Deluxe

I kinda forget about The Deluxe Bar and Grill which hides out at the end of Broadway...and I kinda have forgotten if I have ever written about this spot. Over the years of living on Cap Hill I end up at this spot when someone wants to eat a burger and get down on some happy hour that isnt Broadway Grill. I have never had one of their burgers, but locals claim they are some of the best on the Hill. The Deluxe feels overpriced to me...and if you are not getting down on their happy hour, which includes half priced appetizers, then you will pay for it in the end. For a casual neighborhood bar with lots of local beers they certainly do not cater to the alcohol drinkers in the mix. They have plenty of 7 to 8 dollar specialty cocktails but you get no love if you want a well drink, they are equally as expensive. The food is good, but sort of what you would expect from a tavern of sorts.

Strangely, my co-worker had never heard of this spot or been there so we stopped by after a work event. I will tell you this was the first time I have been to the Deluxe during the day time for when they run a lunch menu. The Saturday lunch includes a nice bloody mary drink special...and they were not that bad! They were nicely packed with vodka and veggies but needed a bit more heat.

I ended up going with the cobb salad...it was tasty, a little too much dressing and cheese and not enough lettuce...but lets be real, a cobb salad is not the healthiest salad to eat! I enjoyed the sweet helping of bacon, avocado as well as the crispy greens.

R. got down on a lunch special which included a half sandwich of the day and a cup of soup. The sandwich was simple and we both agreed that was perfect because all to much people over do it with the sauce and random pacific northwest infused presentations. The chicken breast was topped with tomato and basil on a roll. The soup of the day was clam chowder...and from the picture below, you will notice that R. was feelin it.



Deluxe Bar and Grill
625 Broadway Ave E
11am-2am

Bricco della Regina Anna

As so often happens with us on weekends, bnopen and I find ourselves with little or no food in the kitchen and no desire to shop and cook. Thus the quest for good food, good wine and not too far from home led us to the top of Queen Anne Hill and Bricco. A great little wine bar with an interesting menu. We were there pretty early in the evening and had no problem getting a coveted seat at the bar. This place is not very large with only 6 tables in the restaurant and seating for about 20 in the bar. The staff are generally very knowledgeable about wine and the select import beers they serve. They also do a good job of making you feel welcome and comfortable. This is very important when the bill comes and you see that you are going to plunk down 2 bills for wine and cheese!
The wine list is decent, with good selection of moderate price wines. We have been introduced to several that have become favorites. Tonight we started with a French wine, mostly because I am trying to expand beyond Walla Walla and Napa. This is a Chateau St. Georges 2002 ($65). It is a blend of 60% Merlot, 20% Cabernet, and 20% Bouchet grapes. This makes for a "big" wine , but is very smooth with little acidity. I recommend letting it decant for at least 15 minutes as is the case with most French wines. This wine went well with our starter of Delice soft cheese, Rogue River blue cheese, Gouda cheese, and hot Sopresatta ($16). Bricco has an extensive selection of speciality cheeses and meats from Salumi Cured Meats. The list can be a little intimidating, but the staff are well versed on each item and can make great recommendations. The plate also includes bread, a grape jelly and a marmalade that goes well with the cheeses. I have yet to figure out how meat and cheese can leave you wanting more to eat.............
This Salmon Brusschetta is a bnopen favorite. Bricco uses -Ceci, Pesto, Sweet onion with goat cheese, Pepper-garlic smoked salmon w/crème fraiche & dill ($4). In previous journeys I have enjoyed the Polenta cakes with marinara, mozzarella and basil ($8). It could easily serve as an entree.
Bricco also serves up some terrific salads made with fresh local products. Prices range from $5 to $14.
Also on the menu are 5 different Panini that is served on Macrina olive bread with a small side salad for $11.
At this point our wine was gone and we (I) felt another bottle along with en tree's were needed!
We selected a little less bold wine from Australian Bird in Hand ($62). Their 2005 Shiraz has flavours of plum, blackcurrant and cracked black pepper and aroma of dark cherry, smoky oak and blackberry. This selection complimented both the baked ziti with marinara and a four cheese crust ($10) and my choice of a natural porkchop in a raspberry-apple marinade ($15).

The menu also offers:
Fresh Dungeness Crab Cakes ($16) Lamb Sausage with Marinara ($11) Veal and Spinach Manicotti with marinara and béchamel sauce ($13) Vegetarian Lasagna- eggplant, ricotta, four cheese blend, basil and marinara ($13) White Truffle potato gratin ($11) Orzo stuffed tomatoes with cheese ($8) Roasted Acorn Squash with brown sugar and butter ($7) Roasted Brussel Sprouts with bacon & a honey- mustard vinaigrette ($8)

With a little wine left, we finished with an excellent production of chocolate soufflé with molten chocolate center & a scoop of panna cotta gelato ($8)
Bricco della Regina Anna
1525 Queen Anne Ave N
Seattle, WA 98109
206-285-4900
Monday thru Sunday 5 pm to 1 am

Smarty Pants, "Oh Yeah"

A few weeks ago I had brunch with my brother, B. and L. in Georgetown. My brother raved about the weekend brunch at this spot called Smarty Pants so we headed south. This neighborhood restaurant was very welcoming and the staff were really chill. It was just after 11am so the place was just beginning to fill up. You could tell that within an hour the restaurant would be packed. This restaurant which shares the block with a few other spots is just right off Airport Way in what feels like an empty ghost town.

Since it was brunch time the first thing that came to the table were my drinks. The bloody mary was perfect. The drink had just the right amount of spice and vodka. I would certainly recommend this.

B. and B. both claimed that the Troublemaker Pile-Up was the best thing to eat so all three of us ordered it! This meal consisted of Grilled Chicken, Onions, lots of Monterey Jack Cheese and Bacon served over eggs and hash browns. The best part of the dish was the side of "trouble sauce" that came on the side. Trouble sauce is like spicy mayo...but better. I claimed I was going to eat every bite but left like 3 on the plate. Damn this was good....so good.

My brother explained that they also have this troublemaker on a sandwich without eggs and browns for lunch. That also sounds amazing. Other brunch items include standards like bisicuts and gravy and the monte cristo. You can also explore the huevos panteros or their version of egg in a basket.

L. went with the Corned Beef Hash...he really enjoyed it.

Brunch Saturday and Sunday 10am-2pm
6017 Airport Way S.

I'm hungry....

Los Angeles: Sun, Food and Tres

I haven't been to LA in years...until last week. For my birthday I decided to purchase myself a gift and that was buying tickets to see Mary J. Blige and Jay Z at the Hollywood Bowl. After a few cocktails one night I mentioned I was going to a friend, who in turn told another friend and next thing you know we all ended up in LA and booked rooms at The Standard.

Well, this is a food blog so lets get started.

Day 1.
After getting off the plane and heading to our hotel we stopped at Los Burritos on Sunset (4929 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles) The "natural juices" sign caught our attention as well as the big outdoor patio. I guess this is a chain spot with close to 10 locations around the city.

I went with a chicken taco and a fish taco. The chicken taco was tasty and fresh and the salsa came right on with just the right amount of heat. The chicken was nicely cooked but it needed a bit more seasoning. I also enjoyed the fish taco which was extremely deep fried making the sour cream so-so necessary to kill the dryness. The fish was coated in what tasted almost like a curry seasoning. We also got some chips, cuz i LOVE chips. This was a nice quick meal before we hit our hotel for some draaaanks.


So we hit the liquor store and grabbed some drinks and then we did this...


After the show we did a mini pub crawl back to the hotel where we ended up eating in The Standard's 24/7 Restaurant. Several of us at the table ordered the chicken sandwich which was pretty damn good, it came on a big spicy jalapeño biscuit. The chicken was fried and the soft biscuit was a great touch. I ended up eating half at the spot and the other half the night before we left straight out the mini fridge in my room. Both times the sandwich was great, if anything it just needed more mayo. Oh yeah, and it also needed to not be like 12 bucks without a side. Welcome to Hollywood.

Day 2.
One thing pretty awesome about The Standard is their pool and with the sun blazing at 930am two of us took advantage of the opportunity. We ordered two cups of coffee and then TWO carafes. Our first carafe was some sort of coconut margarita. This was the truth. It wasnt an overpriced weak ass cocktail it came correct with the alcohol and the coconut flavor was amazing.

By the time we ordered our second carafe we had made a new friend, Bruno, our poolside server. Bruno was amazed at the fact that the two of us were that ready to party on a Thursday morning. He was a good dude and on our last day at the hotel he gave us a hug goodbye. Don't worry Bruno, we will be back.

The second carafe was a watermelon mojito. Again, the drink was nice and the flavor was so natural it did not taste all gross and sugary. I cannot figure out how they got these strong fruit flavors without syrup. I am a fan of the carafe even though they set you back at 40 dollars a piece! The thing is, one drink is $12 so why not make a budget decision and go for the goods.

We waited for everyone to get up and then we all needed to eat. One place on everyones list was Roscoe's. It was a meal we all shared together and it was really chill. All of us were feeling the effects of partying and traveling so a nice meal of grease and carbs was totally appropriate. With 5 locations in the LA area we ended up at the one closest to our hotel in Hollywood.

I went with the SCOES which is basically 1/4 Chicken cooked southern style and 2 waffles. A few others ordered this as well. Someone also ordered an omelet and RB went with some smothered chicken, grits and greens. I tasted all of it except the omelet. This place rules. I loved the chicken and thought it was exactly as I expected = BOMB, and the waffles were perfectly cooked. The tastes really do come together and you need to eat a piece of chicken with a bite of waffle dipped in some syrup. It is the truth, ain't just a gimmick.

We did some shopping then took a nap. Later that night we ended up across the street from our hotel at this strange little place called Cabo Cantina (8301 W Sunset Blvd). This place was everything I imagine Spring Break would be. Girls with half shirts, guys with backwards visors and loud obnoxious music. Earlier in the day we were intrigued by the signs of good cheap tacos and drinks. Apparently we missed happy hour because our tab ended up being ridiculous. Again, welcome to Hollywood. The margaritas we pretty good, a little sweet for me.

I got down on fish tacos. The spicy mayo like salsa sauce was a nice touch. The fish was a bit fishy but the overall dish was pretty good, but the portion was way too much for me considering I ate a basket of chips and downed two drinks.

More drinking ensued and then we hit a club. After the club we hit another mexican spot by our hotel called Pinches Tacos. The outdoor deck was nice because the LA evening weather was super comfortable.

I ate two chicken taquitos which were great and they were on some real budget food because they only set me back $4.50. The guacamole was tasty and fresh, I also liked the flavor of the chicken mixed with the cheese. Damn, I love taquitos...keep reading.


Day 3.
Day 3 included a quick morning stint at the pool with a fruit plate and one drink. Then next thing you know we headed out for some shopping over on Fairfax. After shopping L. and I got scooped by his Dad and we headed over to Pasadena and had a really nice meal at Cafe Santorini. I had a big seared ahi tuna salad which was dusted with a light lime ginger dressing. The salad was really what I needed after all fried food. Then again, the friend wonton chips on top of the greens were quite tasty. While we were eating we got down on a couple bottles of champagne which made the whole meal even more enjoyable.

Once again I will make the announcement about me and dessert and how they just don't mix. HOWEVER, this was no joke prolly the best Tiramisu I have tasted in a long long time. I am not sure if it was the tasty cocoa powder or the fine custard coating on the rum soaked lady fingers. The raspberry sauce that the dessert was sitting on was also amazing, it was fresh and made with real raspberries.

So after dinner we went back to the hotel, drank a lot, celebrated J.'s bday and stayed up til like 430am. This was the night I went back to my room and pounded water and ate the other half of that chicken sandwich.

Day 4.
I rallied the troops so we could get up early because we were hours from having to get on the plane to come home. Before we left we had two things to do. The first was to hit Santee Alley for some shopping. We really wanted to get breakfast first but it didn't seem to work out. (Thanks for nothing A.)

So we ended up in the Alley, had to pay 50 cents to go to the restroom and then stumbled upon some street side mexican food. Once again I went for the taquitos. What made these different from the Pinches taquitos was the dripping cream and the nice hot sauce. The chicken wasn't as good but the sauces more than made up for that.

Because it was our last day we were on a mission to eat and eat and keep eating. I think I was trying to eat off three days of partying. While we were waiting for RB to hustle some jeans and some shirts we ended up getting down on some sidewalk grub. This $2 treat was one of the best things I ate in LA. Corn coated with butter, hot sauce and cheese. Damn.....

Tres

So the very last thing we had to do was hit Venice Beach. This was the perfect end to our trip because we got to walk around and enjoy the last bit of sun. After 2 hours of walking around we got hungry again. We really set out to just get a snack but ended up with more food than a small army would need. You would think that at a place called Big Daddy Pizza we woulda just grabbed a slice....but we didnt.

I went for the chicken chunks and fries. Uh...this was a whole chicken that they blew up and then fried the busted pieces. The chicken was sitting on top of sliced potatoes "fries" which were undercooked and nasty. I am still also not sure why they need to serve this to you in a damn tortilla bowl? Whatever, I ate a few chicken bites covered in the best thing on the dish (RANCH) and then it hit the trash. I do not even know what the hell that chicken was seasoned with.

L. got some fish and fries and also went for the churro. Nothing like some fried fish and some fried dough. He claims it was all good, but damn he got those fries too and they were not whats up. (Wait...hold up, is that t-shirt a picture of MJB and J Dilla!?!??!)


Before I say farewell, I need to leave you with one more picture from our Venice Beach snack time. A. ordered a turkey leg....and boy was it disgusting. What the hell. No comment. Don't worry, she didnt eat it.


Goodbye LA! I didnt eat that many meals but I know I gained 2 pounds! I am gonna bet most of that came from the drannnnnnks.

4/20!!!!!

Hey remeber me..... CrumbYum!!

I don't know what happened I got hit in the head and forgot how to use the internet. What's blogging?! Moving along....

.....as most of you can guess I started out my Sunday morning relaxing, enjoying a tasty cake (with weeeeeeed), but that was homemade so it doesn't apply to this situation. What does however was my serious hankerin for snacks! I'm gonna skip the grossness I experienced when I "winged it" on mystery asian food at Tony's Bakery next to Viet Wah off of MLK. Stick with the sandwiches there that's my advice. From that experience I knew I needed an epic snack to tie me through that awesome Sunday comedy lineup on Fox. For my condition it needed to be in walking distance. I called Lottie's to confirm they were serving and off I was.

Lotties has been reviewed before on the wonderful world of Ketchup and Soup, however, they are adding and altering their menu regularly. Plus, their happy hour is daily from 4 - 7 and that works for me. $2 domestics; $3 wells and something else was mentioned but I was dddddrinking!

I examined the menu carefully. They have some vegetarian stuff as the owner is a veg head. Salads, soups and sandwiches are their specialties. A pleasant variety of all 3 are offered. I went with a salad with pecans, dried cranberries that were more sweet than tart, gorganzola and 3 choices of dressing. I went with dijon vinigrette! I then added onto the order a smoked turkey sandwich on a tasty baguette bread, but not too hard, with bacon and chive chevre creamy cheese that came with a salad or soup. I went with the soup cause it was a clam chowder!

I think the salad was $6.50 and my soup & sando combo was $8. I also added on 3 whiskey's on the rocks and a steam anchor. Very nice. I told the waitress that they may want to make my order a special package cause it was a perfect complimentary treat. Nice thick layers of smoked turkey with a layer of good bacon on top. The cheese got a little messy squishing out the sides, but I suffered through it. The clam chowder was right on too cause it was FULL of clam chunks and was saturated with butter or cream so it was on the lighter side and I got to really taste it. Me likey. The salad was a great treat as well. Allowed them to get a little creative and play with different ingredients that don't normally go together and the vinigrette was spot on.

That's my review. Enjoy all!
CrumYum

Honey Court Seafood Restaurant

I don't even remember the first time I went to Honey Court, but I know it was after a late night of drinking and partying. Honey Court is a comfortable, family style Chinese restaurant open until like 330am (Fri-Sat) in the International District. The place is extremely bright, worn down, full of random decor and always fast paced. The restaurant is typically packed with the younger club crowd and local regulars.

After too many happy hour cocktails after work and a run up to a beacon bar we ended up needing to soak up some liquor around 11pm. We stumbled into Honey Court and were greeted by the woman who always seems to be serving whenever you go. She took our order of Hot and Sour soup ($6.95), Barbecue Pork Fried Rice ($6.50), Chicken Chow Mein ($6.95), Honey Court Walnut Prawns ($10.95) and the Crispy Chicken w/Prawn Chips ($7.95). The Crispy Chicken is not pictured...think I was too busy shoving food in my face when it showed up to the table.

The first time I had the Honey Court Walnut Prawns, I did not like them. I am now convinced they are one of my favorite dishes. L. and I even made them for our valentines dinner this year. The cooking process for these is intense, multiple steps and ingredients...which includes mayo. They are so damn good. I am also a huge fan of the crispy noodle chow mein....the noodles are perfect and the sauce is so savory. This is the perfect food to eat when you are hungover or drunk. I will however point out, that it is just as good sober. I liked the rice but it was hard to eat, but it did have a nice flavor. I also enjoyed the crispy chicken, which is just your basic lightly seasoned fried chicken. The soup is also exactly what you would expect, yet it comes out in a huge bowl with enough soup for like 6 people.

Honey Court has over 200 dishes, you will certainly find something you like. I also heard they have a great Dim Sum but I have yet to check that out.

516 Maynard Ave S
Seattle, WA 98104

Mon-Tue 10am-2:30am
Wed-Thur 10am-3am
Fri 10am-3:30am
Sat 9am-3:30am
Sun 9am-1:30am

Crepe de France

I got a text from some friends Sunday a.m. with a craving for crepes. Specifically crepes at Crepe de France in the Pike Place Market. So 5 of us piled into the Frito Lay Malibu and headed to the Market. Now the crepe gods must have been shining on us as we found a parking place right in front of the ticket booth. We marched into Crepe de France and again the gods were looking out for us because in this tiny corner of the Market, space is limited. We were fortunate enough to be the only people in line to order and we procured a table that had seating for the 5 of us. Right on our heels were a dozen more hungry crepe fiends. I could feel their envy as we settled down with our coffee ($1.95..refills $.75) to wait for our crepes.

Four of us ordered the No. 7 Crepe Dujour ($9.95) with ham, mozzarella cheese, spinach, and mushrooms all wrapped up in a perfect crepe. I am a pretty big breakfast eater and this was plenty filling for me. It is served as soon as it is done so you get it hot and fresh. The saltiness of the ham and the flavor of the fresh spinach really complimented the sweetness of the thin crepe it was wrapped in. It was a hit with all of us who ordered it.

Bnopen ordered the Vegetarien Crepe ($9.95). I know "vegetarian" is spelled wrong, but that is their spelling. Inside this little bundle of goodness was cucumber, peppers, onion, mozzarella cheese, and tomatoes. She left nothing but the memory of this on her plate!






A visit here is not complete without one of their desert crepes ($8.45). They are plenty big enough to share between a couple of people.
This is strawberry with creme freche and loads of whip cream.















This is the chocolate and banana crepe. Again creme freche and lots of whip cream.


All in all this was a great start to a cool and cloudy Sunday morning.


93 Pike St., No. 4
Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday- Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday- Sunday