Piroshky Piroshky - Seattle, WA

Two and a half hour flight from Seattle to Los Angeles

Two hour layover in Los Angeles

Three hour flight from Los Angeles to Austin

What would you do immediately before leaving?

I booked it down to Piroshky Piroshky at the Pike Place Market and had myself a beef and onion piroshky.

No one ever accused me of being smart.

So as much as it may not have been the best choice before a day filled with air travel, it was a perfect spot for a breakfast to go while I walked around the market.

Piroshky Piroshky is an authentic Russian bakery, serving up all sorts of piroshkys and pastries, both savory and sweet, in a tiny little shop on Pike Place with nothing more than a counter a just a few stools. Man, everything looked incredible here, everything, and while I wanted to try more than one thing, there's absolutely nothing small.  So I decided I'd go savory, and the beef and onion looked the best.  The piroshkys are all a little bit different, not the same type of crusts with just a change of fillings.  While the beef and cheese looked tempting, its sturdy looking, egg-washed pastry didn't look nearly as good as the soft flaky crust of the beef and onion.

This and a coffee was right around $4, and fit the bill perfectly.  Just enough to fill me up and get the day started, but not too much.  The insides were moist and flavorful, without being kicked up with too much spice.  The pastry was exactly as it looks, a flaky outer crust and incredibly soft and slightly sweet inner layers.  A great combination, and a fantastic breakfast on the run.

As for the effect on travel...it worked out just fine.

Summary

Atmosphere:  bakery, just a few stools and a counter

Food:  piroshkys, pastries, coffee

Dog Friendly:  sure, its take-out

When to Go:  breakfast

Crowd:  tourists, Russians

What to Order for the First Timer:  I liked the beef and onion, but it's breakfast, you call it

Tavolata - Seattle, WA

Back to my Seattle trip.

After my classic cocktails at Zig Zag Cafe prepared by the Best Bartender in America, I made the difficult decision to forego classic Seattle seafood and venture on over to Tavolata, an authentic Italian restaurant opened by 2011 James Beard nominee for Best Chef in the Northwest, Ethan Stowell.

What can I say?  I put Italian food above all else, and I couldn't pass up a pasta from a place that really takes pride in it.

This place is THE perfect place to hit on a solo venture to Seattle, but is also a fantastic place to go with a date or loved one, or any sized group of people.  Tavolata means "to gather around a table" (ok, I wish I just knew that, but no, I just learned it while I was there), so the place really caters well to groups.  As a soloist though, I was hitting the bar, which is huge, and manned by knowledgeable and friendly bartenders.  The whole place feels what I'll naively call "Seattle trendy" that mix of trendiness and the classic grunge that you associate with the city.  Hardwood floors.  Concrete walls.  Concrete ceiling.  Minimal decoration and lighting.  The ceiling height and the hard surfaces turn this place into a loud and lively restaurant that puts your mind back in Italy.

So I had to have some sort of seafood, being in Seattle, so I decided to start with the grilled octopus with crispy farro, fresno peppers and mint pesto.  Wow.  The flavors were excellent.  Fantastic char grilled flavored octopus which was a little on the chewy side (but come on, it's octopus, manage your expections) with a coolness supplied by the mint pesto and, oddly, the fresh fresno peppers.  But what made this dish was the farro, which gave this dish an incredible texture along the lines of rice crispies, a snap, crackle and pop in every bite.  Flavor, and texture, perfection.

Seafood quota fulfilled, I turned to a pasta for my meal, and ordered the potato gnocchi with rapini, duck egg, and mint.

Wow.

Never have I had gnocchi so perfectly done.  Unbelievably delicate in composition and flavor, it was offset by the bitterness of the rapini and made even more creamy than it was on its own when I pierced the poached duck egg and magically turned it and the mint into the simplest of sauces with an incredible richness and flavor that stuck to every bite of the airy, pan-finished gnocchi.

Yeah, so I see why this chef is a James Beard nominee.  His creativity and execution are fantastic.

Summary

Atmosphere:  warehouse trendy, great for groups, great for flying solo, good for a date, huge bar, noisy

Food:  Italian

Dog Friendly:  no

When to Go:  dinner

Crowd:  Seattle's Best

What to Order for the First Timer:  whatever you feel like is most likely fantastic, but I'd go for the potato gnocchi if you're unsure

Zig Zag Cafe - Seattle, WA

Down some stairs toward the Puget Sound from the famous Pike Place Market...

...is the Zig Zag Cafe.  Home to this man, Murray Stenson, Best Bartender in America last year as named by his fellow bartenders around the country...

My teriyaki lunch came at around two in the afternoon, so dinner was going to be a later one.  At the recommendation of a friend, I wandered around until I found this place, to grab a cocktail or two before dinner.  The evening started out a little shaky.  With my iPhone in hand and Google Maps on the screen, I swear I was standing in the place, but I was out on the street in the pouring rain with no sight of a bar in sight.  It took the website to figure out which stairs to walk down, which I finally found.  Opening the door, I was first greeted...well, blocked actually...with a velvet rope, and a "how many?" while I continued to stand outside in the rain.  Looking past the gentleman at the door, through the red glow of this cocktail bar, I could see it was a good crowd, but certainly not packed.  I rolled my eyes, answered "one", and was told to hang on for a second.   The attendant surveyed the room, and invited me in, indicating that he had a seat for me available.  The "seat" was a standing spot at a short wooden table, more like a rail, with four complete strangers, all of which were just as oddly struck by this procedure and their seemingly final destination as I was.  Unsure of whether or not to walk two feet to the bar, or wait for a waitress, I was about ready to abort, when I was greeted with a cocktail menu and a "what would you like?".

I ordered one of their house cocktails, a mixture of rye, cherry heering, and Angostura bitters.  As I waited for my drink at my little spot of rail, I was once again approached by the velvet rope keeper and was informed that should I want it, they had a spot at the bar reserved for me.  Hell.  Yes.

I was greeted by Mr. Stenson at the bar and had nice conversations about a variety of spirits and cocktails.  Given my affinity for absinthe, he introduced me to a couple that I hadn't had, allowing me to sample an original recipe from Pernod, as well as a local absinthe made in Washington state, and then made me an absinthe julep, which is a relatively unknown use of absinthe but was popular a long, long time ago.

He's the kind of bartender that loves to size up your tastes, and can, and then whips you up a classic cocktail that fits the bill.  My next drink was just that.  Morning Glory.  Rye, sweet vermouth, cognac, orange curacao and absinthe.  Sweetness of a Manhattan, smoothness of a Vieux Carre, and bite of a Sazerac, all wrapped into one.  He nailed it.

Oh, and here's a funny side note.  In our conversations, I mentioned I lived in Austin, and he asked me if I'd been to Haddington's, that he'd heard great things.  For those of you new to the blog, yes.  Haddington's is one of my favorite watering holes, and I'm glad to see that it's getting recognition not only from 2,500 miles away, but by somebody in the know, the best bartender in America.

As far as food, there is some, along the lines of appetizers and sandwiches, but go here for the cocktails, and try to get a seat at the bar.  Great atmosphere and great drinks.

Summary

Atmosphere:  classic cocktail bar, good for a pre- or post-dinner drink, good place for a date, good spot to belly up

Food:  cocktails

Dog Friendly:  no

When to Go:  happy hour, late

Crowd:  young and old, somewhat dressy, locals, only a few touristy types despite the location

What to Order for the First Timer:  talk to Murray

Sunny Teriyaki - Seattle, WA

Chicago has its hot dog.

New York City has its pizza.

Austin has its breakfast taco.

And Seattle has its teriyaki.  

Every bit the phenomenon as these other places, teriyaki is Seattle's own.  Not quite Japanese, not quite fast food, these places dot the map as abundantly as Hello Kitty backpacks in an Osaka elementary school.  I'm actually quite surprised these teriyaki shops aren't out in force elsewhere in the nation, as they are GOOD, and a reasonably healthy alternative to typical fast food.

Headed to Seattle this week, I consulted the only person I know from Seattle on what I had to have while I was up there, and this was it.  No particular shop, just yelp a good one nearby and get either the chicken or the spicy chicken.   I settled on Sunny Teriyaki, kind of up in the Magnolia section of town.

First off, this was the only sunny thing about Seattle the two days I was there.  Stereotypically, it rained the entire time, but I did witness thunder as well, which I understand is rare up there.  Second, the teriyaki.  There are plenty of things on the menu at a teriyaki joint, but I did as instructed and stuck to the second item on the menu, the spicy chicken.

So, as you can see here and as I understand the typical teriyaki to be, we've got a grilled boneless chicken thigh smothered with a sweet and spicy teriyaki sauce, sliced into bites and served with rice.  Very, very good, with decent heat from the sauce, a great char flavor on the chicken, and moist and tender meat.  

When traveling to Seattle, sample its cuisine and put teriyaki on your list.

Summary

Atmosphere:  bland, counter ordering, eight tables, good place for a quick lunch or dinner, but not a place to hang around

Food:  teriyaki

Dog Friendly:  no

When to Go:  lunch

Crowd:  everyone

What to Order for the First Timer:  spicy chicken teriyaki