Zach and I tried to go to Yanni’s (my favorite Greek restaurant in Seattle) for dinner, but sadly, they are closed on Sundays. Instead, we ended up down the street at El Chupacabra (the name means goat sucker)—the restaurant/house which used to be The Stalk Exchange. I had never been to The Stalk Exchange before (I mistakenly thought they only served vegetarian food), but it had been one of Zach’s favorite places. He was really sad that the restaurant now feels more like a rowdy college bar, complete with loud, loud music, lots of smoke and a pool table.

We were feeling ravenous, so we started off with a cheese quesadilla. It was ridiculously simple; barely toasted tortillas with two kinds of buttery cheeses sandwiched inside. It was also ridiculously good. So good that I ate it plain without any hot sauce or sour cream (and I love sour cream).

I ordered the burrito with pork carnitas ($5.50 small), which was good, but I always forget that I don’t like burritos. I go years between eating them and eventually order one and remember why I never order them: they are over-stuffed with rice and beans and you can hardly taste the flavor of the meat. I pulled my burrito apart and ate just the pork and the tortilla. The pork was good, but had nothing on the pork at El Puerco Lloron. The flour tortilla was great—I think they may be hand made.

Zach had the carne asada torta ($5.50) and I was sad I didn’t order a torta as well. The beef was nicely flavored and slid into a soft baguette, with just the thinnest layer of cheese and pickled jalapeños. It was then pressed, like a panini until thin, toasty and warm. I have always loved tortas and am now determined to find the best one in Seattle (suggestions please!).

Zach and I were too tired to cook after a long weekend of painting, so we decided to order out Chinese from Sichuanese Cuisine. Our friend B joined us and said it was the best Chinese food he’d ever eaten.

Chinese ravioli ($4.25) – These were good, but a little too spicy and lacking in real flavor.

Dried-cooked chicken and string beans ($6.50) – We got two orders of this because it’s sooo good. The chicken wasn’t as crispy as usual, but I think it’s because we got it to go and it sat in the car a while.

Chinese stir-fried greens (not sure of price) – Very, very good. Nice and garlicky, as usual.

Shrimp in black bean sauce ($6.95) – This was our first time ordering this and it was a knock-out. I think I liked it even more than the chicken (gasp!). The shrimp were perfectly cooked and stir-fried with lots of cabbage and veggies in a savory and salty black bean sauce.

M, a million thanks for introducing me to Sichuanese Cuisine…

Every once in a while, I crave hash browns for breakfast. I used to know the perfect place to get my fix of crispy, golden brown, perfectly cooked hash browns, but sadly Twin Teepees is long gone and I have been on a quest for great hash browns ever since.

As an aside, I am dismayed by how many restaurants serve home fries. I hate home fries (unless I make them). I think Seattleites should refuse to eat home fries until restaurants get the picture: orange, flaccid cubes of greasy, undercooked and over-spiced potatoes are disgusting. Home fries have become a plate fillers and garnishes—and I’m sorry, but that role has already been filled by unripe fruit.

Ahem. So my subtle point it that I refuse to eat breakfast at places that serve home fries. Unfortunately, the fate of hash browns hasn’t fared much better. Everywhere I go, they’re either overcooked (the texture of Chinese fried noodles), undercooked (hard and flavorless), or water-logged (mushy and pale). But I hold out hope.

I thought Diner might have the kind of hash browns I was looking for, so Zach and I headed down to Pioneer Square for breakfast. Diner is the quintessential diner, complete with red banquettes, black and white checkered floors and saucy, yet sweet waitresses.

I ordered the egg plate: two eggs, two English muffins, three strips of bacon and hash browns. The eggs were oddly delicious and perfectly cooked and I used my over-buttered muffins (not complaining!) to soak up the runny yolks. The bacon was solid, but not outstanding. Unfortunately, the hash browns were about the same. I had asked for them extra crispy, but they still came pale and soft. Fortunately, the potatoes were actually cooked all the way and had good potato flavor.

Zach had two pancakes, eggs and bacon. I’m not a sweets-for-breakfast type of person, but I loved the pancakes. They were super fluffy, despite the 1/2 cup of syrup Zach poured over them (again, not complaining). Plus the pancakes had the ever slight taste of yeast, which I love.

Overall, breakfast was good, but not anything to write home about. However, considering that Diner charges about half of what you’d pay elsewhere, plus the fact that we didn’t have to wait for a table, swung the scale in their favor. We’ll definitely be making this a regular breakfast spot.

There are certain things you crave when you’ve spent two days in an apartment, painting almost every visible surface. One of them is beer. And the other is burgers. We didn’t want to stop painting to go eat, so I sent Zach down the street to pick up burgers from CC’s Burgers, which should NOT be confused with CC Attles (where you can also pick up meat, but it won’t be of the edible kind). In my book CC’s Burgers is tied with Red Mill for yumminess, but CC’s often wins out because it’s close (maybe too close) to my Capitol Hill apartment.

Zach got the Everythang Burger, and it was ginormous. It had a huge beef patty, two types of cheese, caramelized onions, pickles, bacon and hot links. Hot links? Yeah, that’s what I said, but trust me, the hot links made the burger transcend normal burger-dom into some higher realm. (Burger-Neverland, perhaps?)

I had the only-slightly-smaller Bacon Burger with American cheese, bacon and pickles. It came on a soft sesame seed bun and the beef had great beefy flavor. Plus it had incredible, thick, crispy bacon that wasn’t overcooked like Red Mill’s bacon tends to be. It was so good.

I have to admit that these two burgers were better than the other burgers I’ve had at CC’s. I’m not sure if it was just a good day or if I was extra hungry from painting, but at the time I declared that these burgers were way better than Red Mill. Plus CC’s has onion rings that will blow your socks off. They are coated with just the thinnest layer of batter and are shatteringly crisp. They are greasy, but so good that you don’t really care.

I feel so torn writing about Musashi’s and there are several reasons for this: One, it has a special place in my heart because Mitsuko is part of my family. Two, it was the first place I ever worked (busing tables at the tender age of 12). Three, they have the best chicken teriyaki and harusame salad. The only downside, really, is that it’s dingy and I have a hard time taking friends there. Luckily there is take-out.

Chicken teriyaki – Sweet, salty and thick teriyaki sauce paired with grilled and lightly charred, white-meat chicken skewers.

Harusame noodle salad – Who knew that mayonnaise, harusame noodles, fake crab and cucumbers could taste this good? I always order an extra salad.

Yaki onigiri – A delicious ball of rice that’s been lightly grilled and mopped with teriyaki sauce. These are better when you eat them at the restaurant; by the time I got home they were cold.

Salmon onigiri – A rice ball stuffed with salmon and bonito flakes, but not grilled. Zach’s favorite.

Sushi – The unagi (eel) was really moist and good, but again, cold by the time I ate it. The tamago (omelet) was delicious as was the sweet tofu inari.

My mom wanted to go out somewhere low-key and easy for her birthday, so I decided to take her to picaditas were like large sopes; fried masa pancakes toped with black beans, cheese and a pork sauce. They were good, but had hardly any pork flavor and were bland in comparison to everything else we ate.

The lamb birria was tender and flavorful, with hunks of slowly stewed lamb that you could cut with your fork. The birria came with fluffy, soft rice and homemade flour tortillas, which proved the best way to get the lamb into my mouth.

The Mole Negro Oaxaqueno was out of this world. As good as everything else was, it paled in comparison to the mole. Even my mom thought it was outstanding (and has since told me she can’t wait to go back and eat more mole). It’s such a rich and complex sauce that it defies description, but it has the perfect balance of ingredients. The chicken thigh that it came with was falling apart tender. Writing this is making me very hungry.

After dinner, we decided it was too hot to hang out at the counter (plus it seemed rude since so many people were waiting), so I took my mom to Sambar for some cocktails and dessert in the garden.

I was enthralled by Sambar the first time I went, but on each subsequent visit, I’ve been less and less impressed. Or maybe that’s the wrong word. I just see less and less value in going there as it really is outrageously expensive. Our two drinks and two mediocre desserts cost about twice as much as dinner!

Mom had the French Vanilla Creme Brulee ($10), which the waitress called a “traditional” preparation, but it seemed more like a vanilla scented cream topped with a sugar crust. There was no body to it and was so runny that it literally was like drinking a thick cream from a pretty dish.

I had the Coupe Liz ($9) which was described as a hazelnut ice cream sundae. My first disappointment was that the chocolate topping was frozen and as hard as a rock; I was anticipating hot, molten chocolate sauce poured over the top and slowly melting into the ice cream. The second disappointment was the ice cream. I thought it would be a vanilla based ice cream with hunks of toasted hazelnuts, but it was chock full of so many nuts that it tasted like salty peanut butter.

Maybe it was the juxtaposition of the two meals together that made the value seem skewed; the meal at La Carta de Oaxaca was about 10 times better, yet 1/2 the price of Sambar. But even still, Mom and I had a nice time sitting out in the garden and celebrating her birthday.

Happy Birthday Mom!

My dad was in town this weekend and whenever he visits we have a ritual of eating out and then playing some pool at Temple Billiards. On his last two visits we ate at Lark and Union, so this visit I wanted to take him somewhere less pricey, but equally delicious. I was trying to decide between Malaysian and Chinese, when he told me he wanted to go to Ivar’s. For some inexplicable reason, my Dad loves Ivar’s fish and chips. Don’t get me wrong, their fish and chips are tasty, but of all the things one could miss about the Seattle food scene, Ivar’s fish and chips wouldn’t make it on my top ten. Not even close.

So I was all prepared to go to Ivar’s, but before I picked him up at my grandma’s house, my aunt called and asked me to get some food for my grandma on the way over. I stopped at Malay Satay Hut and loaded up on curries, veggie dishes and roti. By the time I got to the house the smell was permeating the car and I was craving Malaysian food in a bad way. I told my dad he had to at least try a bite of the Roti Canai. He did and when we left for our dinner date, we headed straight back to Malay Satay Hut.

We started out the meal with the Roti Canai, which is this amazing flatbread served with curry. It’s like taking the best of both worlds from naan and scallion pancakes. The barely sweet roti was flaky, soft and slightly chewy.

Next we had the Yam Pot with Chicken. I wasn’t expecting too much from this dish because in the picture it looked like mostly vegetables (yep, they have PICTURES on the menu!), but I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of flavor. The tender morsels of chicken were honestly some of the best I’ve ever had. Plus it came in a delicious deep fried bowl made out of “yams”. (The menu says it’s yam, but I swear it’s taro.)

We also ordered the Lamb Curry—there are two kinds of curry on the menu, one with potatoes and one without. I like the one without as it’s drier and has a more concentrated flavor. I’ve never had curried lamb before; it’s very very good.

Next came the Whole Fried Fish, which I love and order every time I’m at Malay Satay Hut. It’s an entire fish, deep-fried until golden brown and served with an incredible sweet and tangy sauce. (I think it’s made from tamarind.) Unfortunately, this time the fish was overcooked and a bit dry.

Our last dish was from the specials board: Guinness Stout Short Ribs. They were dark, dark brown meat nuggets with a sticky, sweet glaze and I ate them like they were candy.

After the god-awful French dip I had in Newport, I was craving a good one. One with perfectly toasted, lightly buttered, soft bread stuffed with layers of paper-thin, freshly roasted beef, horseradish and a side of salty and robust flavored jus. Is that too much to ask?

I thought I had found the perfect French dip at the Mecca Cafe. Last time I ate there the French dip was perfect. This time… the meat was good, but the bread was plain, stale and un-toasted, and the dip was flavorless.

Anyone know where I can get a reliably good French Dip? Please?

Update: Glenna has kindly sent me the link to the Seattle French Dip thread she started on Chowhound. You can check it out here: http://www.chowhound.com/pacificnw/boards/pacificnw/messages/26240.html

Thanks Glenna!

Dick’s cheeseburgers and a late night mah jong game—a perfect way to start my vacation! I’m off to the Oregon coast…