Favorite Restaurants-The Eastside Edition

I've been meaning to write up a list of our favorite restaurants so here we go. I'll do a Seattle one later but this is just the Eastside (Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, etc)

Seastar (website, yelp)-hands down our favorite seafood place. The food is always excellent. We usually get the Seastar Iced Shellshock Bowl. It has all our favorites including oysters and crab. Tai will always get the scallops if they are on the menu.

Ginza (website, yelp)-a great Japanese restaurant. They have some great sushi but I love their cooked food best. A lot of their dishes are seasonal so I usually get whatever the special is. The parking sucks. I recommend parking on Main or closer to Bellevue Square and walking.

Din Tai Fung (website, yelp)-Our usually place for Chinese. It's dum sum without the carts. I love their spareribs. Tai loves their spicy dumplings. We both love their cucumbers. Peak times have long lines. We usually go at off times.

Szechuan Chef (website, yelp)-Our other go to Chinese restaurant. I love their hand shaven chow mein noodles.

Kukai Ramen (website, yelp)-Tai and I were over the moon when a ramen place opened up near us. We like Kukai's traditional broth. I like the tonkotsu shoyu ramen and Tai likes the yuza shio ramen.

Noppakao Thai-(website, yelp)-Jeff took us to this Thai restaurant a few years ago. Tai and I have gone back multiple times. The food is so fresh and delicious.

Naan-N-Curry (website, yelp)- Tai's favorite Indian restaurant. He loves their Chicken Tikka Masala.

Mayuri Indian Cusine (website, yelp)-My favorite Chicken Tikka Masala. I can eat the sauce with naan for days.

Saigon City (yelp)-Kind of unfair since I know the family that owns Saigon but my favorite pho ever. I love their vermicelli bowls in the summer.

This isn't a comprehensive list. I'm sure I'll add more as time goes on. And I'll do a Seattle list soon too.

Bonefish Grill

On Saturday Tai and I headed out to see Cirque du Soleil again. Since it was in Everett and our go to place closed so we didn't know where to eat. I had chosen a Japanese restaurant to try but we couldn't find it. I had spotted a Bonefish Grill in Bothell, near where we were searching for the Japanese restaurant. We didn't want to waste anymore time we decided that was better than nothing.
I don't eat at chain restaurant very often. Sure an occasional Red Robin or Tai's new favorite, Olive Garden. I prefer local places. So I wasn't expecting a whole lot from Bonefish Grill. I expected we'd eat an ok, forgettable meal. I was wrong. The food was good, fresh. We had a lot of help from our waiter about what to order.

The Bang Bang Shrimp. These crispy shrimp have a spicy creamy sauce. Delicious. The portion was huge.

I admit was a little nervous ordering the ceviche. I didn't think it would that good. But it was so yummy.

 For dinner, Tai ordered the Ahi Tuna, Tokyo style. The tuna was perfectly seared.

 I ordered the Imperial Longfin. When I was a kid, Ivar's had a stuffed fish. It was my favorite back in the day. I haven't found a stuffed fish that matched Ivar's until now. The garlic mashed potatoes were so good too. I was a little surprised at the garbanzo beans. I wasn't expecting those.
Bonefish Grill is going on our list of good places to eat.

I know this sounds like an ad for Bonefish Grill but it's not. No one paid me to say these nice things. But I would if they did :)

Valentine's Day Dinner

Ordinarily Tai and I don't go out to dinner on Valentine's Day. We prefer to stay home, away from crowded restaurants. But since Valentine's Day was on a Monday this year we decided to go out to dinner before his volleyball game.

We ate at Omar Al Khyam in Renton since it's close to the community center where he plays volleyball.

 

 We started with the olives.

 Tai ordered the lamb. He loves lamb and will eat it every chance he gets.

 I got the grape leaves. This my favorite dish there. I could eat 2 plates of these grape leaves.

And we finished with baklava. So good. The best baklava I've ever had.

Seattle Restaurant Week: Moshi Moshi

For our last Seattle Restaurant Week stop, I choose Moshi Moshi, a sushi restaurant in Ballard. We love sushi and there wasn't a ton of sushi choices on the Restaurant Week list, so Moshi Moshi it was. This was our first visit to Moshi Moshi (which means hello in Japanese, it can also be used to get someone's attention).
We were seated in the loft portion of the restaurant above the sushi bar, so this was just next to us:

A huge LED cherry tree. It was kind of cool and give off a soft glow. Tai and I decided to do the $25 menu but also ordered a couple of extra appetizers.

First was these shishito peppers which were delicious. Not too spicy but a little kick. I'd never had them before but really enjoyed them.

Next was the eggplant dengaku (Japanese eggplant with miso paste). This is hands down my favorite new food. I'd had it before and really enjoyed it. Not a lot of Japanese restaurants carry it so we were really excited to see it here. The waitress told us this is her favorite dish and she was really glad we ordered it. She said hardly anyone ever does.

Tai ordered me some edamame. Nom nom! I love edamame.

Our meals came with miso soup. A nice traditional start to a meal.

I chose the age dashi tofu for my appetizer. It's fried tofu served with ginger, scallion, and bonito flakes in a sweet sauce. It's one of my favorite Japanese dishes. I really liked Moshi Moshi's version. Their sweet sauce was delish.

Tai got to the seaweed & octopus salad. I had a bite. It was good. I don't enjoy either octopus (usually) or seaweed. He enjoyed it.

We both opted for the omakasa for our entrees. Omakasa is chef's choice, the chef gives you what he feels is the freshest and best on the sushi bar that night. It was a good mix of sushi and sashimi.

For dessert, I got the flan (and I've totally forgotten the flavor of it!). It was good and creamy. The grilled pineapple was a great touch.

But the ice cream mochi was the bomb! Ice cream mochi is ice cream wrapped in a rice cake wrapper. It's so good. Our order came with (starting at the front) green tea, mango, and strawberry. I love ice cream mochi but was this was the best ice cream mochi I've ever had. A lot of times the rice cake wrapper isn't flavored so it's like blah. But these wrappers where flavored just like the ice cream. It really made the difference.
All in all we liked Moshi Moshi. It's too bad it's kind of far from us-about 40 minute drive. But I'd stop there if we were in the area.

Seattle Restaurant Week: Blueacre Seafood

Over the weekend, Tai and I tried Blueacre as part of Seattle Restaurant Week. This was our first time at Blueacre and I really look forward to getting some oysters. After looking over the Restaurant Week menu, Tai and I decided to order off the regular menu. First we got a baker's dozen of the oysters:

Damn fine oysters. We really enjoyed them.

Tai got the fish & shellfish stew. He really enjoyed the bread and broth. I sampled a few of his shrimp. Yummy.

I got the the BLC-Bacon, Lettuce, Crab-sandwich. We were seated by the woman who owned the restaurant. She mentioned her husband was the chef and that their crabcakes were one of the best in Seattle. The crab in this sandwich was a crabcake and boy was she right. It was one of the best crabcakes I've ever had. I really enjoyed that sandwich.
I think we'll be back to Blueacre for crabcakes and oysters!

Seattle Restaurant Week: Ristorante Paradiso

Last week, Tai and I went to Ristorante Paradiso for Seattle Restaurant Week. This time we were joined by our friends Jacob and Tanya. This was the first time we'd ever been to Ristorante Paradiso and I was looking forward to some yummy Italian food.
Tanya and Jacob were nice enough to let me photograph their meals as well. I apologize that the pics are a little dark and grainy.

Tanya, Jacob and I went with the $25 3 course meal while Tai choose the specials of the day. For his appetizer, Jacob went with the carpaccio. It was really good.

I got the antipasto plate. I loved it except for the eggplant. The texture threw me off. Tanya got the caprese which she started eating before I could get to her.

Tai got the fresh buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes, prosciutto, and basil. The mozzarella was so creamy. It was so delicious.

Jacob got the fish of the day-halibut, pomodoro style with potatoes and vegges. Trust me that's what in the photo!

Tanya got the lasagna. I heard their lasagna had ham in it. If Tanya's had ham she didn't taste it. I had a bite of it. So good.

I got the Crespelle Ricotta e Spinaci. It very yummy and cheesy. I enjoyed it.

Tai got the special of the day-handmade spinach pasta with mushrooms and fresh sausage. The cream sauce was fantastic.

For dessert, Jacob got the cheesecake. The waitress said it had a raspberry sauce but it was clearly strawberry. Jacob still enjoyed it.

Tanya and I got the Tiramisu. So creamy and yummy. I really liked it.
Overall I liked Ristorante Paradiso and would definitely go back.

Seattle Restaurant Week: Seastar

Last night, Tai and I got dressed up and had date night at Seastar in Bellevue for Seattle Restaurant Week.

This was our second visit to Seastar, but our first for dinner (last time we came for happy hour). For Restaurant Week, we were offered a 3 course meal for $25. For our first course, I got the Maytag Blue Cheese Salad:

 And Tai got the rockfish ceviche with plantain chips:

Tai really loved the salad so I switched with him. I was digging on the plantain chips so I was happy to switch.
For our entrees, I ordered the crabcakes:

 I loved the peas and beans. So yummy. The crabcakes were also delicious. Tai got the scallop pasta:

The cream sauce was fantastic. Tai wants me to learn to make it. If I did I could never leave the gym! And for dessert, I got the chocolate cake:

It was good cake. I loved the chocolate sauce too. Tai got creme brulee:

I guess he thought I would want it. But I don't like creme brulee. I've had it before but it's not my favorite dessert. Anyway, he devoured his creme brulee and deemed it delicious.
We both loved our meal at Seastar and look for to dining there again.

A Tale of Two Pizzas

Tai and I recently tried 2 new to us pizza places. First we tried Brooklyn Bros Pizzeria.

I loved this sign.

We ordered the Bowery:

It was delicious! Tai wanted dessert (a cannoli):

Yummy!
A little closer to home, we tried Mod Pizza. I liked that their pizzas are only $5.88 for a 10" pizza with as many toppings are you want. Below are pictures from my first meal there. I've been there numerous times since.
This one has mushrooms, artichokes, olives and green peppers.

I also got a salad which came with garlic knots. Yum-o!

I'll be frequenting both restaurants again. Have any great pizza lately?

Our Dinner At Habesha

Last week Tai's coworker, Neb, took us to eat Ethiopian food. Neb is from Eritrea (which used to be part of Ethiopia but now its it's own country) so we let him order.

Click on the picture to see what every thing was. I loved the lamb dish. The spices were delicious. The food was like nothing I had before. I loved the injera (the tortilla-ish bread you use to eat the food). There are no forks. You use injera to pick up the food and eat it. Here's an action shot of me eating:

Neb ordered beer, an Ethiopian beer.

 It was pretty good. It went well with the spicy food.
I really liked the food at Habesha. I would really recommend it and cannot wait to go back.

Burger Bash!

On Tuesday, Marta, Ashley and I went back to Art Restaurant for their burger bash. Seven courses of burgers!
First course was 3 patties-hanger steak, bison, and kobe beef. The kobe had to be my favorite.

Next the course was lobster burger. It was served on a crispy wonton.

Third course was a duck burger with a scrambled duck egg on top. It was like decadent breakfast sandwich.

Next was the lamb burger with tzatziki sauce (I still have yet to attempt to make this on my own).

The next course was a venison burger with a pretzel bun and shoestring potatoes. I could have eaten a whole plate of shoestring potatoes. 

The next course was a surprise. The menu said cheese plate, but I wasn't expecting this:

A burger made of cheese. It was good. There was piece of honeydew melon inside that really helped break up the cheesiness.
The last plate was dessert. A chocolate mousse in the shape of a burger on a cookie bun, 3 pieces of frozen fruit (to mimic french fries) and raspberry sauce and passion fruit sauce. It was delicious.

I thought I was going to be stuffed at the end of the meal. But they brought out the food slowly so we had plenty of time to digest our burger before the next course. I think I liked the first burger patties the best. It was a fun evening. I would do it again.