In this past year, so many Seattle restaurants have gone out of business, its got to a point where you’ve got to call and check if your favorite restaurant is still open before making dinner plans. Some of those restaurants had it coming, but it was the biggest shock ever seeing a few others in that list. I guess the restaurant industry is so volatile and their profit margin is so small that surviving in this economy is pretty darn tough. The good news is that in place of every …

We haven’t really explored the West Seattle restaurant scene much, I am not sure why though. It is not that long a drive from Belltown, but somehow we never think about this neighborhood while trying to pick a place for dinner. Spring Hill has been on my radar for a while, but I keep forgetting about it when it comes to decision time. But last month on my birthday Siv made reservations there after reading some great reviews about the place and wow, I am really glad he did.
The first …

It was a sad day for the Seattle foodie crowd when Mistral closed a year ago (or has it been two years?). So finally when chef William Belickis opened his brand new space called Mistral Kitchen on West Lake Ave last Saturday, it seemed like the culinary event of the year here.  Being a huge fan of Mistral, I was really surprised to read all the negative reviews about Mistral Kitchen that came out over the past few days.  But of course we had to form our own opinion, …

I went through a phase of blogging boredom where the frequency of posting suffered a lot. The restaurant review category especially was outright ignored during this phase. As the year is coming to an end, I’ve been doing some housecleaning of the drafts and restaurant pictures and found many many food pictures waiting for a write up. I have accumulated quite a collection over the past few months, so it was no surprise that I couldn’t remember half of those dishes or in some cases even which restaurant we had …

Everyone’s favorite Seattle eatery now has a Bellevue location. I know, its been a few months since Wild Ginger opened at the Bravern, but we didn’t make it up there till last week. Truth be told, while Wild Ginger used to be one of our favorite restaurants starting with their Western Ave location, but somehow it has completely dropped out of our radar lately. I guess with all these new restaurants with better food popping out in and around Seattle, it was one of the last choices for a night …

I don’t think I’ve had real Venezuelan food before. I am sure there might have been a few Venezuelan (most likely fusion) dishes in other Latin American restaurants we’ve been to, but the first time I actually paid any attention to the cuisine was at Meza Latin fare in Capitol Hill. Meza is a cozy little restaurant on 14th Ave serving Venezuelan, Cuban and Spanish comfort food. It is open till 3 am on weekends, so it makes the perfect place to grab a cheap bite after drinking and/or dancing …

Anchovies & Olives in Capital Hill opened early this year is yet another jewel in the crown of chef Ethan Stowell’s restaurant empire in Seattle. His restaurants Union, Tavalota and How to Cook a Wolf are among the top restaurants in Seattle and Anchovies & Olives is a nice addition to the list. It is very much like How to Cook a Wolf, except for the fact that A&O is primarily focused on seafood. In fact there is only one meat dish in the menu – a Strip Loin @ …

I am a bit skeptical about trying out a brand new restaurant after a few disastrous experiences. With so many great places in and around Seattle, once we have a bad experience in a restaurant, the chances of us going back there is very slim. And everyone knows that most restaurants won’t have all their kinks worked out in the first few weeks. But last weekend we decided to give Bastille a try even though it had been open for just a couple of weeks. Lucky for us, we had …

You know you are going to love a restaurant when you are greeted with a complimentary glass of champagne as soon as you walk in the door. That too after you’ve announced that you are just going to wait for 45 minutes till a table at the restaurant next door frees up. Then when you are not pressured by the hovering staff to order something as you wait for the rest of your party to arrive, you really start loving the place. When you feel guilty about the free champagne …

Kushibar is a much needed addition to the Belltown food scene serving Japanese street food.  Kushi means stick in Japanese, and just as the name suggests you can order pretty much anything edible on a stick here (Kushiyaki)- vegetables, seafood and meat including almost every part of a chicken- liver, heart, gizzards, feet, balls (ok, not chicken balls, I meant chicken meatballs) are served as skewers. Even though the restaurant is named Kushibar, it is not their Kushiyaki which made us fans, in fact I think the Kushiyaki here is just …

I haven’t been doing many restaurant reviews lately, there is no other excuse than just my laziness. Sometimes I forget my camera, sometimes I forget to click pictures but most times the pictures just sit there on my camera forever!  Anyway, as I was doing some PC housecleaning today, I found a few pictures from List, the not-so-new-anymore Belltown bar. It is one of our favorite places in town, so I want to get as many people in there as I can before another good place goes bust!
List is …

It’s been a while since a restaurant has really knocked my socks off, but this cozy little French/Spanish restaurant in Capitol Hill has managed to do just that! Olivar is owned by chef Philippe Thomelin who has worked at some notable local restaurants like Cascadia and Harvest Vine before. The interior is quite charming, though the Russian Murals on the wall really confused us. Apparently it is a historic building which was decorated by renowned Russian artist in 1931 so they kept the original decor on.
Though it is a tapas …

A gastropub is a pub that also serves gourmet fare, a few notches above your regular pub grub. Recently two new gastropubs opened in the Seattle area, I hope it is the start of a new fad. Great drinks and gourmet food served in a cool hip space is just my kind of fun!
Spur is in Belltown at the same location where Mistral used to be. They have completely revamped the space. The decor is very urban, it’s got that cool New York city bar vibe. Cocktails at Spur are …

Joule is a French Korean fusion restaurant owned by Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi of Coupage, a terrific restaurant that went to the restaurant heaven along with several other Seattle eateries this year. I was pretty impressed with Coupage, as weird as it may sound the French Korean fusion really was a winning combo, so when I heard that the same owners started another restaurant with the same theme in Wallingford, we just had to try it.
It is a really small bistro kind of restaurant which had a good crowd, …

When I heard that Herbfarm ex-chef Jerry Traunfeld started his own restaurant in Seattle, that got added to my must-try-restaurants list. Then I got to know that Jerry got his inspiration for Poppy’s menu from the Indian Thali, that took Poppy right up to the top of that list! An Indian thali is a variety of dishes usually served in small bowls on a round tray. Poppy is not an Indian restaurant, they say that the menu borrows the idea of the thali to present Jerry’s own style of cooking, …

Looks like Tapas are the latest trend in Seattle! I remember a time when we had only a couple of good Tapas places, but looks like there are quite a few restaurants popping out around the area. I am not complaining though, I have professed my love for Spanish food in this blog many times. I’d just say more the merrier!
One of the latest hotspot in town is Ocho, looks like entire Seattle is talking about this place lately, and of course we had to find out what the excitement …

idbit bistro is a casual European restaurant in Capitol Hill that serves Spanish and Italian comfort cuisine. Where Madrid meets Napoli is their slogan. The food is unpretentious, simple and extremely delicious, ambience is casual, staff is friendly and the prices are very reasonable – a perfect place to sit back and relax with a bunch of friends on a summer evening.
Tidbit has been on our wish list ever since it opened last year, but somehow the stars never aligned right for us to make that trip. Then Ms.KewlKat suggested …

Finally it is summer in Seattle! I don’t think anyone else enjoys summer as much as us Seattleites. We have learned to fully appreciate the few sunny days we get every year. The streets are so lively these days, it is so much fun to go out into the city and get lost in the crowd. A friend and I had a fabulous Parisian style Sunday today. We started with brunch at Cafe Campagne, followed by a waterfront stroll and a few hours of shopping and finished with a late …

With a catchy name like that, how can anyone resist! Though one can’t help but wonder if the food is any good or is it just the cool name behind all this hype! You have to admit that the name does carry a certain irresistibility factor, which might be one reason behind the unbelievable difficulty in scoring a table at this latest hot spot in town.
How to Cook a Wolf is the title of a book by M.F.K. Fisher; a famous 20th-century American food writer. I haven’t read the book …

We may not have as many bloggers out here in Seattle as in the Bay Area, but the Seattle foodies sure know how to have fun! Can you guess who these lovely ladies are?
 
So, drum rolls please… For the first time in food blogging history, unveiling the beautiful faces behind these amazing blogs – Archana of Archana’s Culinary Adventures, Mythili of Vindu, KayKat of Cooking from A to Z and yours truly! Hmm…does Mythili remind you of someone, the resemblance is uncanny! Don’t we look like we had …