Today began with a quick bite at the hotel restaurant, Frolik. One could say we frolicked down to Frolik. We then jumped on the Monorail again, being experts the second time around, and headed back to the Seattle Center for a day of tourism fun. Starting at the Space Needle, we headed up 520 feet to catch some breathtaking views of Seattle. It was a nice day and "the mountains were out" as the locals would say. This just means that it wasn't so cloudy that you could actually see the beautiful snow capped Olympic Mountains in the distance.
After snapping the obligatory landscape shots, we were ready to move on to the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum across the way.
EMP came recommended from a friend who also doesn't love museums, because this isn't your average museum. It has a entire interactive section for people to try out all kinds of instruments, have jam sessions, or even record their own track. I took a little tutorial on the drums, I think it will help my Rock Band game. The other exhibits were geared towards the Seattle music scene, naturally, so we checked out the Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix rooms. Pretty cool, I must say. Very interesting how certain music was defined by the Pacific Northwest, but the Pacific Northwest was defined by the burgeoning music scene at the same time. Luckily, we were also able to catch Michael Jackson's Thriller video (full length) on the big screen before we left.
I had to take care of something for work in the afternoon, so we set off to find something quick to eat before that. Jeremy and I have a running joke about how I can't pronounce anything correctly that is not in English, so when we saw a Thai place called Phuket, we thought "fuck it," let's give it a try. Really nothing to report here, just food to hold us over until our much anticipated dinner at Canlis that night.
So let's just skip to Canlis, it's the highlight of the trip anyway. For those of you that don't know, Canlis is an award winning restaurant that has been operated by the Canlis family for over 50 years. It tops every list in the Northwest region, and many for the entire country. It boasts five star service and even better food. It was also featured on this season of Top Chef: Seattle. Needless to say, we were very excited. They even take reservations on OpenTable up to 3 months in advance, so that is extra points in my book.
So we got all dressed up (Jer even wore a sports jacket, but just because he had to) and had a top 2 ever meal (joining Blue Hill at Stone Barns). No detail was overlooked here. Every table in the dining room allows for spectacular views of the Puget Sound, each waiter was well versed in every ingredient in our food (and its origins), and each course was timed to a tee. To start, we each ordered a cocktail that was mixed using the finest ingredients and perfectly balanced (later followed by a couple more rounds). We received a lovely amuse-bouche of a sweet potato soup shooter and rolls baked with olives and sea salt. After receiving a thorough explanation and recommendation for our meal, we decided on: the famous Canlis Salad, Wagyu steak tartar, Dungeness Crab Cake, NY Strip Steak, and King Salmon. I will get to dessert later.
The Canlis Salad was simple, which is why it is a perfect opening course. Romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, bacon, mint, shredded Romano cheese, and a homemade dressing was pre-split between the two of us before serving (I always appreciate that because eating with Jeremy is always a "if ya snooze ya lose" situation). The Wagyu Steak Tartare was made with the probably the finest cut of meat I have ever had, plated in a shareable fashion. We ate it on top of the accompanying caper toast. The Crab Cake arrived surrounded by a lobster broth and had the crispiest outer shell. After digging in, you discover the insane amount of Dungeness crab densely packed in there. Now for the main course- Jeremy went with the salmon because when in Seattle, you eat a shit ton of salmon. He would like to note that at no other occasion would he order salmon at such an establishment. I, on the other hand, dove straight into about 10oz of the finest NY Strip I have ever had. It was deliciously marinated and cooked to perfection (seriously, the most perfect medium rare I have encountered). Let's not make fun of Jeremy too much, he helped me with the steak since his dainty salmon did not quite do the job. Not that it wasn't delicious as well. The salmon dish came plated atop a bed of sautéed shiitake mushrooms and a cream sauce. Cooked to perfection, the salmon lived up to the idea that the country's best and freshest salmon can only be found in the Pacific Northwest. It was delicious to say the least. Ordering the salmon anywhere else can not and will not be duplicated by Jeremy again.
So now it's time for dessert and we make the big decision to wait the noted 30 minutes for the Canlis Soufflé. About 15 minutes go by and our waiter approaches us with tragic news: in an extremely rare occurrence, our soufflé has exploded! To make up for this error, they send us the "starter" dessert from the tasting menu to hold us over while we wait for a new one to get going. I would just like to point out that since we were expecting to wait 30 minutes, we probably would have never noticed anything even happened. We were tipsy and happily in a food coma. However, we still gladly accepted their gracious offer of Rhubarb Sorbet, chunks of bergamot and grapefruit, and pieces of meringue atop some creamy amazing sauce. Then, our soufflé came out shortly after looking golden brown and gorgeous, with a "C" for Canlis outlined in powdered sugar. The waiter went to dig into the middle to pour the anglaise, but was so cool to ask if I wanted to snap a picture of this beauty first. Of course I did! Now I can show it to you all here:
Damn, this was some soufflé. Fluffy, light, sweet but not too sweet. I would say the perfect cap to a perfect meal, but you know it's not over yet. The dessert amuse-bouche were 2 apple caramel French macaroons plus 2 dark chocolate truffles filled with pistachio cream. I am still thinking about those macaroons. Honestly they were better than anything from Laduree, mmm.
I would wrap up here, but there is just one more thing to point out that really put a cherry on top of our perfect evening. They did not charge us for any dessert which I thought was unnecessary (though awesome) and just shows their commitment to excellence. If anyone is in the Seattle area any time soon, it is really a no brainer to splurge on a meal here, worth every penny.
We began our day with a walking tour of Pike Place Market with Seattle Free Walking Tours. We received great insights into the market and learned about its history from our tour guide, and company founder, Josh. Highlights included visiting the famous "flying fish guys," the oldest Starbucks (actually not the original as we learned it had fire damage back in the day), and several beautiful displays of fresh produce and other artisan goods. The tour also led us to the most disgusting site of the "gum wall." It is literally what it sounds like- thousands of chewed pieces of gum stuck on a wall. Yucko. After the tour we decided to go out a little more in the market on our own and stopped at Beecher's for some famous mac n cheese, got pastries from Piroshky Piroshky, homemade beef jerky, some bags of dried fruits and vegetables (including this amazing snack, dried okra - so crunchy and delicious) from Simply The Best, and a decorative art piece from Seattle Metal Craft.
After the market we decided to check out another "market" called Melrose Market near the First Hill neighborhood. We popped into Taylor Shellfish Farms for some geoduck chowder, geoduck sashimi, and some more oysters (since I'm now a fan). It turns out this place supplies the oysters for Walrus and the Carpenter from last night and basically every other restaurant we went to, are going to, or have heard of in the Seattle area. Pretty cool!
On another recommendation from our waitress yesterday, we decided to take a long walk into the Capitol Hill area. Honestly, really not too much going on and my feet were starting to give out so we headed back to the hotel. After a much needed nap, Jeremy found our dinner spot - Spinasse, sort of back in the area we were before. This place was delicious! We started next door at Artusi for a glass of wine while we waited (it's connected and co-owned) and then moved on to enjoy our three course meal. A rabbit pâté with balsamic glaze on a crostini was brought to our table as amuse-bouche. Yum. We then ordered a cauliflower and ricotta appetizer, followed by a pheasant house made ravioli, finishing with a foie gras and pork shoulder capunet rolled in swiss chard. The cauliflower ricotta dish was an unexpected combination, however creamy and a nice starter. The ravioli was made with sugo d’arrosto and marjoram, which provided a wonderful flavor. Jeremy considers this one of the best ravioli dishes he has ever had. Now I found the capunet most interesting. It was stuffed with pork shoulder, foie gras and potato and served with caramelized honey sauce. You all know I love a good sweet and salty combo, and this really hit the mark. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal and would recommend it to anyone in the Seattle area!
We moved locations to our hotel for the rest of our Seattle stay, Red Lion on 5th Ave. Want to mention this awesome "Xplosive" Filipino and Vietnamese food truck we saw on the highway. Any mention of explosive in relation to food is just ridiculous. Anyway, the hotel is in a great location right in the downtown area. We arrived, but our room wasn't ready because it was early, so we dropped our bags and set off to explore. Unfortunately, staying true to what they say about Seattle, it was a cloudy, chilly day. But that didn't stop us! We found the Westlake Center Station with the Seattle Monorail. It is an above ground shuttle that takes you between downtown and the Seattle Center, which is basically a giant tourist destination.
We first went to the lower level to figure out what this whole Orca thing is, Seattle's main transportation company. We bought a card to be ready for our other travels, but definitely noted that for a Saturday at mid-morning, this large station was virtually empty.
So, we took the Monorail over to check out this Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival I read about at the Fisher Pavilion. We walk in and there are about 50 people max, mostly Japanese and maybe 20 sad looking kiosks. We did a lap, grabbed some takoyaki and bounced.
The takoyaki, I would like to note, was Jeremy's idea. I tasted it, but wasn't a fan. The consistency of testicles, but with an octopus center...you decide. So, we continued on our journey and walked over to this Tom Douglas beer hall type place I had read about, Brave Horse Tavern. I got a spicy, large Bloody Mary complete with pickled veggies and a side of bad beer, and Jer got a couple IPAs by recommendation of our friendly waitress. We also got a couple of soft pretzels, which is their signature, accompanied by smoked salmon and chive cream cheese.
This was the least Jewish display you can imagine, but delicious, house smoked, and gone quickly. We decided to ask the chatty waitress for some advice on the Orca situation and she explained how to use the card and where to use it. The conversation led us to discover that she too was from New York and had recently moved out here. Funny isn't it? She gave us some additional recommendations and sent us on our way. We took a stroll to Espresso Vivace, which is hailed as Seattle's best coffee and only a few blocks away. Grabbed a Cafe Americano and decided it was, in fact, pretty damn good.
So then we left to take the street car home using our handy Orca card and jumped on the line going by our hotel. It turns out you don't even swipe the damn thing anywhere, you just pull it out if anyone happens to ask. Oh, Seattle.
After relaxing a bit back at the hotel, we decided to check out the Seattle Great Wheel (aka a giant Ferris wheel on the waterfront). It was OK, kinda cool. Honestly, just one of those things you do as a tourist to really "see" the city from an aerial view.
We went right to dinner from there, utilizing our new Seattle transportation skills and Jer's wonderful map skills. We went up to the Ballard neighborhood to go to the acclaimed Walrus and the Carpenter oyster bar. We found the place down a long random hallway, but it took a few minutes and a few false entrances. We were warned by many sources of the extremely long waits and no reservation policy, so were only slightly surprised by the 3 hour wait time. Luckily, our nice waitress from earlier had told us to check out this place Bastille up the street while we waited. We headed over there and sat at the bar for a few cocktails (delicious by the way) with some cured meats and olives. Why not right? Besides, we were starving and couldn't wait 3 hours.
After about 2.5 hours I got antsy and we went to check on our table status. After only maybe 10 more minutes we were in! I swear, this reservation guy might be the most powerful man in Seattle. Once fully inside, I realized why there was such a long wait, the entire place has a max capacity of only 45! Anyway, I was a little nervous because I've tried oysters a few times and never enjoyed them, but as a foodie I have really tried to change that. I feel like I'm missing out on something. So we ordered half a dozen oysters of different varieties (some sweeter and some more briny) along with Smoked Trout, Shrimp Crudo, Shrimp Bisque, and Hamachi Crudo. Plus an order of bread and butter. Let me tell you about these oysters. They have changed my view on oysters completely. They were DELICIOUS. I get it now, it just has to be the best of the best and I'm in. The Shrimp Crudo was interesting with raw shrimp (I think?) yet baked shells in such a way that you could eat them. I actually didn't care too much for this dish, but the rest of the order was pretty good. I enjoyed it more than Jer, but I think he was just grumpy about the wait.
We then successfully figured out the bus home and voila! Day 1 over and out.
Jeremy and I set off for our trip to Seattle and Portland, which I nicknamed SeaPort 2013. However, Day 1 was not the best travel day. I had reserved a car through NY State Limo and the driver TEXTED me to say they won't be able to make the pick up due to traffic. I proceeded to have a text fight with some random employee because they refused to answer my calls or call me back to explain the situation as a professional would do. We took a cab (and received an hour long tour of Queens to avoid said traffic), so it ended up fine. But SERIOUSLY NY State Limo? I am not done with you yet.
Anyhoos, we arrived in Seattle approximately 8 hours later and made our way to the hotel. I thought I was genius by using some random Hilton points I had that were going to expire very soon to book one night at the Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center right by SeaTac. We arrived via complimentary shuttle and headed over to the front desk to check in. Wouldn't ya know, it appears they do not have any rooms left! Interesting you say, since I booked this room about 6 months ago and received the pretty confirmation email 2 days ago expressing your excitement for my visit! [insert obvious Seinfeld reservation quote here]. But wait, actually, it turns out they CAN accommodate us! Giant caveat- we get a pull out bed! Don't worry, it's a queen so should be all good, right? Wrong. I am pretty peeved that this worldwide hotel chain cannot properly accommodate the guests they are expecting and while I can understand things happen, a heads up would have been nice and I could have stayed elsewhere. So, free Internet, half my points credited back, and 2 free breakfast vouchers later, we survived. Weirdest hotel room ever by the way, but hey, this is only the beginning...
