During my first week here, my friends took me out to some of their favorite brewpubs (and some new ones) and for once in my life, I’m grateful for the jet lag, since it’s the perfect “excuse” to drink all the coffee. Came to the right city for that!
I missed you, cheese! I missed you, sandwiches!
The Smoked Mozzarella Sandwich with tomatoes and pesto (and a salad, since one cannot survive on bread and cheese alone) is a classier version of pub food, a more grown-up version of grilled cheese, if you will. Best of all, it goes great with beer. I got the ale sampler: Ruby Ale, Golden Wheat, IPA, Porter, Terminator Stout, and Purple Haze (seasonal).
(When I get settled, I’d like to do some proper reviews of local breweries’ beers, but I didn’t have my notebook on me this time.) All of these were excellent, but I really loved the Ruby Ale and the Terminator Stout.
Side note: I’ve also noticed lately that I’ve started liking IPAs a lot more than I used to when I first started drinking (craft) beer. I prefer imperial IPAs and IPAs with something to round out some of the hoppiness, but I feel like I’ve leveled up or something.
Happy Hour chips-and-salsa and $4.50 pints of Hale’s Troll Stout? YES.
Gaze upon the cilantro!
This Ethiopian restaurant has a delicious American-style brunch. I got the salsa-and-cheddar frittata, which came with bread and orange slices. The potatoes were on the side instead of being cooked into the frittata.
And free coffee refills! I know this is really nothing to write home about in the US, but after four years where the only free refills were at Mister Donut, it feels indulgent. Also, considering how much cheaper drip coffee is here, it makes sense.
This organic vegan cafe takes food restrictions and allergies very seriously–all menu items have an extensive ingredient list (just ask) and you’re supposed to let the staff know about any allergies since it’s not always obvious from the menu listing. We went to the West Seattle location.
I didn’t take photos of our meals for some reason, but I did get some phone shots of the Finnriver Sparkling Black Currant Cider and the shaker of nutritional yeast (instead of cheese):
I had the Spinach Strawberry Salad (meal-salads are still novel to me), which has one of the best homemade dressings I’ve ever had (orange, chia and poppy seed); he had the Thai Peanut Bowl, which was also excellent. There are so many options there, including gluten-free and raw, and I sincerely mean it when I say that they ALL look excellent and I would probably live in this restaurant if I could afford to eat out every meal. (Which is NOT a jab at their prices, which are very reasonable for Seattle, but at rather the state of my pocketbook after a transcontinental move.) If you still need proof that vegan food is not boring or limiting, here is your evidence.
I need to do another post for the articles I’ve been reading (most of which you can find on my Facebook and Twitter accounts on the righthand panel of this site). This week, I’ve been cooking at our temporary home (a sharehouse) more–experiments on a limited budget and with limited space and cooking utensils. More on that later.
What have you been eating this week?
I'll Make It Myself! 