Buddha Ruksa Thai Cuisine

I rarely get to West Seattle because I dont drive but on the few occasions that I do, I rather enjoy the restaurants. Perhaps because its something new, but I also like to leave cap hill and the pretentiousness that awaits you at several of the new restaurants.

I picked up B & B music factory from the airport and they wanted to eat. We stopped by their place to drop off their stuff and began calling around to find a place to get a reservation. It was Saturday and lots of places were packed for the evening. However, we were able to get in at 7:45pm at Buddha ruksa. My brothers favorite Thai place, so he claimed. The place is small with low lighting and every table was packed with diners. This is a comfortable spot and you could tell it was going to be good, the mood in the restaurant was very chill.

Prior to arriving at Buddha ruksa we had a few wild turkey's down the street (in honor of our band) even though our 4th member was off gallivanting in LA. We poured a little out for him. When we sat down I realized how hungry I was and the wild turkey was eating my stomach. I quickly reviewed the menu, satay, calamari, egg rolls, tom yum, fried tofu, crab wonton...we needed something quick. B said the best app was the crab wontons, so we ordered them immediately. The crab wontons were very hot and perfectly crispy. I love anything with cheese and the cream cheese to crab ratio was right on. Nice spicy sweet dipping sauce on the side too.

When it came time for ordering the meal, big B. took the lead. He decided to go for the pork green curry, which is one of my favorites. My only complaint is that we didnt order it a bit more spicy. Very tasty and again came out really hot. Perfection.

We also got an order of fried rice, which again had great balance of seasoning. It was a nice additon to our meal and the cabbage was my favorite part of the dish besides the grilled rice.

Alas, the reason B & B like to come to this spot is for the Crispy Garlic Chicken and now I know why...it was amazing. I could have gotten a whole plate of this for myself. The fried chicken topped with rich spicy garlic on top of some basil leaves made me unable to stop eating. Damn! B knew what he was doing when he ordered, because lucky for us he got two for the table.


I will certainly go back and sample more of their menu. I was interested in some of their other signature dishes including the wonton pad thai and the prawns & pumpkin curry. And for those of you who like crispy duck, they have six different ways.

Check it out. Its fairly reasonable prices too, you know if you've heard about the economy.

Buddha ruksa
Thai cuisine
3520 SW Genesee Street.
Seattle, WA 98126
T. (206) 937 - 7676
F. (206) 923 - 6470

Tuesday - Friday
Lunch & Dinner 11am - 10pm
Saturday & Sunday
Dinner 4pm - 10pm
Closed Monday

Spring Hill

The chef of Spring Hill is one of the funniest people I've ever met. I met him back when he worked with my brother like 8 years ago. I would show up to meet up with them for some late night beers and some great food at the Dahlia Lounge. Mark is a great chef and is truly passionate about food so waiting for him to open his own restaurant was very exciting. My mom and l. nopen invited us to dinner and were also anxious to visit Mark in his new space.

When you walk into the restaurant you immediately feel something interesting is happening-- from the unique but simple decor to the noisy open kitchen setting this place has that it factor. We were immediately seated in a spacious booth where we could easily watch the chefs' make their magic. The place was packed for a Saturday night at 9pm in West Seattle, apparently the buzz is catching on.

The one page menu was broken into three sections: Small Dishes, Shellfish and Main Courses.

We started with a few selections from small dishes, first the roasted beets with pears, salty smoked hazelnuts, rogue blue cheese and a little bit of basil. I love beets and these were perfect with the tangy cheese. We all enjoyed this plate, great flavors.


L. and l. nopen shared the beef steak hot & cold, which is wood grilled rib eye cap steak & raw steak tartare with some potato cracklings. Both of them raved about this dish, I will take their word for it...I can tell you that it had nice presentation.

We also shared a starter from the Shellfish section, the wood grilled prawns & creamy grits, topped with a poached egg, hen of the woods (mushroom) with rich shrimp gravy. I could have eaten this dish and left, it was my favorite thing I tasted that evening. The grits and the creamy gravy matched perfectly with the grilled prawns. The egg was perfectly cooked, I was very impressed. I might need to recreate this myself.


We also shared a few bottles of wine thanks to mom and l. nopen who know way more about wine than I do. Spring Hill has a large selection of northwest wines we enjoyed the nota bene cellars, syrah, 2005. Tasted good to me, but like I said I am not so sure I can tell the difference besides being white or red.


Now onto the main courses, my mom who only eats veggies or fish went for the king salmon. The salmon dish looked interesting and tasty when it came out topped with salmon crackling. I tasted the creamed corn along with the kale which had a hearty taste with a touch of sweetness from the red pepper relish.

L. knew he was going to order the 1/2 pound burger before we even got there. I have met so many chefs whose passion is a good burger and this was no different. The burger is topped with made in house bacon, teleme and special burger sauce. Stacked on the side are hand cut beef fat fries. L. was in heaven, this burger looked very bold and tasty.

l. nopen always takes a chance when he orders. He went with the roasted duck which looked rich and glazed sitting along side a quinoa biscuit. He enjoyed the dish and ate every bite.


Upon reading the menu I wanted to try the pork, but it was out for the evening. I wasnt upset, because I was also interested in trying the halibut. The halibut was coated in a crispy smoked clam panzanella and olive oil sauce sitting on a bed of escarole. The fish was perfectly cooked with a crispy pan sear. The dish was very well designed with a balance of light and hearty.

I was ready to throw in the towel and call it a night when the dessert menu showed up. We all read over the options but to our surprise Mark had his own plan for our dessert choices that evening. He sent out every dessert on the menu. Insane. Amazing.

Made in house sorbet/ice creams. Raspberry, Blueberry, Nectarine, Salted Peanut and Ovaltine.

Fudge cake with more salted peanut ice cream. So delicious.

Damn if I can remember what this was. Blueberry or something...maybe, damn. I don't know, I was on dessert overload. Very good.

Spring Hill is full of northwest fare done right with a simple approach letting the fresh local ingredients shine through on their own. The look and feel due to Mark's partner and wife Marjorie combined with the creativity of Mark's menu have left me excited to go back. Go to their website for better photos and full menu. Congrats Mark and Marjorie.

5:45pm - 11:00pm

4437 california ave sw
seattle, washington 98116

Closed Monday
Reservations accepted
206.935.107

talariri's: a funny thing happened on the way to the office

these pictures are obviously a couple months old, but that doesn't make my overall opinion about talarico's any less valid (i've been there at least 15 times). please excuse the shitty myspace page for talarico's. if i were them, i would hire someone (or a friend, shit!) to design a quality site with general info...i mean, at the very least publish the hours and menu. their $3 slices for happy hour really are something to write home about. i'll keep this short and sweet since i know this isn't the first time i've commented about my favorite west seattle pizza haven on k&s.

M. and i went to talarico's for an easy dinner (and i had to pick work up from my office). we noticed a couple new appetizers on the menu and decided to try the polenta served with spicy sausage ragu. mark my words: THIS. IS. THE. BOMB. the polenta cake was light and fresh, unlike the logs of dense polenta you can buy pre-made in the store (my nemesis), and the sauce was bright, full of chunks of tomato and easily-removed sausage (so i ate a little meat sweat; sue me). i also loved the fresh bites of flatleaf parsley (you already know this is a personal fave).

the only improvement M. and i could think of was to broil the polenta (perhaps w some parm) for a crisp finish. also, not that i really care about this at a pizza joint, the plating was beautiful. if you haven't yet eaten a monstrous talarico's slice, i would suggest getting out to The West for pizza and polenta.

oh yeah, we also got pizza. i got the aglio e olio (garlic and oil) with arugula and goat cheese. it's basically my go-to, but i'm not tired of it yet. shoot, and i said i would keep this short.

anyhow, go to talarico's. it's awesome. i think on tuesday's they have a special recession happy hour menu. you'll just have to go to find out the details.

well shoot, nevermind. after searching urbanspoon, they DO have a website!

Talarico's Pizza

4718 California Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98116
206.937.7463

hh daily 4 to 6

Rocksport

Oh yeah, before I forget about this.

Just a warning not to eat the Boneless Wings at Rocksport in West Seattle. The dragon sauce was not hot but more importantly these boneless wings were sliced and minced pieces of chicken rolled in sauce and served up with some carrots and celery.It was literally like they shaved the meat off the chicken wings and served them on a plate. Perhaps I should have asked for clarification but 99% of the time I have ordered boneless wings they were basically chicken strips in some tasty wing sauce.

It was also taco tuesday which means you get two tacos for $2....make sure you hit the condiment bar or you are gonna find yourself eating some dry meat and tortillas.

.Hot Mess.

Rocksport has a long list of sandwiches, burgers, steaks and other bar eats all of which seem pretty standard which leads me to believe I made a bad choice. Better luck next time!

We did end up having fun that night regardless of the shitty pre-funk food. Shout out to West Seattle you are the perfect place to celebrate a birthday and host a midweek pub crawl.

!151!