Seattle Snacks: Top Pot Doughnuts (Wedgewood, Seattle, WA)

After my work seminar on the last leg of my business trip, I was really wishing to go home and relax. It'd be a long(-ish) drive home, and judging by traffic the last two days, we popped into Top Pot Doughnuts (as recommended by a certain cousin, who is also a doughnut connoisieur, go figure!).



The place looked homey - warm, dark wooden tones and lots of staff. Great place to curl up and read a book, or just to drop by and enjoy a doughnut or baked good (or three!). Too bad though, I just grabbed a half dozen goodies to go - two each of plain, cinnamon sugar, and vanilla sugar. These were cakey doughnuts, and plenty sweet. We nibbled on them on our drive back and I also had one for breakfast the next day.





Thanks for the recommendation JAY!

Top Pot Doughnuts

6855 35th Avenue NE [map]

Seattle WA

Phone: (206) 525-1966

Seattle Review: Thai Ginger (Pacific Place, Seattle, WA)

Back to Seattle! Not really. I realized I still had some Seattle food photos on my memory card, so before we parade forward, lets go back in time.

Night three of the Seattle business trip showed on me. I was tired, a little cranky, and just agreeing with mom for sake of brevity. Sorry for the blurriness of the photos, please see above.

After walking around in the northwest drizzle for about twenty minutes and *not* finding the restaurants that I wanted to visit (although, I *should* have tried harder to persuade Miss MAY about the Dahlia Lounge or Serious Pie. Oh well. Pie for dinner (for her) would have been a big stretch.

Thai Ginger it would be. Afterall, it was *somewhat* similar to Vancouver food, right?




We ordered the chicken satays, angel wings (stuffed chicken wings), and beef curry. We should have just ordered two dishes instead of three because we wound up packing some to go!

What we hadn't expected was the American-sized portions. No, it wasn't overwhelmingly large, but compared to the Thai food portions in Vancouver, it was probably two to three times in size.

Admitedly, the chicken satays were a complete let down. The meat was not marinated enough and as a double whammy, more is *not* better. The thickly cut chicken breast didn't cook properly on the grill; while there were grill marks on the chicken, there was no grill flavour.

The chicken wings were quite good though! Mom kept on calling them "chicken legs" instead, because they were just stuffed with so much...stuff, and flat out huge. We actually shared a chicken wing the night we were there, and packed one to go. The curry was nicely spicey yet sweet. It came with some rice which were happy to devour...we also packed some of the curry and rice to go.

Thai Ginger is a chain restaurant - there are many of them around Seattle. I didn't expect a chain restaurant to have traditional carved Thai gates, room dividers, and other items, but it was a nice touch for ambience.

Glad to discover Thai Ginger.

Thai Ginger

600 Pine Street [map]

Seattle WA

Phone: (206) 749-9100

Seattle Snacks: Red Mango Frozen Yogurt (Pacific Place, Downtown Seattle, WA)

Well, it ends up that we had misjudged the time and after our speedy (but lip-smacking) meal at Von's, we were way ahead of time and would now have to *wait* for our shuttle back to the hotel.

We shopped some more at Pacific Place Mall, and eventually found ourselves at the lower level near Red Mango.

While the frozen yogurt trend has hit Vancouver, yours truely has yet to make it out to try any local joints! I decided that I try some Red Mango. I ordered a green tea yogurt with a cocoa puffs topping.



While the cocoa puffs were more sugar than chocolate, and more flake (special k style) than puff, it was a nice, light, refreshing treat to end out the night.

Red Mango

600 Pine Street [map]

Seattle WA

Phone: (206) 340-2620

Seattle Review: Von's Grand City Cafe (Downtown, Seattle, WA)

Night two brought us to downtown Seattle. While I had been in an eight hour workshop, my mother had brunch in the hotel, went shopping, and took a nap in the afternoon. So she had lots of energy. Me, on the other hand - I was a little tired.

It made no difference. We took a shuttle from the hotel to downtown, and shopped for a while before we discovered that if we didn't eat soon (it was nearing nine o'clock), we'd miss our last shuttle back to the hotel. ...And as we had discovered the night before, there was *not much* to eat near the hotel...

We hurried along the downtown core, looking for something reasonable in price but also palatable. Mom wanted steak. You know. Steeeeaaaaak.

She asked me a couple times why I didn't look up all the Kegs in the area.

I rolled my eyes. "We didn't come down here to get something we could have at home!"

We decided on Von's Grand City Cafe, which the driver had recommended and that I had heard about from a friend or relative, or someone.

We were not disappointed.



I am probably biased on the fact that Von's had a huge slab of meat roasting and rotating on a spit that was displayed in the front entrance window, and the fact that they served two harried looking women with such ease and punctuality. I think we were in and out in less than forty minutes and the bill amounted to the same as the previous night.

We split a prime rib that came with a generous portion of fresh vegetables and a comforting portion of garlicky herbed mashed potatoes that had a gorgeous slab of seasoned butter melting into it. *yum*. I also ordered a caesar (bloody mary?) that really hit the spot.

I'd definitely go back to Von's. Even if just for a side of potatoes...

A plus was that Von's offered free fruitwood chips and a recipe fo two-day herbed chicken. The small paper bags were liberally strewn throughout the restaurant, so I grabbed a bag. Or two. I'll have to try the recipe out and blog about it!



Von's Grand City Cafe

619 Pine Street [map]

Phone: 206-621-8667

Seattle WA

Seattle Review: Issian Izakaya (Wallingford, Seattle, WA)

Night 1 in Seattle was where I finally confirmed that I am my father's daughter. ;p

You laugh, but I was to the extent of hunger that I experienced what my dad says are "hunger sweats". Me and my sister would make fun of him and scoff when he said that (along with his, "I'm so HUNGRY! Look! My hand is shaking!"). Well S, I can no longer laugh at him. I literally got so hungry I was breaking out in sweat.

It was nearly nine o'clock on a rainy, windy Seattle night when me and mom checked into our hotel in the University district of Seattle. Luckily, I had looked up a couple of restaurants in our area that I had wanted to try. The thing was though, everyone knows that "university town" food is virtually tasteless, but bountiful.

Would Issian prove me right?



First of all, it seems that the Izakaya bug has *just* hit Seattle. Apart from Issian, the only other Izakaya that I could find was downtown (Wanns). From the Izakayas in Vancouver, I expect this genre to have a certain feel - low lighting, explosive energy, and dark cozy seating. Issian did not have any of that. The lighting was quite bright (and almost annoying, since I was having hunger pangs and pretty tired from spending an entire day in the car with mom. :p), and although the staff chorused greetings, there was no repeating of orders from waiter to kitchen staff, even though the entire kitchen was open and literally in the dining area. It was almost like a quiet dessert shop rather than what I expect from an Izakaya with its light wooden chairs, shelves lined with hundreds of sake bottles, and quiet patrons.



We chose to sit at the bar and while we were perusing the menu, the girl behind the counter gave us a complimentary appy - a refreshing duo of cold salads: picked soybean sprouts, and gomaae. I will interject here...I was so tired that when she lifted the dish on a long-handled pizza spit, I looked up from my menu and all I saw was a "floating platter"...it almost startled me to the point of tears. haha! Yes...hunger makes people in my family do strange things.

The waiter / owner was really friendly and courteous. He made a couple recommendations and offered us hot towels.

In reality, I was actually looking for some noodles / rice / comfort food. Unfortunately, Issian does not carry any of these items, and I had to settle for spider roll. It sufficed, but I was still a little cranky!

We also ordered a small sake to share, some gyoza (that came with a spicy horseradish), some kalbi beef cooked on hot stone, and potato croquettes.

The potato croquette was premade, and the cook did not cook it long enough. I looked up to see my mother with a confused look on her face asking, "is this supposed to be cold?"

The faux pas was replaced with a fresh, hot croquette and an apology. It was also removed from the bill, which was great (unlike that other place - YES I remember, and NO I don't want to go back).



In addition, we also ordered some fried smelt (very good! But expensive!) and some chicken livers, which came with a salty dry dip. Maybe chicken livers aren't my thing, but I had to try them. They were moist and tender, and went well with the dip. I just didn't like the texture!

For $40 plus tips, me and mom had our first meal in Seattle. Was it worth it? It was a little on the expensive side considering one item was removed from the bill, the exchange rate and the price of some of the individual dishes. I believe $40 x 1.2 = $48 would have me stuffed at Guu / Gastown location...and what I really wanted was some comfort food. What we got was more snack-like / drinking food.

It did seem like a nice little neighbourhood to have a food journey on. Dick's Drive in was down the street, along with a hand-made donut shop, and an ice creamery just next door. I *would* go back to Issian Izakaya on the merits of their friendly, accomodating staff, but I just wouldn't make it the "meal stop" of the culinary tour.

Issian Izakaya

1618 N 45th St [map]

Seattle, WA 98103