Crows in the Kitchen

Last weekend I flew up to Seattle to meet up with my man crow, who had been on a “business” trip to Phoenix, and then Seattle. One of the perks of traveling for work is that sometimes you can extend your trip a bit longer, and airfare is of no concern to you! I often get overwhelmed with airfare prices, because 80 % of the time I’m flying long distances- particularly between the coasts. Flying short trips up and down the coasts, however, is so cheap! 160 round trip to Seattle- plus Billy had a $100 gift certificate for Southwest (so overrated- but for some reasons businesses still think they are the cheapest- no way- check out Airdig.com for the cheapest flights) so I got my tickets for $60. Yipee!

The first two days of the trip were spent with his relatives in a town 20 minutes east of the city called Sammamish. They brought us to a few good nature spots, and fed us delicious treats. The food Tour of Seattle started, for reals, on Tuesday afternoon.

Our initial plan was to go to Quinns Pub in Capital Hill for lunch, then stroll on up to the Asian Art museum for the afternoon and then head back down the hill and south of the Baseball Park to visit an amazing landmark that Billy happened upon a few nights earlier called the Orient Express. 9 Train cars connected together, housing dining cars, kitchens, bars, and the night cap- FDR’s presidential train car, preserved as-was, and available for dining.  It goes without saying, that this ideal plan did not happen. We got to Quinns to see they are one of those diner-only places, marched up the hill to the Asian Art museum, only to find it is closed on Tuesdays…oye

B.U.T.- I am happy the plan didn’t work because for lunch we wound up at the Elysian Brew pub. Without a doubt the highlight of our trip. Food was so-so, in an formal review of the place I would certainly make the distinction between the food, and the beer. I had the beef & barley soup with a beet salad. Billy had a pork and cheesy greens sandwich. The sandy was amazing, but the beet salad + soup were less than thrilling. The beets were dry and not that flavorful, and the blue cheese was overwhelming and required crackers that I did not have.

But oh the Beer! We both got samplers- I got the regular and billy got the seasonal. Mine was better overall- his had some funky lambecs (specifically cherry vanilla + cocoa- gross!) that were not yummy but also the best IPA I’ve ever had- Prometheus. If you ever see it- get it! Both porters- the seasonal and regular were outstanding, and made us realize that our local favorite Pacific Coast Brewery beer really isn’t that good (which is not to say I won’t still go there). But then again our other local brewery Linden Street is outstanding, and the new bar Beer Revolution is going to be a staple in my Sunday routine (flea market + vietnamese sandy’s + black lager= awesome summertime fun)

I should say we picked Quinn’s as the ultimate food goal this trip was because I saw it reviewed in the New American Tavern section of Bon Apetite Magazine. I’ve been looking for an opportunity to check out somewhere they recommend for some time- both to review the restaurant myself, and judge the magazine for choosing it. This mini-vacation seemed like the perfect opportunity to do this exact thing. Quinns was said to be “all about meat.” I knew from one of Billy’s co-workers that Bone Marrow was a highlight of the appetizer menu. I prepared myself for about a week in order to be ready and excited about eating bone marrow.

So I was already a bit saucy by the time we made it here, and ordering proved to be a bit of an overexcited roundabout on my part. Billy was in charge of the Booze, I got to pick off the menu. In my excitement, I forgot to order the pub staple- a burger. Instead I choose bone marrow, a cheese plate, the lamb & pasta special, and a boars meat sloppy joe. What? Seriously is that what I ordered? yes, it was. The cheese plate was acceptable, but not great, and the lamb special disgusting. I won’t get into too much detail about the fooding because frankly I was a little drunky and a little preoccupied with conquering the bone marrow. Lets just say, that I thought marrow would be super meaty for some reason, but in reality it is just like eating spongy fat, with caramelized onions on top. I ate it, but I did not enjoy it. In fact just thinking about it right now I am getting a little queezy. The Boars meat sloppy joe, though AWWWEESOMMEEE. All in all, I guess I can understand why this place would make it into a magazine like Bon Apetite, but that I do wish that they would pick more accessible to their audience eateries.  It was a fancy bar- definitely not a tavern, the way I picture a tavern. Perhaps next time I should just get the burger.

For drinks we had about 30 or 40 whiskeys plus awesome beer to choose from. We went with Pappy Van Winkles Reserve 20 yr- and off the menu suggestion from our friendly waiter. Smooth & sweet. I enjoyed wafting the fresh scent of maple & brown sugar- but billy said it smelled like paint thinner. To each his own I suppose.

To end our trip we went for a final stroll through Pikes Market, bought our kitty-sitters a whole fish (which was brought as a carry on), looked in the original Starbucks (largely unimpressive and full of tacky retail items), and got one last Americano (because I do give credit to Seattle for having such amazing standards for espresso, dark, rich, and creamy every time, everywhere besides starbucks) from the coffee place under our hostel…and returned to Oakland.