for $6.50 you can sample two Washington wines and listen to some smooth jazz. (Get your grown on. )I do not know much about wine, nor do I really remember what I drank....except for the dare I took to taste the blackberry wine, which was not awesome even though the presentation bottle was covered in medals.

After leaving the Alley we headed to the beer garden but not before grabbing some snacks to take with us. Below are a pork sandwich and beans from Famous Daves and some Schezuan green beans from Twist.

The sandwich was pretty tasty, not very memorable though...and the beans were too sweet

These green beans were really good, and the sesame seeds made them extra tasty!

While waiting for L. to meet us we kept laughing about the horrible California Pizza Kitchen cheese pizza that Babs brought into the beer garden. It was hot mess. I am so disappointed in myself that I dont have a photo. When L. arrived we walked out and he hit up Bambuza to get a plate of grilled chicken skewers and some soba noodles, I also dont have a flick of this plate, but it was good and well....exactly what you would expect. We also grabbed a few egg rolls, which were really nice. Babs rushed off to get in the corn line and when we walked up she was there with 4 ears of corn. Perfection.

After the corn we headed down towards the part of the park we had yet to visit and stumbled upon this small lane of little restaurants with small bites...aka "Just A Bite" This is where we ended up finding the 1st place winner for best entree at Divine for their spanakopita. While waiting in line for the greek feast someone showed up with some pasta...which I never got to taste!!!

Besides the spanakopita (which holy shit, I cant find a photo) we also had some phyllo stuffed with pork on top of arugula... and some lavender ice tea.


I was really impressed by Divine's food and I think I will plan a special trip to dine at their location up on Roosevelt. After this I really thought we were gettin close to being done, but instead we headed back to the wine garden and shared a nice bottle of red wine and got down on some of the free Ghirardelli chocolate squares.


After the wine, we decided it might be time for some dessert and we were on the hunt for some strawberry shortcake. Instead of the shortcake, we ended up at Klaissique Kollections’ where L. got a sundae and carbo ordered us some amazing catfish. The catfish won second place in the best entree competition and it was one of the best things I ate all day! Babs also threw a couple fried mozzarella sticks to the mix, but I really at this point have no idea where all the food was coming from!

Brownie Sundae!

Fried Cheese!

CATFISH!

Really at this point we should have just walked home, instead we walked right into another beer garden....and then realized there was an entire section of the Bite that we didnt even visit...oh yeah we needed to find the Alligator on a stick. Too bad they were out of gator but leroy found another replacement. Cheesecake dipped in chocolate on a stick...

I almost died just after taking a few small bites.

Next we went back to Babs and leroys spot and drank some more wine on their deck...this Bite really takes the cake as far as food consumption. I would even venture to say that it comes close in the most alcohol consumed category.

See you next year Bite of Seattle, better bring more gator. Divine your spanakopita better be just as good if I have to take a damn bus to eat it and take a picture.