A 'Foodie's Haven'

It's a cold, wet, dark and less than inspiring Sunday in Seattle. One of those Sundays that's spent cleaning, running errands and mentally preparing for another work week. Blah, to sum it up in a word.

I'd love to rewind back one week, when I was in Oakland at my boyfriend's uncle's place, sipping Brut rose and snacking on Hog Island oysters with champagne mignonette and chili sauce before enjoying roasted organic rainbow carrots, perfectly toasted crostini and a fresh sun dried tomatoe and mozzarella salad sprinkled with green onions. Sigh.

Or to earlier last Sunday morning, when I couldn't have cared less about the rain and was traipsing through the streets of San Francisco in my wellies while en route to the Ferry Building Marketplace. My friend Kate of Orange Violet recommended we swing by, and my friend Tess backed her up, calling it a "foodie's haven." Spot on. We spent the morning exploring the space's over 40 shops and grabbing brunch before picking up a few things for a light, low-key dinner in. Much needed following two days of intense intake (more to come on that front).

We fueled up on a turkey sandwich and chips from Lulu Petite so we weren't grocery shopping with grumbling stomachs. Turkey sound boring? Far from it. It was served in between brioche and stacked with bacon, avocado and a rhubarb remoulade. And the chips were homemade with rosemary sea salt. Pretty perfect with a fresh squeezed orange juice.

We probably spent another hour walking in circles before buying anything else, sampling local cheeses, scoping out fish, pondering meat and drooling over sweet treats. For a few minutes, we were so overwhelmed by the options that we almost considered just calling it quits. That of course passed. We snapped out of it, came to our senses and deemed a simple pasta with some fresh, local touches the right call.

Cured meat cones from Boccalone Salumerie. I probably saw 15 different people with them within the first 25 minutes we were there. No way we were passing them up. We also nabbed some pancetta for the pasta there. Delicious, salty pork how I love thee.

A small portion of the mushroom selection at Far West Fungi. Debated the porcini, but the clerk's warning about them being so fresh we'd likely need to cook out worms just didn't do it for me. We went with some heavenly hedgehogs to go with the Pancetta instead.

Macaroons at Miette, a little patisserie my friend Tess suggested. These little sweeties didn't last until dinner. I nabbed a chocolate, a hazelnut and two vanilla. Worth the wait and even the anger I endured after a group of teenage girls cut in front of me in line.

We also picked up some red chard for color (and bit of something nutritious), a fresh baguette from Acme bakery and a healthy-sized slice of Comte from Cowgirl Creamery. The end result:

Not exactly the light meal we were going for, but it was oh-so good and satisfying to make something ourselves after 48 hours of eating an obscene number of calories at restaurants.

Not to say those meals out were not completely and utterly amazing. Stay tuned for a post and pictures from a little adventure in Berkeley and the amazing meal at Chez Panisse that came with it.

Have a good week.

Cicchetti Kitchen and Bar

Before my current stint in Seattle's lower Queene Anne neighborhood, I shared a cute little apartment with one of my oldest and best girls. She's since moved on to life as a home owner, living it up in a fabulous townhouse in uber cool Ballard. We see each other a little less now, and the times we get together remind me how much I adore her and loved our little life in Eastlake. Two twenty-somethings who were working hard, going out, eating in, recounting long hard days and laughing over glasses of Sauvingon Blanc from a bottle we bought down the street at Pete's Market (amazing wine selection by the way). I miss it. Saturday morning coffee at Starbucks until better cups came via Voxx, take-out from Siam, our cute little kitchen and a small neighborhood feel.

So for our most recent rendezvous I suggested Cicchetti, the spot that recently opened behind Serafina in our old 'hood. I first read about it here but really wanted to try it after reading this post in which Nancy Leson sang its praises. I fell in the love with the place the second we walked in and must have commented half a dozen times that I wished it had been there when we were living up the block.

We sat upstairs, which has a sweet view of Lake Union and the side of Queen Anne hill. It was crowded but we got a table right away, and the place was filled with a mix of stylish but not overdressed couples, friends and groups of girls. The cocktail list is good-sized and interesting, and the menu is filled with shareable cold and hot plates.


We started with a round of martinis and the rosemary and sea salt focaccia served with Trampetti olive oil before moving on to sharing the soppressata with roasted onion, the Portugese baked clams with spicy sausage and the Moroccan spiced lamb with lentils, garlic yogurt and flatbread. We both loved the lamb. Full of flavor, and the dish's components let us make mini pitas. But I left raving about the bread. I feel like my favorite things are always the simplest. It was warm with a bit of a crunch that I guess was the crust and probably the grains of sea salt, but you could barely tell because it was soft and airy the rest of the way through. Now I suppose I could have just been starving when it hit the table given we opted for a 9p.m. meet-up, but doesn't it look tasty?

The service was perfect too. Genuine and friendly but not overly such. I'm headed back tomorrow night to celebrate a friend's engagement (congrats to the future Mrs. Roberts!) and want to get into their Sicilian orange and fennel salad with black olives and arugula to try to curb a craving I'm having for citrus since eating a blood orange salad in the Bay Area this past weekend.

More on that to come, and in the meantime, Seattle peeps, if you haven't yet been to Cicchetti, I suggest you get on it.

One Last Little Hurrah

A weekend in San Francisco found it's way under the Christmas tree this year and with it a special dinner at Chez Panisse, which I'm near giddy about trying.

I've been pushing Alice Waters' books as gifts for the last couple of years and am psyched to finally taste something from one of her menus of local organic market fare. The trip was booked kind of last minute (headed down there next week), so the hostess pretty much scoffed at the attempt to get a Saturday night reservation in the downstairs restaurant with the set menu. So upstairs in the cafe it is. Part of me wishes I had my act together and had called far enough in advance to do the whole prix-fixe thing, but another part is thinking I might try more things this way. And the cafe apparently has an open kitchen spanning one side of it, which I'm pretty sure my dining companion is going to dig.

Aside from that and visiting some of the boyfriend's family, the only other thing on the agenda is to explore, eat and have a little fun. Life's about to get hectic and stay that way for a good two months, so this will be a little last hurrah of sorts. For awhile at least. I've got a couple of ideas for some other must-try spots, but could use a few more. Suggestions?

Welcome to 2010...

Cheers. We're here. Four days into 2010, and as promised, I'm sharing a few shots from the New Year's Eve party--a festive fete complete with a balloon drop and champagne toast at midnight, DJ and dancing and mad libs created just for the occasion. (Yep, you read that right. Random but hilarious, and highly recommended for your next party.) And of course all of those hors d'oeuvres.

I didn't get a photo of everything but managed to snap a few semi-decent shots of a few of my favorite bites:

Special and stylish Whole Foods crackers and what I'm pretty sure is the world's best hummus. My boyfriend doesn't get credit for this one. It's his brother-in-law's recipe. Smooth, full of flavor, and I'm nursing a tupperware container with some of what was leftover.

Oysters on the half shell with a spicy remoulade. One of multiple bowls shucked by a father/son oyster shucking team who literally came in, rolled up their sleeves, got to work and finished mere minutes later. Incredible and incredibly funny. And those little guys in the red bowl in the background are gougeres from the Jacques Pepin recipe I mentioned here.

Braised short rib crostini. Tender, rich and sprinkled with a reduction of the braising liquid, parm and parsley. The toasted crostini added crunch for texture. These went quick. Both platters of them.

Unfortunately absent from my shots are the sushi rolls, which turned out great, and the homemade late night (or, um, early morning) pizza, which just might have been my favorite thing of all. I'm resolving to request more of it in 2010.

Here's to a full, happy and healthy new year.